LR News History - Legit Reviews

Legit Reviews News History

U.S. video game sales rise 31 percent in June

U.S. sales of video game hardware and software in June rose 31 percent from a year ago, driven by stronger demand for gaming consoles from all three major industry players, market data showed on Monday.

June sales of $1.1 billion were also up about 35 percent from May, showing strong momentum at the start of the traditionally slow summer season, the report from market research firm NPD showed.

Posted by | Tue, Jul 24, 2007 - 07:56 AM

Foxlink and ECS to form joint venture for PC Connector Company

Connector maker Cheng Uei Precision Industry (Foxlink) and Elitegroup Computer System (ECS) will form a joint venture, with the former investing NT$360 million (US$10.99 million), or 60%, and the latter NT$240 million, or 40%, according to an ECS filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) yesterday.

ECS said the new company will be formally established on August 1, 2007, while Foxlink, in another filing with the TSE last week, saying it would take 60% of the new company, without naming the partner. According to a Chinese-language Apple Daily newspaper report, the joint venture will manufacture connectors, and its initial production focus will be chiefly PC connectors.

DigiTimes Daily IT News

Posted by | Tue, Jul 24, 2007 - 07:55 AM

DRAMeXchange says DRAM contract price to continue increasing

DRAMeXchange believes that the demand of DRAM spot market should start to pick up again, as inventory levels stabilize, by the end of July and early August. This is good news for the memory industry as they need prices to increase to have some profit margin in their product lines.

Last week the DRAM spot price continued to decline, as retailers and several module houses were still in the process of clearing out their inventory. By the end of July and early August, demand should start to pick up again, as inventory levels stabilize. Between the July16~20 period, the DDR2 eTT chip slid to US$2.05, while the branded DDR2 512Mb 64M*8 declined to US$2.19.

Posted by | Tue, Jul 24, 2007 - 07:54 AM

New VIA Nano-ITX Mainboard for Healthcare and Retail Use

VIA Technologies today announced the VIA EPIA NR Nano-ITX mainboard, powered by a fanless 1.0GHz VIA C7 processor and VIA CX700 system media processor for ultra compact, quiet and durable embedded systems.

Measuring just 12cm x 12cm, the VIA EPIA NR is the first Nano-ITX mainboard to natively support LVDS in two single or one dual-channel monitor configuration without the need for a daughterboard; this makes it ideal for a wide range of ultra compact embedded devices requiring two displays, such as healthcare, industrial control, retail and signage systems. The VIA EPIA NR also provides considerable storage options, with Serial ATA and IDE hard drive connectors for mainstream systems and Compact Flash for local OS storage in industrial automation.

Posted by | Tue, Jul 24, 2007 - 07:51 AM

AMD to Hold Technology Analyst Day

AMD today announced that it will hold its technology analyst meeting at approximately 8:30 a.m. PT (11:30 a.m. ET) on Thursday, July 26, 2007 at AMD Headquarters in Sunnyvale, CA. AMD Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Hector Ruiz and members of AMD's management team will deliver key presentations regarding AMD's businesses.

Posted by | Mon, Jul 23, 2007 - 06:43 PM

VMware benchmark tool raises fairness questions

VMware is making a free benchmarking tool available to IT professionals Monday to evaluate the performance of virtualization technology in their datacenters. Meanwhile, it seeks to assure competitors that the benchmarking standards will be fair to all of them.

VMmark is available for a free download and can be used to determine how well virtualization software works with any of six typical datacenter workloads: file server, e-mail server, Web server, a standby server, an online transaction processing (OLTP) database, and a Java order entry system. VMmark runs on either Linux or Windows.

Posted by | Mon, Jul 23, 2007 - 09:37 AM

Apple iPhone flaw lets hackers take over, security firm says

A team of computer security consultants say they have found a flaw in Apple's wildly popular iPhone that allows them to take control of the device.

Miller, a former employee of the National Security Agency who has a doctorate in computer science, demonstrated the hack to a reporter by using his iPhone's Web browser to visit a Web site of his own design. Once he was there, the site injected a bit of code into the iPhone that then took over the phone. The phone promptly followed instructions to transmit a set of files to the attacking computer that included recent text messages--including one that had been sent to the reporter's cell phone moments before--as well as telephone contacts and e-mail addresses.

