the oracle

No doubt a strike at the upcoming AMD Thuban six-core processor, Intel has let a Gulftown six-core processor slip out into the wild, to be reported on and benchmarked.
The story on Techspot tells of a Polish lab that has obtained one of the processors, dubbed by Intel as i9.
The folks at PCLab.pl have gotten their [...]

And you thought you were such a good buyer using Bing to let Microsoft pay for part of your Christmas.
Surprise! You didn’t really think that Darth Ballmer had suddenly become Mr. Magnanimous did you? Someone has to help pay for their attempt to take down Google.
I was looking through the news and saw this from [...]

So much is changing these days in computers. It has been that way for years, however, the pace has accelerated, and things we never thought would happen have happened.
Ten years ago who, other than chip designers, thought we would see so many multicore processors? We have multicore processors in children’s toys! The Cell processor in [...]

On the ZDNet website, Microsoft reporter extraordinaire Mary-Jo Foley has a few items about the replacement for Microsoft Works, called Office Starter 2010.
Microsoft Works was a small suite of programs that was not perfect, but it was usually free with many computers, and continuing in that tradition, Office Starter 2010 will be part of a [...]

The Opera browser that combines Opera with the Unite additions complete and ready for the world is here. It has been given the short shrift in the United States by many, but people in Europe use the browser in much greater numbers – showing that it is worthy of everyone’s consideration.
A short introduction on v3.co.uk, [...]

Several places on the net are reporting on a couple of cases where people with Apple computers are finding that Apple Repair will not take care of problems due to the users being smokers.
As someone that has worked on several dozen computers used daily by smokers, I can say that it is not a fun [...]

With all the rest that is changing, does this seem like the time to change brand recognition?
The company is being spun off, no doubt because it is not the powerhouse it once was. The employees are being dropped like flies, and so much is changing that it seems strange to change anything not absolutely necessary.
Being [...]

Though it has not yet happened, a plan first hinted of by Mark Cuban seems to be forming. Between his scheme and the machinations of Rupert Murdoch, to obtain every dollar, schilling, yen, and rupee on the planet, it seems as though the unlikely may become reality.
A report from Financial Times gives the details of [...]

Another way has been found for Internet Exploder versions 6 or 7 to be compromised. It was first posted by a hacker, and later confirmed by Symantec (good to know they’re working together on this!) to be a way to install rogue software on the user’s machine.
The story comes from NetworkWorld, and apparently has no [...]

When some people shop for computer parts, they purposely look at the ones with the longest warranties, knowing that they are likely to be built to a better specification, as no manufacturer wants to be supporting bad parts – it’s a sure way to bankruptcy.
Some manufacturers have sprung up with that idea in mind, purposely [...]

Due to the fact that updates are becoming a problem for many users, the folks at Avira Antivirus are changing the method and size of the updates, so as to make the system more reliable.
I have noticed the problem with my systems that run Avira in the last couple of weeks, but according to an [...]

To hear the story from Steve Ballmer, Microsoft is selling copies of Windows 7 faster than the copies can be pressed. The people are buying in droves, with adoption so high it beats all previous upgrade cycles.
After examining the previous upgrade cycles, that really is not hard to believe, as most Microsoft upgrade cycles don’t [...]

After hearing my son speak of many Xboxes showing up on Craigslist as “new in box” I started looking around on other places where things are sold, only to find similar results. This might be not that unusual for this time of year, with Christmas approaching, and the economy down, but I was still a [...]

The newest revision of Auslogics Disk Defragmentation utility is gaining functionality that once was the domain of paid programs. Where it once only defragmented files, it now defragments files, consolidates space, and will move system files to the beginning of the drive – essentially most of what Diskeeper revision 6 did a few years back.
For [...]

Something not reported in the usual places, this week Microsoft lost a suit in China over the fonts used in Chinese copies of Windows from Windows 98 to present.
Coming right at the launch of Windows 7 this has to really hurt early adoption there.
The news of this comes by way of the ITWire, which tells [...]