Music labels probed for price fixing

The four major record companies have been asked to submit information to a New York State inquiry into alleged price fixing for music downloads. Warner Music revealed that along with EMI, Sony BMG and Warner it had received a request from state attorney general Elliot Spitzer, who is thought to be looking primarily at record labels' pricing decision and for evidence, if it exists, that they have colluded. Under both state and federal law price fixing is illegal. ...more

Disabled Rights Commission slams website access

A study by the Disabled Rights Commission (DRC) has revealed that many websites are rendered useless to disabled people who are unable to perform tasks such as booking tickets because of poor design and failure to adhere to web access guidelines. Bert Massie, DRC Chairman, said: 'Eight in 10 sites are next to impossible for some disabled people to use - that means no last minute holidays, cheaper car insurance or lower rates of interest on credit cards. It also means a technological lock out from chat rooms and web forums, from recruitment opportunities that are increasingly happening through the Web, and education and information services that have had an increased profile. ...more

BlueGene/L heads the list of world's fastest computers

IBM confirmed its position as the builder of the world's fastest computers by claiming both the numbers one and two slots in the annual TOP500 list of supercomputers issued by the 20th International Supercomputing Conference (ISC2005) in Heidelberg Germany. To no-one's surprise, the Numero Uno piece of kit is the BlueGene/L System developed by IBM and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and installed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, California. However, in the ensuing 12 months, the machine, which, among other things, simulates nuclear explosions, has doubled its size. ...more

Dell speaks out over AMD 'shortages'

Dell has broken its silence on the AMD chip shortages that have seen several PC manufacturers forced to jump ship to Intel. As we exclusively reveal in this month's PC Pro (on sale 19 October), one PC manufacturer claims AMD is starving the supply of its high-end chips to smaller OEMs in order to meet its new commitment to Dell. Leaked reports suggest that AMD has agreed to supply 20 million chips to the world's biggest PC maker by the end of 2007, leaving other manufacturers with only "handfuls" of high-end processors. ...more

Laptops outsell desktops for first time

For the first time ever, May saw the value of laptop sales in the US exceed that of desktop machines, according to research firm The NPD Group. NPD's survey also revealed, again for the first time, that more LCD displays were sold during the month than CRTs. Of almost $500mn worth of computers sold in the US in May, more than 54 per cent was from laptop purchases. ...more