San Francisco - Pre-release sales of the Google-powered mobile phone offered by T-Mobile are three times as high as the company predicted, the German-owned carrier has revealed.

The so-called G1, which is the first mobile phone to utilize Google's Android operating system, will officially become available on October 22. But existing customers of T-Mobile have been able to pre-order the device, which is manufactured by Taiwanese company HTC, since it was unveiled last month.

New York/Dresden, Germany  - US chipmaker AMD plans to restructure its German-based manufacturing operation in Dresden in a bid to cut costs, the company said Tuesday.

The loss-making company said it plans to form a new joint venture, which will receive up to 6 billion dollars in funding from an investment company in Abu Dhabi.

The funds will enable AMD to expand its Dresden operation and build a state-of-the art plant in the United States in a bid to make it more competitive against market leader Intel.

Washington, Oct 7 : In a new study Michigan State University plant scientists have found a new gene, called bZIP28, that helps plants to beat the heat.

The discovery may help plant breeders to create new varieties of crops that flourish in warmer, drier climates.

Using Arabidopsis thaliana, a member of the mustard family used as a model plant for genetic studies, the researchers found that the gene bZIP28 helps regulate heat stress response.

This is the first time bZIP28 has been shown to play a role heat tolerance.

San Francisco - RealNetworks said Monday that it had stopped distribution of a software program to rip off DVDs, in compliance with a temporary injunction issued Friday by a federal court in California.

Bangalore, Oct 6 : Chandrayaan-1, India’s first unmanned mission to moon is scheduled to be launched from the spaceport of Sriharikota at 6.20 a. m. on October 22, Indian Space Research Organisation sources have said.

The satellite was transported from here to Sriharikota in a special vehicle last week and has reached the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR).

The spacecraft is expected to be mated with ISRO''s workhorse rocket, Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C11) later this week, the sources told media.

Melbourne, Oct 6 : Each year millions of mobile phones are lost or discarded with their personal data, which can eventually be extracted by someone or the other, making cell phones extremely vulnerable to breach of privacy, according to a new study.

The study has shown that cell phones cannot be wiped off completely and hence it can get risky to discard or recycle the phones, which could contain information like business plans, details of customer relationships, information on the structure of the company, details of bank accounts and details about children and other personal relationships.

Unlike a PC, which has an open architecture, mobile phones are closed books in terms of where data resides.