Source: apc Magazine

Google recently confirmed in a blog posting that it had paid Codeweavers to help develop WINE to make Photoshop usable on the well-regarded but still somewhat unpredictable software package, which aims to replicate Windows libraries to enable popular Windows applications run in a Linux environment.

“Photoshop is one of those applications that Desktop linux users are constantly clamoring for, and we’re happy to say they work pretty well now,” Google engineer and Wine release manager Dan Kegel wrote. “About 200 patches were committed to winehq, and as of wine-0.9.54, Photoshop CS2 is quite usable,” Kegel noted in a separate post.

Press Release: Berkeley, CA—February 6, 2008—For the fourth consecutive year, Peachpit author Scott Kelby has been recognized as the top-selling computer book author in the U.S. according to Nielsen BookScan data.

Kelby’s Peachpit titles continue to lead the pack with the number one iPod® book, The iPod Book: Doing Cool Stuff with the iPod and the iTunes Music Store, Fourth Edition; the number one digital photography book, The Digital Photography Book; and the number one Photoshop Lightroom book, The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers.

Move allegedly designed to reduce risk of fires on aircraft

Source: ComputerWorld
Written by James Niccolai

New rules will go into effect on Jan. 1 that prohibit air passengers in the U.S. from carrying spare lithium batteries in their checked baggage.

The new rules, announced Friday by the U.S. Department of Transportation, are designed to reduce the risk of fires in aircraft. Lithium batteries have been identified as a possible cause of several aircraft fires.

The delayed start of winter hours may–but may not–confuse digital equipment; here’s where to update just in case.

Source: PCWorld
Written by Tom Spring

Daylight-saving time arrives late this year–we gain an hour on November 4. You already know this, but does your electronic gear?

Source: ZDNet
Written by Dawn Kawamoto

A European court dealt a severe blow to Microsoft’s competitive ambitions in Europe Monday by siding with regulators in an antitrust case against the company.

In its ruling, the Luxembourg-based Court of First Instance upheld European Commission claims that Microsoft abused its dominant position in the operating system market. Microsoft’s allies and competitors have been closely following the case since the Commission imposed antitrust sanctions against the company in early 2004.

Efforts to curb software piracy in China are bearing fruit although the piracy rate remains high, costing vendors billions of dollars in lost revenue.

Source: PC World
Written by John Blau, IDG News Service

Efforts to curb software piracy in China are bearing fruit although the piracy rate remains high, costing vendors billions of dollars in lost revenue, according to a survey paid for by large vendors, including Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp.

That was one of several findings of a report published Tuesday by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) in collaboration with IDC.

SOFTWARE LAG LIKELY TO SPARK EVOLUTION IN PROGRAMMING
Source: SiliconValley.com
Written By Mark Boslet, Mercury News

Consumer research shows that when given a choice PC buyers opt for computer chips with multiple cores, or computing brains. More cores equal more power is an easy concept for them to understand.

They might want to think twice before snapping up the industry’s latest quad-core computers.

Intel will cap off a turnaround year on Tuesday with the expected introduction of its first quad-core processors, beating rival Advanced Micro Devices to the punch by several months.

Source: CNET
Written by Tom Krazit

Originally scheduled to launch next year, the new Xeon 5300 and Core 2 Extreme QX6700 should make an immediate dent in servers and in high-end workstation/enthusiast PCs. In those markets, users can take advantage of software that’s already been written to exploit four separate processing threads.

Source: The Mercury News
Written by Mark de la Viña

For a brief, digitally charged moment — OK, for seven days — the ZeroOne festival turned San Jose into the nation’s art and technology capital.

In 1981, IBM’s 5150 took the business world by storm and moved the PC into the mainstream.

Source: PC World
Written by Lincoln Spector

Twenty-five years ago, IBM changed the world. It wasn’t intentional. When Big Blue announced a microcomputer called the IBM Personal Computer on August 12, 1981, it hoped only to make a nice profit.

The new chips offer better performance, greater efficiency
Source: COMPUTERWORLD
Written by Sumner Lemon and Ben Ames

Intel Corp. unveiled its new Core 2 Duo processor lineup today, increasing the pressure on rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. The 10 new dual-core chips promise markedly better performance and greater energy efficiency than Intel’s existing products.

