IBM powers world's fastest chip

New Power6 chip offers environmentally-friendly computing with reduced power consumption. IBM claims it is not only the world's fastest microprocessor but one also able to help cut electricity consumption of datacentres, which makes them more environmentally friendly. The new Power6 processor clocks in at 4. ...more

Linux gets Apple Xgrid agent

Users of Apple's Xgrid technology cann now add Linux machines to their Mac clusters. Source code and details of how to manage interoperability are available at www.novajo. ...more

Blu-ray.com: 'AACS has failed'

A leading advocate of the Blu-ray high-definition optical disc format has strongly criticised the organisation responsible for the AACS technology designed to prevent unauthorised copying of both Blu-ray discs and those encoded in the rival HD DVD format. 'Josh', who runs the Blu-ray.com website, said that the decision by the AACS LA [Advanced Access Content System Licensing Authority] to send 'cease and desist' letters to websites that posted or linked to an encryption key for HD DVD discs has been entirely counter-productive. ...more

Intel finds transistor replacement at the bottom of a well

A team from Intel and research company QinetiQ (pronounced kinetic) have come up with a material that they believe may replace transistors in the future. The new material based on an exotic compound called Indium antimonide (InSb) may have switching capabilities at very low voltages and hence consume very little power. The research is based on the concept of a 'quantum well'. ...more

Smart cards get smarter

Sun updates its smart card technology with version 2.2 of Java Card. The new release of Java-based smart card technology is designed to simplify the programming required for card-based applications, has better support for wireless standards to support wireless-based services, and there are additional cryptographic algorithms are also supported for strengthening security. ...more