Alleged production threat to Microsoft Xbox

Microsoft has denied that the 8 November launch of the much-heralded Xbox games console may be hit by production problems, following reports on the Internet that its partners may be unable to deliver essential components on time. The New York Times quotes a Wall Street brokerage's allegation that "a flaw in Intel's motherboard design" may delay manufacturing for three to four weeks, with Microsoft having just 50,000 units ready for the launch date. Moreover, according to sources, game developers are facing difficulties when it comes to compiling the final code for Xbox games. ...more

Online shopping threat exaggerated - report

Online shopping is not quite as fraught with risk as some would have us believe, according to online retailers in the UK. A recent APACS (Association for Payment Clearing Services) report showed card-not-present (CNP) fraud, which includes online shopping, added up to more than ?90m - an increase of 29 per cent - during the first six months of 2005. However, Internet fraud itself only rose five per cent, although it remained the largest part of CNP fraud. ...more

iPod inspires music mag relaunch

Music magazine Q is relaunching this month, with the iPod and digital downloads taking centre stage. The magazine is hoping to reverse a circulation that has fallen 20 per cent in two years by establishing itself as the guide for the iPod generation. 'People swapped vinyl for CDS and we think that shift is about to happen again, transferring CD for digital,' editor Paul Rees, told The Guardian. ...more

ICANN adds IPv6 nameserver address to the Internet

ICANN, the steward of the Internet, has concluded a week-long meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with a string of initiatives that includes a move towards IPv6 technology. The most interesting announcement concerns the next-generation of Internet addressing technology: IPv6. For the first time, an IPv6 nameserver address has been added to the Internet's root DNS zone. ...more

Easy-to-use Java creator goes public

Sun's new easy-to-use Java development environment - Java Studio Creator - is to go public next week. Formerly codenamed Project Rave, the first public access release will be made available 8 April. Currently, only a registration-based technical preview is available. ...more