John Lister

Buyers of Vista's Ultimate Edition have long complained they were ripped off by unfulfilled promises for extra features and better performance. Now they're outraged by feelings that they've been left out of cheap deals for switching to Windows 7. ... Upon its release, one of the top-billed extra features in the Ultimate version of Vista was 'Ultimate Extras'. Buyers were told they would regularly receive updates containing "cutting-edge programs, innovative services and unique publications." In reality the extras came irregularly and were underwhelming to say the least. It's now more than nine ... (view more)

The owners of Pirate Bay, recently fined $3.62 million for copyright offences, have sold the site for $7.7 million. The site's new owners, Global Gaming Factory (GGF) have hinted that the site will go legit. That's got some users worried, despite ... reassurances by Pirate Bay staff that its services won't change. GGF is paying half the purchase price in cash and the rest in the form of three per cent of GGF's company stock. In a separate deal, GGF is buying out Peerialism, a Swedish tech company specializing in the logistics of peer-to-peer-file sharing. The price in that deal is $13 million, ... (view more)

According to reports, the death of Michael Jackson, and the online whirlwind it created, helped crash some major news sources. In addition, there have been incidents where online wrongdoers have sought to take advantage in Jackson's death , with ... both hacking and spam related to the subject. Google News Unresponsive Google News was inaccessible for many users for 25 minutes on Thursday afternoon, replaced by a message stating: "We're sorry, but your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application. To protect our users, we can't process your request right ... (view more)

Microsoft is now offering users in six countries Windows 7 at around half the standard price -- for a limited time, of course. The deal is open to existing Vista owners and involves paying now then getting the upgrade when Windows is released. In ... the United States, the offer means customers can get an upgrade from Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Home Premium for $49, and from Vista 7 Professional to Windows 7 Professional for $99. That compares with standard upgrade prices of $119.99 and $199.99 respectively. Surprisingly, Windows 7 Ultimate, the other main retail edition of Windows Vista, is ... (view more)

Legal experts believe a $1.92 million fine imposed on a Minnesota woman for illegally sharing copyrighted music files could prompt a change in the law. Even if Jammie Thomas-Rasset fails in a potential constitutional challenge, anger over the size ... of the fine may force Congress to rewrite the rules. Double Whammy: Fine Skyrockets from $222,000 to $1,920,000 Thomas-Rasset was originally found to have broken copyright laws in 2007 after a court heard she had shared more than a thousand songs on the Kazaa file sharing network, though only 24 were officially cited in the case. A jury ordered her ... (view more)

Apple is celebrating after the latest incarnation of the iPhone sold a million units in its first weekend. However, the firm has issued compensation to some customers who were unable to fully activate their handsets. The sales figures of the 3G S ... are keeping pace with the 3G, which came out last August. That's an impressive number, given that many consumers are cutting back on spending this year and that there are no revolutionary changes to the new model other than an improvement in speed. Pre Sales Figures May be Inflated It's worth remembering that Apple's counting methods are considered ... (view more)

The head of Microsoft says he isn't getting overconfident about Bing' early success. CEO Steve Ballmer says he's prepared to be patient while building Microsoft's search business and says the firm may spend almost $5 billion a year on search ... technology. Speaking to the Executives Club of Chicago, Ballmer said "In our industry, the No. 1 mistake that people make is that they quit too early. If you look back at any great technology business, it took a while to build up." A good example: according to Ballmer, MS Windows (which was introduced in 1983) didn't become a mainstream hit until around ... (view more)

Unconfirmed reports say Microsoft is charging manufacturers much more than expected for the netbook edition of Windows 7. The news comes as a major research analyst picks Google's Android operating system as having the potential to seriously ... challenge Windows on netbooks. According to reports, Microsoft is quoting prices of $45 to $55 for netbook producers to license the Starter edition of Windows 7. That's almost double the price of the equivalent edition to XP. Win7 Price Huge for Netbook OEMs The price difference is significant for low-priced machine like netbooks. In some cases it would ... (view more)

Four senators have written to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) calling for an investigation into exclusive deals between cellphone manufacturers and network carriers. Though the letter doesn't name any particular companies, it appears ... that Apple's deal with AT ... (view more)