DVD+RW Alliance announces 8-speed write specs

The DVD+RW Alliance has announced 8-speed write specifications for its optical format, claiming the fastest current write speed in the world. Devices designed to the 8-speed specification will write at 88Mbits/sec, claims the association, taking less than 10 minutes to write a full disc. Currently the -R format is limited to 4-speed. ...more

Google buys the Earth

Search engine Google is continuing its flurry of activity by announcing that it has bought the Silicon Valley digital mapping company, Keyhole Corp. No details of the deal have been released. The Keyhole software claims it offers a 3D digital model of the entire earth via the Internet. ...more

Linux distro lands HP distro deal

Linux distributor Mandriva is hoping to cement its powerbase in Latin America following the acquisition of Brazil-based Conectiva with a deal to pre-load the operating system on HP computers sold there. Mandriva now becomes HP's 'Preferred Linux Partner for Latin America' with its version of Mandriva Linux 2006 optimised and certified for HP machines. The big systems firms, such as IBM and HP, are all looking to the GNU/Linux platform to get a piece of what have become known as 'emerging economies', and Latin America is just such a one. ...more

Intel measures up to a 90 nanometer chip-making process

Advanced transistors, strained silicon, and high-speed copper are elements of Intel's next-generation 90 nanometer (nm) manufacturing process. To put things in context, a nanometer is one-billionth of a metre, and the new process involves the use of gates one two-thousandth the width of human hair. The 90nm process is regarded by Intel as the 'next generation' after the 0. ...more

Roxio sells software division to become Napster

Roxio is selling its entire software divison to concentrate on digital music. The slimmed-down company will be renamed Napster, after the online music service it bought and then relaunched. Toast, the company's market-leading CD and DVD authoring software for the Mac as well as Roxio's Windows products, will be acquired by Sonic Solution, a leading supplier of DVD creation software. ...more