For the record 21 July

21-07-2006

by Sylvia Leatham

IBM enters fight against cancer | European tech deals exceed USD220 billion

IBM has announced a new project aimed at unleashing the power of supercomputer technology in the battle against cancer. The tech giant is working on the 'Help Defeat Cancer' initiative with researchers at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and the Cancer Institute of New Jersey. The project will make use of the enormous computational power offered by the World Community Grid, the world's largest humanitarian grid hosting a virtual supercomputer. Through the grid, anyone can donate idle and unused time from their computer to be used in the project. For more information see www.worldcommunitygrid.org.

The value of technology mergers and acquisitions in Europe exceeded USD220 billion in the first half of 2006, reports Silicon.com, quoting a tracker report from technology investment bank Regent Associates. One of the key drivers behind the rise in deals -- the highest ever for the sector -- is the increase in the number of multi-billion dollar deals within the telecoms and media sectors, with six acquisitions of over USD10 billion during the six-month period.

PC maker Dell has issued a profit warning in advance of its second quarter financial results on due for release 17 August. The company said that revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2007 will come in at around USD14 billion, with earnings per share of around USD0.21 to USD0.23. These figures are significantly lower than analysts' expectations of USD14.2 billion in revenue and USD0.32 in earnings per share.

US computer security firm iDefense has discovered a banner advert on popular social networking site MySpace which can download malware through a bug in Microsoft Internet Explorer, according to media reports. More than 1 million MySpace users could have been caught out by the spyware, which bombards users with pop-up adverts and monitors MySpace subscribers' internet browsing habits.

The media arm of search engine Yahoo released its first music download without copyright protection on Friday. 'A Public Affair' by Jessica Simpson does not have any digital rights management (DRM) restrictions, often found on tracks from other sites. This means the track will be compatible with any MP3 player, including the Apple iPod. Major record labels have long argued that DRM is necessary to prevent music piracy.