Posted by | Mon, Jul 23, 2007 - 09:35 AM

Search engine Ask to stop keeping search data upon request

sk.com became the first major search engine to promise users it won't store data on their queries, giving the privacy conscious the option of conducting research on the Internet in relative anonymity.

The move comes amid increasing concerns about the release of search information through leaks or subpoenas. In some cases, the search terms a person uses can reveal plenty about medical conditions, marital troubles or kinky interests.

SiliconValley.com

Posted by | Mon, Jul 23, 2007 - 09:34 AM

Microsoft curtails how long it stores Web searches

icrosoft Corp. said on Sunday the software maker was taking new steps to protect consumer privacy in the areas of Web search and online advertising and called on the Internet industry to support it.

Microsoft plans to store customer search data separately from data tied to people, e-mail addresses or phone numbers and take steps to assure no unauthorized correlation of these types of data can be made. It also will permanently remove "cookie" user identification data, Web address? or other identifiers. "Microsoft is going to do a more thorough scrub of customer data once it is too old," said Peter Swire, a law professor at Ohio State University who served as U.S. privacy czar in the 1990s. "Previously, the practice was to do a partial scrub."

Reuters Technology News

Posted by | Mon, Jul 23, 2007 - 09:33 AM

AMD to launch new high-end desktop processor

AMD is preparing to launch a new high-end desktop processor, the Athlon 64 X2 6400+, which will be the last processor in the Athlon 64 X2 family, according to sources at motherboard makers.

Currently, AMD's highest-end desktop processor is the Athlon 64 X2 6000+, however with its performance unable to match Intel's upcoming Core 2 Duo E6850, AMD plans to launch the new 6400+ to cover up the gap in the market, noted the sources. The 6400+ will have a core frequency of 3.2GHz and 2MB L2 cache, noted the sources. Pricing will range between US$220-248, they added. AMD has already sent processor samples to motherboard makers in order to allow them to update their BIOSes. The processor is predicted to ship shortly, added the sources.

DigiTimes Daily IT News

Posted by | Mon, Jul 23, 2007 - 09:32 AM

WD Announces New GREENPOWER Hard Drive Series

Western Digital Corp.today announced a new environmentally friendly GreenPowerfamily of WD desktop, enterprise, CE and external hard drive products. The new GreenPower (GP) family will ship in capacities from 320 gigabytes (GB) to one terabyte (TB), and will save up to 40% in hard drive power consumption, or as much as $10 per drive per year.

Based on extensive customer input toward supporting ENERGY STAR 4.0 compliance and incorporating the latest in engineering technology, WD has delivered the first 3.5-inch hard drive platform designed with power savings as the primary attribute. The GreenPower family gives customers more choices when it comes to purchasing hard drives. The initial drive that will take advantage of WD's new GreenPower technology is the WD Caviar GP. The WD Caviar GP 1 TB hard drive will first ship in July in the My Book(TM) range of storage appliances, with 1 TB desktop channel shipments following in August. GreenPower versions of WD RE enterprise drives and WD AV consumer electronics drives will ship in volume within calendar Q3.

Posted by | Mon, Jul 23, 2007 - 08:44 AM

July 16th through 22nd News from Around the Web

This Weeks Web Reviews

Cooler Master has definitely made it easy to get into watercooling with the Aquagate S1. With everything ready to go out of the box, it's as easy to install as a typical air cooled heatsink and still manages to keep an overclocked processor cool. The small water pump is quiet and the radiator fan is adjustable so noise levels can be lowered when the computer is idle. For those with windowed cases, the system will be a nice looking addition with its blue LED fan and transparent tubing with blue cool

Posted by | Sun, Jul 22, 2007 - 06:02 PM

New guidelines for PCs aim to cut energy use

Consumers will soon get the chance to help save the planet and some money too, thanks to new guidelines coming out for personal computers. Later today, the Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star Program will release more stringent requirements for PC manufacturers, aimed at potentially cutting energy use by 60 percent. For consumers, that could mean savings of anywhere from tens of dollars to $100 a year on electricity bills.

