UPDATED: 4.5 million iPods drive record Apple profits

Apple has reported its best ever financial results on the back of sales of 4.5 million iPods and more than one million Macs. Revenue for the latest financial quarter, ending December 25 2004, was $3. ...more

EFF decries patenting 'suggestion test'

US digital rights campaigners have asked the country's Supreme Court to overturn a patent law ruling that they believe poses a serious threat to Free and Open Source Software projects. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is concerned about a recent ruling by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, which affirmed its own 'suggestion test' as the main method for determining when a patent should be found obvious over knowledge in the public domain. Under this test, even the most obvious incremental advances and add-ons can be patented unless the Patent Office or a defendant in court produces a document that shows someone else suggested it prior to the patent being filed. ...more

Tesco makes British biggest online shoppers

While e-commerce businesses crumble all around, one shopping site has become a huge success: Tesco.com. According to figures from Datamonitor, UK shoppers buy their groceries online more than any other country and Tesco accounts for half of those transactions. ...more

eDonkey put out to grass

It looks like the peer-to-peer networking site is headed for the knackers yard. The eDonkey site has been taken down, although according to Wikipedia, the eDonkey2000 network itself is still available to those who already have the eDonkey client software installed. A federal court ruled earlier this week that the eDonkey network allowed the trade of copyright content and was thus illegal. ...more

Internet radio killed the video star?

There is an abundance of radio stations that broadcast over the Internet, but what can you do if you want to listen to your favourite net radio show yet you don't fancy being hunched over the computer? A new gadget called the Kima is on the market and aims to transform the way we listen to Internet radio stations. The device can only be described as a fancy baby alarm with a base unit that plugs into your PC (or TV or DVD player) and a receiver that transmits the audio as an FM signal so you can tune in your radio to the broadcast. The device uses a wireless signal and can transmit over 1,000 feet away, so you need never have to miss another web broadcast again. ...more