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Site News Update.
Posted: 12/17/2001  Source: N/A Added by: Kim Heise

DRAM memory prices up.
Posted: 11/12/2001  Source: VR-Zone Added by: Kim Heise

If you have been holding off on adding more memory to your system you may be a little late. Memory prices are on the upswing and nobody knows exactly how high they will move but I would say a 34% jump is pretty significant.

AMD targets mobile market with new chips.
Posted: 11/12/2001  Source: CNET Added by: Kim Heise

Hot off the press today on AMD's new notebook processors. I suspect Intel is going to face a strong fight from AMD for the 2002 year in the portable market.

If you think AMD is a strong competitor for Intel just imagine how much stronger the company would be if they would actually do a better job of marketing the Athlon/Duron CPU line.

How about a Super Bowl commercial from AMD?

Advanced Micro Devices on Monday launched the first play in its new game plan to gain ground in the notebook market.

The chipmaker, which said last week it plans to pick up speed in the notebook and server markets in 2002, introduced a new 1.2GHz mobile Athlon 4 chip along with a new 950MHz mobile Duron processor.

"2002 will largely be defined by our success in the mobile and server space, and holding ground in the desktop space," Chief Executive Jerry Sanders told attendees at the company's annual analyst meeting last week.

Compaq Computer will be first PC maker to offer the new mobile chips, according to AMD. The Houston-based company will offer the chips in its Presario 700 notebook line. Compaq says it will begin taking orders on Nov. 21.

Looking ahead, AMD plans to offer big jumps in mobile megahertz and also attach its new model-number naming scheme to mobile Athlon and Duron processors. For example, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company is expected to launch a mobile Athlon 1800, likely running at 1.5GHz, along with a Duron 1500, running at about 1.3GHz.

AMD's list prices for the new 1.2GHz Athlon 4 and 950MHz mobile Duron are $525 and $160, respectively.

Beleaguered handheld maker Palm plans to replace some of its newest handheld units after owners complained of glitches while syncing Palm m500 and m505 devices with a PC.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Palm confirmed the problem in an e-mail to CNET News.com, but the company did not say how many units were affected or what the cost of replacing the devices would be.

"Some Palm m500 and m505 handheld customers have reported difficulty in performing the HotSync function on their devices," the company said. "Some customers who experience this problem and who report it to Palm Technical Support will have their units and their cradles replaced through Palm's exchange procedure."
Under Palm's rules, there is no cost to the owner for replacement. Owners must send in their handheld and wait five to seven business days to get a new device and cradle.

Palm owners have been complaining of problems for some time, participating in online discussions on several Palm enthusiast Web sites regarding whether Palm might recall the units.

The problem is the latest challenge to the handheld maker, which last week saw the departure of CEO Carl Yankowski after months of turmoil that included the botched launch of the m500 series, a glut of inventory and a free-falling stock price.

The GIDI Digital Jukebox offers 80GB of MP3.
Posted: 11/12/2001  Source: MP3 Newswire Added by: Kim Heise

Do you care to speculate about how much audio you could record on a 80GB MP3 recorder? I wouldn't even try....

Here is a something from Belgium that caught our interest. It is an 80GB MP3 player called the GIDI Digital Jukebox. Offering such ample capacity for a digital music player is not the only thing interesting about this unit. What also attracts us to the player is that it comes in three disparate case styles, in three different sizes, to serve both consumer and commercial needs. All GIDI players are also available in 20, 40 and 60GB models.

Developed by Reality Media, the first case style is the GIDI XL (Inox Metal Design) for home and office use. Encased in a sleek silver box, the unit looks like something from the Bang and Olufsen school of design, with its stoic, teutonic appeal. Think of a Skagen watch and you get the idea. This unit aims for the home stereo system, resting somewhere above the amp and the CD player. Measuring a svelt 20 cm X 10 cm X 5 cm (7.8" X 3.9" X 1.9") the player comes with an external power supply and an LCD display for navigating through the song list. The GIDI XL sells for $768 US for the 80GB model, $608 for the 60GB model, $581 for 40GB, and $504 for 20GB.
GIDI XL (Inox Metal Design)

The second case design is the GIDI PRO (Rack 19" 1U). A commercial rack unit, this player is targeted for radio stations and the like. When you realize that 80GB can probably hold the entire active libraries of most stations, the conveniences the MP3 format promises those who make their living off of the airwaves become a reality. The GIDI Pro gets $795 for the 80GB, $635 for 60GB, $608 for 40GB, and $531 for 20GB.
GIDI Pro
The third unit, the GIDI Microserver, is specially designed for car, trucks, boats, and planes. A plain black box that can be installed in the dashboard or hidden behind it, the unit is operated by an external remote control that attaches to the steering wheel. The unit offers a detachable screen that can be placed anywhere in the vehicle for optimum visibility. The GIDI Microserver gets $715 for 80GB, $555 for 60GB, $528 for 40GB, and $451 for 20GB.

