Copyright Office gives Lexmark-duping cartridges the all clear

Static Control Components (SCC) is happily totting up damages to present to Lexmark following the US Copyright Office's decision that its printer-fooling microchips do not violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). William 'Skip' London, General Counsel for SCC, said that the Office found that 'the DMCA allows aftermarket companies to develop software for the purpose of allowing the functional operability of remanufactured toner cartridges and printers.' The company fell into Lexmark's bad books for selling its Smartek chip that duped the printers into believing that recycled cartridges were genuine Lexmark ones. ...more

Yahoo! gets personal with DRM-free download

Yahoo! is hoping that personalised versions of the new Jessica Simpson single will herald the introduction of DRM-free music downloads. The US-only service is offering Simpson's single as an MP3 file stripped of any copy protection, into which the buyer can choose to have their name inserted, provided that it is on the expanding list. For the privilege of personalisation, Yahoo! is charging $1,99, twice what you might expect to pay for a DRM-restricted, bog-standard download, but according to Yahoo! Music's Ian Rogers that is not the point. ...more

Sony boss goes for a tomato

With news that Sega CEO JF Cecillon has flown the coop, it is surprising to hear that Sony's top marketing man has also moved onto pastures new. Marketing Director, Alan Welsman oversaw the original PlayStation launch in 1995 and has been at Sony right up to the recent PS2 campaign. Swedish telecommunications company Speedy Tomato, which went live earlier in the month, has poached Welsman to be UK marketing manager. ...more

Oops, I did it again

Just under 600 laptops have been 'lost' by the Ministry of Defence it has been revealed after questioning by an MP. Five hundred and ninety four laptops have disappeared from the MoD out of a total of 1354 lost government laptops since 1996. The second most forgetful department is Works and Pensions, losing 419, followed by International Development, with 115. ...more

Microsoft previews security-hardened XP Service Pack 2 with new release candidate

Microsoft has unexpectedly released the new Release Candidate 2 of its Windows XP Service Pack 2. At present, RC2 is only available to those registered with Microsoft's Windows beta programme. However, it is expected that RC2 will be opened up to a wider range of testers in the near future. ...more