PowerVR returns to the PC

A report seen by our sister publication Custom PC details two new desktop graphics chips, codenamed Muse and Athena, which will use an updated version of the PowerVR tile-rendering technology. PowerVR's tile rendering breaks down the display into a series of rectangular tiles. The main benefit is that the card doesn't render anything that's obscured by another object in front, which improves performance. ...more

Motorola goes text mad!

Following on from our report about the popularity of SMS messaging, it seems that one manufacturer has listened to the consumer and designed the phone that they want. If you can think back to that news report, the survey said that people want more phones with QWERTY keyboards and bigger screens. Well lo and behold, three days later Motorola announces its new V. ...more

ADSL providers agree to make service swapping easier for customers

A number of broadband ISPs have agreed to sign up to a self-regularity code of good practice, which is designed to make it easier for customers to migrate from one service provider to another. The companies - including AOL, BT, Bulldog, Demon, Virgin.net and Wanadoo - have agreed to try and minimise the delays and disruption experienced by users if they make a switch. ...more

Creative launches GeForce FX cards

Creative Labs will launch its range of GeForce FX-based cards this June. nVidia's GeForce FX GPU is at the heart of the new graphics cards, able to perform graphics processes in numbers that boggle the mind. At the top end sits the 3D Blaster 5 FX 5600 Ultra with the power to chew through 88 million vertices/sec, push out a fill rate of 1. ...more

Sony on a chip

Joint venture to produce system-on-a-chip processors tailored to Sony's application requirements. IBM has signed multi-year agreements to license out its semiconductor technologies to Sony, Sony Computer Entertainment and Toshiba to develop high performance, low-power chips. IBM's expertise with process technologies, including silicon-on-insulator transistors and copper wires, will push the scale down to 50nanometres, less than half that used by Intel, which recently moved to a 0. ...more