Humans phased out by robots

New computer systems could see the end of two respectable professions. New Scientist reports about the mysterious-sounding Poseidon system, which will be used to save people from drowning. Using a series of cameras dotted around the swimming pool, the system detects whether a swimmer is getting into difficulty and alerts a human lifeguard. ...more

Major notebook brands seek to cut costs with different business model

Intensified price competition has pushed major notebook brands to explore every corner to cut costs, and direct cooperation with component suppliers seems to be the latest strategy, according to sources in Taiwan's notebook industry. More than one major brand has recently bypassed its contract manufacturers and ordered components directly from suppliers, sources said. In the past, notebook makers were in general authorized to handle the deals and allowed to profit from them. ...more

AMD boss outlines enterprise future

AMD's chief executive Hector Ruiz has been talking about the strengthening of his company's relationship with IBM and explaining AMD's enterprise future. 'It was critical for us to have a customer the calibre of IBM to adopt our technology that is aimed at the enterprise and servers,' says Ruiz, who was talking exclusively to our sister publication IT PRO. He was speaking in a week in which IBM announced a new line up of five enterprise-class servers, which will all be powered by AMD's Opteron chips. ...more

Lexmark launches business range of colour lasers

Lexmark has launched a range of colour laser printers for businesses. The range comprises the C760, C762 and multifunction C762e, which print at 25ppm in both mono and colour using single pass technology at 4,800dpi resolution. Colour accuracy is controlled through automatic adjustment of dot size and shape, plus pantone calibration. ...more

Government e-auctions save ?7 million on IT

NHS trusts and Local councils have saved millions of pounds on hardware purchases using a government e-auction scheme. According to a report by the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), an online government procurement auction has helped 14 councils and six NHS trusts save a combined ?7 million on IT hardware purchases. The OGC eAuction site helped the councils and trusts buy six lots of IT hardware for ?6. ...more