If you bought a Listan/Be Quiet! power supply that was made in December 2006 or later, you are supposedly eligible for a free upgrade to PCI Express 2. This means that before the ATI Radeon HD 2900 series is released, you can get the proper power connector. The new connectors will be compatible with the older 6-pin PCI Express power interface, thanks to a simple mechanism to remove the extra pins.

In short, look at the pretty picture, and expect a form to get one of these if you own a Listan/Be Quiet! power supply made on or after December 2006.

The Dell Plant a Tree for Me fund has just gotten a large benefactor: AMD. AMD is donating $1 for every employee they have, which just so happens to be 16,000 people. This means that Dell will have $16,000 worth of trees to plant. The Plant a Tree for Me fund is a fund-raiser that tries to negate the environmental impact of their computers. By donating two to six dollars with your desktop or laptop purchase, Dell will plant a tree that will properly negate the environmental impact of your new computer.

Microsoft today announced that it plans to expand its global reach (and presumably reduce piracy) by offing stripped down bundles of software including as Windows and Office for a mere $3 to people living in developing countries. Although in essence this is a non/low-profit project, Microsoft may be planning ahead by enabling poorer nations to grow using Windows instead of free alternatives such as Linux, a move which could expand its potential market for the future. The project, named Microsoft Unlimited Potential, would see the $3 software package (including Windows XP Starter Edition and Office 2007) being supplied to governments who could then distribute machines costing no more than $300, with students being Microsoft's main aim. This news comes after figures show that just 244 copies of Windows Vista have been sold in China, and should, alongside the One Laptop Per Child project, help poorer countries developed improved IT infrastructures.

As we all know, Mothers Day is rapidly approaching. Microsoft has decided to take this annual holiday, and add a fun-filled contest to it. Microsoft is offering flowers and an Xbox360 Elite to anyone who can write a 250-500 word essay explaining how awesome their mother is, and more importantly, how she affects the gaming community. The contest will close May 6th, 2007. Contest entries will be judged based on creativity, originality, appeal to Xbox.com readers, and how well it conveys the feelings you have toward your mother/female legal guardian. If your mother frequently has helped you through those levels you just can't seem to pass, leads World of Warcraft charges, or simply supports your addiction to video games, please write an ode to your mother here.

In 2002, when MIT decided to experiment with placing course contents on the Web for open access, the university's officials knew they were breaking new ground and had no idea how the effort would be received.

On Tuesday, school officials revealed plans to make available the university's entire 1,800-course curriculum by year's end. Currently, some 1.5 million online independent learners log on the MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) site every month and more than 120 universities around the world have inaugurated their own sites for independent learners. MIT has more than 1,500 course curriculums available online to date.

IBM Previews New Accessibility Tool for People With Low or No Vision to Access Multimedia Web Content

TOKYO & ARMONK, NY - 13 Mar 2007: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a new emerging technology that helps blind and visually impaired people experience streaming video and animation on the Internet. Designed at IBM's Tokyo Research Laboratory, the new multimedia browsing accessibility tool potentially opens a world of rich content to visually impaired people around the world, who number more than 161 million.

Microsoft has launched a new website designed to encourage more people to learn basic programming. The site offers free tutorials aimed to help people with no programming experience learn how to build websites and Windows applications in Visual Studio 2005 (the Express Editions are also free to download from Microsoft). Altogether there are 45 lessons which take between 20 and 40 minutes, along with 31 short videos accompanying the service. Users can chose between two main options: Windows Development and Web Development. By progressing through the tiers, users will start off learning the basics, before moving onto move advanced programming, including .Net development techniques. You can get started by visiting the Beginner Developer Learning Center.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb. 28, 2007 - Members of a special United Nations group met today with Silicon Valley leaders to explore how the technology industry, government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can come together to bolster development around the world.

Intel Corporation and the U.N.'s Global Alliance for Information and Communications Technology and Development (U.N. GAID) jointly organized the summit. Intel Chairman Craig Barrett, who also chairs the U.N. GAID, said the meeting provided a critical platform for sharing ideas and forging partnerships among prominent members of government, the international development community and Silicon Valley's businesses, academia and the venture capital industry.

NVIDIA Corporation, the worldwide leader in programmable graphics processor technologies, today announced that the National Academy of Television Arts and Science has recognized the Company's innovation in graphics processor development with a Technology and Engineering Emmy Award.

Today, the Windows Vista operating system has been selected by the editors at CNET as a winner of the "Best of CES 2007" award in the computers and hardware category at the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Windows Vista, scheduled to be broadly available on Jan. 30, 2007, was honored for enhancements and innovations that provide users with an experience that is easier, safer, more entertaining and better connected, at home or on the go.

Sony and Nintendo both win the best console controller war at CES 2007. Nintendo was also announced as having won the Peripheral Development and Technoogical Impact of Video Game Controllers. You can read a full list of who won what Emmy's at CES 2007 here.

While a lot of people would think Nintendo should win an Emmy for their controller, the people at the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences decided otherwise. The Sony PS3 controller won the Technology and Engineering Emmy Award at CES 2007, while Nintendo didn't even get an honorable mention. Sony's XBR interface is also being nominated for "Outstanding Innovation and Achievement in Advanced Media Technology for the Best Use of Personal Media Display and Presentation Technology". The actual Emmy will be awarded later tonight.

NVIDIA Corporation, the worldwide leader in programmable graphics processor technologies, today announced that the Fabless Semiconductor Association (FSA) presented the Company with the "Most Respected Public Fabless Company" award during the annual FSA Awards Dinner on Thursday, December 7, 2006 in Santa Clara, Calif.