New and Noteworthy: IBM's fragile chip business; iTunes Headed To PC, Biz Mulls Download Prices; more
New and Noteworthy: IBM's fragile chip business; iTunes Headed To PC, Biz Mulls Download Prices; more
IBM's fragile chip business The New York Times gives us a glimpse inside IBM's Fishkill semiconductor plant, where PowerPC 970 processors are being produced for Apple. "Plastic pods, sleek and airtight, shuttle their precious cargo of silicon wafers into machines, sheathed in stainless steel and glass, for each of 500 steps in processing and fabrication - monitored by people but untouched by human hands. If the technology is impressive, so is the price tag, at $2 billion to $3 billion a plant, and the risk." More.
iTunes Headed To PC, Biz Mulls Download Prices Billboard.com writes: "Apple Computer says it is on pace to launch a Windows-based version of the iTunes Music Store by the end of the year, Billboard Bulletin reports. In the afternoon keynote session yesterday (July 29) at the Jupiter Plug.In conference in New York, Peter Lowe, Apple's director of marketing for applications and services, said the company intends to launch a PC service with broad content-usage rights similar to those enjoyed by iTunes consumers using Mac computers." More.
The Copyright Cage From LegalAffairs.com "Bars can't have TVs bigger than 55 inches. Teddy bears can't include tape decks. Girl Scouts who sing 'Puff, the Magic Dragon' owe royalties. Copyright law needs to change." More.
Hand-held devices easy to hack -security experts Hand-held computers used to store phone numbers, medical and credit-card information leave millions of gadget lovers fully exposed to identity-theft and other crimes, security experts said on Saturday. "Software is now widely available to allow people to steal passwords and other information from popular Palm-based computers, especially when they connect to other computers to share data, said Bryan Glancey, a manager at wireless security services provider MobileArmor of St. Louis, Missouri." More.Resources