eBay urged to drop racist collectibles

Activists want Internet auction giant eBay to stop listing items they say are racially offensive and demeaning to blacks. eBay confirmed that the auctioneers would remove listings using words in ways that are "abusive, offensive, degrading or ... disparaging". But it will not strike listings that use such words to describe items. For example, some book or album titles use a racial slur in their titles (and are referred to as such in listings).

In May 2001, eBay began banning the sale of artefacts from Nazi Germany, the Ku Klux Klan and notorious criminals, in hopes of avoiding legal problems in other countries. More recently, it deleted listings for items billed as debris from the space shuttle Columbia.

David Pilgrim, curator of the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, estimates he has bought about 1 000 racist collectibles on eBay for the museum. The items range from black baseball league jerseys to postcards depicting lynchings that can sell for up to $1 000. "I hate the fact that people buy them," said Pilgrim, who is black. But "people have the right to sell". [AP]

American Power Conversion (APC) has voluntarily recalled two models, totalling 2.1 million devices, in its Back-UPS CS uninterruptible power supply (UPS) line, due to potential safety issues. The company says the products could overheat and present a fire hazard.

The company has received eight reports of overheating and melting of outer casings. Three incidents resulted in minor property damage, but no injuries have been reported. None of the instances were in SA.

The recall affects the Back-UPS CS 350 and CS 500, in both the 120-volt and 230-volt models. To learn more about the recall action, users should call 0861 272 877 or (011) 465-2583, or visit www.apcc.com.

Intel has developed a "patchwork quilt" manufacturing process, merging communications and computing technologies that it will introduce later this year, executives say, giving credence to the company`s convergence mantra.

High-speed communications processors have traditionally favoured specialised manufacturing processes, such as silicon germanium or gallium arsenide, which executives have shunned, calling the technology too complex and expensive. But germanium introduced into an otherwise all-silicon bipolar transistor was designed to facilitate the integration of CMOS circuits, while allowing operating frequencies to scale to new heights.

Now, Intel executives said they`ve succeeded in developing a process which allows "squares" of analogue, SiGe and CMOS circuitry to be laid out side by side for those applications which require all three processes, like a patchwork quilt. Intel executives say the efforts to design using both technologies have frustrated the pace of Moore`s Law in the communications space. "If you keep silicon germanium separate from silicon chips, you`re condemning the world to run at a different pace. Lots of people have silicon germanium. We`ve got silicon germanium on CMOS, and at 90 nanometers. That`s the breakthrough." [Extremetech.com]

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