Urban WiMax to raise ?35m to fund expansion of UK network

Money will be used to extend London-based WiMax wireless data network nationwide. Wireless broadband network operator Urban WiMax has announced plans for a fresh round of funding to raise ?35m to finance a national roll-out for its WiMax wireless broadband service. The company has appointed investment bank Rothschild to advise it on the planned fundraising that, when completed, will see the company begin deploying its WiMax service, which is already running in parts of central London, to other urban centres across the UK. ...more

Amnesty calls for tech companies to act over Chinese repression

Amnesty International has called on technology companies including Microsoft, Cisco, Nortel and Sun Microsystems to prevent their products being used for repression in China. In a report published today Amnesty says that there has been a dramatic rise in the past year in the number of people who have been arrested and imprisoned for expressing opinions online or for downloading information from the Internet in China. This includes some 54 imprisoned for Internet related activities and an unknown number of people spreading information about the SARS outbreak. ...more

Japanese record labels win landmark P2P settlement

Japanese record labels have won a landmark settlement from the MMO peer-to-peer service for breach of copyright. It is the first time anywhere in the world that a peer-to-peer service has been found liable for the illegal sharing of files using its software. A Tokyo court rejected MMO's appeal and awarded damages of Yen36. ...more

Microsoft picks up a COO from Wal-Mart

Microsoft has appointed Wal-Mart executive Kevin Turner as its new chief operating officer, filling a position that has been vacant for three years since the departure of Rick Belluzzo. Turner will effectively become number three at the company, behind CEO Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates. 'Turner's experience as a proven leader of people in Wal-Mart's incredibly dynamic sales environment; his IT background as CIO of a world-class company and his familiarity with our products and technologies as a Microsoft customer for more than a decade uniquely qualify him to serve as our COO,' Ballmer said in a company-wide email. ...more

'World's smallest' music player

The Duex mp302 claims to be the world's smallest all-in-one MP3 and WMA player, voice recorder and portable data storage device; offering all this in a chewing gum sized package. The Duex will inevitably be compared with Creative's Nomad Muvo, which was unveiled earlier this year. However the Duex has several additional features that the MuVo does not: voice recording, and LCD screen and an equalizer. ...more