Search Engine Strategies 2007: Microsoft lifts veil on AdCenter search tools

Despite a relatively slow start compared to rivals Google and Yahoo!, Microsoft has come out fighting with plans for a new generation of tools for its AdCenter contextual advertising service. Demos of the latest thinking from Microsoft AdCenter Labs were being shown at London's Search Engine Strategies show. 'We want to share our thinking and get feedback from as many people as possible,' said James Colborn, Microsoft's Product Manager for AdCenter. ...more

Parents fret over kids' 3G Web surfing

Parents worry that 3G phones will mean children will be surfing far from their supervision, but also that their children know far more about the technology than they do. According to children's charity NCH, a NOP Poll yesterday showed that nearly three in four parents worry that phones offering Web surfing will put their children in increased danger by allowing them to connect from anywhere. But while they are worried that they can not be there to supervise their use, 63 per cent say their children know more about the phones than they do anyway. ...more

Linux to push on into mission-critical computing

Having acquitted itself well at the network perimeter, enterprises are now ready to let Linux in on its crown jewels: mission-critical computing, claims report. Almost half of the world's large businesses will favour Linux for their mission-critical applications by the end of 2011, according to research. But most companies won't realise their appetite for open source until at least next year, with just 18 per cent of businesses relying on Linux for such workloads by the end of 2007. ...more

Desktops bounce back, according to latest research figures

Desktops are back, according to research group IDC, which says the stalwart systems are the surprise success story for computer sales in the UK, and indicative that the corporate spend has renewed vigour. This quarter has seen the growth of desktop shipments more than treble to nearly 20 per cent. IDC puts this down to better retail offerings, XP upgrades, and business spending. ...more

nVIDIA to support AMD's DDR chipset

NVIDIA has announced that its next generation of graphics processors (GPUs) will support the new Athlon processor. AMD's latest processor sports a 266Mhz front-side bus, and its AMD-760TM chipset supports Double Data Rate (DDR) memory. Ned Finkle, director of AMD's Infrastructure Enablement Group, said: "NVIDIA is. ...more