Consumer demand 'skyrocketed' Windows - Microsoft

Computer manufacturers overwhelmingly chose Microsoft products because they were 'innovative, affordably priced and in high demand by consumers', the company's attorney argued yesterday as he continued his opening statement in the Iowa antitrust court case. David Tulchin spent the second full day of Microsoft's opening statement showing the jury documents and depositions from customers and competitors that he said showed that it was the high quality and low prices of the company's software that drove consumer demand. Among those quoted in Microsoft's evidence was an unnamed executive at WordPerfect who said his company was 'scared to death' by Microsoft's Office suite and a former executive who described Microsoft's prices as 'an unbelievable deal'. ...more

Google finds record revenues in latest results

One of the few things to be issued by Google in non-beta form: its financial results. And they make pleasant reading for company founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and indeed all those stockholders who invested in the floatation of the search giant. With profits totalling $381m, the company has reported record revenues of $1. ...more

CD-sized CD burners

Freecom claims its Traveller II PLUS is the world's smallest mobile CD-RW drive. Freecom has extended its range of external optical disk drives with the Traveller II Plus series, including what it describes as the world's smallest mobile CD-RW drive The range includes a DVD-ROM drive, a CD-RW, a CD-RW/DVD combo and a DVD-RW drive. The physical spec of the Freecom Traveller II+ CD-RW drive is 1. ...more

Hotmail goes Windows Live

Microsoft has announced the global launch of Windows Live Hotmail, having completed a beta test involving some 20 million users. The upgraded webmail service succeeds the hugely popular MSN Hotmail and is designed to be safer and more powerful. While most users are likely, as before, to access Hotmail via a Web browser, the new version also provides support for Windows Mobile devices such as mobile phones and PDAs and desktop email clients. ...more

Yahoo offers free phone calls via IM

The Internet portal Yahoo! has introduced a new beta version of its popular instant messenger program. In a bid to take advantage of the world wide interest in VoIP telephony the company is introducing a 'free phone' facility that will allow subscribers to make calls to anywhere in the world. Given that VoIP is becoming an increasingly popular application for broadband subscribers, the surprise is that Yahoo! has taken so long to jump on board the VoIP bandwagon - it has been pursuing an aggressive product development strategy across all its properties, along with other IM vendors. ...more