Feds chalk up first victories in p2p piracy

The US Justice Department has chalked up its first convictions against those who use peer to peer networks to distribute pirated material. Two men have pleaded guilty to copyright infringement. The men, William Trowbridge, 50, of Johnson City, N. ...more

MSI to launch own-brand graphics cards using ATI chips

MSI chooses Nvidia and ATI, following the lead of Asustek Computer and Gigabyte Technology Micro-Star International (MSI), one of Taiwan's first-tier motherboard makers, is expected to launch MSI-branded graphics cards using ATI Technologies' graphic processing units (GPUs) in January next year, according to industry sources. MSI, which currently mainly uses Nvidia solutions, an archrival of ATI, for its own-brand graphics cards, declined to comment on its future product developments. MSI decision to adopt chips from both Nvidia and ATI follows the similar moves by competitors like Asustek Computer and Gigabyte Technology. ...more

Nvidia boosts video playback with PureVideo technology

Nvidia has added PureVideo technology to its GeForce 6 Series of GPUs (graphics processing units). A mixture of hardware and software, it supports playback of MPEG-2 and high-definition (HD) video content on a PC. Nvidia claims that PureVideo eliminates the need for additional hardware or chipsets while taking the load off the CPU (central processing unit). ...more

2004 proved year of the blog

Internet users reading blogs, or online diaries, have rocketed 58 per cent in the last year in the US to 32 million, according to a recent survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. That figure represents more than a quarter of the online community. The surging interest in blogs stems not only from its high profile media coverage over the past year, but it was also galvanised by events that polarised political opinion, such as the US election campaign and the Iraq war - suggesting blogs are only as interesting as the events they comment on rather than those that write them. ...more

Panasonic takes the GPRS route

The brat packets. Panasonic is to launch three GPRS-enabled mobile handsets offering fast data services through their in-built modems when used with GPRS-ready packet-switched networks. The GD75, GD76 and GD96 feature large screens with a graphical user interface that can be navigated through a five-way joystick (four directional axes and a press function). ...more