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The chain’s 103 retail stores will remain open and staffed during the holiday season, offering discounts on computer and electronics.

CompUSA, the computer and gadget retailer controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, has been sold to a restructuring and investment firm that will close stores and sell some company assets.

The new owner is Boston-based Gordon Brothers Group, which recently helped CompUSA sell under-performing stores. The terms of the deal were not not disclosed.

Click for more on CompUSA Sold, Stores To Close »

The first tablet by top enterprise PC maker Dell could be a step toward bringing tablets from their traditional markets into the mainstream.

After an article appeared on the Engadget Web site Dec. 6, a Dell spokesperson confirmed that the PC vendor will unveil its new tablet offering—the Latitude XT—at a Dec. 11 event.

In May, Dell first revealed through its Direct2Dell blog that it would offer a convertible tablet PC by year’s end that would be geared for the enterprise and several vertical markets, including health care and education.

Click for more on Dell Tablet News Leaks Out »

Much of AMD’s bad luck over the last three months revolves around a nasty bug it just can’t shake

Erratum, to those in the hardware or software industry, is a nice way of saying “we missed a test case” during development and design.

Yesterday, The Tech Report confirmed AMD’s iteration of Intel’s F00F bug.  The bug, which has been documented since at least early November, can cause a deadlock during recursive or nested cache writes. 

How does the TLB erratum occur?  All AMD quad-core processors utilize a shared L3 cache.  In instances where the software uses nested memory pages, this processor will experience a race condition. 

Click for more on Understanding AMD’s "TLB" Processor Bug »

Full versions, which Microsoft hopes will help spur increased Vista adoption, are due to be released early next year.

Microsoft released on Wednesday new test versions of Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista Service Pack, two highly anticipated technologies that are scheduled to be released early next year.

Microsoft also revealed partner resources to prepare customers for the release of the server OS, which the company plans to release to manufacturing on Feb. 27, 2008, the same day as a joint-launch event that also will promote SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008. Combined, the three mark Microsoft’s major product release cycle for the year, although the products are not scheduled to be released simultaneously.

Click for more on Microsoft releases new Windows Server, Vista SP1 test code »

Enjoy the game with lower noise.

nVidia finally do something for the much complained stock cooler of the new 8800GT. The refreshed version looks like the old one but with a larger fan(75*10mm vs. 65*10mm).

Moreover, the old fan running from 1500 to 4400RPM which produce unbearable noise at full load, while the new fan, rages from 650 to 1650RPM. Yes, that’s right, the RPM when full loading is just slightly higher than the lowest RPM of the old one.

Click for more on 8800GT’s new stock cooler is cool n’ quiet »

The next evolution of labels

Back in the Paleolithic Era, the world was a very different kind of place. People were hunter-gatherers, lived in caves, and kept all their email in folders*. You can’t really blame them. Between tracking woolly mammoths, fashioning crude stone tools, and auditioning for commercials, having a highly tuned system for organizing email wasn’t their highest priority.

But people changed. We moved out of caves and into skyscrapers. We hunt for bargains at the corner grocery. And we play video games simulating ourselves playing video games.

Click for more on Coloured Labels Now Available on Gmail »

Will be 9 chips in total

Intel began its 45nm offensive last month, but its first 45nm processors are largely out of reach for most users: the only desktop chip is the Core 2 Extreme QX9650, which is both prodigiously fast and prodigiously expensive, and the rest are Xeons aimed squarely at the server and workstation space.

We’re no strangers to rumors about more affordable 45nm Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Duo processors. Model names and clock speeds have long since leaked out, but rumor sites had yet to pin down a release date. The folks at Fudzilla have now filled that blank by naming January 20, 2008 as the expected day of Intel’s proper 45nm desktop assault.

According to Fudzilla, that date will see Intel roll out dual-core and quad-core 45nm processors with price tags starting as low as $169. Previous rumors tell us there will be nine chips in total: three quad-core models clocked at 2.5Ghz, 2.66GHz, and 2.83GHz; four dual-core models with clock speeds ranging from 2.66GHz to 3.16GHz; and a pair of wildcards—one quad-core chip and one dual-core one with unknown specifications.

Microsoft is to withdraw an anti-piracy tool from Windows Vista, which disables the operating system when invoked, following customer complaints.

The so-called “kill switch” is designed to prevent users with illegal copies of Vista from using certain features.

But the tool has suffered from glitches since it was introduced with many Windows users claiming that legal copies of Vista had been disabled.

Click for more on ‘Kill switch’ dropped from Vista in SP1 »

Creative’s new ZEN serves up 32GB of storage space, MSRP $329.99

Apple may know how to tickle the fancy of portable audio enthusiasts around the world with innovative features (i.e., the iPod touch), but manufacturers like SanDisk and Creative continue to lead the way in value and storage capacity.

Creative, not one to be left out of a capacity war, is following suit with the official unveil of its 32GB ZEN. The ZEN features a 2.5″ display, an FM radio turner, a Secure Digital expansion slot for those who crave even more storage space and includes support for a multitude of file formats (WMV9, MJPEG, MPEG4-SP, DivX 4/5, XviD, MP3, WMA, Audible 2, 3, 4 and non-protected AAC).

Creative says that the built-in lithium-ion battery is good for 5 hours of video playback or up to 30 hours of audio playback.

The new 32GB Creative ZEN will be priced at around $380 USD in Singapore. The player is priced at $329.99 for the United States and is currently available for pre-order on Creative’s U.S. website.

Piracy rates are lower because it’s harder

Microsoft said Monday that it’s seeing piracy rates for Windows Vista that are half those of Windows XP.

Now cynical me wanted to write this up as “even pirates prefer XP two to one over Vista,” but that wouldn’t be fair. In reality, the decline in piracy rates is largely due to the fact that Vista is much tougher to fake than XP.

“Piracy rates are lower because it’s harder,” Microsoft Vice President Mike Sievert said in an interview Monday.

Click for more on Microsoft: Vista piracy rate is half that of XP »