Hardware & Software News
Intel And Adobe To Put Flash On Appliances
Adobe and Intel are working together to port and optimise Adobe's Flash technology to the Intel Media Processor CE 3100. The aim is to bring Flash content to devices such a... More »
FileMaker 10 Focuses On Ease Of Use
FileMaker has released the latest version of its database tool, which features a new-look user interface and other features to help newcomers get started with database work, while... More »
Analyst Claims Vista Capable Made Microsoft Over 1.5bn
An expert witness in the class action suit against Microsoft over its Vista Capable has claimed that the company made over $1.5bn as a result of its Vista Capable market... More »
Google Works On Android For The Blind
Google is working on an add-on to its Android mobile phone operating system that would make it much easier for blind people to use. Google researcher T.V Raman, who has been blin... More »
Lenovo Rolls Out New Models
Lenovo has rolled out its latest line of notebook and desktop systems. The new lineup includes four new notebook models for the IdeaPad line and a new all-in-one ... More »
Mac-compatible Bluetooth Web Cam Debuts
Ecamm Network on Friday introduced its BT-1Bluetooth wireless Web cam, which it calls the world's first such device. Designed for Mac compatibility, ... More »
Mac Gains On Windows
Windows lost nearly a full percentage point of market share for the second month in a row in December, pushing Microsoft Corp.'s operating system to a n... More »
Panasonic Invents The Paperless Fax Machine
A high-tech invention heralds a new era of electronic messaging, allowing you to send digital files through the ether without using a scrap of paper. Panasonic's paperless fax ... More »
Gmail Notice Touts Chrome And Firefox, Dismisses IE
Google is pushing users of its Gmail e-mail service to dump Microsoft's Internet Explorer for its own Chrome browser or Mozilla's ... More »
Regulator fines E-Trade units US$1 million
The independent Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined two units of E-Trade Financial a total of US$1 million for failing to implement adequate anti-money laundering (A... More »
Startup Founders Turn Android Into Desktop OS
Matthaus Krzykowski and Daniel Hartmann, founders of the stealth startup Mobile-facts, have found that you can take Google's smartphone operating system, Android,... More »
College Interviews The Webcam Way
Remember college, cramming for midterm exams in a dark, dusty library? Today's university students spend their nights scanning Web-based discussion forums and studying in a wirele... More »
Hollywood Loses SOC in Analog Hole
Hollywood has again failed to convince the Federal Communications Commission to lift its ban on selectable output controls that would allow video distributors to re... More »
Microsoft Urges Organizations to Patch Server Vulnerability as New Attacks Surface
Microsoft advised organizations yet again to deploy the patch for a flaw affecting the Windows Server service that was fixed in October. The latest attacks are coming courte... More »
'Curse of silence' Smartphone Flaw Disclosed
A denial-of-service attack that limits the number of SMS messages that can be received by Nokia smartphones has been disclosed and demonstrated. Dubbed the "curse of ... More »
Military Hoping Chat Bots Will Replace Deployed Parents
The U.S. Department of Defense is looking to develop virtual parents to comfort children when moms and dads on active duty aren't available to talk. In a solicitation for pr... More »
Google To Offer Paid Android Apps Soon
Mobile application developers soon will be able to offer paid apps in the Android Market, according to Eric Chu, group marketing manager with Google's Android group. Chu s... More »
RIM Extends Takeover Bid For Certicom
In the latest development of Research In Motion's takeover bid of security-specialist Certicom, RIM said it will extend its expiry date of its offer from Jan. 15 to... More »
Open Document Format Has Been Accepted By 16 Governments
The Open Document Format continues to gain ground with governments as the format in which they wish to create important documents, despite Microsoft's Off... More »
Recession Slams Global Semiconductor Sales
Worldwide semiconductor sales fell in November, as the economic downturn continued to hammer chipmakers, industry figures released Friday showed. Excluding memory products, which ... More »
