Microsoft to launch competitor for Blackberry

Microsoft is developing a software pack to provide similar e-mail capabilities to Research in Motion`s Blackberry device. This comes after introducing its push e-mail technology at the company`s annual Tech Ed.

The software maker says its Messaging and Security pack is based on wireless capabilities that will be later added to Exchange Server 2003 via Service Pack 2, reports CoolTechZone.

The company says Outlook information, including e-mail, calendar and contract lists would be integrated by a direct connection between Exchange and a Windows Mobile device. This would give users instant access to the information in central location without the need of third party retrieval software.

"One of the key components of the messaging and security feature pack is to enhance the Outlook mobile experience by pushing e-mail from Exchange to handhelds equipped with Windows 5.0," says Microsoft UK mobility manager Jason Langridge.

German electronics giant Siemens has finally sealed the fate of its mobile phone handset division, agreeing to pay Taiwanese consumer electronics group BenQ about 300 million euros to take over the loss-making business.

Siemens said BenQ was acquiring its entire mobile business in a deal to be completed by the end of September, reports AFP.

The deal effectively means that Siemens is paying BenQ to take its mobile phone business, which loses around 1.5 million euros a day, off its hands.

"With the partnership we have found a sustainable perspective for our mobile phone business," said Siemens chairman, Klauss Kleinfeld.

Apple has confirmed that it will use Intel processors in future Mac computers, softening the harsh line that divides Mac computers from Windows-based machines. The switch will make Macs, in theory, capable of running the Windows operating systems.

The first Macs with Intel processors will appear next year, with the switch to Intel mostly completed by the end of 2007. However, Apple did not say which specific Intel processor it would use, nor did it say which Mac model would be the first to run with Intel inside, reports PCWorld.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs told the company`s annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco that for the past five years, every release of Mac OS X has been designed to run with IBM`s PowerPC processors and Intel processors.

"Mac OS X has been leading a double life," said Jobs, while running his keynote address from a Mac running a 3.6 GHz Pentium 4.

Following in the footsteps of its Unix server competitors, Unisys is adding an option that lets customers buy servers with extra processing capacity that can be switched on in the future, CNET news reports.

The idea, capacity on demand, generally means a server ships with more processors than a customer pays for. If extra processors are needed later to accommodate an expanding workload, customers can pay to bring the new processors online.

The feature, called Real-Time Capacity, would permit customers to buy systems with as many as double the number of processors that they are paying for, said Mark Feverston, director of platforms for systems and technology.

"Customers can either switch new processors permanently or temporarily, such as when retailers grapple with holiday sales or schools with enrolment periods," he added.