Putting the .de back in Deutschland

The latest battle over an Internet domain name has been settled, with a victory for the German government. Reuters reports that the German consulting company Medianet has decided to give up the choice German address www.deutschland. ...more

Pioneer begins shipping Blu-ray drives

Pioneer has begun shipping the first Blu-ray drive units for computers. The BDR-101A is bundled with Sonic Solutions Roxio Blu-ray Disc software and blank media from TDK that will store up to 25GB of data and recorded content. The unit doubles as a DVD read/write drive (DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/+RW). ...more

CD copy protection to rise

Record companies are preparing to increase the use of copy-protection on music CDs following a report by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) that the number of CDs sold worldwide in 2001 fell by 6.5 per cent. The IFPI attributes much of the fall to, 'the increased availability of free music via mass digital copying and the Internet. ...more

IDF, Fall 2004: Rosedale begins Intel's WiMAX rollout

Intel has put its weight behind WiMAX - the wireless metropolitan area network technology - with the announcement of 'Rosedale', its first generation system on a chip design for WiMAX (802.16) systems. Unveiled at the IDF Fall 2004, Intel believes that WiMAX will expand broadband Internet access to a new generation of users. ...more

BT joins race to add movie and TV services to broadband

BT is looking to deliver a range of films and TV channels via broadband. According to the Financial Times, the company is in discussions with the main channels, BBC, ITV and Sky to deliver popular programmes and movies. The company is also said to be talking to manufacturers of Freeview set top boxes. ...more