Keep up with the latest technological advances with the weekly Digital Future Update.

Update 26/1/06

Update 19/1/06

Update 11/1/06

Update 4/1/06

Update 26/1/06

ITV puts faith in interactive ads

Television viewers sent ITV 68m text messages, phone votes and red button activations last year. 24/1/06



Half of EU set to be on 'triple play' of TV, broadband and phone by 2010

A new report has predicted 60% of European households will have the triple-play provision of TV, internet and telecoms by 2010. 24/1/06



MSN brings video streaming portal to UK

MSN has introduced its video streaming service in the UK, opening up a new channel to advertisers in the process. 23/1/06



Community websites top list of fastest-growing online brands

The fastest-growing internet brands in the UK are small community sites featuring content put together by users. 23/1/06



Fists, bombs and blood: Google's brave new world of home video gets off to a shaky start

Google Video claims that its "user-generated" content is carefully vetted by both human and software-based censors, however, the new website, video.google.com, currently hosts a number of home movies that contain explicit scenes of apparently non-simulated violence. 23/1/06



File-sharing 'not cut by courts'

Global court action against music file-sharers has not reduced illegal downloading, an industry report says. 20/1/06



Channel 4 chief asks for free digital spectrum

Andy Duncan has asked the Government to give Channel 4 a free block of digital spectrum to help to safeguard its future. 20/1/06



How the net is transforming news

BBC Director of Global News, Richard Sambrook, discusses the massive impact of the internet on the nature of news. 20/1/06



C4 plans for first podcast

Channel 4 has backed its digital radio aspirations with plans for its first ever podcast, to be fronted by Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow. 19/1/06



Ofcom examines prospects for Local Digital Content Services

Ofcom has published its review into the future prospects of local digital content services. 19/1/06



C4 pulls plug on 'clunky' red button service

Channel 4 has axed its digital red button services across its family of channels, making two staff redundant in the process. 19/1/06



Internet use increases 13% in a year

The number of internet users grew by 13% in 2005, with the number of broadband subscribers up 5% year-on-year to 18m. 19/1/06



Digital music sales triple in 2005

Global digital music sales have soared to $1.1bn in 2005, three times their 2004 level. 19/1/06

Update 19/1/06

Disney to widen online TV shows

Disney has sold more than 1.5 million episodes of shows such as Lost and Desperate Housewives via online music and video store iTunes. 19/1/06



C4 seeking to expand presence in digital radio

Andy Duncan is expected to announce a big push into digital radio and appoint a former Capital Radio board member to lead the campaign. 19/1/06



Blinkx partners UKTV to bring lifestyle TV clips online

Search engine Blinkx, has announced a partnership deal with multi-channel broadcaster UKTV. 18/1/06



New Sky EPG offers personalised listings

BSkyB is giving its 8m subscribers the opportunity to create their own personalised on-screen TV listings. 18/1/06



Apple enjoys ongoing iPod demand

Apple sold more than 14 million of its iPod personal music players in the last three months of 2005, helping to almost double its quarterly profits. 18/1/06



Oxford mobile DTV trial shows high interest

Mobile operator O2 has unveiled initial findings of a mobile TV trial in Oxford. 17/1/06



Fears raised over digital rights

A UK consumer watchdog has called for new laws to protect users' rights to use digital music and movies. 16/1/06



BT unveils findings from mobile TV trial

BT has revealed the first set of results from its pilot broadcast digital TV to mobile service. 13/1/06

Update 11/1/06

Sky launches film download site

Sky TV has launched a broadband service allowing its customers to legally download films from the internet. 11/1/06



No revolution yet, says ITV as it unveils new look

ITV cautioned against predicting the rapid demise of conventional broadcasting yesterday as it unveiled a new look for its four channels. 10/1/06



How to rethink the digital divide

High-tech alone will not bridge digital divide, says Bill Thompson. 9/1/06



Buyer beware as electronics giants launch rival DVDs

Electronics retailers have spoken out over the looming format war between HD-DVD and Blu-ray. 9/1/06



Legitimate music downloading enjoys dream week

Almost 20m music tracks were downloaded in the week to January 1, smashing the record of 9.5m set the week before. 8/1/06



BSkyB and Microsoft forge video deal

BSkyB has forged a deal with Microsoft allowing it to launch a video-on-demand service for personal computers. 6/1/06



Intel eyes entertainment market

Viiv is Intel's bid to convert PCs into home entertainment hubs and that play video, music and other content on a variety of gadgets. 6/1/06



Google plans internet video service

Google is to upgrade its video-search service by allowing users to buy videos from its content partners. 5/1/06

Update 4/1/06

'The Office' hits top spot in US download charts

The American version of The Office is topping the iTunes television download chart. 4/1/06





OFT approves ntl-Telewest and Sky-Easynet mergers

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has approved two mergers which will see the rise of IPTV services offered in 2006. 3/1/06



BBC offers Elvis and 1966 clips for download

Nearly 80 news reports have been released on the site as the corporation's News Archive is opened for anyone in the UK to view. 3/1/06



The year of the digital citizen

2005 was arguably the year citizens really started to do it for themselves. 2/1/06



Consoles herald games revolution

Over the next 12 months, the most powerful piece of technology in the home is likely to be the games console in the living room. 1/1/06



UK becomes Europe's broadband leader

The UK has overtaken France as the most wired European nation as the number of broadband lines reached 9.8m. FT.com, 30/12/05



US CD album sales show 7% slide

Albums sales in the US dipped by 7% in 2005 but the music download market doubled over the past year, according to early figures. 29/12/05



The great digital debate

The UK public are still confused over digital switchover. Find out the most common questions Digital UK were asked this year. 28/12/05



CBS to stream own shows, others' too

CBS is expanding its website venues for its prime-time programming as well as making Internet deals for shows it doesn't own. 28/12/05