IBM today unveiled a trio of heavyweight hard disk drive products with enhanced capabilities and industry-best features for the high-performance desktop, mobile and new blade server segments.

IBM's prizefighters include, first, the Deskstar 120GXP, the industry's lowest-power consumption 3.5-inch desktop hard drive with a 120 gigabyte (GB)1 capacity and performing at 7200 RPM. The Deskstar's enhanced offerings bring together the state-of-the-art in hard disk drive technology -- essential for supporting data-intensive multimedia applications that rely on speed and power for peak performance.

Next up: the Travelstar 60GH and 40GN family. The Travelstar 60H, at 60 GB and 5400 RPM, is the industry's highest-capacity, highest-performing 2.5-inch notebook drive. The 40GN offers 40, 30, 20 and 10 GB capacities at 20 GB per disk and spinning at 4200 RPM. As a family, the Travelstar enables the longest battery life among leading notebook drives and maintains its ``quietest'' drive title with IBM's Drive Noise Suppression System continued across the new product line.

Finally, IBM introduces new 2.5-inch Travelstar models, offering enhanced availability for non-traditional applications. These industry-first models increase available hard disk drive ``power-on hours''2 and are designed to meet the requirements for emerging applications such as those found in 24x7 blade server environments.

ATI announces TabletVision.
Posted: 11/12/2001  Source: Electic Tech Added by: Kim Heise

ATI is working with companies to develop video processors to power the upcoming Tablet PC's.

Just what is a Tablet PC? To answer your question just think of Tablet PC as an oversized PDA with plenty of horse-power.

ATI Technologies Inc. today announced support for the Microsoft Tablet PC initiative with TabletVision, a new technology that will allow Tablet PC users to rotate the display to view software applications in either a portrait or landscape format by simply clicking a hot key or button on their Tablet PC.

ATI will be working closely with Microsoft and a variety of OEM partners as part of a broad industry initiative to develop the Tablet PC as an evolution of notebook computing, extending the value of the PC through the addition of rich pen & speech technologies.

``We're excited to be working with companies like ATI Technologies on the Tablet PC,'' said Alexandra Loeb, General Manager of the Tablet PC at Microsoft Corp. ``Its expertise with notebook graphics will be a great complement to our vision of extending the value of today's notebook computer by adding capabilities such as rich digital ink.``

ATI's focus on enhancing the user's experience and developing enabling technologies for the portable computing market as it evolves has resulted in the development of TabletVision, a unique technology specifically available for a range of next generation Tablet PCs running the Windows XP Tablet PC Edition operating system.

TabletVision will be available in Tablet PCs that use ATI's MOBILITY RADEON(TM) family of graphics processors, including MOBILITY RADEON and MOBILITY RADEON 7500. The MOBILITY RADEON family is optimized to run applications smoothly in portrait mode as well as the traditional landscape mode. TABLETVISION supports 90, 180 and 270-degree screen rotation.

AMD's future: Notebooks, servers, Hammer.
Posted: 11/12/2001  Source: CNET Added by: Kim Heise

While scanning the CNET news articles I stumbled on this little factoid on AMD and what the company has planned for us next year.

Very "tasty" news indeed.

Scientists build transistor made of one molecule.
Posted: 11/12/2001  Source: ABC News Added by: Kim Heise

This is a very revolutionary improvement for miniaturizing transistors since this will offer even smaller and faster processors down the line. The smaller the processor, the less heat generated, the shorter the distance electrons need to travel and last but not least - this results in lower power consumption.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - In a small step on the way to making microscopic computer chips, scientists have observed single molecules acting as transistors, the tiny electric switches that form the brains of computers.
In an article published on Thursday in the journal Science, researchers from Bell Labs said they had built layers made up of thousands of organic molecules with just one or two "electrically active" components.

The process is an enhancement to a process announced by the same researchers a month ago. At that time, the team described a chemical process that makes layers of organic material only one molecule thick that can be used to form simple electric circuits.

On Thursday, the scientists said they had tweaked that chemical process to create the same kind of molecular layer but with precisely one or two active molecules, called thiols, that serve as the basis for a transistor.

Jan Hendrik Schon, the lead researcher, said the team can identify the thiols amid the thousands of inactive molecules, but cannot yet pick them out and put them together.

"At the moment, it's just a proof of principle that a single molecule can do the job," he said. "We don't have the tool ... to precisely put a molecule in a certain space."

Bell Labs, a research facility of Lucent Technologies Inc., was the original inventor of the transistor and has generated more than 28,000 patents since 1925.

Wireless concept device does everything.
Posted: 11/12/2001  Source: Internet News Added by: Kim Heise

What a handy device this would be if it were reasonably priced. Typically when you read press releases that do not mention cost then it is most likely prohibitively expensive for the average consumer.

Read on and be amazed what this "Swiss Army" knife of computers can do.

