Acer to acquire Gateway ... German gov't PCs hacked ... Lawsuit fear delays iPhone unlocker

HIGHLIGHTS
News: Acer to acquire Gateway for $710 million
News: German gov't PCs hacked, China offers to investigate
News: Legal worries delay release of iPhone unlocking software
News: Intel improves desktop security with vPro upgrade
Opinion: Satellite phones and solar iPod chargers
Podcast: Today's IT news audio update
ITwhirled: Israeli cabinet meetings now cell-phone-free zones


NEWS UPDATES

Acer to acquire Gateway for $710 million
Acer Inc. plans to acquire Gateway Inc. in a deal worth $710 million that Acer says will make it the world's third-largest PC vendor.

Related Reading:
- Lenovo's plan for Packard Bell hit by Acer-Gateway deal
- Gateway brand to expand after Acer purchase

German gov't PCs hacked, China offers to investigate
Chinese premier Wen Jiabao described reports of Chinese hackers breaking into German computers as a matter of "grave concern" and said Monday that his country will cooperate with Germany to resolve the matter.

Legal worries delay release of iPhone unlocking software
Fear of litigation has led to an indefinite delay in the planned Saturday release of software to unlock Apple Inc.'s iPhone.

Intel improves desktop security with vPro upgrade
Intel Corp. released an upgrade to its vPro bundle of automated PC management features on Monday, saying the new package delivers better IT security than the original product launched last year.


OPINION

Satellite phones and solar iPod chargers
By Steven Schwankert

You don't really learn about technology until you're removed from it to the point where you're at both extremes of the technological spectrum. Say, using plentiful Mongolian sunshine to charge your iPod.

During the course of a two-week scuba diving expedition to the landlocked Asian country's Lake Khosvgol, we learned about both ends of that spectrum. For the members of our team who work in Mongolia, satellite telephones and generators are part and parcel of their work. In all, we moved over a ton of equipment from places such as Hong Kong and Beijing to the lake shore and back, along with personal equipment from our participants' home countries, including Austria, the United States, and the U.K.

Read the full article here


PODCAST

Today's IT news audio update
Lawsuit fear delays release of iPhone unlock tool ... Palm denies report that Foleo is late ... China criticized over real name blog policy

More podcasts


ITWHIRLED

Israeli cabinet meetings now cell-phone-free zones
If you've ever been frustrated by someone using a mobile phone during a movie, class, or business meeting, pity poor Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert whose cabinet ministers would pull out their cells and start chatting in the middle of a meeting -- or, worse, surreptitiously dial reporters so that they could listen in on meetings that were supposed to be secret. Now ministers must check their mobiles at the door before cabinet meetings begin.

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