It's not exactly how devotees foresaw Linux reaching mass-market desktop PCs, but it could be a turning point nonetheless. Taiwanese giant Asus is to embed DeviceVM's Splashtop Linux on millions of mainstream motherboards.

Splashtop is the polar opposite of the philosophy that created Windows. Loading from cold in a claimed 10 seconds from a flash chip on the motherboard, it is designed to run a small suite of basic applications. These currently include a version of the Firefox browser, a Skype and instant messaging app, and even a photo viewer.

Marketed by Asus under the 'Express Gate' banner, the software will turn up on the new P5Q Deluxe, P5Q-WS, P5Q3 Deluxe, and P5Q-E series motherboards expected to appear this quarter. The company says it will produce a million per month once production has ramped up.

"In response to great user feedback, our plan is to proliferate Express Gate across our entire motherboard product portfolio, starting with over one million motherboards per month," Joe Hsieh of ASUS was quoted as saying. "Consumers want to turn their PCs on and off like any other appliance, and Express Gate has made that possible."

Anyone using an Express Gate PC is asked if they want to load the environment before the main OS loads, seconds after hitting the power button. This is the clever part of its design. It doesn't replace Windows outright, merely complements it.

The software originally debuted on Asus motherboards last October, but this is the first mass launch, and is rated as the most significant moment for the environment. The secret of Splashtop's super-fast loading is its tight integration with the BIOS, small footprint, and low power consumption - which could see it turn up in laptop computers. It also supports connectivity such as Wi-Fi if that is built into the motherboard, as it would be on laptops.

Splashtop is not the only such product on the market. A year ago, BIOS vendor Phoenix Technology launched HyperSpace, an equivalent that has yet to turn up on PCs in any numbers. Microsoft's view on the movement to embed cut-down operating systems is not known, but Phoenix did launch a pre-emptive strike against it to stop it blocking HyperSpace using restrictive Vista end-user license agreements (EULAs). Microsoft relented.

Asus itself is also an advocate of Linux, having pioneered the cut-down Linux laptop and PC phenomenon in the form of the famous Eee PC, whose sales have been rising.

The closure that everyone anticipated at the end of April, between One Laptop Per Child Project and Microsoft Corp., is now a known fact, as the two unveiled an agreement to make the Windows operating system available on low-cost XO laptops in emerging markets starting this June. We’re not talking about an exclusive deal here, as it has been rumored at some point, but about a “dual-boot” option OLPC President Nicholas Negroponte talked about less than a month ago.

Both Microsoft and OLPC promised to work with governments and nongovernmental organizations to ensure that the pilot program will be a success, and furthermore, they announced their intention to give users the possibility to run either Windows or Linux operating systems on their XO laptop.

Chief research and strategy officer at Microsoft Craig Mundie said in a prepared statement that by taking part in this project, Microsoft aims at supporting computing solutions for education by making technology relevant, accessible and affordable for students. This step is also part of Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential project, which sustains social and economic opportunities for people who can’t afford to enjoy the benefits of technology, Mundie continued.

Just last month, after the resignation of his no.2 Walter Bender, Nicholas Negroponte told the Associated Press that a closure with Microsoft is desired due to the fact that many governments are reluctant to any PC that doesn’t run Microsoft Windows.

The OLPC founder also said in April that they needed more efficiency in order to reach as many children as possible, adding that there is a possibility to eventually use Microsoft Windows XP as the only operating system. However, the agreement unveiled this Thursday confirmed no such thing, and moreover, many reject the idea, saying OLPC should have gone against Microsoft’s dominance on the market, instead of embracing it.

Microsoft has been working for over a year with several partners to develop customized drivers able to run Windows operating system on XO laptops, the company said, adding that Windows supports the laptop’s e-book reading mode, standard Wi-Fi networking, camera, writing pad and custom keys, as well as power-saving and other features.

BS Corp. agreed to buy online technology news and entertainment company CNet Networks Inc. for about $1.75 billion, expanding its access to the burgeoning Internet advertising market.

