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Sony admits faulty laptops
Sony has said some of its Vaio laptops are equipped with faulty graphics chips from Nvidia. The graphics company has said this could cause some laptops to overheat and ultimately fail. The PC maker is offering free repairs and extended warranties for certain Vaio models made with faulty graphics chips made with faulty packaging and weak die material. Sony is added to a growing list of PC makers carrying faulty Nvidia chips. It includes Apple, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard. A user will know their laptop is affected if the laptop shows distorted video, duplicate images or a blank screen due to failure of the Nvidia chip. No refunds for the laptops are being offered by Sony.
Microsoft ordered to stop selling Word in U.S.
A judge on Tuesday ordered Microsoft to stop selling Microsoft Word products in their current form in the U.S. Technical work arounds and legal appeals make an actual halt of sales unlikely. The U.S. district court for the eastern district of Texas gave Microsoft 60 days to comply with the injunction, which prevents Microsoft from selling Word products that let people create custom XML documents. The ruling is related to a patent infringement suit filed by Toronto-based software company i4i. Microsoft didn’t reply to questions as to the effect the injunctions will have on it and its ability to sell Word in the U.S.
China looks to sell stake in Lenovo’s parent company
The Chinese government science institution wants to sell its share in Lenovo’s parent company, potentially putting more control of the company in the hands of private investors. The Chinese Academy of Sciences, which is a state-run institution that conducts national research projects, is asking 2.76 billion yen or $404 million for a piece of its stake in Legend Holdings. The sale would bring the stake in Legend down to 35 per cent from its current 65 per cent. The buyer must agree not to resell its stake, alter Legend’s strategy, or propose changes to the company’s executive base for five years.
Intel resolves SSD problem
Intel, on Tuesday, said it had continued shipping its latest consumer solid state drives after resolving a password bug that made the drives inoperable, making it impossible for users to access or retrieve data. The company had said it issued updated firmware for the Intel X25-M for the consumer SSDs that resolves the password bug.
