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Is the end of the Intel-AMD duopoly nigh? Via Technologies is hoping this may be the case when it announces the "Isaiah" processor later this month.

Via Isaiah processor is targeted at mainstream notebooks and desktops; top: Isaiah processor; bottom: $398 15-inch Everex gBook

(Credit: Via, Wal-Mart)

The company's first high-performance x86 chip will be targeted at the mainstream PC market--another first for the Taipei-based chip supplier. Via processors have historically appeared in ultrasmall mobile devices (such as the OQO), embedded computers, or thin-client computers.

"It puts us into the mainstream market for the first time," said Richard Brown, vice president, corporate marketing at Via.

Isaiah, like Via processors before it, will still hew to the lower-power line, however. Isaiah (a code name) will consume no more than 3.5 watts, while Intel's Atom processor ranges from 0.6 to 2.5 watts. Atom, however, uses a more simple "in-order execution" design compared to Isaiah's Superscalar, out-of-order design capable of decoding three full x86 instructions per clock cycle of the processor.

Because of this design, Isaiah may deliver higher performance than Atom, though independent benchmarking will be the final judge.

Via subsidiary Centaur Technology designed the processor. "Centaur has been working on this for the last three years. It's between two and four times the performance of C7 (Via's current processor). So, it' very, very close to (Intel's) Core 2. Core 2 solo (single core)," Brown said.

The Via C7 processor is currently being ... Read more

Google Translate just got more useful for a Prague citizen visiting India.

The online translation function now can understand 10 more languages: Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Hindi, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, and Swedish. That brings the total to 23 languages, Google said in a blog posting Thursday.

In addition, Google added a language-detection feature that can guess the source language a user is trying to translate. It's more effective with longer amounts of text, Google said.

Detect Language means you only have to click the language you want to translate text into.

A major Yahoo investor weighed in late Wednesday with support for Carl Icahn's initiative to unseat Yahoo's board, signaling yet another salvo to be fired in the coming weeks as the proxy fight between Icahn and Yahoo heats up.

Paulson & Co., which owns 50 million Yahoo shares as of March 31, issued a statement saying it was disappointed that Yahoo failed to reach an agreement with Microsoft and continues to support the idea of a tie-up between the two companies to create a stronger rival against Google.

"We intend to support the Icahn slate, but sincerely hope that Yahoo will negotiate an agreement with Microsoft, thereby making a proxy fight unnecessary," Paulson & Co. said in a statement.

The hedge fund is one of the first of what may eventually become a string of Yahoo investors, to declare their support or opposition to Icahn's proxy slate in the coming weeks leading up to Yahoo's July 3 annual shareholders meeting.

Earlier in the day, Icahn announced the formation of a 10-member proxy slate to run against Yahoo's current board at the meeting. Icahn stated he hopes the formation of the slate may prompt Yahoo to re-enter buyout talks with Microsoft, which withdrew its $33-a-share bid on May 3.

Another hedge fund manager, Eric Jackson of Ironfire Capital, is taking a cautious view regarding Icahn's slate of 10.

"I'm inclined to vote for him, given my disappointment in how this current board has steered ... Read more

People attending the Last HOPE hacker conference in New York City this July will be getting more than just an agenda and badge when they check in.

(Credit: The Last Hope)

Conference attendees can then participate in games created around the tracking system, such as by trying to protect their privacy, finding vulnerabilities in the system, and employing data mining techniques to learn more about other participants.

Large monitors at the show will display in real-time the activities of the badge carriers in what the conference organizers say will be the first time the general public "will be able to participate in the transparent operation of a major RFID tracking program."

This demonstration will be open to the public at The Last HOPE (Hackers On Planet Earth) conference from July 18 to 20 at the Hotel Pennsylvania in New York City.

WASHINGTON--Federal regulators may be probing Comcast's throttling of BitTorrent filesharing traffic, but can they actually take action, if they choose, against the company or any other broadband provider on Net neutrality grounds?

The answer may not be simple. And if the FCC and other regulators are really powerless--in other words, if they need Congress to enact new laws--it means that any threats to take action against Comcast, based on alleged violations of the law today, are merely empty ones.

That's the issue that former staffers and officials from the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission took up at an event here on Thursday.

Both the FCC and the FTC have said in the past that they believe they already have ample authority to go after allegations of network operators blocking, degrading, or prioritizing Internet content. They've used that stance to argue against the need for new regulations sought by Google, Amazon.com, and a wide swath of consumer advocacy groups.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, for his part, recently reasserted the position, in the context of the Comcast investigation, that his agency can act against complaints of unreasonable network management. Comcast, however, has publicly disagreed, prompting some to speculate that the issue might ultimately get fought out in court--perhaps even the same court that unceremoniously told the FCC it did not have the authority to impose the so-called broadcast flag.

Panelists speaking at Thursday's event also cast doubts on how much power the FCC really has. ... Read more

Cox is the latest Internet service provider to have been found blocking peer-to-peer traffic on its network.

