Computer solves checkers

After 13 years of brute-force computer analysis examining all 500 billion possible board positions, researchers announced yesterday they had solved the centuries-old game of checkers, says Free New Mexican.

The results showed the perfect game cannot be won or lost, but will inevitably end in a draw, according to the research published in the online edition of the journal Science.

The proof demonstrates that even the most skilled player cannot count on executing a cunning move designed to win - he or she can only avoid making a mistake that leads to a loss.

Just days after the demise of SunRocket comes Ooma, an Internet telephone company attempting to bring down the price of long distance service to zero by relying on technology that is a cousin to that used by Napster and other file sharing services, reports New York Times.

Ooma carries calls over the Internet between cities, then uses the actual telephone lines of its users to complete calls. This means that, unlike normal Internet telephone services, Ooma users still need to maintain traditional telephone service, but need only pay for a local calling plan.

This function is performed by a device that connects between a user's broadband line and telephone.

Toshiba has recalled more Sony laptop batteries due to fire risk, rekindling concerns over the safety of Sony-made batteries, says Australia IT News.

The company is replacing a total 10 000 battery packs after three of its laptop PCs using battery cells made on 3 December 2005 caught fire in the last 10 months. No one was hurt in the incidents.

Only 5 100 units of the 10 000 packs are potentially defective, but Toshiba is recalling double the amount to make sure all the battery packs containing targeted battery cells are exchanged.

Last August, it was rumoured Silicon Knights was ditching Unreal Engine 3 for its long-awaited Xbox 360 game Too Human, because the frequently licensed game engine supposedly ran poorly on Microsoft's console, reports Gamespot.

Silicon Knights president Denis Dyack responded by saying rumours of the group "completely scrapping" the engine were false.

Despite Dyack's statement, those rumours appear to have been partially true, as revealed by Silicon Knights this week in a 54-page lawsuit it filed against Epic Games over Unreal Engine 3.