11:00 18.08.2006
AP - Dell Inc.'s announcement that it will expand its use of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. microprocessors is another win for the smaller chip maker against larger rival Intel Corp.
USATODAY.com - Microsoft wants to do for video games what YouTube has done for video: open it up for do-it-yourselfers. It is releaseing a free set of game-development tools called XNA Game Studio Express on Aug. 30. Prospective do-it-yourself game developers can download the program and create games for PCs and for Xbox 360 systems.
USATODAY.com - Talking on a cellphone while driving sharply reduces brain activity needed to keep track of road conditions and leads drivers to gaze at things without their brains actually seeing them, according to a psychologist at the University of Utah. Hands-free phones pose the same safety hazards as handheld phones, says psychologist David Strayer.
AP - Segway Inc. has overhauled its self-balancing scooter with a new batch of technology that allows riders to start the device with a remote control and steer it simply by leaning in the direction they want to go.
InfoWorld - A unique amalgam of Linux mail server and open source development platform, the Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) combines truly integrated e-mail, calendaring, and contacts with a mashup-friendly AJAX client and easy extensibility using Zimlets, which are XML/Web services widgets for initiating content lookups or actions (such as a VoIP phone call) from within messages (infoworld.
InfoWorld - IBM last Thursday extended its run of major acquisitions, agreeing to buy business process and enterprise content management specialist FileNet for approximately $1.6 billion in cash.
Reuters - A substantial minority of American adults would rather spend their free time playing casual games -- such online diversions as "Bejeweled" and "TextTwist" -- than watch television.
Reuters - Games based on movies are common, but only recently have interactive entertainment companies turned to TV shows for their inspiration. Mobile game publisher Gameloft, one of the leaders in this genre, is set to confirm Monday (August 14) an exclusive multiyear agreement with Touchstone Television to develop, publish and distribute mobile games based on ABC's hit series "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives."
PC World - First hardware maker to align with community-based Linux offering.
Reuters - A disease control office in Beijing has opened the city's first officially sanctioned online gay chatroom, but most of the posts come from the Web site's managers, a newspaper reported on Monday.
The BBC has a story about how cheap telephony has gotten. It's worth a read....
