Disney backs Blu-ray in battle of high-capacity disc formats

In the battle between the competing standards for the next generation of DVD, the Blu-ray group has raised the stakes again with the announcement that the Walt Disney Corporation is backing the Sony Corp led group and has joined as the 15th member of the Blu-ray Disc Association. The move follows the announcement two weeks ago by the rival consortium led by Toshiba that Warner Brothers, New Line, Paramount and Universal Pictures would be backing the rival HD-DVD format. Disney, currently riding high with Pixar-made movie 'The Incredibles', says it will begin shipping its library of classic childrens' films on Blu Ray DVD as soon as the players begin shipping in the US and Japan. ...more

Intel Developer Forum, Fall 2006 - the final round-up

For all the processor news from San Francisco, here's our final round-up from Intel's Developer Forum 28 September IDF Fall 2006: Intel chief - 'I hate AMD' He didn't say it out loud, but he typed it out loud. IDF Fall 2006: Intel unveils new mobile platforms Intel's Mobility Group Dadi Perimutter formally unveils Santa Rosa, the next-generation Centrino platform for notebook PCs. IDF Fall 2006: Intel offers $1m prize to evolve the beige box< A million-dollar prize to build a 'sexy, stylish and small' PC, based on its ViiV multimedia platform. ...more

Intel to terminate 'Tejas' Pentium design

Intel is set to announce that it is to stop development of the 'Tejas' version of the Pentium 4 architecture. The Tejas architecture was slated to replace the Prescott models towards the end of this year. Also set for the bin is the similar Xeon processor known as 'Jayhawk'. ...more

Intel and AMD fight escalates

The fight between Intel and AMD is becoming ever more public, as the two processor companies hit back at each other's comments over the antitrust lawsuit. AMD filed the suit against Intel back in June, following its successful pursuit of Intel in Japan. It asserts that that Intel violated competition rulings to squeeze AMD's market share. ...more

Microsoft to unveil new Internet communications kit

Microsoft will introduce new hardware later today designed to connect the workplace phone to email, instant messaging, real-time presence information, conferencing, voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and mobile communications. Together with nine leading manufacturers - Asustek, GN, LG-Nortel, NEC, Plantronics, Polycom, Samsung, Tatung and Vitelix - the company will unveil 15 new devices at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) 2007. These are designed to work with the recently released Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 public betas. ...more