IBM invests $100m in Linux

IBM will invest a total of $100 million over the next three years in order to broaden the use of Linux technologies within its Workplace product family.

According to BetaNews, the funding will be used to back a series of service ISV support and technical programmes, marketing initiatives and Linux R&D designed to boost the adoption of Linux, cross-platform support and cost control.

The Workplace portfolio of products consists of WebSphere Portal, Lotus Notes/Domino and IBM Workplace. Many of those products already have elements of Linux support, says Workplace portal and collaboration software GM Ambuj Goyal.

"Since customers have been looking for ways to extend the value of Linux to the desktop, IBM felt the time was right to deliver a fully-supported Linux client alternative."

UK TV viewers are leading the world in downloading US television shows from the Internet, a report has found.

According to Web tracking company Envisional, up to 100 000 British viewers download new TV programmes from the Internet, with many shows available only hours after they are aired in the US - mostly on the BitTorrent network.

Many TV companies are worried by the Envisional report, reports Boostmarketing, as a high prevalence of downloading could affect viewer numbers when the TV show is finally screened in the UK - causing a reduction in commercial advertisement revenue.

Olympus has launched a hard-drive-based music player with a built-in digital camera.

The M:Robe 500i has a 3.7-inch touch-screen that can also be used to view photos. According to News.com, Olympus seems to be aiming the M:Robe series at the young, hip urban market. The device has a 20GB hard drive and will cost $450 (R2 700) online.

The device also has a limited battery life - up to eight hours of playing music, or 90 minutes when working on photos.

Apple will announce an updated iPod mini with a colour screen and higher capacity hard drive within the next two weeks, reports Think Secret.

The next iPod mini is expected to feature a full-colour active-matrix TFT screen, while the form factor will remain largely unchanged. Think Secret says the colour screen will be able to display colours clearly and brightly, regardless of ambient lighting, even outdoors in direct sunlight.

The new screen will be about the same size as the current iPod mini display and will sport a 176x132 resolution.

The next iPod mini will also pack a higher capacity Seagate drive. Think Secret says the new iPod mini will remain at $249 (R1 800), and is expected to be announced early next week or the week after at the latest.