Tech News for Tuesday March 14th 2000.

Gore blasted for Net-tax stance.
Posted: 03/14/2000     Source: ZDNET  Added by: Kim Heise
This is where I get to throw in my two cents: What is it with these politicians that feel they have to get involved in everything we do? We are already being taxed to death in this country. I would seriously ask Mr. Gore how he proposes to tax the internet. A company would simply move it's servers across the border to Mexico or Canada and continue online commerce as usual. 

FAIRFAX, Va. -- Virginia Gov. James Gilmore lashed out at the Clinton administration and presidential candidate Al Gore here Monday morning while warning of a stalemate on the panel charged with providing recommendations to Congress on whether or how to tax Internet transactions.

Can you imagine Mr. Gore sending a tax bill to some company located in China for refusing to pay internet taxes? What a joke but it's somehow not very funny.
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Creative "NV-15" sneak peek.
Posted: 03/14/2000     Source: Bjorn's 3D World  Added by: Kim Heise
Hopefully within the next couple of days nVidia will be announcing the official specs on the upcoming successors to the GeForce 256 dubbed the "NV-10" and the "NV-15". In the meantime Creative Lab's have posted some specs on the "NV-15" and here they are (in no particular order):

* 32 Mb DDR memory
* 0.18 micron
* Over 1 GigaTexel fillrate
* 4 dual-texture pipelines
* TV-out via daughter-card (the idea is that you will only ahve to buy the TV-out board once and continue use it on future Creative products. This isn't finalized yet)

Now that's more like it! If these specs are indeed the official hardware configuration of the "NV-15" then we can see some serious video performance gains in the next generation video cards. It will crush today's video card speed king - the GeForce 256 DDR.

Again, I need not remind you that these specs are not official from nVidia so anything could change but if Creative Lab's has posted them, it is most likely fairly accurate.
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Sun to offer source code for Java tool.
Posted: 03/14/2000     Source: CNET  Added by: Kim Heise
In a effort to keep Java popular, Sun is releasing the source code for their Java development tool. Here's a clip:

Sun Microsystems plans to release the source code for its Java software development tool in a bid to make the Java programming language more popular.

Sun executives said today the company will soon release the code for its "Forte for Java, Community Edition," a free, easy-to-use tool that offers software developers a graphical user interface for designing Java applications.
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AT&T Offers Flat Rate Wireless Internet For Businesses.
Posted: 03/14/2000     Source: EFront  Added by: Kim Heise
AT&T [NYSE: T] today launched its new PocketNet flat-rate pricing plan to provide businesses with all-you-can-use Internet access using a wireless telephone.

PocketNet accesses corporate databases, e-mail, schedules and contact information via the AT&T Wireless IP (Internet Protocol) network and a new, large-screen wireless phone made by Mitsubishi. Packet-based technology allows multiple users to share the network at the same time. The offer is good in 3,000 US cities.

<SNIP>

Under the PocketNet system, corporate customers pay a flat monthly rate of $14.99 per user for unlimited Wireless IP use with the AT&T Digital One Rate or AT&T Group Calling voice service. Combined with other AT&T Digital PCS (personal communications services) rate plans, the monthly cost is $19.99.
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First Worldwide Voice & Data Over IP Launched, By Equant .
Posted: 03/14/2000     Source: News Bytes  Added by: Kim Heise
Here's another internet history maker in the news today. Keep an eye on their stock value as you can expect some major movement. Not really much to add to this article other than it is something rather noteworthy.

Equant [NYSE:ENT], a telecommunications carrier providing voice, data, and Internet services around the world, today launched what it claims is the world's first global, fully integrated voice and data over IP (Internet Protocol) offering. The announcement was made in New York City in conjunction with a series of global demonstrations to underline the service's power and affordability.

