Zudeo users will be able to download copies of Red Dwarf

Hundreds of episodes of BBC programmes will be made available on a file-sharing network for the first time, the corporation has announced.

The move follows a deal between the commercial arm of the organisation, BBC Worldwide, and technology firm Azureus.

Fewer people seem inclined to pay for their news

"All the news that's fit to print" was once the newspaper man's slogan. Now, with news-junkies turning increasingly to the net for their daily fix of world events, papers are beginning to feel the pinch. Not since the internet began has there been so much free quality newspaper content on the web.

MySpace has grown massively since its launch in 2003

Social networking website MySpace says it will release tools to identify and ban US sex offenders from its service.

The company said the new service will be the first national database that brings together about 46 US state sex offender registers.

Firms reckon consumers want to get all their media from one source

Satellite television company BSkyB has said it will work with internet search giant Google in order to develop its broadband services and products.

BSkyB, which offers a free broadband internet service to customers, said it would focus on three areas: search and adverts, videos and communications.

Mobile phone use among children is growing

Children are increasingly swapping music via mobile phones, often without realising they can be breaking the law.  A survey of almost 1,500 eight to 13-year-olds found almost a third shared music via their mobiles.

Organised crime gangs are targeting students

The boom in cyber crime is forcing criminals to go to great lengths to recruit skilled hackers, says a report.

Some criminal gangs are paying students while they study to ensure they have a pool of tech-savvy workers to call on, says the report from McAfee.

Some gamers enjoyed a Wii success story

Shortages of Nintendo Wii consoles around Europe have left some gamers who pre-ordered the new machine frustrated.

Nintendo, which has already launched the machine in the US and Japan, said it expected to sell out of Wiis on the first day of sales.

Microsoft has started the roll-out of its new operating system, Windows Vista, which at first is being made available to business customers only.

The system, a replacement for the firm's current Windows XP operating system, will not be available to home consumers until the end of January.
 

Virtual communities are as important as their real-world counterparts, many members of online communities believe.

A survey found 43% of online networkers from the US felt "as strongly" about their web community as they did about their real-world friends. It also revealed net-users had made an average of 4.6 virtual pals this year.

Google has vowed to take a tough line on copyright when it completes its $1.65bn (£875m) takeover of YouTube.

The video-sharing website's rapid growth has been partly down to the thousands of clips from old TV shows uploaded illegally by its users. But Google Europe vice-president Nikesh Arora told MPs his company would not tolerate copyright violations.

A think-tank has called for outdated copyright laws to be rewritten to take account of new ways people listen to music, watch films and read books.

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is calling for a "private right to copy". It would decriminalise millions of Britons who break the law each year by copying their CDs onto music players.

MySpace is the world's most popular social network
 
More than one million MySpace users could have been caught out by a banner advert that installs spyware via a Windows bug. Those who fell victim were bombarded with pop-up adverts and had their net browsing habits monitored by the malicious software. 
 

EBay wants to attract more buyers to its website and auctions

EBay is to launch keyword advertising - where internet users will be directed to specific auctions linked to words on the web page they are visiting.

Under the plan, site owners hosting the adverts for the online auctioneer will get a slice of the product sale price.

The blog became a regular read for hi-tech industry watchers

A business blogger who changed the wider world view of Microsoft is leaving the software giant for a Silicon Valley start-up.

Robert Scoble's blog about his life and events inside and outside Microsoft became the unofficial corporate voice of the company.

Allofmp3.com sells tracks for as little as about 4p each

Britons using bargain music download website allofmp3.com have been warned that they are breaking the law.

Record industry trade association the BPI said consumers were breaking UK copyright law because allofmp3.com was not licensed to sell recordings.

Vista has been widely previewed at trade shows and conferences

Windows users can now get their hands on a test version of Vista, Microsoft's new operating system. The software giant is letting anyone download or order a beta, or trial, version of the program.

The inner workings of the console are being tweaked

The Xbox 360 has been given a make-over by Microsoft.

A huge software update for the next-generation console has been released that makes a series of updates and changes to the gaming gadget.

Users can download the software or buy it in a shop
 
Users worried about staying safe online will soon be able to get software to protect their home PC direct from Microsoft. 
 

Five Life will offer children's shows under the Milkshake! banner

Broadcaster Five is to launch two new digital TV channels this autumn. Five US will offer drama, films, sport, comedy and youth programming from across the Atlantic.

To recover files, victims are asked to buy drugs online

Do not panic if your data is hidden by virus writers demanding a ransom.

Poor programming has allowed anti-virus companies to discover the password to retrieve the hijacked data inside a virus that has claimed at least one UK victim.