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Tech News for Friday April 21st 2000.Intel
pushes back Celeron rollout. The chip maker has pushed back its 633MHz and 667MHz Celeron chips to ensure more are available by launch. The Celeron rollback isn’t entirely a surprise. Intel warned investors earlier this week that it would continue to see tight supply of processors built on its new 0.18-micron process technology. The company began using the new process on its 566MHz and 600MHz Celerons, which were introduced March 29. nVidia
NV-15 teaser. Take a look at this teaser that nVidia has posted online regarding the NV-15. This is really cruel making us wait until the 26th of this month. I can't wait for the 26th. If you've never heard of the NV-15 - it is the sequel to the current worlds fastest consumer 3D accelerator, the GeForce256 DDR. This is what nVnews.net
had to say about the teaser: This teaser confirms the 200MHz core clock. Cisco
Unveils DSL Strategy. The company, based in San Jose, Calif.,, rolled out its GlobalDSL strategy, which includes development in IP ATM multiservice offerings, market and service reach, and DSL mobility. As part of its IP ATM multiservice offerings, Cisco (stock: CSCO) is introducing IP DSL switching across the Cisco 6000 DSL family. The Cisco 6000 IP DSL Switch family allows service providers to deploy managed IP ATM data, voice and video services over the network. Cisco said it plans to expand market and service reach with its new Cisco 6015 IP DSL switch and G.shdsl technology for the Cisco 6000 family of products. The company also said it had
plans to expand DSL mobility to include follow-me services, Web-based on-demand
service selection, and end-user self-installable customer premise equipment. ATI
Rage6 preview. Read this preview on ATI's new Rage6 video processor that will be released to dampen the spirit on nVidia's upcoming NV-15. Here's some of the features:
Turn
Your Computer Into a MP3 Jukebox. MP3 users: Look
alive, here's another "I've been waiting for one of those". Riffshare
has created a system to turn a PC that is wired on a network into a MP3 jukebox.
I think I may now have some use for my paper weight 486-120mhz machine that has
been collecting dust in my closet. The software can automatically build and index your library, and others on the network, based on the ID3 tags on the MP3s. It can also organize them into Artist lists, Album lists, Genre lists, and custom Playlists. Each computer on the network is represented
by a separate icon and unique name. Each computer must be running Riffshare to
allow access to music. A window built into the intuitive Riffshare interface
accesses the Internet and provides information on the artist currently being
played. Beta
Test Music Net-Burner. BetaNews posts
some very interesting programs up for testing and today is no exception. MP3
users take note: The
State of PC Hardware. Ars-Technica have
posted up another review of the state of PC hardware for the month of April.
This article is very well worth the read if you are curious to know what the
manufacturers are planning and may help you decide on your next hardware
purchase. Rumors are
flying that Nvidia will soon be showing the technology associated with their
NV15 chipset. Or, if we're real lucky they're going to show the NV15 itself.
