Industry predicts online music consolidation

Music industry chiefs gathered at this week's Midem conference in Cannes are warning that a 'shakeout' is looming in the digital music market. There are currently around 355 downloads stores worldwide, but with Apple's share of the market rising to 83 per cent, many of the smaller operators will soon be forced out or absorbed by a larger rival. 'I don't imagine all these services can last,' said Gabriel Levy, head of music in Europe for RealNetworks. ...more

e-voting underway in local elections

Electronic voting is now underway in the technology pilot for the local elections. The 'electronic polls' opened on Friday 25 April and close on election night itself, Thursday 1 May. Sheffield, Ipswich, Norwich, St Albans and South Somerset are the areas participating in the online voting scheme. ...more

Fog forms first walk-through screen

A Finnish university has developed the world's first walk-through display, by projecting images onto a penetrable dry fog screen. The 'Walk-thru' technology comprises a airflow inside which a thin fog screen is injected. Because the fog is contained within the laminar airflow, it remains crisp and protected from turbulence. ...more

SCO sets sail with flagship OpenServer 6

Unix company SCO has announced OpenServer 6, its flagship product, and one it hopes will help rejuvenate an ailing Unix market. It describes the product as the result of many years and millions of dollars worth of development and has certainly convinced the likes of HP, who will be selling a range of ProLiant servers running the Unix platform. 'As the worldwide market share leader of SCO Unix installations, HP is focused on delivering the latest technologies to HP ProLiant customers,' said Paul Miller, vice president of marketing, Industry Standard Servers, HP. ...more

Second-generation Predator

Iomega has announced a USB 2.0 version of its stylish external CD-R/W Predator drive. The new drive offers 40-speed read, 24-speed write and 10-speed rewrite performance, meaning you can burn an hour's worth of content in under four minutes. ...more