AMD rolls out 90nm Opterons from its Dresden fab

AMD is reported to have started rolling sample quantities 90nm versions of its Opteron processors from its Fab30 factory in Dresden. The company says it plans to start shipping processors to OEMs in the third quarter of this year. The company is reported to be using a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) manufacturing process as well as Applied Material's Black Diamond low-k technology. ...more

Microsoft shows its financial muscle

Is there some light at the end of the gloomy IT tunnel? HP has foreseen the market reaching its bottom in the next quarter, IBM and Nokia have shrugged off the unfavourable economic conditions to post positive results and now Microsoft has shown stronger than expected growth. For the third quarter ending 31 March, revenue increased 14 per cent, to $6.46bn, and net income was reported as $2. ...more

Apple opens iTMS Euro Grand Prize

The lucky purchaser of the 100 millionth entry from iTunes Music Stores in Europe will scoop a set of prizes including an iMac G5 and a 30GB iPod. Apple is giving a 100 Millionth Song Grand Prize to mark what it describes as a milestone for legally downloadable music. The full prize list is: a 17-inch iMac G5, a 30GB iPod, a 10,000-song Gift Card for the iTunes Music Store and last, and maybe least, two Tickets to see Robbie Williams live in concert on his 2006 tour (including travel and accommodation). ...more

Yuletide boost for music downloads

Christmas and New Year proved a season of good cheer for the British music industry. Fuelled by the unwrapping of thousands of new MP3 players, the weekly digital sales topped 1m units for the first time and almost 2m downloads were sold in the last two weeks of the year. Overall, the BPI says that 26. ...more

Internet Explorer to block pop-ups by default

Microsoft has outlined its security strategy over the next year and confirmed that Windows XP Service Pack 2 will block pop-ups by default. Service Pack 2 will be out in beta before the end of the year, with a final release in the first half of 2004. It will also contain an improved Firewall, which will be turned on by default and will boast an improved user interface to allow finer tweaking. ...more