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Tech News for Thursday May 25th 2000.Intel
CPU shortage likely to last another year. This is good news for AMD and Transmeta who are currently making fast in-roads into Intel's market share. Intel expects a tight supply position in the semiconductor industry for another 12 months as components run short, president and CEO Craig Barrett said today."There is nil balance between supply and demand," Barrett told a news conference in response to a question on the state of the semiconductor industry. New
virus attacks Microsoft's Outlook. There is another new virus on the roam that only hits Microsoft Outlook users. Here's the details from CNET: The virus, much like the "I Love You" virus, also spreads through Microsoft's software, Computer Associates said. Cybernet appears as an email with a subject line "You've Got Mail!!!" and says it's virus free, but it will try to format a computer user's hard drive and infect Microsoft Word or Excel files. Cybernet can overload email servers because it attaches to the first 50 entries in a person's Microsoft Outlook address book. Mac
OS X Developer Preview 4. Ars-Technica takes Mac's latest developer preview release of OS X for a test drive. Mac OS X DP4 was released on
May 15th at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference. It is the second developer
release to include the Aqua
user interface. As usual, I'll begin this article with an exploration of some of
the core technologies in DP4 before moving on to the (increasingly depressing)
gooey bits. (Note that some of the technical features covered in this article
have been in Mac OS X since earlier releases but were not included in previous
articles due to a lack of documentation and/or space and time constraints.) The
later discussion of the GUI and user experience, will focus on new features of
DP4 and the differences between DP4 and earlier releases. New
Intel Chipsets. Tehama, the 850
chipset, will only support single processors, has a 400MHz data bus, will
support both PC600 and PC800 Rambus memory with a claimed performance spec of
x-111@400 MHz. Cisco
Launches Internet Communications Group. Cisco Systems added another piece to the convergence puzzle with a new Internet Communications Software Group (ICSG), charged with forwarding the company's software strategy. "We're helping accelerate the delivery of the true value of convergence," said Eugene Lee, vice president of marketing at Cisco ICSG. Cisco's ICSG will offer software geared for Internet communications, and include a customer contact platform and a unified communications platform. The customer contact platform will enable CRM services that will help enhance the customer experience for voice and Internet communications, including contact management, Web collaboration, e-mail response management, and VoIP telephony networking solutions. The unified communications platform, which has afive-phase strategy for deployment, will blend voice and data networks to create a seamless path for messaging, call control, notification, and call management, according to the company. To support the group, Cisco (stock: CSCO) is working with its traditional channel partners as well as recruiting a new breed of partners that includes consultant integrators, ASPs, and outsourcers. PDA
Problems. Several reports stated that Palm PDA's are becoming more scarce daily because the PDA's share components with cell-phones and apparently there is a major shortage of these components. Read about the Palm PDA component shortage here. Also Windows CE 3.0 based HP PDA's are not capable of showing the advertised 65,000 colors and only show approximately 4,000 colors. Read the full article here. The new HP Jornada 540 series Pocket PC handheld device offers a roughly 4,000-color display, the company confirmed today, rather than the 65,000 colors the company initially promised and advertised--a resolution the new Windows CE operating system supports. Intel
"Itanium" CPU prices. Make sure you take a deep breath before you read the next paragraph: The 800/266 with 4MB of cache will cost a staggering $4227 at launch, the 800/266 Itanium with 2MB of cache will cost $1980 at launch, the 733/266 Itanium with 4MB of cache will cost a staggering $4227 at launch, and the 733/266 Itanium with 2MB of cache will cost $1177. Surely some mistake here, vis-a-vis the 800/266 and the 733/266, which are priced the same? But that's what the roadmap says. Almador:
DDR SDRAM chipset For Pentium III. This news article doesn't surprise me one bit. Intel's expensive RAMBUS memory is not going to give the memory performance edge and market gain that the company expected. So what does Intel do? Design a special BX chipset that supports DDR (Double-Data Rate) SDRAM. Intel is developing a chipset that will support (DDR?)-SDRAM. This chipset carries the code name 'Almador', not 'Armador', and is scheduled for the beginning of 2001. Our latest information shows however, that 'Almador' is not a chipset for Intel's next generation IA32 processor with the code name 'Willamette', but for the upcoming low-voltage 'Coppermine'. Those future 'Coppermine' processors are nothing mystical; they are not just notebook CPUs, but the next generation Pentium III processors manufactured in 0.13 micron process. Thus the GTL+ signals will carry 1.3 V instead of the 1.5 V that are used by 'Coppermine' Pentium III right now. You can imagine, that the lower GTL+-voltage requires a new chipset and that's what 'Almador' is going to be. Site
