Microsoft fires off legal guns against 20 US counterfeiters

Microsoft has announced that it has initiated 20 lawsuits today against companies alleged to have illegally distributed its software. The lawsuits, filed in nine US states, claim that the companies distributed counterfeit software or software components or participated in hard-disk loading - the installation of unlicensed software on computers that are then sold to unsuspecting businesses or consumers. Microsoft said that the lawsuits are part of a broader programme - the Genuine Software Initiative (GSI) - designed to combat counterfeiting and other forms of software piracy. ...more

Sweden's Pirate Party cut short

Sweden's recently formed Pirate Party is expected to win 33,000 votes in the country's national elections, failing to gain the one per cent of the total vote that it needed to gain financial support from the state at future polls. Its share of around 0.6 per cent is also long way short of the four per cent that would have entitled it to a seat in parliament. ...more

Apple updates iPod and iTunes software

Apple has updated the software for a range of iPods in iPod Updater 2006-06-28. Specifically, there is iPod Software 1.1. ...more

Spam king wins court restraining order on anti-spam company

The self-confessed spam king Scott Richter has won a temporary restraining order against anti-spam outfit SpamCop to bar it from including it in its blacklists of known spammers used by other companies to block unwanted mail. Richter sued SpamCop - owned by IronPort systems - on 29 April on behalf of his email marketing company OptInRealBig.com. ...more

Kodak unleashes 16 megapixels

As digital cameras become more popular, the call for higher resolution images is increasing. We've reported recently on Sony's first 4 megapixel camera, but here's a camera that offers three times the power, albeit for a professional user. The Kodak DC Pro Back may not look like the most attractive camera in the world, but this ugly duckling sure can pack a high-resolution punch. ...more