EC launches site for your rights in Europe

The European Commission has launched a new website that sets out how citizens can use their rights in the EU. The site contains guides on 10 areas of EU law and over 1,300 printable factsheets; everything is translated into 20 different European languages. Living, working, studying and travelling in other EU countries, buying goods and services across the internal market, equal opportuinities, data protection and settling cross-border financial disputes are among the subjects covered. ...more

Mozilla sets stage for Firefox 1.0

Mozillazine reports that development of Mozilla 1.7 is now complete and the final version should be ready for release in mid-May. The completion of this phase, or as the jargon puts it - the cutting of the 1. ...more

Microsoft to appeal Japan's Federal Trade Commission findings

Microsoft has said it will appeal against the findings of an investigation by Japan's Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that said a part of its contracts for computer makers to use Windows violated Japanese Fair Trade Law. The sticking point is a clause that forbids the box builders from pursuing any patent claims against Microsoft. Japan's FTC says this violates Section 19 of the Antimonopoly Act. ...more

Bulldog to remain at master's side

Cable & Wireless' UK boss John Pluthero has scotched rumours that the company is about to sell the retail side of its Bulldog broadband service. Pluthero, who has just taken over as the head of C&W's UK business, said that the company is happy with the revenues from the LLU-based broadband provider. Bulldog has more than doubled its number of customers since August 2005, from 48,000 to 107,000, giving it around 30 per cent of the UK local loop unbundling (LLU) market. ...more

Flash in your pocket

Macromedia has announced it has reached an agreement to release a Flash 5 player for handheld devices based on Microsoft's Pocket PC platform. According to the software corporation, PocketPC got the vote because of its inherent 16-bit colour, built-in audio capabilities and up to 206MHz processing power. Devices that will ship with the player include Compaq's iPaq, Casio's Cassiopeia, and Hewlett-Packard's Jornada PDAs. ...more