Talks tabled to put protected CDs on iPods

Record labels are in talks with Apple to find a way of making copy-protected CDs compatible with iTunes and iPods. Major labels have recently released albums from a number of high-profile artists that include software to prevent them being ripped on a PC. As a result it has come in for scathing criticism from iPod owning fans of the Foo Fighters and Dave Matthews among others. ...more

Fifty-six per cent of email is spam, says latest survey

Spam accounted for 56 per cent of all emails sent in November, according to anti-spam company Brightmail. The figure is the highest yet and continues a steady rise from a level of just seven per cent two year ago. The majority of spam comprises 'advertisements' for products (22 per cent) or financial services (17 per cent). ...more

New Duron for Windows XP

A 1.1GHz Duron is AMD's latest offering for mainstream desktop PCs. With Windows XP due to appear on the shelves, AMD is emphasising the multimedia capabilities of the new chip - as well as hardware-based data pre-fetch, it uses 3DNow! Professional technology. ...more

Festive Internet traffic doubles from 2003

British Internet and email use on Christmas Day and Boxing Day was double that of 2003 according to the London Internet Exchange (Linx). Internet traffic through Linx hit a peak of around 45 Gb/sec on Christmas Day and 50 Gb/sec on Boxing Day. Although Linx says the numbers are not directly comparable, the figures are double those for 2003, when the peaks were 25 Gb/sec on Boxing Day and around 22 Gb/sec on Christmas day. ...more

Via backs eSports home for competitive PC gaming

It is not a house of ill-repute, it's a girlz gaming house - the home of PC gaming team 'girlz 0f destruction' and a Via-backed gaming centre. Dubbed the 'Home of Chrome' - after the Chrome computer hardware provided by VIA - the base is built for professional and amateur gamers to help improve gaming skills. The girlz 0f destruction are a 7-member international PC gaming team. ...more