KaZaA faces clean-up deadline

An Australian court has given KaZaA-owner Sharman Networks until 5 December to remove all copyrighted material or shut down. The P2P operator now faces having to implement a 3,000 keyword filter before its appeal against the September ruling that it had unlawfully encouraged users of the software to share copyrighted files. Not surprisingly the record industry welcomed the latest development. ...more

Update: Microsoft responds to Japanese office raid

Microsoft has said it will remove the controversial clauses from Windows contracts with computer makers following raids by Japan's Federal Trade Commission on Microsoft offices in Japan yesterday. Officers seized documents following complaints that the contracts were unfair and demanded that computer and device makers using Windows did not sue Microsoft even if the operating system infringed their patents. Microsoft says the provisions in the contracts have previously passed scrutiny by the EU in 2001, the US Department of Justice in the mid-1990s and also during the procedure of assessing appropriate remedies during the more recent antitrust case - and survived. ...more

Microsoft records falling profits

Microsoft delivered its fourth quarter results, ahead of expectations but still showing a net profit some 24 per cent down on the corresponding quarter in 2005. Even so, this comes on the back of lowered guidance from the company back April. The company showed Q4 profits of $2. ...more

Halifax Online fails again

Halifax has been forced to postpone its online banking service for a third time after its Intelligent Finance (IF) banking arm suffered another troubled start. The postponement was made after doubts arose over the stability of the computer systems. The telephone banking side finally got underway without any problems. ...more

Laptop sales in Europe leap a third

Research analysts have reported a strong growth in PC shipments for markets in Europe and the Middle-East. According to the latest figures from Canalys, total PC shipments for the last three months of 2004 rose 17 per cent when compared with the same a period a year ago. Leading the way are notebooks, with shipments up by 30 per cent compared to the same quarter last year. ...more