http://www.techspot.com TechSpot.com RSS Justin Mann Fri, 16 May 2008 09:58 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/30072-Microsoft-and-OLPC-join-forces.html Microsoft has had their eyes set on low cost laptops for a while, telling the world they would work hard to get Windows XP functioning on the infamous XO units made by the OLPC project. Now, after a lot of controversy from both sides of the fence, Microsoft and the OLPC project are teaming up. The leader and founder of the project, Nicholas Negroponte, claims that partnering with Microsoft will gi... Julio Franco Fri, 16 May 2008 03:31 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/30077-Asus-C90S-Laptop-Barebones-review--TechSpot.html Known simply as the Asus C90S, this is the first product to be released on a new series of laptop barebones that the manufacturer is aiming at the mobile performance crowd. Justin Mann Thu, 15 May 2008 19:07 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/30071-Nintendo-sells-714000-Wiis-in-April.html Microsoft may be celebrating a milestone of their own for console sales, but how did the current number one console fare in light of the GTA IV release leaving them in the cold? Quite well, it seems, with the Nintendo Wii taking the number one place for console sales in April. The most recent figures put the Wii at 714,000 sales last month, which completely dwarfs Microsoft's and Sony's sales at a... Jose Vilches Thu, 15 May 2008 17:33 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/30070-Microsoft-and-LucasArts-launch-LEGO-Indiana-Jones-demo.html With Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull hitting theaters next week, Microsoft and LucasArts are offering gamers and fans of the series alike an exclusive playable PC demo of its forthcoming action adventure title “LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures” for Windows. Jose Vilches Thu, 15 May 2008 16:48 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/30069-RIAA-hits-major-setbacks-in-two-P2P-cases.html Today, the Recording Industry Association of America was ordered to pay $107,834 as a result of a failed lawsuit against Tanya Andersen that accused her of illegal file sharing. The ruling marks what it is said to be the highest awarded compensation against the RIAA in terms of legal fees. Jose Vilches Thu, 15 May 2008 15:18 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/30065-ATI-Radeon-4800-series-launch-details-revealed.html Last month we published several leaked details about AMD’s next-generation graphics card lineup, but as we get closer to the launch the folks over at TG Daily have managed to get the scoop on AMD’s launch plan details for its upcoming HD 4800 series of graphics cards. Erik Orejuela Thu, 15 May 2008 15:18 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/30068-News-from-around-the-web-05-15-08.html LG Closes in on Motorola @ BusinessWeek Justin Mann Thu, 15 May 2008 14:15 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/30064-Via-plans-move-to-45nm-process-and-dualcore-CPUs.html Via’s already very low-power processors may get the chance to be even more energy-friendly, with Via's slow march towards a functional 45nm process. Intel and AMD may have them beat by a number of years and a massive amount of performance, but the niche market they have carved and are trying to expand will warmly welcome even more improvements in their CPU lineup. Their exact date for having 45nm ... Jose Vilches Thu, 15 May 2008 13:30 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/30060-Asus-to-ship-all-mobos-with-Splashtop-instanton-Linux-OS.html Linux just got a major boost today with Asus confirming that it will extend the inclusion of the Splashtop pre-boot multimedia shell from just a few of its most expensive models to more products and eventually throughout its entire product range. Jose Vilches Thu, 15 May 2008 12:45 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/30059-PC-gaming-has-grown-for-several-years-says-EA.html Though many are worried that PC gaming is on the decline and yearly sales figures from the NPD group seem to corroborate this, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello thinks that is not the case. He believes that the market has actually been “growing for several years” and that it is only “wrong categorized by a heavy focus on retail sales.” Justin Mann Thu, 15 May 2008 11:57 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/30062-Adobe-introduces-Flash-Player-10.html Adobe demonstrated the newest iteration of their infamous Flash Player today, bringing version 10 into the limelight. The new version is not ready for production, but promises a host of new features to make its eventual release worth waiting for. At least that's Adobe's stance, who want to maintain their control over the “interactive media” market with Microsoft and others now chasing them down. Jose Vilches Thu, 15 May 2008 11:22 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/30058-CBS-to-boost-online-presence-with-CNET-acquisition.html In a bid to boost its reach across the internet, CBS is to acquire digital media content company CNet Networks for $1.8 billion in cash. The deal represents the broadcaster’s biggest move yet to become a major player in online advertising and would also extend its properties with some of the most highly trafficked websites, including gamespot.com, tv.com, mp3.com, news.com. Jose Vilches Thu, 15 May 2008 10:18 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/30057-Nintendo-loses-patent-lawsuit-ordered-to-pay-21-million.html Following a two-year-long legal dispute between Anascape, a small Texan gaming company, and Nintendo of America, a federal judge today ruled in favor of the former, ordering Nintendo to get its checkbook and pay the sum of $21 million in damages for infringing patents covering technology such as ‘Variable Sensor with tactile Feedback’, and ‘3D Controller with Vibration’ amongst others. Jose Vilches Wed, 14 May 2008 20:46 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/30054-Microsoft-demos-Surface-alternative-dubbed-TouchWall.html Microsoft showed off a new product dubbed “TouchWall” at its CEO Summit today. As the name suggests, the product is another multi-touch platform that you can control with a sweep of your hand, though this time coming in a whole lot cheaper than the $10,000 Surface, costing just “a few hundred dollars worth of readily available hardware.” Justin Mann Wed, 14 May 2008 19:45 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/30053-Activision-preparing-Call-of-Duty-5.html For all of you Call of Duty fans, you might be interested to know that Activision has announced the release