Shuffle makes a splash

The iPod shuffle claimed 43 per cent of the worldwide flash player market in February, Apple said yesterday, quoting figures from NPD Techworld. Its success has boosted Apple's share of the market for all portable music players to around 70 per cent; over 90 per cent of all hard drive players sold are iPods Apple sold over five million iPods in the last three months, its best return yet, but declined to give separate figures for the three varieties. The iPod-compatible iTunes Music Store has between 70 and 75 per cent of the global downloads market. ...more

EFF decries patenting 'suggestion test'

US digital rights campaigners have asked the country's Supreme Court to overturn a patent law ruling that they believe poses a serious threat to Free and Open Source Software projects. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is concerned about a recent ruling by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, which affirmed its own 'suggestion test' as the main method for determining when a patent should be found obvious over knowledge in the public domain. Under this test, even the most obvious incremental advances and add-ons can be patented unless the Patent Office or a defendant in court produces a document that shows someone else suggested it prior to the patent being filed. ...more

Old Gordon Moore's Almanac 2007

We all know transistor density doubles every 18 months, but we thought we'd apply our density to predict the future tech trends and milestones to look forward to in the coming 12 months. January Microsoft launches Windows Vista for consumers 31 January, 11.59pm, and on schedule. ...more

Vista under attack as illegal in Europe

A coalition of companies - rivals to Microsoft - allege that Microsoft's new Vista operating system will perpetuate practices found illegal in the European Union nearly three years ago. The group, which includes IBM, Nokia, Sun Microsystems, Adobe, Oracle and Red Hat, said its complaints made last year are yet to be addressed just days before Vista is due for release. The European Commission found in 2004 that Microsoft used its dominance to muscle out RealNetworks and other makers of audio and video streaming software and that it made its desktop Windows deliberately incompatible with rivals' server software. ...more

HMV to dish free digital music advice

HMV shops are to give customers free digital music advice when it launches its own downloads store in September. The music retailer will install 200 computers in its high street outlets and hopes to 'demistify' downloading for women and older people. Currently an estimated 96 per cent of downloaders are male. ...more