Interfacing with Jakob Nielsen [part 2]

We continue our interview with usability guru Jakob Nielsen What is your view of the increased use of Web advertising such as eyeblasters and popups which, by their nature, is designed to get in the way of using a site? I absolutely agree and advertising can be made positive. The example of that is the little text boxes that you will find on a lot of search engines. They are clearly ads. ...more

HP revamps its colour laser range

HP has revamped its colour laser range with new models claiming costs in line with a conventional mono laser. Hewlett-Packard's Nick Shuttleworth, Colour Category Manager, HP UK, told us that the printer market is seeing its strongest growth around entry level colour lasers, but that the costs of printing colour is still a barrier to some. 'Lots of customers have been increasingly seeing the value of a colour laser in the department around cost,' he said, but that competitor products are normally 'either colour-capable, or colour-centric'. ...more

Intel predicts death of DRAM

Intel has unveiled 'the next generation of Flash memory', which could potentially replace all types of memory in PCs. Although devices based on the new 'phase-change' memory aren't yet in production, Intel's chief technology officer, Justin Rattner, showed a complete production-quality wafer during his opening keynote at the Intel Developer Forum. Rattner claimed the technology has been in development for ten years and that the advantages of phase-change memory are huge. ...more

Europe to wait months as Sony stocks US with PSP handhelds

Sony has delayed the European release of its PlayStation Portable. The needs of the American market come first. The handheld gaming device - which marks Sony entry into the space currently dominated by Nintedo - has already launched in Japan and is scheduled to be on sale in American stores 24 March. ...more

Intel hardware will benefit Mac development - survey

The switch to Intel hardware will benefit Mac software development, according to more than 90 per cent of developers questioned by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster. They believe the transition will result in a greater number of Mac applications. 'While there are some concerns from industry analysts that the Intel transition will negatively impact Mac application development, we believe our conversations point to the opposite conclusion,' Munster said. ...more