Apple Introduces 8-Core! As though Quad was not Enough!

Professional velocity.

8-core or quad-core Mac Pro workstation

Meet the latest addition to the Mac Pro family: The world’s first 3.0GHz, 8-core Intel Xeon-based Mac Pro. Consider the bar officially raised. Eight cores or four Opt for the 8-core Mac Pro and you get the power of two Quad-Core Intel Xeon “Clovertown” processors running at 3.0GHz. Or choose a quad-core Mac Pro featuring two Dual-Core Intel Xeon “Woodcrest” processors and decide how fast they fly: 2.0GHz, 2.66GHz, or 3.0GHz. At 3.0GHz, the quad-core Mac Pro runs up to 2x faster than the Power Mac G5 Quad. I guess we all want 1 or 2... LOL!

EFF Jumps in Against RIAA for Copyright Misuse

"Arguing that the RIAA and big record labels may be misusing their copyrights, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has jumped in on the defendant's side in a White Plains, New York, court conflict. The case is Lava v. Amurao, and the EFF will be defending Mr. Amurao's right to counterclaim for copyright misuse.

Gates to join Simonyi in space?

On Russian state television, cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin tells journalists in a live video interview from the ISS that “Charles said that Bill Gates is also preparing to visit space”. Could the itch to visit space fast become the ‘must-have’ experience for anyone easily able to afford it? You can scratch me from the list right now only because I don’t have a spare US $25 million to do it, but were I able to take a trip into space and visit the ISS I’d be the next in line to go.
With Charles Simonyi the 5th space tourist, how long might it be before a 6th decides it’s time to make the trek into space – and will it be Bill Gates?

DVD Security Group Says It Fixed Flaws! Dream on!

he group behind security measures for next-generation DVDs said Monday it has fixed a leak that allowed hackers to discover the keys for unlocking movies on HD DVD and Blu-ray discs.
Makers of software for playing the discs on computers will offer patches containing new keys and closing the hole that allowed observant hackers to discover ways to strip high-def DVDs of their protection.

Digital rights management protection, or DRM, is intended to prevent copying of the movies. Hackers working late last year and early this year were able to observe computer code found on the PC-based DVD players and discover keys that unlock protections on all high-def discs, so copies could be made.

Let's imprison spyware distributors!! FTC...

Steep fines are nice, but one of the best weapons against spyware purveyors is locking them up, a federal regulator told senators on Tuesday.

At a morning Senate Commerce Committee hearing here, Federal Trade Commissioner William Kovacic said most wrongdoers in the spyware arena "can only be described as vicious organized criminals."

"Many of most serious wrongdoers we observed in this area, I believe, are only going to be deterred if their freedom is withdrawn," so it's important for the FTC to collaborate on its cases with criminal law enforcement authorities, Kovacic said.

Chilled oil bath may cool hot processors

Submerging computer chips in oil could make them more energy efficient, according to a UK company that hopes to start selling such systems within a year.

The microprocessors inside servers and desktop computers are normally cooled using fans that blow air across the components. But UK a company called Very-PC hopes to see a much more radical, oil-based alternative, take off instead.

Zune 2.0 and Flash Zune Details Leaked

April 10 2007 - The chances of a Zune Scene editor running into a Microsoft Zune employee in the wild are pretty slim, but recently the stars were aligned and I got the inside scoop on the Zune 2.0 and also the flash based Zune coming out in 2007. I will attempt to preserve the identity of the Microsoft employee, he had no idea I write for Zune Scene, no idea at all. The whole conversation occurred on a business trip, you see, we Zune Scene editors have day jobs and are hard to spot in the wild also.

Palm to go Linux? WOW!

Smart phone maker Palm said on Tuesday it would use a new platform based on Linux to help the company compete better.

Palm officials announced the new operating system platform during a meeting with analysts in New York, where they also discussed the company's business strategy and refused to talk about recent rumors of a possible buyout.

Palm has long used its cornerstone Palm operating system and last year broadened its customer base by debuting Treo smart phones based on Microsoft's Windows Mobile system