Tech News for Friday December 3d 1999.
Microsoft will post Internet Explorer 5.5 beta to
the public today.
Posted: 12/03/99 Source: ZDNET
Added by: Kim Heise
Microsoft will be posting Internet Explorer 5.5 beta 1
on their web site sometime today for the general public to test. The new browser
will not look physically different and the new changes will be centered on
performance, printing enhancements and stability. Keep visiting Microsoft's IE
homepage on and off today as it could show up anytime if you want to beta test
the new browser.
Tech News for Thursday December 2nd
1999.
Netscape Communicator 5.0 sneak peek.
Posted: 12/02/99 Source: CNN
Added by: Kim Heise
CNN tech news takes Netscape's upcoming browser for a
test drive. Take a look at the article here
for a quick tour on Netscape's soon to be released updated browser. It looks
like from the article that Netscape has decided to drastically trim down the
browser for performance and size issues. This is good news as browsers are
starting to approach the size of operating systems and require outrageous
hardware requirements to be usable. Thumbs up to Netscape for creating a more efficient
and streamlined browser.
Intel CPU "Coppermine" bug update.
Posted: 12/02/99 Source: MSNBC
Added by: Kim Heise
At this point this is not a rumor any longer as the
big news sites have picked up and looked into the story. It is also official
that Dell has stopped shipping some of their high-end "Coppermine"
based servers until Intel can resolve the problem.
A Dell spokesman had this to say about it: "We’ve implemented a stop ship, which is a due diligence move to screen for the erratum. To my knowledge we’ve had no problems with systems we’ve shipped out with
Coppermine."
Here's what Intel has to say about it: "The
root cause is something we’ll fix at the wafer level,” said Intel spokesman
George Alfs.
The fix should be present in the next stepping of the chip. That means Intel
will implement a fix for the problem in the next Pentium III clockspeed it
releases. The next release is expected to be a 750MHz chip early next year.
If you are unfamiliar with the name "Coppermine", it is simply a
internal name Intel has given to their new 0.18 micron sized Pentium III CPU's.
Tech News for Wednesday December 1st
1999.
Vendor touts "T1-in-a-box".
Posted: 12/01/99 Source: TechWeb
Added by: Kim Heise
Not bad if you always wanted to start
your own ISP in the basement. Orconet.com
on Tuesday announced a hardware/networking package designed to make T1
connections to Internet backbones more affordable. In
its All-in-One-T1 package, Orconet.com combines a Cisco 1720 router and software
with a 1.544 megabit per second T1 line.
The package costs $999 a month for the first
year, and $750 a month after that. Users also pay a one-time $999 installation
charge to Orconet.com, which has a third party install the line. One year of
maintenance and a 90-day warranty are free with the bundle.
Big "fish" shake hands.
Posted: 12/01/99 Source: TechWeb
Added by: Kim Heise
A couple of major companies are starting to work
together on some very exiting new technologies. In the last 24 hours, Sprint
PCS, IBM In Wireless Deal and Lucent,
Sun In Internet Infrastructure Pact have decided to work together. Visit TechWeb for the latest updates.
Cisco to unveil alternative wireless strategy.
Posted: 12/01/99 Source: TechWeb
Added by: Kim Heise
Just yesterday I was complaining that
there was no noteworthy news articles.....
The fixed wireless strategy described
in The New York Times Monday could bring high-speed Internet access at lower
cost to areas underserved by cable and phone carriers. Small Internet service
providers would be attracted by ease and low cost of entry to compete in the
broadband market.
Fixed wireless over MMDS is a fast, easy way of deploying local loop with
more broadband, said Eddie Hold (cq), senior analyst with Current Analysis in
Sterling, Va. "It takes relatively little investment but has a line-of-site
issue," said Hold, adding that the requisite towers probably wouldn't make
it attractive to suburban, residential areas. "It would be more useful and
accepted in rural areas with lots of tall trees, or very urban areas where there
are lots of tall buildings," Hold said.
Cisco could be an alternative provider if it can convince
customers of its potential and gain an early foothold in this nascent emerging
market, Hold said.
Major Intel "Coppermine" Pentium II bug uncovered.
Posted: 12/01/99 Source: The
Register
Added by: Kim Heise
Various news sites have posted this news article and
it appears that Intel's latest 0.18 micron Coppermine CPU's have a major bug.
Here's a clip from a report over at The Register:
Chip giant Intel has confirmed that it found a bug
(erratum) in its .18 micron Coppermine processor which has caused it to tighten
up its quality control procedures.
And now Dell US has confirmed that it has put a temporary
stop on shipping its GX10 PC range because of the problem.
Some Coppermine processors intermittently seize up between
power-up and power-down cycles. The problem applies only to some Coppermine
processors.
I will try to find more information on this story as it
develops. For now take the whole issue with a pinch of salt until there are more
official news posts. If this is indeed true then the news cannot be worse timing
for Intel with AMD's very spectacular showings.
Asus V6600 GeForce 256 DDR review.
