Microsoft and Washington fire off spyware lawsuit

Microsoft and the Washington attorney general's office have filed suits against a company's deceptive trading practices in spyware. The suits against Secure Computer LLC mark the test case for legislation enacted last year in the form of the Washington Computer Spyware Act. Secure Computer is accused of using popups to falsely warn the user that they were infected with spyware. ...more

The Supreme delay for the Microsoft anti-trust case

With grim inevitability, Microsoft is seeking to take the anti-trust case to the highest court - the US Supreme Court. This could delay the conclusion of the case even further. Having failed in its bid to have the findings of the lower court overturned (that it had improperly "commingled" its browser software with its dominant Windows platform), the Redmond colossus is now seeking to have all the original findings over turned because the presiding Judge, Thomas Penfield Jackson, was biased. ...more

Acer's Ferrari laptop gets new engine

Acer has lined up a new Ferrari laptop on the starting grid - the Ferrari 3400. This new version of Acer's premium notebook is based on the new AMD 64-bit, low-power processor the - the 3000+ Mobile Athlon 64 processor (see AMD tops out low-power mobile 64-bit chip range). As well as support for 802. ...more

Pioneer begins shipping Blu-ray drives

Pioneer has begun shipping the first Blu-ray drive units for computers. The BDR-101A is bundled with Sonic Solutions Roxio Blu-ray Disc software and blank media from TDK that will store up to 25GB of data and recorded content. The unit doubles as a DVD read/write drive (DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/+RW). ...more

Home Office online form makes life easier for Big Brother

The Home Office, mindful of its remit to smooth the business of government by the use of new technology, has provided online forms to enable 'authorised' officials to demand data from postal or telecommunications service providers. The two forms, which are still in draft format, have been created under the infamous Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 sections 22(3) and section 22(4) of the Act. RIPA allows for, and regulates, covert surveillance of citizens by a wide range of public authorities ranging from the police and the Inland Revenue to the Gaming Commission, the Charity Commissioners and the Ambulance Service. ...more