'World's biggest' Software Pirates Jailed
The Futian People's Court in Shenzhen, China, handed down sentences to 11 ringleaders of the world's largest software counterfeiting syndicate today. The pirates were responsib... More »
Asus Unveils Latest Eee PC Ultra-Netbook
Asus has unveiled the latest ultra-netbook at the top end of its massively successful Eee PC line, with a notably bigger screen and better keyboard to satisfy even the most fat-... More »
Sharp To Record $475 Million Losses On Stock Drops
Sharp expects to record extraordinary losses of around ¥43.2 billion (US$475 million) this year as a result of writedowns in the value of stock it holds in other companies, it... More »
AMD Costs Layoffs at $70M
Advanced Micro Devices has put the cost of the layoffs and other cost reductions it announced during the fourth quarter at around US$70 million, higher than it had expected. As p... More »
Dell Unveils Massive Reorganization
Dell, which has seen PC sales slow in the economic downturn, announced on Wednesday a massive reorganization that establishes three separate global units for selling to businesses... More »
LG Adds CinemaNow, YouTube Access To Blu-Ray Player
LG Electronics has added CinemaNow and YouTube access to its Blu-ray disc player, expanding the device's IT support of online video content. The new IT... More »
Microsoft Scrambling To Thaw Zune Freeze
A surge of online complaints suggests widespread freezing problems with 30-GB version of Microsoft's Zune music player. Online forum threads have ... More »
HP Unveils UPS Products
HP announced the launch of three models of HP Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) products especially designed for the growing businesses. This new product line from HP, o... More »
Tech Companies Push Stylish, Personal Design
With consumers showing an appetite for stylish personal devices, PC and gadget makers will need more than just vibrant colors, rounded edges or an elegant metallic finish to stand... More »
China's Lenovo Considers Restructuring
China's Lenovo Group, the world's No.4 personal computer maker, is considering a restructuring because of tough economic conditions, China Business News reported on Wednesday. ... More »
Digital TV Converter Coupons in Short Supply
U.S. consumers who wait too long to request government coupons to subsidize converter boxes for the digital television transition in February may come up empty-handed, a regulat... More »
DataCore Launches New $2K SAN Starter Packages
DataCore became the latest provider to announce new products along with pricing incentives on Dec. 30 when it launched a new line of full-featured SAN (storage area network) ... More »
Samsung Building Its Own 4G Chips
In a move to reduce the costs of next-generation handsets, Samsung Electronics will be making its own WiMax and LTE baseband chips. Samsung is one of the larg... More »
SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Prepped For Storage
Symwave claims that next month it will become the first to demonstrate the use of the new SuperSpeedUSB 3.0 specification for transferring data to and from external... More »
Certicom Fights RIM Hostile Bid
Canadian security vendor Certicom went to court Dec. 22 seeking an injunction to block the $1.50 a share hostile takeover bid made by a wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackB... More »
Acer Launches Laptop With Intel's Quad-Core Chip
Acer on Monday launched a powerful quad-core laptop at a price that may appeal to buyers on a budget. The company's Aspire 8930G-7665 laptop is designed as a gaming laptop or d... More »
Windows 7 Beta Available On BitTorrent
Pirated copies of a Windows 7 build pegged by many as the beta Microsoft will release next month have leaked to the Internet, according to searches at several&... More »
New Quad-Core AMD and Intel Chips Surface
Computer chip makers Intel and AMD are ending 2008 with a quad-core bang. Intel has a new mobile processor - the Intel Core 2 Quad Mobile Processor Q9000 - that is being hyped by ... More »
MP3 Player Guides Rescuers To Lost Tourists
The light from an MP3 player saved two lost tourists from a chilly night stuck out in the snowy Swiss mountains, rescue service authorities said Saturday. The... More »
Asus Readies Shiny New Eee Peripherals