of Call of Duty 5. The title will be available across a wide variety of platforms, including the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, PlayStation 2 and the PC. Little mention is made of what dramatic differences the game will have as compared to COD4, and the official launch date has not been a... Justin Mann Wed, 14 May 2008 19:15 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/30052-Sonys-profits-triple-despite-poor-gaming-division.html Sony's slow console sales and dismal gaming division performance has not slowed the company down as a whole, with the company posting a record high profit for the past year. Sony's net profit has done a massive tripling, largely due to huge sales in the digital camera and laptop markets. Jose Vilches Wed, 14 May 2008 19:01 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/30051-Dell-to-boost-energy-efficiency-in-its-products.html Continuing with its push to become the greenest technology company on the planet, Dell has said it plans to cut the combined power of its desktop and notebook PCs by 25 percent in 2010, compared to the current power output of those systems today. Jose Vilches Wed, 14 May 2008 17:32 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/30050-OCZ-intros-doityourself-gaming-notebook-program.html OCZ is probably best known for their RAM and power supply lineups which are targeted primarily at the computer hardware enthusiast market, but the Sunnyvale-based company is now turning its focus to the notebook market and plans to enter it in a rather interesting way. Justin Mann Wed, 14 May 2008 15:40 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/30049-Microsoft-sells-10-million-Xbox-360s-in-the-US.html Microsoft has hit a milestone for sales of their beloved Xbox 360, with the figures reaching over 10 million sold in the U.S. since release. The console still lags behind in total sales to the Wii, but in U.S. sales figures alone seems to have them beat, with Nintendo at 8.8 million. Aggregate sales for the 360 are approaching 20 million. Justin Mann Wed, 14 May 2008 14:00 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/30045-Via-announces-PX5000EG-Pico-board.html Via needs to up the ante with Intel and AMD both offering many more low-power CPUs, and that is just what they are doing with their newest ITX board. Via announced today the introduction of the EPIA PX5000EG Pico-ITX board, which has inside it an Eden ULV processor rated for a minuscule 1W of power. Jose Vilches Wed, 14 May 2008 13:15 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/30043-Xbox-360-getting-motion-sensing-device.html A new spring update for the Xbox 360 should be just around the corner, and if a list of alleged features leaked to Kotaku is to be believed, some kind of “motion sensor device” for the 360 could be on its way. The feature list gives no indication as to when the update is planned for, though if Microsoft follows the same schedule it did last year we can expect the update to launch early June. Erik Orejuela Wed, 14 May 2008 12:47 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/30044-News-from-around-the-web-05-14-08.html FBI warns of pirated Cisco hardware @ vnunet.com Justin Mann Wed, 14 May 2008 12:30 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/30041-MySpace-awarded-230-million-in-fight-against-Spam-King.html The so-called “Spam King”, Sanford Wallace, received another blow that indicates he has been dethroned after a default judgment against him this week. MySpace sued Wallace not long ago, over his questionable actions in creating thousands of MySpace accounts and stealing existing ones, using the accounts to generate thousands of messages to send to other MySpace users. After failing to show up in c... Jose Vilches Wed, 14 May 2008 11:36 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/30038-Dell-denies-plans-to-drop-XPS-line.html Despite reports to the contrary, Dell won’t be dropping its desktop XPS line to promote its Alienware gaming PC subsidiary instead – though the company admittedly plans to expand their focus on the latter to propel it as “the premier gaming brand in the future.” Jose Vilches Tue, 13 May 2008 19:18 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/30033-Nvidia-releases-ForceWare-17516-WHQL-drivers.html Nvidia has just released the WHQL flavor of the 175.16 ForceWare drivers which supports all GeForce cards available today in a single package. Aside from the usual host of game and application compatibility fixes and enhancements, version 175.16 adds new PureVideo HD features for the GeForce 9800 GX2, 9800 GTX, 9600 GT and 9600 GSO. Justin Mann Tue, 13 May 2008 17:59 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/30032-Craigslist-sues-eBay-over-corporate-spying.html Following the lawsuit that eBay filed against Craigslist, the company publically criticized eBay for their actions. Ebay's stance remained unchanged, and they showed no signs of dropping the suit. As a result, now Craigslist has sued eBay, claiming that the giant company was using corporate spy tactics to steal trade secrets of the inner workings of Craigslist. Jose Vilches Tue, 13 May 2008 16:56 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/30031-MSI-reveals-Wind-US-launch-date-full-specs.html Although by now we already know most of the details on the MSI Wind, the company has just cleared up some of the remaining questions – such as pricing and availability – surrounding the upcoming Eee PC challenger. Two versions of the subnotebook will be available: an 8.9-inch and a 10-inch, though only the 10-inch version will reportedly be available to the US market. Jose Vilches Tue, 13 May 2008 15:44 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/30029-Microsoft-fixes-critical-holes-in-Windows-Word-Publisher.html Microsoft today released a set of patches as part of their monthly security update to plug critical holes in Microsoft Word, Publisher, and a critical vulnerability in Windows for which a Zero-day exploit has been available for weeks. Justin Mann Tue, 13 May 2008 15:13 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/30028-EarthLink-axes-citywide-WiFi-project.html EarthLink was very gung-ho about doing city-wide Wi-Fi in the past, even going so far as to compete with Google for cities to bid on. Unfortunately for them, their flagship Wi-Fi project in Philadelphia has not produced the numbers they’d hoped for. As a result, EarthLink is pulling the plug on the project after failing to find a buyer for it. Erik Orejuela Tue, 13 May 2008 14:57 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/30030-News-from-around-the-web-05-13-08.html Microsoft's WorldWide Telescope blasts off @ AP