John Lister

Microsoft has announced surprise price cuts to its Windows Vista operating system, in some cases slashing the cost almost by half. In the United States, the price will drop from $399 to $319 for the hi-spec Ultimate edition. The standard Home ... edition price is falling from $259 to $219. The price cuts vary in other countries, and the new prices will take effect once Service Pack 1, the first major update to Vista, is released. For emerging markets such as Russia and India, Microsoft is dropping its upgrade option, by which existing Windows users can get Vista for a reduced price. They've found ... (view more)

Network management is easy. No really, it is. Or at least, it is when you use a new software package from PacketTrap called pt360 Tool Suite Free/Pro (pt360). You see, the folks over at PacketTrap.com realize that running a network can be a painful, ... complex affair that often involves utilizing dozens of tools to diagnose a network problem -- and few ever use a graphical user interface (GUI). In other words, diagnosing a network problem relies on reading long-winded, boring, ugly, jargon-filled text. That's where PacketTrap's pt360 is different. pt360 works just like a dashboard on a car: or ... (view more)

Apple has become the second largest seller of music in America, behind only Wal-Mart. The statistic comes from market research group NPD; its chart is based on the number of sales rather than the actual revenue. To make for a fair comparison, it ... counts 12 individual song downloads on Apple's iTunes service as equivalent to one sale of a physical CD album. Apple was ranked fourth in the same study last year, but has now leapfrogged both Target and Best Buy. A spokesman for NPD said the change was "fairly understandable given the pressure that's been on CDs and the almost 50-percent growth in ... (view more)

Microsoft's feud with the European Union became even more bitter today when regulators hit the firm with another $1.2 billion in fines. This time the penalty was for breaching a 2004 ruling that banned the firm from charging "unreasonable" prices ... for rivals to access software information they needed to produce Windows-compatible programs. Microsoft had been charging 3.87% royalties for all licensed Windows products, and an extra 2.98% to provide the necessary information. Microsoft have now reduced these rates in Europe but maintains them elsewhere. "Microsoft is the first company in 50 years ... (view more)

Pakistan's government appears to have blundered big-time in an attempt to block its citizens viewing videos on YouTube. The state-run Pakistan Telecom attempted to perform what amounted to a hijacking of YouTube's web server addresses. The idea was ... that anyone attempting to access the site through a Pakistani Internet provider would automatically be re-routed to a different address. Unfortunately, it seems the technical detour was mistakenly copied to a Hong Kong server. From there, it was automatically repeated to all connected servers and, given the nature of the Internet, was almost ... (view more)

Researchers from Princeton University have found a simple way to crack popular encryption software, including the FileVault feature built-in to Apple's operating system and BitLocker, which is included in Windows Vista. The software aims to store ... data in a scrambled form making it indecipherable if in the wrong hands. Both programs use a federally approved algorithm that encrypts the information when it is written to, or read from, a hard disk. However, the keys allowing the computer to unscramble data are stored in the computer's memory. In theory, any information in a computer's memory ... (view more)

Plans for the first major update to Windows Vista are experiencing hiccups. A mini-update had to be withdrawn after causing PCs to endlessly reboot, while Microsoft has had to warn that several popular programs will no longer work once the major ... update is complete. Service Pack 1, the first major revision of the Vista system, is expected to be available to customers next month. It's an important step as many users, particularly those in businesses, wait for the first such update before upgrading to a new operating system (in this case, from Windows XP). The problem came with an automatic ... (view more)

Microsoft has announced Xbox 360 users will now be able to legally download games created by other players. While some independent developers already have such games available on their own sites, the new scheme would make titles available through ... the console's built-in online service, Xbox Live. Players will be able to rate and discuss the games. The firm expects around 500 such titles to be available in the service's first year, which starts testing this spring before an official launch nearer Christmas. People wanting to develop a game will have to use dedicated Microsoft software which has ... (view more)

Hardware manufacturers and software publishers have banded together to try to boost the depressed PC gaming market. They've formed the PC Gaming Alliance (PCGA), the first organisation ever dedicated to that cause. The non-profit group's aims ... include "driving coordinated marketing and promotion of PC gaming...and creating forums for member companies to cooperate on solutions to challenges facing the PC gaming industry, such as hardware requirements and anti piracy." Members include graphics card rivals ATI and NVidia, hardware firms like Intel and Acer, games producers Epic and Activision, ... (view more)

Microsoft is giving students free access to some of its leading tools for developing software and creating web sites. The project, called Dreamspark, is designed to encourage pupils to learn the skills needed for a career in the software and ... computing industry. The package includes Visual Studio (a facility for developing software), Expression Studio (which includes graphic and web design tools) and XNA Game Studio (which is used for creating video games). Around 35 million high school students in the US, China and several Western European countries are eligible for the scheme now. School ... (view more)