Mind you, Nvidia is on a 6 month build cycle, so it's still a little early for
them to ship some product, but seeing as how we are four months into the life of
the GeForce, it might be time to start saving those pennies to buy a NV15-based
card when they're released. Vulnerability
discovered in Netscape Navigator. Another browser security flaw has been found in Netscape Navigator browser and the problem may also exist for Internet Explorer. A newly discovered vulnerability in Netscape Navigator 4.x could allow a Webmaster to view a user's bookmark or cache file. And Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer may have a similar weakness, according to several reports. The trick uses cookies to run JavaScript on a user's computer. A Webmaster could redirect the user to a page using frames, with one frame pointing to the cookie file and another pointing to the page the Webmaster wishes to read. The exploit allows malicious site operators
to bypass security protocols that prohibit them from reading that file. First
American Online Privacy Law Takes Effect. This will be the first of many new internet laws that will be hitting the public over the next several months. These laws are an excellent idea in principal but enforcing these laws will be fairly impossible due to the nature of the internet. I cannot imagine US law enforcement agencies trying to levy fines on a individual who violated a internet law from Russia. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government will start surfing the Web on Friday to enforce the first federal statute on online privacy -- a new law that imposes thousands of dollars in fines on marketers who collect personal information from children under 13. The law, aimed at protecting the privacy of preteens online, requires Web sites to seek the permission of parents before collecting personal information from children under 13. Primarily targeting intrusive online marketers -- who in the past have asked children for financial information about their parents -- the law imposes fines of $11,000 per violation And now we will be paying tax money to surf the internet: ``We'll be surfing Web sites to ensure that
it is being enforced. We certainly intend to ensure that it is,'' said Lee
Peeler, associate director for Advertising Practices at the Federal Trade
Commission. Tech News for Thursday April 20th 2000.Visit to
3dfx. Chris over at SystemLogic was lucky to be invited by 3dfx in Texas to preview the new Voodoo 5 video card first hand. The card is faster than the GeForce 256 DDR by roughly 35% but it would be curious to see what the GeForce (NV-15) sequel can do before making any conclusions. The last time I checked the article the pictures had not been place on-line due to scanner problems. Even though I saw pictures of
the ¾ length AGP card before, I was still surprised at its size. It's a
monster! For those of you who are not familiar with the Voodoo5 series, it is
the successor to the popular Voodoo3 family of cards that were on the market for
many months now. The Voodoo5 is 3dfx's answer to all of the disgruntled
customers who wanted 32-bit rendering, bigger textures, etc… The Voodoo5 will
be the top of the line card in 3dfx's new lineup and today we saw the 5500 which
boasts 2 VSA-100 processors running in SLI mode with 64MB SDRAM. With the two
processors working together, the card pumps out 667 Megapixels per second (the
Nvidia GeForce DDR can only do 480 Megapixels). Toshiba
Developing Liquid-Cooled Notebooks. This news article definitely falls under the unusual and innovative category. Toshiba Inc. is
developing a new technology dubbed 'Super Cooling,' which will be incorporated
into Toshiba's notebook computers. The new cooling apparatus utilizes a copper
tube filled with purified water, which draws heat away from the processor. This
cooling method will be available in Toshiba's Protege 3040 model. The notebook
will ship next week with a price tag of $2,499. AMD
unveils new generation of cheap notebook chips. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based chipmaker released the K6-2+ and K6-3+ microprocessors this week. The chips--which run at 450, 475 and 500 MHz--are enhanced versions of AMD's K6-2 and K6-3 families. <SNIP> The new AMD chips differ from their predecessors in that they are manufactured on the 0.18-micron manufacturing process, which means that certain elements inside the chip measure 0.18 microns wide. Earlier chips contained larger 0.25-micron elements. Shrinking the chip components brings several advantages. Electrons have to travel shorter distances, which means less heat, which in turn allows the manufacturer to crank up chip speeds. Smaller chips also cost less to produce. Another advantage to the smaller elements is that AMD can integrate the secondary cache, a memory reservoir for data, onto the K6-2. The K6-2+ contains 128KB of integrated secondary cache. Older K6-2s contain more cache, but it exists on separate chips, making it less efficient and more expensive. The K6-3+ contains 256KB of secondary cache; the two chips are identical, but only half of the cache is activated on the K6-2+. In volume quantities, the 500-MHz K6-2+
sells for $112, while the 475-MHz and 450-MHz versions sell for $98 and $85,
respectively. The 500-MHz K6-3+ sells for $184, and the 475- and 450-MHz
versions sell for $162 and $140, respectively. Internet
Sharing guide. These days it is not uncommon for users to have more than one computer system and would like to have all machines connected to the internet. As computer prices keep falling and computers showing up all over the house like kitchens and bedrooms it would be ideal to have internet connections to each system. TechExtreme has
written up a guide for sharing one single internet connection over multiple
computers. Read the full article here. Tech News for Wednesday April 19th 2000.Samsung
Breaks .10 micron. It finally happened and it was said that the .10 micron circuit size would never be developed because it is physically impossible. Never say impossible these days, Reaching below the semiconductor circuit design rule of ten microns has long been considered beyond the realm of technological possibility. However, Samsung Electronics has developed a new photoresistance technology, used in lithography, that can break that formidable barrier. Until now, manufacturing technology and tools for argon fluoride (ArF), a light source for forming the minute circuits needed to commercialize devices with a memory capacity of one gigabit or more, has been developed. However, the photoresistance technology has
not been able to satisfy requirements for high definition and etching resistance
at the same time. Commercialization of 0.10-micron circuit devices has been made
difficult by the Post Exposure Delay(PED) properties that alter the circuit
patterns.
