Keep abreast of the news with our weekly roundup of the week’s main tech stories.
Lots of processor news this week. Intel updated its Core 2 quad-core range with a chip aimed squarely at enthusiasts, the Intel Core 2 Extreme processor QX6800, and AMD slashed pricing on its Athlon and Sempron ranges. Later in the week, AMD also lifted the veil slightly higher on its long-awaited native quad-core K10 architecture, codenamed ‘Barcelona’ for the Opteron rollout.
Other headlines to note include BT Wholesale’s confirmation of broadband price cuts and BT rethinking its position on fibre optics. Microsoft also issued its monthly security bulletins and Apple delayed the release of Leopard – its next major update of Mac OS X – until October.
We finish the week with printers, highlighting a problem with the handling waste ink – reported by PC Pro readers – that can render machines useless after just two years.
Friday 13 April
Printers strike over waste ink
PC Pro readers are up in arms after it emerged that leading printers stop working in as little as two years.
High copper prices prompt BT rethink on fibre optics
BT is considering changing its policy on the installation of fibre optics, having previously rejected them as an alternative to its copper-based network.
Apple delays Leopard release until October
Apple has announced that Mac OS X 10.5 will not be released, as previously expected, in June, but has been delayed until October.
Thursday 12 April
Exclusive video: Flybook’s revolutionary laptop design
Dialogue is a company best known for its ultraportables, such as the tiny Flybook V which makes other ultraportables look comparatively massive. And Dialogue is at the innovation game once more with its new ultraportable, the Flybook VM.
AMD explores Barcelona quad-core in more detail
AMD has unveiled a few more details about its long-awaited native quad-core chip, codenamed ‘Barcelona’. Scheduled to appear in the first half of 2007 – first for servers, but then rolled out across AMD desktop and laptop offerings – it is the next major step for AMD multi-core processing.
Sony goes organic with new TVs
Sony aims to be first in a new market of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) televisions offering ultra-thin displays.
Wednesday 11 April
Sony eyes the super computing power of distributed PS3 consoles
High numbers of PS3 owners signing up their consoles to a distributed computing model focussed on protein research has led numerous companies to approach Sony to expand the service on a commercial basis.
Microsoft releases April security fixes
Four ‘critical’ security updates feature in the latest ‘Patch Tuesday’ from Microsoft, fixing vulnerabilities in Windows and its Content Management Server software.
Microsoft adds Windows Messenger chat to Xbox 360
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