Anti-spam law blows hot and cold

A new US law aimed at cutting down spam levels was met with mixed responses at a congressional hearing last week, iafrica.com reports. America Online VP Ted Leonsis told the committee that spam had been reduced by nearly 30% over the past year, thanks in part to CAN-SPAM.

But Consumers Union president James Guest said the spam problem could actually be getting worse. "While it is still early to have definitive results...consumers appear to be receiving even more spam than ever," and added that the "ingenuity of spammers" would make it nearly impossible to ever eradicate them completely.

Two of the dominant companies in the memory chip market are significantly cutting prices to stamp out emerging competition and boost product demand.

According to Reuters, Samsung Electronics and Toshiba have more than halved the prices for some flash memory chips - which do not need power to retain their data - in an aggressive move to increase market share in the most profitable area in the memory industry.

But industry experts say the price cuts are aimed at stamping out market newcomers such as Infineon Technologies AG, Hynix Semiconductor and Micron Technology, and have slated the partnership between the two giants as an "oligopoly".

International PC sales have increased nearly 14% this year, reports informationweek.com, but the lack of a killer application will see sales drop by 2006.

According to information from research group Gartner, replacement sales have been the main driver in this year`s sales, with around 100 million PCs expected to be replaced. While this spells good news for now, with nothing to drive growth beyond the next replacement recycle, there will likely be lean times in the coming years, says Gartner analyst George Schiffler.

Yahoo has revamped its online messaging product, which will be officially relaunched today, reports Reuters.

Senior director for messaging products Lisa Mann says Yahoo Messenger will offer users a number of new features, including animated "audibles" that say hello or flirt, and "avatars" that represent users and can be customised with different hairstyles, clothes or ethnicities. The service will also make it easier to play games, and share information obtained from Web searches, adds Mann.

Yahoo`s product is currently ranked second behind AOL`s instant messaging service.