London - Six British Internet service providers have signed on to a voluntary code of conduct -- in the face of looming legislation -- that will see them send hundreds of thousands of letters to suspected illegal file-swappers and work with music and other rights holders "towards a significant reduction in illegal filesharing." U.K. ISPs Virgin Media, BSkyB, Carphone Warehouse, BT, Orange and Tiscali are party to the agreement, which came after negotiations facilitated by the U.K.'s Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), and also includes record label trade group the BPI, and the Motion Picture Association of America.

Leipzig, Germany - U.K. telecommunications firm BT announced on Thursday that it has partnered with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe to develop GoMessenger, a service that will allow owners of Sony's PSP handheld game to make Internet telephone calls, and send and receive instant messages when connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot. BT developed the PSP software, which when paired with a headset and GoGam video camera will allow gamers to use voice chat and make video calls, respectively. BT and Sony plan to initially offer GoMessenger in the U.K., France, Germany, Spain and Italy in early 2008, before expanding further into Europe. Sony did not mention plans to offer the service in the U.S.

New York - British Telecom (BT) and New Venture Partners said on Thursday that Real Time Content, a developer of a platform that customizes video and audio to match individual preferences and deliver personalized ads, has been added to BT's incubation program.

London - Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has announced plans to add the ability to place VoIP calls, video calls and voice messages to its PSP handheld game system, initially in the U.K., with plans to extend the service into Europe.

London - Universal Music U.K., part of major record label Universal Music Group, announced that it has signed an agreement with U.K. telco BT, to provide on-demand music videos on the BT Vision TV service and BT Vision download store.

London - U.K. telco BT has developed an interactive TV technology where viewers can vote via SMS messages to change the course of a show's events in real-time, ZDNet UK reported.