The New York-based owner of the CBS television network said Thursday it offered $11.50 per share for San Francisco-based CNet, whose board accepted it. The bid is a 45 percent premium above CNet's closing price of $7.95 on Wednesday.

CNet shares soared on the news. The transaction is subject to approval by CNet shareholders and regulators.

CBS said the deal will boost its online presence and allow it to tap the rapidly expanding market for online advertising. CNet's Web sites include News.com, TV.com, Mp3.com, MySimon and GameSpot.

The acquisition, expected to close in the third quarter, would make CBS one of the 10 most popular Internet companies in the U.S., with 54 million unique visitors a month and approximately 200 million uses worldwide, the New York company said.

The newest issue of Game Informer Magazine apparently has pictures of the drum kit destined to ship with the upcoming Guitar Hero IV. As previously rumored, the GH4 drums will add cymbal pads to the package to one-up (and make incompatible) the Rock Band drum kit.

From the looks of the scanned magazine page, the drums will in fact have just one more pad than the Rock Band drums, arrayed in three main drums and two cymbal pads in addition to a kick pedal. We'd call this something of a bummer, as we're not terribly keen on having two hard-to-store drum kits kicking around the house.

ATI's Radeon 4800 series will be introduced in three flavors - as 4850, 4870 and 4870 X2. The company will also offer a “4850 256MB” (as opposed to 512 MB in other versions), but this SKU is a so-called "option" and is geared towards to the OEM/ODM/SI crowd to support them with cheaper parts for the back-to-school period and beyond.

The Radeon 4850, code-named “Makedon,” is AMD's launch board. The name, by the way, is likely to refer to Terry "Catalyst" Makedon, group manager for software and video in the AMD (ATI) graphics division. Of course, there is a small chance that Alexander The Great (Alexandros Megas, Alexandar Makedonski) may have influenced the naming, but somehow we feel that Terry has won this time.

The 4850 board features 512 MB of GDDR3 memory and is expected to be available in volume at launch. We heard that card vendors will start printing their boxes next week, which means that the specifications are final at this time. According to our sources, the 4850 will come with single-slot cooling; CrossFireX is supported with up to four boards in a single system (if you have the appropriate board based on AMD 790FX, 790GX, Intel Skulltrail, X48) and each board will require a single 6-pin PCIe power connector.

AMD will follow up in July and launch the Radeon 4870 512 MB GDDR5 and the 4870 X2 1024 MB GDDR5 (R700). The Radeon 4870 chip is built onto a board codenamed “Trojan” (could be named after a condom brand or a horse; we pick the latter) and comes with a dual-slot cooler, following the tradition of earlier XX70 boards

Adobe Systems Inc. today rolled out a beta version of its Adobe Flash Player 10 (formerly called Astro) browser plug-in, which adds features to help designers and developers create special effects and cinematic Web experiences.

The new offering adds support for custom filters and effects created using Adobe's Pixel Bender tool kit, Adobe said. The Pixel Bender technology is used in the company's After Effects CS3 tool, which creates motion graphics and visual effects for film and broadcast.

"We're doing things that really change the game of what's possible on the Internet," said Tom Barclay, senior product marketing manager of Flash Player. "The community now has the ability to upgrade the capabilities of the player and create new types of effects and cinematic experiences that are not available with any other browser plug-in."

The beta version of the player also includes native 3-D transformation and animation capabilities, an extensible rich-text layout, and graphics processing unit hardware acceleration, he added.

VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms, today announced the VIA EPIA PX5000EG Pico-ITX board that features the extremely power efficient 500MHz VIA Eden ULV processor, offering embedded developers an uncompromisingly compact, highly integrated board.

Building on the success of the VIA EPIA PX10000 Pico-ITX board, which took the embedded industry by storm last year as the world's smallest mass production x86 board ever, the VIA EPIA PX5000EG adds the incredible heat and power efficiency of the 500MHz VIA Eden ULV processor with its maximum power draw of just one watt. System designers of embedded automation and industrial control devices can now take advantage of a full x86 system that fits neatly into the most extreme space constrained, heat sensitive environments.

