Sandisk launches range of digital camera memory cards

US manufacturer SanDisk Corporation has announced it is going to launch its range of SanDisk Ultra II CompactFlash and SD flash memory cards into Europe. The new cards for digital cameras are said to offer high performance and high durability under extreme temperatures and conditions. SanDisk Ultra II cards are claimed to offer a minimum write speed of 9Mb per second and a minimum read speed of 10Mb/sec. ...more

UK games chart: Need for Speed is the New Year's number one

Unsurprisingly, the post-Christmas games market is a bit sluggish, according to this week's ELSPA UK games chart. It's a New Year but EA's multi-format street racing game Need For Speed: Most Wanted remains in pole position. Despite all the simian-based hype around the Kong movie, no amount of dinosaur stampeding can lift Ubisoft's multi-format spin-off, King Kong: Official Game of The Movie up from second place. ...more

IBM makes chip speed breakthrough

A new manufacturing technique developed by IBM could boost chip speeds by around 35 per cent. The new technology stretches silicon, the main building block of chips, so that the flow of electrons is increased. In the strained silicon, electrons face less resistance and can travel at speeds up to 75 per cent faster than in conventional processors. ...more

Chinese dissident sues Yahoo! for providing information that led to his arrest

Yahoo! and its Chinese affiliates are being sued by a Chinese couple, who allege the Internet firms provided information that helped the Chinese government prosecute one of them for his Internet writings. Wang Xiaoning was sentenced to ten years in prison last year for 'incitement to subvert state power' after he emailed electronic journals advocating democratic reform and a multi-party system. In the complaint filed in US District Court for Northern California, Wang and his wife Yu Ling charged the Internet firms turned over details to prosecutors that helped identify him to authorities. ...more

Motorola to axe 3,000 jobs

Despite Tony Blair's intervention, Motorola has confirmed that it will be closing its mobile phone factory in Bathgate, West Lothian, with a loss of 3,000 jobs. The announcement forms part of worldwide job cuts of 7,000, as the company faces a tough time in a market that has become bloated with handsets, while a demand for 3G technology still seems some way off. It announced trading losses of $200m for Q1 this year. ...more