Intel intros new Pentium 4 for desktop replacements

A new version of the Pentium 4 aimed at the 'desktop replacement' market has been introduced by Intel. The snappily named Mobile Intel Pentium 4 processor 548 supporting HT Technology runs at 3.33GHz and is equipped with 1MB Level 2 cache, 13 new Streaming SIMD 3 Extensions, and upgrades to the NetBurst microarchitecture. ...more

Microsoft acquires security company Sybari

Microsoft is to acquire Sybari, a privately held security specialist dealing in antivirus, antispam, and messaging security. Financial information around the deal has not been disclosed, nor is there as yet any schedule for completing the acquisition of the New York-based company. Redmond says it intends to integrate Sybari technology across Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 and Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services as well as Microsoft Exchange. ...more

School success in auto-SMS of snow closures

After last week's snowfall, thousands of parents across the UK were alerted to school closures by text message or automated voice call, thanks to systems that link to school databases in real time. One such system, Call Parents, sent more than 60,000 text messages and automated phone calls to parents of students at more than 700 schools after wintry weather made travel difficult. Stephen Clarke, managing director of Call Parents, said: 'Our schools appreciate the need to have a system in place for emergency contact with parents, ideal for when snow is heavy and school closures are required. ...more

Really tiny hard drive

Wouldn't it be great if you could store all your really important files, like an address book or something, on a little hard drive you could fit in your pocket? Well now you can, thanks to the Agate USB hard drive. Okay, so the USB hard drive isn't really a hard drive, as it relies on flash memory rather than a magnetic disc, but when you plug one of these mini marvels into your computer's USB port it is recognised as another hard drive. The devices are small enough to be used on a key ring and come in three storage sizes; 16Mb, 32Mb and 64Mb, which cost $69. ...more

ATI begins shipping Radeon 9600 PRO chips

ATI Technologies has announced that it has started volume shipments of its new-generation Radeon 9600 PRO (RV350) graphics chips, which it launched in March. Graphics cards based on the Radeon 9600 PRO chip are aimed at the mainstream market of less than US$200, ATI said. With architecture featuring quad pixel pipes and dual vertex engines, the Radeon 9600 PRO also features support for the latest Microsoft?s DirectX 9, OpenGL feature sets, advanced anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering technologies. ...more