"The introduction of the VIA EPIA PX5000EG elevates the VIA EPIA range of innovative embedded solutions to new heights of thermal and energy efficiency in an extremely miniaturized form factor," said Daniel Wu, Vice President, VIA Embedded Platform Division, VIA Technologies, Inc. "The VIA EPIA Pico-ITX form-factor continues to evolve, addressing the embedded industry's needs for greater efficiency and miniaturization."

Developed exclusively by VIA, the Pico-ITX form factor squeezes a full feature set into a mere 10cm x 7.2cm. A complete system in the palm of your hand, the VIA EPIA PX5000EG includes both LVDS/DVI and VGA support, integrated 5.1 channel audio, fast 100/10 Ethernet, both IDE and S-ATA drive support and up to six USB ports and a COM port.

WorldWide Telescope, created with Microsoft's high-performance Visual Experience Engine, enables seamless panning and zooming across the night sky blending terabytes of images, data, and stories from multiple sources over the Internet into a media-rich immersive experience.

WorldWide Telescope is a collaborative effort between Microsoft Research and a variety of academic and governmental agencies. Microsoft Research is making WorldWide Telescope available as a free resource to the astronomy and education community with the hope that it will inspire and empower people to explore and understand the universe as never before.

GeForce Release 175 WHQL
Version: 175.16
Release Date: 13.05.2008

* WHQL Certified for Windows Vista
* Supports GeForce 6, 7, 8, and 9 series GPUs including these newly released GPUs:
o GeForce 9800 GX2
o GeForce 9800 GTX
o GeForce 9600 GT
o GeForce 9600 GSO
o GeForce 8300
o GeForce 8200/ nForce 730a
o GeForce 8100/ nForce 720a
* Supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI™ technology on DirectX 9, DirectX 10, and OpenGL, including Quad SLI technology with GeForce 9800 GX2 and 3-way SLI technology with GeForce 9800 GTX.
* Supports Hybrid SLI technology to turbo-charge graphics performance and enjoy intelligent power management on the following motherboards:
o nForce 780a SLI
o nForce 750a SLI
o nForce 730a
o nForce 720a
o GeForce 8300
o GeForce 8200
o GeForce 8100
* Supports GeForce Boost, a Hybrid SLI Technology, on the following GPUs:
o GeForce 8500 GT
o GeForce 8400 GS
* Supports HybridPower, a Hybrid SLI Technology, on the following GPUs:
o GeForce 9800 GX2
o GeForce 9800 GTX
* Adds new PureVideo HD features for GeForce 9800 GX2, 9800 GTX, 9600 GT, and 9600 GSO:
o Dynamic Contrast Enhancement
o Dynamic Blue, Green & Skin Tone Enhancements
o Dual-Stream Decode Acceleration*
o Microsoft Vista Aero display mode compatibility for Blu-ray & HD DVD playback*
* Added the following pages to the NVIDIA Control Panel:
o Manage Custom Resolutions
o Adjust Television Color Settings
o Adjust Screen Size and Position
o Move CRT Position
* Improved performance on many DirectX 9, DirectX 10, and OpenGL applications.
* GPU overclocking and temperature monitoring is available by installing NVIDIA System Tools software.
* Numerous game and application compatibility fixes. Please read the release notes for more information on product support, features, driver fixes and known compatibility issues.

*Note: Users will require updated software from third-party movie players to experience the new Dual-Stream decode acceleration and Aero support for Blu-ray and HD DVD playback features.

At the top of the release, it states the 10-inch notebook will "feature the new Intel Processor," but it fails to explain what that processor might be. An Intel Atom processor is a safe bet; the chips are expected to be released this summer.

The only mention of pricing in the release states that MSI Wind configurations will start at less than $500 in early June. The MSI Wind is available, however, for preorder at Expansys, which lists a $560 price for a Linux-based model and a $605 price for a Windows model (and a ship date of June 24--decidedly late June). Expansys lists the processor as a 1.6GHz Intel processor. I'd hazard a guess that the Wind will use the 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 chip. Available colors for the models on Expansys are white, black, and pink.

