Prices of 19-inch LCD monitor panels to drop more than $20

Prices of 19-inch LCD monitor panels are expected to drop by more than $20 next month, according to Taiwan-based LCD monitor maker Amtran Technology. Currently, 19-inch LCD monitor panels range in price from $340 to $370. Global LCD monitor demand has been slow since May, causing Samsung Electronics to dump its products in Europe and North America, Amtran said. ...more

New Google tools aim to sharpen up News coverage

Google has introduced a Sitemap protocol and new webmaster tools for Google News in order to improve both the 'freshness' of its coverage and to enable webmaster to determine precisely what content they want to appear on the news aggregation service. News Sitemaps tell Google exactly which articles to crawl for inclusion in Google News. The News Sitemaps XML definition lets webmasters specify a publication date and time for each article and to set keywords for each article that determine placement of the articles into the relevant sections on Google News. ...more

IBM's TransNote blurs line between PCs and PDAs

The power of a laptop combined with the features of an electronic note pad for storing handwritten notes, that's the design behind the TransNote, IBM's latest addition to its ThinkPad series. With its combination of pen-based and keyboard-based input, copious note takers are the target users. Particularly those that need to keep hard copy versions of their notes. ...more

Nakamichi aims for Christmas market

Looking for the ultimate Christmas present to that person in your life who likes music in every room of the house? Nakamichi might just have solved your problem with its stylish CD alarm clock radios. There are two units in the Nakamichi range, the Sound Space 1 and 3. The first unit features a retro-design, having a certain 70s-chic about it. ...more

Sony and RealNetworks team up for RealAudio 8

RealNetworks links up with electronics giant Sony to develop a new version of its RealAudio software. The new version of RealAudio 8 is out today (23 October) and features a new audio codec that has been developed by Sony. The new codec reduces the length of audio files by a third and can be used to broadcast audio over the Internet. ...more