AMD claims breakthroughs in transistor design

AMD has announced that it has built a high-performance transistor that is up to 30 per cent faster than the best of the current generation of PMOS (P-channel metal-oxide semiconductor) transistors. The new transistor technology is based on the process known as Fully Depleted Silicon-on-Insulator. Although AMD is not releasing full details until June, fully depleted SOI is based on ultra thin wafers of silicon in the tens of nanometers. ...more

Microsoft closes Hotmail to Outlook and Outlook Express users

From today, new users of Microsoft's Outlook and Outlook Express won't be able to view Hotmail emails for free. The company has announced that in future the service will only be available to subscribers of the MSN premium services costing $19.95. ...more

City of Munich keeps faith with Linux

The City of Munich is to press on with its migration to Linux, despite fears that doing so would leave it open to patent litigation. Concerns were raised over the summer when Jens Muehlhaus, a member of Germany's Green Party, called on Munich's mayor to lobby the federal government to analyse the risk of moving to open source software in the light of a controversial new European Directive that would legalise software patents in Europe. However, Reuters reports that a vote today is expected to go in favour of a switch to the Open Source operating system. ...more

Read extracts online as Google moves in on online book sales

Search engine Google is planning to offer book extracts as part of its new Google Print service which will allow searchers to search, browse and ultimately buy a book online. The system will be integrated into the existing search engine rather than spun off as a separate section. As part of the search results Google will offer a 'book results' link. ...more

New Web services specification to make life easier for sysadmins

A group of leading PC companies has announced its support for the Web Services Management specification, formerly known as WMX. The consortium says that this new Web services specification will ease the lives of IT managers by creating a standard way for systems to access and exchange information across their entire IT systems. WS-Management aims to allow IT personnel plug and play access a wide range of devices on their networks, even if they are brand new, turned off or otherwise unavailable. ...more