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Carbon nanotubes to stop PCs overheating?

By Warwick Ashford, ITWeb London correspondent
Johannesburg, 27 Feb 2004

Carbon nanotubes to stop PCs overheating?

Intel and nanotechnology provider Zyvex are investigating the possibility that carbon nanotubes can help dissipate heat inside PCs, which is becoming an increasing problem as chips get faster and PCs get smaller.

CNet says research revolves around incorporating carbon nanotubes into thermal grease that sits between a microprocessor and a heat sink, the heat absorption found in many PCs today.

Intel says the thermal grease takes heat off the CPU and delivers it to the heat sink more efficiently. The carbon nanotubes conduct heat extremely well and are small enough to be suspended in polymers or coatings.

Next-generation rewritable optical discs

The group of companies behind the DVD format has approved a next-generation rewritable optical disc that is the same size as existing DVDs but can hold more than four times the amount of data, says PC World.

The rewritable high-definition and high-density DVD format (HD-DVD) was approved during the DVD Forum meeting in Tokyo. The format specifies a standard size optical disc that can store up to 20GB of data on a single-sided disc compared to 4.7GB on existing DVDs.

Intel`s specs for efficient PC power

Intel has published a specification for improving the efficiency of a PC`s power supply.

ExtremeTech says version 2.0 of Intel`s 12-volt power supply document addresses the power supplies used in today`s PCs. The new specification indirectly acknowledges that many PCs don`t need to run at their full power for such menial tasks as writing e-mail, and that power can be saved as a result.

The report says the specification will help save 16 billion kilowatt hours per year, or enough power to run a medium-sized city.

Rival Advanced Micro Devices, meanwhile, has taken a different tack to reduce power, reducing the operating voltage as part of the technology it has built into its Athlon 64 CPUs.

Sentence for porn domains

A man has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for registering misleading domain names on the Internet that guided children searching for popular sites like Disneyland to pornography instead.

Associated Press reports that 56-year-old John Zuccarini sobbed and apologised before he was sentenced in federal court. Zuccarini pleaded guilty in December last year, admitting he capitalised on the tendency of youngsters to misspell, fooling them into finding sites that advertise pornography. Surfers were led to advertising sites that paid Zuccarini for each user who viewed them. The government said he made up to $1 million a year from the scheme.

IBM cancer claims dismissed

A California jury has unanimously dismissed claims that IBM endangered two of its former employees by knowingly exposing them to hazardous materials that eventually gave them cancer.

CNet says the verdict marks a significant victory for IBM and the computer industry. Plaintiffs Alida Hernandez and James Moore suffered debilitating cancers after working in IBM`s hard-drive making facilities. The two charged that Big Blue should have known and warned them of the dangers of chemical exposure that was routine in their jobs.

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