i-mode to move beyond Japan next year

Japanese telecom company NTT DoCoMo is planning to roll out its i-mode mobile Net service in the US next year, according to reports. The Associated Press says that the firm will partner with US firm AT&T Wireless Group to launch the service in Seattle initially and nation-wide within two years. I-mode has had runaway success in Japan with over 20 million users, and some observers have said it could supersede Wap as the wireless Internet technology of choice for US and European mobile users. ...more

Chinese crack internet security standard

SHA-1, the Internet security standard used for all kinds of secure online transactions, has been cracked. The news does not spell disaster, but it does put an best-before date on the nine-year-old hash function, used in everything from SSL connections to VPNs and file encryption software. Three Chinese researchers claim to have come up with an algorithm that gives users with an extremely powerful and expensive computer a 'better than pure luck' chance at happening on the same hash needed to open up something secured in this way. ...more

Corel releases WordPerfect Office X3

Canadian software company Corel has launched a new version of the WordPerfect Office productivity suite. The new version promises better interoperability with Microsoft Office as well as the ability to import and export documents to PDF format. The product also features an enhanced user interface, a new mail client and the ability to conduct searches from within applications via Yahoo! Search. ...more

iTunes pricing policy under threat from record labels

Apple faces the prospect of reconsidering its one-price-fits-all policy for iTunes downloads or risks losing the backing of the major record labels. With Apple's agreements with the labels due for renewal early next year, the New York Times reports that the labels' are no longer prepared to let Apple determine how downloads should be sold. Disharmony is already evident in Japan, where Sony declined to sign up to iTunes because, it is thought, Apple was not flexible enough on pricing, despite making concessions that it has not sanctioned elsewhere. ...more

Poor showing for red iPod nano in charity campaign

Apple's red charity iPod nano may be doing more for its manufacturer than it is for any charity. Advertising Age reveals that while an estimated $100m has been spent on promoting the RED brand by participants including Apple, Gap and Motorola, it has raised only $18m. Apple introduced the red nano in October 2006, and while it kept the price of the 4GB and 8GB models the same as the regular models, it donated $10 of the end-user cost of each one to the Product Red initiative, which helps fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria. ...more