Government urges us to shop online

The government has issued reminders for 'safe online shopping' in the run up to Christmas. 'Shopping on the Internet can be safe if you follow a few simple rules,' said Consumer Minister Melanie Johnson. 'Our research shows that consumers have greater confidence in the safety of online shopping than they did a year ago. ...more

IFPI survey: A good year for music despite illegal downloads

A tenfold increase in digital downloads sales, strong CD sales in the US and UK and a 23 per cent rise in music DVDs helped offset the effect of illegal file sharing on music sales for 2004, according to the IFPI's annual survey. In the four major digital music markets - the UK, US, France and Germany - more than 200 million downloads were sold and returns from the first two months of 2005 indicate that the figure may double in 2005. While CD sales in the UK and US, which together make up 47 per cent of the world market, rose 4. ...more

PDA markets dips below 2m shipments

The basic PDA doesn't appear to be able to pull out of its terminal nosedive, according to the latest IDC figures for the sector. Mobile devices acting as digital filofaxes and information managers saw their fifth consecutive quarter in decline. IDC's figures for the first quarter of this year showed a more than 30 per cent sequential drop in shipments - down 12 per cent year on year to 1. ...more

Very small robot alert

So we've had robots that walk like humans, robots that look like animals and most recently, robots that can do the cleaning for you. The Sandia National Laboratories have developed a mini-robot as part of its research. When we say mini-robot, we mean a small device that is no bigger than a ten-penny piece. ...more

Google Video tunes into Europe

Google has launched its Google Video service in Europe: France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain, as well the UK; and in Canada, too. You can find the UK version at video.google. ...more