BitTorrent shakes hands with MPAA

BitTorrent has shaken hands with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and has agreed to help stem illegal downloads of movies and other digital content. As a result of the agreement, BitTorrent will work to remove any copyright material that appears in its search engine. The announcement was made by Bram Cohen, the founder and chief executive of BitTorrent, alongside Dan Glickman, chairman of the MPAA at a news conference in Los Angeles. ...more

ATI to roll out R500 GPU for Xbox 2 early 2005

ATI Technologies is expected to roll out a new GPU, codenamed R500, for the Xbox 2 in the first quarter of next year, according to market sources. The R500 will be built using a 90nm process at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and will deliver performance similar to ATI's next-generation high-end graphics chip, the R520, the sources said. ATI is cooperating with Microsoft to develop the chip, but the software vendor will be responsible for placing orders with TSMC. ...more

Brits will double online shopping this Christmas

Forrester Research has calculated that the UK will spend ?2.2bn online this Christmas - double that of last year. However, the first person shoppers will think of is themselves - most money will be spent on cheap flights to escape to the continent. ...more

Lite-ON goes CE with its first hard disk DVD recorder

Lite-ON has stepped further into the consumer arena with its first hard disk DVD recorder. Best-known for its range of optical disc drives for PCs, the Taipei-based company is hoping to stake a claim to the front room with its ?350 LVW5045. It boasts all the features you'd expect of hard disk recording, such as time shifting so that you can 'pause' live TV while it buffers on to the disk, and watch different parts of a program while it is being recorded. ...more

Nokia ships first GSM 'push to talk' camera phone

Nokia has announced that the long-awaited Nokia 5140 camera phone has started shipping in Europe and around the world. Nokia claims that the tri-band (EGSM 900, GSM 1800/1900) camera phone is designed specifically for 'outdoor and sports-minded consumers' because of a durable exterior and features such as countdown timers, a stopwatch and a 'Fitness Coach' to help manage training programmes. The phone is also Nokia's first GSM 'push to talk' handset - Nokia brings Push-To-Talk to Europe. ...more