Web domain registrations reach 63 million

More than 63 million domain names have now been registered in the world - equivalent to one for every 100 people in the world. Of those registrations, eight per cent are for the .uk top level domain. ...more

Microsoft debuts Beta 2 versions of Vista, Office and Server

Microsoft has made available Beta 2 versions of Vista, Office and of Windows Server, code-named Windows Server 'Longhorn', with Office 2007 available as a public download. The announcement was made by Bill Gates at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference in Seattle. This is the first time that Microsoft has made beta products of its flagship products available simultaneously. ...more

iPod set for Redmond rival?

Microsoft is working on plans to develop its own rival to the iPod, a departure from its current strategy of concentrating on developing media player software for other manufacturers, BusinessWeek reports. Presumably Redmond has tired of the failure of Apple's rivals to make any significant inroads into the iPod's huge market share. Contrary to industry expectations, Apple's dominance of the digital media market is growing and, as BusinessWeek notes, Apple's so-far successful venture into video has given Redmond little option if it is not going to surrender the living room - where many see the future of computing going - to its rival. ...more

Novell sees revenue slump

Novell has reported a slump in revenues of nearly 5 per cent in its latest quarterly figures, resulting in a net profit of just $2m, compared with $24m for the same quarter in 2004. Analysts had hoped the networking, Linux and identity management company would reach the $300m mark in revenues, but Novell's $290m figure sent shares downwards from their close of $6.17 to $6. ...more

xD card reader doubles as 512MB MP3 player

Fujifilm has added a little MP3 player to its range of digital accessories. Based on the company's xD-Picture Card memory card format the device is actually a combined USB memory card reader, pen drive and MP3 player. With xD-Picture Card capacities available from 16MB to 512MB, the device runs on a AAA battery and comes with Roxio software for managing MP3 files. ...more