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Symantec updates Norton AntiVirus.
Posted: 08/20/2001  Source: ZDNET Added by: Kim Heise

Good news for testers using Windows XP and who wish to install virus protection. The previous version of Norton Antivirus (2001 Edition) does not work under Windows XP.

Security software maker Symantec announced the release of Norton AntiVirus 2002. The latest version of the software incorporates new security and usability features and works with Windows XP, Microsoft's new version of the Windows operating system. The software is available in stores and through Symantec now for $49.95, with a $20 rebate for those upgrading from a previous version of Norton AntiVirus.

Handspring chops Visor prices.
Posted: 08/20/2001  Source: ZDNET Added by: Kim Heise

The market is looking bleak for both Handspring and Palm Inc and it will be interesting to see what steps are taken to improve the market share and boost consumer interest.

If I could add my two cents of advice to both Handspring and Palm is stop releasing a new PDA every three months. In my humble opinion this is the very same business model that hurts Apple because the company also rolls out new products faster than consumers can adapt. Existing customers feel alienated by the companies as their purchase choice becomes obsolete far too quickly.

When products are released this rapidly you end up with sub-par quality and questionable improvements.

Handspring, the struggling maker of handheld computers, said Monday that it slashed prices on its Visor products by as much as 25 percent, a move that comes as electronics makers grapple with a glut of older models and weaker consumer demand.
Handspring, which lost $67 million in its fiscal fourth quarter, said it dropped the price of its Visor Edge handheld by $100 to $299, and made cuts on three other products.

In May, Palm, the largest maker of personal digital assistants, or PDAs, cut the price of its wireless model to $99.

Analysts had forecast stellar growth in demand for handheld computers, which can store personal information and also run more powerful computer programs. Handheld makers responded by boosting production, only to find that demand would not meet expectations.
 

Fujitsu reportedly to cut 15,000 jobs.
Posted: 08/20/2001  Source: ZDNET Added by: Kim Heise

Another major computer company decides to cut jobs - we are talking about 16,000 people with families who will be struggling for survival. Very tragic and unfortunate.

Once again, good luck to you all.

TOKYO--Japanese chip and computer conglomerate Fujitsu said on Monday it would slash 16,400 jobs, or nearly 10 percent of its global work force, sharply cutting offshore staff to fight back at the information-technology slump.
“The chip sector and the IT sector have seen an unprecedented deterioration,'' Fujitsu President Naoyuki Akikusa told a news conference.

The world's third-largest flash memory chip maker and Japan's second-biggest personal computer maker said it will cut 11,400 jobs abroad and 5,000 in Japan by next March, with nearly 2,000 of the overseas reductions already completed.

Fujitsu, which stunned financial markets in July with a loss warning, said the job cuts and reforms would help it generate a $3.3 billion operating profit in the year from April 2003, against a $664 million profit forecast in 2001/02.

Five Hollywood studios plan internet film service.
Posted: 08/20/2001  Source: TechWeb Added by: Kim Heise

Let's see if this plan actually surfaces for the consumers other than in a press release. Hollywood moguls are notorious for creating mega-plans and then simply go separate paths where "the tire meets the road" because of disagreements on market direction.

Sun offers Java VM alternative.
Posted: 08/20/2001  Source: TechWeb Added by: Kim Heise

Sun is smart to offer a VM (virtual machine) alternative for Windows users because Microsoft ultimately (for now) controls the environment under Windows XP.

Israeli "baby" computer learning to be an adult.
Posted: 08/20/2001  Source: Reuters/DailyNews Added by: Kim Heise

Here's an interesting news post found on Yahoo's daily news web site. The long term use for AI research is valuable and we are making significant strides thanks to the power of today's computers.

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Meet Hal. Like any 18-month-old toddler, he likes bananas, toys and playing in the park. He especially enjoys bedtime stories.

