Big businesses boast of patent benefits, for small businesses

A report published by an EU task force on intellectual property claims that small businesses benefit from a patent system, despite lacking almost any participation by the small business community. Instead, the report, titled IPR (intellectual property rights) for competitiveness and innovation, was written up almost entirely by large corporations and the patent industry. It describes small businesses as having 'an anxious attitude towards the patent system as a whole. ...more

Usability and accessibility issues dog councils' online efforts

Barking and Dagenham only site to gain top rating in survey by the Society of IT Management. Of the 468 local authority websites across the UK, just Barking and Dagenham has achieved an excellent rating in a survey by the Society of IT Management (Socitm). The study graded every local authority website on their content, accessibility and level of usage. ...more

Asus announces ATI cards for the UK

Asus has announced its new partner, ATI, along with the duo's first fruits: the latest ATI-based cards complete with Half-Life 2 bundle. The Asus Radeon 9800XT leads the range, and at an estimated street price of ?450, is aimed at the very very keen gamer. However, it does boast 256MB, four video in/out ports and runs both cooler and quieter than the ATI reference boards, according to the company. ...more

Google and Skype shell out on community WiFi

You know your proposition is hot when you are attracting investment from the likes of Google and Skype. This seems to be the case for a new Internet access network called Fon, which works by users pooling available bandwidth, to enable free WiFi roaming. Only people who already have a local Internet connection are able to take advantage of others' sharing. ...more

Sony settles over dodgy DRM fallout

Sony BMG has agreed to settle a New York state lawsuit arising from its controversial deployment of digital rights management technologies on CDs released in the US. Under the terms of the proposed settlement, which will have to be approved by a judge, the record company will compensate anyone who purchased a CD that included either XCP or MediaMax DRM and will provide tools for removing the software from PCs. It will also recall all XCP CDs, having already recalled MediaMax discs, and has committed to limiting its use of copy protection measures in the future. ...more