Amazon offers one of the most compelling iTunes competitors around right now. The online retailer offers music downloads from all four major labels. And unlike Apple's iTunes, Microsoft's Zune Marketplace and other digital music stores, Amazon MP3 offers DRM-free music at reasonable prices. There's just one problem -- the service doesn't work outside of the US. Yet.

For months, Amazon has been saying that it plans to go international. Now it looks like the company is taking the first steps. The Telegraph reports that Amazon MP3 officials visited London last week to meet with record label execs. It's possible that Amazon could launch a UK version of its MP3 music store by the end of the year.

[via Engadget]

First came pirated copies of TV shows being traded over the internet by fans the BBC iPlayer service which lets UK residents watch any TV program that's aired in the last seven days. Now the BBC plans to stream BBC1 content live over the internet.

The new streaming service will go live sometime int he next few months. The BBC already streams content from several of its news channels live, but this will be the first time you'll be able to watch live TV from the BBC's flagship channel on the web.

You'll need a broadband internet connection to watch. And you'll also also need to pay the same £139.50 annual license fee that you pay to watch television in the UK. Critics complain that it could be tricky for the BBC to enforce that policy, which means that television owners could wind up subsidizing the content watched by people who own a computer but no television set. But officials charged with enforcing the TV licensing policy say they have ways to catch moochers. All of which means that we probably won't be tuning into BBC1 over the internet in the US any time soon.

thanks Omar!

For those of you that have been itching to get a pulse on more European company information and UK mutual fund data, Google Finance has just opened Google Finance UK.

Following in the footsteps of Google Finance Canada, the Google Finance Blog states that this is another implementation of a series of sites that will aim to bring localized financial information to users.

Although there aren't any hints of which country will be graced with the next Google Finance localization, 2008 will supposedly see some new features. Hopefully, the people that have been having issues with Google Finance's lack of dividend information will have their wish fulfilled.

[via Googlified]

We have two bits of probably unrelated news about digital music in Europe to share today. First up, Apple has announced plans to establish uniform pricing for iTunes downloads throughout Europe. Right now, UK residents are paying more for their music than customers in any other country in Europe.

The reason for that is because Apple has to pay record labels more money to distribute music in the UK than in other countries, but Apple is hoping to force those labels to lower their rates.

In other news, British regulators are considering legalizing CD ripping. That's right, up until now, it's been considered illegal to buy a CD, stick it in your computer and create MP3s that you can put on an iPod or other portable media player in the UK. Of course, everyone does it anyway, which is probably why Britain is thinking about legalizing the act.

Do these two announcements have anything to do with one another? Probably not. But we can't help but ponder that the only way to legally load up your iPod in Europe right now is to buy digital music online from stores like iTunes. If there's a handful of people who are steadfastly avoiding ripping CDs for fear of spending the rest of their natural lives in jail, any change in that law could cause them to give up iTunes. And Apple could be trying to lower its prices in an effort to keep those paying customers.

Attention UK Pandora users: as of January 15, 2008, Pandora will stop streaming its Internet radio content. This comes more than six months after Pandora was forced to shut-down service to most non-US users and is the latest in the continually messy battle over licensing Internet radio.

A reader just forwarded us an e-mail from Pandora, explaining the situation. Here are the pertinent bits:

...As you probably know, in July of 2007 we had to block usage of Pandora outside the U.S. because of the lack of a viable license structure for Internet radio streaming in other countries. It was a terrible day. We did however hold out some hope that a solution might exist for the UK, so we left it unblocked as we worked diligently with the rights organizations to negotiate an economically workable license fee...

The message goes on to describe some of the problems Pandora has had trying to work out licensing agreements with UK licensing agencies that were financial suicide. Suffice to say, nothing could be worked out:

...Pandora will stop streaming to the UK as of January 15th, 2008.

Just when we think the music industry might finally be taking steps - small as they may be - to stop fighting against technology, and instead work with technology, something like this happens, and we are reminded once again that this is an industry doing anything and everything in its power not to evolve. Although the RIAA has been the most vocal in its lobbying efforts against the removal of DRM and against fair Internet radio rates, this incident proves that it is not just American record executives; it is the industry as a whole.

