"AMD's new low-power platform Brazos goes for the throat, attacking Atom where it's weakest -- graphics. AMD has announced four upcoming models, which are already shipping to OEMs and should pop up in netbooks, notebooks, and other form factors by January/February 2011 at the latest." | more

"For all the things Macs lack -- pre-installed Flash, USB 3.0, Blu-ray, and more -- you'd think that'd there'd be more clever commercials from Microsoft taking a jab at their fruity competitor. While commercials like Laptop Hunters hinted at such things, they didn't just lay it out there. Fortunately for Microsoft that's exactly what its new commercial does. In the commercial Mac and PC (laptops, not "guys", mind you) are flying aboard an airplane (conveniently named Windows 7). As the pair settle in the PC fires up a Blu-ray movie --Avatar.

"One of the old school arcade game classics that gamers grew up playing in the 80's was Nintendo's Donkey Kong. CNN reports that Nintendo is now trying to trademark a pop-culture phrase "On like Donkey Kong." The company has filed for the trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark office. According to Nintendo the phrase is, "an old, popular Nintendo phrase that has a number of possible interpretations depending on how it's used." | more

"Intel has not offered support for the new USB 3.0 interface in its chipsets and the few machines on the market with USB 3.0 support are doing so using third-party chipsets. On-chip support for USB 3.0 from Intel is thought to be as far out as 2012. Intel is talking up its own much faster competing standard to USB 3.0 known as Light Peak. Light Peak first surfaced earlier this year and was thought to be coming in late 2010." | more

Could change the face of wastewater treatment

Oregon State University engineers have applied new coatings on anodes of microbial electrochemical cells, which heightens their electricity production by 20 times, and is another step closer to producing electricity from sewage. 

In business, just like in real life, companies can be a victim of expectations. Fortunately for chipmaker Intel it handily beat the estimates of Wall Street's top researchers, reporting its best quarter ever. On Tuesday night after the closing bell Intel reported a Q2 2010 revenue of $10.8B USD, handily topping the $10.25B USD predicted by analysts.

We reported early last month that a public beta of Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) was on the way. Microsoft has stuck to that timetable and the public beta can now be downloaded.

OEMs given an an early update on Windows 7's successor

Not wanting to rest on the laurels of Windows 7, the best-selling operating system in its storied history, Microsoft is racing to develop its successor, code-named Windows 8. That upcoming product is rumored to be slotted for a late 2011 launch.

The ongoing leak of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico has reached epic proportions and shows no signs of stopping. All attempts to stop the leak of crude oil into the Gulf have failed thus far leaving the only option for the time being to clean the oil from the waters of the Gulf as quickly as possible.

Actor Kevin Costner came forward not long ago with a machine that his company -- Ocean Therapy Solutions (OTS) - has developed with bold claims that the machine could clean up the massive and ever increasing oil spill floating in the Gulf. The machine is a high-tech centrifuge that is offered in several different sizes with the largest of the machines capable of cleaning crude oil from water at a rate of hundreds of gallons per minute. The centrifuge promises to leave the water 99% clean of crude oil.

It goes without saying that this product is not safe for children

With recent advances in lasers, many have fantasized about creating "real life lightsabers". Many military commanders have fantasized about creating portable blasters along the lines of those portrayed in fictional workers like Star Trek and Star Wars. The Spyder III Pro Arctic laser from WickedLasers can be seen perhaps as the culmination of those efforts and perhaps the first consumer laser weapon.