AMD extends Athlon 64 family

AMD has opened 2004 with a new range of Athlon-based processors both for the desktop and the mobile markets. There are three mobile processors in the range; the Mobile AMD Athlon 64 processors 3200+, 3000+ and 2800+. The chips feature AMD's PowerNow technology to keep the power consumption down, although we will have to wait for the benchmarks to see how much power is required to drive the 64-bit processor in a notebook environment. ...more

'Unauthorised' payments mystery solved

Apple UK has cleared up the issue of mysterious ?9 payments being taken from customers' bank accounts. The payments are a result of an offer carried a few months ago with Apple's iPod portable music player. iPod customers were given the option of completing and mailing a form and, for a payment of ?9 to cover P&P, would receive an in-car connection kit for the player. ...more

MusicNet undergoes Windows Media conversion

RealNetworks-backed MusicNet's catalogue is to be converted to Windows Media. Currently offered through AOL's online service, the format change could well be the first fruit of AOL and Microsoft chumming up, dropping the former's antitrust suit, and agreeing a seven-year, royalty-free licence to use Microsoft's entire Windows Media 9 Series digital media platform. Microsoft's cross-town rival RealNetworks is a majority shareholder and technology partner in MusicNet, which recently completed an additional round of funding from the company's original group of shareholders including RealNetworks, Bertelsmann, EMI and Warner Music Group. ...more

LaCie claims fastest DVD writing around with new drive

LaCie has released a new external dual-format DVD writer which the company claims, at 8x speed, is the 'fastest on the market'. In addition to 8x writing it also provide 4x re-writing and is compatible with discs in both the DVD+ and DVD- formats. It is also a fully-fledged CD burner. ...more

InfoSec 2007: Security drives up cost of EC banking directive

When it comes to banks complying with the EC's forthcoming Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), security costs are set to drive up the bill. This is the warning of experts speaking at the InfoSecurity Europe 2007 event at London's Olympia today. UK investment banks face costs of at least ?10 million each to ready themselves for the directive, thanks in large part to the measure's data security implications, said PJ Di Giammarino, chief executive of MiFID think tank JWG-IT and former senior IT professional with Barclays Capital. ...more