John Lister

The movie download market got a big boost this week with two major players signalling an end to the gap between DVD and download release dates. Apple has completed deals with most of the large film groups, meaning they can now sell movies through ... the iTunes store on the same day DVDs hit shelves. New releases on iTunes will cost $14.99 while older titles will cost $9.99. Meanwhile, Warner Brothers is to axe its rental-only period for movie downloads. Internet users will now be able to buy a downloaded movie on the same day as it becomes available for online rental. Apple will likely use its ... (view more)

Hewlett Packard has uncovered a new form of electrical circuit which could allow them to make even smaller memory chips that consume less power than existing chips. The discovery could allow cell phones to run for weeks on a single charge, or give ... PCs the chance to start-up in an instant. Though the chips would be smaller, they will be able to store information once the power is turned off, similar to the Flash system used in camera memory cards or USB sticks. The advancement is tied to the way an electrical circuit works. Scientists have always known a circuit involves three basic components ... (view more)

American teachers are increasingly finding Internet chatroom and forum-style abbreviations are showing up in their pupils' assignments. A survey of 700 teenagers found more than one-third say they have used abbreviations such as LOL (Laugh Out Loud) ... in schoolwork. A quarter said they'd even used emoticons, the combinations of punctuation marks which represent different emotions and are traditionally used in online writing to replicate the tone and body language which accompanies spoken language. More than 40% of those surveyed said programs such as Microsoft Word encouraged poor grammar and ... (view more)

The latest major update for Windows XP was due for release this week, though a last-minute hitch appears to have caused some problems. XP Service Pack 3 was originally scheduled for download through Microsoft's update service on Tuesday. However, ... the firm temporarily halted the updates after finding compatibility problems with Microsoft Dynamics RMS. That's a software package that helps small and medium businesses manage their supply chains. Microsoft is now putting a filter on the download service to identify which computers are running the Dynamics software. They'll then re-release the ... (view more)

Three major PC sellers have found a way to continue offering Windows XP after it's officially withdrawn from sale on June 30. Dell, HP, and Lenovo have all found loopholes in the terms of the Microsoft license which, in theory at least, imposes the ... deadline on supplying PCs with the system installed. Dell is using a clause in its license to supply Windows Vista, the successor to XP. The license means they have to sell machines with Vista installed as standard. However, they will be able to allow customers to downgrade their package. HP is going to operate a similar system until July 2009. In ... (view more)

It looks as if the low cost laptops designed for the developing world may run on Microsoft Windows. However, the news follows turmoil among the project's management with a third major figure departing. The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) scheme aims to ... produce cheap machines to sell in bulk to governments of developing nations. It involves a laptop (named XO) that's designed to be particularly easy to use, and durable enough to survive in a wide range of climates. Originally, the laptop was only designed to run a package of software named Sugar which includes music creation and photo features. ... (view more)

It appears Apple will sell an unlocked edition of the iPhone in Italy, which raises the question of whether the company will adopt a similar policy elsewhere in the world. An unlocked phone is one that will work with any telephone carrier. So far, ... Apple has always sold the phone in a locked state. For example, in the United States it only works on the AT ... (view more)

The Federal Communications Commission has begun hearings into net neutrality, the concept that all Internet traffic should be treated equally, without representatives of the major Internet and telephone companies. Comcast, AT ... (view more)

Microsoft is experimenting with the idea of renting its software rather than only having it available to buy out-right. The scheme, codenamed Albany, would allow US users to pay a monthly subscription for a package of software which would likely ... comprise Word, Excel, PowerPoint and anti-virus software. Users in some developing countries can already rent Office, and Microsoft's OneCare security package is already available for annual subscription in America. However, this would be the first time Office could be rented in a major market like the US. The company believes the biggest selling ... (view more)

The leading manufacturer of software using the open source Linux system says it's still too tricky to produce a serious competitor to the Windows operating system that is suitable for the average PC user. Linux is an operating system based on open ... source code; that means it's free to use, distribute and alter it. Indeed, many computer developers find ways to improve it and then share those improvements. Think of it like the Wikipedia of programming. The system is popular for running servers, the large machines at the heart of computer networks. That's because it's generally seen as more ... (view more)