In an interview with Newsbytes, Marty Filipowski, a spokesperson for Equant, said that for the first time, businesses can tap the power of high-quality integrated voice and data service over IP and make phone calls, fax, transfer files, stream live or stored video, and perform data conferencing....all simultaneously, and over the same network connection.
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Ultra ATA 66 Hard Drive Roundup.
Posted: 03/14/2000     Source: Anandtech  Added by: Kim Heise
That very bright guy Anand has posted a review of all the top ATA-66 hard drives on the market and compares their relative performance under Windows 9x/NT and Windows 2000. Well worth the read if you plan on adding more drive space to your system.
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Plextor Plexwriter 12/4/32 CD-Rewritable review.
Posted: 03/14/2000     Source: GamePC  Added by: Kim Heise
If you are confused with all the CD ROM recorders on the market then you should read this review of the Plexwriter 12/24/32 which is the best recorder you can find. Read the full review here over at GamePC. What makes this recorder stand apart from the competition is the quality and sheer number of features. 

Trying to decided whether to purchase an IDE or a SCSI version makes no difference except SCSI costs more money. There used to be a time when SCSI CD recorders were the way to go but now IDE recorders have become so reliable that it no longer matters.

If you perform daily backups on your system then this 12x write version is the one to choose, but if you simply record CD's once or twice a week then you should look at the 8x recordable version which costs significantly less.
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DTI Virtual 3D Window 2018xl Review.
Posted: 03/14/2000     Source: Gamewire  Added by: Kim Heise
Gamewire reviews the (to my knowledge) only flatscreen monitor with 3D viewing capabilities and you do not have to wear those uncomfortable 3D glasses. The price of the demo model was around $11,000! Fear not for it should be available for around $1,000 when it's finally available to the public.

The 3d aspect is very hard to describe in and of itself. You really have to see it to believe it. I know that sounds corny, but it’s true. I was really skeptical, as I said earlier, but there really is a difference between hearing someone talk about it and seeing it for yourself. Basically everything comes off the screen at you in 3d mode. 

Sounds very interesting to me and I'm very happy that I've been holding off purchasing a flat screen monitor with this one on the horizon.
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New Savage 4 video drivers.
Posted: 03/14/2000     Source: DiamondMM  Added by: Kim Heise
Diamond/S3 have released new reference video drivers for Savage 4 based video cards such as the Diamond Viper II. These new reference drivers are version 8.20.11 and you can download them here for Windows 9x. 
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Tech News for Monday March 13th 2000.

Microsoft "X-Box" impressions.
Posted: 03/13/2000     Source: N/A  Added by: Kim Heise
Is it me? - or is it simply strange that Microsoft will be release a new gaming console almost a year after announced with hardware components that will be useless, at best. Maybe the whole story is not so cut and dry.....

If the company were to release the X-Box within the next couple of weeks with the current hardware configuration it would be impressive. Let's take a look at the specs for Microsoft's "X-Box" compared to the Sony Playstation II:

Source: TweakTown.

Compared 1 on 1, the Microsoft "X-Box" simply decimates the Sony Playstation II but the Playstation II is going to be on the market in 6 months. By the time the Microsoft "X-Box" ships, the market is well saturated with Playstation II titles and it's going to be tough competition to break the market.

Why is Microsoft doing this? During lunch today I had a quick chat with my good friend Andrew about Microsoft's strategy and this is what he thought: Microsoft is simply trying to dilute the market enough to confuse the average consumer about which system to purchase. Rather smart, if you ask me. Think about it: If the Playstation II ships without any possible rivals, then simply sweeps away the competition. Here comes Microsoft and "stirs" the pot a little and creates some confusion so the average buyer hesitates. Sounds like marketing strategy to me and a very smart move by Microsoft.

The other side of the coin: Sure, the hardware components will be outdated in a year and a half but who cares because gaming consoles are always far behind the high end gaming PC systems. It's a different market. The same people who go out and purchase a GeForce 256 DDR video card are not likely to go buy a Nintendo 64 or Playstation I because those consoles are far outdated. The average consumer on the other hand, is very comfortable spending hundreds of dollars purchasing additions for the well matured home console market. The average consumer wants a box they can plug into any TV and not have to worry about the latest and greatest patches. 