The new Energy Star requirements cover all notebook and desktop computers, workstations and small servers. The main requirements call for computer manufacturers to sell power supplies that are 80 percent efficient and ship all computers with the sleep mode set to kick off up to 30 minutes after inactivity. The cost to computer makers isn't expected to be high, given it will largely come from the power supplies. The EPA estimates consumers will pay slightly more for Energy Star compliant PCs.

SiliconValley.com

Posted by | Fri, Jul 20, 2007 - 09:35 AM

FBI ducks questions about its remotely installed spyware

Did you know that the FBI is using a piece of software known as the Computer and Internet Protocol Address Verifier, or CIPAV? The FBI used this remotely installed spyware last month to investigate who was e-mailing bomb threats to a high school near Olympia, Wash and has since been in the headlines and rightly so.

Does the CIPAV have the capability, if so configured, to record keystrokes? Generally, does the FBI have the ability to electronically and surreptitiously deliver monitoring software to a target's PC that records keystrokes?

Posted by | Fri, Jul 20, 2007 - 09:31 AM

AMD to launch new enterprise management technology by year-end

AMD plans to launch a new technology, Remote IT (temporary name), with similar functions to iAMT (Intel Active Management Technology) which forms part of Intel's vPro enterprise platform. The new technology and platform from AMD will launch by the end of 2007, according to sources at PC makers.

AMD's new enterprise platform will adopt AMD Phenom processors, the RS780 and SB700 chipsets, and chips from Broadcom, Realtek and Marvell. In addition to Remote IT, the SB700 will also support technologies including IMD (Intelligent Management Device) and TPM (Trusted Platform Module), added the sources.

DigiTimes Daily IT News

Posted by | Fri, Jul 20, 2007 - 09:26 AM

NVIDIA Graphics Driver with HD Post-Processing Publicly Available For GeForce 8600 Users

NVIDIA has contacted LR to let us know their latest Windows Vista 32-bit beta driver, 163.11, significantly improves HD video quality and should be used when testing PureVideo HD with HD movies or the HQV HD benchmark. If you happen to be running Windows Vista with a GeForce 8600 video card you are in luck! If you try this out drop us a note in the forums and let us know how it works for you.

The new drivers leverage the GPU shaders to perform HD post-processing. With 8800 and 8600 GTS we expect to get full HD post-processing and perfect HQV HD scores. The majority of driver testing has been focused on 8600 GTS thus far so we request that limit your testing to this model for now.

Posted by | Fri, Jul 20, 2007 - 07:29 AM

HP Resolves Ink Cartridge Patent Infringement Dispute

Late yesterday, HP announced that it has resolved a patent infringement lawsuit against German-based InkTec GmbH Zentrale and PCE Group regarding inks used in the refilling of certain HP inkjet cartridges.

As part of the settlement, both InkTec entities and the PCE Group acknowledged the validity of the HP patents in suit and admitted to infringement. In addition, they agreed to pay HP an undisclosed sum, to stop selling infringing inks in Germany and other countries where such patents are held, and to withdraw infringing products from the market in those countries.

Posted by | Fri, Jul 20, 2007 - 07:24 AM

U.S. Arrests Ex-Samsung Employee for Embezzlement

A former director at a Samsung Corp. unit was arrested on a wire fraud charge Thursday on allegations that he had embezzled about $1.5 million from the company, U.S. prosecutors said. The wire fraud charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison if convicted.

John Y. Lee, 44, who was a director at Samsung America Inc.'s Korea Export Department, was fired by the company after the alleged scheme came to light, the U.S. Attorney's office in New Jersey said in a statement.