Asus certainly knows how to spin out a successful line of products – the Eee badge is no found on around 2,612 different laptops, desktops and monitors (we think) to date. T... More »
High-tech Whiteboards Password Protected
Panasonic's newest product might not be one to set the pulse racing, but it's certainly an unusual take on a familiar theme. The company's new range of whiteboards&nbs... More »
New Mac OS X Snow Leopard Raring To Go
We know Apple is planning to call the next version of OS X Snow Leopard, but we hadn't realised that it appears pretty much close to finished and ready for release. The confirmat... More »
Mystery Nokia Phone Comes In Four Pieces
Trawling through new patent applications for future gadgets is generally fun, if not necessarily very productive, as is the case with a new device someone at Nokia seems to have d... More »
Sahara Computers Launches New Notebook
Sahara Computers, a South African PC company, announced the launch of their latest Notebook based on Intel's Montevina Platform. The new Sahara is powered by Intel Cen... More »
Vatican Embraces iPhone For Prayers
In a recent decision The Vatican's Pontifical Council for Social Communications, decided to endorse the iBreviary, an iTunes application created by an Italian priest, th... More »
U2's Bono Gives iPhone Rival A Helping Hand
Mobile manufacturer Palm, Inc announced recently that Elevation Partners, a venture capital firm that has U2 lead singer Bono as a managing director, has agreed to make an additio... More »
Nintendo's Wii To Get Video Channel In 2009
Nintendo plans to launch a video channel for its Wii console in 2009, it said Thursday. The service, which will be launched in collaboration with advertising agency ... More »
Motorola Released Moronically Expensive Gadget
For a mere $2,000, you too can be the new owner of a shiny metal Motorola Aura! The Aura, which was announced in October and went on sale Tuesday, costs $2,000.... More »
Wal-Mart To Start Selling Apple's iPhone On Sunday
Bentonville-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will become the second independent retail chain after Best Buy Inc. to sell the phone. It is also sold at Apple Inc. and&nb... More »
Check Point Buys Nokia Security-Appliance Business
Check Point has provided software for Nokia's firewall appliances for around a decade, but the Israeli security firm said in a statement on Monday that the collaboration... More »
Palm Gets Bailout Money, Banks On New OS
Palm announced Monday it would receive $100 million from Elevation Partners in an attempt to jump-start the ailing device maker. "The additional capital from... More »
Citing Economy, Novell Cancels 2009 BrainShare
Citing the slumping economy and tighter travel budgets, Novell is canceling this year's BrainShare conference, the customer and channel partner event the software&n... More »
HP Launches iPhone Photo App
HP has launched an application that allows iPhone users to print their photos and pictures wirelessly. iPrint Photo is available to download as an application through Appl... More »
Sony Vaio Netbook To Launch At CES
A couple of week back it was mentioned that a Sony Vaio netbook had been sneakily-snapped during testing, with a launch expected at the 2009 CES. And now that launch has... More »
Micron Stock Drops On Wide Losses
Memory chipmaker Micron Technology Inc on Tuesday posted a wider quarterly loss than Wall Street had predicted, sending its stock down 14 percent in after-hours trade. &qu... More »
Scientists Discover New Type Of Laser
Researchers at Princeton University in America have discovered an entirely new way to generate laser light. The new lasers were found after scientists working with a quantum ... More »
Panasonic On Track To Acquire Sanyo In February
Panasonic is moving to acquire Sanyo Electric after squabbling Sanyo shareholders agreed to a plan whereby the smaller electronics company will be acquired for around ... More »
Intel Ships 160 GB Solid State Drives For PCs
Intel on Monday started shipping a 160-GB, 2.5-inch solid-state drive for laptops and desktops. In addition to the new X25-M, the chipmaker said it would ship next mon... More »
Windows XP Allowed To Live Again
The cut off date for PC makers to obtain licenses for the software was 31 January 2009. But now Microsoft has put in place a scheme that will allow the hardware firms to ge... More »
Is Cloud Computing Vaporware?
