UPDATED: Linux distro files for bankruptcy protection

Linux distributor MandrakeSoft has filed for banruptcy protection, although version 9.1 of its software is still scheduled for April release. France-based MandrakeSoft filed for a 'declaration de cessation des paiements' (similar to going into reveivership or the US Chapter 11-Reorganisation) on 13 January. ...more

Apple's 30th Birthday [part 1] - Riding the whirlwind

Thirty years ago this Saturday, 1 April, Apple Computer was founded by three some-time employees of Atari and HP: Steve Jobs, Steve 'Oz' Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. No-one seems absolutely sure of the origins of the name. It has variously been suggested that the name is a tribute to The Beatles' company Apple Corps, to Alan Turing, the father of computer science who killed himself by eating an apple laced with cyanide, or to Sir Isaac Newton, who is pictured sitting beneath an Apple tree in the very first company logo. ...more

Million Dollar Homepage facing extortion

It may have been that the criminal fraternity thought this was just too easy a way of making money - tantamount to robbery. But the boy with the million dollar homepage has been hit by extortion attempts and denial of service attacks. 21-year-old Alex Tew's money-spinning brainwave of selling adverts on a web page by the pixel, and at a dollar a dot, finally made the magic million earlier this month, earning him a lot a publicity. ...more

World Wide Web doubles in three years

The Internet continues to blossom as millions of new sites come on line each month. Netcraft says that within the last month some 3.1 million sites have been added to the Internet and that the Web has doubled in size over the last three years: growing from 40 million in April 2003 to more than 80 million today. ...more

Apple completes iPod manufacturing audit

Apple has completed its audit of Foxconn's iPod manufacturing facility in China and found that the plant largely complied with the Apple Supplier Code of Conduct, which lays down specific rules designed to safeguard human rights, worker health and safety and the environment. The audit was prompted by allegations in the Mail on Sunday of poor working and living conditions for workers at the plant in LongHau in China's Shenzhen province. Apple interviewed over 100 randomly selected employees representing a cross-section of line workers, inspected factory floors, dormitories, dining hall and recreation areas and reviewed thousands of documents including personnel files, payroll data, time cards, and security logs. ...more