In a nutshell, the average consumer is not going to care much about whether the 600mhz Pentium III is going to to be a paperweight or not compared to the high end PC's on the market at the time. Just maybe Microsoft has the nerves to pull this one off. They just keep the market confused long enough to ship the X-Box and wait until the combined hardware cost falls below $300.00. Very smart.
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Peeking into the world of Anandtech.
Posted: 03/13/2000     Source: Nando Times  Added by: Kim Heise
Take a road trip into the world of Anand Shimpi who is a 17year kid who runs Anandtech and takes home more than a million dollars a year via his web site. Read it and weep.

RALEIGH, N.C. (March 12, 2000 9:23 a.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - Anand Shimpi could make just about anyone feel like a failure. The 17-year-old high school senior is creator and CEO of an Internet company that reviews computer hardware and is on track to bring in more than $1 million in ad revenue this year. Between school and 60-hour workweeks, he manages to study enough to be an honors student and play enough to have a close circle of friends and a steady girlfriend.

He goes to corporate VIP parties in Las Vegas, and comes home from school to find urgent messages from Intel computer executives. He just moved into a bigger house to make room for his business, and his mom is one of his 15 employees. He drives a $49,000 BMW Z3 convertible to Enloe High School in Raleigh.
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Maxtor announces two new hard drives.
Posted: 03/13/2000     Source: Maxtor  Added by: Kim Heise
Maxtor has announced two new hard drives, the DiamondMax VL30 and the DiamondMax 60. The DiamondMax 60 holds 45GB or 60GB of drive space while the VL30 holds 15GB or 30GB of drive space, depending on which model you pick.

DiamondMax 60
The DiamondMax 60, available in 60 GB and 45 GB capacities, is a superior storage solution for high-end desktop systems. With Maxtor's DualWave^TM microprocessor and large 2MB buffer, it can seamlessly handle tremendous graphic arts, MP3 files, large corporate files and other demanding Internet and multimedia applications. The four-disk design and leadership areal density make the DiamondMax 60 an ideal solution for content-rich, storage intensive applications.

DiamondMax VL30
Maxtor's DiamondMax VL30, providing 15 GB or 30 GB of storage, is the next mainstream product for entry-level PCs and other cost-sensitive applications. It provides superior performance while continuing Maxtor's aggressive approach to lowering costs. The DiamondMax VL30 includes many of the performance enhancements of the DiamondMax line, in a one- and two-disk, cost-optimized design.
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Athlon Cooler Roundup.
Posted: 03/13/2000     Source: Anandtech  Added by: Kim Heise
Anandtech has posted a full review on the best cooler systems for your AMD Athlon PC. If you plan on building a AMD Athlon system or are having trouble keeping your system cool, then this article is tailored for you.
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Interview: GNU guru Richard Stallman.
Posted: 03/13/2000     Source: ZDNET  Added by: Kim Heise
ZDNET has post a candid interview the "father" of free software. Richard Stallman is the man behind the GNU project that allows users to share software and information freely. If you've worked with any UNIX platform then you've heard of GNU several times. 

The president of the Free Software Foundation and founder of the free-software movement speaks out against UCITA.
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Creative "Nomad II" MP3 portable player review.
Posted: 03/13/2000     Source: Tbreak  Added by: Kim Heise
Creative Labs has released version 2 of their popular MP3 player and Tbreak takes it for a test drive. Would it be unwise to predict that even CD's will be a thing of the past and we will simply purchase all our music online and download into personal MPX player? Companies have already developed "smart" music devices that contain unique ID numbers which means when you purchase songs for your player, those songs will only work on your player. 