Posted: 12/01/99 Source: Riva Station
Added by: Kim Heise
Finally we are starting to see the first couple of
reviews on the new DDR RAM based video cards featuring nVidia's GeForce 256
processor. This particular review over at Riva Station looks at Asus's (yes, the
motherboard manufacturer) DDR GeForce 256 video card.
Here's some specs on the card:
- GeForce256 DDR
- 32MB 150 (300) MHz DDR SGRAM
- SmartDoctor technologies
- ASUS DVD software player bundled
- Games bundled
Prices on the card will range from a steep $299 and $349
depending on the input/output options you choose. Expect the card in stores
01/2000.
Site News update.
Posted: 12/01/99 Source: N/A Added by: Kim Heise
You will notice that sometimes I do not move a weeks
worth of news into the archives every week because important news headliners are
worth leaving on the main page for a couple of days extra.
Windows 2000 OpenGL update.
Posted: 12/01/99 Source: ARS
Technica
Added by: Kim Heise
Looks like I've jumped the gun on this one and Windows
2000 will be shipping with OpenGL. Several news sites (including Hitechbits) did
learn the information from a single source which turned out to be inaccurate. I
apologize for the inconvenience but with news cropping up at such a rate that
these rumors do find their way into several web sites. Ars Technica gets
the bottom line on the story.
Web-based OS launched.
Posted: 12/01/99 Source: ZDNET
Added by: Kim Heise
A new company MyWebOS
has developed a web based operating system for you to use a word processor,
email and store files online. What a smart idea.
New serious computer virus.
Posted: 12/01/99 Source: N/A
Added by: Kim Heise
I'm usually not one to get overly paranoid over
viruses but this new one sounds particularly nasty. This article has surfaced on
several web sites and I'm simply going to post it here verbatim.
The year’s nastiest computer virus has made a comeback. The so-called
Explore.Zip worm, notorious because of its ability to delete huge numbers of
computer files across a network, is once again rummaging through corporations.
The virus has been updated to sneak around most anti-virus protection programs,
and has already hit a number of Fortune 500 companies — and things could be
ever worse Wednesday morning, according to an anti-virus firm.
LikeMelissa, the first of this year’s high-profile
viruses, ExploreZip is a worm capable of sending itself out and appearing to
come from a known e-mail correspondent. The virus itself arrives as an
attachment with the filename “zipped_files.exe”. The body of the e-mail
message will likely contains the following text:
I received your email and I shall send you a reply ASAP.
Till then, take a look at the attached zipped docs.
If a recipient is duped into opening the attachment, the
virus will attempt to delete all Microsoft Office documents on the local hard
drive and on all mapped network file shares. The virus will then automatically
send itself to all senders listed in the victim’s e-mail Inbox. It is so
nefarious that it can even delete the files of a user whose antivirus software
is updated to defend against it. Any user who’s computer is shared on a
network is vulnerable.
Driver updates.
Posted: 12/01/99 Source: N/A
Added by: Kim Heise
Several manufacturers have released updated drivers
over the last 24 hours.
Tech News for Tuesday November 30th
1999.
140GB "CD-ROM" drive demonstrated.
Posted: 11/30/99 Source: The
Register
Added by: Kim Heise
Before you faint over this technological marvel please
note that we won't see it until Q4 2000. US data storage specialist C3D
will today show off a technique for creating a CD-sized disc capable of holding
up to 140GB of information.
Current CD-ROMs can store 0.65GB of data. Double-sided DVD-ROMs can hold 6GB.
C3D's system, dubbed FMD ROM, uses a multi-layer disc containing fluorescent
materials as the active optical storage medium. Regular CD units operate by
reflecting laser light off the surface of the disc to read. FMD (Fluorescent
Multi-layer Disc) uses the laser simply to stimulate the fluorescent material to
emit light.
"This fluorescence property enables writing and reading of multi-layer
structures with much greater storage capacity than offered by current optical
memory products," says the company.
One interesting side-effect of the use of fluorescent materials is that each
disc is transparent -- to visual light, at any rate.
And since the technique isn't based on reflection, a single laser can pass
through the disc, activating the fluorescent material in each layer as near as
simultaneously, allowing multiple tracks to be read at the same time. That means
data can be read much more quickly than before.
Tech News for Monday November 29th
1999.
Hyundai unveils 200mhz SDRAM memory.
Posted: 11/29/99 Source: Anandtech
Added by: Kim Heise
While visiting Anandtech's web site I picked up this
interesting article. Hyundai has developed a new 200mhz speed SDRAM memory chip
that will work on any standard DIMM socket. DIMM sockets and SDRAM memory are
the most commonly found in all Pentium2, Pentium3, Xeon and AMD K7 motherboards.
What this means is that the new over hyped RAMBUS is less attractive and you can
now achieve higher clock speeds without having ot replace your
motherboard.
