AMD introduces budget Athlon 64

Advanced Micro Devices has quietly trotted out a version of its Athlon 64 chip that provides a little less performance than earlier models but only costs about half as much. "The new Athlon 64 3000+ runs at 2GHz, the same as the existing Athlon 64 3200+, but it only comes with a 512KB secondary cache, according to an AMD spokesman. The 3200+ features a 1MB cache."

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RealNetworks sues Microsoft

Internet media company RealNetworks says it is suing longtime rival Microsoft Corp. for violating antitrust laws by using its monopoly to promote its own software for playing audio and video on computers and the Web.

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Microsoft releases XP Service Pack 2 for testing

Software developers can now test drive the latest update to Microsoft Corp.'s Windows XP operating system after the company released a beta version of Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) to testers in its MSDN developer program on Wednesday. "The company released the advance copy of XP SP2 to give IT professionals a chance to test and give feedback on new features and configuration changes in SP2."

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Range Of Wi-Fi Chip Sets Extended

Three-year-old Motia came out of stealth mode last week to announce its first product, an analog signal-processing chip that brings smart-antenna technology to 2.4-GHz wireless-LAN cards and access points. The Stamford, Conn.-based startup claims its Javelin chip can improve the gain of existing 802.11b and .11g signals by 6 to 18 dB.

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Big New Chink Found In Windows Messenger Service

Symantec on Tuesday uncovered a new avenue that hackers could use to exploit a buffer overflow vulnerability in Microsoft Windows Messenger Service, one that, if packaged within a self-propagating worm, could spread across a network like wildfire. "According to analysis done by Symantec's DeepSight Threat Analyst Team, the Windows Messenger Service vulnerability can be exploited by a single UDP broadcast, allowing a wholesale compromise of all vulnerable systems on the targeted network."

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AOL Launches Video Game Ranking, Competition Service

America Online on Wednesday said it would launch a service allowing video game players to enter tournaments to compete for bragging rights and prizes. "The new AOL Ladders service, a partnership with Case's Ladder, a division of eUniverse Inc., will be offered for games on Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 2 console. Support for Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s GameCube is planned for next year."

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Electronics may jump-start holidays

Retailers of computers and electronics equipment enjoyed the benefits of a bigger shopping spree over Thanksgiving week compared with last year, according to a new report. "Revenue from computers and other electronics equipment totaled $631 million in the United States during the week of Thanksgiving, which includes Black Friday, the traditional opening day of the frenzied holiday season, according to the report, released late Monday by The NPD Group, which tracks U.S. electronics sales."

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No Christmas patches from Microsoft

Microsoft Corp. has an early holiday gift for systems administrators: no monthly security patch release in December. ""It is a happy coincidence, but it is not related to Christmas," said Iain Mulholland, security program manager at Microsoft."

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IEEE: Chinese security standard could fracture Wi-Fi

The implementation of a Chinese security standard for wireless networking could undermine efforts to develop a global standard for wireless LANs (WLANs) and drive up the cost of networking equipment for end users, warned a senior executive at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. (IEEE) in a recent letter to Chinese government officials. "The Standardization Administration of China (SAC) announced the adoption of China's WLAN standard, called GB15629.11-2003, in May."

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Former Intel exec sets Wi-Fi crowd straight

Vendors of wireless LAN (WLAN) equipment must work much harder to make their products more user friendly and to improve security features, a former Intel Corp. executive said Wednesday. "Hours after a Cisco Systems Inc. executive speaking at the Wi-Fi Planet Conference & Expo proclaimed that wireless LANs (WLANS) are ready for the enterprise, Les Vadasz, who retired from Intel earlier this year, brought the crowd back down to earth when he told them that much work remains to be done."

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Toshiba, SanDisk join for chips

Toshiba Corp., Japan's biggest chip maker, says U.S. firm SanDisk Corp will provide funds for equipment at a new joint factory that will manufacture memory chips used in digital cameras. "Toshiba has said 200 billion yen ($1.84 billion) will be invested in a new production facility using 300 mm wafers to manufacture NAND-type flash memory chips in Yokkaichi, central Japan."

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CreativeLabs Releases the Creative DVD+/-RW Dual 8x Drive

Creative has just announced its new DVD+/-RW Dual Drive, with a maximum burn speed of a whopping 8x. "Maximum recording rate DVD+R: 8X DVD-R: 4X DVD+RW: 4X DVD-RW: 2X CD-R: 40X CD-RW: 24X"

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DVD Forum backs Toshiba-NEC format

The DVD Forum said it will adopt a design put together by Toshiba and NEC for the next generation of high definition DVDs. "According to today's Nihon Keizai Shimbun, the decision means there will be a rival format to Blu-Ray disks, promoted by Sony."

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Wireless LAN can span 10 kilometres

A report on Nikkei Net said that Rikei is to make wireless LAN products using technology from Israeli firm Alvarion which can supply access in a radius of 10 kilometres. "The Breeze Access technology will support up to 512 end users and regulate contention so that individual users will get their fair share of the wi-fi cake."

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Samsung says it will overtake Nokia

Samsung's CEO, Lee Kunhee, claims his company will be the world's largest mobile phone supplier by 2010, overtaking Nokia. "Kunhee said that Samsung will outperform its own sales targets this year by 2.5m units and will generate $25bn a year from handsets by 2010."

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Gigabyte combines Wi-FI, USB Flash drive

Gigabyte has a novel idea for fans of go-anywhere computing: a USB Flash drive that features a built-in Wi-Fi adaptor. "The GN-WLBZ201 offers 128MB of Flash storage accessible using any OS that supports USB storage devices. The device sports a fold-up antenna module with activity lights."

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Nokia N-Gage tops mobile game download chart

Sales of downloadable mobile games to N-Gage users have outstripped sales to Nokia 3510i users by eight per cent despite a huge disparity in the installed base for the devices, according to UK mobile game retailer mProvision. "The company, which operates mobile gaming portals ngagegames.co.uk and mynokiagames.co.uk, says that although N-Gage users account for only 4.5 per cent of its subscribers (as against 17 per cent for the 3510i), sales of games for the device have broken all records."

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