National Semiconductor Friday unveiled a new concept Net device with a wide range of capabilities.

Almost like a device sold on a television infomercial, National says the Geode Origami Mobile Communicator can act as a camera, video camcorder, Net-connected phone, handheld and MP3 player. But wait ... there's more: It also can act as an Internet picture frame as well as a video conferencing terminal, according to National.

The device is the size of a digital video recorder and folds and pivots to assume different shapes for different functions, National says. National says that the device measures 7.5 inches by 4 inches by 1.5 inches thick and weights 10 ounces, National says.

Origami supports Bluetooth short-range wireless connectivity and will work either with 2.5 or 3G wireless networks, according to the company. It is based on the Windows Embedded XP operating system and can run applications such as NetMeeting for videoconferencing and Internet Explorer 6.0 for Web browsing. National says Origami has a four-inch 640 x 480 LCD touchscreen display and built-in 16-bit stereo sound capability and USB and Compact Flash ports.

National is positioning the device as a proof-of-concept device for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). It says that multifunction products will be widely adopted by users in the future rather than use of multiple single devices such as handhelds and Net-connected phones.

"Origami is a glimpse into the future," said Michael Polacek, vice president of the Information Appliance Division at National Semiconductor. "It is a revolutionary convergence concept that blends National's Geode integrated processor, and wireless, display and analog technologies."

National has, in the past, unveiled concept devices and reference designs for OEMs. In 1998, it unveiled its WebPAD tablet-sized handheld. A number of OEMs such as Honeywell and Qubit picked up the design, but none of the devices has been successful in the marketplace.

NVIDIA NForce chipset performance preview.
Posted: 11/12/2001  Source: The Firing Squad Added by: Kim Heise

Now there is a third major player on the block for computer motherboard chipsets. We have Intel, VIA and now NVIDIA.

What this means is that you have more options and hopefully the prices will go down overall, plus beefed up features for the products due to solid competition. From what I understand NVIDIA's nForce motherboard chipset is very impressive performance wise.

NVIDIA's nForce chipset has sparked a considerable amount of interest from the hardware enthusiast community since it was announced last June. With its Twinbank memory architecture, HyperTransport interface, and Dolby Digital encoding support, nForce clearly stands out from the crowd of chipsets for the AMD Athlon/Duron platform. In addition, its built-in GeForce2 graphics core brings a new level of performance to the integrated chipset market. And while all this technology looks intriguing on paper, the jury has been out regarding nForce.

ATI and Nvidia raise the bar for notebook graphics.
Posted: 11/12/2001  Source: Silicon Strategies Added by: Kim Heise

You can hear the drum roll across the market as ATI and NVIDIA square off on developing powerful laptop video processors which in my humble opinion is long overdue. Granted in the past laptops simply were used as word processors and simple portable computers that did not require powerful video processors.

It is not uncommon now (speaking from my own experience) to replace your desktop office workstation with a laptop and would appreciate more video processing power.

In coming to the defense of laptop manufacturers - video processors require plenty of power which would defeat the purpose of the laptop if your battery lasted 5 minutes.

IBM releases hard 120GB disk drive.
Posted: 11/12/2001  Source: IBM Added by: Kim Heise

IBM is now offering a (120GB) high capacity hard drive to rub shoulders along with Maxtor and Western Digital. I have this gut feeling that the IBM hard drives are slightly better quality over the competition.

IBM today unveiled a trio of heavyweight hard disk drive products with enhanced capabilities and industry-best features for the high-performance desktop, mobile and new blade server segments.

IBM's prizefighters include, first, the Deskstar 120GXP, the industry's lowest-power consumption 3.5-inch desktop hard drive with a 120 gigabyte (GB)1 capacity and performing at 7200 RPM. The Deskstar's enhanced offerings bring together the state-of-the-art in hard disk drive technology -- essential for supporting data-intensive multimedia applications that rely on speed and power for peak performance.

Next up: the Travelstar 60GH and 40GN family. The Travelstar 60H, at 60 GB and 5400 RPM, is the industry's highest-capacity, highest-performing 2.5-inch notebook drive. The 40GN offers 40, 30, 20 and 10 GB capacities at 20 GB per disk and spinning at 4200 RPM. As a family, the Travelstar enables the longest battery life among leading notebook drives and maintains its "quietest" drive title with IBM's Drive Noise Suppression System continued across the new product line.

Finally, IBM introduces new 2.5-inch Travelstar models, offering enhanced availability for non-traditional applications. These industry-first models increase available hard disk drive "power-on hours"2 and are designed to meet the requirements for emerging applications such as those found in 24x7 blade server environments.

Video game industry readies for biggest week ever.
Posted: 11/12/2001  Source: Yahoo Daily News Added by: Kim Heise

Get ready for serious competition this week and keep your head down when all the marketing hype spews forth from three major gaming heavy weights.

