AOL upgrades its search

AOL has enhanced its search engine with a several new features to make the search more relevant and easier to use. Whilst retaining Google as the basic back-end database, AOL has added a clipboard feature that enables the searchers to save pages for future reference. It has also included a more natural language search of the kind first seen with Ask Jeeves and has enhanced its human edited snapshot answers facility. ...more

Next-gen Palm platform split on devices

PalmSource has hinted that the next version of its operating system may have separate interfaces for smartphones and PDAs. Palm OS is currently being rebuilt using Linux and codenamed the Access Linux Platform (ALP) after PalmSource's new owner, Japan-based Access. It will feature a new system for handling the user interface known as MAX. ...more

Media Center to be given new spin with Xbox 360 support

Microsoft is to release a free software update to Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 to take advantage of the multimedia features built into the new Xbox 360, which has been showcased at the E3 gaming conference in Las Vegas. The new software will use the Xbox's Media Center Extender technologies to provide access to digital music, video, photos, and standard and high-definition television and movies The Media Center interface will be accessible simply by pressing a green button on the Xbox remote control. For example, players will be able to stream high-definition TV and movies already stored on Media Center PCs while they chat with friends remotely. ...more

The lowdown on Intel's 'Santa Rosa' Centrino

The Centrino mobile brand is one of Intel's major success stories, and it's had constant updates to keep pace with technology since its introduction in 2003. Here, we provide a rundown of its new features, and an exclusive preview of a laptop from Samsung. This latest revision is one of the most comprehensive yet. ...more

MP3.com founder back with new download music venture

Michael Robertson, the man behind MP3.com and Linspire (formerly Lindows) which arguably helped to kick off the whole downloadable music culture is set to launch a new digital music company called MP3tunes. The ambitious aim of MP3tunes is to offer new hardware software and a new online music store. ...more