Sony boss Kutaragi blasts timid management for iPod dominance

The head of Sony's Computer Entertainment Division has hit out at the management of the company for becoming too timid to launch new products. Ken Kutaragi implied that the fear of piracy expressed by the Sony music and movie divisions held back the launch of Sony MP3 players which ended up handing the market to the likes of Apple. It was only last September that Sony abandoned its policy of building music players which only used its proprietory Atrac format and instead offering MP3-compatible devices. ...more

Canon takes four more PowerShots

Canon has unveiled four new PowerShot digital compact cameras, ranging from the 3.2 megapixel PowerShot A400 at ?220 to the ?900, 7.1 megapixel G6. ...more

Microsoft readies MSN Messenger 7

A beta version of MSN Messenger 7.0 is reported to be released for private testing this week. Amongst the new features to be tried out across six countries are ones specifically targeted at the 13-24 year old age group. ...more

Keyboards go multimedia

Logitech has designed new keyboards to act as multimedia controllers, as well as input devices. Both the Elite and Internet Navigator keyboards have the ability to control media playback, such as MP3 files and DVD, through the use of specialised function keys. These two high end models come with both USB and PS/2 ports, and are compatible with Windows 98 onwards as well as Mac OS X. ...more

Sharp puts LCDs into perspective with simultaneous dual displays

No smoke but a few mirrors. Sharp has been showing off its new LCD technology and uses mirrors to demonstrate the clever things that can now be done with viewing angles. As well as a monitor that can switch its viewing angle from wide to narrow - to ensure the private display of information - the Japanese electronics giant has also developed a screen that can display one thing when viewed from the right and another when viewed from the left. ...more