multimedia applications

In a move to attract more gamers and multimedia enthusiasts, Acer America on Monday introduced the Aspire 8930G-7665 notebook PC. The notebook taps into the power of the new Intel Core 2 Quad mobile processor Q9000, designed for extreme mobile performance and speed for gaming on the go.

"By incorporating the latest capabilities of Intel's Core 2 Quad mobile processors into the Aspire 8930G-7665, Acer is delivering a perfect combination of mobility, innovation and extreme gaming capabilities," said Sumit Agnihotry, vice president of product marketing for Acer America.

The computer mouse may someday become an endangered species.

Instead of rolling a mouse around to move a cursor around on the screen, more and more users will gesture with their fingers on touch screens and multi-touch track pads, analysts say.

Or they will tilt or shake the phones or other hand-held devices themselves to manipulate them, said Steve Prentice, vice president and fellow at Gartner, a market-research firm based in Stamford, Conn.

Microsoft released Silverlight 2 on Monday, the second major version of its platform for creating and delivering advanced multimedia applications and experiences in a Web browser.

The company also said it will continue to back Silverlight-related open-source communities, with funding for advanced Silverlight development based on the Eclipse Foundation's integrated development environment (IDE) and with new controls to developers via the Silverlight Control Pack.

Even before Apple's iPhone 3G hits stores across much of Europe on July 11, the highly anticipated handset has already run into a few problems. On July 7, a mad rush of British consumers looking to preorder the phone with network operator O2 caused the company's Web site to crash. "We've never seen any mobile device create [such] excitement," says Ronan Dunne, O2's chief executive in Britain.

Sprint Nextel and Clearwire on Wednesday announced a $14.5 billion initiative to combine their wireless broadband businesses and form a new wireless communications company.

Named Clearwire, the new company will focus on expediting deployment of the first nationwide WiMAX network to provide widespread mobile broadband.