Red Hat and IBM to take Linux to emerging markets

Red Hat and Big Blue are setting up a joint initiative to promote the development and adoption of Linux solutions in emerging markets. The strategy is principally aimed at the booming economies of China, India and South Korea, although the companies say they intend to spread the message worldwide. IBM and Red Hat are promising to provide technical backup to software developers around the world with additional resources, expertise and implementation services to help them port and certify new applications to IBM software and hardware and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. ...more

Sanyo has the recipe for biodegradable corn CDs

Sanyo has developed a biodegradable CD made from corn, in an attempt to reduce the number of undigestible polycarbonate discs currently being buried in landfill sites. Together with Mitsui Chemicals, Sanyo has a process that converts corn into unrefined dextrose which is then fermented to produce lactic acid. This is then converted into a polymer to form the basis for the disc. ...more

AMD slashes prices and plans reorganisation

AMD is smarting from the effects of its price war with arch rival Intel. It is lowering its earnings forecast for its next quarterly financial results, due to be released next week, and the company has also hinted at a possible reorganisation to help stabilise its finances. More immediately, it has also announced price cuts across its Athlon and Sempron ranges of processors. ...more

Kodak puts photos on the TV

Kodak has formed an alliance with LSI Logic to develop DVD players that will display digital photos on television sets. The idea is that the DVD players will be able to read photo CDs and display both thumbnails and full photos, which will be automatically resized for TVs. If successful, the plan will mark the first steps towards moving digital photos away from the PC, although, of course, you couldn't edit them or upload them to the Net. ...more

AMD fanfares new Sempron chip range

AMD has announced that the replacement for its ageing Duron range is going to be named the Sempron. The company says that it will start shipping the new range, aimed at the budget-conscious user, in the second half of this year. The company says that for desktop and notebook computing, it sees the 64-bit Athlon processors filling the top of the range with the Athlon XP and Mobile AMD Athlon XP-M 32-bit chips filling the mid range. ...more