MS details Vista requirements

Microsoft has finally given PC owners detailed information on its minimum hardware requirements for Windows Vista to help them prepare for the new version of the Windows operating system, now expected in January 2007.

eWeek says the company has unveiled its Windows Vista Get Ready Web site. It includes a set of minimum PC hardware guidelines for Vista Capable PCs, which call for at least an 800MHz processor, 512MB of RAM and a DirectX 9-capable graphics processor.

The minimum hardware specs for the OS show that Vista will run on just about any PC sold over the last few years. However, its most advanced features - including the three-dimensional Aero user interface - will require a 1GHz processor, 1GB of RAM and 128MB of dedicated graphics memory, along with a fairly recent graphics processor, at least a 40GB hard drive or 15GB of free space and an internal or external DVD-ROM drive.

Dell is to end its long-standing policy of using Intel processors exclusively by agreeing to use Advanced Micro Devices` Opteron chip in multiprocessor servers by the end of the year, reports News.Com.

According to the report, the announcement ends years of mounting speculation about whether Dell would end its exclusive relationship with Intel as AMD established a performance lead in server benchmarks over Intel`s Xeon processors.

Although this affects only four-way servers, analysts say it`s a key win for AMD, which has had a long string of successes over its rival.

Motorola and local telecoms regulators are investigating the explosion of five mobile phones in Brazil in the past two months, reports the The Register.

The latest incident in Formosa left a 34-year-old woman in need of surgery on her thighs and arms after a phone exploded in her lap while she was driving.

All the incidents have involved Motorola phones, but the handset maker is blaming the use of low-quality batteries supplied by third parties, as the probable cause of the explosions. Motorola is running a campaign in Brazil advising users not to buy accessories that are not original.

Microsoft has declared Xbox Live to be the world`s largest platform for high-definition on-demand content with over 1.5 million gamers connecting to the service in the past week to download over 600TB of data.

Games Industry says over 24 million pieces of content - ranging from game demos and videos to movie trailers, music videos and add-on content for popular games - have now been downloaded from the Xbox Live Marketplace service.

Five million of those downloads took place in the past week, when Microsoft`s "E3: Bringing It Home" campaign allowed gamers around the world to access content which had been revealed for the first time at E3, including videos and demos of upcoming titles.