AMD: Barcelona quad-core 50% faster than Intel’s quad-core Xeon

Following last week’s sobering financial news, AMD today provided some news that may calm down worried analysts and investors.

Akita Elpida develops 1.4 mm MCP with 20 stacked dies

Akita Elpida Memory, the DRAM backend production subsidiary of Elpida Memory, announced the development of a 1.4 mm-thick multi-chip package (MCP) with 20 stacked dies, claiming it as the world's thinnest MCP.

Samsungs stacks DRAM to reach higher capacities

Seoul (Korea) – Stacking is the magic word that promises more capable and sometimes also faster multi-chip packages than what can be achieved today. Samsung claims to have developed a first “through silicon via” (TSV) DRAM stack that soon could deliver 4 GB memory modules for the mainstream market.

Software glitch caused BlackBerry outage

Research in Motion says it recent BlackBerry outage was caused by a server-side software glitch.

AMD’s R600 event – We’re packing our bags for Tunisia

At around this time tomorrow, we’ll be in the air on our way to Tunisia Africa for AMD’s R600 media event.

VIA touts “small is beautiful” with Pico-ITX boards

VIA has shrunk its motherboards again and has announced its Pico-ITX design which is barely larger than a playing card.

Valve hack just a false alarm, sort of

A hacker's claim that he gained access to all of Valve's internal files was played out too far, even though it appears he did hack a third-party site that deals with Valve.

Apple security update patches 25 Mac OS flaws

Apple today released its fourth security update of the year for the Mac operating system, with 25 new patches making it to the front this time around.

Gateway adds Blu-ray drive, OC graphics card to enthusiast PC

With Dell and HP having established a presence in then enthusiast PC market, the third largest PC maker in U.S. is getting more serious about computers that deliver more than just the basics.

Microsoft to give away Windows/Office package for $3

Microsoft on Thursday announced its most aggressive move yet to reach more people that do not have the financial resources to purchase a modern, functional software environment: The company will offer a complete software package built around Windows and Office for $3.

Hacker claims to have gained access to Steam customer data

A hacker claims to have gotten hold of a mountain of sensitive data from software company Valve, including credit card information from users who have purchased content from its digital distribution system Steam.

Fujitsu starts volume production of 2 Mb FRAM

Fujitsu announced the availability of its 2Mbit ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM) chips (MB85R2001 and MB85R2002).

Two arrested in wireless access theft

A man and a woman were arrested in separate instances for stealing wireless Internet in Redditch, Worcestershire which is about 120 miles northwest of London England.

AMD releases Catalyst 7.4 graphics driver

AMD’s graphics division today announced its April driver package for Radeon-based graphics cards.

Wireless audit finds unauthorized hotspots at IRS offices

In an internal audit, inspectors at the Internal Revenue Service have found unauthorized wireless devices at several offices which could allow hackers to compromise taxpayer information.

Blackberry outage hits North America

For several hours last night, millions of BlackBerry users weren’t able to receive or send emails because of a service interruption.

Google Phone expected to ship by the end of this year

Digitimes today refreshed the speculation that Google could soon become a player in the cellphone market. According to the company, HTC has begun manufacturing the handsets and will be shipping by the end of this year.

Pioneer unveils $300 Blu-ray Disc Combo drive

Pioneer on April 17 debuted its BDC-S02 Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo drive model in Beijing, for immediate launch in China and later in other markets around the world at a recommended retail price of $299, according to Pioneer's Taiwan subsidiary Pioneer High Fidelity Taiwan.

Micron introduces new power-efficient Aspen DDR2

Micron Technology today introduced its new Aspen DDR2 memory family of energy-efficient products, featuring the low-voltage (LV) DDR2 in reduced chip count (RCC) memory modules.

IDF: Intel releases 45 nm Penryn benchmark numbers

Beijing (China) – Don’t pretend you haven’t been waiting for these numbers: Is Penryn really as good as Intel claims? As long as we have not reviewed the CPU in our labs, we can’t say for sure. But if the chip is as capable as the benchmark results provided by Intel indicate, then it is clear that Intel has no intentions of handing the performance crown over to AMD.