GMail 2.0 Coming

Google's been touting GMail 2.0, which will be a rewritten and optimized version of the original GMail. The new version seeks to raise "user happiness" to 70 percent, and will attempt to do so with increased speed and a better contact management scheme. No date's been set for the rollout just yet.

Three's a Crowd

It remains to be seen how AMD's upcoming tri-core processors will fare, but you can already catch a glimpse of tri-SLI. Using three 8800GTX videocards, Tom's Hardware Taiwan ran a series of benchmarks, showing performance gains of anywhere from one to nearly three times better than a single videocard. Looks like you'll need a high resolution to really take advantage of three videocards, and a fluency in Chinese to read the text.

Bioware and LucasArts Partnering Up?

Maybe. Rumors surfaced that the two are working on an MMORPG of Star Wars: Knights o the Old Republic. Neither one has been willing to comment on the rumored collaboration, but apparently did confirm they're working together on "a ground-breaking interactive entertainment product." Further fueling speculation, the two have also co-branded a website, www.LucasArtsBioWare.com.

Folding Fanatics Rejoice

Stanford's Folding at Home project, which uses the power of distributed computing to fold proteins in order to study and develop cures for diseases, is to be recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most power distributed computing network in the world. Sony's quick to point out that 670,000 participants are doing so with their PS3. And this editor's quick to congratulate Maximum PC's own band of Folders (team 11108), even the mischievious Team Monkey.

Make Me $1 Billion and You're Hired

That's the message Cisco is sending as part of their I-Prize competition. If you and your team can present an IP-based innovation that earns Cisco $1 billion in a five to seven year period, then Cisco will put you to work and give you up to $10 million in funding. Existing Cisco employees aren't eligible, sending a strong message to keep their $1 billion ideas to themselves.

Potter Author Pooh-Poohs Website

J.K. Rowling, author of the popular Harry Potter series, is suing a small Michigan publisher over its plans to adapt a popular web site dedicated to the little wizard into book form. Warner Bros. got in the action too, claiming that the 400-page 'Harry Potter Lexicon, planned for a November 28 release, will infringe on Rowling's intellectual property rights. Rowlings has approved of the fan site in the past, but is adamant against letting publish the site's contents in print form.

_______________________________________ 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!