Intel slashes price of 64-bit Pentium 4 chips

As Digitimes anticipated at the end of last week, Intel has moved to slash the prices of its 64-bit 600-series Pentium 4 chips. In a bid to better compete with the AMD Athlon 64 series, Intel decided to increase the price cuts already scheduled, according to sources at Taiwan motherboard makers. The change was made official on Sunday. ...more

Microsoft moves into mobile phones

Microsoft will show off its entry into the phone device market tomorrow when the "Stinger" operating system is featured at the 3GSM World Congress in Cannes. Following the market trend of combining PIM (personal information management) and telecom functionality into a mobile phone-sized package, Stinger will be in competition with Symbian and its EPOC system, which already supports Smartphones and Communicators from the likes of Ericsson, Nokia, Sony and Motorola. As with the already-launched PocketPC and Mobile Explorer, the idea is to ensure that Microsoft doesn't get left behind in the move from desktops to mobile devices. ...more

HP reports slow growth

Hewlett Packard has reported third quarter revenues of $17.35 billion, compared to $16.54 billion in the prior year period, a 5 per cent increase which transforms into a profit for the quarter of $297 million. ...more

Neocron game to inspire broadband subscription surge

Apparently the upcoming sci-fi 'massively multiplayer online role-playing game' Neocron will make everyone rush out to get broadband Internet connections! According to CDV, which is to publish the game, a massive 86 percent of those who are planning to purchase the MMORPG have stated that they were strongly considering ditching their old modems in favour of broadband Internet connections. Now, the implication is that the arrival of Neocron will be responsible for a surge in broadband subscriptions. 'If our forecasts are correct, the Neocron subscriber base could drive nationwide broadband subscription up by 10 per cent in one fell swoop,' stated Leo Zullo, Marketing Manager, CDV Software Entertainment. ...more

Apple re-patches security patch

Apple has released a new version of its latest security update, after the original patch broke applications adapted to run natively on the 64-bit Power Mac G5s. Security Update 2005-007 v1.1 provides a combined 32- and 64-bit version of LibSystem to replace the 32-bit version that was delivered in v1. ...more