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Intel announces tablet CPUs
Intel has set its sights on the burgeoning tablet computing market with its latest Moorestown chips, which the company believes will help break rival Arm’s dominant position in the handheld device market. The company on Wednesday announced Moorestown, a chip package based on the Atom Z6 series processors that will go into mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. The Moorestown chips include low-power single-core Atom processors that run between 1.2GHz and 1.9GHz, and graphics processor cores capable of displaying high-definition video.
Google updates Chrome browser
Google’s latest beta version of its Chrome browser packs a performance boost to the Javascript engine that the company describes as “hefty” and adds the ability to apply pre-defined browser preferences in multiple machines through users’ centralized Google accounts. Chrome’s latest version also adopts several HTML5 features, including geolocation APIs, application caching and drag-and-drop capabilities. The browser’s performance increased by 30 percent and 35 percent against the V8 and SunSpider benchmark tests, respectively, Google said.
Proposed U.S. privacy bill met with criticism
Two U.S. lawmakers have released a draft bill that would require companies that collect personal information from customers to disclose how they collect and share that information, but several privacy and consumer groups said the proposal would legalize current privacy violations online. The draft legislation, released Tuesday by Representatives Rick Boucher, a Virginia Democrat, and Cliff Stearns, a Florida Republican, would apply to information collected online and off. The bill would require companies collecting personal information to allow customers to opt out of the collection, and would require companies to get permission before sharing customers’ personal information with third parties.
Queue-jumping business returns
Clear is back. The troubled U.S. company that, for a fee, bumped travellers to the front of airport security lines has found a new owner and is now gearing up operations, according to its newly reactivated Web site. Launched five years ago by CourtTV founder Steven Brill as a way to speed up travel for frequent flyers, Clear abruptly declared bankruptcy in June 2009, leaving nearly 200,000 customers in the lurch. After spending nearly a year queuing up with the rest of us, and remaining in the dark about their data, Clear flyers now have some answers, but questions remain. Yes, the company plans to let them jump lines again — however, there are still uncertainties about how exactly Clear plans to resume business.