But while other children are flesh and blood, Hal is actually a chain of algorithms -- a computer program that is being raised as a child and taught to speak through experiential learning in the same way as human children.

``He is a curious, very clever child, someone that always wants to know more,'' said neuro-linguist Dr. Anat Treister-Goren who is Hal's ``mommy'' and readily admits her attachment.

``Some kids are more predictable than others. He would be the surprising type,'' she said. Treister-Goren talks to Hal and reads him stories in much the same way a mother teaches her young child to learn about colors, food and animals.

``I build his world on daily basis,'' explained Treister-Goren.

She heads the training department at the Israeli-based Artificial Intelligence (AI), where she inputs information and language ability through conversations with Hal and works with computer experts who fine-tune his algorithms to enhance performance.

The privately owned company, which is run by Israeli high-tech entrepreneur Jack Dunietz, aims over the next 10 years to develop Hal into an ``adult'' computer program that can do what no program has ever done before -- pass the Turing test.

The British mathematician Alan Turing is one of the founders of computer science and the father of artificial intelligence. More than 50 years ago he predicted the advent of ''thinking machines.''

But in Turing's time, computers were slow and cumbersome devices, utterly incapable of fulfilling his vision.

Turing, who died in 1954, left behind the benchmark test for an intelligent computer -- it must fool a person into thinking it is human. No computer program has ever succeeded.

If, or when one does, it will open a Pandora's box of ethical and philosophical questions. After all, if a computer is perceived to be as intelligent as a person, what is the difference between a smart computer and a human being?

XM Satellite to buy headquarters.
Posted: 08/20/2001  Source: NewsBytes Added by: Kim Heise

Various new automobile radio systems are offering support for future XM satellite radio. Imagine 24 hours of digital music in your car without annoying commercials and interruptions. This is very similar to the DMX system that is currently available.

XM Satellite Radio Holdings [NASDAQ:XMSR] is negotiating to buy a three-story headquarters building in Northeast, an anchor development in the District's fledgling technology corridor.
XM has contracted to buy the building at 1500 Eckington Place NE for $34 million from a partnership of Bernstein Cos. and Union Realty Partners Inc.

Bernstein and Union bought the building in 1998 and redeveloped it for future tenants. The former printing plant overlooks the intersection of Florida and New York avenues NE, a neglected warehouse section east of downtown where D.C. planners and civic leaders are trying to encourage a new cluster of high-tech businesses.

The redeveloped building attracted Qwest Communications International Inc. of Denver, the first major tech tenant to locate in the District in years. Qwest leased 101,000 square feet of space for a telecommunications switching station that it operates on the bottom floor.

XM Satellite followed Qwest to the site, establishing its headquarters in the rest of the building. XM occupies about 120,000 square feet and is getting ready to launch a nationwide service for broadcasting radio networks by satellite.

HP unveils first DVD+RW drive.
Posted: 08/20/2001  Source: CNET Added by: Kim Heise

Last I heard DVD recordable media is at about $12 USD a disk for over 4 GB of recordable space. Once the price drops under a $1 USD then it may very well be worth it.

The movie industry is cringing over this soon to be home recording technology. The cat is out of the bag and the movie industry had better learn to embrace it.

The war over DVD recording standards will escalate Monday when Hewlett-Packard unwraps the details on its first DVD drive for PCs that lets people repeatedly record on discs.

The DVD-writer dvd100i, which will cost $599 when it hits store shelves in September, will be the first commercially available drive based on the DVD+RW standard. With it, consumers will be able to record video onto a disc, play it on a typical home DVD player, and then erase and record again on the same disc. HP plans to incorporate the drives into its PCs later this year.

PC makers and consumer-electronics makers are hoping these types of drives will perk up holiday sales, in part, on a theory that consumers will rediscover the home movie. Two years ago, recordable/rewritable CD drives propelled PC sales. Rewritable DVD drives could do the same this year, some industry watchers believe, as well as spur demand for DVD players. DVDs can also hold 4.7GB of data, seven times as much as recordable CDs.