Voodoo5
(early) Impressions. Several web sites have received their preordered Voodoo5 cards and benchmarks are showing up all over the internet. It's too early to tell how the card stacks up against the GeForce because the Voodoo5 boards tested are using alpha drivers. Why 3dfx would ship a card with alpha drivers is beyond me, especially after the nasty drivers with the Voodoo3 video cards. With nVidia's
NV-15 video card announcement any day now you may wish to wait and see what's coming
down the pipeline. I have a feeling that the Voodoo5 is a little late to the
table and nVidia will be making 3dfx's life rather difficult (again). AMD
puts the Athlon prices on the chopping block. If it didn't require a full motherboard replacement I would have picked up one of these speedy Athlon's months ago. Anyway, AMD is cutting the prices of Athlon K7 CPU's: the 650MHz Athlon will cost $170, the 700MHz $197, the 750MHz $250, the 800MHz $330 and the 900MHz $595. No price changes
on the 1ghz version. SBC,
Cisco Ally To Deploy Open-Standard IP Services
. Big-time data communications and network integration provider SBC Communications Inc. [NYSE:SBC] has hooked up with major networking player Cisco Systems, Inc. [NASDAQ:CSCO], to accelerate the delivery of open-standard New World broadband services to their customers. The companies said today in an official announcement that the multi-billion-dollar strategic marketing agreement makes Cisco SBC's preferred provider of data networking equipment for five key platforms. The alliance will see the two entities join to provide Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), Enterprise Virtual Private Network (EVPN), Virtual Point of Presence-Dial Access Service (VPOP-DAS), Broadband Capabilities Gateway (BCG) and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) services, the companies said. The deployment will put Cisco equipment across SBC's network, which serves 60 million access lines in 36 million customer locations nationwide, and through the joint marketing and sales efforts, SBC expects to boost revenue by packaging Cisco equipment along with its own voice, broadband data and network integration services. The companies said the packaging gives them a "significant advantage" with customers demanding complete, end-to-end network systems. The pact also consists of joint research and
product development activities aimed at producing next-generation data and
Internet Protocol (IP) services, the companies stated, but declined to release
financial details. Microsoft's
Pocket PC Goes Live. Microsoft has a major uphill to run with these new PocketPC's because the Palm Pilot owns about 75% of the PDA market. Three major companies (HP, Casio and Compaq) are leaning their weight behind the new Pocket PC's but that does not stand for much. Think about the first generation Windows CE PDA's: A major sales/marketing disappointment and Palm still leads the PDA market. I'm not arguing which was better, the Palm or Windows CE, I just think Windows CE machines showed up on the market too late to stop the surge from 3COM. The launch, at New York's Grand Central Station, represents Microsoft's third attempt to build a successful handheld device after investing millions of dollars in gadgets that have flopped. Version three includes a datebook, calendar, calculator, memo pad, a slimmed-down version of Internet Explorer, expanded memory capacity, an e-book reader using ClearType technology, a digital voice recorder, a Windows Media Player for music and video, all driven by a svelte version of the Windows CE operating system. The Pocket PC was jointly developed by
Compaq Computer Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Casio Computer Co. and will
support wireless Internet connections. It is reportedly priced at $499 to $599. New
chip offers defense against hacker attacks. Juniper today said it is shipping a new processor that can scan all the data flowing through a network without slowing down the traffic. The chip, now built into Juniper's family of networking equipment, could prevent the hacker attacks that crippled many of the top Web sites in February, according to Juniper chief executive Scott Kriens. The security feature was
available in software in the past, but it slowed down networks so much that
Internet service providers (ISPs) and telecommunications carriers only used it
