Interview: Palm's Tungsten telephone keeps the lid on OS 5

We get the low-down on the new Tungsten devices from Palm Yesterday Palm announced its Tungsten-W device: one of the first of its Tungsten brand, which features cutting-edge technology such as a class 10 tri-band GSM radio and colour TFT screen. However, it still labours under Palm OS 4.1 and the standard 33MHz Motorola chip. ...more

Arise, Sir Bill

It has been announced that the Queen is to award a knighthood to the founder and now chief software architect of Microsoft, one Bill Gates. To be precise, as a foreign national, he will receive an honorary knighthood and according to etiquette should not addressed as 'Sir'. As an American, he follows in the footsteps of other honorary knights such as George Bush senior and Steven Spielberg. ...more

iPod set for Redmond rival?

Microsoft is working on plans to develop its own rival to the iPod, a departure from its current strategy of concentrating on developing media player software for other manufacturers, BusinessWeek reports. Presumably Redmond has tired of the failure of Apple's rivals to make any significant inroads into the iPod's huge market share. Contrary to industry expectations, Apple's dominance of the digital media market is growing and, as BusinessWeek notes, Apple's so-far successful venture into video has given Redmond little option if it is not going to surrender the living room - where many see the future of computing going - to its rival. ...more

Dell certifies laptops, desktops for SUSE Line

Dell is working with Novell on certifying some of its laptops and desktops for the SUSE Linux operating system. The decision follows a recent initiative by Dell to improve customer feedback, in the form of its IdeaStorm, where the public is invited to post ideas that it would like to see taken on by Dell. The call to offer Linux was made thousands of times by users looking to have non-Windows platform options on Dell products, as well as the opportunity to have less bundled software and a choice of open-source products such as OpenOffice. ...more

Lenovo issues battery recall

Lenovo is issuing a battery recall. Working with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, it is recalling 205,000 extended-life, 9-cell battery packs. Lenovo says it will make free-of-charge replacements available for affected customers. ...more