9th April 2004 Archive

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Labels seek end to 99c music per song download

Too cheap

Remember how online music stores were going to route around the music industry? The pigopolists have barely got their feet under the table and already demanding more. The Wall Street Journal reports that the major five labels think that 99 cents per song is too cheap, and are discussing a price hike that would increase the …

Business 9 Apr 2004, 02:32
Nokia's Bluetooth CDMA phone draws iPod comparisons

Bland is back

Nokia used the CTIA show last month to unveil a phone that's drawn comparisons to the iPod. The analogy can't be stretched too far, but it's a good one: after throwing all kinds of outré designs at the market, Nokia has produced a model startling in its banality. But this might be just what the company needs right now. Much of …

Mobile 9 Apr 2004, 02:33
Skype: giving wireless PDAs a new voice

Broadband piggyback

Peer-to-peer telephony upstart Skype Technologies has staked its claim on the title of most popular mobile application provider ever with the launch of a version of its massively popular software designed for handheld devices. The free to use PocketSkype is designed for users of wireless LAN (WLAN)-enabled PDAs based on …

Mobile 9 Apr 2004, 09:44
Nokia: sales slump caused by inadequate product range

Keep up at the Front

Nokia's reputation as the unchallenged master of the mobile phone industry took a blow this week when it said it had lost market share in Q1 to increasingly confident competitors. Nokia's statement is worrying for its investors, but suggests that the telecoms market as a whole is looking up. While Nokia originally forecast that …

Mobile 9 Apr 2004, 09:45
Grey stage set for UK PS2 price war

Unofficial discounting force Sony's hand?

A significant unofficial drop in PlayStation 2 hardware and software prices has kicked off in the UK fuelled by the Caldwell Group-backed distributor 20:20, which is causing consternation within Sony after it recently began offering "grey" PS2 imports to retailers, along with the option of several software bundles. 20:20 …

Consoles 9 Apr 2004, 09:59
Sun shelves UltraSPARC V in favor of the great unknown

Gemini toast too

Sun Microsystems' CEO Scott McNealy often says his company will not back down from spending on research and development, but that is exactly what Sun has done with the cancellation of the UltraSPARC V and Gemini processors, The Register can confirm first. Sun is laying off at least 500 engineers in Chelmsford, Massachusetts and …

Servers 9 Apr 2004, 13:13
No Windows XP SE as Longhorn jettisons features

Just get this steer out of the door

Microsoft won't ship an interim version of Windows, retail or otherwise, before Longhorn according to email seen by Business Week. The memos from a week ago suggest that Microsoft is jettisoning features from Longhorn in order to meet the ship date of the first half of 2006. WinFS appears to be the main casualty, having already …

Operating Systems 9 Apr 2004, 20:02
Chip start-up boosts Wi-Fi rate by '10-20 times'

The Engim room

As chipmakers fight to prove they can stretch the range and rate of Wi-Fi well beyond the standard, start-up Engim has enlisted research from the Tolly Group testing company to back up its claims. It has released test results commissioned from Tolly that show a prototype access point, based on Engim's Wi-Fi chipset and Intel's …

Wireless 9 Apr 2004, 20:41
Vodafone promises multi-network moves

But Wi-Fi will force pricing rethink

Vodafone, the world’s largest mobile operator, officially launched its 3G service in the UK last week – although at this stage, this is accessible only with laptop data cards, not handsets. UK chief executive Bill Morrow told analysts that the future strategy for the all-important enterprise data market would rest on integrating …

Mobile 9 Apr 2004, 21:00
Apple DMCA sends iTunes DRM decryptor offshore

India bound

The PlayFair project, which removes fair-use restrictions from music purchased through Apple's online store, has become the latest victim of offshoring. Actually, that's not quite true: only the hosting provider has moved to India. Not surprisingly, Apple has used the Digital Millenium Copyright Act to ask SourceForge to remove …

Music and Media 9 Apr 2004, 21:17