Posted by | Thu, Jul 19, 2007 - 04:09 PM

AMD Reports Second Quarter Results

AMD today reported financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2007. AMD reported second quarter 2007 revenue of $1.378 billion, an operating loss of $457 million, and a net loss of $600 million, or $1.09 per share. These results include an impact of $130 million, or $0.24 per share, from ATI acquisition-related and integration charges of $78 million, employee stock-based compensation expense of $31 million, severance charges of $16 million and debt issuance charges of $5 million. In the first quarter of 2007, AMD reported revenue of $1.233 billion and an operating loss of $504 million. In the second quarter of 2006, AMD reported revenue of $1.216 billion and operating income of $102 million.

Second quarter 2007 gross margin was 34 percent, excluding stock-based compensation expense, acquisition-related and severance charges, compared to 31 percent in the first quarter of 2007 and 57 percent in the second quarter of 2006. The increase from the prior quarter was largely due to increased microprocessor unit shipments. The second quarter gross margin was impacted by a write-off of older microprocessor inventory of approximately $30 million.

Posted by | Thu, Jul 19, 2007 - 03:42 PM

Kingston Launches microSD Collegiate Cards

Kingston Technology is releasing microSD 'Collegiate' cards that offer mobile consumers the opportunity to show their school pride--on the go. These are pretty neat, but too bad I went to a smaller state college that was more about smarts than fight songs! On the other hand plenty of my friends that went to Mizzou are in luck.

"The growing popularity of microSD cards in mobile phones has made them an invaluable tool for moving contact info and mobile data when changing phones, or transferring files between PCs and phones, for students and professionals alike,” said Wendy Lecot, Flash memory marketing manager, Kingston. "With our microSD Collegiate cards anyone can easily show their school pride everywhere they go,” continued Lecot. "For mobile phones that permit the level of personalization, consumers can even attach distinctive ringtones or wallpapers to caller-ID contacts associated with other schools.”

Posted by | Thu, Jul 19, 2007 - 12:59 PM

OCZ Releases the World’s First Production 1800MHz DDR3 Kits

OCZ Technology Group today unveiled the next step to achieving maximum performance on the latest PC platforms with the launch of the World’s first production PC3-14400 DDR3 modules. These OCZ kits are meant to set industry performance standards as well as accelerate the development of next-generation enthusiast platforms.

“OCZ is excited to release the world’s first 1800MHz DDR3 solution, which offers consumers not only the fastest production specification, but has additional headroom for enthusiasts to go on and break records,” commented Dr. Michael Schuette, VP of Technology Development at OCZ Technology. “Following on the heels of the 1600MHz release of OCZ DDR3 comes the 1800MHz DDR3 series with a peak bandwidth of 14400MB per second and latencies comparable to the fastest offerings of DDR or DDR2. No other architecture can offer the same balance of bandwidth and latencies, and no other architecture has annihilated all existing high scores within a mere few weeks after its introduction and the OCZ3P18001G series plays an integral part in this triumphant achievement.”

Posted by | Thu, Jul 19, 2007 - 12:54 PM

EU endorses Nokia's DVB-H cell-phone TV standard

The European Commission on Wednesday endorsed Nokia's standard for TV broadcasts to cell phones, saying Europe needed one common standard for mobile TV and it would look at ways to mandate its use.

The decision to back the DVB-H technology, or Digital Video Broadcasting for Handhelds, was expected. It is a setback to U.S.-based Qualcomm Inc., which is promoting its own MediaFLO system.

SiliconValley.com

Posted by | Thu, Jul 19, 2007 - 10:24 AM

Toshiba recalls 10,000 more Sony laptop batteries

Toshiba Corp. said on Thursday it has recalled more Sony Corp. laptop computer batteries due to fire risk, rekindling concerns over the safety of Sony-made batteries.

Toshiba is replacing a total 10,000 battery packs after three of its laptop PCs using battery cells made on December 3, 2005 caught fire in the last 10 months. No one was hurt in the incidents. Only 5,100 units of the 10,000 packs are potentially defective, but Toshiba is recalling double the amount to make sure all the battery packs containing targeted battery cells are exchanged.

Reuters Technology News

Posted by | Thu, Jul 19, 2007 - 10:23 AM

PC sales slow ahead of Intel cuts

Today is all news about Intel it seems. This story claims that global PC sales have slowed a tad over the past few weeks as the market waits for Intel to announce new price reductions, market researchers said. It makes sense as our article today on the Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 show performance gains over the Core 2 E6700 that it replaces at a lower price.