Toilet paper pokes fun at dot-com bottom.
Posted: 08/20/2001  Source: CNET Added by: Kim Heise

Smart (debatable) business entrepreneurs are making use of the economic slowdown with some humor. Most of us do not find the slowdown in the IT sector a laughing matter but it may help to lighten the situation.

Almost everyone has heard of the dot-com deadpool, but what about the dot-com cesspool?

Two entrepreneurs have created a line of novelty toilet paper printed to look like ticker tape spewing the stock prices of struggling dot-coms. Publicly traded companies such as Yahoo, Amazon.com and BroadVision are among the stocks that landed on the company's "roll of shame." All three have plummeted from their all-time highs.

"We picked out some real dogs," said John Zappa, a co-creator of the toilet paper.
The demand for memorabilia of once haughty, now humbled Internet companies is becoming a cottage industry at a time when the Nasdaq Stock Market is submerged below 2,000.

Sony unveils networked camcorders.
Posted: 08/20/2001  Source: CNET Added by: Kim Heise

The future of electrical devices would be the ability to connect with virtually any other device. That technology to develop a system to allow various devices to communicate is not the challenge - the challenge is to "sell" a standard that all companies can agree on.

Sony is offering an alternative to the cables normally required to connect video camcorders to PCs.

The consumer-electronics maker unveiled on Monday two networked video cameras that feature Bluetooth, the short-range wireless technology that allows devices to communicate with one another without cable connections.

Bluetooth will allow the two video camcorders, the Digital Video-format DCR-PC120 and the MicroMV-format DCR-IP7, to send moving and still digital images directly to personal computers or via a mobile phone to the Internet.
Sony is dubbing the silver and black DCR-IP7, which is about the size of a hand, the "Network Handycam IP."

The Network Handycam IP uses new MicroMV technology to convert moving images and sound to the MPEG-2 format, which allows devices to store and transfer videos efficiently because it takes up less memory space.

The other Bluetooth-enabled camcorder unveiled on Monday uses the more common Digital Video format, which is also used by Sony's main competitor, Matsushita Electric Industrial.

The DCR-IP7 Network Handycam IP will go on sale in Japan on Oct. 10 for about $1,577 (190,000 yen). The slightly larger DCR-PC120 will go on sale Sept. 10 and retail for around $1,407.
 

Microsoft gears up Windows 2000 SP3 Beta.
Posted: 08/20/2001  Source: BetaNews Added by: Kim Heise

Just when it was safe to take a breath after installing the last Windows 2000 service pack. Windows IT managers/consultants get ready for another roller-coaster ride when Microsoft finally ships Service Pack 3.

If you have been held accountable for upgrading various servers/workstations then you know what I'm talking about. The moment when you hold your breath during the first boot.

Screening has begun for testers who wish to participate in the developmental phase of the latest service pack for Windows 2000. As per the usual, key areas being focused on by the sustained development team are setup, application compatibility, operating system reliability, and numerous security issues. There are no plans to incorporate new features into Windows, as this is solely a maintenance release. The soon to be released update marks the third installment of a service pack since Windows 2000 went gold in December of 1999.

A temporary guest account has been established at Microsoft's Beta Place, allowing access to a short survey that will be used in the nomination process. The test includes all versions of Windows 2000. No specific information on a targeted release date could be obtained by press time.

To learn more about Windows 2000 SP3, review the Beta Invitation Survey and enter the following guest account information:

AMD Athlon SMP VS. Intel Xeon SMP.
Posted: 08/20/2001  Source: Ace's Hardware Added by: Kim Heise

Take a look as Ace's Hardware pits the 1.2ghz Athlon and against Intel's 1.7ghz Xeon SMP (symmetric multiple processing) solutions.

The results will surprise you.

