Net music downloads to feature in Billboard charts

Nielsen SoundScan is to track downloads of digital music, of both singles and albums. Paid-for tracks from commercial services, to be precise. As of yesterday, Apple's iTunes Music Store, Pressplay, MusicNet, Listen. ...more

Mission to Mars

The latest space mission to be launched by NASA blasted off on Saturday on its seven-month journey to the red planet, Mars. The Mars Odyssey, which takes its name from Arthur C Clarke's classic sci-fi tale, will travel to Mars on a mission to analyse the environment of the planet, to map chemical elements and minerals and, most important of all, to find water. The mission is a foundation stone in the plans to send robots to Mars by 2003. ...more

Microsoft hails 'solid' results

Microsoft builds financial success on the platform of Windows XP - and declares a profit of $1.5bn for its last quarter. In its latest financial results, Microsoft reports a ten per cent increase in sales, $7. ...more

SCO's McBride unseals another open letter

The SCO CEO has published the first of what he says will be a series of open letters to set out SCO's position on a number of issues. He is off to a controversial start by asserting that the GNU GPL 'violates the United States Constitution and the U.S. ...more

BenQ announces M300 phone availability in Europe and eight other new models

BenQ announced the availability of M300 phone in Taiwan yesterday. The company will be marketing the model through its distribution channels in Europe and Southeast Asia. In addition to its CIF-resolution phone, BenQ revealed that it would be launching eight new GSM/GPRS models in the second half. ...more