Intel turns to Extreme UV lithography for printing shrinking processors

Intel has passed two milestones in the development of extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, a technology for building the ever smaller microprocessors of the future. Intel has set itself the goal of printing circuitry as small as 30 nanometers (nm). The chip giant has installed the world's first commercial EUV lithography tool and set up an EUV mask pilot line. ...more

Microsoft faces anti-trust set-back

The nine US states seeking the imposition of tougher anti-trust penalties against Microsoft received a boost yesterday when the case's presiding judge ruled that they could present a modular version of Windows to the court. The states are arguing that Microsoft should be forced to develop a modular version of Windows that will allow other developers to substitute their own applications in place of Microsoft 'middleware' such as Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player. Microsoft has argued that such a sanction would prove difficult if not impossible to implement, would confuse customers and would not work the same way, or as well as, the current all-in versions of Windows. ...more

Germans join Japanese in WAP charging

German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom, following the lead given by Japan's NTT DoCoMo, has announced that it will be charging users to access certain Web sites on mobile phones from November, with plans to do the same in the UK in conjunction with One 2 One. The company's mobile Internet portal is set to charge the equivalent of about ?6 for a package of services including sports, financial and music news and a food guide. A similar service is then planned for the UK and Austria. ...more

MIT brings video games to the classroom

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT have turned their attention to the thorny problem of the way video and computer games are used in the classroom. Fortunately, this does not mean using 'Grand Theft Auto III' to hone children's driving skills or that Tomb Raider is a suitable introduction to archeology. Instead MIT is looking to find ways to integrate games into subjects in the curriculum. ...more

Interview: Richard Stallman, on Free Software and patents

Richard Stallman is the founder of the GNU operating system and the Free Software Foundation. The GNU operating system is a fundamental part of the GNU/Linux platform, and at the heart of the Free and Open Source Software community. Stallman and supporters of Free Software take the position that software patents stifle innovation and creativity and are counter to the goals of Free Software: to promote 'computer users' rights to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs'. ...more