Google's latest member in its massive collection of search tools lets users forage through US patents, as the search giant launched the beta version of Google Patent Search late yesterday.
Despite their dominance, workstation industry leaders Dell and Intel were in a tailspin 12 months ago, both steadily losing ground to their respective rivals Hewlett Packard (HP) and AMD, according to Jon Peddie Research (JPR).
Skype has officially released version 3.0 of its popular Internet chat program. Skype 3.0.0.190 is now available for download and includes several new features. The program now plugs into Internet Explorer and users can make Skype calls to regular phone numbers with one click. Skype has also added a Skypecast feature where users can participate in moderated chats with up to a hundred people.
AMD's graphics division (formerly ATI) today released what will most likely be the last graphics driver update for this year. Catalyst 6.12 brings DirectX video acceleration for Crossfire configurations as it main update.
Microsoft has released a flurry of security updates to fix several critical vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player and Adobe Flash Player. Exploit code for some of the vulnerabilities had already been released to the Internet. The code could have crashed or allowed hackers to take control of vulnerable computers.
Media reports are in that Intel is ready to release a new quad-core processor, marking yet another new product for Intel this year. The Xeon E5335, which was originally scheduled for a February 2007 release, takes its position as the fifth quad-core processor since Intel first released the Kentsfield/Clovertown cores earlier this autumn.
While all eyes are on Microsoft for the upcoming Vista and Office 07 product launches, the software giant today made another announcement aimed at a completely new audience - robotics engineers. Microsoft Robotics Studios was released yesterday, which gives developers a universal platform for robotic programming.
Dell has expanded its recycling efforts worldwide and now offers free recycling of its products in Asia, Brazil, and Mexico. Customers will be able to either recycle or donate old computers to support local non-profit organizations. According to Dell, it is the first computer make to have such a far-reaching program.
Google is open sourcing the same software that helped to produce popular sites like Google Maps and Gmail. The company has released the Google Web Toolkit under the Apache 2.0 open source license. Independent developers can now use the toolkit to make and debug their own Java applications.
AMD and IBM presented first details of its 45 nm production process at the International Electron Device Meeting (IEDM) today. While practical data for the consumer remains scarce, the two companies indicated that their production approach will bring performance improvements of about 15%.
It's going to take people a long time to fill up Corsair's new USB flash drive. The water-resistant Flash Voyager drive has been upgraded and now can carry up to 16 GB of data. Users can even store a full Windows operating system and boot off the drive.
Social security numbers and other personal information from over 800,000 students and faculty members at UCLA were accessed from a hacker that went in and out of the school's database for over a year, causing what security experts say is the largest-encompassing case of data theft at a North American university.
Sunnyvale (CA) - AMD today launched new dual-core mainstream processors in order to regain at least some of its competitiveness in the segment of higher-end mainstream processors. The new 5400+ and 5600+ bring an increase of clock speed and are squarely aimed at Intel's Core 2 Duo E6600 and E6700 processors.
See the AMD AM2 processor slide show here...
Microsoft today opened a private beta of its new enterprise voice communications server, Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, to 2,500 IT professionals.
Seiko Epson has announced a new high-temperature polysilicon (HTPS) LCD panel that will boost the performance of 3LCD front projectors and large-screen LCD projection TVs.
Broadcom has announced what it claims to be the industry's first high-definition (HD) digital TV silicon solution designed on 65nm node that supports full 1080p display resolution.
Chicago (IL) - Russian design studio had some bad - or good, depending on your perspective - news over the weekend. The Optimus LED keyboard, which was announced to be made available for pre-order in a limited edition for $1200 a piece later this year - has been canceled. The good news here is that design studio perhaps figured out that $1200 for a b/w LED keyboard that was originally promised to come with color LED keys to cost as much as a good cellphone did not make much sense.
Sandisk and Sony think we need another flash format and are introducing the Memory Stick "Pro-HG" card. The cards are a faster and bigger version of the Memory Stick Pro cards and can transfer up to 60 MB/sec while having a capacity of up to 32 GB.
