Hollywood moves closer to digital movies

US movie studios are reported to be close to reaching an agreement on what format to use for digital movies. According to the New York Times, an announcement may be made later today that will finally enable cinemas to begin installing digital projectors. Although digital film has many potential benefits, not least saving the huge cost of producing prints and enabling movies to be delivered over the Internet, cinema owners have been reluctant to invest in projection technology without the studios agreeing a common standard. ...more

Laser printers to take off in UK

The colour laser printer market is set to take off in the UK, according to CAP Ventures analyst, Stuart Robinson. He described the overall UK picture for the printer market as 'stagnant', and as 'reaching saturation point'. But the increased performance and decreasing prices of colour laser printers means they are an increasingly attractive proposition to SMEs looking to save money by doing more print jobs in-house. ...more

Microsoft gives mice a new slant

Microsoft Hardware's new mouse range includes one that boasts a tilting scroll wheel for lateral browsers. Microsoft sees the Tilt Wheel technology as a 'significant innovation' and has announced it will consider licensing the technology in the future. 'Two decades ago we designed the mouse simply as a utilitarian device to help users navigate Microsoft Word,' said Matt Barlow, worldwide director of marketing and business development for Microsoft Hardware. ...more

UK MPs on spam trip to the US

Hot on the heels of the UK's opt-in spam-canning moves, a delegation of parliamentary MPs and members of the APIG (all party Internet group) are US-bound to lobby US lawmakers on legislating against spam. e-Envoy Andrew Pinder will join members of APIG, including Derek Wyatt MP, Brian White MP and Andrew Miller MP, in a three-day meeting with US Senators and officials to try and bring US spam law in line with the tighter controls being put in place in the UK and EU. In particular, they are looking for the US to agree an opt-in policy, where users opt in to receiving unsolicited correspondence, rather than having to opt out. ...more

University to set up archive of bust dot com company business plans

Budding entrepreneurs and historians of the future will be able to look back on the madness of the dot com boom. The University of Maryland has received government and private grants to archive the business and marketing plans of those companies launched between 1996 and 2002 that thought having a domain name and venture capital backing meant they could retire at 25. The University of Maryland's Robert H. ...more