Fashion houses sue eBay over counterfeit sales

Two major Paris fashion houses are suing eBay for allegedly selling counterfeit goods. Louis Vuitton is seeking damages totalling €20 million while Christian Dior wants €17 million. Both lawsuits were filed over the summer, although they have only now been made public, and increase the pressure on eBay from luxury goods makers. ...more

Mobile device theft leaves IT managers red-faced

Nearly three in four companies have no security policy for mobile devices, meaning the blame for security breaches resulting from theft will lay at the door of the IT manager's office. The PDA Usage Survey 2003 has found that one quarter of those polled had lost a mobile device - most commonly (40 per cent) in a taxi. Yet 50 per cent have not insured the device and only two per cent have insured the data on it. ...more

PC Pro: Change of specification to JAL Recommended PC

JAL has been forced to replace the monitor included with its Monarch XP3000 PC, which has won a Recommended award in the January 2004 issue of PC Pro. JAL has been forced to replace the monitor included with its Monarch XP3000 PC, which has won a Recommended award in the January 2004 issue of PC Pro. Instead of the Sharp LL-T17D4-B monitor, which won't be available until January due to shortages, JAL will ship the PC with the Iiyama ProLite E431B. ...more

BBC, Apple lead Web award nominations

It's time to vote! The nominations for the eighth annual Webby awards have been drawn up and people can now have their say. Dubbed the 'online Oscars', the Webby's cover 30 categories, including News, Humour, Community, Film, Music, News, Personal Web Sites, Science and Spirituality. Although the official Webby panel decides the awards, there is also a 'People's Choice' for each category. ...more

Zune seeds sown three years ago

Microsoft began talking about developing its own alternative to the iPod as long ago as November 2003, almost three years to the date before it released the Zune. The company's decision to introduce its own portable media player with accompanying software and online digital music store was thought to have been prompted in part by its disappointment with the failure of Apple's rivals to significantly dent the iPod's dominant market share. The extent of Microsoft's dissatisfaction has now been revealed in an extract from an email conversation between the company's media software executive Amir Majidimehr and Jim Allchin, the co-president of the company's Platform Products and Services Group, in which Allchin raises the possibility of having to talk to Apple CEO Steve Jobs about providing iPod support for Windows Media Player (WMP). ...more