AMD wraps up ATI merger, plans fusion of CPU and GPU ... Mozilla releases Firefox 2.0

HIGHLIGHTS
News: AMD completes ATI merger, plans fusion of CPU and GPU
News: Xen founder says project will stay on top
News: 3G for mobile broadband? Think again
News: Mozilla releases Firefox 2.0
Security Tip: Application security assessment options
Podcast: Today's IT news audio update
ITwhirled: U.K. man admits 'Web rage' attack


NEWS UPDATES

AMD completes ATI merger, plans fusion of CPU and GPU
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. plans to make chips integrating its x86 with a graphics processor on a single piece of silicon by early 2009. The announcement came as AMD completed its $5.4 billion merger with graphics chip manufacturer ATI Technologies Inc. on Wednesday.

Xen founder says project will stay on top
As virtualization technology gets increasing attention from large enterprises, the founder of the Xen open-source project said on Wednesday that Xen will develop more quickly compared to competitors, including Microsoft Corp and VMware Inc.

3G for mobile broadband? Think again
The GSM Association (GSMA), an industry group comprised of mobile operators, wants to see 3G (third-generation) cellular technologies used for wireless broadband in notebook PCs, but operators will have to change their way of doing business to make that happen.

Mozilla releases Firefox 2.0
The browser wars are back. Just two weeks after Microsoft Corp. delivered its highly anticipated Internet Explorer 7, Mozilla Corp. has shipped a major update to its Firefox browser.

Microsoft comforts PC vendors with Vista upgrade
In an effort to mollify hardware vendors that are scared that delays in the launch of Windows Vista will dampen holiday PC sales, Microsoft Corp. is offering a discount to consumers and small businesses that want to upgrade from Windows XP to the Vista OS.

HP looks to shed strategic partners
In reasonably feisty form, given the boardroom-level spying scandal dogging his company, Mark Hurd, HP's chairman and chief executive officer, laid out HP's moves to reinvent its operations, including reducing its number of partners, in a keynote address at Oracle Corp.'s OpenWorld conference in San Francisco.

MacBook Pros now have Intel Core 2 Duo processors
Confirming the rumors, Apple has updated its entire 17- and 15-inch MacBook Pro range of notebooks to include new Intel Core 2 Duo processors.

BenQ Mobile bankruptcy prompts Infineon to cut jobs
The insolvency of German handset maker BenQ Mobile GmbH &Co. OHG continues to reverberate in the mobile phone sector. On Tuesday, chip maker Infineon Technologies AG said it will lay off workers and take hundreds of millions of dollars in charges after losing BenQ Mobile as a customer.

Program to wean developers off Coke and pizza
Altiris Inc. is trying to break its software developers of their unhealthy habits. Participants accumulate virtual kilometers each time they engage in a positive activity, like exercising and eating healthy, and quitting smoking. The winner will receive a trip for two to a Kakadu safari.


SECURITY TIP

Application security assessment options
By Brent Huston, MicroSolved, Inc.

Modern consumers have come to expect easy access to online services such as shopping, banking, access to healthcare, tax records and the like, but that access comes at a price. Convenience often brings increased exposure to underlying data -- attackers have long focused on the application layer as a source of vulnerability. If application security is not a part of your web commerce plans, it should be.


PODCAST

Daily IT News Audio Update
Microsoft postpones XP Service Pack 3 to 2008 ... Mozilla releases Firefox 2.0 ... Microsoft to offer Vista upgrade coupons for XP PCs

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ITWHIRLED

U.K. man admits 'Web rage' attack
In another good example of why you should be hesitant about providing personal information online, Paul Gibbons admitted that after he and John Jones exchanged insults in a chat room, Gibbons drove 70 miles to Jones' home and attacked him with a pickaxe handle.