Google opens up Gmail to everyone

Google has made it possible to send larger attachments using Gmail and opened the service up to anyone who wants an account. The company last week increased to 20MB the size of attachments it is permitting Gmail users to send using its free email service.

Anyone can now sign up for a free Gmail account. Until now, users have required an invitation from a Gmail registered friend.

Google has also begun working to integrate YouTube support into Gmail.

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Email Users less bothered by spam despite receiving more

American internet users are reporting increasing volumes of spam but say they are less bothered by it according to recent research. 71% of email users use filters offered by their email provider or employer to block spam.

37% of email users said spam had increased in their personal email accounts, up from 28% of email users who said the same thing two years ago and 24% three years ago.

The researchers suggested several reasons why fewer people say that spam is a big problem for them. First, the volume of the most offensive kinds of spam has decreased and second people are becoming more knowledgeable about how to handle spam.

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Norton AV upgrade cripples thousands of Chinese computers

An update issued May 18th disabled several thousand computers across China. The Norton AntiVirus update caused the computers to recognize two Windows XP files as malicious and remove them. The result was a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) error after a system reboot.

The files removed by Norton are lsasrv.dll and netapi32.dll. The security software tags the files as being a malicious backdoor named appropriately Backdoor.Haxdoor Trojan. Only Chinese language versions of Windows appear to be affected so far. The software is listed as Norton 360, which includes the Norton Anti-Virus software.

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Google Expands to Universal Search

Google said it is integrating results from a variety of its search engines in an attempt to deliver as comprehensive a result set as possible.

Google and its competitors know that in order to improve the average user's search experience, they need to collate results from their different engines. Google announced it is moving toward what it calls a universal search model. The integrated results will be applied for now to searches conducted on the main Google.com Web search engine only.

Google also updated its homepage design and tweaked navigation features to accommodate the collated set of results.

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AMD introduces 4 core processor

AMD has announced it will launch a new line of chips that integrate four computing centres on a single piece of silicon later this year.

The upcoming Phenom line of processors will be able maximize performance by managing energy use more efficiently and minimizing the distance information has to travel to be used.

the four cores, keeping data within a single processor eliminates a bottleneck inherent in other products that are packaging two dual core chips to form quad core processors.

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New Benchmark Tests for Vista

In order to test the true limits of systems equipped with the Vista OS, a new test was required. With this in mind, BAPCo has quietly rolled out SYSmark 2007 Preview, the latest version of its industry leading benchmark test suite. SYSmark is based on programs commonly used in everyday life.

On the desktop side, the more complicated the system, the more its performance falls when you move from Win XP to Vista. Microsoft Office performance suffered the most during the shift.

For laptops, there was also slower performance with Vista. Unlike on desktops, however, the gap between notebooks actually lessened in some cases in higher end products.

Vista is still the slower of the two operating systems, although that should improve over time. Some of the difference can be attributed to the extra features of Vista using more system resources. That can't be helped until faster and more powerful components are developed.

New HP gaming notebook with 20 inch display

Rumor has it that HP will be announcing a new 20 inch gaming laptop, the Pavilion HDX. The 20 inch, 12 pound monster is HPs first step into the gaming notebook market. The inner components are not finalized yet but will have to be to be top notch for gamers.

the Pavilion HDX has four speakers, a subwoofer, webcam and a built in HDTV tuner. It will also have a removable remote next to the keyboard. The launch date is vague, but should be some time in the next few months.

IBM's New Nano Chip

IBM has established a chip assembling process that produces chips that are up to 15% more energy efficient than the most advanced traditional chips.

The process consists of insulating tiny wires by allowing them to assemble themselves around air gaps. This advance could make next generation chips dramatically faster and more energy efficient, IBM said. Electrical signals could also flow up to 35 percent faster, potentially leading to additional advances in computing power and speed.

IBM is hoping to start using the technique as soon as 2009 on its own chips, the company said.


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