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Sales of digital books rapidly increased in the UK in the past year, as general title e-books and audio book downloads quadrupled in value, rising from £4 million to £16 million. The figures,reported by the Publisher Association, incorporate consumer titles including novels, but sales of academic and professional books dominated the digital sales market, pushing £180 million in 2010. The introduction of electronic reading devices, particularly Amazon with its Kindle e-reader, has helped to drive sales of electronic books but digital sales still remain small in comparison to total book sales, which totalled £3....

Up to 9.2 million Britons are currently without access to the internet, a statistic that the government, assisted by UK employment organisationRemploy, is trying to improve by offering low-cost PCs to UK adults who are currently offline. The scheme is part of the Race Online 2012 scheme and is currently subject to a 12-month trial. It will offer refurbished PCs for as low as £98, providing a flat-screen monitor, keyboard, mouse, warranty, dedicated telephone helpline and delivery, reducing cost by also running the open-source operating system Linux....

The typical trajectory for the price of any service or product is upwards, what with inflation ‘n all. But it seems there’s a notable exception to that general rule of thumb. As newsemergesthat UK digital music sales have now passed the £1bn milestone, it also transpires that the average retail price of an album is now £7.32…a third less than a decade ago. But that only tells part of the story....

Distimohas released its latest report into the mobile app market, this time concentrating on Europe. Comparing the Apple App Stores in the UK; France; Germany; Italy; Poland; Russia and Spain, over a third of downloads for the top 300 apps came from the UK. On the iPhone, 35% of downloads were from the United Kingdom, while on the iPad it was 33%. While the study only took into account the top 300 most popular paid and free apps, it shows that the UK is still the most important European market for developers to target....

Last December, the UK introduced “green plates” for EVs in an effort to raise awareness of zero-emission cars. Exciting, I know. Bearing a green strip down the left side, they’re easily distinguishable from the regular number plates. This means the public can identify these people as the saints of sustainable transport they are. At least, that’s what the government thought. From today, green number plates may be legally fitted on Zero Emission Vehicles throughout UK ?...