Here's what a Hyundai spokesman had to say about this:
"Hyundai's 200MHz SDRAM device offers a big advantage
by using the same protocols and interface as the current SDRAM,'' said Mark
Ellsberry, vice president of marketing at Hyundai Electronics America. ``In
addition, this part runs at a very fast 200MHz which enables our customers to
get yet another performance boost out of their current SDRAM designs."
Intel confirms December 12th price cuts.
Posted: 11/29/99 Source: The
Register Added by: Kim Heise
It's just amazing how fast The Register obtains news
articles. Anyway, on to the story: Intel is cutting prices on all boxed Pentium
III processors in order to be more favorable over AMD's latest CPU. No idea yet
on how much the price cuts are going to be but you can expect prices to drop
substantially in the next couple of weeks for Christmas.
750mhz AMD K7 Athlon CPU officially launched.
Posted: 11/29/99 Source: ZDNET
Added by: Kim Heise
ZDNET talks about AMD's latest "hat trick"
and it's official now that the 750mhz ($799.00) chip is available for customers.
Also noted was that AMD's stock jumped a full 6% after the press release. ( No,
I don't own any stock and I'm kicking myself) and the new 533mhz K6-2 ($167.00)
is now available.
Microsoft quietly drops all OpenGL support for Windows.
Posted: 11/29/99 Source: The
Register
Added by: Kim Heise
This news article regarding Microsoft dropping all
OpenGL support for Windows should be of no surprise since the API is in direct
competition with their own Direct3D. This became rather evident when the latest
version of Windows 2000 was shipped minus the OpenGL support. However, video
card manufacturers will be including a customized full OpenGL API with the
latest drivers for Windows 2000.
If you are not familiar with OpenGL or Direct3D they are simply low level
software implementations for programmers to directly access the video hardware
without having to conform to a specific manufacturer requirements.
Several months ago SGI and Microsoft agreed to jointly develop a new OpenGL API,
also known as "Fahrenheit". A spokesman from SGI was quoted as saying
that all development on "Fahrenheit" has been put on hold.
Intel to launch 750mhz Pentium III "Coppermine"
January 10th 2000.
Posted: 11/29/99 Source: The
Register
Added by: Kim Heise
The Register reports that Intel is set to launch their
new 750mhz P3 processor January 10th 2000 in order to try and meet AMD's CPU
speed. Hopefully by then the CPU giant will have been able to produce the new
"Coppermine" series chips in quantities to meet consumer demand.
Microsoft releases Beta 2 of Windows Millennium.
Posted: 11/29/99 Source: InfoWorld
Added by: Kim Heise
Microsoft released beta 2 of Windows Millennium to
testers last Wednesday. With the expected launch date of Windows Millennium
scheduled for quarter 2 of 2000 Microsoft is working hard to send regular
updates to beta testers.
If you are not familiar with Windows Millennium, it is the successor to Windows
98 based on the Win9x kernel whereas Windows 2000 is based on the WinNT kernel.
AMD's 750mhz K7 Athlon cpu to ship today.
Posted: 11/29/99 Source: N/A
Added by: Kim Heise
All eyes are on AMD today to see if their 750mhz CPU
retakes the prize for the fastest processor on the market from Intel. I will
post reviews/benchmarks and early prices/availability as they become available.
Microsoft antitrust mediation to open Tuesday
in Chicago.
Posted: 11/29/99 Source: CNET
Added by: Kim Heise
Microsoft and the government are to face off tomorrow
(Tuesday November 30th) for the first round to settle the antitrust
allegations.
The meeting is expected to last less than a day, the person said, without
giving any further details.
Richard Posner, who heads the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Seventh Circuit in Chicago, was appointed last week by U.S. District Judge
Thomas Penfield Jackson in an effort to explore the chances of a settlement.
Jackson largely sided with the Justice Department and 19
states earlier this month when his findings of fact from the trial found
Microsoft used its monopoly in personal computer operating systems to harm
consumers and competitors. Over the coming months, Jackson will consider whether
the acts described at trial violated U.S. antitrust law.
Pioneer to launch first recordable DVD player.
Posted: 11/29/99 Source: ZDNET
Added by: Kim Heise
If you have $2,399.00 available you can pick up one of the first
recordable DVD systems from Pioneer. DVD-RW discs will cost you another $28. I
remember when CDROM recorders became available and they were also going for
similar high prices but now you can pickup a recorder for around $150.00.
Microsoft NT Service Pack 6a released.
Posted: 11/29/99 Source: Microsoft
Added by: Kim Heise
Over the Thanksgiving week Microsoft released a
updated version of Service Pack 6. Although several "hotfixes" were
made available before the service pack update was released it is recommended you
download the entire 6a version.
Here's a piece from the Microsoft service pack homepage:
Note: (Nov. 15, 1999) The SP6 issue discovered last week that affects Lotus
Notes and some other Winsock applications has been fixed. Customers using these
applications should install the corresponding Alpha
or X86
hotfix after installing SP6. For more information on this issue, please read Microsoft
KB Article Q245678.
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