I expect most of the battle to be between Microsoft and Sony as the Nintendo Gamecube is more focused on the younger generation.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In the purple corner: a short, squat plumber with suspenders and a mustache. In the black corner: the world's richest man, a geek with glasses. It's Mario versus Bill Gates (news - web sites) in a battle for a $20 billion industry.

The next seven days mark the most anticipated and hyped week in the 29-year history of the video game business: the Thursday launch of the Xbox (news - web sites), a sleek black console from software giant Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news), and next Sunday's debut of GameCube, a colorful next-generation platform for Mario and Nintendo (news - web sites) Co. Ltd.'s (7974.OS) other famed characters.

Analysts expect the twin launches, combined with sales of the year-old PlayStation 2 (news - web sites) from Sony Corp (news - web sites). (6758.T), to ignite a five-year growth cycle in the video game industry, which already outranks Hollywood movies as a magnet for entertainment dollars.

The anticipation for the product launches, which come just ahead of the year-end shopping season, has turned the video game industry into ``Donkey Kong,'' the big gorilla to beat.

New wrist PDA is Palm OS and Pocket PC compatible.
Posted: 11/12/2001  Source: Information Week Added by: Kim Heise

A very nifty gadget but I suspect it would not be much of a conversation topic while trying to pickup a first date.

Apparel and accessory maker Fossil Inc. is pairing up with Microsoft and Palm Inc. to create a wristwatch personal digital assistant that's Pocket-PC and Palm-OS compatible. The Wrist PDA is expected to weigh 75 grams, have 190 kilobytes of memory, and store thousands of contacts, appointments, and memos, and up to 20 business cards. Like non-apparel PDAs, the Fossil model would transfer data wirelessly via an infrared beam when it debuts in January.
While there's little doubt that it will be flashed on a fashion runway somewhere, wider sales may be a way's off. Gartner research indicates that handheld computer sales dropped during the quarter ended Sept. 30, partly because consumers are holding off buying new Hewlett-Packard Jornadas and Compaq iPaqs in anticipation of Pocket PC 2002, which will power both PDAs.

The $145 Wrist PDA is only the beginning for Fossil, which is launching a line of techno accessories under the brand name Think Tank. According to a Fossil spokeswoman, the new products, including a lower-end version of the Wrist PDA, will be available by late next year in electronics superstores.

Three personal firewalls pass stringent security testing.
Posted: 11/12/2001  Source: Win Info Added by: Kim Heise

Three of the most popular personal firewall products all pass a battery of security tests. What makes the one more impressive over the others (referring to Tiny Personal Firewall) is that it is free.

TruSecure Corpporation announced that its Internet Computer Security Association Labs division has awarded certification to three products under its new PC firewall certification program. The newly certified products include ZoneAlarm Pro for Windows, Tiny Personal Firewall for Windows 2000, and Norton Personal Firewall for Windows Me, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000, and NT Workstation.

The program tests, assesses, and validates firewall security to ensure that it can provide adequate protection under typical business use. Products must offer control for concurrently active LAN and dial-up networks and successive dial-up connections; protect against common attacks; provide control over outbound network traffic; and log related events in a useful manner. In addition, a typical user must be able to install the products.

"With the increase in remote offices and telecommuting, the need for secure yet open connections has never been higher," said Larry Bridwell, content security program manager for ICSA Labs. “ICSA Labs, working with product vendors and corporate users, have developed the most thorough and rigorous set of accepted criteria for personal firewall testing and certification. This Certification . . . helps end users make informed security product buying decisions for their organizations.”

Tiny Personal Firewall is available at no cost to home users. ZoneAlarm Pro costs $39.95, and Norton Personal Firewall costs $49.95.
 

802.11a puts wireless in the fast lane.
Posted: 11/12/2001  Source: ZDNET Added by: Kim Heise

At Comdex this year Intel will be unveiling a new 54 mbps wireless networking protocol which will most undoubtedly be accepted by the market.

If you are considering configuring a wireless network keep in mind that the existing 802.11b protocol is not compatible with the new standard.

LAS VEGAS--Reflecting the growing demand for Net connections anywhere, some of the leading networking companies plan to unveil new technology for people to communicate wirelessly in their homes and workplaces.

Gates keynote
At Comdex Fall 2001 on Monday, Intel will release new, faster wireless networking kits, technology that allows the wireless linking of laptops and computers so people can share the same Internet connection and peripherals such as printers.

The new technology offers speeds that are five times faster than previous technology based on the 802.11b wireless standard. While 802.11b limits data-transfer rates to 11 megabits per second (mbps), the new technology, based on the 802.11a standard, reaches 54 mbps. The faster rates will improve the quality of streaming audio and video and provide the extra bandwidth needed for the swapping of large files.

Proxim, which has already shipped 802.11a wireless products for businesses, will announce that the faster wireless technology for consumers will debut for the Windows operating system in December. Proxim will release 802.11a networking kits for Apple Computer users in the 2002 first quarter.