Calling Nomad II an MP3 player would be like calling the PC a games machine. Sure you can play games on the PC but that’s not the only thing you can do on it. Similarly the Nomad II is much more than an MP3 player. It can tune into your favorite FM station or take voice notes. And currently, it’s also the only player that can upgrade itself to support future audio formats making it nearly obsolete-free! That alone puts the Nomad II above all other MP3 player, but along with USB functions, an easy-to-use GUI and a great software bundle Nomad II is way ahead of its competition.
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Corel, Intel Plan Cheap Linux PC.
Posted: 03/13/2000     Source: TechWeb  Added by: Kim Heise
Although this is Friday's news it's still worth posting better late than never....

TORONTO -- Canadian software maker Corel, chip maker Intel, and unnamed hardware manufacturers are collaborating on a line of cheap PCs that will run on the Linux operating system, unconfirmed reports in a Toronto newspaper said.
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IBM Signs Open Platform Wireless Web Deals.
Posted: 03/13/2000     Source: TechWeb  Added by: Kim Heise
This is big in the news today and it appears that "Big Blue" is getting involved in the wireless business. It doesn't take a IT CEO to realize that the future is wireless communications and the sooner you get involved the better.

LONDON -- IBM said on Monday it had formed a string of strategic partnerships with top wireless and Internet names in Europe and the United States to serve the burgeoning market for electronic business on handheld devices.
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Net2Phone inks deal with RealNetworks.
Posted: 03/13/2000     Source: CNET  Added by: Kim Heise
Is this the future? Will all phone communications run over the internet? I'm sure the major phone companies are getting nervous over these fairly new companies that are developing systems for voice over internet. This means long distance calls will be significantly cheaper and not to mention the reduced cost on international calls. My brother has called me from overseas several times with Net2Phone via his 28,800 modem and the line quality is surprisingly good although it still needs a little work. Once broadband wireless communication becomes the norm it's going to become the standard for using the internet for voice.

Net2Phone, which sells Internet telephone service, said it will bundle its software for making calls on the Web with online music and video-player software from RealNetworks.
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China Lightens Up On Encryption Rules .
Posted: 03/13/2000     Source: News-Bytes  Added by: Kim Heise
Just a quick FYI and worldwide developments with the Internet. 

The world business community is breathing easier today after China reportedly announced it has eased tough restrictions on encryption technology.

A Reuters report today said the government agency responsible for enforcing Internet rules has exempted a wide range of consumer software and equipment - including mobile phones and Microsoft Windows, and added it would not insist on keeping trusteeship of company encryption keys.

The report said that the State Encryption Management Commission sent a "clarification" letter to US businesses in China last week which modified the hard position the government had taken when new rules were adopted Jan. 31.
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Microsoft to Choose Intel for X-Box gaming system.
Posted: 03/13/2000     Source: E-Front  Added by: Kim Heise
Not sure if you have heard at this point that Microsoft decided to shake hands with Intel and not AMD on the upcoming gaming console called the "X-Box". Several industry analysis's are mulling the whole deal over and you will see several news posts out there with all sorts of speculation. Here's an example from E-Front news service:

Microsoft announced it has decided to use Intel chips, rather than rival AMD's, for its "X-Box" game console.

The X-Box will use "Intel Pentium III processor technology with Streaming SIMD Extensions" acording to a press release. As well as "More than three times the graphics performance of the newest-generation game consoles will be offered. Co-developed with experts at NVIDIA, the custom-designed graphics chip will deliver more than 200 million polygons per second."

The X-Box, which is still in prototype and should not be on the market until fall of 2001, will use an intel processor running at 600 megahertz (as compared to Nintendo64's 93.75Mhz.)

I still think it's a bad idea releasing this game box as late as fall of 2001 because those specs you see on the X-Box right now will be obsolete and the Sony Playstation 2 will be well matured into the market by then. Then again, stranger things have happened in the past due to smooth marketing.....
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Tech News for Friday March 10th 2000.

Site News Update.
Posted: 03/10/2000     Source: N/A  Added by: Kim Heise
Today is a very slow news day except for the relatively big announcement my Microsoft on the X-Box. 