Cloud computing is being over-hyped, and enterprises should be wary after high-profile outages at providers such as Amazon cloud services, said analyst firm Ovum. A raft of&nbs... More »
Oracle Defies Economic Gloom With A Strong Quarter
Business software maker Oracle posted a decent set of financial results for its most recent quarter, after a series of cost-cutting measures enabled it to withstand the imp... More »
Three Deals Symbolized Storage Trends In 2008
The storage story of 2008 was growth: An accelerating explosion of information, much of it in the form of video, led IT Support administrators to try to make better use ... More »
RIM Tackling BlackBerry Storm Shortage
Research InMotion (RIM) has admitted it's struggling to keep up with demand for the BlackBerry Storm touchscreen smartphone, but said supply problems should clear up in the c... More »
Apple Snaps Up 3m Stake In Imagination
Apple has taken a £3m stake in Imagination Technologies, the maker of Pure digital radios and the developer of the Digital Audio Broadcasting standard. The iPod make... More »
BSkyB Demonstrates 3D Television
The UK has moved closer to 3D television after a demonstration of the technology by media firm and internet service provider BSkyB at its London headquarters. Sky's dig... More »
Voters Can Now Twitter Their MPs
A new service aims to help MPs better interact with their constituencies through the Twitter social network tool. TweetMinster hopes to foste... More »
User Feedback Drives New Hotmail Design
Microsoft appears to have learned from the recent Hotmail fiasco, and is adopting user feedback in its updates. The software giant has brought back classic... More »
Multi-Platform iPlayer Beta Hits Desktops
The BBC has launched a beta version of its iPlayer service which now allows Mac and Linux users, not just Windows users, to download programmes to their desktops. BBC... More »
Adobe Releases AIR 1.5 For Linux
Adobe has announced a Linux version of AIR 1.5, its runtime environment for rich internet applications. Available immediately, AIR 1.5 for Linux now ena... More »
Navigon Updates Navigator Tool For Smartphones
Navigon has announced a new version of its navigation software for Windows Mobile and Symbian smartphones. MobileNavigator 7 calculates routes more quickly, according to... More »
Sprint Rolls Out WiMax Card
Sprint has unveiled a new wireless modem designed for both 3G and 4G networks. The company on Wednesday announced the U300 modem. The USB-powered device is the first in ... More »
Apple Feels The Pinch As Recession Bites
Apple is beginning to feel the effects of the economic crisis, according to new research from retail sales tracking firm NPD Group. NPD reported flat Mac sales in the US ret... More »
Jadu CMS Goes Social
UK-based Jadu has become the latest web content management provider to respond to growing demand for social computing capabilities with the launch of a new version of its flagsh... More »
Yahoo Opens Mail Services To Developers
Yahoo is to open up its Mail services to third parties that want to provide compatible email applications. The aim is to provide users with a "smarter inbox ex... More »
BT Set To Go Ahead With Phorm
BT has concluded its trial of the Phorm online advertising programme and is set to go ahead with its wide-scale deployment. "The trial has now concluded... More »
Microsoft Plans Emergency Patch
Microsoft is planning to issue an out-of-cycle update to address a new rash of attacks targeting Internet Explorer 7. Thecompany issued an alert on Tuesday to ... More »
TfL Goes Online To Beat Transport Delays
Transport for London (TfL) has announced a range of online tools to help commuters avoid the delay hotspots on their travels. The tools are designed to give people ... More »
Onkyo Unveils Latest 7.1 Surround Pre-Amp
Audiovisual specialist Onkyo has announced the release of its latest pre-amp, the PR-SC886. The big, black box of goodness contains a whole host of features that ... More »
The World's Tiniest Optical Mouse
Sometimes companies come out with IT support products that are very useful and can benefit our lives in some way. Other times, like the Z-Nano Mouse release, it's just... More »
Walkman Grows Up With Wi-Fi And Touchscreen
With the annual CES electronics show just four weeks away, it's time for the rumour mill to get started in earnest, with one of the first 'leaks' being a revamped Sony... More »
Movie Chain Allows Home Copies To Blu-ray
From Friday, Japan will become the first country in the world to allow movie fans to download high-definition films and burn them at full quality to their own Blu-ray disks. Th... More »
Gmail Gets A Proper PDF Viewer
Gmail's integrated software-free PDF viewer has received a nice upgrade courtesy of Google Docs. Now opening up a PDF in Gmail won't fire up your native PDF vi... More »
Facebook: Use Connect! It's easy!
