PowerPC 970 made for Apple

IBM's new PowerPC 970 is 'made for Apple', according to an in-depth technical analysis by arstechnica. According to the article's author, Jon 'Hannibal' Stokes, the way that the Altivec chip - often called the velocity engine and one of the main reasons why the processor speed of PowerPC chips doesn't tell the whole performance story - has been 'slapped onto' the 970 points to just one thing; 'this chip was put together for Apple'. 'The fact that the Altivec unit was slapped onto the design, leaving some room for improvement in future iterations, leaves no doubt that the 970 achieved its present form under pressure from Apple and that Apple will be rolling out systems based on the new processor,' writes Stokes. ...more

South Korea considers copyright content control

South Korea is debating proposals to compel ISPs to monitor Internet traffic and block file sharing transfers of copyrighted material. The bill was proposed by the Uri Party's Woo Sang-ho whose website was shut down by Net users who jammed its bulletin board to post messages opposing it. The Korea Internet Corporations Association also opposes the bill, arguing that no-one will benefit. ...more

Office of Fair Trading pledges to fight spam

The Office of Fair Trading has confirmed the UK's commitment to fighting spam by coming up with an 'action plan'. At the London international spam enforcement workshop organised by the OFT and the US Federal Trade Commission, the OFT promised to help develop international links to address spam and spam-related problems amongs the 15 countries participating. Actual action in the 'action plan' is hard to pin down. ...more

LaCie unveils 'ultra slim' and 'ultra fast' double layer DVD drives

LaCie has introduced two new double-layer DVDRW drives, with speed and size in mind. The d2 'ultra fast' writes single layer discs at 16x, filling 4.7GB in about six minutes, and double-layer at 4x and costs ?66 for an internal mechanism, ?95 for a dual FireWire/USB interface. ...more

CD Predator set loose

Predator, Iomega's USB and FireWire compatible CD writer, has just been released in the US, with a European launch expected in February 2001. The drive's eyecatching, sleek design is typical of recent Iomega products and should certainly appeal to the design-conscious user. As should its speed. ...more