News Update. This has been a busy week for me and I'm going to be off to Acapulco, Mexico from Friday until Monday on a trip that my wife won with Pepsi. I'm going to leave anything electronic at home (except my Palm Pilot) so there will be no news updates starting Friday until Monday. Have a good and safe Memorial weekend. Tech News for Tuesday May 23d 2000.VA
Linux reports strong revenue, beats estimates. Computer maker VA Linux Systems today reported quarterly revenues of $34.6 million and a net loss 10 cents better than expected. Analysts surveyed by First Call/Thompson Financial expected a loss of 23 cents per share for the fiscal third quarter, which ended April 28. Excluding non-cash items, VA reported a net loss of 13 cents per share, the company said. Excluding non-cash charges, net losses declined from $6.3 million the previous quarter to $4.5 million in the third quarter, the company said. Revenue this quarter grew 71 percent from the previous quarter's $20.2 million and 710 percent from the same quarter a year ago. "It was a fantastic third quarter by almost any measure," VA chief executive Larry Augustin boasted in a conference call. Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown analyst Phil Reuppel agreed, calling it a "breakthrough quarter." VA Linux makes Intel-based computers with the Linux operating system, a clone of Unix and competitor to Windows created by a host of programmers. The company's revenues come chiefly from hardware sales, but the company wants to increase the amount it earns from services such as customization and consulting. Yahoo
security bugs raise questions. This makes me a little nervous because I use Yahoo instant messenger to communicate with my family back home in South Africa. With all the IT rush development going on in the industry, it is not surprising that security holes are everywhere. For the third time in recent months, Yahoo has acknowledged software glitches that have compromised the integrity of people's accounts. In the current instance, "My Yahoo" account holders found themselves shut out of their accounts, in some cases finding that other people had signed up successfully with their usernames. "Apparently someone else opened an account with the same username," one account holder wrote in an email to CNET News.com. "I no longer have access to anything...This is especially frustrating because among other things, I use Yahoo Wallet (which has my credit card information), Yahoo Address Book (my personal contact and phone numbers), Yahoo Briefcase (with files I don't want anyone else to see), Yahoo Photos (my vacation pictures)..." A Yahoo representative said the problem did not expose any personal information, though it did shut people out of their accounts until they were reinstated. Windows
Me Release Candidate 1 Finally Confirmed. Looks like Microsoft is going to make the launch date in time for Windows Millennium. Microsoft today finally confirmed that build 2525.6 released last week has been classed as Release Candidate 1. There isn't much else to add on the matter apart from saying that the final release is getting closer and closer. DRAM
Shortage Through 2002. I'm not fully sure what to make of this article. This either means RAM prices are going to go through the ceiling in the next couple of months or DRAM manufacturers are simply trying to scare the market to increase rapid demand for memory. My gut feeling is the same as some of the comments in this article that it's simply another marketing tactic to reduce inventory. In what would be the most significant DRAM market change in several years, market researcher Dataquest has forecast that demand for DRAMs will exceed supply starting mid-year and won't let up until late 2002. The change could mean that allocation and long-term contract pricing will soon become the norm -- a situation that hasn't occurred since the mid-1990s. The contract price of a 64-Mbit SDRAM is in the $6.50 to $7 range, and will likely move into the $7 to $7.50 range by the third quarter, according to Dataquest, San Jose, Calif. Based on the industry's available capacity between now and 2002, the price of DRAM should stay around $1 per megabyte or perhaps increase for the next two years, said Jim Handy, director and principal analyst at Dataquest, a division of GartnerGroup. Nasdaq