The marketing push for Facebook Connect, the social network's new data-portability project, goes on. Their angle: It's really easy to install on any site or blog. A... More »
Sharp To Close Two LCD Lines In Production Reorganization
Sharp plans to close two LCD (liquid crystal display) production lines in Japan as part of a reorganization that's intended to strengthen its position in the competitive flat-pane... More »
Car Key Blocks Mobile Phone Use While Driving
A pair of US inventors are bringing to market a computerized car key that prevents people from chatting on mobile telephones or sending text messages while driving. O... More »
Man Creates His Very Own Stepford Wife Robot
An inventor in Canada has created his very own fembot, and she goes by the name of Aiko. An ongoing project since 2007, the robot has been created by Le Trung out of his basem... More »
Microsoft Improves IE8 For Disabled Users
Microsoft will add features to the next version of Internet Explorer to make it more accessible to disabled users of the Web, the company said Thursday. A post on t... More »
Google Shifts Chrome Browser Out Of Test Mode
Google Inc. is shifting its Web browser out of test mode just 100 days after its debut, an unusually quick transition for a company known for keeping the "beta" tag on so... More »
HP Touts Better Batteries For Notebooks
HP is planning to offer a new line of long-life notebook batteries. The company revealed on Wednesday that it would be using batteries from startup firm Boston Power ... More »
Google Kicks Off Magazine Project
Google has begun a project to digitise thousands of magazines. The company has unveiled a deal with several publishers to begin adding magazine articles to its Book Search ser... More »
UK Software Industry In Dire Need Of Boost
The UK software industry is in a strong position, but could suffer in the current economic climate, according to a report commissioned by Microsoft. The study, which was carr... More »
Vodafone Unveils Widget Developer Support
Mobile operator Vodafone has unveiled a new initiative designed to give developers access to tools and support to help them create mobile widget technology more easily. Widget Zon... More »
Mozilla Releases Latest Beta Of Firefox 3.1
Mozilla has released the latest Firefox beta, which includes increased language support and new privacy settings. Firefox 3.1 beta 2 supports 54 languages, and offers a p... More »
HP Develops Low Cost Flexible Display
Hewlett-Packard on Monday announced the development of a flexible electronic display prototype. Developed alongside Arizona Stat's Flexible Display Center (FDC), the new ... More »
Bidders Selected For Two Key ID Cards Contracts
The government is moving closer to awarding two key contracts for the roll out of ID cards. The Identity and Passport Service (IPS) has announced final shortlists fo... More »
Logitech Celebrates As Its Billionth Mouse Escapes
Logitech is in a fine mood as the billionth computer mouse leaves its manufacturing plant in China. Conveniently, the company’s landmark event falls barely a week away from t... More »
Vista SP2 Beta Available For Public Download
A trial version of Windows Vista Service Pack 2 is now available for free download from Microsoft's TechNet Web site. Windows Vista SP2 will include security and performance upd... More »
AMD Sees Fourth Quarter Revenue Shortfall
Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices on Thursday warned fourth-quarter revenue would be much weaker than expected due to widespread weakness, and particularly among consumers. AMD and... More »
Hands On With Opera 10 Alpha
Today Opera Software made available a preview of its next major browser version, Opera 10. The company claims that the reengineered browser and rendering engine will lead in standa... More »
Novell Sales Show No Growth But Losses Shrink Slightly
Software supplier Novell has posted its results for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2008, reporting net revenue of $245m (£167.1m), showing no growth from the same period in 200... More »
Microsoft Taps EMC For Data Protection
Microsoft is planning to use software from EMC's RSA division to help secure its enterprise offerings. The two companies have agreed a deal in which RSA Data Loss Prevention (DLP) ... More »
Microsoft Fires Off 63 Suits Against Software Pirates
