IBM sells the Cell outside the gaming market

IBM has signed a deal with US systems developer Mercury Computer Systems to licence the revolutionary Cell processor. This deal is the first that sells the new design outside of the games market. The Cell chip, jointly developed by IBM, Sony and Toshiba, combines nine processors on a single piece of silicon and is set to revolutionise graphics processing. ...more

Apple powers PowerBook graphics

Apple has overhauled its PowerBook notebooks with improved graphics and extended battery life plus a few other changes to the simplified range that now comprises three models. The 17in PowerBook has a new widescreen display that takes its resolution up to 1440x990 while the 15in increases to 1440x960. The graphics capabilities of the 12in are unchanged. ...more

Intel Prescott processor 'to launch 2nd February'

The official launch date of Intel's next-generation desktop 'Prescott' processor is Monday, the 2nd of February according to X-bit labs. The Website quotes sources close to Intel and predicts the launch of seven desktop processors. These include a 3. ...more

French court finds against DVD copy protection

A French court has ruled that copy-protected DVDs infringe consumers' rights. The Paris Court of Appeal decided that the Content Scrambling System prevents French consumers from exercising their fair usage rights. The case was brought by a person who wanted to make a VHS copy of a DVD for his mother to see, as she did not have a DVD player. ...more

Adobe optimises Photoshop for the P4

Owners of systems based on Intel's P4 chip can download a plug-in from Adobe to optimise Photoshop for the processor. The plug-in will improve the speed at which the P4 deals with many Photoshop 6.0 tasks by as much as 70 per cent. ...more