UK feels bite of iTunes pricing

UK consumers may feel hard done by when they compare the prices on the French and German versions of the iTunes Music Store with those in the UK. At current exchange rates the Frenach and German iTMS song price of €0.99 equates to about 66p, not the 79p being charged in the UK. ...more

Privateering proves counterfoil to pirates

Internet file sharing reduces the demand for counterfeit CDs and DVDs, according to a US academic, who believes that suing p2p users is counterproductive and can actually reduce record label and movie studio profits. Tunay Tunca, assistant professor of operations, information and technology at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, together with student Qiong Wu found that increased file sharing has reduced demand for commercially pirated products sold on the black market. They believe that a combination of sharing and 'strategic pricing' could suppress counterfeiting and increase profits. ...more

New Web services specification to make life easier for sysadmins

A group of leading PC companies has announced its support for the Web Services Management specification, formerly known as WMX. The consortium says that this new Web services specification will ease the lives of IT managers by creating a standard way for systems to access and exchange information across their entire IT systems. WS-Management aims to allow IT personnel plug and play access a wide range of devices on their networks, even if they are brand new, turned off or otherwise unavailable. ...more

Woman wins ?10,000 compensation in email harassment case

A woman who accidentally discovered nine colleagues had circulated obscene e-mails about her has received ?10,000 compensation from her former employer Holden Meehan Independent Financial Advisers Ltd. The woman, who worked as Sales Support Administrator and Personal Assistant found the e-mails on a colleague's e-mail folders while he was on leave. Although she complained to the company, she felt her complaint wasn't taken seriously, and eventually had to leave. ...more

Ofcom orders further LLU broadband price cuts

Ofcom has ordered further cuts in BT's LLU charging, following the completion of its review into the ADSL wholesale market. The UK telecoms regulator has concluded that, with more up-to-date cost data to hand, voluntary cuts made by BT in September are no longer sufficient. BT has invested in automated processes that it says have 'significantly' reduced LLU costs. ...more