Sony gets sporty with tough new Walkman

Sony has revisited the Walkman brand and launched the Flash memory-based NW-S200 Walkman series, aimed at the more active music lover. Features of the slimline NW-S200 include a 'Shuffle Shake', which is a control system to alternate between shuffle and normal playback modes by shaking the Walkman three times. Also, a 'G-sensor' incorporates pedometer and stopwatch functionality by monitoring step count, distance travelled and calorie usage, and a Music Pacer feature that changes the music according to the pace of the user's step. ...more

HP to take Intel's DRM systems

HP is to adopt the use of Intel digital rights management (DRM) technology into its range of digital entertainment products. According to Reuters, the computer-and-printer giant has decided to license such technology from Intel rather than create its own, wanting to avoid re-inventing the wheel and create a competing technology. HP will also be involved with Philips in developing copy protection technology. ...more

TuneTuzer aims to clarify digital music soup

A UK man has set up a website that compares digital music stores, after realising that if he changes his portable music player then his digital music collection would become 'unusable'. Clifford Singer's TuneTuzer lists the stores currently operating in the UK and US, breaking them down by those offering pay-per-download and those that rely on a monthly subscription payment. Alongside each store he provides the file format used, the typical bit rate, standard prices for single tracks and albums and whether DRM is applied. ...more

Woolworths stocks cut-price home software

Woolworths has begun selling a cut-price range home software programmes comprising a word processor, spreadsheet, database and picture management application. Developed in partnership with Formjet Innovations, the 'Home Office' pack will cost ?16.99 and is compatible with Microsoft Word, Excel and Access. ...more

Shareholders suit up for class action against AOL

Disgruntled shareholders filed a securities fraud suit against AOL yesterday, alleging the company artificially inflated its revenues for online advertising. The suit is likely to be made a class action that would allow shareholders of AOL common stock (from 19 July 1999) and of stock that was converted to AOL Time Warner (11 Jan to 17 July 2001) to become involved. It centres around 'unconventional' accounting practices, highlighted by a series of reports in the Washington Post, that gave the impression the company was bucking the downwards trend of online advertising revenues as it closed the biggest merger in US history. ...more