Toshiba and NEC launch High Definition DVD showcase

Toshiba, NEC and disc manufacturer Memory-Tech have highlighted their HD DVD format at a three day showcase in Tokyo. The companies are hoping High Definition DVD will become the de facto standard as the successor to today's DVD. Its rival is Blu-Ray, being developed by the likes of Sony, Philips, Samsung, HP and Dell. ...more

Nokia to use Linux in Media Terminal

Nokia will use Linux in its rival to Microsoft's Xbox console, the company said today. The mobile phone manufacturer is working on a home entertainment system called the Media Terminal that will be a games console, digital set-top box, digital video recorder and Web browser. Both the hardware and software will use open standards said Nokia in order to let developers create applications for the device, and Linux is an important part of this. ...more

Banks urged to do more to combat online fraud

The Financial Services Agency has called upon UK banks to do more to combat online banking fraud. The regulator's latest Financial Risk Outlook has discovered that consumer confidence in online banking is fragile, with over half the UK's active Internet users very concerned about the risk of fraud. And with some justification. ...more

EU rejects AOL's compromise

The European Union has rejected AOL and Time Warner's attempts to ease the way for their merger, because the companies' concessions don't go far enough. The EU, investigating the AOL/Time Warner merger for anti-competitive impact, said that AOL had offered to make the merger less damaging to competition in Europe. This is thought to involve breaking ties with Germany's media group Bertelsmann and changing the share-holder structure, which is currently 50-50 between the two companies. ...more

Credit card companies not responsible for content on websites

Credit card companies are not liable for damages if they process transactions from a website in breach of copyright a Californian court has ruled. An adult website 'Perfect 10' had sued Mastercard and Visa because they provided credit card services for websites which, it claimed, had stolen and reproduced its copyrighted material. In dismissing the case, Judge James Ware, ruled that whilst the credit card companies assisted in the business they weren't helping the site to infringe copyright in any way. ...more