France makes a stand over online content

An important ruling was made yesterday over the relation of national boundaries to cyberspace. A French court has ruled that Yahoo! should block access, within France, to the portions of its sites that sell Nazi memorabilia. The company has been given three months to manage the blocking of German WWII items or any content deemed to be racist. ...more

Apple to split stock two for one

Apple's board has approved a two-for-one split of the company's shares, increasing the number of common shares from 900 million to 1.8 billion. Registered shareholders at the close of business on 18 February, will receive an extra share for each one they hold although it won't actually add to the value of their holding (the value of the stock is adjusted so that the total capitalization of the company remains the same). ...more

Microsoft loses appeal to EU court over anti-trust remedies

The Luxembourg-based European Court of First Instance has ruled that Microsoft must abide by the decision this year of the EU Competition Commissioner. It must publish technical interoperability data allowing rival companies to create competing server products. Microsoft must also introduce a version of Windows into Europe without the disputed Windows Media Player. ...more

French Senate strips out controversial DRM clause

The French Senate has stripped the country's new copyright law proposals of a clause that would force companies to open up DRM copy-protection technologies. The Senate's Commission of Cultural Affairs has removed a clause that would have required DRM operators to provide competitors with information needed for interoperability with their DRM technology. The clause had been condemned by Apple, with the backing of the US Department of Commerce. ...more

The software programmer's best friend

You've bought the dog, you've played with the new pet, now program it with the software development kit... ...more