Never mind that forcing unfair licensing terms on Internet radio stations and riddling files with DRM hasn't worked (US album sales, even with digital sales tallied, declined by nearly 10 percent in 2007), let's just continue to refuse to face reality while the market and business model quickly disappear and change irrevocably.

Thanks Gordon

With UK-based Carphone Warehouse estimating first-day sales of Apple's iPhone at 10,000 or more, observers in England are beginning to gripe about the same things American iPhone consumers have been griping about since last spring. Where to begin? The servers used to activate the phones can't handle the massive swell of eager consumers unboxing and activating their iPhones. There's no Skype. Lack of 3G network support. Incomplete Bluetooth support. A persistent inability to develop anything besides web-based apps for the thing.

Apple took steps to rectify at least some of these concerns by announcing a Software Developer's Kit, a seemingly tardy bit of news. Some believe this tardiness had more to do with the timing of Leopard's release than with the eventuality of third-party apps on the iPhones. We just think Apple got caught off guard and made an error in judgment by telling the world, "hey, it has Safari and that's enough." (As if.) Apparently, even Chinese phone hackers demonstrate that a better development environment is needed, despite having no 'official' network to connect their iPhones to.

Now the rumor mill is really crackling with promise, though. It seems that O2, the mobile operator who plays AT&T in the British iPhone analogy, may not be gifted with the same tolerant regulatory attitude that greeted the exclusive AT&T deal in the United States, meaning there are people in the UK pushing for an actual legislative termination of the O2 exclusive. And, while everybody's been waiting to hear what content partnerships Apple has up its sleeve for this touchscreen-enabled golden goose, it appears YouTube may be among the first to pony up a tasty third-party add-on for the iPhone.

A few months back we realized that we don't know Kentucky from Kansas thanks to Statetris, an online game that combines geography with Tetris. At the time, all we could do is bungle the placement of US states. But now that Statetris has gone international, we realize just how little we know about world geography.

There are new versions of Statetris for Africa, Europe, France, Japan, the Netherlands, the UK, and for some reason, the state of South Carolina.

Game play is pretty much the same for each version. Just drop geographical locations into the appropriate place on the map. Depending on which version you're playing, the goal may be to put states, provinces, or countries in the proper location. Play often enough and you might just be able to figure out how to find Latvia on a map.

[via Brent Evans]

With so many hassles and things to worry about when moving, why not hire a professional. Better yet, check out a free service called Moveme.

Moveme is based and focused on the London, UK area. It offers individuals and families an easy way to keep track of their moving tasks like changing mailing addresses, forwarding mail, hiring a moving truck and activating new utilities. The interface is clean, simple, and easy to navigate. Upon entering your current, new address and date to be moved in, Moveme plots everything down on a calendar, and schedules tasks from the current date up until the move time. Task can be viewed in a list format, on a calendar, and reminders can be sent out. Letters and forms can also be created through Moveme to inform your contacts and suppliers of your new address.

Sometimes when in a new city, or even in your own city, you get stuck on where to go. It might be a gamble to try a new place without getting recommendations from people who have been there. Maybe these new places don't have a website, or none of your gang has even heard about them.

TrustedPlaces helps gather opinions from a community of real people. Each recommending places they have experienced in their daily lives. This way discovering new and interesting places doesn't have to be as risky as it once was. The website lets users recommend and review and share places you've been with friends. There is already quite an array of locations including art galleries, lounges, restaurants, car parks, clubs, hotels, and sports items.

TrustedPlaces is currently focused around the UK, with concentration on London.

Ask has been running some new controversial ads in the UK recently informing people about Google's huge success and the impact it could have.

The campaign is trying to get across that 75% of all searches performed in the UK are done through Google, thus limiting the sources that people are getting information from.

Ask is trying to ramp up its search engine market in Europe by creating a tiny rebellious market through the use of a non branded campaign encompassing radio, street stunts, TV, and web. Most ads and materials do not even mention Ask, they just direct the audience to an Information Revolution website which encourages people to "Join the Revolution."

It's a very interesting and unique approach, and Google welcomes the competition, but has Ask gone a little far by creating a "Revolution" to gain a bit of market share in Europe?

