Quark licenses cross-platform installations

Quark has continued the liberalisation of its licensing terms for QuarkXPress by permitting a single licence to be used on both Mac OS X and Windows machines. Until now, a licence could be used to install the application on two machines - nominally a desktop and portable - but they had to be running on the same platform. Last month Quark introduced a License Transfer feature that lets users deactivate and activate the software themselves, so that licences can be moved from one machine to another without the need to call Quark Technical Support. ...more

IBM keeps head above water as Sun struggles

IBM pleases financial markets by meeting expectations as Sun struggles to keep up. Big Blue has reported a profit of $1.7bn for its third quarter, which mirrors the $1. ...more

HP posts modest gains in profits

A week after firing its CEO Carly Fiorina, HP has released its first quarter results. The numbers show a company increasing revenues but not setting Wall Street alight. For the quarter HP posted a profit of $943mn on sales of $21. ...more

Toshiba and Sony table talks for single hi-def DVD format

The major movie studios have begun talks with electronics manufacturers in an attempt to reach a compromise over high-definition DVD formats. Currently, studios are being frantically courted by Sony and Toshiba to support their rival Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats. But they want to avoid the costly, not to mention consumer-unfriendly, situation of having to release DVDs in both formats. ...more

Solar storms create 'profound' disruption to GPS systems

A solar eruption in December disrupted the Global Positioning System (GPS), the satellite-based navigational system used by the military, scientists and civilians, researchers report. The solar flare created radio bursts that traveled to the Earth, covering a broad frequency range, the researchers said, affecting GPS and other navigational systems. Solar flares have been known to knock out satellites and even electricity grids, but the researchers told the Space Weather Enterprise Forum this was an unexpectedly serious new effect. ...more