sparingly, Kriens said. The new chip--called the Internet Processor II--can
filter 20 million packets of data per second, while the security software in the
past could only scan 200,000 packets of data per second, he said. Oracle's
Ellison may pass Gates as richest tech chief. Just when you thought no-one could surpass Microsoft's Bill Gates in terms of wallet size, CNET posts this article that Oracle's Larry Ellison could soon be first. I'm not sure the planet is big enough to hold Larry Ellison's ego as it is and he would just love to beat Bill Gates. Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison is within striking distance of surpassing the net worth of his longtime foe, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates.A 540 percent surge in Oracle shares in the past year and a 7 percent decline in Microsoft stock--partly caused by uncertainty from its landmark antitrust trial--has moved Ellison to within $8 billion of leapfrogging Gates. Last year, Gates led Ellison by a comfortable $70 billion, according to Forbes' list of the richest people. A modest slide in Microsoft
shares, coupled with a slight climb in Oracle shares--which could occur any
day--would leave Gates playing second fiddle to Ellison. ATi
to Unveil Rage 6. With the Voodoo 4
and Voodoo 5's just about on our doorstep ATI is about to unveil their new Rage
6 video card. This announcement was made yesterday: ATI said it will show the product, which has been code-named Rage 6, at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference in New Orleans next Monday. Thornhill, Ontario-based ATI is trying to
gain more sales from the video-game graphics market. The video-game market is
dominated by companies including Nvidia, which make graphics components for
Microsoft Corp.'s new X-Box game console. ATI's product is geared to high-end
video-games, whose users want more detailed graphics. Tech News for Tuesday April 18th 2000.MS
security flaw called "pinhole". Any Internet company out there using Microsoft web applications to process secure web transactions is not going to feel overly comforted by the company's statement that the security flaw is a "pinhole". Any relatively simple illegal access to a supposedly secure system (no matter how small) should be addressed immediately and I get the feeling Microsoft's spin-doctors are trying to downplay the problem. While Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) admits that a security flaw does indeed plague a software module in its Web server product, the giant software company contradicted statements by one of its managers confirming the existence of a back door with the pass phrase "Netscape engineers are weenies!""Microsoft now has all the information, and we confirm there is a vulnerability in the product," said Microsoft spokeswoman Luisa Vacca. "But it is a really, really miniscule vulnerability. In no way is it a back door in the product." "It's a pinhole," she said. Russ Cooper, editor of Microsoft-software security site NTBugTraq, stressed, however, that Web site hosting services could be affected by the bug and said the hosting services should quickly fix it. "This is a hole that could allow
information to be manipulated by others," Cooper wrote on the NTBugTraq Web
site. "However, it's limited to 'others' who already have Web authoring
permissions on the same box." Pentium
III VS. Celeron II. As with any objective review or comparison, sometimes it is necessary to conclude that there is no clear answer. The answer simply depends on your system requirements and how much you are willing to spend. The rule of thumb with any PC hardware comparison is that there is always more than one choice. This can be frustrating but also allows for users to customize options in direct relationship to their power requirements. This rings true for the Pentium III VS. Celeron II article over at the Firingsquad that basically states that the Celeron II is powerful for the price but if you want to go all out then the Pentium III wins the race. The bottom line is the Pentium III is faster but also costs significantly more than the Celeron II. You need to decide for yourself how much you are willing to spend for the extra performance. Remember the
Pentium III has a 256kb L2 cache whereas the Celeron II only has 128kb cache.
