window.g_sDisableWGACheck='all'

By Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing.net

AV sez, "This week, Microsoft started requiring users to verifiy their serial number before using Windows Update.

This effort to force users to either buy XP or tell them where you got the illegal copy is called 'Genuine Advantage.' It was cracked within 24 hours."

Samsung today announced the Korean electronics giant has developed what it claims is the first Solid State Disk (SSD) based on NAND Flash memory technology.

By Jørgen Sundgot, InfoSync World

According to Samsung, the company is capable of building SSD units with capacities of up to 16 GB whilst maintaining a power consumption rate less than five percent of current hard disk drives.

A tool provided by Microsoft could let people get around a check meant to prevent those with pirated copies of Windows from downloading additional software from the company, according to a security researcher.

By Joris Evers, CNET News.com

Researcher Debasis Mohanty outlined what he said was a technique to trick Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage validation check in a posting to the Full Disclosure security mailing list on Monday. WGA is a software tool that verifies whether a particular copy of the operating system is properly licensed.

Report: Apple Explores Use of Chips From Intel, in What Would Be Major Shift in Computer World

Source: Associated Press

NEW YORK — In what would be a major shift in the computer world, Apple reportedly is talking with Intel about using its chips in its Macintosh line.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the computer maker has been meeting with Intel, the world's largest chipmaker.

Samsung's Windows CE .NET 4.2 based NEXiO XP30 handheld, has powerful hardware merged with good software - and a poor battery.

By Jørgen Sundgot, InfoSync World

These days, innovation in the handheld category isn't what it once was; most manufacturers have settled on Windows Mobile, while PalmSource still lingers through palmOne's reliance on the once-ubiquitous platform.

Company will begin offering a flash memory-based storage device for laptops.

By Martyn Williams, IDG News Service

Samsung Electronics has developed a replacement for conventional hard drives that is based on flash memory chips. The company plans to begin mass production of the device in August, it says.

The solid-state disk (SSD) uses memory chips in place of the mechanical recording system used inside hard drives, and has several advantages including lower power consumption and higher data rates.

Disks will have a capacity of up to 16GB; first disks will target sub-notebooks and tablet PCs.

By Richard Shim, CNET News.com

Flash memory maker Samsung is trying to drive a new kind of disk for PCs.

The company announced Monday that it has developed a "solid-state disk" using flash memory for PCs, which traditionally have used hard drives. The 1.8-inch NAND flash-based disks, which will be available in August, will have a capacity of up to 16GB. The first disks will target sub-notebooks and tablet PCs.

Microsoft Windows Operating systems Longhorn Software engineering/development Microsoft Corp

By Martin LaMonica, CNET News.com

Microsoft took another step toward releasing a beta version of Longhorn, the next edition of Windows, with the debut Monday of developer tools for the operating system.

The company is providing free downloads of a toolkit that will let developers write applications for Avalon and Indigo, two of the main additions to Windows due with Longhorn.

The chips don't sell for a lot of money, but the company figures the market will snatch up millions of them.

By Michael Kanellos, CNET News.com

First, Advanced Micro Devices went upmarket with the Opteron chip for servers. Now, it wants to go downscale into the consumer electronics market with a new line of Geode chips for gadgets.

Ask Jeeves on Friday said it will acquire the European operations of the Excite.com portal, whose operations in the United States it purchased last year.

By Dinesh C. Sharma, CNET News.com

The takeover of Excite Europe will give Ask Jeeves ownership of Excite's Internet domains throughout Europe as well as existing portals in markets such as Spain, Italy, France, the U.K., Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, the company said. The search technology of Ask Jeeves also will be extended to users of Excite Europe.