News

Daily news beat for June 4, 2008

AMD plans external graphics module for laptops

AMD and Fujitsu are developing an external module that will boost the graphics performance of laptops based on AMD's Puma platform

CRM systems to get free company contact data

Jigsaw's Open Data Initiative will allow users to import large sets of company contact data at no charge

SSDs give overclocked Nehalem extra oomph

Intel shows off a PC with solid-state drives running an overclocked version of its upcoming quad-core Nehalem processor

MSI launches Wind mini desktop, mini laptop

MSI follows rival Asustek's lead, introduces a mini-desktop competitor to the Eee Box

Acer eyes making more mobile Internet gadgets

Acer is interested in touch-screen devices, which it sees that as a key for one-handed mobile Internet devices

Hands on with HTC’s Touch Pro

HTC's latest 3G smartphone has a bright, crisp screen and is built well and easy to hold; a slide-out QWERTY keyboard makes for a much easier way of typing

AMD shakes the notebook status quo

Yahoo will hold annual shareholder meeting on Aug. 1

Shareholder meeting promises to be contentious, as Yahoo grapples with the fallout over resisting Microsoft's acquisition offer

Atom-powered Classmate PC coming soon

The 1.6GHz Atom chip gives Intel's rugged Classmate PC laptops more power

Oracle 11g: A life-changer for DBAs

HTC follows Touch Diamond with Touch Pro

Touch Pro is the second 3G smartphone HTC has announced ahead of a rival 3G iPhone

Ballmer: Software makers face big challenges

Software makers need to create natural interfaces, simplify programming tools, and create better search tools for a new computer revolution to happen, Microsoft CEO says

Intel embraces overclocking, doesn’t extend warranty

Intel gives users the tools to squeeze extra performance from their systems by overclocking the processor, but warranty won't apply if things go wrong

Sun aims to flood servers with solid-state drives

Flash-based SSDs will improve application performance on servers and save on energy costs, Sun says

AMD lets cat out of bag with Puma launch

AMD hopes to improve its competitive position against Intel with the release of its first new laptop platform since acquiring graphics chip specialist ATI

Microsoft clarifies XP SP 3 Flash issue

After some confusion, Microsoft has explained which Windows XP users need to upgrade their Flash software

Curl adds runtime support for Mac environments

The increasing penetration of the Mac platform into enterprises has prompted Curl to add support to its RIA for Mac OS X 10.4 and higher

UnitedHealthcare data breach leads to ID theft

Criminals used Social Security numbers of graduate and medical students at UC Irvine to file false tax returns in victim's name, then collect their tax refunds

IBM, Acrobat offer response to Google Apps and Office

IBM Symphony and Acrobat.com are two polished alternatives to the current on-premise and cloud leaders in desktop productivity

Microsoft readies Oslo previews

Modeling-based apps platform advances with three primary components: a modeling tool, a repository, and a declarative programming language

Report: Icahn will seek Yang’s removal

In a recent interview, Carl Icahn says he will try to oust Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang in order to steer the company toward acquisition by Microsoft

Microsoft plans to ‘fix’ its online branding

With the Yahoo acquisition deal dead, Microsoft is looking to other methods of fixing its online branding, which has been in turmoil since the introduction of the Live brand

Nexsan paints SAS green

Nexsan has taken its AutoMAID hard-drive power usage monitor and applied it to SAS arrays, offering greater energy efficiency

Intel doubles storage on solid-state drives

Intel plans to introduce 8GB SSD costing $45 in units of 1,000 in third quarter of this year, with 16GB drives to follow in the fourth quarter

Getting into IT consulting

Daily news beat for June 3, 2008

Shareholder lawsuit claims Yahoo derailed Microsoft bid

Judge decides to unseal documents filed by shareholders suing Yahoo over its handling of Microsoft's takeover offer

Informatica revs data integration platform

Revision to PowerCenter provides new features focused around real-time processing and business-to-business information sharing

Gates bids adieu to developers

Microsoft chairman kicks off the TechEd Developers conference by outlining future directions for application development and services

Acer launches Aspire one mini-laptop

Acer sets bold target for sales of new mini-laptop despite competition from a growing number of rivals in a market jump-started by Asustek's popular Eee PC

Microsoft links with VitalPay for payment processing

Agreement with payment processing vendor VitalPay could be another step toward Microsoft establishing its own online payment system

Asustek to launch iMac rival in September

Asustek's Eee Monitor will be a stand-alone monitor and PC similar to Apple's iMac, but will likely beat the iMac on price

Asustek offers Web-based storage for Eee PCs

Buyers of the Eee PC 901 will be able to use 20GB of online storage free for one year to complement their laptop's internal storage

Intel’s Maloney: No plans to revise Atom roadmap

Intel plans to draw on chips from other product lines if it needs a boost in performance to compete with Via's Nano chip

Battle lines being drawn pending Microsoft’s release of Hyper-V

Citrix will extend the Microsoft virtualization platform; meanwhile VMware is scrambling to take advantage of the time it has left to create a wider gap

AMD will manufacture first Fusion chips

Due in late 2009, AMD will make its Fusion chips using silicon-on-insulator technology

Stopping those e-mail slips

Microsoft to highlight Silverlight, ‘Oslo’ at show

Bill Gates is scheduled to deliver the keynote at TechEd in one of his last public appearances before going part-time at Microsoft

Update: Wikia Search opens up to broad participation

Anyone can now participate in building Wikia Search's index by adding, deleting, and rating Web pages

Windows XP SP3 includes vulnerable Flash Player

Microsoft declined to answer questions about Flash, including why it wasn't able to add the newest version to XP SP3 and what advice it would give users

Asustek aims to keep lead with Atom Eee PCs

Asustek launches three more models of its Eee PC that take full advantage of Atom's power efficiency

Cultural competence in globalization

Update: Google upgrades and rebrands site search service

Google Site Search gives site owners more options to affect how search results are ranked and listed

Intel says Atom shortage will ease soon

Low-cost laptop and desktop makers have expressed concern over a shortage of Intel's Atom processor, but Intel said production volumes will increase

Microsoft extends XP deadline for low-cost PCs

Low-cost desktop PC makers can now include Windows XP in those systems until 2010, the same as the deadline for low-cost laptops

Nvidia takes on Intel with new Tegra chips

Nvidia's Tegra line of chips will compete against Intel's Atom chip in the mobile Internet device market

Update: Facebook open sources parts of its app development platform

Facebook is opening up its platform and its most popular apps and tags in an effort to draw in more developers

Microsoft, HP do search deal for PCs

Microsoft will embed a Live Search toolbar on Hewlett-Packard consumer PCs as the company expands its search market share and promotes Silverlight

The myth of a thinner Windows 7