BPI seeks A&R tax breaks

The UK record industry has called on the government to give it tax breaks on the money it spends on finding new artists. The industry's main umbrella group, the BPI, wants record companies to be eligible for the tax credits on their research and development costs. It believes that this would result in greater investment in new talent. ...more

France's copyright overhaul under pressure

France's Constitutional Court has ruled that certain sections of the country's controversial new copyright law are unconstitutional. The principle effect of the court's 12-page legal review is to ensure that Apple will receive monetary compensation if it is forced to licence the DRM technology that it uses to restrict playback of iTunes Music Store downloads to its iTunes software and range of iPod portable music players. However, the court did agree that the iPod-iTunes axis violates constitutional property protections. ...more

Microsoft patches IIS buffer overflow flaw

An important one for all Web masters running Microsoft's Internet Information Server 5.0: there's now a patch to fix a security flaw that could give hackers the run of your system. Microsoft "strongly recommends" all administrators to install the patch immediately, as the ISAPI (Internet Sever Application Programming Interface) flaw would enable attackers to run their code at a privileged level - within the system context. ...more

Breathe expires

Breathe.com, the country's fourth-largest Internet service provider, has collapsed with debts of around ?50 million. The company's administrator, PriceWaterhouseCooper (PWC), is seeking a buyer and hopes to sell the business as a going concern. ...more

Hitachi launches DVD camcorder

It didn't seem that long ago that MiniDV was the hottest format in the world of home videography. Now, Hitachi has launched a new DVD-RAM video camera that will have enthusiasts dribbling with anticipation. Using 8cm DVD-RAM discs with a 2. ...more