VIA's K8 chipsets to support for AMD Athlon 64

VIA Technologies has announced the availability of a series of K8 chipsets to support the AMD Athlon 64 and AMD Athlon 64 FX processors. The VIA K8T800 chipset provides graphics support while the VIA K8M800 and K8N800 support desktops and notebooks respectively, featuring integrated UniChrome 2 graphics with DuoView. Hyper8 technology allows 16-bit/1. ...more

US puts South Korea on piracy 'watch list'

The US has warned South Korea that unless it takes steps to cut the amount of music and film piracy it could face sanctions. The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) says that piracy in Korea, which has the highest broadband coverage in the world, cost copyright holders $572mn in 2002. Korea has been placed on the USTR's Priority Watch List, and is required to 'make significant progress in bilateral or multilateral negotiations to provide adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights'. ...more

Apple shareholders 'wait and see'

Apple shareholders took what the Financial Times called a 'wait-and-see' approach following the company's announcement that CEO Steve Jobs had been cleared of any wrongdoing in the granting of stock options. The report into options granted between 1997 and 2002 found 15 instances where grants were backdated to increase their worth, but exonerated Jobs. In the few instances he was aware that favourable grant dates had been selected, he did not receive or otherwise benefit from these grants and was unaware of the accounting implications. ...more

VeriSign makes truce with BulkRegister, FTC ignites new war

VeriSign is facing an investigation by the FTC after a number of suits brought against it for a direct-mail marketing campaign. The company yesterday reached a settlement with BulkRegister for an undisclosed sum, but still faces suits brought by Go Daddy, a related consumer group filing by the California Consumer Action Group, as well as a class action suit brought by consumers against VeriSign for its 'deceptive' marketing practices. VeriSign said in a statement: 'We've been asked by the FTC not to comment on their request for information regarding our marketing activities in the domain name business. ...more

iSmell, you smell, we all smell

We experience the world through our senses, but using a computer you don't really get the chance to use your sense of smell. That's until Digiscent designed the wonderfully named iSmell. The company showed off its revolutionary product at the recent CES and, in case you are wondering what it does, the iSmell is a shark's fin-shaped device that connects to your computer and makes the appropriate odour when you visit a suitably smelly Web site. ...more