8:45 pm March 2, 2007 - After BetaNews' publication late this afternoon of our original story on ZDNet blogger George Ou calling into question the validity of recent AMD benchmark claims -- after AMD had called Intel's claims into question -- AMD changed its mind and decided to comment in full. Spokesperson John Taylor's response appears in full after our original story:

5:33 pm March 2, 2007 - After a press conference on Wednesday in which AMD Executive Vice President Henri Richard told reporters he's tired of being pushed around by Intel with regard to the accuracy of its recent performance superiority claims, ZDNet blogger George Ou turned the interrogation light back onto AMD. As Ou confirmed, data AMD used to debunk some of Intel's performance claims had since been superseded by new data that substantiates Intel.

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After two weeks of almost incessant bad news for Microsoft comes a ray of hope, courtesy of US District Court in San Diego: Judge Rudi Brewster has dismissed a series of patent infringement claims against Microsoft regarding technology Bell Laboratories developed for converting text into speech, in a summary judgment this afternoon.

It is an extremely important decision, especially given the subject matter of the patent: AT&T (Lucent's former parent company) is currently embroiled with Microsoft in US Supreme Court over whether Microsoft had the right to distribute software that uses AT&T's speech synthesis software in foreign copies of Windows Vista.

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Today Microsoft extended an invitation for individuals to participate in a beta test of its new Windows Live Games online community, which will allow PC gamers to connect with Xbox users over the Live gaming network.

Microsoft's window of opportunity for signup is limited. To be considered, users will have to fill out a very brief eight question survey. Those selected will be contacted in the coming weeks, and additionally will be entered in a prize drawing.

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With the prospect of substantial financial corrections still looming over the company, Dell Computer hasn't been able to present its usual, detailed comparisons of present performance compared to past. So analysts late yesterday were given a preliminary fourth-quarter fiscal year 2007 earnings report, on top of a recently issued third-quarter report that still remains preliminary. Those who were able to do the math for themselves came to a daunting conclusion: Dell's not growing.

Financially speaking, the task ahead of new Dell CEO Michael Dell - who re-assumed his old post last month - is not impossible. His company isn't exactly hemorrhaging or even bleeding cash. It's just in a low-margin business where, even in segments where sales aren't declining, profits aren't accumulating. The big task ahead of Mr. Dell is restoring public trust in his company.

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Thursday marked the beginning of Verizon Wireless' V CAST mobile TV service in twenty US markets, utilizing Qualcomm's MediaFLO mobile TV network. With the aim of giving potential competitors such as DVB-H and mobile IPTV a run for their money, this extension to Verizon's existing V CAST service will be capable of broadcasting standard TV-quality programming to specific handsets, namely the Samsung SCH-U260 and soon the LG VX9400.

The 20 initial markets on Verizon's list are as follows: Norfolk/Richmond, Virginia; Jacksonville, Florida; New Orleans, Louisiana; Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas; St. Louis, Missouri; Chicago, Illinois; Indianapolis, Indiana; Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota; Wichita, Kansas; Omaha/Lincoln, Nebraska; Colorado Springs and Denver, Colorado; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Tucson, Arizona; Las Vegas, Nevada; Palm Springs, California; Portland, Oregon; Seattle and Spokane, Washington.

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In statements made to the AP, Reuters, and other services this morning, spokespersons for Sanyo said they would help bear the cost of Lenovo's recall of an estimated 205,000 lithium-ion notebook computer batteries sold worldwide, whose risk of overheating and explosion was determined yesterday to be too tenable.

Sanyo has not said exactly how much of the cost it would bear, so it's not clear whether that question was left unanswered or simply unasked.

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The BBC has beaten ITV to the goal line in signing a content deal - the terms and length of which have not been disclosed - with YouTube, the streaming video division of Google. Starting today, YouTube has begun offering three new BBC-branded channels containing sharable clips from BBC programmes (spelled here using the Queen's English), though it appears this morning that these clips will be mostly promotional.

The main BBC channel will be classified as a "public service" - which is an important distinction, because the BBC is not a private corporation. It receives its funding from license fees collected by the British government from citizens, so any BBC enterprise that would overtly feature commercial advertising might come under scrutiny by subscribers, and under fire in Parliament.

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Sony has agreed to pay Immersion, the company that created "touch feedback" technology, $121 million to settle ongoing patent infringement litigation. The deal means Sony can include the technology again in future products after dropping it from the PS3. Touch feedback vibrates the controller in response to action on the screen.

Immersion won a judgment in March 2005 against Sony that would have halted PlayStation sales until royalties were paid - at that time $82 million plus $8 million in interest. Sony appealed the ruling and asked for a new trial, although that motion was denied in March of last year.

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Last month at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference, Intel showed off a kind of "concept CPU," the way automobile manufacturers at the Auto Show in Detroit parade their concept vehicles. Intel's model was observed to have performed at a throughput rate of one teraflop - one trillion calculations per second.

Never to be left outdone for long, AMD answered back yesterday at a press event in San Francisco, with a system design that, while not a single CPU, makes the case for "teraflop on a budget."

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Sun said Thursday that it had released Java Enterprise System 5.0, a set of subscription-based services that complement enterprise operating systems like the company's own Solaris 10.

Java ES includes a set of services that are dependent on the number of employees in an organization. For example, a small company of 1,000 or less would gain the Java software, support, and eLearning.

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A bill introduced last week in the California state legislature would make it state law next year for all state agencies to create, preserve, and archive their digital documents using an XML-based file format, and to be able to receive new documents in XML-based formats as well. The bill does not mention any format specifically, though observers believe it refers indirectly to OpenDocument Format (ODF).

However, with Corel having promised last November to implement Microsoft's Office Open XML (OOXML) in its next edition of WordPerfect Office, and with an announcement on that edition believed to be imminent, there may be no barriers left that would specifically exclude OOXML from being adopted by the State of California, should bill AB 1668 pass.

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Microsoft is giving its users an opportunity to direct where its charitable efforts go to through the i'm Initiative, which sends a portion of Windows Live Messenger ad revenue to a selected charity.

In order for the effort to work, a user must add a special code to the end of their display name that would then be tracked. The more often a user sends instant messages, the more Microsoft donates to that charity.

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Lenovo is recalling approximately 205,000 lithium-ion batteries used worldwide in ThinkPad laptops, however this time Sony isn't the culprit.

The batteries in this recall were produced by Sanyo. Regardless, it is a black eye for the Chinese PC maker as it is the second such recall in less than six months. Last September, the company recalled 560,000 laptop batteries produced by Sony.

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Oracle said Thursday that it had acquired performance management software provider Hyperion in a transaction valued at $3.3 billion. The company says that the acquisition would help it to offer and end-to-end solution for those customers who are looking for a complete performance management and business intelligence solution. The transaction will close next month, Oracle said in a statement.

"Hyperion is the latest move in our strategy to expand Oracle's offerings to SAP customers," said Oracle President Charles Phillips. "Now Oracle's Hyperion software will be the lens through which SAP's most important customers view and analyze their underlying SAP ERP data."

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Electronic Arts on Thursday began offering soundtracks to its video games on iTunes, but it took a unique approach: instead of actually publishing albums, the company simply created iMixes that link to the already-existing songs on Apple's music download service.

EA says the offer, dubbed EA Trax, comes in response to customer demand for the music it embeds in its games, which ranges from popular rap and pop to obscure indie rock. The game maker says 55 percent of "Need for Speed" players say they have purchased music after first hearing it in the title.

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