IBM claims chip breakthrough

IBM researchers have made a breakthrough in reducing the width of circuits on silicon chips to less than 30 billionths of a metre or 3 000 times thinner than a human hair and one-third of the size of the 90nm circuits currently dominating the chip industry, reports the US Financial Times.

The report says chipmakers are continually seeking to reduce the size of chip components and cram more transistors on to silicon because further miniaturisation can increase performance, reduce power consumption and create cost savings.

Until now, 32nm has been considered the limit for existing optical lithography techniques and Intel has led the way with its processors now switching over to 65nm. However, IBM`s researchers say they can now extend optical lithography using existing machines with new "immersion" techniques, where the lasers pass through liquid with a high refractive index. This creates a sharper focus and allows the imaging of smaller features.

Microsoft appears to have decided upon only six versions of its new Windows Vista operating system that do not include standalone Tablet and Media Center Editions, according to eWeek.

The report says Microsoft is readying six core Vista packages plus two additional releases customised for the European Union that won`t bundle in Windows Media Player, as ordered by European anti-trust regulators.

The six core Vista packages will be Windows Starter 2007, Windows Vista Enterprise, Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Ultimate and Windows Vista Business. However, the report says it is not clear whether the Starter version will be the same as the current Windows XP Starter Edition product, which is a cheaper, less fully featured version of Windows tailored for developing countries.

Google has admitted the latest Google Desktop Beta has a security vulnerability, which the Gartner research group warned businesses was an "unacceptable risk", reports News.Com.

Google Desktop 3 includes an option to let users search across multiple computers for files, which means the application automatically stores copies of files for up to a month on Google servers. Gartner says the transport of data outside the enterprise should represent an unacceptable security risk to many enterprises.

Google has confirmed data is temporarily transported outside of businesses when the Search Across Computers feature is used, and this represents as much of a security risk as e-mail does. However, Google says it won`t hold information unless the user or enterprise agrees to do so.

Security software maker F-Secure has identified the second piece of Mac OS X malware to emerge within a week, but says the worm poses a limited threat.

According to TechWorld, F-Secure describes the Inqtana.A worm as a Java-based "proof of concept" worm that exploits a vulnerability in Bluetooth on some Macs that haven`t been updated with Panther and Tiger security patches.

F-Secure says the chances of Mac users being affected by Inqtana.A are remote because it has an internal counter that prevents its operation after 24 February and Apple has patched the vulnerability in free system updates.

Sony has released an optical mouse that doubles up as a voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) handset, reports The Register.

Sony`s new VN-CX1 mouse rings and has LED next to the scrollwheel that flashes when there is an incoming VOIP call.

The mouse opens out to become a clamshell handset, with an earpiece at the top and microphone at the bottom. The scrollwheel works as a volume control when the mouse is in handset mode.