Virgin has closed Virgin Digital, its Windows Media-based alternative to Apple's iTunes. It stopped selling one-off downloads on Friday, though subscribers will still have access to their collections until their next monthly payment is due.

The Globalisation Institute, a European think-tank run by free market advocates, today went on the offensive against Microsoft, calling on the EU to require all PCs to be sold without operating systems.

Crytek has put back the release of the demo version of Crysis, the eagerly anticipated PC-based first-person shooter that DirectX 10 graphics cards owners are all keen to try.

When is an Apple an Orange? When it's an iPhone it would seem, with the mobile operator winning the French rights to sell the Apple device.

We all thought LEGO's Star Wars figures were the acme of geek-friendly toys, but with Halo 3 about to roll - officially at least - something even better's just arrived in the UK: LEGO-style Master Chief models.

A teacher at a US community college in Red Oak, Iowa says he was fired after telling his students not to interpret the story of Adam and Eve as a literal account of events circa BC 4000.

Mobile WorkshopWhen the area of mobile technology and applications is discussed, there is a tendency to treat it as a relatively new part of the overall IT landscape.

A pioneering project aimed at improving the quality of patents in the US must be made compulsory if it is to work, according to the project's manager. Currently the pilot project is only voluntary.

US defence-tech behemoth Lockheed Martin has been awarded a $16m deal to provide the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)'s fingerprint database with extra processing power.

BT has again hinted that it could be persuaded to upgrade the UK's aged copper and aluminium wires into homes and businesses to fibre-optic lines.

Toshiba will next week formally announce a processor based on the Cell chip that sits inside each Sony PlayStation 3 games console. The new CPU will be pitched not only at consumer electronics kit but set head-to-head with today's PC and Mac graphics chips.

The group behind the third-world oriented $100 (ish) laptop will also offer consumers in developed countries the chance to buy its machine later this year.

The Pirate Bay has filed a criminal complaint against entertainment firms over alleged attacks against the controversial file sharing tracker site.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been looking at the various rationales as to why people might want to collaborate, or access applications, when they are mobile. But just how much of a concern is it to the corporation itself? According to a recent Reg reader poll, the answer is "quite a lot". Indeed, initiatives for mobile and remote access ranked third out of a total of 21 potential activities, with 60 per cent of respondents saying their organisations were planning to roll out such technologies within the next six months. Ranking above mobility were only infrastructure optimisation and custom app development.

World leaders are set to meet today to discuss the effects of climate change and possible political measures to tackle it.

Leaving the house and realising you've only got five minutes of iPod juice left is like running out of petrol on the motorway. But, while battery company Energizer can't do anything about the latter, it has developed an instant power source for mobile music fans.

EMC has grown bored of sitting on a fat pile of VMware IPO cash and reportedly dropped $76m for web-based automated backup outfit Mozy.

The US Army is looking to develop a range of miniaturised guided missiles for use by its robot warriors of the future, according to reports. Each missile could be the size of a large party cracker.

UK security integrators GSS and Peapod are to merge. The new firm will continue under the GSS brand becoming one of the largest security integrators and consultancy firms in the UK with a combined roster of 2,500 clients and around 60 workers.

The Mars Odyssey orbiter has beamed back pictures of what appear to be cave entrances on the slopes of a Martian volcano.

2007's Top ProductsWe've already reviewed Apple's iPhone, so why are we taking another look? There are several reasons. First, a different reviewer means a different opinion. That applies to any product, of course, but Apple's claim that the iPhone is "revolutionary" perhaps justifies an alternative appraisal.

The southern Martian ice cap is mostly made of water, according to those clever boffins* at MIT.

Hotly-debated European sat nav project Galileo has suffered a technical delay in addition to its budgetary and political woes.

A London man has been handed a 10 week jail sentence for taking a Porsche 911 Turbo on a 172mph spin earlier this year.

Wall Street darling VMware released patches that address multiple vulnerabilities in its products this week.

"It'll be like Steve Fossett all over again, only worse," said one embittered Reg hack on hearing the news that NASA has decided to send Beagle to the moon.

Samsung and fashion label Armani have kicked off their recently announced partnership with the launch of a credit-card sized handset that sports a user interface with a vibro-feedback feature.

Since their announcement earlier this month, Apple and Starbucks haven’t said much about plans to make the iTunes Music Store available over Wi-Fi in the coffee giant's branches. Now we know why though, because Starbucks is to launch the service in the USA by giving away 50m free songs.

Political websites have lined up in defence of a former diplomat whose blog was deleted by hosting firm Fasthosts after threats from lawyers acting for billionaire Arsenal investor Alisher Usmanov.

If you don't mind running the risk of having your fingers sliced off while watching a film, then this portable DVD player (PDP) could be the ultimate concept design for you. Designer Yeon-Shin Seung has created a gadget with a roll-up display, but without a cover to protect users from the 1600rpm disc.

A Texan family has been handed a harsh lesson in what the Creative Commons "movement" really means for creatives who use its licences.

Hitachi Data Systems is adding the ability to power down disk drives on demand to its mid-range product lineup. They're also rolling out support for bigger disks and some new security services.

We don't know quite what is going on down at the Czech Olympic Committee, which recently announced its intention to pitch for the 2016 Olympics, but we reckon it's employed one of the Lads from Lagos to write the English version of its promotional website. Try the fascinating history of the country's previous bids, which begins thus:

Red Hat is suffering from JBoss reflux, according to a pair of prominent open source software watchers.

If you use Google to send email, organize photos or help administer your website, doomwatchers have cataloged three new ways to steal your data and compromise the security of your users. All three of the techniques rely on cross site scripting, or XSS, in which hackers inject unauthorized code by making it appear as if it's hosted by a trusted website.

A GNU General Public License (GPL) test case in the US looks dead in the water after a start-up promised to abide by the GPLv2 rather than duke it out in court with the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC).

It's official: embearded death machine Chuck Norris - legendarily described as "the meanest whup-ass mutha west of the Mississippi" - will shortly enter the blood-spattered ring of Vulture Central's Arena of Death to challenge for the "Hardest Man in on the Planet - Ever!" title; 15 rounds of senseless violence in which no quarter is asked, nor given, and those who ultimately fail to come up to scratch are consigned to the crumpled bodybag of history.