As far as the poll, it appears as if most of you are waiting for Windows Millennium. Second place winner goes to Windows 2000 and then Linux & Solaris take in third place. 

My wife and I will be out of town this weekend to enjoy another one of her big prize wins. If you send me an email, it could be Sunday or even Monday before getting a reply.

Have a good weekend.
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Official specs. on Microsoft's X-Box.
Posted: 03/10/2000     Source: ZDNET  Added by: Kim Heise
Expect a full press release sometime today from Microsoft regarding the new X-Box gaming console. In the meantime, ZDNET has posted some official specs on the "Playstation 2-Killer".

Update: Microsoft has opened the official X-Box web site.

The Xbox is rumored to ship with 64MB of system and video RAM, will have an 8GB hard drive, and will be powered by a 650MHz version of AMD's Athlon CPU.

Contrary to previous reports, however, the Xbox will not be using a GeForce 256 as its primary graphics processor. Instead, Microsoft has supposedly opted to use a future chip from Nvidia -- most likely the NV11 or NV15.

My gut feeling is that Microsoft is going to face a steep uphill since the "X-Box" is not going to ship until Fall 2001. By Fall of 2001 the specs you see posted above are ridiculously dated and the Playstation 2 will most surely have anchored itself firmly in the consumer market with literally hundreds of software titles.
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Tech News for Thursday March 9th 2000.

RDRAM production on the rise.
Posted: 03/09/2000     Source: EETIMES  Added by: Kim Heise
Rambus production has been moved into overdrive to try and keep up with the demand. What demand, I ask you? I'm not aware of anyone who has $700 of spare change to purchase 128mb of RDRAM or RAMBUS memory. RAMBUS is the much hyped memory that is being supported by Intel on their new i820 chipsets. The reason why I say hype is because RAMBUS performance is approximately 5% faster than today's standard SDRAM.

Early predictions were that RAMBUS is going to be something of the past before the average consumers and OEM's (Original Equipment Manufacturer) decide to adopt it because of the problems Intel is having with RAMBUS motherboards. Not to mention the outrageous price.

The problem is that these days marketing is everything. It is not always the case where the best product wins. The whole computer industry is played by the rule on whichever technology has the strongest marketing drive, wins.

If RDRAM demand does increase, Hyundai said, it will also expand production. The company is already expanding RDRAM production lines at its plant in Chungju, South Korea, and is preparing to produce as many as 5 million units/month there.
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More on the new ATI Rage6.
Posted: 03/09/2000     Source: IXBT  Added by: Kim Heise
IXBT Labs previews ATI's upcoming Rage6 video card. The features on this new video card are simply staggering in comparison to anything on the market today. My concern is that ATI has picked up the habit of releasing announced hardware significantly later than anticipated and by then the competition has surpassed them. Launch date is expected to be Q2 2000. 

Here's a list of some of the 3D features:

• Supports:
  • DXTC, S3TC texture compression via software
  • Single-pass multitexturing
  • Single-pass tri-linear filtering
  • Single-pass anisotropic filtering with 24bit texture samples
  • Full-scene anti-aliasing (FSAA)
  • Per-Pixel MIP-mapping
  • Gouraud shading and specular surfaces
  • Specular lighting and diffuse shading
• Shadowing for each separate light source with the help of a special Priority Buffer
• Texture superposing with perspective correction and at different levels of detail with color saturation correction
• Full Direct3D lighting model support
• Table, range-based and vertex fog
• Integrated interface for external TV encoder
• ICD OGL

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FreeBSD 4.0: New release candidate?
Posted: 03/09/2000     Source: 3D Chipset  Added by: Kim Heise
While browsing the FreeBSD FTP site this morning I discovered a new build of version 4.0. No idea if this is the final or if it's simply another release candidate. The "snapshot" is dated 03/07/2000.

This is perfect timing since I need to rebuild my FreeBSD server tonight and was considering installing 4.0 instead of the last stable release which is 3.4.

