Lawyers eat into Microsoft's earnings

Microsoft undershoots slightly on market expectations for its latest quarterly results. But this is the Redmond behemoth and the operating income for its second quarter is still counted in billions ($2.84bn to be exact). ...more

RIAA flags concern over digital radio

The US record industry has asked regulators to adopt measure to prevent music 'piracy' from digital radio broadcasts. Although the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) says it is not against the recording of the CD-quality transmissions, it wants the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to adopt rules 'that would protect music played through digital radio receivers from widespread piracy'. Primarily, the RIAA is concerned about the automated recording of individual songs - often from a preset 'wishlist' - and their subsequent distribution over the Internet. ...more

Analysis: A spy for a spy

State surveillance of Internet traffic and access to private databases was being highly scrutinised before the terror attacks of 11 September 2001, but public sentiment changed in the wake of the atrocities. Given an almost free reign, governments and security services - understandably anxious to protect against further attacks of terrorism - have introduced legislation and procedures that make it easier for authorities to monitor the Internet and other electronic information. But how transparent is surveillance in the name of security? Campaigners are beginning to fight back, and claim governments are making use of relaxed privacy laws to harvest information from the private sector and across borders. ...more

Visual programming for Nokia developers

Nokia encourages developers to speed the move to multimedia messaging with a new Internet Toolkit. The mobile phone manufacturer has updated support for developing Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS) in the form of its Mobile Internet Toolkit, version 3.1. ...more

IEEE sets standard for USB drive authentication

The IEEE has approved a new standard for the authentication of USB flash drives and other personal storage devices. The standard, IEEE 1667 'Standard Protocol for Authentication in Host Attachments of Transient Storage Devices', was developed to address information security concerns. Specifically, defining uniform authentication methods to validate devices when they are connected to a computer. ...more