The world's largest chip maker is widely expected to publish a new price list on July 22 that shows lower prices for microprocessors aimed at the desktop PC market. The company regularly updates its pricing, but doesn't disclose when or how much prices will change, an Intel spokesman said Thursday.

Posted by | Thu, Jul 19, 2007 - 10:21 AM

U.S. offers $968 million for disaster technology grants

The U.S. government is offering $968 million in grants to help state and local public-safety agencies buy sophisticated radios and technology for communications during disasters, the Department of Commerce said Wednesday. The grants can also be used for software and services according to the article.

The program aims to equip police and fire departments, and other emergency agencies in all 50 states, with more dependable and interoperable communications. Funding for the grants will come from expected proceeds of the Federal Communications Commission's 700-megahertz spectrum auction, scheduled for later this year.

Posted by | Thu, Jul 19, 2007 - 10:19 AM

Intel prices its first 45nm Penryn processor at US$999, to hit the market in 4Q

Intel's first 45nm processor is expected be a quad-core Core 2 Extreme, to be launched in the fourth quarter of this year priced at US$999, according to sources at motherboard makers. The processor will have a frequency of 3.33GHz, a 1333MHz FSB (front side bus) and 12MB L2 Cache, up from 8MB previously, according to the sources.

In addition to the quad-core Core 2 Extreme processor, there will be two performance level quad-core processors adopting a 45nm process launched soon after, with both processors adopting a 1333 MHz FSB and 12MB L2 Cache. Another four 45nm dual-core processors (Wolfdale) will be launched in the first half of 2008. Three of the processors will adopt a 1333MHz FSB and 6MB L2 Cache, while the remaining one will adopt a 1066MHz FSB and 3MB L2 Cache, noted the sources.

DigiTimes Daily IT News

Posted by | Thu, Jul 19, 2007 - 10:18 AM

Intel Reports Second-Quarter Revenue $8.7 Billion

Intel Corporation announced second-quarter revenue of $8.7 billion, operating income of $1.35 billion, net income of $1.3 billion and earnings per share (EPS) of 22 cents. The results include tax items that increased EPS by approximately 3 cents along with restructuring charges of $82 million.

"Intel's operational execution continued to strengthen, resulting in an outstanding product roadmap and solid year-over-year revenue growth," said Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini. "We're pleased that our efforts to streamline the company are delivering profit growth in excess of revenue growth."

Posted by | Wed, Jul 18, 2007 - 11:36 AM

Hackers Crack Microsoft's Digital Rights Management Technology Again

Microsoft Corp. is once again on the defensive against hackers after the launch of a new program that gives average PC users tools to unlock copy-protected digital music and movies. The latest version of the FairUse4M program, which can crack Microsoft's digital rights management system for Windows Media audio and video files, was published online late Friday.

The third version of FairUse4M has a simple drag-and-drop interface. PC users can turn the protected music files they bought online — either a la carte or as part of a subscription service like Napster — and turn them into DRM-free tunes that can be copied and shared at will, or turned into MP3 files that can play on any type of digital music player.

Posted by | Tue, Jul 17, 2007 - 07:59 AM

Intel to continue selling E2140 CPUs - Will Drop Price to $74

Intel has recently revised it plans for the low-end desktop CPU market and will continue to sell its Conroe-based E2140, according to sources at motherboard makers. The Intel E2140 is currently $89 at Newegg, so after the E2180 launches the price will drop $15 to $74 per processor.

Intel was originally planning to launch the E2180 on August 26 with a price of US$84 in 1000-unit tray quantities while dropping the price of the E2160 from US$84 to US$74. Following the moves, the E2140 would be phased out of the market, according to previous reports.

DigiTimes Daily IT News

Posted by | Tue, Jul 17, 2007 - 07:40 AM

Western Digital Launches 750GB Enterprise SATA Hard Drives

Addressing the needs for the growing enterprise market for high-capacity, highly-reliable storage, Western Digital Corp. today announced it will be shipping its WD RE2 (RAID Edition) 750 GB hard drive this month. With 3.0 Gb/s data transfer rate, WD RE2 hard drives feature Native Command Queuing (NCQ) and 16 MB cache for high system performance.