Cisco Systems Chief Executive John Chambers will also demonstrate his company's new 802.11a wireless networking kits during his keynote speech Monday morning, but Cisco executives declined to say when the products will be available. 3Com, however, will announce that its 802.11a wireless products for businesses will ship in mid-2002.

The networking companies, along with Lucent Technologies spinoff Agere Systems and others, compete in the emerging wireless networking market that is expected to grow from $1.2 billion in revenue last year to $4.6 billion by 2005, according to a study by analyst firm MDR/Instat.

A wireless connection will allow workers to take their notebook computers into a conference room to take notes during meetings. Analysts also expect the technology to take off in the home as more consumers get high-speed Internet access and want to network their PCs together, so they can share the Net access among multiple PCs.

The standards are not compatible, but technology company executives believe they can coexist. The 802.11b standard has gained an early foothold in businesses, airports, hotels and homes, but executives say they expect to create technology in the future that will allow computer users to toggle back and forth between wireless standards.

Analyst firm IDC believes 802.11b will remain the more popular standard until 802.11a takes over the market share lead in 2005.

The difference between the two wireless standards is that 802.11b works in the crowded 2.4GHz frequency, the same portion of the airwaves where microwave ovens and some cordless phones operate. The 802.11a standard operates in the uncrowded 5GHz frequency, where interference is less of a problem.

Site News Update.
Posted: 11/05/2001  Source: N/A Added by: Kim Heise

Thanks for the emails of concern but I have not disappeared somewhere and will update the site when I get 5 minutes of free time.

Work has been insanely busy and after watching a computer screen for 10 to 12 hours in a day the last thought on my mind is to go home and update the site.

Thanks for being patient.

XM Radio finally launched.
Posted: 11/05/2001  Source: MSNBC Added by: Kim Heise

XM Radio is finally available for around $10 a month with 71 music and 30 talk radio channels. All commercial free!

In order to add the XM Radio feature in your vehicle your existing hardware needs to be "XM Ready" or make sure it is available during your next car stereo purchase.

FOR SATELLITE DIGITAL AUDIO RECEIVER SERVICES (SDARS) the trip has finally begun. After 10 years of hype XM will be available nationally next week. A competing service, Sirius, has delayed its start until early 2002, so for a while it’s XM’s game. The company has two of the most powerful communications satellites ever built hovering over the equator. Electronics retailers are selling XM radios, and later this month GM will start selling cars with optional XM radios in the dashboard. In the 1990s analysts loved the idea—commercial-free, niche digital radio. In the post-September 11 economic climate they’re somewhat dubious. But commercial radio is still vulnerable: it reaches almost everyone but offers few choices in any one place. “The process of making radio is ripe for change,” says Chance Patterson, XM’s vice president of corporate affairs. “As cable was to broadcast television, we want to be the same thing to radio.”

<SNIP>

The satellite systems’ primary selling point is content, and lots of it. For $9.99 a month, XM offers 71 music channels and 30 talk (it’ll be half and half on Sirius, for $12.95). Most of the talk channels come from outside sources like CNN, BBC, and CNET. And 30 of the music channels are commercial-free.

The pumpkin runs LINUX.
Posted: 11/05/2001  Source: HomePage Added by: Kim Heise

Just when I though there could be nothing more odd than building a PC in a refrigerator so that the user can over clock the machine by a measly 50mhz.

Next we need to build a PC into a microwave oven and then simply set to 5 minutes in the event you need to securely erase all data on your system in a hurry.

ok, i go to military school, and they were having a contest to see who could come up with the most creative pumpkin.  so my roommate issac stickley and my buddy brandon lincoln and myself decided that a pumpkin that has kde would be kewl.  so here it is.  the pumpkin, oh and now we call it a jack-o-linux.

MSI KT 266-A 2.0 review.
Posted: 11/05/2001  Source: HardOCP Added by: Kim Heise

If I were to recommend a motherboard today for a new system then this would definitely be the motherboard of choice. Add excellent performance, useful features and relative quality to go and you are all set.

As you can see, MSI has put together a board that has many of the features that we want to see and not all of the stuff that we don't.  Onboard sound is there, but is easily turned off in the BIOS.

Besides the new memory controller, the northbridge and southbridge do have a bus that is basically doubled in speed when it is compared to the traditional PCI bus of 133MHz.  We are still looking into ways of testing this that will show some real world benefits.  Surely, more bandwidth is better, but it is simply hard to show. 

This board comes with some software features specific to Microstar.  One that we were looking forward to is the "FuzzyLogic" overclocking program which lets you alter the front side bus of the CPU inside Windows.  The version on the included CD would not work with our board under Win2K nor WinXP.

MSI's marketing and care of aesthetics has certainly grown along with the hardware community over the last few years.  Their packaging is done very well and looks all nice and shiny.  Their manuals are being put together by someone who does speak a good bit of English and they have not forgotten the heart and soul of the PC-Enthusiasts...the case modder and overclocker.