In our first article on the subject, Athlon MP: Redefining the Workstation, we told you that we have been working with three top workstation OEMs to ensure that you get a head-to-head comparison of the Dual Athlon platform with the best Dual Xeon workstations on this planet.

Today, the Dual AMD Athlon 1.2 GHz configuration goes head-to-head with the Dual Xeon 1.7 GHz power of Compaq's EVO 6000, Dell's Precision 530 and Fujitsu-Siemens Celsius 670. But this article is more than a Dual Xeon versus Dual Athlon comparison, as we search for the best workstation that can address the needs of the most demanding creative professionals: computer-aided engineers, designers, digital content creators, game developers and scientists.

If you are in the market for a workstation, then you have come to the right place! We offer you benchmarks on Maya, 3DStudio Max, Cinema 4D, Truespace, Microstation, AutoCad 2000 (2D and 3D), video encoding, ScienceMark, Visual C++ and more. We even have a next generation 3D-engine and an advanced Chess program this time around!

Some important information is still missing however: which OpenGL videocards should you plug into these monsters? In the next article we will check out some massive OpenGL power. In this article however, we'll focus on the workstations themselves.

AMD revs up Athlon 4, Duron chips.
Posted: 08/20/2001  Source: CNET Added by: Kim Heise

Hot off the news press today as AMD announces several new processors on the market including new price cuts.

Advanced Micro Devices on Monday gave its Athlon 4 and Duron chips a performance boost.

The chipmaker announced a 1.1GHz Athlon 4 and a 900MHz Duron--both for notebook PCs--and said Compaq Computer will offer the new mobile chips in its Presario 1200 line. AMD also announced its intent to ship a 1GHz Duron later this quarter.

AMD's newest Athlon 4 represents a 100MHz jump in speed from the first chip in that series, introduced in May at up to 1GHz. A 1.2GHz Athlon 4 is expected in the fourth quarter. Just as important, the new chips mean that, for now, AMD can claim to have more megahertz manliness than Intel. Intel's mobile Pentium III tops out at 1GHz, while its fastest budget mobile Celeron chip hits 850MHz.
The new Duron chips represent a more significant refresh, as they are based on a new processor core--known as Morgan--with several enhancements over the current Duron. Morgan is essentially a lower-cost version of the Athlon 4's core--called the Palomino--with PowerNow power management added along with a prefetch level 2 cache.

Both cores offer the same Socket A packaging system and cache sizes, along with a 200MHz front-side bus (the data pathway from the chip to system components such as memory) as Athlon's Thunderbird core, which is currently used only on the desktop. They also pack AMD's PowerNow technology and 52 new multimedia instructions in the form of Intel's Streaming SIMD Extensions, or SSE1. Those instructions were introduced with the first Pentium III chips to help them handle multimedia by breaking data into smaller chunks, which can be processed in parallel.

QuickTime unplugged by Internet Explorer patch.
Posted: 08/16/2001  Source: ZDNET  Added by: Kim Heise

When first installing IE 6.0 beta I noticed that QuickTime was no longer working and I simply figured that it was a bug in the build. Now that Microsoft has released IE 5.5 SP-2 and the bug still remains I wonder what is going on.

Apple is working on fixing the problem and here is some of the details.

Apple Computer this week said it is trying to fix a problem that prevents its QuickTime media player from working with the most recent versions of Microsoft's browser.
The problem cropped up July 31, when Microsoft released a service pack upgrade for Internet Explorer 5.5, dubbed SP2. Microsoft routinely issues service packs to patch security problems with its browser. In this case, however, Web surfers who installed the product were unable to view QuickTime video. The same problem affects a test release of Microsoft's new Internet Explorer 6 browser.

"Apple is aware of the compatibility issue between QuickTime and the beta of Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 5.5 SP2, and we are working with Microsoft to resolve the issue," an Apple representative said in a statement. "There will be a fix for which more information will be made available shortly."