Addressing a growing high-capacity enterprise market, WD RE2 drives are reliability-rated at 1.2 million hours MTTF (mean time to failure) in high duty cycle environments. Combined with a new 750 GB capacity, this provides enterprise-class drives with reliability and other required attributes for demanding server and network-attached storage environments, such as file servers, e-mail servers and Web servers.

Posted by | Tue, Jul 17, 2007 - 07:36 AM

Intel Launches New Extreme Mobile and Desktop Processors

Addressing demand for even faster laptop computers for hardcore gamers, artists and media enthusiasts, Intel Corporation today introduced its first Intel Core 2 Extreme mobile dual-core processor -- the world's highest-performing mobile processor -- adopting the brand from the company's flagship desktop offerings. The company also introduced new desktop processors and said it expects to announce battery-friendly quad-core processors for laptop computers next year.

The Intel Core 2 Extreme X7800 mobile dual-core processor, with both cores running at a brisk 2.6 GHz, also features mobile-specific power-saving features that help Intel's computer-maker customers deliver more energy-efficient and higher-performing designs. For example, the Intel Core 2 Extreme mobile processor X7800 offers up to 28 percent more performance than our previous-generation mobile processor. In addition, for experienced enthusiasts who desire more capability, the Intel Core 2 Extreme mobile processor bus ratio locks (overspeed protection) have been removed. This offers added technical flexibility in customizing the system so OEMs can unleash even more performance.

Posted by | Mon, Jul 16, 2007 - 07:20 PM

FCC idea sets off firestorm over access to mobile Net

For months, the nation's largest telecommunications companies and biggest technology brands have maintained an uneasy truce while investing billions of dollars in an attempt to dominate the mobile Internet. Now, thanks to a proposal by a little-known government official, all-out war has broken out between the two sides over the potential payoff for those huge bets. The idea would enable a company like Google to launch a wireless service without spending billions of dollars to build its own network.

Neither the telecoms nor the technology companies are happy with a proposal circulated last week to the four members of the Federal Communications Commission by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, which included a requirement that the network be accessible to new applications and devices, similar to the traditional Internet. While that provision was part of what public interest groups and technology companies requested, Martin left out a crucial requirement that the owner of the new network be required to resell broadband access at wholesale rates.

SiliconValley.com

Posted by | Mon, Jul 16, 2007 - 11:09 AM

CEO says HP doing better, not great

Two years into his role as leader of Hewlett-Packard Co. Chief Executive Mark Hurd says the the world's biggest computer company has improved but has a very long way to go.

"We are doing better. We are not doing great," Hurd said. "On an absolute basis, we have a ton to do. Hurd said HP's long-term sales outlook remained one of modest growth. Recent better-than-expected revenue growth of about 13 percent, aided by 3 percentage points of favorable currency exchange rates, was not sustainable, he said. "Think of us as a 4 to 6 percent growth company," Hurd said.

Reuters Technology News

Posted by | Mon, Jul 16, 2007 - 11:05 AM

London gets free Wi-Fi, but you must view ads

A free metropolitan Wi-Fi network has been launched in London, continuing the gradual trend toward free public wireless Internet access in Europe and the United States. It's not totally free though as users are subjected to an advertisement every 15 minutes that they are logged on.

The free network, which is being marketed at "Online-4-free.com," gives users free access if they agree to view an advertisement of 15 to 30 seconds in length every 15 minutes. If users don't want to view the ads, they are charged one of a range of fees, including $6 (2.95 pounds) per hour or $20 (9.95 pounds) a month.

Posted by | Mon, Jul 16, 2007 - 11:03 AM

Dow Jones Industrial Average Flirts With 14,000

Stocks shook off early jitters and pushed higher Monday, as both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 continued their record-setting run. The DJIA is sitting at 19,977 right now,

"Stocks rose [last] week, breaking through the two-month range that has held the averages captive," he said. "The usual giddiness that ensues should carry the Dow through 14,000 before we get a bit of backing and filling, confirming that the former high end of the trading range is now the market's new floor."