Athlon XP Meets P4: A Comparison Of All CPUs.
Posted: 11/05/2001  Source: Toms Hardware Added by: Kim Heise

Want to separate the hype from the fact with all the new CPU's on the market? If so, then Tom's Hardware dishes up the latest comparison on the top end CPU's.

This is well worth reading.

Our last test focused exclusively on comparing the top models from AMD and Intel. A company's top-of-the-line models are, after all, its flagship - this is as true for the Pentium 4/2000 as it is for the Athlon XP 1800+. But only a handful of users actually buy these expensive products - ultimately, a medium-range processor costs considerably less than its faster big brother, and provides almost the same performance.

For this reason, we've lined up all the Athlon XP processors available against comparable Pentium 4 CPUs. AMD currently offers the Athlon XP in four performance levels: the XP 1500+ (1333 MHz), the XP 1600+ (1400 MHz), the XP 1700+ (1467 MHz) and the XP 1800+ (1533 MHz), and another model will soon be introduced. The Intel Pentium 4 comes in just as many flavors, running the gamut from 1400 MHz to 1500 MHz, 1600 MHz, 1700 MHz, 1800 MHz, 1900 MHz, all the way to the top-of-the-line 2000 MHz model. We tested a total of 12 processors in this comparison.

Motherboards with Intel's DDR chip set to ship 12/2001.
Posted: 11/05/2001  Source: EETimes Added by: Kim Heise

Not too long ago (about 3 months) there was this huge debate over RAMBUS VS. DDRAM. While it is true that RAMBUS is more "efficient" than DDRAM under certain conditions it appears as if cost was the big winner. RAMBUS prices are finally starting to meet DDRAM prices but it has taken far too long to drop in price.

Also the performance gap between DDRAM and RAMBUS has narrowed to to improved/optimized motherboard chipsets.

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Major motherboard makers will debut their designs based on Intel Corp.'s forthcoming double-data-rate DRAM chip set next month at Comdex Fall 2001 in Las Vegas and should have products on the shelf a few weeks before Christmas.

Intel is set to officially release the next-generation chip set for the Pentium 4 in January, giving the processor a much better performance companion than the current single-data-rate i845 chip set. Asustek Computer Inc. and Gigabyte Technology Co. Ltd. will run performance tests on boards incorporating the upcoming i845D chip set, but will do so in hotel suites and not on the floor of the show. Other motherboard makers, such as Microstar International Co. Ltd. and Elitegroup Computer Systems Co. Ltd., are expected to do the same, according to industry sources.

AMD's newest chip attempts to raise the bar.
Posted: 11/05/2001  Source: CNET Added by: Kim Heise

AMD has to do much more than simply advertise the new Athlon XP as a Pentium 4 "killer". The average consumer is convinced that more MHZ translates into more speed (similar to horse power in automobiles falsely indicates performance) and that attitude needs to change.

AMD needs to beef up the marketing department to get the word on the street that MHZ is not the only indicator of performance - it is only one of many indicators of overall performance.

Advanced Micro Devices has again upped the stakes in its processor performance race with rival Intel.
AMD on Monday launched the new Athlon XP 1900+, its highest performance desktop processor issued to date.

The new 1900+ chip runs at a clock speed of 1.6GHz. The resulting megahertz boost over its 1.53GHz Athlon XP 1800+ is expected by many to push the chip's performance ahead of that of Intel's Pentium 4.
AMD argues that its Athlon provides better overall performance, even though its clock speed is lower than Pentium 4's. This argument, in part, was the influence behind the launch of the company's new Athlon XP naming scheme, which granted model numbers to various versions of the chip in place of clock-speed measurements.

Most reviewers agree that the new Athlon chips live up to their name. Based on previous tests, most testers predict benchmarks will show that the 1900+ chip solidly outperforms Intel's 2GHz Pentium 4. AMD's previous 1800+ chip beat the 2GHz Pentium 4 on many tests, but was outperformed on others.
MicronPC will offer the new chip immediately. Meanwhile, Compaq Computer, Hewlett-Packard and Fujitsu also plan to offer the chip at a later date, according to AMD.

The newly minted 1900+ lists for $269, coming in above the recently reduced $223 list price of the 1800+ chip. Though street prices for AMD chips often come in below its official list prices for chips sold in 1,000 unit batches.
The AMD/Intel performance battle will continue early next year.

Sun proffers free Java for XP.
Posted: 11/05/2001  Source: CNET Added by: Kim Heise

This is a very smart move by Sun to keep the foot in the door with Java on Windows XP PC's. Sun has realized that it may not like Microsoft but it did face the fact that Windows is the most common operating system and they had better learn to work with it.

Sun Microsystems announced plans Monday to make its new Java Virtual Machine for Microsoft's Windows XP available as a free download.

