Wokka wokka wokka: Acer to acquire Gateway to acquire Packard Bell

Filed under: Desktops, Displays, Laptops

The rumor was spot-on: Gateway has delivered a binding offer to acquire all shares of PB Holding Company S.à.r.l. from Lap Shun (John) Hui and Clifford Holdings Limited. If approved, then Acer would nab themselves a nice foothold in Europe as part of their acquisition of Gateway announced back in August. Final regulatory approvals for the three-way love-in are expected before the end of the year or Q1 at the latest.
 
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Original post by Thomas Ricker

Microsoft backports Vista features for new Windows XP SP3 beta

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops
It looks like Vista isn’t the only OS Microsoft is working to improve, with the folks at Neosmart now reporting that a beta of Windows XP SP3 Build 3205 has been sent out to a select group of testers. Apparently, it includes more than a thousand patches and hotfixes, some of which have actually been backported from Windows Vista. Those include a new Windows Product Activation mode, which doesn’t require you to enter a product key during setup, as well as new a network access protection module that replicates many of the features found in Vista. Other notable additions (to some) include a new Kernel Mode Cryptographic Module and so-called “Black Hole Router” detection, which protects against “rogue routers” attempting to discard data. All this, of course, follows the recent extension of XP sales until June of 2008, so it certainly seems that there’s quite a bit [...]

Original post by Donald Melanson