Both now sport the new overstated SIMD instruction set. Net2Phone
Intros New Non-PC Net Products. By now the phone companies are becoming rather nervous as smaller startup companies are making use of the Internet for voice over data communications. Is there a easier way (besides future wireless technologies) to provide voice over data communications than the internet since the physical layer is already well established. As bandwidth increases for the average user these online telephony products will become more and more popular. Eventually you will be seeing voice and video over data as the standard so you can see who you are talking too. Net2Phone is introducing several new products called "YAP" which is an acronym for "Your Alternative Phone". Some of these new "YAP" products will not require PC's to work with and all you need is a internet connection. The YAP product range splits neatly into two segments - the first is designed for small business and larger (PBX) environments. The consumer products will allow end users to connect any regular phone into Net2Phone's network. The firm says that all YAP users can enjoy reduced calling rates and free calls for YAP-to-YAP, YAP-to-PC and PC-to-YAP connections – in other words, calls completed wholly across the Net, bypassing the standard voice phone networks. The initial range of YAP devices includes the YAP Phone, which plugs into the universal serial bus (USB) port on a PC and allows Net2Phone software-driven Net telephony calls; and the YAP Jack, which supports Net telephony calls without the need for a host PC. Also in the pipeline are YAP Ports, which allow both business and residential users can plug the YAP Port into the back of a computer, and make toll-quality phone calls to any PC or phone. The YAP Port for USB-based PCs has its own voice compression technology that further enhances the quality of the call. Plans call for a YAP Port also to be made available for serial port connection to a host PC. Last, but not least, for PBX usage, there is the YAP Multimax, which allows business users to extend their PBXs by up to six Internet telephony lines, each of which will be capable of making and receiving calls, faxes and the like, while simultaneously maintaining a persistent Internet connection. Jonathan Rand, Net2Phone's executive vice president, said he hopes the YAP system will expand the usage of Internet telephony worldwide. "YAP is a pioneering product line that
will let anyone simply connect their phone system to the Internet and
communicate easily and affordably using Net2Phone's products and network,"
he said. POCKET
EPC System. Ars-Technica has
posted a link to the first series of PocketPC's that are showing up on the
market. This handheld PC (about the size of a zip drive) is powered by a Celeron
CPU (up to 533mhz) and a AGP video display. A little pricey at $1,200.00 but it
would a fun to play with and see how it works practically. Take a look a this
link for specs and prices. Asus
V6800 64MB DDR Review. Several people have asked me what I think about doubling the memory on a video card to help increase the frame-rate with current entertainment titles and I tell them it is a waste of money. The bottom line is that you are going to spend between $350-$400 for an extra 32MB of RAM on your video card and only achieve an extra 2 frames/sec over a standard 32MB version. GamePC reviews one of several 64MB GeForce DDR video cards. The conclusion to
the review speaks for itself: Windows
2000 sequel leaked to the internet (again). Even with Windows 2000 released Microsoft is gearing up for a sequel OS code named "Whistler". Nothing is known about what is planned in the new OS and a release date is also unknown at this time although the article mentions sometime in March 2001. A date which I would not make any bets on. On to the story....Apparently another build (build 2223) of "Whistler" has leaked on the Internet just a week after a previous build was released. For a screen shot of "Whistler" read the article here. Another version of the
company's follow-on operating system to Windows 2000, code-named Whistler, has
been posted illegally to the Internet. Tech News for Monday April 17th 2000.S3,
Intergraph Exit Graphics Field. I heard today that
S3 and Intergraph where making a clean exit out of the video/graphics industry.
