VIA unveils P4M800 Pro Chipset for entry level PCs

Eager to capitalise on the success of its VIA P4M chipsets in the entry-level markets for emerging economies such as India and China, VIA is now introducing the P4M800 Pro Chipset. VIA says that its chipset offers high-level graphics support with the inclusion of an integrated S3 Graphics UniChrome Pro IGP. The P4M800 also offers DDR2 compatibility for both Intel's Pentium 4 and Celeron processors. ...more

IFPI survey: A good year for music despite illegal downloads

A tenfold increase in digital downloads sales, strong CD sales in the US and UK and a 23 per cent rise in music DVDs helped offset the effect of illegal file sharing on music sales for 2004, according to the IFPI's annual survey. In the four major digital music markets - the UK, US, France and Germany - more than 200 million downloads were sold and returns from the first two months of 2005 indicate that the figure may double in 2005. While CD sales in the UK and US, which together make up 47 per cent of the world market, rose 4. ...more

Drag and drop printing for Red Hat Linux 9

The latest retail Linux distribution from Red Hat is launched today. Version 9.0 of Red Hat's Linux distro features an updated graphical installation process and various usability enhancements. ...more

MasterCard opens digital wallet

If you don't feel safe when you use your credit card to make purchases online, you will be heartened to hear that MasterCard is working in partnership with a company to produce a secure digital wallet. The credit card company announced a partnership with TrinTech Group, a company that specialises in security hardware and software solutions for banking. The new chip-activated wallet system would see the user putting their credit card into a smart card reader and typing in a PIN to make an online purchase. ...more

$15,000 for lost laptop

If ever you needed an object lesson in why you should religiously back-up your work, then consider the man who left his PowerBook laptop on a plane. The laptop's owner is offering a $15,000 reward for its safe return, 'no questions asked', as it contains not one but three manuscripts for books on business management. Reuters reports that two Singapore newspapers carried a four-column appeal for the computer's return, but as yet there have been no leads. ...more