Intel slashes prices for the Pentium 4

Cuts of up to 53 per cent as Intel publishes new Pentium 4 prices for desktops and laptops. Officially unveiled at the end of the weekend, the new pricing regime covers the Pentium 4, the Mobile Intel Pentium 4-M, the Mobile Intel Pentium III-M and the Intel Xeon (for servers). The good news is that such price decreases should be passed along to the consumer in the shape of cheaper computer systems. ...more

Googlewhacking wildfire

Some people have obviously got too much time on their hands - and those are the people indulging in the new 'sport' of Googlewhack. The aim of the game is to enter two words into the Google search engine and come up with just one result from Google's archive of more than three billion Web pages. Sadly the game even has rules and a scoring system, which makes 'epigone groundhog' the highest scoring combination yet. ...more

Shark takes a bite out of the net

The Internet link between Australia, Europe and Asia was severed after an undersea cable was damaged. Nearly two thirds of Australian Internet users have either lost their connection completely or are having substantial difficulty logging onto the net. The $1. ...more

NEC gets handy with handhelds

NEC Computers has joined the ranks of PocketPC 2002 PDA makers with the MobilePro P300 Pocket PC. As with the army of new PocketPC 2002 PDAs from the likes of Toshiba, HP, Compaq and Casio, the MobilePro P300 houses the standard set of high-end components including Intel's 206Mhz StrongARM processor and a 65,000 colour screen and is aimed squarely at the corporate market. The unit comes as standard with an SD card comprising third-party apps for data management, image editing, a Java runtime environment, VoIP software and a PowerPoint/Excel viewer. ...more

Microsoft: 'Linux is not ready for mission critical computing'

Nick McGrath, head of platform strategy for Microsoft in the UK has claimed that 'Linux is not ready for mission critical computing.' Talking to us recently, McGrath said that the Open Source operating system 'lacks the maturity of the Microsoft application stack. Customers are giving Linux the benefit of the doubt right now, but people's patience with performance issues and so on will wear thin. ...more