PC market slows

Growth in the worldwide PC market dipped below 10% in the second quarter of 2006, according to latest figures from IDC, says The Register.

Over 52 million units were shipped globally, representing growth in the quarter of 9.8%, which is 0.6% below expectations and slower than in recent quarters.

IDC still believes that despite the slower second quarter the second half of the year will see a return to double digit growth.

Researchers have developed a silicon-based chip that can produce laser breams, says NY Times.

Rather than using wires to send data between chips, it will now be possible to use laser light, removing the most significant bottleneck in computer design.

As a result, chip makers may be able to put the high-speed data communications industry on the same curve of increased processing speed and diminishing costs.

At least one high-level Sun executive is leaving the company after a shake-up also involving the Sun Grid, a service to let customers pay by the hour to use its computers, News.com reports.

Larry Singer, the senior VP and strategic insight officer, is leaving the company, and Stuart Wells, the executive VP for utility computing is losing his position leading the Sun Grid project.

Sun is revamping Sun Grid, which has attracted more hype than paying customers. Sun is moving the grid away from its incarnation as a stand-alone service and is becoming a facet of the operations of existing hardware and software business units.

According to MSNBC, Warner Music has agreed to make its library of music videos available to YouTube.

This is the first time an established record company has agreed to make its content library available to the user-generated media company.

Under the agreement, YouTube users will have full access to videos from Warner artists, and be permitted to incorporate material from those videos into their own clips.