Napster shifts UK sales and marketing to Frankfurt

Napster is moving large parts of its UK operation to Frankfurt in a bid to cut costs. Sales, marketing and management for the digital music service will be relocated to Germany, with UK general manager Leanne Sharman leaving the company. She follows Jeff Smith, the director of UK and International programming at Napster who left last week to take over as Radio 2's head of music. ...more

Indonesia agrees software piracy amnesty with Microsoft

The government of Indonesia has struck a deal with Microsoft to pay one dollar for each government computer running pirated Microsoft software according to the BBC. With one of the worst records for software piracy in the world, it is estimated that tens of thousands of Indonesian official computers run some form of illegal Microsoft code. The BBC quotes figures which suggest that 87 per cent of the software in Indonesia is pirated. ...more

IBM and Sony showcase next-gen Cell processor

The first 'Cell' processor-based workstation has been powered up, declare the joint developers IBM, Sony and Toshiba. The prototype workstation features the next generation microprocessor aimed at digital entertainment devices such as the next-gen gaming consoles. 'Cell processor-based workstations will totally change the digital content creation environment,' boasts Masayuki Chatani, corporate CTO of Sony Computer Entertainment. ...more

Double whammy for Ellison

Surely Larry Ellison must be feeling pleased with himself? Yesterday's listing in Forbes magazine that showed the Oracle chief to be the second-richest man in the US (only $5bn behind Mr Gates) must have brought a wry smile? But on the same day his interactive television (iTV) supplier, Liberate, did the fashionable thing and snubbed Microsoft, beating the software giant to a lucrative deal with AT&T to pilot its software across its interactive TV systems, a company in which Microsoft is a stock holder and on friendly terms. This could mean Liberate technologies being rolled out across AT&T's broadband operation - some 10 million set top boxes - and leaving Microsoft's iTV plans for dust. This comes on top of another coup, a few months back, where Liberate again scored one over on Microsoft, pipping them to an ITV deal with UPC, again a company in which Microsoft is a major stakeholder. ...more

Google hires the Father of the Internet

As part of its continuing campaign to sign up the biggest guns in Internet development, Google says it has hired Vinton 'Vint' Cerf who is widely credited as the Father of the Internet. It was Cerf's work in designing the TCP/IP protocols that laid the foundations of the Internet. Cerf's job title will be 'Chief Internet Evangelist', as though Google needs one of those. ...more