Apple takes a surprise Safari on Windows

Apple has once again caught the computer industry by surprise by launching its Safari web browser on Windows. The company's chief executive, Steve Jobs, claims Safari will be Windows' fastest browser, rendering pages at twice the speed of Internet Explorer and up to 1.6 times faster than Firefox. ...more

Norway rules that its Apple iTMS breaks the law

Apple has just two weeks to make changes to the Norwegian iTunes Music Store after the country's Consumer Ombudsman ruled that the music downloads service breaks the law. Responding to a complaint filed by the Consumer Council of Norway in January, the ombudsman, Bj?rn Erik Thon, ruled that iTunes' terms and conditions are 'unreasonable' under Section 9a of the Norwegian Marketing Control Act. The ombudsman identified three areas of concern: that the agreement the consumer must give consent to is regulated by English law; that Apple disclaims all liability for possible damage the iTunes software may cause; and that Apple may alter the rights to the music. ...more

Footballers evict cybersquatters

The latest round of rulings over cybersquatting involves two footballers and Wembley stadium. The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) has awarded Dutch internationals Jaap Stam and Pierre van Hooijdonk the right to use their names as domain names. The company that runs Wembley - "Wembley National Stadium" - also won control of the "wembleystadium" Web address. ...more

VMware virtualises the Intel-based Mac

VMware has announced the Intel-based Mac version of its client virtualisation software. The new version was demonstrated yesterday at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2006 in San Francisco and allows Intel-based Macs running OS X to run a whole host of guest operating systems within its virtualised environment without having to dual boot. Apple's first concession to allowing other platforms onto its hardware came in the form of Boot Camp, which allowed the installation of Windows XP alongside Mac OS X in a dual-boot environment. ...more

Google snaps up Picasa

Search engine Google has bought up Picasa, a company which sells some highly rated digital photo management software. 'Picasa enables users to easily manage and share digital photographs, and its technologies complement Google's' said Jonathan Rosenberg, Google's vice president of Product Management. Founded in 2001, Picasa already has a relationship with Google's Blogger service to make publishing digital photos easier. ...more