Express takes a dim view of Web sites

Richard Desmond, the new owner of Express Newspapers, is ready to put a stop to the loss making activities of its Web sites and, if necessary, close them down. Staff running the sites have been given three choices: redundancy, redeployment or to start making the sites profitable. Currently the sites suck up ?8m a year, producing revenues of ?240,000. ...more

Yahoo! beefs up its Research Labs to match Google and MSN

It is a truth universally accepted that if you are in the search engine business, you need a big research budget. Thus, Yahoo! is expanding the scope of its Yahoo! Research Labs into new areas to reinforce its business strategy: which is to keep up with the Google and Microsoft Research Labs. Yahoo!'s stated aim is to attract the world's most talented scientists and develop Yahoo! Research Labs into a world-class centre for scientific innovation. ...more

Legality of high-tech surveillance put to the test

The case of "Little Nicky" is coming before a US federal judge to rule on the legality of the FBI's high-tech surveillance. We first reported on the case of Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo - son of a jailed mobster - back in December of last year. Initially frustrated by his use of PGP encryption, the FBI implanted a special keystroke-logging device to monitor his work on a computer where gambling records were allegedly stored. ...more

Broadband adoption continues record growth across the globe

Worldwide broadband growth hit almost 15 per cent in the first quarter of this year adding another 9.5 million subscribers around the world. It is the third consecutive quarter to show record growth which is now running at twice the level over the same quarter in 2003. ...more

Paint Shop Pro 8 unveiled

Jasc gave journos a sneak peek at the PaintShop Pro 8 yesterday, which features scripting support, work space personalisation and paint engine for the eighth incarnation. The first upgrade to the image-editing application for more than a year, Paint Shop Pro 8 adds in a number of new features to keep it in that hinterland of sub-professional but way above standard consumer applications. At ?99. ...more