Microsoft returns once more to the iPod battle

Microsoft has launched a venture in Japan with Toshiba, JVC and local telecoms provider DoCoMo in another attempt to end the iPod and Apple's dominance of the digital music market. The three companies will be joined by five others to develop portable players for the Japanese market, with Microsoft providing the software, Bloomberg reports. While Toshiba and JVC will concentrate on building new MP3 players, DoCoMo plans to introduce a mobile phone handset that will be compatible with the Microsoft software. ...more

Sony unveils quick-charge Walkmans

Another day, another Walkman - they certainly keep them busy in the Sony R&D Labs. Following on the heels of the Sony Ericsson W700i Walkman phone yesterday, and the MZ-RH1 - a Hi-MD offering - released a fortnight ago, comes the latest Walkman range refresh. The new 512MB, 1GB and 2GB models (NW-E002, NW-E003 and NW-E005) feature quick-recharge functionality. ...more

NEC pilots power line broadband

NEC is to investigate using high-speed communications over ordinary power lines. The Japanese electronics giant is to launch a trial using modems that could achieve data rates of 200Mbit/sec, reports NE Asia Online. According to the website, the trial will take place in the Japanese city of Ibaraki and use the high-frequency band ranging from 2MHz to 30MHz. ...more

US court agrees Sony DRM settlement

Users who bought Sony BMG CDs containing the controversial 'spyware' copy protection mechanism can enjoy a download bonanza. A US court has now agreed a settlement which, Sony hopes, will put an end to the legal action brought by dozens of disgruntled music fans. Sony was hit with a storm of lawsuits after it emerged that the company's CDs had secretly installed 'rootkit' technology known as XCP and MediaMax on PCs which made it impossible for Windows to view it. ...more

Google offers Sitemap submissions for webmasters

Google has announced Google Sitemaps, a free service for webmasters to automatically submit the pages of their site to the pre-eminent Internet search engine. The gain for Google is that the Sitemaps service is meant to provide it with more information about available online content, with the end result of improving search results for users. The gain for Webmasters is the potential traffic boost from having their pages referred to in Google results. ...more