Reg Hardware

16th October 2006 Archive

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  • Sharp asks laptop owners to return 28,000 batteries

    Meanwhile, Fujitsu increases the size of its recall

    Sharp has become the latest laptop maker to ask its customers to return Sony-made notebook batteries. Its recall of some 28,000 power packs came as Fujitsu increased the size of its own battery recall by a further 51,000 units. Sharp's recall focuses on its home market of Japan. Fujitsu's recall is worldwide in scope. Sharp …

    PCs 16 Oct 2006, 08:52

  • Nvidia's three-GPU mobo spied on web

    Caters for visuals and physics

    Nvidia's nForce 680i SLI chipset for Intel processors has leaked out online, with a piccy of the part surfacing on a variety of websites. The chipset is expected to target the chip giant's upcoming quad-core processors, the 'Kentsfield' Core 2 Extreme and Core 2 Quad. Little is known about the board's feature-set, but the …

    Bits 'n' Chips 16 Oct 2006, 09:17

  • SmartCaddie UMPC updated with Intel CPU

    Celeron M replaces VIA chip

    The world has another ultra-mobile PC design. Japanese vendor PBJ today unveiled its SmartCaddie EX UMPC, though the unit's not due to ship there until early December. The new model is essentially an Intel-based version of the model PBJ launched last April. So out goes the VIA C7-M processor and in comes a 900MHz ultra-low …

    PCs 16 Oct 2006, 09:45

  • Samsung to launch Symbian 'super 3G' phone tomorrow

    HSDPA slider pitched at smart-phone buyers

    Samsung will tomorrow take the wraps off its HSDPA-enabled SGH-i520 handset, one of the few handsets we've seen coming from the South Korean giant that's based on the Symbian operating system and Nokia's Series 60 (S60) user interface. The 1.8cm-thick SGH-i520 will be pitched at the European market, Samsung said, and buyers …

    Phones 16 Oct 2006, 10:23

  • Spyware infection prompts McDonalds MP3 recall

    Bitter aftertaste to Coke promo

    McDonalds Japan has launched a recall after discovering that MP3 players it offered as a prize were loaded with a particularly nasty strain of malware. Up to 10,000 people might have been exposed to the problem after claiming a Flash MP3 player pre-loaded with ten tunes and a variant of the QQpass spyware Trojan. Punters …

    PCs 16 Oct 2006, 10:40

  • Apple's Jobs not in a stew over Zune

    Hi-Fi more important than Wi-Fi

    Apple CEO Steve Jobs is - surprise, surprise - unfazed by Microsoft's would-be iPod killer Zune. Earphone sharing will prove a more potent force for social networking than the iPod rival's much-touted wireless song-sharing feature, he reckons. In a short Q&A with Newsweek, Jobs professed to be unworried by Zune: "I've seen …

    Media players 16 Oct 2006, 10:46

  • Sapphire offers prizes for bare box-art lookalikes

    Get kit off, win kit

    Graphics card maker Sapphire is offering consumers the chance to win big prizes this Halloween, and all they have to do is get their kit off. Yes, Sapphire wants its users to dress up - or maybe that should be dress down, right down - as the nude but tastefully tackle-less bloke seen on its packaging. To be fair to Sapphire, …

    Bits 'n' Chips 16 Oct 2006, 11:31

  • Retailer puffs Burning Love fluffy iPod pouch

    Tickled pink

    As if Apple's iPod Socks didn't provide sufficient snigger material, along comes new UK online retailer MP3 Additions with line in digital music player pockets it calls the "Burning Love Pouch". It claims they're the "most original and funky iPod holders on the market today". Well, one pouch, the "cotton candy", is pink and …

    Gadgets and Gizmos 16 Oct 2006, 12:22

  • IBM/Lenovo, Apple top support firm's hardware reliability ratings

    Rescuecom survey quite so clear cut?

    Who makes the most reliable computers? Lenovo, closely followed by Apple, if you believe online service and support company Rescuecom's latest reliability audit, derived from more than 20,000 calls made by the firm's customers during the second quarter this year. Rescuecom assigned a reliability rating to computer vendors. …

    PCs 16 Oct 2006, 17:00

  • TomTom takes Garmin to court (again)

    Design issues

    TomTom, the Dutch navigation specialist, is taking US rival Garmin to court in The Hague on Thursday. The company claims that Garmin is copying the look and feel of its GPS based portable navigation systems. Garmin and TomTom are chief rivals in the booming car navigation market. TomTom has a 30 per cent market share in …

    Gadgets and Gizmos 16 Oct 2006, 20:34