US CIOs still cautious

US IT Managers still expect budgets to grow a little this year, although less than they said six months ago. Spending is also concentrated on justifying current spending. These are the results of IT market analysts Aberdeen Inc's six monthly survey into trends among 150 CIOs in the US. ...more

Europe acts on music copyright

The European Commission today adopted a recommendation on the management of online rights in musical works. The recommendation puts forward measures for improving the EU-wide licensing of copyright for online services. The changes are necessary with the advent of legal music downloads services such as iTunes. ...more

PalmSource sends defiant message to Microsoft

Today in London, PalmSource - the company behind the Palm operating system - took advantage of the release of Palm OS 5 (use link to other story) to unveil its vision for the PDA. If PalmSource is right, within ten years Microsoft's Pocket PC may be a dim, distant memory, with the market flooded by a huge variety of devices based on the Palm OS. Talking about the way the computing market moved from mainframes to personal computers, David Nagel, CEO of PalmSource, said, 'We think there may be another transition. ...more

Vodafone eyes direct 3G Internet access

Vodafone's German operation has unveiled plans to provide 3G Internet access direct to households. The mobile operator will install a wall mounted box that provides an Ethernet connection to the Internet, a USB port for a printer and three phone sockets, enabling the connection of a phone, fax and answer machine. As 3G's top speed of 384Kbps is no match for even 512K broadband connections, it is difficult to see where this will compete, particularly as rural areas not covered by ADSL provision are unlikely to have 3G access instead. ...more

Sharp to phase out LCD monitor business?

Sharp is considering phasing out its overseas (outside of Japan) mainstream LCD monitor business and focusing on high-end monitors and LCD TVs, according to an unnamed executive at Nanjing Sharp Electronics, a joint venture between Sharp and Nanjing Panda Electronics, as reported by the China-based National Business Daily. The paper also quoted sources at TPV Technology, which supplies Sharp with its mainstream LCD monitors, that TPV currently has not received further orders from the Japan-based company for production at its Beijing factory. Sharp was unavailable for comment at the time of publication. ...more