Microsoft accepts new name for Windows minus Media Player

Microsoft has accepted the European Commission's name for its forthcoming version of Windows XP without Windows Media Player. The EC ruled last week that both the Home and Pro version should be appended with N to designate the absence of Media Player; they will therefore be known as Windows XP Home Edition N and Windows XP Professional Edition N. Microsoft had originally suggested calling the software Windows XP Reduced Media Edition, but that was rejected by the EC as too pejorative. ...more

Google offers AJAX kit

Google has released a set of tools designed to simplify the process of developing websites using AJAX. Google Web Toolkit is designed to take AJAX applications in written in Java code and compiles them in browser-compliant JavaScript and HTML. 'AJAX has the power to make your site more compelling and more dynamic, but AJAX development is often complicated, with much of the development time spent working around browser quirks and the fragility of AJAX components,' said Bret Taylor, product manager. ...more

Seagate puts 5GB of storage in its pocket

Seagate has increased its options for digital storage: its seven-centimetre wide 5GB pocket hard drive is being made available in the UK, and it has released a 100GB USB 2 Portable External Hard Drive. Described as being 'palm-sized' and weighing 63 grams, the 5GB pocket hard drive is priced at ?139 and the 2.5GB version will sell for around ?119 (both prices include VAT and a two-year warranty). ...more

Vista on Intel Macs not on the horizon

The retiring head of Microsoft's Windows team has confirmed, to no great surprise, that there will not be a version of Vista built to run on Apple's Intel Macs. 'We have no plans to move Vista to the Macintosh hardware,' Jim Allchin told the Seattle Times. At least not while Microsoft's Mac Business Unit continues to sell Virtual PC software that enables Macs to run the Windows OS alongside their own. ...more

iPod leads way in portable player boom

The digital audio player market is now worth $4.5 billion, according to research analysts In-Stat, and almost a third of the sales have gone Apple's way. Describing it as an 'exploding' market - with sales revenue jumping 200 per cent in just one year - In-Stat anticipates the number of hard disk- and Flash-based players to total 104 million units by 2009. ...more