to slash prices for real-time quotes. In a move that could make real-time stock quotes more widely available, the Nasdaq intends to slash prices for individual investors. The exchange, which is home to hundreds of technology companies, today announced that it will reduce the monthly price of real-time stock quotes for nonprofessionals to $10 from $50. The price reduction must be approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Nasdaq did not indicate when the approval may be received or when the lower prices would become effective. The price cut would apply to online brokers that offer the premium service to customers. Most brokers and Web sites offer quotes that are delayed 20 minutes. Nasdaq Quotation Dissemination Service (NQDS), also referred to as Nasdaq Level 2, allows subscribers to view real-time quotes for thousands of Nasdaq securities. Fujitsu,
AMD plan $1.4 billion chip plant. AMD is determined not to repeat the mistakes of the past by building another chip plant to make sure the company can keep up with the demand on the Athlon series CPU. Major Japanese personal computer maker Fujitsu plans to build a new plant in a joint venture with Advanced Micro Devices at a cost of some 150 billion yen ($1.4 billion), according to a report. Software
Updates. eFront news has posted two useful updated Windows software programs:
IBM
to Unveil Breakthrough In Chip Speed. It's very difficult not to get over-excited by news like this and not stumble on the hype that flows from press releases. Until I actually see the technology available in the retail channel it is safer to take it with a "pinch of salt". IBM today will unveil the first products containing a breakthrough semiconductor technology that is considered likely to spread across the industry. Called silicon-on-insulator, or SOI, the technology increases a chip's speed and reduces its power consumption. It involves putting a thin layer of silicon, then an insulating layer, under the millions of tiny metal-oxide transistors, or switches, that do the work inside the chip. The net effect is to make it possible to turn these switches on and off with less electricity and therefore faster -- about 20 to 30 percent faster, according to IBM. RealPlayer
8 Beta Released. This must be the week for beta-releases: RealNetworks has released the first beta of Real Player 8.0, its flagship software. RealNetworks has been the leader in streaming Internet content until recently when Microsoft announced the Windows Media Player would offer better streaming capabilities with a plethora of other services including a media guide and advanced multimedia content cataloguing abilities.Now with more competition, RealPlayer 8 hopes to quell any chance of a Windows Media Player uprising, although reviews of the latest Microsoft creation have not been the extremely positive response the software giant had hoped for. Version 8 of the powerful software features an integrated Real.com media guide, which RealNetworks boasts allows uers to "quickly pinpoint the A/V programming you want." The Real.com radio tuner has been integrated into the latest version, along with advanced visualization options to further enjoy your music. Microsoft
patches Windows security hole.
The patch fixes a hole found in its currently marketed operating systems: Microsoft's Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000. The hole permits hackers to crash Windows-based computers with a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. In these types of attacks, a hacker plants code in computers or Web site servers over the Internet that causes them to email thousands of messages to a site at the same time. Sites for Slashdot.org, eBay, Yahoo and others slowed to a crawl earlier this year from DDoS attacks. "A malicious user would send a continuous stream of IP (Internet protocol) fragments with particular type of malformation," said Scott Culp, a program manager in Microsoft's security group. "Your machine would spend all its time trying to reassemble them. It doesn't crash, just slows down quite a bit." Outlook
e-mail security update to protect against viruses. Microsoft has announced a new security
enhancement for the Microsoft® Outlook® messaging and collaboration client
that will soon be available for download from the Office
Update Web site. The Outlook E-mail Security Update is designed to thwart
the spread and impact of many computer viruses, including those similar to the
recent ILOVEYOU virus. To provide this enhanced security, the update does limit
some Outlook functionality. Weekly
CPU prices. Yes, it's that time already when Tech-Review posts this weeks CPU prices. Isn't it amazing that now CPU prices are dropping weekly? No major price drops to report other than Intel's 933mhz CPU which fell by $386 from last week to a still over-priced $874. I can imagine that hardware resellers are crying when they purchase a shipment of 933mhz CPU's last week and now have to sell them for almost $400 less. New
Intel Xeon Processors. Intel has released two new Xeon processors which are aimed at the very high end server market. Basically these new Xeon's have 1mb or 2mb of L2 cache. Make sure you are sitting down when you read the next sentence: In 1,000-unit quantities, Intel has priced the 700-MHz Xeon with 1-Mbyte of cache at $1,177. The 2-Mbyte option is $1,980. Tech News for Monday May 22nd 2000.Poor
