Nokia updates Linux tablet

Nokia has updated its Linux PDA, the 770, reports The Register. Available for free download, OS 2006 edition introduces version 2.0 of Nokia`s Linux platform, Maemo.

However, according to Nokia, the update breaks backward compatibility. "Installed applications designed for OS 2005 will not be compatible with OS 2006 edition and will not be restored even from backup," warns the company.

Included are system level performance improvements, support for VOIP clients and Google Talk. OS 2006 can be downloaded from Nokia USA or Nokia Maemo, and requires a Windows PC with Net 2.0 framework installed.

A judge last week threw out the majority of claims brought against IBM by the SCO Group in its $5 billion intellectual property rights case, Sci-Tech Today reports.

The US magistrate has dismissed 182 of SCO`s 294 claims in a ruling that criticised the company for failing to comply with repeated requests to provide IBM and the court with specific details about which lines of code were stolen.

The lawsuit, filed in 2003 and scheduled to go to trial next year, alleges IBM "misappropriated confidential and proprietary information" and used pilfered Unix code to help build Linux.

The release of Microsoft`s new memory-hungry operating system, Vista, is being tipped to boost the share price of major dynamic random access memory (DRAM) manufacturers by as much as 50%, reports IT Wire.

DRAM manufacturers are already seeing increased demand for their products and are expecting a further leap as the demands of Vista filter down into sales of new PCs and memory upgrades, according to financial weekly Barron`s.

As pricing improves throughout the DRAM market, stocks of some manufacturers could climb by 30% to 50%, Barron`s predicts.

Online search is not a "solved problem", a senior executive for Net giant Google has told BBC News. Douglas Merrill, who looks after internal engineering, said 70% of the company`s activities remained focused on search.

Google is the world`s most popular search engine, but in recent years has expanded activities to include e-mail, instant messaging and online mapping.

Google`s search focus for the future includes better search for mobiles, personalised search, language translation, accessing offline information and defeating Web spam, Merrill said.