Web titans fight copyright Bill

Foes of a controversial copyright measure have gained some high-profile allies: Google, Facebook, Twitter, Zynga, and other Web companies have joined the ranks of the Bill's opponents, says Cnet.

They sent a letter on Monday night to key members of the US Senate and House of Representatives, saying the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, “pose[s] a serious risk to our industry's continued track record of innovation and job creation, as well as to our nation's cyber security”.

The protest was designed to raise objections in advance of a hearing before the full House Judiciary committee today. The letter, also signed by eBay, Mozilla, Yahoo, AOL, and LinkedIn, asks politicians to “consider more targeted ways to combat foreign 'rogue' Web sites”.

UK broadband speeds drop by an average of 35% from their off-peak highs when most people are online in the evening, according to a report, says the BBC.

The research, conducted by the comparison site Uswitch, was based on two million broadband speed tests. The peak surfing times between 7pm and 9pm were the slowest to be online, the report said.

There were also huge regional variations between evening and early morning surfing times. The report suggested the best time to be online was between 2am and 3am.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer scotched suggestions from investors at Microsoft's annual shareholders meeting that his company should spin off some of its divisions, reports The Register.

Ballmer and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates faced a fractious audience, with many stockholders expressing their displeasure at the company's poor stock price and returns. One member asked if there would be merit in spinning off some of the businesses, `a la EMC and VMware, but Ballmer was quick to shoot that idea down.

“The amount of synergy across our product activities is very high,” he said. “There's nothing I see as creating fundamental value in splitting the company up. Having minority investments makes it harder to manage synergies.”

The MacBook Air may be pretty flat, but its sales figures are anything but, it seems, says News Factor.

New research suggests Apple's ultra-thin notebook is a runaway hit, now comprising more than a quarter of the computer giant's notebook sales - 28% in October. That's a steep increase from just 8% in the last quarter.

The research comes from NPD Group and Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty, who specialises in Apple. In June, she predicted, based on visits to component companies in Taiwan, that a new iPhone would come out in the late third quarter.