MIT startup unveils 64-core processor

[Ars Technica] The basic tile + processor/cache + router + mesh network idea was pioneered by Dr. Agarwal and MIT's RAW project about a decade ago, and now those same ideas also form the basis for TILE64. TILE64 consists of a mesh network of 64 tiles, with each tile containing a general-purpose processor core and a non-blocking router. The short-pipeline, in-order, three-issue cores implement a MIPS-derived VLIW ISA with a few important and peculiar features.

Skype apologizes

[News.com] According to a statement released by Skype on Monday, the outage--which affected a significant portion of Skype's users--came about Thursday with "a massive restart of our users' computers across the globe within a very short time frame." The restart stemmed from a routine Windows update. "This caused a flood of log-in requests which, combined with the lack of peer-to-peer network resources, prompted a chain reaction that had a critical impact," Skype's statement said.

MSFT, CSCO say they'll work together as they compete

[Reuters] The top executives of Cisco Systems Inc. and Microsoft Corp. said on Monday that they would ensure their products work together, seeking to prevent customers from putting off buying decisions.

Facebook a $5b waste of time - in Australia

[Sydney Morning Herald] Richard Cullen of SurfControl, an internet filtering company, estimates the site may be costing Australian businesses $5 billion a year. "Our analysis shows that Facebook is the new, and costly, time-waster," he said.

Nokia gets approval for US 3G handset

[Wireless Info] This version is a quad-band GSM phone which includes support for the US 3G bands. This means that it would work with the both the voice and 3G data network of AT&T, but not T-Mobile's 3G network.

Paramount dumps Blu-Ray

[USA Today] Just when it seemed that the Blu-ray Disc had gained the upper hand in the high-definition video disc battle, HD DVD has recruited two studios, Paramount and DreamWorks.

American sues GOOG over ad words

[NewsFactor] After several years of trademark lawsuits against AdWords, the jury is still out on whether Google operates safely within trademark law or not, Santa Clara University law school professor Eric Goldman said. "The courts that have confronted this issue have split right down the middle," he said. "That tells you it's a really hard legal question," Goldman said. American was well aware that the "data is split" and decided to bring the suit anyway, Goldman noted.

Jive gets $15m of venture cap

[News.com] Its Clearspace software is meant to be a lightweight alternative to more structured document management applications like Microsoft's SharePoint. With Clearspace, end users can start wikis, write blogs and share documents without significant upfront training.