Intel lifts veil on Silverthorne processor

Intel Corporation announced that it has built a new computer chip with a record 2 billion transistors. Intel code-named it Silverthorne, the chip draws about a tenth of the power used by the company’s chips for laptop computers.

The new microchip will more than double the processing power for a line of chips used in supercomputers.

The chip is expected to be available in the second quarter, and is aimed at mobile Internet devices between the size of a cellphone and a laptop computer.

Intel will use an approach called “in-order” execution with Silverthorne, in which computing instructions will be carried out one at a time, thus reducing power consumption.

Cancer “unlikely” from cell phone exposure

Australian scientists have developed a points scale to determine the risk of environmental factors leading to cancer, and mobile phone radiation is near the very bottom of the list.

The University of New South Wales said it created the scale to not only debunk some of the oft-rumored cancer contributors but also to reaffirm the risk of other factors such as smoking.

The study, like every other one of the subject, did disclaim that the “long-term effects” of mobile phone radiation have still not been established.

Apple’s new software for iPod comes with glitches

The newly release Apple software for current iPod Classic models is reported to contain serious flaws and cause troubles to the gadget.

The new update (Version 1.1) for Apple’s music players is causing an electrical problem for music systems, it sends residual electrical pulses through the headphone jack.  The pulses (500mv of DC) cause damage to any attached equipment.

There are also reports of “hiss,” “static” or “buzzing” heard after updating the system. Some users complained that the upgrade either froze their iPods or removed stored music files.

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 in RTM stage

Microsoft anounced that they have released Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista to manufacturing (RTM). Currently, it has been completed in five languages (English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese).

Microsoft said that this service pack fixes several issues related to performance, reliability and compatibility.

AOL extends Netscape support for a month

AOL announced that they have extended the support to Netscape Navigator by a month (March 1) as the developers at the company are working on tools to help the users of this Netscape Navigator to migrate to Firefox and other compatible browsers.

Users of Netscape Navigator browser would soon get instructions on how to move on to another application with all the settings.