News In Brief

Product Pipeline

Portable power: Are portable devices draining your batteries? Rayovac's fast-recharging AA and AAA batteries, due this fall, could be the solution. Rayovac says that the nickel metal hydride batteries, which use the company's In-Cell Charge Control (I-C3) technology, will recharge in just 15 minutes and will last four times longer than typical single-use alkaline batteries in certain applications. Four AA batteries will cost $15, and chargers will start at $30.

Move over, VCR: Sony's new RDG-GX7 DVD recorder, the company's first designed for the living room, can record both DVD-RW and DVD+RW discs, along with DVD-R (write-once) media. It's slated to ship in June and has a projected price of $800.

Did You Know?

Sick of spam: In the U.S., 80 percent of adults online find spam "very annoying," up from 49 percent two and a half years ago. Three-quarters support outlawing spam outright.

Source: The Harris Poll, conducted by Harris Interactive.

Tidbyte

Copy controls under control? The technology and recording industries announced in January plans to work together on a copyright protection scheme in an effort to avoid laws that neither industry would support. Participants such as Dell, Microsoft, and the RIAA affirmed their opposition to piracy and endorsed technology restrictions on copyrighted content. While the announcement represents progress, it isn't a watershed: The powerful MPAA was not involved.

Downloads

1. Pop-Up Stopper 2.9, 442KB. Eliminate irritating pop-up windows with this free program.
   
   
2. Atomic Clock Sync, 429KB. Keep your computer's clock accurate by syncing it with an atomic clock server.
   
   
3. FreeRAM XP 1.22, 517KB. Is your PC acting sluggish? Free up precious RAM with this tool.
   
   
4. IHapteSpam 3.1.191, 4360KB. Gain control over the ever-increasing flood of time-wasting e-mail appearing in your in-box.
   
   
5. DirectDVD 4.47, 10,700KB. Integrate your PC into your home entertainment system.
   
   

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