Lennon collection available from Net music stores, bar iTunes

John Lennon's complete collection of solo recordings is to be sold via music downloads stores from the beginning of next month. However one place where it will not be found is the iTunes Music Store, because of 'the ongoing trademark dispute between iTunes' owner Apple Computer and Lennon and the Beatles' company, Apple Corps. EMI has announced that Working Class Hero, a collection of Lennon's greatest hits, will be available next week on stores including Napster, RealNetworks' Rhapsody, MSN Music and Yahoo! Music Unlimited. ...more

France to back off forcing open iTunes

French legislators appear to have reached a compromise that will allow Apple to maintain the exclusive link between iPods and iTunes Music Store downloads. Having previously threatened to force Apple and other digital music service operators to remove restrictions on which devices their downloads can be played, France's lower house, the Assembly, is ready to accept a Senate proposal that, the AP reports, will provide a loophole enabling operators to avoid having to license their DRM technologies. According to the report, a new regulatory authority will be given the power to resolve disputes by ordering companies to license their exclusive file formats to rivals, but only if the restrictions they impose are 'additional to, or independent of, those explicitly decided by the copyright holders'. ...more

Are you gadget crazy?

A new study by Analyst Verdict paints a picture of consumers hungry for the next 'must-have' appliance and that our appetite for new technology will grow even further in the next five years. The report predicted that the next big thing in the world of gizmos and gadgets would be the TiVo - a TV recording system that automatically responds to the viewers' requirements and edits out advertisements. The report also pointed out that the next big impact on the electrical and software sales sector will be electronic sales via the Internet or interactive TV. ...more

BT bows to Ofcom, cuts broadband migration cost by three-quarters

BT is to cut the price of migrating customers from one broadband package to another by 78 per cent, following a proposal that they do so from industry-regulator Ofcom. Ofcom's recommendation came after two ISPs, Demon-owner Thus and Tiscali, complained that BT's ?50 charge for moving customer from an IPStream connection to DataStream inhibited their ability to compete effectively with BT. DataStream is a BT Wholesale product that allows ISPs to take traffic from their end users onto their own networks; as opposed to the more common IPStream product where ISPs 'rent' BT lines. ...more

Panasonic's IT oven

If you're one of those types that spends their lives in front of a screen, breaking the monotony only to heat up a ready meal in the microwave before returning to your Excel worksheet, then Panasonic has just launched a life-changing product. The NE-SD10 microwave oven combo has a 3.8in colour LCD screen all of its own, with an SD-card slot to boot so you can store 8Mb worth of recipes. ...more