The Max Planck Institute for Software Systems released a survey Thursday showing that 54 percent of Cox subscribers reported having their connections blocked when they tried to share files over the Internet. Comcast has been castigated for a similar practice, but apparently it wasn't the only company engaging in such action, according to the Associated Press.

The blocked connections occurred when Cox subscribers used BitTorrent to download or upload files, according to the results of the survey. Cox has acknowledged a practice called "protocol filtering," but says that's not the equivalent of creating different standards for handling content traveling across its networks.

The survey results will provide another log for the fire started by Net neutrality activists pushing for rules that would prohibit ISPs from enacting different standards for different types of content. The AP said the Federal Communications Commission would look into the matter "expeditiously."

Google passed Yahoo in its share of monthly visitors in the United States for the first time this April, buoyed by growth in search and YouTube videos, according to ComScore statistics released Thursday.

However, underscoring the variability of this sort of measurement, which extrapolates overall data from the usage of a "panel" of users at home and work, ComScore rival Nielsen Online released its own data as well with some different results. Although it also showed Google as No. 1 in terms of unique users, it said Google passed Yahoo way back in January 2007.

ComScore said Google sites had 141.1 million unique visitors in April, a tad ahead of Yahoo's 140.6 million. Microsoft was in third at 121.2 million, with AOL at 111.3 million.

Nielsen's data showed Google at 128.2 million, Microsoft at 122.1 million, and Yahoo at 117.1 million.

Nielsen also provides information on time spent at the sites, though. There, Yahoo leads its rivals with 3 hours and 9 minutes per month, but AOL owner Time Warner leads Yahoo at 3 hours 40 minutes per month.

Microsoft's usage was 2 hours and 17 minutes, and Google was 1 hour and 47 minutes, Nielsen said.

Safari users are at risk of littering their desktops with malicious software because the browser does not ask for user permission when downloading files in the way that Firefox and Internet Explorer do, a security researcher said Thursday.

In a blog post titled "Safari Carpet Bomb," Nitesh Dhanjani describes how a rogue Web site can easily download resources to the Windows desktop or downloads directory on the Mac.

"Apple does not feel this is an issue they want to tackle at this time," he writes.

An Apple representative told Dhanjani that an "enhancement request" for an "Ask me before downloading anything" preference would be filed with the Safari team. "Please note that we are not treating this as a security issue, but a further measure to raise the bar against unwanted downloads," the Apple representative wrote in an e-mail to Dhanjani.

That issue, coupled with the fact that Safari doesn't warn users when a local resource, such as an HTML file, attempts to invoke client-side scripting, creates a risky situation for most browser users, Dhanjani said in an interview. "People are starting to expect more from browsers today," he said.

The Apple representative told him that the company has been "investigating the potential for a 'safe' mode for local HTML."

Meanwhile, Apple does plan to fix a high-risk security vulnerability that Dhanjani discovered. It could be used to remotely steal local files from a user's file system.

An Apple spokesman did not return a phone call and e-mail ... Read more

Google confirmed today it's gathering 3D data along with the photographs it takes for its online Street View service, a potential boon for those of us who fantasize about flying like Superman through urban landscapes, at least virtually.

"The imaging technology includes lasers that collect 3D geometry data," the company said Thursday in a statement. However, for now at least, the 3D information is just experimental, Google said.

Microsoft's Virtual Earth gives a 3D view of thee world.

(Credit: Microsoft)

Savvy observers, looking at Flickr pictures of Google Street View cars gathering images in Milan, had identified the 3D laser scanners in April. At the time, Google didn't comment at the time, but now has confirmed the scanners as well as the expansion of Google Street View to Europe.

Laser scanners can be used to produce detailed 3D models of buildings or other features, and overlaying photographic imagery can give those models a more lifelike appearance.

Microsoft has been working to add more sophisticated 3D models to its Virtual Earth site, also using automated technology. Microsoft's software lets people cruise above Las Vegas and a few other cities with detailed 3D maps.

The move probably makes sense, given that it's more economical to gather the most information possible while driving around various cities. And of course Google has a lot of room to store 3D data and servers to process it into something useful that combines the 3D scan data with the photographed view. ... Read more

Amazon has invested an undisclosed amount in Animoto, a site that enables people to easily create videos from their photos and music.

(Credit: Animoto)

Animoto.com, which launched in August, has more than 160,000 registered users, with 7.5 percent of them paying a $30 annual fee to be able to create longer videos. The company also has a Facebook application, which launched in March and has more than 750,000 users.

The Amazon funding doesn't exactly come as a surprise given the links the companies have. Animoto uses Amazon's Web Services and was a featured presenter at an Amazon event in September advertising its services.

And last month, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos talked about Animoto during a presentation at Y Combinator's Startup School at Stanford University.

Animoto says it will use the money to hire people in its New York City and San Francisco offices, establish a video creation platform, develop new products and continue innovating in the area of "cinematic artificial intelligence."

"We also plan to upgrade our fridge from PBR to Coors Light," the company said on its blog. "Life is good."

Yes, it is.