sales claims Sega president. Both Sega and Nintendo are going to be fighting for their lives when Sony's Playstation 2 hits the US. The president of Sega Enterprises Ltd., Shoichiro Irimajiri, has been reassigned and is now vice chairman, according to an Associated Press report. Irimajiri will concentrate on design and development of a successor game system, the AP said, and Sega Chairman Isao Akawa will assume day-to-day responsibilities of running the company. Company officials in the United States said they could not confirm the report. Lagging sales of Dreamcast game consoles had contributed to three successive years of annual losses for the company. Jini:
Sun's incredible disappearing act. Let's face it that in this industry every news announcement should be considered as hype until you actually use the product yourself. If I had a Dollar for every press-release of a new product that never surfaced or that failed to live up to the hype, I could retire today. Like many circus sideshows, Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Jini has not lived up to its early hype. When Sun unveiled Jini nearly two years ago, the company promised that Jini-enabled devices would plug seamlessly into a network, find each other and use each other's services.In ringmaster and Sun (Nasdaq: SUNW) co-founder Bill Joy's grand vision, digital cameras would be able to plug into home networks and instantly tell a printer to print pictures. No PC would be required. Now, extend that example to include millions of Jini-enabled devices -- hand-held organizers, Web phones, pocket PCs, etc. -- and Joy's vision becomes a blueprint for Internet software dominance. IBM
to make copper chips for Compaq servers. Copper based CPU's use lower voltages and therefore operate significantly cooler. Compaq Computer said today that IBM will build Compaq's Alpha line of computer chips used to run its powerful business computers."IBM and Compaq have signed an agreement in which IBM will manufacture an Alpha copper chip for Compaq," said Compaq spokesman Dick Calandrella. IBM has developed advanced copper chip technology that boosts semiconductor performance. Calandrella did not have details about the value of the deal or how many chips will be manufactured. Compaq's line of Alpha chips, used in powerful business computers, dates back to the days of Digital Equipment, acquired by Compaq in 1998. When asked if the deal would replace an agreement with Samsung Electronics, which makes the Alpha chips, Calandrella said, "Absolutely not. The chips will be made by both IBM and Samsung." Calandrella added that future talks were expected for IBM to also make Alpha chips using its silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology, which allows for better performance by using lower power and generating less heat. "At some point in the future we will have some generation of Compaq alpha chip using IBM's SOI technology," he said. "We don't know when, only that there were plans to do that." RAM
Idle V1.0 If you are sick of Windows allocating all your memory and not freeing it up then you should try one of these tools. Ram Idle V1.0 can be configured to clear up some memory on Windows boot time or on a time schedule. RAM Idle is a freeware program
that designed for Windows 95/98/NT/2000. RAM Idle will increase your performance
by making more physical memory available for your system. This program wills
automatically freeing up a set amount of RAM and defragmenting it when a minimum
of free RAM is reached. This program will ensures your application loading
quickly and more responsive. Download the freeware version here. DirectX
8.0 Beta Available. DirectX beta testers were notified yesterday that version 8.0 of Microsoft's DirectX graphics rendering program would be available to begin testing today. This latest release of DirectX is expected to ship with Windows Millennium later this year, and will feature a new graphical input device control panel in DirectInput along with a multitude of other enhancements to its rendering capabilities. Runtime releases for Windows 9x and 2000 are expected this summer. For more information about DirectX visit the DirectX Web site. nVidia
Detonator v5.22 beta. 3D Chipset has leaked beta nVidia Detonator drivers for the TNT2/TNT2-Ultra/GeForce/GeForce2 video cards. Keep in mind that these are beta drivers so use with caution. I've been using the 5.22 beta drivers on my GeForce without any problems (so-far). Changes/fixes/additions: - Drivers enable FSAA support in
Direct3D Download the drivers here for Windows 9x. Hitechbits:
Old look. Most of the pages have been converted back to the original look. Thanks again for all the feedback and I will take the suggestions to heart and make some minor changes over the next couple of days. I promise: no more "radical" color changes ;) Most readers tend to agree that this look is old and simple but gets the job done. |
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