Creative to acquire 3Dlabs

Creative Technology has announced it is to acquire 3Dlabs Inc as a subsidiary company pending government and shareholder approval. The cash and stocks deal would see 3Dlabs' high-end graphics technology at Creative's disposal along with a heap of IP rights and patents. The talk is of putting the graphics power traditionally found in a ?50,000 CAD workstation into the consumer market space, and challenge the throne of nVIDIA. ...more

Highest court lets it lie for AOL

The US Supreme Court has refused to revive a lawsuit against America Online brought by subscribers. AOL was accused of imposing unjust charges and failing to protect customer privacy. According to a report in USA Today, the court turned down, without comment, the subscribers' argument that AOL should be considered a ''common carrier'' that can be regulated by the Federal Communications Commission. ...more

Europol raids new online child porn networks

Numerous online networks of child molesters have been exposed today in co-ordinated raids throughout the world including in the UK. More than 40 premises were searched and computer equipment seized for further investigation as a result of operation 'Odysseus'. Deputy Director Mariano Simancas, heading Europol's Serious Crime Department, stated that: 'Operation 'Odysseus' has been part of a criminal investigation that followed similar operations "Twins" in 2002 and 2003, also supported by Europol with impressive results against internet child abuse networks. ...more

Wal-Mart launches movie downloads store

US retail giant Wal-Mart has launched a movie downloads service to compete with iTunes, according to reports. It is a Windows-only, US-only service. Wal-Mart opened a beta version of the store today, selling some 3,000 films and TV shows at prices that marginally undercut those that Apple is charging. ...more

NEC reveals mobile apps

NEC has announced mobile application software that should push forward content and services for European 2.5G and 3G networks. Along with a mobile Internet platform, the application software includes digital rights management, where files (for example games, music or publications) are encrypted and the customer purchases a decrypting 'ticket' in order to use them. ...more