Surge in notebook demand puts pressure on manufacturers

A number of China-based notebook PC plants belonging to Taiwan makers are currently operating 24 hours per day, in order to cope with a surge of orders from leading vendors, including Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Acer, according to sources at the makers. An additional factor in meeting demand is a national holiday in China, which this year will see many factories closed between 1-7 October. However, Taiwan notebook makers are paying workers triple-time wages to continue working, the sources said. ...more

Reptiles will always survive, why not IBM systems?

In the face of growing computing complexity, IBM is funding a new research project to develop self-managing e-business systems that require a minimum of intervention. To be based on IBM's eServer hardware and software, the project is an ambitious attempt to anticipate the next generation of computing. The goal is to build systems that are capable of configuring, optimising and mending themselves - in the case of system failures - and also of frustrating invasions by hackers. ...more

Gates announces Media2Go at CES

Bill Gates unveils Microsoft's venture into portable media players at his CES keynote with the Media2Go device platform. Working together with Intel, who were already working on a PVP (Personal Video Player), a Media2Go device sports WindowsCE embedded operating system, Intel's XScale processors (as used in many PocketPC devices), a 4in LCD screen and a 20Gb hard drive. Using Microsoft's Sync & Go software, users will be able to set up the device to grab selected video, audio and image files, including favourite TV programs, from an XP-based PC. ...more

Blast those election blues

Are you already tired of the General Election? It's only been one week since Mr Tony Blair announced that he was going to the country, but in politics a week is a very long time. So, here's your chance to get your own back and show those politicians who really is the boss. Friendlygiants. ...more

Open source to power US patent review

The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is looking to the open source community to help improve the quality of patents issued in the US. Quality issues have landed the USPTO with something of a reputation as an over-liberal system that one should try to avoid - particularly in relation to efforts in Europe to come up with a harmonised patent legislation for the EU. The successful patenting of what some might consider trivial or obvious inventions, such as 'one-click shopping' has made software patents tricky terrain for the tech industry. ...more