Check out a video of the ads and commercials after the jump...

Additional coverage can be found on SearchEngineLand and WSJ.

You might recall awhile back we posted some ads from Japan featuring Apple's "I'm a Mac" guy and his PC foil just like the U.S. ads but, er, Japanese. Today we have some more foreign "I'm a Mac" ads, but this time you won't need subtitles. Apple has brought its popular ad campaign across the Atlantic this time, to the U.K. Here's the first, called "Office at Home" and you can find the other five after the jump. (Or, if you're a purist, you can watch them in glorious hi-res QuickTime at the Apple web site.)

I'm more fond of the UK Mac than the smarmy US version, but as I said before there's no replacing John Hodgman as the PC. And I have a soft spot for that Eurobeat-grooving Japanese PC. The actors, in case you're curious, are Britons David Mitchell and Robert Webb as the PC and Mac respectively, stars of Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show.

Prisoners in the UK may be getting text-only email as part of a new plan concocted in the UK's criminal justice system. The prisoners will not be able to send messages to more than their approved list of contacts, and cannot send pictures or attachments of any kind, nor receive them. Text-only messages will be allowed. The system has not been put into place, and won't be until certain safeguards are put in place to stop abuse of the system. The idea may work out, but I wondered if the inmates would end up getting spam or not. Hypothetically, being sure inmates get the kind of SPAM problems most of us get would frustrate them to no end as it does for those of us on the outside I imagine. I guess SPAM isn't a good way to help the convicted pay their debt to society, but at least it would level the playing field at least in email-land and teach those inside what to expect once they get out. SPAM, a new form of corporal punishment? You decide.

The folks over at Netvibes have been very busy as of late. In the last few weeks they've released 10 new international versions of their "customizable Web 2.0 home page/portal solution" (buzzwords aside, it's a terrific service). If you haven't given it a try yet, perhaps one these new versions will entice you: Greek, Turkish, Quebecer, Ukrainian, Russian, Danish, Canadian, Polish, Brazilian and UK.

If you want to help Netvibes to build a local version for your country, I'm sure they would be thrilled if you contact them.

You know there's something wrong with the market when it's news that someone managed to get a refund for a product they didn't want in the first place. Dave Mitchell of Sheffield, UK will go down in history as the first guy to get a refund from Dell--or any major PC vendor, for that matter--for the "Windows tax," i.e. the $100 or so almost every major PC manufacturers will make you pay even if you never intend to use or even activate the copy of Microsoft Windows the machine ships with. Of course, Dell isn't the worst offender when it comes to the Windows tax, and has for several years now allowed you to buy desktop machines without Windows, but laptops have been a different monster entirely--until now. The license agreement for the OEM version of Windows Mitchell received read, "If you do not agree to the terms of this EULA, you may not use or copy the software, and should promptly contact manufacturer for instructions on return of the unused product(s) for a refund in accordance with manufacturer's return policies," and historically most manufacturers have only accepted returns if the customer returned the PC as well. After sending a letter to Dell UK's offices on November 1, Mitchell received his refund today, which seems alamingly prompt to me. Mitchell was diligent in collect proof that he had not used the product, saying, "I booted the laptop, then photographed every step of the boot process up to and including clicking on the XP 'no I don't accept' button. I also scrolled through each page of the EULA, taking a photo of each page."

While Mitchell's success, the story of which is rather anticlimactic, isn't exactly earth-shattering, it may well embolden a whole generation of would-be Windows-returners. Maybe 10 years from now the "Windows tax" will be but a hazy memory.

[Via Slashdot, natch]

Update: Reader thewildman points out that it's been done before. Anybody got any other Dell return stories?

So you wanna watch a good flick with your mum? BSkyB, the British satellite TV broadcaster has restarted its popular movie download service, after having shut down in August due to a security breach and subsequent patch from Microsoft to fix their DRM. Up until it was shut down, over a million downloads were, well, downloaded, making BSkyB's service Europe's most popular download service to date. Any folks in the UK feel like sharing your experiences with our readers? Is BskyB a good service, and if so what do you like about it? Dislike? What about here in the States? I have pretty much written off the whole idea until someone comes up with a better way to download (except iTunes). I am biding my time until then, what about you?