HP-Compaq merger gets backing from investor advisors

Influential investor advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) has come out in support of HP's merger plans in a 25-page report. Good news indeed for Fiorina and the gang, as around 23 per cent of shareholders receive ISS's reports. It should also raise the tone of the ongoing embittered battle between the HP board and the families of the founders, led by Walter Hewlett, which has become increasingly personal and desperate. ...more

English, as wot she is spoke

IBM has released a "UK-accented English" version of its voice recognition software ViaVoice Pro Enterprise Edition. The holy grail for all speech recognition systems is the quick and transparent processing of natural speech. IBM claims that this latest edition of ViaVoice enables users to dictate "naturally and easily" into most text applications. ...more

Microsoft sues Google

Microsoft is suing search rival Google following the defection of one of its key employees. Kai-Fu Lee, former corporate VP of Microsoft's Natural Interactive Services Division, has accepted a position with Google to head up its new China research and development centre. Dr. ...more

Ex Nvidia CFO settles false accounting case

The former Chief Financial Officer of leading graphics chip company Nvidia has agreed to pay a US court $672,000. The settlement follows charges that she inflated Nvidia's 2000 results in order to meet analysts' expectations and buoy the share price. Christine Hoberg, agreed to pay the fine plus 'disgorgement of ill-gotten gains' to a court in San Jose yesterday. ...more

AMD fanfares new Sempron chip range

AMD has announced that the replacement for its ageing Duron range is going to be named the Sempron. The company says that it will start shipping the new range, aimed at the budget-conscious user, in the second half of this year. The company says that for desktop and notebook computing, it sees the 64-bit Athlon processors filling the top of the range with the Athlon XP and Mobile AMD Athlon XP-M 32-bit chips filling the mid range. ...more