The MSI Wind news release does reveal that there will be two configurations, one based on Novell Linux and another based on Windows XP Home. Both models will feature a 10-inch, LED-backlit screen with a 1024x600-pixel resolution, the Intel 945GMS chipset, and an 80GB hard drive. Common features also include three USB ports, a card reader, an integrated Webcam, and 802.11b/g Wi-Fi.

The Linux version serves up 512MB of RAM and a three-cell battery, which MSI estimates will run for 2.5 hours. The Windows version doubles the memory to 1GB and the battery to a six-cell unit, which it equates to 5.5 hours of running time. The Windows version also adds Bluetooth. With its smaller battery, the Linux-based MSI Wind weighs 2.3 pounds to the Windows version's 2.6-pound weight.

Asus offers the both versions of its Eee PC 900 at the same $549 price, but it supplies a larger hard drive in the Linux version--your bonus for skipping the fee for the Windows license. MSI is taking a different approach, outfitting the Windows version with better specifications and more features, which means the sub-$500 price it quotes will almost certainly apply to only the Linux model.

Perhaps the most interesting detail included in the release was how MSI arrived at the Wind moniker. Wind = Wi-Fi Network Device.

Called the Opteron HE (for High Efficiency), these x86 Quad Core server processors have an integrated memory controller and a 55-watt ACP thermal envelope instead of the standard 95-watt profile.

These HE processors are available in both the 2300 and 8300 series for two-, four-, and eight-way rack and blade servers. Processor prices as of April 28 are posted on AMD's site.

What makes rational comparison a little difficult is that AMD uses a different metric for measuring power consumption than its competitors -- and even different from itself not long ago, so a fair judgment of the Opteron HE's efficiency is not so cut-and-dry. The 55W ACP refers to "Average CPU Power," or how much energy it takes to run the CPU, and the 95W figure AMD is comparing it to refers to the Thermal Design Point (TDP) metric, which is how much energy it takes to cool the chip.

Bournemouth has become the first town in the UK to get super-fast internet connections - via the sewerage system.

More than 88,000 homes and businesses in the Dorset town will benefit from internet speeds up to 100Mbps under the scheme, considerably faster than consumer broadband speeds on the market.

Fibre firm H2O Networks Ltd is funding the £30m project.

It will lay its special cables through the sewerage system over the next six months.

H2O has been offering the underground network to businesses and universities around the UK for several years and plans to create a nationwide network for consumers over the next few years.

It is also cheaper and more environmentally-friendly to use the UK's 360,000 miles of sewers rather than dig up roads to deploy the fibre.

Elfed Thomas, CEO of H2O Networks, added: "This is just the start of bringing next generation connectivity to the UK."

He added: "Many households and broadband customers in the UK have insufficient connectivity bandwidths because they are attached to legacy networks deployed in the 20th Century that just can't cope with demand."

There are fears that the UK is falling behind the rest of the world when it comes to broadband speeds, with three operators in France offering speeds of between 50 and 100Mbps.

Faster broadband makes possible services such as on-demand high definition TV, quality DVD downloads in minutes, online video messaging, CCTV home surveillance and HD gaming.

Charter Communications is sending letters to its customers informing them of an "enhanced online experience" that involves Charter monitoring its users' searches and the websites they visit, and inserting targeted third-party ads based on their web activity.

Charter, which serves nearly six million customers, is requiring users who want to keep their activity private to submit their personal information to Charter via an unencrypted form and download a privacy cookie that must be downloaded again each time a user clears his web cache or uses a different browser.

Microsoft on Tuesday said that it is releasing Service Pack 1 for Office for Mac and outlined a future roadmap that brings back Visual Basic for Applications (VBA).

The software giant outlined the changes in a statement touting that Office 2008 for Mac is “selling faster than any previous version of Office for Mac in the past 19 years.”

According to the company Office 2008 for Mac SP1 includes:

* Better Excel compatibility for file exchanges between Windows and Mac and improved workbook printing;
* Entourage enhancements to Calendar and Exchange Server support;
* Improved formatting for Word and printing accuracy;
* PowerPoint improvements and the ability to use AppleScript to create custom scripts.

