British schoolkids overcharged for software

British schools are spending twice as much on computer hardware and software than necessary according to a report from a government IT watchdog. In a report leaked to the Times Educational Supplement, the British Educational Communications and Technology Association (Becta) says that Britain's primary schools could cut their software costs by half if they migrated to open source software solutions. Similarly, the UK's secondary schools could slash their costs by a quarter if they went the open source route. ...more

Intel to invest $200m in digital home networking

Intel has announced it will create a $200m fund to invest in digital home networking. Specifically, the fund - which will be managed by Intel Capital - will invest in third-party companies developing new technologies in this area. Managing digital content around the home - including music, photos and video - has long been a focus of Intel as part of its wireless strategy (see a keynote at a recent IDF from Louis Burns, general manager of Intel's Desktop Platforms Group). ...more

Palm hires ex-Apple man to meet iPhone challenge

Palm has appointed a former Apple engineer to oversee its attempts to meet the iPhone's challenge to the entire handheld industry. Paul Mercer was the lead designer of the System 7 version of the Mac operating system, before leaving to set up a company whose development system software was used by Apple when it was creating the iPod's interface. More recently he worked on the interface for Samsung's Z5 MP3 player. ...more

Gucci dresses the iPod

The iPod is definitely a mainstream object of desire when the likes of Gucci begin modelling leather cases for the aristocrat of MP3 players. Part of Gucci's spring/summer collection, the beige and ebony leather case, with strap, is priced at $195. The item is already selling well in the US, reports the New York Times. ...more

PCI Express trained on AMD 64

PCI Express connectivity comes to the AMD 64 platform courtesy of the new VIA K8T890 chipset. PCIe is designed to deliver increased system bandwidth - for example, supporting intensive multimedia demands. VIA expects the chipset to be incorporated into motherboards designed for the latest models of AMD processors including the Athlon 64, Opteron, and Sempron designs. ...more