Silicon.com Google Apps grows up and ditches beta – Will businesses be tempted? Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar and Google Talk are all now fully fledged members of the Google family of products. Google has been hinting this was coming over the past few months but is finally ready to make the official announcement. Google thinks there are a number of CIOs that will find Google Apps easier to sell to their bosses if it’s not formally known as a “beta” product.

Guardian Tech £1bn data centre in Scotland could be world’s biggest – Plans for a 250 acre internet server farm in Scotland are advancing, after the scheme received £600m investment. ike other data centres around the globe, the site will host vast warehouses full of computer servers and networking equipment that can store information accessible on the internet and deliver to across the UK, Europe and further afield. But by providing around 3 million square feet of server space, Alba 1 could dwarf the world’s largest existing data centres if it opens in 2010 as planned.

BBC News: Google to launch operating system: Google is developing an operating system (OS) for personal computers, in a direct challenge to market leader Microsoft and its Windows system.

Computer Weekly – Global IT spending to drop as telecoms and services fade –
Gartner has revised its predictions for the worldwide IT market suggesting that spending is set to fall by 6 per cent this year as the dual problems of recession and exchange rates continue to cause market mayhem

The Register – Royalties deal lets internet radio play on – An agreement has been reached between SoundExchange, a nonprofit royalty collection and distribution organization associated with the Recording Industry Association of America, and three small internet-radio webcasters, that could potentially help to ensure the future of internet radio by warding off potentially devastating copyright-royalty rate hikes.