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Tid-bits
11/21 - AMD does not see the need for a high end server platform like Itanium. The microprocessor company intends to scale its Opteron architecture upwards. A recent demo of a 32-way Opteron is "further proof that a chip like Intel's Itanium ... is not needed".
Color laser printer sales are up at both Hewlett Packard and Dell. At HP shipments increased "41% year-over-year". At Dell laser shipments doubled, "led by growth in color laser printers".
The point of NAND flash is that it retains its memory even after being turned off, unlike computer memory, which forces us to reboot everytime we power up a machine. Consumers, however, can turn off the iPod nano, and the songs will still be there when they turn it back on. "NAND flash chips are ideal storage devices for portable electronic products because of their ability to retain data without power" (Reuters).
Microsoft has released a technical beta of Office 12, the successor to Office 2003. The beta is designed to solicit technical feedback from testers and is a prelude to the release of a public beta in the spring of 2006. "Customers can register to be notified of" the public beta here.