Microsoft Corp. announced yesterday that beginning in June it would start charging $49.95 a year for Windows Onecare Live, a (currently free) managed-security service designed to protect Windows PCs from viruses, spyware and other Internet attacks. Leaving aside the question of whether consumers will move in droves to pay Microsoft to fix problems that it [...]

But with the exception of Skype’s phone that can connect to Wi-Fi networks, the service’s members have been tied to their computers and thus to limited locations.   On Tuesday, Eqo Communications, a Vancouver, British Columbia, start-up, launched its mobile Internet phone service, a package that allows Skype users to talk to each other via [...]

The decision comes just as the French Parliament meets to discuss whether internet users should pay a voluntary tax or surcharge of €5 a month to use P2P networks.   The decision was actually made back in December but has only just been made public.   Anthony G was taken to court by lobby group [...]

At the same time, the studio unveiled what many observers believe will be a key component of the next-generation, high-definition optical disc’s marketing strategy: bundling various formats together to give consumers more flexibility and mobility.   Catalog Blu-ray Disc titles will sell at wholesale for $17.95, about the same as DVDs when that format hit [...]

The move is latest tweak to the company’s evolving iPod line-up, and means the ultra-slim nano now comes in 1GB, 2GB and 4GB sizes.   The 1GB nano will sell for £109 in the UK, with the 2GB model at £139 and the 4GB version priced at £179.   Apple has also cut the price [...]

Investigations by Google found that BMW’s German website influenced search results to ensure top ranking when users searched for "used car".   Google has now reduced BMW’s page rank to zero, ensuring the company no longer appears at the top.   BMW admitted using so-called "doorway pages" to boost search rankings, but denied any attempt [...]

Companies will soon have to buy the electronic equivalent of a postage stamp if they want to be certain that their e-mail will be delivered to many of their customers.   America Online and Yahoo, two of the world’s largest providers of e-mail accounts, are about to start using a controversial system that gives preferential [...]

The young chief executive of MetaMachine, distributor of eDonkey file-sharing software, appeared six months ago before a U.S. Senate committee and said his network–the world’s most popular–was ready to turn over a new leaf. Now Sam Yagan and his company are nearing the point when they’ll have to deliver on that promise. Music industry insiders [...]

Apple has sold more than 42 million of the devices since they went on sale in 2001, including 14 million in the fourth quarter last year. The devices can produce sounds of more than 115 decibels, a volume that can damage the hearing of a person exposed to the sound for more than 28 seconds [...]

The French government is moving ahead with plans for a controversial law that would legalize file-sharing of music and films, a move that could undo years of antipiracy work by the entertainment industry. France’s Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres is set to be questioned about the draft on Wednesday by the parliamentary commission for [...]

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has issued another 750 writs against people it believes are pirates, including a carer in New York who claims never to have owned a computer. Home health aide Marie Lindor has asked the Eastern District Court of New York to dismiss the case against her before it even [...]

CODECS have long plagued those simply wanting to play video files either on their PC or home entertainment system. The term CODEC means Compressor-Decompressor’, ‘Coder-Decoder’, or ‘Compression/Decompression algorithm. It basically applies to the ability of a program to transform a data stream or signal. CODECS encode a stream or signal for transmission, storage or encryption [...]