As for VBA, Microsoft said that it is bringing VBA-language support back to the next version of Office for Mac. Microsoft said:

“Sharing information with customers as early as possible continues to be a priority for the Mac BU to allow customers to plan for their software needs. Although the Mac BU increased support in Office 2008 with alternate scripting tools such as Automator and AppleScriptThe team recognizes that VBA-language support is important to a select group of customers who rely on sharing macros across platforms.”

In a rather unexpected move, Dell said in front of the Wall Street Journal that as of next month it will be dropping four models of its XPS performance line-up and most likely start to push performance PCs from Alienware.

Dell purchased Alienware back in 2006, and since then it hasn't been much around trying to help Alienware shine with its high-end gaming Aurora systems. This move is something new, and might try to fix this from now on. Alienware is also expected to bring out new redesigned systems based on new materials soon, according to the report. If you are subscribed to the WSJ, you can read the full story.

Hewlett-Packard said Tuesday it will acquire computer services firm EDS for $25 per share, or $13.9 billion, in a deal intended to boost HP's services revenue.

On Monday night, HP had confirmed that the two companies were in talks, following news reports earlier in the day.

The deal will create a computer services giant intended to rival IBM in the market for serving business customers.

HP said the deal, which has been unanimously approved by the HP and EDS boards of directors, will close in the second half of the year. HP expects that the addition of EDS will more than double HP's services revenue of $16.6 billion in fiscal 2007. At the end of 2007, HP and EDS had a collective services revenue of more than $38 billion and 210,000 employees, doing business in more than 80 countries, HP said.

On Monday, Nintendo launched in North America its own infrastructure for downloadable original games, called WiiWare.

Wii owners with Internet-enabled consoles will be able to download new games priced between 500 to 1500 Wii Points ($5 to $15). Nintendo advertises that WiiWare provides a platform for game developers that is relatively inexpensive, allowing for “original ideas in the most democratic environment in industry history.”

“WiiWare is to the video game industry what independent films are to Hollywood,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of sales and marketing. “WiiWare lets developers experiment with new ideas and experiences. Combined with our collection of classic Virtual Console games, Wii provides one-stop shopping for the greatest games of the past - and the future.”

Six WiiWare titles are presently available for download, including Final Fantasy Chronicles: My Life as a King, which challenges player to rebuild a kingdom as a young king. Other WiiWare launch titles, all of which are 1000 points or under, include LostWinds, Defend Your Castle, Pop, V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack and TV Show King.

Players may buy WiiWare games by browsing to the appropriate section in the Wii Shop Channel and spending Wii Points to download a specific title. Wii Points may be purchased directly from the Wii Shop through the use of a credit card, or they can be bought in the form of coded cards from retailers.

On Monday, Google introduced its take on the same phenomenon, Google Friend Connect.

Google puts two spins on this concept. First, its program is designed to allow very small Web sites to add some social networking features without sophisticated programming. All they have to do is copy a little code onto their Web pages.

Second, Google lets site owners link to a range of other sites, including, for various functions, AOL, Yahoo and Facebook.

“Google Friend Connect is like giving Webmasters a salt shaker full of ’social’ that they can sprinkle on their sites to add social capabilities,” David Glazer, a director of engineering at Google told a conference call of reporters Monday.

Like so much that Google does, the Friend Connect system is rather sketchy at this early stage, with a lot of key details yet to be determined. But it does seem to provide a few features that small Web sites may find appealing.

Friend Connect offers an easy way for sites to let users log in and identify themselves. Users can use their existing user names from AOL, Yahoo, Google and a list of other sites that use the emerging OpenID standard. If you don’t log in to a Google Connect site with a user name from one of its partners, you will be prompted to create a new Google account.

As a second step, users can then link to one or more social networks they participate in, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Hi5 and Google’s Orkut. They can also tap into the Google Talk instant message system, which isn’t a full-blown social network.