AMD intends to create a PC chip powerhouse to rival Intel.
Source: eWeek
Written by John G. Spooner

Advanced Micro Devices will acquire graphics processor maker ATI Technologies in an effort to emerge as a more formidable supplier of chips for business computers.

Patent Asserted Against JPEG Standard Rejected by Patent Office as Result of PUBPAT Request: Public Interest Group’s Review Results in Broadest Claims of Forgent Networks Patent Being Ruled Invalid

Press Release: NEW YORK—May 26, 2006—In the reexamination proceeding initiated late last year by the Public Patent Foundation (”PUBPAT”), the United States Patent and Trademark Office has rejected the broadest claims of the patent Forgent Networks (Nasdaq: FORG) is asserting against the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) international standard for the electronic sharing of photo-quality images. In its Office Action released yesterday, the Patent Office found that the prior art submitted by PUBPAT completely anticipated the broadest claims of the patent, U.S. Patent No. 4,698,672 (the ‘672 Patent).

Source: CNET
Written by Tom Krazit

Las Vegas has seen its share of title fights, but the only thing that will get pounded by the 64 finalists arriving this week for the 2006 TopCoder Open will be a computer keyboard.

Source: ars technica
Written by Jon “Hannibal” Stokes

Editor’s note: Geek Warning-this article gets into technical detail regarding Itel’s future chip developments, but since both Apple and other PC makers will be using the same basic chip architecture, it’s useful to read the signs of the future.

Source: eWeek via Reuters
Written By Chris Buckley, Reuters

BEIJING (Reuters)—”DVDs? CDs? Games? Porn? What you want?” hawkers in Beijing’s Zhongguancun neighborhood whisper to potential customers.

Opinion: Research on Web useability is easy to find, but not so for operating systems and hardware. We need a new lexicon for understanding differences between devices.

Source: Publish
Written by Andreas Pfeiffer

In 2005 and early 2006, my company, Pfeiffer Consulting, conducted an extensive research project collecting information about Macintosh and Windows operating systems.

Flash Security Bulletin

Summary: Critical vulnerabilities have been identified in Flash Player that could allow an attacker who successfully exploits these vulnerabilities to take control of the affected system. A malicious SWF must be loaded in Flash Player by the user for an attacker to exploit these vulnerabilities. Users are recommended to update to the most current version of Flash Player available for their platform.

Source: ZDNet Australia
Written by Renal LeMay

Microsoft has temporarily halted development work on some aspects of its upcoming professional graphics application as it tries to bring companion tools and its next-generation Windows Vista operating system to market.

The desktop software market is getting more competitive as companies invade one another’s turf.

Source: Yahoo News
Written by Patrick Seitz

Microsoft (NasdaqNM:MSFT - News) is going head to head with Adobe Systems (NasdaqNM:ADBE - News) in document sharing and interactive Web design software. Apple Computer (NasdaqNM:AAPL - News) is taking on Adobe as well, but in photo editing software.

Source: eWeek
Written By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

On Wednesday, the Public Patent Foundation filed a formal request with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to revoke a data compression patent that Forgent Networks Inc. is asserting against the JPEG image standard. In recent years, JPEG has become the default file format for photo-quality images. It is commonly used in publishing, graphics and digital photography.

A PRIMER ON INTEL’S PROCESSORS

Source: RED NOVA

Apple’s decision to move to Intel for its processor needs brings up many questions. But many people are simply wondering why: What do Intel’s x86 CPUs offer that IBM’s PowerPC chips don’t?

Source: Directors Guild of America (DGA)

The following is a joint statement from the preeminent entertainment unions – American Federation of Musicians, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Directors Guild of America, Screen Actors Guild, and Writers Guild of America, west – on today’s Supreme Court ruling.

Source: ZD Net
Written By Michael Kanellos

If there’s one group that seems excited about the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling in the Grokster file-sharing case, it’s the people in the studio.

Source: DIGIT
Written By Jim Dalrymple

Apple’s new partnership with Intel will have far-reaching effects, not just for the two companies, but throughout the tech industry, an Intel spokesman told Digit’s sister publication MacCentral.