Windows XP enters final lap.
Posted: 08/16/2001  Source: Win informant  Added by: Kim Heise

It appears if Microsoft might just release Windows XP when planned - maybe even sooner. I just purchased a new Sony Vaio laptop and it shipped with a coupon to purchase Windows XP for $29.00 which is a fantastic deal.

The interface for Windows XP takes a little getting used to - similar to when you upgraded from Windows 3.11 to Windows 95 (maybe not as drastic). Once you become accustomed to the Windows XP interface it is difficult to go back.

Microsoft issued what many people expect to be the last interim build of Windows XP to beta testers before its final release later this month. XP Build 2542 is the first build to use XP's final activation schedule, so testers now have 30 days to activate the product. Microsoft notes that phone-based activation will be on a limited-availability basis until October 25, at which point it will be available 24 x 7.

"This build is not the [release to manufacturing] RTM build," the release notes state. "However, we are very close. This build is primarily provided to regress existing 'fixed' bugs, to uncover any last minute ship-stopper regressions, and to get a final sanity check prior to RTM."

Build 2542 should include Microsoft's recent concessions to Kodak--a small, single change to a dialog box in the XP Scanner and Camera Wizard--and privacy groups, which have asked for changes to the Passport integration. Microsoft has made many changes to XP in its final 30 days of development, an unprecedented event in the annals of Windows development. Generally, Microsoft freezes features about 3 months before the final release of a Windows product.

XP will be widely available October 25. As with every Windows release, PC makers will begin releasing systems with the new OS about 1 month before general retail availability.

Xbox on track to ship November 8th.
Posted: 08/16/2001  Source: Yahoo Daily News  Added by: Kim Heise

Expect similar long lines as with the PS2 launch outside your local computer/audio store a day or two before Microsoft's impressive X-Box ships. This is going to be a major challenge for Sony and the Playstation2 to maintain a market share.

November will a interesting month in the gaming console market because I believe the Nintendo Game Cube ships a couple of days after the launch of the X-Box.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. said on Tuesday its highly anticipated Xbox (news - web sites) video game console, was on track to ship as scheduled in November, denying a report of design problems with a key component.

Brokerage Thomas Weisel Partners said in a research note earlier on Tuesday that construction on the Xbox video game console could be delayed up to four weeks because of a problem with an Intel Corp. (Nasdaq:INTC - news) motherboard.

A Microsoft spokesman declined to comment on any specific Xbox production issues, but reaffirmed the planned Nov. 8 launch of the next-generation console.

``We can say there is absolutely no problem with the design of Intel's motherboard,'' Microsoft spokesman James Bernard said. ``They've been fantastic partners and delivered on everything to date.''

Egghead to file for bankruptcy.
Posted: 08/16/2001  Source: CNET  Added by: Kim Heise

Another day as another computer retailer "bites the dust". Best wishes and best of luck to the personnel who are unfortunate (understatement) enough to be caught in the bankruptcy.

E-tail pioneer Egghead.com is filing for bankruptcy protection and is selling its assets to retail chain Fry's Electronics, Egghead announced Wednesday.

Egghead spokeswoman Joanne Hartzell said the company plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy later on Wednesday, and that it laid off about 180 employees as part of the move.

Fry's is buying Egghead's Web site and "ongoing operations," Hartzell said, though she declined to list what assets Fry's is buying or how much the company is paying for them. Fry's is purchasing the assets before the bankruptcy filing and will go into the proceedings as a debtor in possession, Hartzell said.

Menlo Park, Calif.-based Egghead said in a statement Wednesday that Fry's plans to continue operating Egghead's Web site. "This was the best opportunity for us to get the most back for our creditors and keep the Egghead brand alive," Hartzell said.

Egghead suffered a deep decline in sales recently, which forced the bankruptcy filing and asset sale, Jeff Sheahan, Egghead's chief executive, said in the statement.

