Dotcom web address celebrates silver anniversary
The internet celebrates a landmark event on the 15 March - the 25th birthday of the day the first dotcom name was registered. In March 1985, Symbolics computers of Cambridge, Massachusetts entered the history books with an internet address ending in dotcom. It took until 1997, well into the internet boom, before the one millionth dotcom was registered.
BBC News

Google '99.9 per cent' certain to pull China search plug
Google is now "99.9 per cent" certain it will shut down its Chinese search engine, according to a report citing "a person familiar with the company's thinking". The Financial Times reports that the web giant has drawn up detailed plans for closing Google.cn, saying the company's discussions with Chinese authorities reached an impasse. The news came hours after a Chinese minister warned Google that it would "have to bear the consequences" if it stopped censoring results on Google.cn.
The Register

HD video to help stroke patients get early diagnosis
Doctors expect to save hundreds of lives a year by assessing stroke patients taken ill overnight via high definition video links. The first three hours after a stroke are crucial, but patients who live in rural areas can spend most of this time travelling to the nearest specialist. A 15-week pilot study at five hospitals in the east of England has already saved six lives by enabling doctors to make an early assessment, and the technology is to be rolled out to 17 hospitals across the region.
Computer Weekly

Street View slammed as 'service for burglars'
Google Street View is seen by most UK consumers as an intrusive technology and nothing more than a ‘service for burglars’, according to a new poll reported in The Telegraph. Discount website myvouchercodes.co.uk interviewed over 1,300 people about the service, which lets users of Google Maps switch from the traditional birds-eye view to a 360-degree street level view of towns and cities photographed by Google's car-top cameras. According to the report 57 per cent of those interviewed described the service an ‘intrusion' while 24 per cent said that they believed it was ‘a service for burglars’.
V3

Online music revenue growth offsets CD decline for the first time
PRS for Music, the music collection agency, has revealed royalties from digital music are growing at a faster rate than the decline in revenues from physical music sales for the first time. Digital revenues grew by £12.8m (72.7 per cent) to £30.4m in 2009 as platforms such as Spotify, MySpace Music and iTunes expanded their user base, according to PRS for Music. This compared to an £8.7m fall in CD and DVD revenues through the year. Total revenues grew by 2.6 per cent from £608.3m in 2008 to £623m last year.
New Media Age

Iran hacks opposition Web sites, arrests cyber activists
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps hacked into 29 Web sites affiliated with U.S. espionage networks, Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency reported on Sunday. "The hacked websites acted against Iran's national security under the cover of human rights activities," Fars reported. It did not disclose details of the attacks. The 29 Web sites were identified in a statement (in Farsi) released on a Web site operated by the Revolutionary Guards.
Macworld UK