Silicon Valley grinds to a halt

If you think working in Britain in 86 degree heat is no fun, then try a stint in California. If you work for a tech company, you'll have a week without pay, blackouts and 100 degree heat to deal with. Admittedly, many people in Silicon Valley are getting the week starting with Independence Day off, but this is a cost-cutting measure on the part of the tech companies. ...more

Via plots AC97 demise with next-gen audio spec for mobile devices

Via has announced its successor to the venerable AC97 audio system in the form of the Envy24MT. The audio controller is designed for mobile and small devices that have to balance multimedia demands with the low power consumption and physical constraints that such devices impose. The controller can be integrated onto PC motherboards, Mini-PCI cards and even PCMCIA cards. ...more

UPDATED: EFF to compile chart of bad patents

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is to set up a bad patent chart - with a view to bringing its patent busting squad to bear on the top 10. In a kind of perverse Patent Idol contest, the EFF is asking the public to vote on the worst software and internet related patents to build up a chart of bad patents. EFF staff attorney Jason Schultz, who heads the project, said he can't wait to see what the contest turns up. ...more

Apple kills 667MHz Power Mac

Apple has ceased production of the Power Mac G4 667MHz, less than four months after its debut. Sources have confirmed that the model has been internally designated as "end of line" and a replacement configuration is not expected before July. The demise of the 667MHz system comes as dealers in the US are finding it difficult to get their hands on the configuration, which has been tightly constrained since it was introduced in January by Apple CEO Steve Jobs at the MacWorld Expo in San Francisco. ...more

Trend Micro ousts McAfee from Hotmail message scanning

Trend Micro has ousted McAfee from its seat scanning Hotmail messages for viruses. Exactly what motivated the change remains unclear. Trend Micro's president of European Operations Raimun Genes told us: 'We were contacted by MSN Hotmail, but we never questioned why. ...more