UPDATED: EU Ministers vote in favour of software patents

Today, the EU Council of Ministers voted in favour of a draft of a directive that legalises software patents in Europe, causing concern among software developers. The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) said: 'The ministers have allowed their patent office administrators, who actually hold the key to the dossier, to destroy the directive project.' Many that oppose such legislation already feared that the Council, which represents the governments of the EU states, would vote in favour of the the current draft, prepared by members of various national patent offices, backed by big corporates. ...more

Apple claims video iTunes tops a million

Since launching the video service on its iTunes Music Store less than three weeks ago, Apple is claiming to have sold more than a million video downloads. The new service, which offers music videos, short films from Pixar and TV shows for $1.99 each, launched 12 October. ...more

UK student makes pixels pay

A UK student has found an innovative way to pay his way through university by selling pixels on a website. The one million pixels on the Million Dollar Homepage are being sold in 10x10 sections for $1 per pixel. Purchasers can then use the space to display an ad or logo which is linked to their own site. ...more

June date for 64-bit Linux on G5

The first fully-64-bit operating system for the Power Mac G5 is expected to ship in June. Terra Soft's Y-HPC, the 64-bit version of Yellow Dog Linux, is currently being tested on Apple's Xserve and Cluster Node servers. A beta version of Y-HPC for Power Mac G5s was made available in April and is currently the only fully-64-bit OS for the G5 processor. ...more

Motorola fends off network attacks

With denial of service attacks on servers an ever-increasing threat, Motorola has stepped up to provide a software system that can analyse network data and provide a visual representation of possible attacks. The Motorola Intrusion Vision provides a single visual representation of network data and correlates "attack data" to let network operators know of a serious attack. The data is presented in near real time, so the user can react quickly, and the system uses a graphical representation of a bull's eye that operators can easily interpret. ...more