EU to give Europa website a face-lift

The EU's giant website Europa is to get a face lift throughout 2004. The site's stated aim is to 'capture new audiences'. The site - which claims to be 'probably' the world's biggest - provides information about the EU in all of its different languages which adds up to some 2. ...more

Microsoft preps MSN Messenger for significant upgrade

With March totting up 100 million active users, Microsoft believes it's ready to put some clear water between MSN Messenger and its closest rivals, with what it describes as a 'significant upgrade' for the summer. According to the companies, independent research firms put MSN Messenger in the top spot for free instant messaging services in 11 countries. This certainly puts it at the top for Europe, holding sway in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. ...more

Samsung to pay $300m price fixing fine

Korean electronics giant Samsung has agreed to pay a $300 million fine for its part in an international cartel to fix DRAM prices. The fine is the second largest in US history and the biggest penalty since 1999. Samsung has pleaded guilty to the charge that between 1 April 1999 to 15 June 2002, Samsung and its US subsidiary, Samsung Semiconductor, conspired with other DRAM manufacturers to fix the prices of DRAM. ...more

Developers expand iPod features by swapping OS

The Linux on iPod project has reached a major milestone in porting the operating system to the latest breed of players, opening up their feature sets and adding support for Ogg Vorbis music files. The port is, as yet, not officially supported like the one achieved on first-, second- and third-generation players, and so this is considered an experimental build, much like the one for fourth-generation players. The iPodLinux project is an open source effort to install the third-party operating system on Apple's music players using the Podzilla core and programming interface to provide the GUI. ...more

Microsoft fires off legal guns against 20 US counterfeiters

Microsoft has announced that it has initiated 20 lawsuits today against companies alleged to have illegally distributed its software. The lawsuits, filed in nine US states, claim that the companies distributed counterfeit software or software components or participated in hard-disk loading - the installation of unlicensed software on computers that are then sold to unsuspecting businesses or consumers. Microsoft said that the lawsuits are part of a broader programme - the Genuine Software Initiative (GSI) - designed to combat counterfeiting and other forms of software piracy. ...more