Palm seeks software boost with Be buy.
Posted: 08/16/2001  Source: CNET  Added by: Kim Heise

Anybody care to speculate on what Palm Computing is up too? Possible future versions of the Palm OS may feature Be OS similarities.....

Palm on Thursday announced it is acquiring the assets and intellectual property of software maker Be for $11 million in stock, as it pursues its goal to bolster its software division.

The handheld-computing specialist is hoping the acquisition will strengthen its ability to create development tools and communications, Internet and multimedia technologies.

"This move will help us expand the Palm OS platform into broader markets," Carl Yankowski, Palm’s chief executive, said in a statement.
Palm also said that Alan Kessler, the general manager of its Platform Solutions group, will resign from the company on Friday. Neither the company nor Kessler disclosed why he is leaving.

Eric Benhamou, chairman of the company's board of directors, will act as chief executive officer of the group until a permanent replacement is named, according to Palm, which is based in Santa Clara, Calif.

Be's chief executive, Jean-Louis Gassee, will temporarily help Palm to integrate Be's technology and talent once the transaction is approved by Be shareholders.

IBM unleashes world's fastest supercomputer.
Posted: 08/16/2001  Source: TechExtreme  Added by: Kim Heise

IBM has unleashed the world's fastest super computer to the market for a measly $110 million Dollars. I still personally would pursue the distributed processing environment similar to what the Seti-@home project has developed should the extra power be required.

Imagine filming a complete CGI movie and have various users throughout the internet use their computing power to generate/render each segment. The end result would be a mass speculation (marketing hype) on the movie theme and a rapid completion due to the distributed rendering environment.

Nearly a half-century after the room-sized Univac was installed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, IBM (NYSE: IBM) will unveil ASCI White, which the company bills as the world's fastest supercomputer.

The new classified supercomputer will be used to model nuclear explosions and ensure the safety of the nation's nuclear stockpile. ASCI White is powered by 8,192 IBM Power3 microprocessors capable of 12.3 trillion calculations per second, say laboratory officials.

ASCI White, costing the federal government US$110 million, is the latest supercomputer to be funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The DOE plans to create a three-dimensional simulation enabling scientists to maintain the safety and reliability of nuclear weapons being stored, according to a statement.

Organic film promises improved solar cells.
Posted: 08/16/2001  Source: Electronics Times  Added by: Kim Heise

Here's interesting news on possible future applications as scientists develop alternative and more efficient new power sources.

A German-British team has produced an organic thin film photovoltaic device with a quantum efficiency as high as 34%.

Reporting their work in Science, researchers from Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, Cambridge Display Technology and the Max-Planck Institut in Mainz combined the liquid crystal hexa-perihexabenzocoronene (HPBC) with a perylene dye in a thin film.

As well as supporting potentially high efficiencies, the process is simple and could produce organic photovoltaic devices very cheaply.

The two chemicals separate vertically as they solidify out of a solution, creating the exciton structure necessary to convert photon energy into electrical charge. This separation eliminates the need for a series of evaporation and lamination steps in the production of a organic photovoltaic, reducing costs.

PC chipset war sees DDR333 hit the streets by September.
Posted: 08/16/2001  Source: Electronics Times  Added by: Kim Heise

Finally memory speeds are beginning to move from the current common 133mhz SDRAM memory core. Expect the new Pentium4 DDRAM chipset from VIA Technologies to be sporting 333mhz DDRAM support.

VIA Technologies has pressed ahead with the launch of its first chipset for Pentium 4 motherboards despite the lack of a direct licence for Intel's front-side bus. The company has opted for a design based on 266Mtransfer/s double-datarate (DDR266) memory, offering twice the bandwidth of Intel's 845 chipset, which is designed for single-datarate memory.

However, both companies have been gazumped by SiS Technology, which has opted for the faster DDR333 technology in its latest chipset. Several memory companies, such as Hynix Semiconductor and Micron Technology, reckon the favoured speed for DDR memories next year will be 333Mtransfer/s.

