Intel, AMD Spar Over Server Chip Speeds
AMD is planning to go on the offensive with a new marketing push disputing Intel's claims of a lead in processor performance. AMD's newest Opteron, available at speeds of 3GHz, is said to be up to 15.5 percent faster than a comparable Xeon chip.
Current Opteron models offer up to 2.8GHz of computing power, and AMD says its rival's claims are based on benchmarks of tests that have since been revised because they didn't accurately represent real-world conditions.
Sprint-Cable Tie-in May Be Illegal
Sprint's plans to link a customer's cable account to their cell phone may run into trouble as new FCC privacy regulations announced Monday will forbid such an offering. Customers will be reqired to opt into the program.
Usually, rates of opting-in among consumers for services are low, which leads some to believe it will cripple adoption of the cable-wireless tie-in.
Obama Raises $6.9m Online in 1st Quarter
The Internet's growing influence on American politics is becoming more apparent this past week as data on first quarter fundraising numbers shows several candidates raking in millions in online donations.
Most recent of these announcements is that of Senator Barack Obama, who announced he had raised $25 million in the first quarter on Wednesday - a staggering $6.9 million of that coming from the Internet. He led all candidates in soliciting online contributions.
Mozilla Dabbles in Social Networking
Mozilla Labs has begun work on a new feature called The Coop, aimed at adding social networking capabilities to the Firefox browser. The application could be used to share a variety of Web content.
In a blog post introducing the new project, Mozilla Labs' Mike Beltzner says developers wanted to create new ways for friends to share links, thus creating "The Coop."
FCC Keeps Cell Phone Ban on Planes
The Federal Communications Commission has ended an inquiry into allowing the use of cell phones, saying the public comments filed in response to its notice that it was investigating the rule lacked sufficient technical evidence to overturn the ban.
An inquiry may be reopened at a later date, pending more technical data. The FCC first opened up the proceeding to public comment in December 2004 as part of a ruling to allow high-speed wireless Internet on plane flights.
Live Search 3D to Support Firefox
Microsoft released an update to its Live Search Maps product on Tuesday, adding 3D support for Firefox users as well as several new features in its effort to continue building search share in an increasingly crowded and competitive market.
In addition to 3D support in Firefox, 16 new cities will now be available in 3D including San Diego, California and Portland, Oregon. Microsoft has also added the functionality to the aerial maps of five UK cities, which include Plymouth, Cardiff, Bristol, Gloucester, and Wolverhampton.
Google, EchoStar Sign TV Ads Deal
Google has taken its first steps into the television advertising business, signing an agreement on Monday with EchoStar Communications to sell commercial ad spots on DISH Network.
Similar to the Mountain View, Calif. company's radio ad offering, advertisers would use AdWords to bid on television spots. They would then be able to upload the television commercial via the Web, as well as select time, channel, area of focus, and even target a specific demographic.
Microsoft Sues Educational Software Pirates
Microsoft has filed nine lawsuits and issued more than 50 cease and desist letters in an effort to curb software sold to consumers that is actually intended for students and schools.
Lawsuits were filed in federal courts in California, New York, New Jersey, Florida, Nevada and Montana. They target companies internationally in countries such as Jordan, who then do business here in the United States.
UK Hacker Loses Extradition Fight
The British hacker accused of hacking into US military computers has lost his fight against extradition, and stands to face fines up to $1.75 million and a 70-year jail term when he is tried.
Gary McKinnon, known by the hacker handle "Solo," does have one last appeal left with the highest court in the UK, the House of Lords. However, after Tuesday's ruling, it appears his time is running out.
Google Corrects Katrina Image Switch
After a barrage of negative publicity surrounding its decision to replace aerial images of areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina with pre-storm photos, Google has switched the images back.
Missing however is any explanation why the images were modified in the first place, other than to say that the pre-storm images provided much higher-resolution than those post-Katrina.
ISO Open XML Vote to Be Fast-Tracked
The process towards certifying the Microsoft-backed Office Open XML as a standard moved closer to reality Monday, as the Ecma standards body said that the format will be put to a five-month vote to standardize it.
A vote would mean that Open XML could become a standard as early as August, and will make both ODF and itself as competing ISO standards. OpenDocument received ISO standardization last May.
Xerox to Acquire Global Imaging Systems
Xerox continued its expansion Monday, announcing it had agreed to a $1.46 billion deal to acquire Global Imaging Systems, a company that sells office-imaging products and services.
The acquisition is its biggest in the past year. In July of last year, Xerox acquired Amici, a company that provides services for electronic discovery in court cases, and then picked up XMPie, a multimedia marketing campaign software maker in November.
Vista to Become More Virtualization-Friendly
Microsoft has tweaked the licensing for Windows Vista slightly to allow users of the Enterprise version of its software to use the operating system in non-traditional environments, such as diskless PCs.
The changes were announced at Microsoft's Management Summit 2007, an annual event held for IT management professionals in Redmond. The company says its customers had been requesting the licensing changes so that IT administrators could experiment with new management architectures.
Google Warming Up to DoubleClick
Although earlier reports have indicated Microsoft was close to a deal with online advertising firm DoubleClick, sources now say Google is emerging as a top contender as the price of the company continues to grow.
The Wall Street Journal said Monday that as the likely acquisition price surpassed the $2 billion mark, Microsoft has been slow in responding with a counter offer. Negotiations were described as "fluid," although a deal could be announced in days.
Google: Viacom Abusing Copyright Act
Google struck back at Viacom through the media on Thursday, responding to a March 24 op-ed by Viacom's general counsel Michael Fricklas in the Washington Post with a letter of its own from Google's counsel for the case.
Managing Counsel Michael Kwun called the Viacom suit "an attack on the way people communicate on the Web and on the platforms that allow people to make the Internet their own," saying it was abusing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Ed's Bio
Ed Oswald is a freelance journalist from the Reading, PA area. Although he has written across a variety of subjects, Ed’s passion and focus has been on technology and gadgets. His work regularly appears on tech news sites BetaNews, PCWorld, and Technologizer, and has been syndicated to eWeek, Time’s Techland blog, VentureBeat and the New York Times.
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