UK hacker loses US extradition appeal

Gary McKinnon, a UK computer expert, accused by Washington of the 'biggest military hack of all time', has lost his extradition appeal. Gary McKinnon was arrested in 2002 following charges by US prosecutors that he illegally accessed 97 government computers - including Pentagon, US army, navy and NASA systems - supposedly causing $700,000 (?354,355) worth of damage. Two of Britain's leading judges rejected a High Court challenge by McKinnon to an earlier court order backed by the Home Secretary that he should be extradited. ...more

Microsoft strikes deal with EU over Vista

Microsoft has confirmed that it is on track to deliver Windows Vista to volume customers in November worldwide - including the European Union and Korea. Following negotiations with the EU, Microsoft has agreed to a number of changes to Vista that will be rolled into the release of the product worldwide. 'Microsoft agreed to make a number of changes to Windows Vista in response to guidance the company received from the European Commission,' said Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith. ...more

Disney says yes to DVD price probe

Disney is the first film studio to agree to the European Commission enquiry into DVD prices. As we reported yesterday, the EC is concerned that European DVD prices are artificially high and that regional coding is stopping Europeans from buying cheaper DVDs abroad. Disney isn't the largest of the studios targeted by the EC. ...more

Palm to launch Windows based Treo

The previously unthinkable is set to happen today. Palm is widely rumoured to be about to announce a Treo PDA/mobile phone running the Microsoft Windows operating system. The announcement is set to be made in San Francisco where Palm, Microsoft and US telco Verizon are planning to hold a joint press conference. ...more

AMD goes native with quad-core demo

AMD has demonstrated its 'Barcelona' native quad-core x86 server processor at its annual AMD Industry Analyst Forum. The company recently unveiled the dual-CPU Quad FX platform, which comprises a pair of dual-core FX-70 parts and is AMD's response to the Intel Core 2 QX6700 Extreme CPUs, which have four cores per part. Intel's offering in the server and workstation category is the new Xeon 5300 series. ...more