AMD receives euro aid

AMD has received 545 million euro ($683 million) in grants and allowances from Germany and Saxony toward the construction of its new manufacturing plant in Dresden, after the European Commission approved the aid package.

PC World reports that the new plant, to be called AMD Fab 36, will be the company`s first 300mm facility when volume production commences in 2006. Intel already has two 300mm plants in Oregon and one in New Mexico.

In a phone interview with Newsforge on Friday, Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) CEO Stu Cohen predicted that Microsoft would port some applications to run on Linux, as Linux continues to grow.

OSDL, according to the site, has become the world`s leading Linux advocacy group.

Reality TV personality Paris Hilton has sued a Panama-based Internet company for $30 million, claiming that it illegally distributed a tape of her having sex with an ex-boyfriend.

The suit cites violation of privacy, illegal business practices and infliction of emotional distress, reports Reuters.

"Digitally-enhanced" sounds good, but it has not been thought through properly, according to new legal developments. As more police departments abandon chemically processed film in favour of digital photography, the technology could be confounding for the justice system, reports eWeek.

Film images are subject to darkroom tricks, but because digital pictures are merely bits of data, manipulating them is much easier. "What you can do in a darkroom is 2% of what Photoshop is capable of doing," says Larry Meyer, former head of photography for State Farm Insurance.

Courts have consistently allowed digital photographs and enhancement techniques. But some observers say such methods should endure a more thorough examination, as have technologies such as DNA analysis.