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Industry group warns of escalating losses from unlicensed software.

Minister on relatively firm ground compared with some of his colleagues and opponentsNick Brown, the government chief whip, yesterday became the first MP to voluntarily release the full, unedited details of his expenses in advance of publication by parliament.The minister knew he would be on firm ground as, unlike some of his colleagues, he had not claimed a penny for furniture from the taxpayer over the last four years.The only two major disputes he had with the Commons authorities concerned his employment of staff. In 2008 the authorities wrote to him at the end of the financial year saying they could not pay him any more money because he had used up his entire staffing allowance - totalling £101,153 - for the year. He had to cut his last claim by £350 to £1,800 and transfer the money to another heading where he had underspent his cash.He explained: 'A senior member of my staff was leaving and his replacement worked alongside him for two months to get to know the job - so my budget w

Thai authorities investigating the recent deaths of two female tourists suspect that the women may have died from food poisoning, police sources told CNN Monday. Jill St. Onge, a 27-year-old artist from Seattle, Washington, and Julie Michelle Bergheim, a 22-year-old Norwegian woman, died at the same resort on Thailand's Phi Phi Island just over a week ago.

Shaun Nichols in San Francisco, vnunet.com, Tuesday 12 May 2009 at 00:19:00 New operating system will be out for Christmas Microsoft has officially confirmed that the two newest versions of Windows will be out before the end of the year. the company announced at its TechEd conference in los angeles that Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 Release 2 (R2) would see release in the fourth quarter of 2009 prior to the holiday season. Microsoft's statement confirms multiple earlier reports that Windows 7 is on track to arrive before the original goal of early 2010. Some reports have put a possible release date as early as October of this year. 'With early release candidate testing and extensive partner feedback, Windows 7 is tracking well for holiday availability,' said Bill Veghte, senior vice president of Windows business for Microsoft. The announcement of the release target for Windows Server 2008 R2 comes as the company unveiled the second release candidate build for the new se

(Telecompaper) Nortel's first-quarter revenues fell 37 percent from a year earlier to USD 1.37 billion, as the network equipment maker suffered from the economic slowdown and its filing for protection from creditors. Excluding negative currency effects, revenues dropped 27 percent. Despite a reduction in operating expenses, the net loss widened to USD 507 million, versus a loss of USD 108 million a year ago. Nortel finished the quarter with USD 2.48 billion in cash, up from USD 2.40 billion at the end of 2008 due to some USD 242 million in cash flow from operations during the quarter. Nortel said it's focused on completing the move to standalone operations for all its four divisions - Carrier Networks, Metro Ethernet Networks, Enterprise Solutions and the LG-Nortel joint-venture. From Q3, the Carrier VoIP and Application Solutions units, currently part of Carrier Networks, will also start to report as standalone entities. This should pave the way for the company to consider selling one

On 15 September 2008 we reviewed the Pioneer PDP-LX5090 and found it to be flipping marvellous -- several months on, it feels like a good time to review its long-term performance

Cher turned back time over the weekend. At a David Foster and Friends concert Saturday in Las Vegas, the singer, 62, wore a sheer black bodysuit, similar to the one she wore 20 years ago in her 'Turn Back Time' video. She accessorized with a pair of thigh-high boots and suspenders. See the most outrageously dressed celebs of 2008 Asked about getting old, Cher told Oprah Winfrey last year,... Join Us on Facebook and Twitter for even more up to the minute celebrity news and photos!

Virtualization improvements are among the key new features in the release candidate as Microsoft plans a SQL Server test version soon, as well.

(Telecompaper) The Italian competition and communications authority issued a report highlighting high prices and limited transparency in the SMS and mobile data markets. The two services had a turnover of EUR 4 billion in 2008, of which around 60 percent came from SMS. While most heavy SMS users pay around EUR 0.01 per message in Italy due to special plans, the majority (62%) of SMS consumers are paying an average price of EUR 0.15. This is more than the recently set price cap for SMS while roaming in the EU of EUR 0.11, suggesting there is room for wholesale and retail prices to come in Italy, the regulators said. Given the expected continued strong growth in the market for SMS, which has been growing at over 40 percent in recent years, the regulators also want to see operators provide more information to customers on the pricing plans available. Consumers also need more information when deciding on mobile internet services, the regulators said, noting the 'unfavourable' contract term

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