This is a shame since S3 had a winner on their hands with the Savage2000 video
graphics processor. Poor graphics drivers and late delivery sealed the coffin on
this promising new chip. SAN MATEO, CALIF. -- The ever-competitive graphics chip market is consolidating, as fewer and fewer vendors have the resources -- or the stomach -- to remain in a segment with razor-thin margins and shrinking sales opportunities. Two companies last week
opted to exit the field, and at least two other companies in the past two months
have been snapped up by competitors. And there will likely be more consolidation
over the next few quarters. Palm
to offer new wireless Internet products. Palm computing will be offering wireless Internet connectivity to the Palm III and Palm V series PDA's in the near future. Updated model Palm III's and Palm V's will be slightly larger to accommodate the new wireless internet connectivity hardware. Also the antennae will be housed internal - a move I highly applaud. In the second
half of this year, Palm Inc. will expand its product line, and ship each
handheld unit with wireless internet capabilities. Currently, the only Palm unit
which contains world wide web features is the Palm VII. In the near future, Palm
will market Palm III and Palm V versions that contain the technology necessary
for wireless communications. 18.9GB
Flash disk announced. Imagine have a credit card sized data storage container that holds 18.9GB? Imagine no more because BiTMICRO NETWORKS, Inc. today announced at the Washington, D.C., COTScon East 2000, the availability of E-Disk SFL35, the world’s first differential SCSI flash storage product. "Based on our proven Fast
Wide SCSI E-Disk, our 16-bit wide SFL35 adds the improved reliability and
increased cabling distance of low voltage differential transceivers," says
Ron Orcine, one of key developers of the SFL35. WinAmp
2.62 released. This news is a couple of days old but there is a new version of WinAmp release pushing it up to version 2.62. WinAmp is a Windows media player that has become the standard for playing MP3 audio files. What's new in 2.62:
Download WinAmp
2.62 here. AMD
"Thunderbird" CPU at 750mhz. Kyle over at HardOCP has been able to benchmark the first batch of AMD "Thunderbird" CPU's and he has received hundreds of emails accusing him of posting fake benchmarks. Take a look at the benchmarks and decide for yourself. I believe they are genuine and very impressive to say the least. AMD's
"Thunderbird" is going up against Intel's new Celeron II low-cost
CPU's. MS
admits planting secret password. It's been a rumor since the dark ages that Microsoft engineers have coded "back-doors" into all the secure applications. It would be safe to assume that if this were indeed the case, heads would roll. Microsoft Corp. acknowledged Thursday that its engineers included in some of its Internet software a secret password -- a phrase deriding their rivals at Netscape as "weenies" -- that could be used to gain illicit access to hundreds of thousands of Internet sites worldwide.The manager of Microsoft's security-response center, Steve Lipner, acknowledged the online-security risk in an interview Thursday and described such a backdoor password as "absolutely against our policy" and a firing offense for the as-yet-unidentified employees. This must be very bad news for Internet companies who are using Microsoft products to store/retrieve content sensitive information. Expect a patch/service pack in the new several days from Microsoft to address this issue. Tech News for Saturday April 15th 2000.nVidia
NV-15 unsubstantiated info. Several web sites are posting information about nVidia's sequel to the GeForce (NV-10) ,the NV-15. Take this information rather lightly until we see something more official from nVidia which should be sometime this month. If the price is correct ($350), I think it's a little steep until we can find out more about the performance. 32MB DDR card will be introduced simultaneously with NVIDIA announcementthe samples will be available in the first or second week of May the cards will be shipped in volume in the beginning of June 32MB DDR card will be priced at $349 at launch the retail card box design is the same as GeForce and GeForce Pro (or Annihilator) but with a word GeForce2 on it the card will be bundled with several games and software titles - Evolva (enhanced version with EMBM), Rage Rally, Whole Experience, Colorific, software DVD player (probably WinDVD) there will be no TV-out on the card, but this feature will be provided by a specially developed daughter card 64MB DDR card will initially be available
only for OEMs 128MB version won't be produced chip will run at "about 200MHz" reference design of NV15 based card for NVIDIA was developed by Creative (since the company is the main NVIDIA's partner - it buys about 17% of all NVIDIA's graphics chips) TOPNew
unofficial Detonator drivers from nVidia. New unofficial Detonator drivers have been leaked onto the internet. Keep in mind these drivers are beta and could result in instabilities. I'm using the latest 5.14 beta drivers on my GeForce without any problems. The latest versions are 5.14 beta and 3.84 stable for Windows 9x/Windows 2000. Detonator drivers
are for TNT/TNT2/TNT2-Ultra and GeForce video cards and you can download the
latest Win9x and Win 2000 drivers here. Intel
550e Overclocking Results. The new 550e Intel Pentium III is in my system and it is over clocked at 770mhz without any problems. I've posted my PC configuration in "articles" section if you are curious to see what hardware I'm using. Here is WCPUID:
And here are the 3dBench 2000
results: Not bad.... and all for $230 for the 550e.
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