First film premiere online

The writer of the Oscar-nominated movie "The Full Monty" is premiering his latest film on the Internet, in a world first, according to CNN. Simon Beaufoy`s latest film, "This is Not a Love Song", is being streamed online as it debuts simultaneously in a handful of cinemas.

Filmmakers who experience difficulty finding distribution deals for their productions will closely watch the release. The plot concerns two fugitives on the run from a group of vigilante farmers after an accidental killing on a remote farm.

ITWeb was interested in the soundtrack, given the oblique reference to a Johnny Rotten song, but could not download it due to overcrowding at the virtual box office. Click here to be notified of return to operational status.

Microsoft has agreed to pay $23.3 million to Be Inc to settle an anti-trust lawsuit that claimed the software giant negotiated deals with computer makers that cut out the smaller company`s competing operating system.

AP reports that Microsoft admits no wrongdoing under the settlement.

Intel will release a pair of Itanium 2 processors optimised for rack-mounted servers and clusters today, as it attempts to expand the chip family`s reach, reports ZDNet.

The Low Voltage Itanium 2, formerly code-named Deerfield, and a scaled-down version of the latest Itanium 2 chip are largely designed to fit inside two-processor servers where cost, space and energy consumption are paramount concerns.

The battle between the record industry and individuals who upload online music has a new wrinkle, reports USA Today. Even as the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is cracking down on file swappers, it is also willing to offer "amnesty".

In exchange for wiping unauthorised song services and tunes off the hard drive, and noting this in a notarised letter, the RIAA will agree not to file civil suits. But, if the person is discovered trading songs in the future, the association could come back with criminal charges, which carry hefty fines.

Cisco Systems hopes to do to storage what it did to networking, reports InformationWeek. Networking routers were once expensive and hidden deep inside severs. Cisco made them standalone commodities.

Now, it is trying to do the same thing with the switches and higher-end traffic directors that work at the centre of fibre channel-based storage-area networks. The networking company will unveil new FC switches and software tomorrow that, according to analysts, are sure to shake up the market.