Intel to shelve new chips

Reuters reports that Intel plans to shelve its next chips for desktop and server computers. An unnamed person within the company says the chips to be cancelled include Intel`s fourth-generation Pentium 4 chip, codenamed Tejas, and a new Xeon processor for low-end computers, codenamed Jayhawk.

The move is thought to represent a significant shift in the development plans of the world`s largest chipmaker. Intel has declined to comment on the report.

Apple Computer`s iTunes online music store broke its one-week sales record in its first week back in business, after the computer maker updated its music player software with new features, including the ability for users to publish playlists.

Reuters reports that the store sold 3.3 million songs on iTunes since its re-launch a week ago. The previous peak was 2.7 million songs.

EWeek reports that Microsoft has launched a new version of its MSN Messenger instant messaging client for Mac.

MSN Messenger for MacVersion 4.0 has additional integration into its new Office 2004 for Mac, a new feature for stopping unwanted messages and improvements to file sharing and alerting. The release follows a new version of MSN Messenger for Windows.

Canon and Nokia have been named among the most trusted brands in the Reader`s Digest European Trusted Brands Survey 2004. The survey is described as one of the broadest pan-European surveys of consumer attitudes towards brands. It assessed over 29 000 consumers` perceptions on brand quality, value for money, brand image and understanding of customer needs in various product categories.

Nigel Taylor, marketing manager for Canon`s consumer imaging products, says Canon was one of only four brands to be nominated as 'most trusted` in 10 or more countries.

Nokia was the most trusted mobile phone brand in all the countries surveyed. Among the most trusted European PC brands were IBM, Dell and Hewlett-Packard.

The popular 1980s computer game Pac-Man is to leave the virtual world this weekend, when a group of New York university students stage a real-life Pac-Man game in the streets of Greenwich Village.

The event is part of a project exploring how computer games work when transplanted into real-world settings. The game will involve a man in a yellow costume weaving through the streets collecting dots while being pursued by people dressed in ghost outfits whose aim is to stop him before he gathers all the dots.

The characters` movements will be controlled by five interactive telecommunications students, who will instruct them via cellphones from a room with a game map. They will use the map to update the latest position of the players and to see where to send them next.

Frank Lantz, the New York University professor who assigned the project, said his "big games" class is aimed at helping students think of new ways to design games in different spaces.