MS and Sun return to court in Java dispute

Microsoft yesterday asked a US court to overturn a previous legal injunction to include Sun's Java runtime with the Windows operating system. Both parties faced a panel for the US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia. It was a hearing on Microsoft's appeal of a lower court's preliminary injunction requiring Microsoft to carry Sun's Java technology. ...more

PlusNet offers refunds for network slowdown

PlusNet is offering certain Broadband Plus customers a refund on their February subscription charge if they can provide evidence of problems with their service's performance. In an email to customers, the ISP acknowledged that a readjustment to the amount peak time network capacity resulted in slower than acceptable speeds. It explained that Broadband Plus pays for approximately an 18 per cent share of its network at peak times, but during December and January it was taking around 15 per cent, which was affecting Premier and PAYG customers. ...more

Crucial unveils six new memory card readers

Crucial, generally better known as a RAM supplier, has unveiled six new memory card readers. They range from a USB 12-in-one reader (pictured) - whose four slots will read any of the following formats: Memory Stick Memory Stick Pro/Pro Duo (need sadapter)/Duo, Secure Digital, miniSD, MultiMediaCard, RS MMC (needs adapter), Smart Media, Microdrive, CompactFlash Type I/II - to single slot readers for reading one or two specific card types. In between there are eight and four card readers. ...more

palmOne confirms Mobile Manager debut

palmOne has reacted to speculation and leaks concerning a new hard-drive based PDA by confirming that a device will be unveiled later this month, under a new Mobile Manager banner. The handheld maker indicated that Mobile Manager would be a new category of devices for users who are moving towards '"digital everything" , from documents and email to music, images and video, as standalone files or in organised folders.' 'In studying customer trends, we found that some people want to carry dozens of documents and hundreds of songs while others want to carry a thousand-plus photos and enjoy videos,' said Page Murray, palmOne VP of marketing. ...more

MySpace tables $250 million deal for Photobucket - report

MySpace has reached a preliminary deal to acquire Photobucket, the world's top photo-sharing site, for around $250 million in cash, a source familiar with the deal said on Monday. Photobucket functions like a kind of Swiss bank for depositing and transmitting photos, helping Web users post their photos on other social networking sites, instead of trying to keep the users locked up on its own site. Besides MySpace, Photobucket is popular on sites such as Facebook, Bebo, Friendster, eBay, Craigslist, Blogger and Xanga. ...more