SiS is one of the few companies with a licence for Intel to sell chipsets for the 400MHz Pentium 4 front-side bus. It expects to go into volume production in September. Acer Labs also has a licence but has yet to launch its design.

VIA claims it has a license for the technology through its acquisition of S3 Graphics and says that the P4x266 chipset is, in fact made by S3.

Creative Labs introduces Audigy audio processor.
Posted: 08/16/2001  Source: Creative Labs  Added by: Kim Heise

Creative Labs has finally announced a sequel audio processor to the SBLIVE! series called the "Audigy" processor.

EAX ADVANCED HD™ - welcome to the next generation of EAX®- a technological advancement that brings a host of new high definition audio features for gaming and music. EAX ADVANCED HD™ can be experienced for the first time with the all-new Sound Blaster® Audigy™ family of audio cards.
EAX ADVANCED HD™ Game Audio Library takes in-game audio acoustics to a whole new level. New Multi-Environment™ technology renders up to 4 simultaneous audio environments in real time. Environment Panning™ makes spatializing and localizing environments in 3D possible. Environment Reflections™ offers localization of early reflections and echoes. Environment Filtering™ accurately simulates the propagation of sound in both open and closed environments. Finally, Environment Morphing™ allows for seamless transition from one environment to the next. These high definition environment effects will power the next generation of cutting-edge PC games.

Sonic superiority is also assured with EAX ADVANCED HD™ Music Technologies. Audio Clean-Up enables the removal of unwanted noise in a digital audio file. DREAM™ creates an enhanced, "disco-like" surround sound for any stereo music. Time Scaling speeds up and slows down music with no distortion or change in pitch. Music playback is further enhanced with the specially developed EAX ADVANCED HD™ music effects, making Sound Blaster® Audigy™ the ultimate PC-based hi-fi system.

EAX ADVANCED HD™ offers dramatically increased 3D audio performance and functionality, delivering superior audio fidelity and rich environment effects for an unsurpassed digital entertainment experience. More stunning high definition audio innovations from Creative are on their way. Be sure to visit www.eax.creative.com for our latest audio technology breakthroughs.

ATi's new graphics card.
Posted: 08/16/2001  Source: VR-Zone  Added by: Kim Heise

ATI is raising the ante on video card performance by announcing a series of new video cards based on the new Radeon 2 processor. Early benchmarks have shown the top of the line Radeon 8500 to be slightly behind NVIDIA's GEFORCE3 flagship in most benchmarks.

Based on the initial benchmarks, unless the drivers are improved and the price drops to beat the GEFORCE3, ATI is going to have a challenge.

NVIDIA is about to retaliate by releasing "new" drivers that on paper claim 30% performance gain and a new GEFORCE 3 Ultra.

RADEON™ 8500: Designed with the most advanced graphics technology in the world, the RADEON 8500 delivers up to 33 percent higher performance than the nearest competitive graphics processor. Major technological advancements include TRUFORM™ and SMARTSHADER™. RADEON 8500 will be available in late September and has an MSRP of (US) $399.

0.15micron manufacturing technology
4 rendering pipelines with 3 (2) TMUs each
250MHz core clock frequency
550MHz memory frequency (275MHz DDR SDRAM)
128bit SDR/DDR SDRAM/SGRAM
62.5 million vertexes processing speed

RADEON™ 7500: This graphics processor offers an ideal combination of performance, innovative 3D features and real value for mainstream commercial and consumer computer users. It delivers up to a 60 percent improvement in performance compared to the previous generation of RADEON high-performance processors. RADEON 7500 features 64MB DDR. Available in late September, it has an MSRP of (US) $199.

