WASHINGTON (AP) - America is ready to elect a black president, says Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
The nation's highest-ranking black government official, Rice has said repeatedly she will not run for president despite high popularity ratings and measurable support in opinion polls.
"Yes, I think a black person can be elected president," Rice said in an Associated Press interview Thursday.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Intel Corp. (INTC), the world's largest computer chip maker, has partnered with two Saudi Arabian software companies to develop an electronic version of Islam's holy book and a training computer for teachers packed with the government-approved curriculum for schoolchildren.
Intel said Monday the projects are part of broader push to bring low-cost computing and Internet access to emerging markets and are only two uses for the Intel-designed hardware.
Intel Chairman Craig Barrett attended the product launch in Saudi Arabia over the weekend as part of an overseas trip to unveil wireless Internet technology that Intel installed in the small Egyptian city of Oseem. An Intel development center in Cairo designed the hardware for both Saudi Arabian projects.
The E-Quran is a small computer with wireless Internet access that contains the text of the Islamic holy book, audio recitations in 40 different languages and interactive interpretations of the material.
Intel said it partnered with Dar Al Rasm Al-Othmani, a software company focused on religious content that contracted with an outside firm to have the devices manufactured.
Santa Clara-based Intel said it had no plans to commercialize or brand the devices, which are powered by low-power Intel processors, which act as the calculating brains of computers.
The other product is called E-Curriculum and was developed with Semanoor, an educational software company. The device is a portable, Intel-designed computer that is integrated with software containing Saudi government-approved curriculum for kindergarten through the 12th grade.
Semanoor said the program is currently being implemented in public and private schools throughout the Middle Eastern country.
WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. companies will need to keep track of all the e-mails, instant messages and other electronic documents generated by their employees thanks to new federal rules that go into effect Friday, legal experts say. The rules, approved by the Supreme Court in April, require companies and other entities involved in federal litigation to produce "electronically stored information" as part of the discovery process, when evidence is shared by both sides before a trial. The change makes it more important for companies to know what electronic information they have and where. Under the new rules, an information technology employee who routinely copies over a backup computer tape could be committing the equivalent of "virtual shredding," said Alvin F. Lindsay, a partner at Hogan & Hartson LLP and expert on technology and litigation.
