AMD goes Live!

X86 chip company AMD has announced that the first machines based on its AMD Live! media PC strategy will be available this month. The machines will be powered by the company's Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processor. AMD Live!, which was announced at the beginning of the year, is the company's answer to rival Intel's VIIV media PC initiative which was introduced last year. ...more

TSMC and Nvidia reaffirm ties amid reports that IBM has won Nvidia orders

Nvidia and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) reaffirmed their close cooperation following reports that IBM won a multiyear contract to build new computer-graphics chips for Nvidia. IBM said on Wednesday that it will make new graphics chip for Nvidia, winning business that would have otherwise gone to TSMC, Reuters reported. Nvidia contracts TSMC to produce its graphics and core logic chipsets used in personal computers, laptops, workstations and Microsoft's Xbox game console. ...more

BBC report shows manufacturers' differing iPhone attitudes

Investigations by the BBC reveal that in the face of imminent competition from the iPhone, mobile manufacturers have very different views over what makes a good phone. Speaking to the corporation's technology correspondent, Mark Ward, SonyEricsson's product marketing manager, Gilles Oriol, threw some doubt on the wisdom of using a touch-screen rather than a physical keypad. Reminding readers that this requires the screen to be constantly active, he cited battery life to be a major concern on a device of this kind. ...more

iPod Christmas overwhelms iTunes Store

The number of Christmas Day visits to the iTunes section of Apple's website was 413 per cent higher than 2005, according to Hitwise. The Web statistics compiler attributes the rise to new iPod owners hurrying to download the iTunes software. iPod sales also appear to have led to a surge in iTunes Store purchases. ...more

BT Wireless to be snapped up by Europeans

BT may be about to sell its new mobile arm BT Wireless, say financial analysts. According to Bloomberg, investors are looking to European players Telefonica Moviles or Telecom Italia Mobile to buy the newly-independent division and help BT decrease its debt burden. As we reported yesterday, BT has just split the business into a mobile division, called BT Wireless, and its fixed-line offshoots under the umbrella Future BT. ...more