Intel claims revolutionary jump forward but takes a smaller evolutionary step first

This week during Intel's spring IDF conference in Beijing, the chip giant revealed several initiatives that it claims will give it a prominent position entering 2008. One of the most stand-out projects in the works is dubbed Geneseo, aimed at competing squarely with AMD's Torrenza technology.

Both AMD and Intel express interest in opening up their respective processor platforms to allow third-party hardware developers to produce "accelerators" that can be integrated into a system, providing specialized processing for specific tasks. Late last year, Intel responded to Torrenza during its fall IDF conference by claiming that it too will open up its server platform. Today, however, we find that while Geneseo is headed in a similar direction as AMD, there are significant differences between the two platforms.

View: DailyTech

Apple on Thursday issued a security update for Mac OS X that addresses 25 security flaws in the operating system software.

The security update affects various parts of the operating system, including some third-party components such as the Kerberos authentication technology. The most serious of the vulnerabilities could allow an attacker to gain complete control over an unpatched Mac, Apple said in a security advisory.

The update deals with another trio of zero-day bugs that were disclosed as part of the Month of Apple Bugs in January. Apple has quashed many bugs detailed during the Month of Apple Bugs and Month of Kernel Bugs projects in previous patch releases.

While several of the vulnerabilities repaired by Apple's updates were previously known, it doesn't appear that any attacks exploiting the flaws actually occurred.

View: C|net News

Internet portal aims to offset all carbon emissions

Yahoo has announced plans to go carbon neutral by the end of the year.

Carbon neutral programmes attempt to reach net carbon emissions through a combination of conservation, renewable energy and investing in initiatives such as reforestation.

Although Yahoo does not operate factories and is not considered a major polluter, the internet portal's data centres consume vast amounts of energy.

Yahoo co-founder David Filo claimed on a company blog that the potential savings compare to taking 25,000 cars off the road for one year, or one month of power for the 740,000 residents of San Francisco.

View: Vnunet

Answering a question about Vista and its impact on Intel's earnings forecast, CEO Paul Otellini spills, 'probably October-November'

Microsoft Corp. won't pin a timetable on the first major update for Windows Vista, but one of its most important partners, Intel Corp., doesn't have a problem naming dates.

During the Q&A portion of an earnings conference call Tuesday, Intel CEO Paul Otellini was asked how Vista sales would impact his company's 2007 sales projections. Otellini began his answer with the by-now-standard explanation that enterprises haven't jumped to the new operating system.

"Most companies will act like Intel," he said. "They're doing some pilots and testing today."

But as he continued, he named a rough release date for Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1). "But the [Vista] deployment [in enterprises] will actually happen when the Service Pack gets released in the fourth quarter time frame, probably the October-November time frame," said Otellini.

Although Microsoft has confirmed that SP1 is in the works, it has refused to name a release date or peg it to a particular quarter. That didn't change -- even after Otellini's leak.

View: InfoWorld

If this Halo 2 for Windows Vista review disc sitting in front of me is any clue, I'm going to take a wild swing and pronounce that the game has quietly gone gold.

The entertainment phenomenon that conquered the digital universe is once again out to save the planet as the award-winning, best-selling "Halo 2" is coming to the Windows Vista platform on May 8th.

View: VooDoo 3D

 

Interested in testing the next version of Windows Media Center? Now's your chance.

Today, Jessica Zahn, a program manager for Windows Media Center, announced a new nomination survey available on Connect for the upcoming beta program.

The news was officially announced over at The Green Button forums. At the time being, it's not quite certain what type of release this will be, whether it's just an update to the current Media Center found in Vista, or if it is the much debated "Fiji" interim release.

View: Windows Media Center Beta Nomination Survey

Source: jCXP

Dell is bringing XP back.

Amid significant customer demand, the computer maker said on Thursday that it has returned to offering the older Windows version as an option on some of its consumer PCs.

Like most computer makers, Dell switched nearly entirely to Vista-based systems following Microsoft's mainstream launch of the operating system in January. However, the company said its customers have been asking for XP as part of its IdeaStorm project, which asks customers to help the company come up with product ideas.

View: C|net News

The best thing about standards is that there are so many from which to choose. As Microsoft's Office Open XML (OOXML) format and ISO/OASIS's OpenDocument Format (ODF) battle for industry supremacy, a third contender has emerged from China.

Developed by Chinese software developers, vendors, end users, and academic institutions to promote innovation and interoperability, China's Universal Office Format (UOF) is an open, XML-based format that leverages existing web standards and uses the zip format as a container like ODF and OOXML. At a recent WTO conference in Beijing, Sun chairman and former CEO Scott McNealy called for a merger between between ODF and UOF.

The prospect of merging ODF and UOF is not new. The UOF working group discussed the prospect of "harmonizing" the two standards in 2006, and an OASIS technical committee was assembled to collaborate with UOF developers in an effort to "evaluate the OpenDocument 1.1 specification against the Chinese linguistic, cultural, business, academic, government, technical and similar requirements with special consideration given to how UOF meets these requirements." The committee also worked "to propose other recommendations regarding what steps should be taken for the purpose of harmonizing UOF and OpenDocument."

View: ARS Tehnnica

Microsoft passes the 2 million mark with Windows Starter, using technology innovation to bring digital literacy to beginner PC users in all corners of the world.

Learning to use a mouse in Russia. Connecting a PC to a printer in India. Empowering a small business in Namibia. Opening doors to a child’s education in rural Argentina.

These are the sorts of challenges Microsoft sought to address with the introduction of Microsoft Windows XP Starter Edition in 2004 – and reinvested in with the introduction of Windows Vista Starter in January 2007. As of today, more than 2 million individuals and families have started their journey into the digital world via a PC with a Windows Starter operating system, which Microsoft designed specifically for first-time PC owners in developing countries and disadvantaged communities.

News of Windows Starter reaching the 2-million-units-shipped mark is especially timely in light of other Microsoft announcements. At the Microsoft Government Leaders Forum (GLF) Asia today, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates launched a sweeping new effort to help close the digital divide in all parts of the globe. The company’s growing commitment to advance social and economic opportunity through technology includes an expansion of Microsoft Unlimited Potential and a new Microsoft Student Innovation Suite designed to make a high-quality education affordable for young learners around the world.

View: Microsoft PressPass

High Tech Computer (HTC) is now manufacturing Google handsets with shipments officially commencing at the end of 2007, according to handset component makers. The makers also said the shipment volume will reach as high as one million units.

Google handsets will hit the global market in 2008, noted the component makers.

The Google handset will support Texas Instruments' (TI) 3G platform and EDGE, pointed out the makers. The handset, however, will not feature GPS functionality. The device will also feature built-in G-mail and Google search.

Industry watchers expect Google will first partner with European telecom provider Orange for the launch of the handset. Google also has been in touch with other service providers for orders, noted sources.

Handset component makers indicated that Google handsets will adopt dual brand (Google and the telecom service provider) but will not have an HTC logo on it.

HTC declined to comment on the report.

Source: DigiTimes