The new Java Virtual Machine (JVM) allows Java applications--from games to collaboration software--to run on Windows XP.

Sun says the new JVM will also offer new multimedia and animation support as well as enhanced performance, among other things.

"We're committed to delivering the best interactive user experience on the Web through Java technology," said Rich Green, vice president of Java and XML software at Sun, in a statement.

Sun expects Web publishers, developers and enthusiasts to preview the new JVM. It can be found on the company's Java Web site.

Via rolls out Pentium 4 chipset with integrated graphics.
Posted: 11/05/2001  Source: EDTN Network Added by: Kim Heise

If only the Pentium 4 would drop in price to where it was competitive enough to consider in this integrated chipset environment for desktop workstations....

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Taiwan's Via Technologies Inc. today announced a new version of its Pentium 4-compliant chip set line, this time with integrated graphics and modular features.

The chip set, called the Via ProSavageDDR P4M266, supports PCs based on Intel Corp.'s Pentium 4 processor line. The device supports DDR (double-data-rate) SDRAM memory, AGP 8X, and 2D/3D graphics, based on S3 Graphics' ProSavage8 core. It also handles Ethernet-based protocols and Ultra ATA-133.

On industry standard benchmarks such as 3D Winmark, the core-logic product is said to provide performance gains of up to 100%, when compared with systems using an Intel's Pentium III processor and 815 chip set.

"The VIA ProSavageDDR P4M266 with integrated graphics and DDR memory reduces system cost while delivering unprecedented performance and stability," said Richard Brown, director of marketing at Via, based in Taipei.

The device is based on the so-called VIA Modular Architecture Platform (V-MAP), which allows OEMs to couple the North Bridge with a variety of South Bridge chips.

Cockpit Video System Faces Uphill Battle for Certification.
Posted: 11/05/2001  Source: IDG.NET Added by: Kim Heise

While I think this is a good idea I highly doubt terrorists will attempt the same attack plan due to the already heightened security. I may be off the mark on this but terrorists will attempt to hit the "hearts" of people from multiple angles instead of using the same tactic over and over again.

Qualcomm Inc. demonstrated a satellite-based aviation safety system last week, saying it could help prevent aircraft hijackings by relaying real-time video from airline cockpits and cabins to the ground and provide a dedicated voice communications channel for onboard air marshals.
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San Diego-based Qualcomm plans to transmit the real-time data, which could include information from flight monitoring systems, over a satellite system in which it holds a minority interest, Globalstar Telecommunications LP. The raw data throughput of a single channel on the Globalstar system is 9.6K bit/sec., but Qualcomm said it could provide throughput of 128K bit/sec. by using multiple channels for its security system.

Qualcomm said in a statement that its satellite aviation safety system is "in the final stages" of certification by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). However, the FAA has described that certification process as complex and lengthy. Iridium Satellite LLC in Arlington, Va., has submitted a proposal to the FAA for a similar system using its satellite system. And Chicago-based The Boeing Co. has said it can provide the same capabilities through its Connexion by Boeing service. Connexion by Boeing was originally designed to provide high-speed Internet connections for passengers.

Tim Scannell, an analyst at Mobile Insights Inc. in Quincy, Mass., said any aviation security system that relies on either Iridium or Globalstar is "chancy" because of the financial conditions of both companies. Iridium has already filed for bankruptcy protection once, and Globalstar has suspended payments on the debt used to finance its $850 million system last January.

Hole found in Microsoft's Passport wallet.
Posted: 11/05/2001  Source: IDG.NET Added by: Kim Heise

Your credit card number should be almost kept as secure as your social security number. Why anybody would share credit card numbers with a online storage systems simply for convenience sake is beyond me.....

If you ever run into the situation with a low-life stealing your credit card number it can take years to clear up your financial record.

VULNERABILITIES DISCOVERED IN Microsoft's free e-mail and Passport authentication services allowed a programmer to access credit card information stored on the company's servers, forcing it to shut down the electronic wallet feature in Passport until it can fix the problem, Microsoft confirmed Friday.

By exploiting holes in Microsoft's Hotmail e-mail service, as well as the Passport.com Web site used behind the scenes when a user logs onto Passport, a Seattle-based programmer was able to create a program which he said exposed personal information submitted by subscribers. The Web site Wired News first reported the exploit after testing the vulnerability with the programmer who discovered it.

"We took some quick steps to verify and fix the issues," said Adam Sohn, a product manager with Microsoft's .Net team. "As a general safety precaution we made the decision to take the (wallet) service off line."

He said there is no evidence that anyone exploited the holes or that information was compromised before the fixes were made Thursday afternoon. Microsoft will reinstate the wallet service soon, he said.

States Have Issues With Microsoft Settlement.
Posted: 11/05/2001  Source: Internet News Added by: Kim Heise

Please tell me no one is surprised by this... The settlement was very quick and there are bound to be various unhappy faces in the crowd that the decision went far too quick.

