Type of Article: MacMinute Web Site

Macworld UK reports that Douglas Adams, British AppleMaster and author of the popular science fiction novel “The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” has passed away suddenly at age 49 in Santa Barbara, California following a heart attack. Our sincere condolences go out to his family and friends at this time.

Peer-to-peer file swapping service Napster has posted an apology to its users for blocking songs that should be available as part of its service. CNN Europe reports that Napster admitted to unintentionally blocking songs that can legally be shared as they attempt to implement a filtering system.

Everyone seems to be weighing in with their views on Apple’s recently announced retail strategies in the United States, with the launch of Apple-branded stores, but what of other countries? The Times of India reports that Apple will continue to market its products through road show demonstrations, the standard retail channel, employee purchase plans in corporate offices, and student purchase plans in schools and universities.

An Associate Press article on USA Today reports that government officials and competitors are growing concerned with Microsoft‘s newest operating system, Windows XP, due out October 25. Included with the new OS will be Internet chat software, a DVD player, and CD burning abilities for personal music CDs. “This is a movie that many people have seen before.

Roxio has updated their popular CD burning software Toast to version 4.1.3. This update fixes a problem with the automatic Internet track-naming service, according to the Roxio Web site. Updaters are available for both the standard and deluxe versions in English, French, German, and Japanese.