Intel raises sales forecast

In what analysts see as a sign that demand for PCs is growing, Intel has unexpectedly raised its third quarter sales forecast. Intel says its processor business is performing better than expected. The semiconductor giant now says it expects sales of up to $7.8 billion, compared with its earlier forecast of up to $7.5 billion.

A patent lawsuit against Palm may resume after a US appeals court judge last week overturned a lower court ruling that handheld devices from Palm did not infringe on a patent held by E-Pass Technologies. The case stems from a February 2000 patent lawsuit filed by E-Pass Technologies against Palm. The lawsuit claimed that a patent held by E-Pass for small computing devices could have been infringed even though Palm devices are larger than credit card-sized. An earlier court ruling found no patent infringement.

The Washington Post online reports that the US Navy has cancelled 13 000 credit cards used for government expenses after discovering that hackers had downloaded card numbers and billing records. The card issuer, Citibank, said it had found no actual fraud related to the incident yet. To reduce the chance of any unauthorised charges being made, the Navy is also beginning a gradual replacement of 9 000 other cards that do not appear to have been compromised.

Italian news agency Ansa reports that a policeman in Rome rushed to the virtual rescue of a woman committing suicide online, gleaning enough personal details to alert emergency services and save her life. The 41-year-old woman announced in an Internet chat-room that she was going to kill herself and then began swallowing tablets, much to the horror of fellow chatters, who could see the suicide attempt unfolding via Webcam. The policeman, Massimo Turbacci, kept talking to her, coaxing out her mobile telephone number, which allowed authorities to track down her home address. An ambulance raced to the house and took her to hospital where she is now in a stable condition.