Neowin.net

Crane let us know of the following email he got from Speedbit on the Beta of Download Accelarator 5.2:

Dear user,
We have released a new fixed version of DAP, you may download it from the attached URL for testing.

So far, what I've noticed change-wise in this program, the updater is now made by speedbit, after you install, you need to update your DAP Bar for your browser. Change's in the DAP Bar include "Verify downloadable links" (where the tooltip is misspelled), as well as a couple new icons. On the main DAP window, the position of the buttons has been changed. Also a new service being offered by speedbit called "Always Resume", but you have to pay a fee and renew it every 3 months.

I installed this (Ed speaking again) and noticed another typo where you select the speed of your connection, it says Intrenet where it should say Internet (I presume) so if anyone wants to report this, be my guest.

This is BETA software!, please use caution when installing it on your system

Download: DAP 5.2.0.3
View: Speedbit Homepage

"Contract prices need to be readjusted again to narrow gaps with spot prices," a Samsung executive told Reuters. He declined to specify how large an increase Samsung might make.

Samsung and Hynix both raised contract prices for DRAM chips, used for memory in personal computers, twice late last year.

Their top clients include Intel, IBM and Dell Computer.

Shares surge
Their shares soared on Wednesday's news of further rises.

Hynix finished up 15 percent, the shares' daily limit, at 2,780 won. Samsung closed up 10.4 percent at 308,000 won, leading the benchmark stock market index up 4.5 percent.

Taiwan's memory chipmakers also jumped on the news, with Powerchip Semiconductor surging the daily seven percent upward limit and rival Mosel Vitelic adding 4.7 percent.

Spot prices for DRAM have mounted a recovery in recent weeks after a year-long slide that erased 90 percent of their value and made the cost of production more expensive than selling prices.

The slump was blamed on excessive supply and an abrupt slowdown in global demand for PCs.

Analysts said prices were still short of production costs and that a full recovery was not expected until the third quarter at the earliest.

"Chipmakers are still selling products below costs," said Jon Woo-jong, an analyst at SK Securities. "They need to sell them at a minimum of $3.2 on average to cover costs."

Spot prices for standard 128 MB 16x8 DRAM chips were quoted at $2.68 on average on Wednesday by DRAMexchange (www.dramexchange.com), an industry Web site. That was up more than four percent from Monday.

Narrowing the field
A global move to consolidate the sector, as seen in the Micron-Hynix talks, could help facilitate a recovery, analysts said. Hynix expects an alliance with Micron to take shape this month, including the possible sale of DRAM production facilities to the U.S. company.

"We'll decide whether to sign an agreement in January," Hynix President Park Chong-sup said in an e-mail to employees released on Wednesday.

Hynix has said it might sell operations making the most common types of DRAM chips to Micron. Micron has already moved to grab a bigger chunk of the sector, agreeing in December to buy a U.S. chip plant from Japan's Toshiba.

The decision came after a planned DRAM tie-up between Infineon Technologies and Toshiba fell through.

Infineon Chief Executive Ulrich Schumacher said afterwards the German firm had opened talks with Taiwanese makers Nanya Technologies, Mosel Vitelic and Winbond Electronics regarding possible tie-ups.