News Briefs

Apple reveals new movie store, iPods

At a press conference on Tuesday, Apple Computer announced that customers can now purchase full-length Disney movies via its iTunes online music store. Apple plans to add feature films from other studios in the near future.

At the same event, Apple announced updates to every member of its top-selling iPod family. New iPods feature a screen that is 60% brighter and a capacity of 80 GB. The iPod Nano was also updated with a brand new look and data storage increase. The Nano now resembles a shrunken version of the retired iPod Mini, comes in five different colors and can hold up to 8 GB worth of songs. The iPod Shuffle also received an update. The Shuffle, now the world's smallest portable music device, is about the size of a quarter and can still hold up to 1 GB worth of songs.

Facebook to open to everyone

The social-networking site Facebook is planning on opening up member registration to anyone with an internet connection. Originally planning to open registration later this week, Facebook instead decided to delay the event due to a member revolt over recent feature additions to the site.

Facebook originated as a Harvard-only networking site and expanded rapidly to allow other universities to join. Facebook now is available in some high schools and corporations. Facebook has remained popular because users have a feeling of exclusivity, in contrast to other social-networking sites like Myspace. Facebook says that every time the network has been opened to a broader user-base, current users initially respond negatively but then adapt to the changes. They hope this change will be met with the same response.

Wikipedia refuses Chinese censorship

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has said the online encyclopedia, famous for its open-source content that is editable by anyone with an internet connection, will not give in to Chinese pressure to censor their website. The Chinese government has subsequently banned the use of Wikipedia.

Wales is unsure why the website has been banned because internal Wikipedia policy prevents personal attacks and encourages neutrality in the articles, which prevents Wikipedia from becoming a haven for protestors or dissidents. He is scheduled to meet with Chinese officials in order to persuade them to unblock the site, which contains over 1.3 million articles.