Keep checking back the web site for more information. I will post an update as soon as I hear something.
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Matrox G800 specs revealed.
Posted: 03/09/2000     Source: 3D Chipset  Added by: Kim Heise
There is some very interesting information on 3D Chipset's web site on the new Matrox G800. Unfortunately I cannot post entries from the article because apparently the information violates Matrox's NDA (non-disclosure agreement.). 

If you visit the link above and it is no longer valid then you can guess that the article was forcibly removed by lawyers from Matrox.

All I can say is that it will support hardware T&L (Transformation and Lighting) and should ship sometime in the July to August 2000 timeframe.
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Theater chains link up to sell movie tickets online.
Posted: 03/09/2000     Source: CNET  Added by: Kim Heise
Nothing overly exciting but very practical. Soon you will be able to purchase your movie tickets online and print them out on your very own printer. 
No more standing in line for tickets while waiting to see the latest box-office movie. Think Star-Wars :EP2.

Six major movie house chains today said they plan to launch a new company to sell tickets via the Web and the telephone.

Loews Cineplex Entertainment, Regal Cinemas, Cinemark Theaters, General Cinema Theaters, Edwards Theaters and Century Theaters are the founding members of the new company, with additional funding from venture firms General Atlantic Partners and Accretive Technology Partners.
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Sony Playstation II hardware problems.
Posted: 03/09/2000     Source: Gaming Age  Added by: Kim Heise
As the Sony Playstation II ships in Japan some hardware problems are already being reported. Apparently something slipped by the Q&A department at Sony.

Vendors in Japan and Asia have notified NCS of numerous issues with the Playstation 2 8M memory card. It appears that playing Ridge Racer V will cause corruption of the card data which in turn destroys the DVD drivers that are loaded onto the card. DVD functionality is thus removed from the PS2 and the user will have to re-load the DVD drivers onto the 8M card. Sony have issued an official recall of the PS2 memory card in Japan.

Other problems reported to NCS over the past 48 hours include "skippy" DVD playback where the sound skips intermittently when watching a movie on the PS2. The DVD drivers also appear to have problems recognizing Japanese region 2 DVDs as valid media, and rejects attempts at playback. Finally, double sided, dual layer DVDs require numerous attempts before the PS2 will accept the disc or perform the layer switch. As such, any PS2 units that NCS imports this week will contain a defective PS2 memory card that will need to be returned to our vendors. If the problem is more severe and somehow related to the actual PS2 hardware, NCS will not offer the console for sale until all issues are resolved. At this time however, the problems appear to be limited to the memory card and DVD drivers.

I suspect these problems will be resolved before the systems ship here in the US.
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Tweaking your Windows Registry.
Posted: 03/09/2000     Source: 3D Spotlight  Added by: Kim Heise
3D Spotlight takes you through a tour on tweaking the Windows registry files. Please be very careful when modifying entries in the Windows registry as you will render your PC useless if you are not sure what you are doing.

As the article suggests, backup your system registry before making any changes. For those of you who are not familiar with the Windows registry, it is the system core files that contain just about everything specific to your hardware and software configuration.
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Tech News for Wednesday March 8th 2000.

Intel Pentium III 1ghz reviews.
Posted: 03/08/2000     Source: nVNews  Added by: Kim Heise
The first couple of P3 1ghz reviews are trickling in and expect a whole slew more. 

• Anand Tech and the 1GHz Intel
  
• Sharky Extreme and the 1GHz Intel

Basic benchmarks against the AMD K7 1ghz show's the P3 falling behind unless the benchmarks/applications are tweaked for Intel SIMD instructions. I must agree with Anandtech that for the price of the 1ghz CPU it would appear to be more practical to purchase a slower CPU and then overclock it. Isn't this always the case?
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VeriSign to Buy Out Network Solutions.
Posted: 03/08/2000     Source: Beta-News  Added by: Kim Heise
Not much to add here but important news anyway.
VeriSign Inc., said today that they plan to buy Network Solutions Inc. in a $21 billion deal. Under the deal, VeriSign, will “issue 2.15 shares of its stock for each share of Network Solutions that existed prior to a 2-for-1 split due to be completed on Friday,” according to the press release.

