The Napster monster won't lie down

Napster's efforts to filter out copyright material from its song-swapping service have infuriated Judge Marilyn Hall Patel, who gave the order, describing it as "disgraceful". Lawyers for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) said that 84 per cent of material that the five major record labels asked to be blocked was still available. Napster complained that it had done everything possible and that the labels had presented it with confusing lists of songs. ...more

Graphics card makers ship Nvidia GeForce 7800GT cards

Taiwan-based graphics-card makers Albatron, AOpen, Chaintech Computer, Gigabyte Technology and Micro-Star International (MSI) claim they have begun volume shipments of their SLI-ready PCI Express (PCIe) graphics cards based on the recently introduced Nvidia GeForce 7800GT graphics processor unit (GPU), according to the companies. Asustek Computer, on the other hand, is scheduled to launch its Extreme N7800 GT based on the new GPU at the end of this month, the company said. All the companies are offering GeForce 7800 GT GPU-based graphics cards that feature 256MB of DDR3 memory with a 256-bit memory bus. ...more

PC in a briefcase

Portable computers are great whether they are PDAs or laptops but sometimes you just need access to your home PC. Well one industrious chap has decided to make his machine very mobile indeed. Known only as 'Lanjunky', this fellow has put the insides of his beloved PC into a snazzy looking aluminium case, the type that you'd use for storing camera equipment. ...more

Ofcom orders further LLU broadband price cuts

Ofcom has ordered further cuts in BT's LLU charging, following the completion of its review into the ADSL wholesale market. The UK telecoms regulator has concluded that, with more up-to-date cost data to hand, voluntary cuts made by BT in September are no longer sufficient. BT has invested in automated processes that it says have 'significantly' reduced LLU costs. ...more

AMD facing delays on launch of 90nm desktop processors

AMD may be forced to push back the launch of its 90nm desktop processors into the second half of 2005, according to Xbit Labs. The site says that 'sources close to the company' say that the mooted AMD Athlon 64 FX-57, previously codenamed 'San-Diego' will not now appear in the first half of next year as suggested in an AMD roadmap published only last week. Instead, the 'sources' are suggesting that later this year, AMD will be going ahead with another version of the existing 130nm SOI (Silicon-on-Insulator) design to be called the AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 clocked at 2. ...more