Advanced Micro Devices will launch the first dual-core version of its Athlon 64 desktop processor at Taiwan’s Computex trade show on May 31.

The AMD Athlon 64 X2 processor will be launched on the first day of Computex, the mammoth show that brings most of Taiwan’s computer hardware, software, and technology industry face-to-face with technology buyers from around the world, the company said Friday. AMD has used Computex in prior years to launch new processors. If previous years are a guide, the processor will likely be accompanied by the introduction of compatible motherboards produced by Taiwanese companies.

Source: Infoworld

State-by-state information on sex offenders will be available on a new Internet site run by the federal government, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced Friday.

Participation by states is voluntary, and the Justice Department said it hopes to have the site up and running within two months.

The announcement was being made to coincide with National Missing Children’s Day.

The site won’t provide any information not already made available on the Internet by 48 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. But it will be designed to allow someone to do a national search to determine whether an individual who has been convicted in one state has moved to another.

Most states publish the names, photos and backgrounds of people convicted of a variety of sex crimes, particularly those involving children. But different rules apply as to what information can be accessed.

Source: AP

Netscape has fixed 44 vulnerabilities in the latest version of its browser less than 24 hours after its release.

The update — which takes Netscape to version 8.0.1 — was released amid criticism from developers that the initial release of the browser was susceptible to two critical vulnerabilities. The problems were unearthed in version 1.0.3 of the code used to create the Mozilla Foundation’s Firefox open source browser and on which the new Netscape version is based. Firefox itself was updated in mid-May to version 1.0.4 to fix the vulnerabilities.

Source: ZDNet

Ask Jeeves, Inc., today announced the acquisition of Excite Italia B.V., the operator of Excite Europe, a network of pan-European portal properties, from Tiscali, S.p.A. Ask Jeeves acquired the U.S.-operated Excite.com portal in March 2004.

“This deal is a next step in Ask Jeeves’ European expansion strategy,” said Steve Berkowitz, CEO of Ask Jeeves, Inc. “Access to Excite’s pan-European operational infrastructure and market knowledge will accelerate our European growth initiative and provide an instant revenue stream from additional users and advertisers.”

The acquisition of Excite Europe will extend Ask Jeeves’ ownership of the Excite brand beyond the United States, giving the Company ownership of Excite’s Internet domains throughout Europe as well as control of existing portal offerings in several major European markets including Spain, Italy, France, UK, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. The acquisition provides immediate access to a wealth of resources in the European portal market in terms of users, operations, market knowledge and revenue streams. Ask Jeeves will also have the ability to extend its leading search technology to Excite Europe users.

Apple Computer Inc. has issued a battery recall order with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission for its consumer-level iBook and pro PowerBook line of portable computers. The recall will affect approximately 128,000 units in the United States, according to the organizations.

Apple is recalling the batteries due to an internal short that could cause the battery cells to overheat, posing a fire hazard. Apple said it has received six reports worldwide of batteries overheating, including two reports in the United States.

More information on contacting Apple is available from Apple’s Web site, and at source.

Source: Macworld

With a critical shortage of Information Technology workers projected in the coming years, it’s crucial that university computer science departments do all they can to attract top students to the field, a local IBM official said Tuesday.

At IBM University Day in Research Triangle Park on Tuesday, leading IBM officials and university professors from across the region gathered to discuss new ways of marketing computer careers to up-and-coming students.

“The slope shows an unbelievable decline in computer science majors,” Duke professor Owen Astrachan said. “There are smart people no longer even signing up to take our introductory courses. We need to fix it, or there’s not going to be a U.S. work force in computer sciences.”

Source: Herald-Sun.com