Microsoft has launched another international round of legal actions against organisations it believes are selling counterfeit versions of its software. The 63 lawsuits include 16 ... More »
Credit Crunch Forcing Software Engineers Into Crime
Unemployed software engineers could become the latest threat to corporate IT security, as the current economic slump forces many to turn to online crime, according to the chief exe... More »
UK Tops European Software Market
The UK continues to dominate the European software market, according to figures from PricewaterhouseCoopers, which estimates that British firms now account for €13.3bn in soft... More »
Secunia Study Finds 98 Per Cent Of PCs Vulnerable
A survey of computer users has shown that almost every PC is running at least one unpatched application, according to vulnerability testing firm Secunia. Secunia gathered reports ... More »
Sun Takes On Adobe And Microsoft With JavaFX
Sun Microsystems has today launched its JavaFX rich internet application (RIA) platform that will put it in direct competition with Adobe and Microsoft. The JavaFX developer ki... More »
Kaspersky Aims To Be Security Top Dog
Anti-virus firm Kaspersky Lab has boldly predicted that it will become the market leader in endpoint security, building on a growing reputation for technological innovation, and he... More »
BlackBerry Maker Offers $53 Million For Certicom
In a move to bolster its security, Research In Motion said Wednesday it plans to make an unsolicited takeover bid for data encryption specialist Certicom. The BlackBerry maker sa... More »
Apple Axes Antivirus Help Page
Following a flurry of arguably unwarranted media attention, Apple has removed an online help document that advised customers to use multiple antivirus products to keep their comput... More »
Toshiba Calls Chip Industry Group Forecast 'Optimistic'
An executive at Japan's Toshiba Corp warned that a chip industry group's sales forecast was "very optimistic" and said the firm will need to reassess its weak operations ... More »
Windows Vista SP2 Arriving In April?
Windows Vista service pack 2 is due for release in April 2009, according to a high profile website. Vista SP2 will bring the normal patches and fixes, and according to the previo... More »
Chipmakers Squeezed as Downturn Bites Harder
Fresh signs of a downturn in global chip demand emerged on Friday, as STMicroelectronics cut its fourth-quarter outlook while industry sources said two leading Taiwan companies are... More »
Jadu Brings PHP And .NET Closer Together
Content management firm Jadu has released a new tool which could bring together the fiercely opposing spheres of PHP and Microsoft's .NET, bridging developer skills gaps and loweri... More »
Seagate Fixes Bug In Barracuda Drives
Seagate has fixed a bug in its Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB hard drive which caused applications to hang intermittently. "Some Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB hard drives may show ... More »
AVG Anti-Virus Free 8.0.176
AVG continues to be one of the most popular free antivirus programs available on the internet and it maintains this position with a combination of effective protection and an easy ... More »
Symantec Launches Norton Antivirus 'Gaming Edition'
Symantec on Tuesday announced the release of Norton AntiVirus 2009 Gaming Edition. Designed for online gamers it maintains full-scale antivirus and antispyware protection without i... More »
Lenovo Launches Netbook
Laptop giant Lenovo today launched the new IdeaPad S10e netbook, a 10.1in mini laptop with LED backlit display weighing less than 1.2kg. The S10e is designed as a lightweight mobil... More »
Samsung And InterDigital Settle Patent Spat
Samsung has settled its longstanding patent litigation with InterDigital for a rumoured $400-500 million. The company was accused of infringing on InterDigital’s patents on b... More »
Opera Mini 4.2 Beta Now Surfing Google Android
Opera Mini 4.2 beta became on Monday the first third-party browser available for Google Android. Opera Mini for Android, which was previewed in April, includes most of the ... More »
IBM Plans To Develop Super Brainy Computer
IBM is pairing up with leading US universities to build a computer that emulates human brain capabilities. Big Blue and researchers from the likes of Stanford, Cornell and the Univ... More »
Getting To The Core Of Intel's New Core i7 CPUs
Intel's new "Bloomfield" quad-core Core i7 processors are the company's first to be based on its long-previewed "Nehalem" archite