KaZaA settles for a legitimate future

The company behind the file-sharing network KaZaA has settled its legal dispute with the entertainment industry for $100m (?53m) and agreed to rid its network of pirate material and go legit. In a landmark settlement, Sharman Networks will begin distributing licensed content and pay the out of court settlement to 'the major entertainment content providers and trade groups' - including the likes of MGM and Universal. The sum is equal to 'more than half of [what] the legitimate European digital music was worth in 2005,' according to Jupiter Research's Mark Mulligan. ...more

BBC opens its news archives online

The BBC is opening the doors to its archives and releasing some of the news reports over the past 40 years. In a pilot scheme, the BBC has released 80 news clips under the Creative Archive Licence. The clips cover many of the iconic moments in British and international history over the past 40 years including the aftermath of 9/11 in New York, the demolition of the Berlin Wall, the 1980s miners strike and, inevitably, coverage of the 1966 World cup final. ...more

Update: Fuji's new cameras hit the streets

Fuji has now announced UK pricing for its two new vertical digital cameras, designed by F. A. Porsche, that can double as Web cameras for Internet video conferencing. ...more

Inside Prescott

Intel has added 13 extra chip instructions, bringing the SSE (streaming SIMD extensions) version up to 3 Although it's still a Pentium 4 processor, Intel has added 13 extra chip instructions, bringing the SSE (streaming SIMD extensions) version up to 3. Most significant, though, is that the previous core, codenamed Northwood, was manufactured using a 130-nanometre process, whereas Prescott uses a new 90-nanometre technique. The result is lower power consumption at a given speed, allowing the core to be clocked to higher frequencies. ...more

Broadband debate reaches House of Lords

Words such as IPstream and Datastream have stirred the nodding members into consciousness, as Lord Avebury brings the broadband debate to the House of Lords. In a speech on Tuesday, Lord Avebury voiced concerns over Oftel's broadband review that found the market is still dominated by BT, according to EU benchmarks. 'We want a fully competitive market. ...more