Posted by | Mon, Jul 16, 2007 - 10:53 AM

July 9th through July 15th News From Around the Web

This Weeks Web Reviews

"For those who frequently use Skype, I can't see a reason not to buy the Logitech Cordless Internet Handset. The menus are easy to navigate through and the phone is easily synced with a Skype contact list, so all that is required to make calls is a PC with Skype running. The phone can do the rest. Call quality is great and installation is as simple as it gets

Posted by | Sun, Jul 15, 2007 - 08:34 PM

E3 NEWS: Unreal Tournement 3 Announced

Midway, Epic, and Sony announced that they had inked a deal to bring Unreal Tournament to the PC and Playstation 3 later this year. This deal was announced as an "exclusive" one implying that only these platforms were to see the latest version. Designers announced that a new interface will give gamers a chance to port their PC mods to the PS3 and play in a multiplayer enviroment.

"We feel very confident that Unreal Tournament 3 will continue to deliver on Epic's promise to gamers to develop only the highest quality titles using our cutting-edge Unreal Engine 3 technology," said Mark Rein, vice president and co-founder, Epic Games. "The game takes full advantage of the power of the PLAYSTATION 3 system, and Unreal Tournament 3 will for the first time allow users to create robust user created content, known as "mods", on the PC version and play them on the PLAYSTATION 3 system. We're extremely excited about this and we feel this will bring a level of creativity, innovation and replayability not previously seen on home consoles."

Posted by | Thu, Jul 12, 2007 - 09:23 PM

Micron Technology work force cut reaches ten percent

Micron Technology Inc said Tuesday it has cut less than 10 percent of its 11,000-person work force in Idaho, though it indicated more cuts are possible as the company attempts to recover from losses fed by falling prices for its products.

'We have completed many of these work force reductions, which account for less than 10 percent of our work force in the Treasure Valley,' Micron CEO Steve Appleton said in a statement. Company officials declined to say just how many of Micron's 23,000 total workers in locations including Singapore and Utah were affected by the cuts. Micron was hit by a global supply glut on products including Dynamic Random Access Memory chips for personal computers and NAND flash memory, prompting prices to dive and leading to the company's second loss in as many quarters. In the third quarter that ended May 31, Micron lost $225 million, from a profit of $88 million in the year-earlier period. In the second quarter, the company lost $52 million.

Posted by | Thu, Jul 12, 2007 - 09:06 PM

Kingston Launches Ultra low-latency CL5 DDR3 Memory Kits at 1375MHz

Kingston Technology Company, Inc. today announced it is first to market with ultra low-latency PC3 1375MHz DDR3 HyperX memory modules, driving memory benchmarking and gaming further and faster than ever before.

"Our new HyperX DDR3 ultra low latency modules give early adopters and performance enthusiasts the opportunity to push their DDR3 motherboards as far as current memory technology will allow,” said Mark Tekunoff, senior technology manager, Kingston. "With new chipsets on the horizon, Kingston is positioning HyperX to be the go-to memory for all DDR3 needs for gaming and mainstream systems.”

Posted by | Thu, Jul 12, 2007 - 12:37 PM

Google leases historic HP building

Google's moving in again - this time to one of Silicon Valley's premier and historic addresses, the site of Hewlett-Packard's first company-owned building. In a real-estate spree that shows no sign of stopping, upstart Google has leased 395 Page Mill Road in Palo Alto.

The office building, which served as Agilent Technologies' headquarters for six years, was the site of HP's original 10,000-square-foot campus, built two years after founders Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard left the famous garage. "Bill and Dave designed it as an open system - without interior walls - so the space could be flexible," according to Agilent's Web site. Built in 1942, the campus was later torn down to make way for headquarters for HP spinoff Agilent. Now the giant search engine company will plant its flag on the historic 11-acre site.

SiliconValley.com

Posted by | Thu, Jul 12, 2007 - 09:52 AM

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