Google betas personal search

Following Google Video - and its searching of video, which we reported yesterday - comes Google's Personalized Search. To be found at www.google. ...more

China warns US over anti-piracy action

China has rejected US claims that it is not doing enough to combat the illegal copying of music and movies, claiming that any attempt to penalise it would 'seriously harm' trade co-operation between the two countries. The US recently asked the World Trade Organization to investigate whether China is doing enough to reduce counterfeiting of CDs and DVDs. 'The United States Trade Representative, the USTR, has totally ignored the massive strides China has made,' China's Vice Premier Wu Yi told an intellectual property forum in Beijing. ...more

Microsoft launches US music store

Microsoft has finally launched an online music store in the US, albeit in 'preview' form, some 16 months after the debut of iTunes. Like Apple's store, MSN Music will generally charge 99? per song, although album pricing appears to vary. The store is driven from the website with purchases subsequently played in Windows Media Player, in marked contrast to iTunes, where everything is handled by the one application. ...more

Neighbourhood Net watch raises concerns

Websites that provide information about the social make-up of areas of the UK can help contribute to the gap between rich and poor, according to a new report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Internet-based Neighbourhood Information Systems (IBNIS) allow house buyers to identify areas with, for example, low crime rates and good schools. In the US, where such sites have more extensive databases, buyers can even make choices based on the kind of people they would like living next door. ...more

Internet cements friendships

The Internet is a useful means for cultivating social networks, and also putting them into action at times of needs - this is the main conclusion of a new sociological study carried out by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Not a startling conclusion in itself, but its findings help balance the notions of social isolation that are often used to characterise computer users, people staring alone at computer screens rather than engaging with 'real life' in the world outside. In its latest report, Family, Friends & Community, Pew maintains that the Internet, and email in particular, expand and strengthen the social ties that people maintain in the 'offline' world - that technology strengthens rather than replaces the communications people have with others in their network. ...more