The companies said that the deal already has been approved by both companies' boards, but still must be approved by shareholders. Network Solutions will become a subsidiary of VeriSign and that Network Solutions chief executive officer Jim Rutt will continue as CEO of the subsidiary.
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Microsoft's New "X-Box" Game Powered PC.
Posted: 03/08/2000     Source: Beta-News  Added by: Kim Heise
This Friday is the big day when Microsoft will announced their new X-Box gaming console. As you might have heard Microsoft is directing the heavy guns directly at the Sony Playstation II. The hardware specs on the X-Box are rather impressive. See for yourself:

Yesterday the San Jose Mercury News reported that the consoles would contain a 600 megahertz processor, 128 megabytes of random-access memory - the same stuff found on current high-end PCs - and a new version of the Windows operating system.

 Read the full article here. As soon as the full press release shows up, I will post a link.
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SC30 and DI30 TapeDrive Review.
Posted: 03/08/2000     Source: Dan's Data  Added by: Kim Heise
These are very reasonably priced tape drives that offer superb speed and storage capacity. Most of us are most likely using CD-R/W drives as a backup medium but for larger backups CDR's are not very practical.

The DI30 version stores 14gb (or 30gb compressed) and uses your onboard IDE controller for roughly $299.00 The SC30 is SCSI2 based and offers better performance but it's price is at $499.00. If these prices still strike you as being too costly, you can compare them to current SCSI2 DAT tape drives that cost well over $800-$1000 or more.

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Memory problems with Dell laptops.
Posted: 03/08/2000     Source: ZDNET  Added by: Kim Heise
If you own a Dell laptop then you had better read this article from ZDNET and check to make sure you are in the clear. Here's a couple of excerpts...

The notebooks that may be affected include Latitude CPiA, CPiR, CPt, CPx and CS models; as well as Inspiron 3500, 3700, 7000 and 7500 models, according to a letter Dell began sending to customers about two weeks ago, which was viewed by ZDNet News.

Dell Computer Corp. (Nasdaq: DELL) has acknowledged that a memory problem with certain models in its Latitude and Inspiron notebook lines could be the root of symptoms that include system hangs or Windows "blue screen" errors.

When a notebook goes into suspend or sleep mode, it either suspends to memory or suspends to disk. When it suspends to memory the default setting on these Dell notebooks is to place a user's data in the system RAM.
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ATi Charisma Engine Revealed.
Posted: 03/08/2000     Source: Hot Hardware  Added by: Kim Heise
nVidia might have competition knocking on their door sooner than later. ATI has revealed a new 3D graphics engine that is very impressive that puts the nVidia GeForce to shame. No idea when this will actually see the light of day and you can be assured that nVidia has a "hat-trick" hidden away somewhere.

Things are beginning to heat up for this years Game Developer's Conference. With only a day to go before the event, manufacturers are releasing the news on their latest technology in what seems like flood level proportion. Today, ATI Technologies contacted us with information on what will be their "bomb dropping" arsenal that will most likely cause quite a stir at the show.

Hot Hardware will not be able to attend this event so we had a teleconference call set up with Niles Burbank, Group Product Manager at ATI, to discuss the buzz, hype and cold hard facts about their next generation product code named the "R6" that supports their new "Charisma Engine" and "Pixel Tapestry" architecture. Here's what we found out.
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Intel releases 1ghz CPU's.
Posted: 03/08/2000     Source: ZDNET  Added by: Kim Heise
After having lost the 1ghz race to AMD, Intel is going to release their 1ghz CPU today. Who know when the public will actually see one of these Intel 1ghz chips since the company is still having problems keeping up with production on the 800mhz CPU's.

Intel Corp. Wednesday broke the gigahertz barrier with a 1GHz, or 1,000MHz, Pentium III chip.
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