0.15micron manufacturing technology
2 rendering pipelines with 3 (2) TMUs each
250MHz core clock frequency
550MHz memory frequency (275MHz DDR SDRAM)
Memory bandwidth up to 8.8GB/sec
128bit SDR/DDR SDRAM/SGRAM
40 million vertexes processing speed

FIRE GL™ 8800: Combining the FIRE GL’s pioneering workstation reputation and software excellence in OpenGL with ATI’s new industry-leading technology, the FIRE GL 8800 is easily the most affordable mid-range 3D graphics board for CAD/CAM and the modeling and animation aspects of digital content and creation. Featuring 64MB DDR memory and VGA and DVI support, the FIRE GL 8800 is optimized for superior application performance using OpenGL and Linux drivers. It is the first workstation graphics processor in the industry to support the Microsoft DirectX 8.1 API. It begins shipping in October.

Microsoft: No flaw in Xbox motherboard.
Posted: 08/16/2001  Source: ZDNET  Added by: Kim Heise

Talk has been on various news sites about the possible delay on the launch of Microsoft's X-Box due to problems with the motherboard. Microsoft is firmly denying this:

Microsoft denied a report Tuesday of a flaw in the motherboard for the Xbox game console.
The software maker was reacting to a report from investment banking firm Thomas Weisel Partners, which stated that several sources across the Xbox manufacturing supply chain had confirmed the flaw. The glitch could delay manufacturing by a few weeks but not the Nov. 8 launch of the Xbox, analysts Eric Ross and David Readerman wrote in the report Tuesday morning.

A Microsoft representative, while declining to discuss specific production issues, said there were no flaws with the Xbox motherboard and the console is on schedule.

"There's absolutely no problem with the design of Intel's motherboard," Microsoft spokesman James Bernard said. "We're still on track for a Nov. 8 launch."

Intel designed the motherboard for the Xbox, but contract manufacturer Flextronics is building it, an Intel spokesman said. Flextronics also is assembling the final Xbox from components.

In their report, Ross and Readerman said it was unlikely that the production delay would affect the $299 device's launch because of the option of cranking up the current slack production schedule.

"I don't think it's going to delay the start date of Xbox, but they're certainly behind schedule," Ross told CNET News.com. "It's not uncommon in the PC hardware business to be able to make up for any production delays, and (the Xbox) essentially is a stripped-down, special-purpose PC."

The investment firm also noted that Microsoft management is holding fast to the company's plans to stock about 600,000 to 800,000 units at the launch and to its expectations of selling up to 1.5 million units by the end of the year.

Staying on track for the launch date is vital for Microsoft, which is pegging the sales on the holiday shopping season.

VIA's P4X266: The Pentium 4 gets DDR.
Posted: 08/16/2001  Source: Anandtech  Added by: Kim Heise

VIA technologies is slated to launch new Pentium 4 DDRAM motherboard chipsets to offer cost effective alternatives to RAMBUS memory.

Handspring homes in on midrange.
Posted: 08/16/2001  Source: ZDNET  Added by: Kim Heise

I sincerely wish Handspring would remedy the problem with the outer casing for the Visor Prism model before directing their energy on new products to simply play the marketing game. The various replacement models I have used all suffer from paint scuffing off the outer case and hairline cracks.

Handspring plans to announce on Monday a pair of handhelds aimed at the increasingly crowded midrange market, sources tell ZDNet News.
One device will replace the $199 Handspring Visor Deluxe, and the other will be the successor to the $249 Visor Platinum. Both of the new handhelds will offer minor improvements to the existing units, such as faster processors and more memory.

Company representatives would not comment.

Handspring's new products come amid similar activity from rivals such as Palm and Compaq Computer.

Palm is expected to announce on Aug. 24 a new midrange device called the m125, which will cost $250. Meanwhile, Compaq's monochrome iPaq H3135 now sells at some retailers for $199 plus a $50 rebate. The same iPaq device once sold for nearly twice as much.

The iPaq device uses Microsoft's Pocket PC operating system, while Palm and Handspring both use the Palm OS.