Business

There are few tech battles as heated as that between chipmakers AMD and Intel. Granted, video game fans getting pretty hot under the collar when defending their Xbox, Wii, or PS3, but just about everyone needs a computer, and these days that means ... just about everyone has to choose between AMD and Intel. Now, Intel is stepping things up with the introduction of a whole new generation of processors that will significantly boost performance without demanding inordinate amounts of power. The company is expected to finish the new family of chips by this time next year, a plan that's all a part of ... (view more)

Google has released the newest component of Google Docs: a presentation component that carries a typical simplistic moniker, Google "Presentations". Like Google Documents and Spreadsheets, users can email and upload documents to edit online. Unlike ... Documents, however, Presentations can only handle documents created in PowerPoint. Further, uploads must be smaller than 10MB. Google has certainly overtaken Microsoft on the aspect of search. Does Presentations have the potential to offer Google similar success? In a nutshell, no. Ars Technica's Eric Bangeman, a frequent PowerPoint user, tested ... (view more)

After being crowned the king of search, Google has set its sights a bit higher -- literally. In what it calls the 'global private race to the moon,' Google will be sponsoring the Google Lunar X PRIZE, an award given to a team who can land a craft on ... the moon. (Source: abc.net ) The X PRIZE Foundation's first project, the Ansari X PRIZE, had competitors racing to build a spacecraft able to reach low earth orbit. This time, participants will be reaching for the moon. Specifically, the winner must be the first to soft land a spacecraft on the moon which will roam for a minimum of 500 meters and ... (view more)

Eudora is back from the dead. Take that news to any English class and they'll likely think you're referring to famed author Eudora Welty. However, in tech circles Eudora is a well-known email program owned by Qualcomm Inc. (Not surprisingly, it was ... actually named after the author) In the mid-'90s, Eudora was one of the most popular and widely used programs on the Internet. However, it soon got overshadowed by the email software Microsoft bundled with Windows. Web-mail sites -- such as Hotmail and Yahoo Mail -- also took a chunk out of Eudora's market. After many rocky years in the marketplace ... (view more)

A soon-to-be-released study from NPD Group reportedly shows that standalone unit sales of Windows Vista in its first six months significantly trail standalone unit sales of Windows XP in its first six months of release. Boxed sales of Windows XP ... outsold boxed sales of Windows Vista by almost 60 percent in their respective first six months of availability. Due to the over-inflated cost of Windows Vista, revenue from sales of boxed copies of Vista was only down by 41 percent. It's important to note though that Windows XP was released in October while Windows Vista was released in January, ... (view more)

Many consider Apple to be a leading innovator, so finding out what's next on the company's plate can be quite salivating. Today, one user got a taste when an iTunes glitch revealed that renting movies may be next on the horizon. "I was trying to ... report a problem via iTunes, and this pop-up for selecting a reason contains some interesting/revealing strings," said David Watanabe, the user who discovered the glitch. "[It] looks like 'RentalMovies' will be coming to the iTunes store." When Watanabe was trying to notify the iTunes Store of his quandary, he was confronted with a menu of options on ... (view more)

Apple is reportedly considering cutting its prices for television episodes in half, from $1.99 to $0.99 -- the same price it currently charges for music singles. The price-slashing is part of Apple's plan to increase digital video sales. The company ... believes that the increase in volume will more than double, leaving profits positively affected even after the price cut. (Source: appleinsider.com ) But not everyone is seeing the price reduction with rose-colored glasses. Television studios worry that cutting the price of TV downloads will negatively impact DVD sales. Currently, a season of a ... (view more)

Could Google Earth's privacy-invading tendencies save your life? Maybe one day, but right now the Internet search leader is on the lookout for missing people. Renowned aviator Steve Fossett is currently on the search list. The pilot disappeared over ... the Nevada desert after taking off in a small plane early last week. Two days later Google became involved in the case when his friend, British billionaire Richard Branson, proposed that Fossett be located through the company's satellite mapping service. Branson said "I'm talking with friends at Google about seeing whether we can look at satellite ... (view more)

Now that the iPhone has been released and has established itself by already grabbing nearly 2% of the handheld market, speculation is turning towards rival corporations interested in developing their own powerful smart phones. And here goes: ... Microsoft is reportedly hinting at releasing its own super-flashy communicator. (Source: toptechnews.com ) Although rumors of a Google phone, or Gphone, have existed for some time, no one has seen the forest through the trees, so to speak. Surprisingly, Microsoft has not been linked with a smart phone, despite its impressive showing in developing video ... (view more)

Bet you never thought Windows Vista was a great deal; however, the new operating system from Microsoft, which ships in its cheapest, non-upgrade form for a substantial $200, is being touted as very economical by the company behind its creation. More ... cost-efficient, in fact, than even XP. (Source: bestbuy.com ) The story is emerging from a recent Microsoft-commissioned study delving into the total cost of using its operating systems on a mobile PC. According to MS, owning Vista in this capacity is a reported $605 cheaper than its older OS, Windows XP. The mobile prices themselves are quite ... (view more)