Intel's $500M Taiwan investment is for WiMAX 'entity'
A $500 million investment by Intel, announced in Taiwan today, is geared mainly to gaining greater interoperability between other equipment and Intel's own mobile WiMAX chips, which are slated to ship later this year to OEMs for use in Centrino PC notebooks, said a US-based Intel spokesperson.
In a new memo of understanding (MOU) with the Taiwanese government, Intel has promised to invest half a billion dollars from 2008 to 2013 in "across-the-board procurement and investment in Taiwan, including WiMAX," according to a written statement that crossed the wires today, but only in the Chinese language. Intel provided BetaNews with a copy of the statement translated into English.
House Republicans try once more to break the H-1B logjam
A letter from US House Republicans to the Speaker and Majority Leader of the House of Representatives urges yet another serious look at the current H-1B visa situation that plagues tech companies each year, which they describe as a fiasco.
The letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D - Calif.) and Leader Steny Hoyer (D - Md.) was scribed by Jeb Hensarling (R - Texas) and signed by 30 members of his House Republican Study Committee, a leading conservative caucus. It requests new legislation "within the next few months of 2008" aimed at increasing the number of high-skilled, legal immigrants into the United States to fill high-tech job roles.
New release of Linux kernel presents major changes
Another shakeup at Corel may leave CEO post vacant again
Corel Corp. CEO David Dobson is leaving his job to take a new position with an unidentified corporation in the US. He leaves behind a company that continues to struggle to define its identity in a metamorphosing software market.
Dobson, who came to Ottawa-based Corel after 19 years as an IBM executive, has resigned effective sometime in June. In a statement released by Corel today, Dobson did not say whether a current bid by San Francisco-based Vector Capital, the current owner of 60% of Corel's stock, to buy out other shareholders and take the company private again played into his decision to leave.
AT&T looks to Cisco for edge in business videoconferencing
The telecommunications company said Monday it would look to Cisco's expertise in communications to create a high-end solution for the enterprise.
Cisco already has had a videoconferencing solution available for about two years called TelePresence, which features large high definition screens and is easy to use. However, the company lacks a sales force.
Microsoft denies its pledge not to sue security researchers is new
Microsoft's manager for security response communication told BetaNews this afternoon that a pledge made by a company representative at a security conference was not, as some sources reported from the scene, a change in policy.
"Microsoft did not announce anything new at ToorCon Seattle regarding its position on responsible disclosure, but we did mention our industry leading online services acknowledgement, which went public in July of 2007," stated Microsoft's Bill Sisk to BetaNews this afternoon. "Because we will not pursue legal action against researchers who report vulnerabilities to us responsibly, we hope to encourage those who want to help us protect customers to feel free to do so without fear of repercussions."
Cable HD not so high-def, say subscribers
Some cable providers, most notably Comcast, are receiving even more flak over the quality of their high-def programming. The problem has been getting HD signals to fit in the given bandwidth, and now it may be taking a toll on quality.
While it may not be noticeable to the average television viewer's eye, some home theater enthusiasts are saying that Comcast's picture quality is not up to par. Now, recent tests by enthusiasts are backing up those observations with hard evidence.
Windows XP SP3 released to manufacturing, downloadable 4/29
In a post to Microsoft's TechNet Forum minutes ago, a Microsoft official announced that Service Pack 3 of Windows XP has released to its manufacturing channels, in order to reach OEM and enterprise customers by the late-April deadline.
Microsoft's XP SP3 release manager Chris Keroack wrote that Web availability of the final service pack for Windows XP will begin on April 29, through the Microsoft Download Center. Confirming many users' suspicions, the company will wait until "early summer," Keroack stated, before enabling SP3 to be downloaded through Automatic Updates, perhaps in light of the company's recent debacle with Windows Vista SP1.
Microsoft and Novell to 'convert' China to Windows and SuSE Linux
Microsoft and Novell announced extensive plans to convert "unsupported Linux users" in China to combined implementations of Windows/SuSE Linux, just as Red Hat admitted to delaying its release of an international Linux desktop.
Today's announcement with Novell represents the extension of a highly controversial interoperability pact first rolled out in late 2007 in the US, this time with "a particular emphasis on the Chinese market." According to the headline of the oddly worded statement, the intent of the extended agreement is to move "unsupported" Linux users to "supported" use of Novell's SuSE Linux Enterprise server software.
Five movie studios in historic VOD, cable joint venture
Paramount Pictures, MGM, and Lionsgate have formed a joint venture that will plan to distribute a premium television channel as well as a video-on-demand service.
The group project could fundamentally change the current status of premium cable television, where a third-party would sign deals to distribute content through its network rather than the studios directly.
Skype introduces 'unlimited' world calling plan
Maintaining its free computer-to-computer video, voice, and instant messaging, peer to peer telephone company Skype announced today an "unlimited" €8.95 monthly calling plan for connecting to international cell and landlines.
"Unlimited" is a bit of a misnomer, as the plans are limited to 10,000 minutes per month, which Skype equates to more than 5 hours a day, but the flat fee allows users to call any of 34 countries.
WD premieres ultra-fast VelociRaptor 10,000 rpm HDD
Making an AMD-like play for the cost-conscious computer enthusiast, Western Digital has found a way to release what should be a laptop drive, but repackaged for the desktop builder at what could be perceived as a respectable price.
Typically the notion that smaller is faster applies to the microprocessor realm, but today, hard drive manufacturer Western Digital is demonstrating that notion applies to storage as well. This week, WD is premiering its first 10,000 rpm enthusiast-class hard drive; and to accomplish its transfer speed, rather than try to rev up a conventional 3.5" form factor, it's taking a 2.5" HDD and encasing it in a 3.5" form factor heat sink.
Privilege escalation vulnerability affects Windows Vista SP1, XP
It is the type of vulnerability that Microsoft wanted to head off as long as possible, especially since Windows Vista's new kernel was designed to thwart this possibility.
Now, as the company acknowledged in a security bulletin yesterday, a malicious program running as a local or network service can leverage another local or network service running in the same system, to elevate its own privilege and potentially cause damage.
Revamped Motorola phone unit will realign its product teams
The newly reorganized Motorola phone manufacturing company, soon to be spun off, will undergo a radical realignment that eliminates the bureaucratic barrier between software and hardware divisions, according to a company memo.
To get Motorola ready for a planned spinoff of its mobile phone business, Motorola CEO Greg Brown issued a memo to employees outlining a reorganization into new product and "Go to Market" (GTM) teams, also announcing the names of execs in new roles, including those of leaders of the new "Mass Market" and "Mid and High Tier" product groups.
Real-time Linux for US Navy weapons systems gets an upgrade
Yesterday, a supplier of Linux for driving time critical applications -- such as intercepting ballistic missiles -- released RedHawk Linux 5.1, its latest "real-time" operating system distribution.
Concurrent is a Linux distributor specializing in real-time technologies that can be utilized by some very serious businesses. For example, Concurrent is the key supplier of RedHawk Linux for the US Navy's Aegis cruisers, which are equipped with anti-air, anti-surface, and anti-submarine weapons systems.
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