UK government stands up to spam

The DTI has unveiled proposals to ensure the public has effective methods of blocking unsolicited emails and SMS messages. The proposals are the UK's implementation of the European Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communication and if adopted would require that users explicitly opt in to receiving commercial emails from businesses. They also require that the use of cookies from Web sites are clearly explained both in terms of purpose and how to refuse them. ...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

Via bridges new and old technology for Intel Pentium chipsets

Via has announced its PT Series of chipsets for the Intel Pentium platform, supporting PCI Express connectivity as well as faster DDR2 memory. The new chipsets comprise the VIA PT880 Pro and PT894, which are targeted at the mainstream performance market, and the PT894 Pro (pictured), which is aimed at workstation users. They all support Front Side Bus speeds of 1066, 800 or 533MHz. ...more

'Critical' flaws in Office revealed

Microsoft is reporting several critical vulnerabilities that affect various Office applications, in particular the Excel spreadsheet program. The flaws, which affect a number of different versions of Office applications, could allow a hacker to gain control of a computer if the user has administrative rights. All versions of Office and the Microsoft Works suite from 2000 onwards are affected. ...more

Intergraph sues HP, Dell and Gateway over cache technology

Solution provider Intergraph has launched a lawsuit against three of the world's biggest PC vendors, claiming infringement of patented 'Clipper' cacheing technology. The move follows a similar successful claim against Intel which was settled on the 10th of October. In that case, the court ruled that Intel's Itanium-based products infringed Intergraph's patented technology for defining key aspects of parallel instruction computing. ...more