A number of the 18 states which pursued the antitrust suit against Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) hand-in-hand with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), are balking at the settlement the DOJ brokered with the company Friday.

According to published reports, some of the states say there are a dozen specific points that need to be changed in the agreement before they will sign on. State officials reviewed the 22-page settlement agreement over the weekend, and reportedly found exceptions that pulled the teeth of many of the provisions.

For instance, the settlement gives Microsoft wide latitude in determining what software is a part of the Windows operating system. Also, while certain provisions are intended to give vendors of competing middleware products more even footing with Microsoft, one aspect of the document's definition of "non-Microsoft middleware product" is that at least one million copies of the product must have been distributed in the U.S. in the previous year. Presumably, by that definition, Microsoft would not be required to give makers of newer technologies the APIs they would require to make their products run on Windows.

The states have until Tuesday to negotiate any changes and sign on to the agreement.

Microsoft competitors, watchdog groups and some analysts have been vocal in their disapproval of the settlement agreement reached between the DOJ and Microsoft. Some competitors have called the agreement a reward, not a remedy, giving the company the go-ahead to use the strength of its monopoly to continue its dominance of the software sector. That sentiment has been echoed by watchdog groups

"The reported settlement, stunningly, will not change either Microsoft's business practices nor its software implementations one iota," said Ken Wasch, president of the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), when details of the agreement were first made public Thursday. "Instead, the settlement relies entirely on innocent third parties -- the OEMs -- to carry out any changes in what consumers are offered in the marketplace."

Installer For Apple's New ITunes MP3-Player Trashed Data.
Posted: 11/05/2001  Source: Newsbytes Added by: Kim Heise

Apple OS X users had better watch out for this nasty "unwanted feature". (Have to say "unwanted feature" since the word "bug" in IT is politically incorrect).

Like a malicious virus, this software could delete all the files on drives belonging to unsuspecting computer users. However, unlike most malicious viruses, this software came straight from Apple Computer [NASDAQ:AAPL].
Some users of the Mac OS X operating system might have found their enthusiasm waning for the latest release of Apple's iTunes MP3 music jukebox when the installation script for the software deleted all the files on entire drives or partitions.

In a Web-site bulletin posted for users of OS X and iTunes 2.0, Apple said that the problem likely affected a "limited number" of users, because, it said, the bug revealed itself only on certain system configurations - specifically: OS X installations with multiple drives or a drive divided into multiple partitions.

"While this error is highly unlikely to affect most users," the company said, "Apple strongly advises that anyone who has downloaded the 2.0 version of iTunes for Mac OS X, as well as anyone who has a beta version of iTunes 2.0 for Mac OS X, immediately remove the iTunes.pkg installer file from their system."

Apple offered few technical details, but OS X users posting on bulletin boards dissected the iTunes installation script and found that the root of the problem seemed to be a pair of missing quotation marks on a string of text identifying the path to a previous version of iTunes.
 

ATI RADEON 8500 Q&A - Optimizing or cheating?
Posted: 11/05/2001  Source: The Firing Squad Added by: Kim Heise

ATI can call it what they wish but in my book it's called cheating. The issue revolves around ATI inserting code in their latest drivers that is optimized for specific benchmarking software.

The interview is well worth the read and it's amazing to watch the ATI manager "dance the jig" to avoid answering questions directly.

After posting our exploratory article on the ATI RADEON 8500, we've received quite a bit of feedback from readers, both positive and negative. While some have no objections to the tweaks implemented in the 8500 driver, others see it as a clear form of cheating. While plenty of evidence is available in support of both camps, we still haven't found any conclusive proof for either side. In their defense, ATI wished to clarify the issue a bit with us and our readers, the following is the text of a brief interview we conducted with David Nalasco, technology marketing manager for ATI. As usual, our questions are in bold and Gooseman's answers are in normal font.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) could lose as much as $1 billion on its new Xbox (news - web sites) video game console before breaking even in fiscal 2004, an influential Wall Street analyst said on Monday.

Morgan Stanley analyst Mary Meeker said the console faced competition in the short term but had long-term opportunity.

``We believe that Xbox could lose around ($1 billion) ... before breaking even in (fiscal 2004) if the product is reasonably successful,'' she said in a note to clients.

The Xbox launches in the U.S. on Nov. 15, in Japan in February and in Europe in March. Three days after the Xbox's U.S. launch, Nintendo (news - web sites) Co Ltd. (7974.OS) will launch its new console, the GameCube, in the United States.

Those two new consoles will compete with the already established PlayStation 2 (news - web sites) from Sony Corp (news - web sites). (6758.T), a unit analysts and industry observers expect to dominate the market this holiday season.

Microsoft has said it will spend as much as $500 million on the initial marketing for Xbox, which will retail for $299, the same price as PlayStation 2 and $100 more than the GameCube.

Microsoft had said it would have between 600,000 and 800,000 units available at launch, but later said it could not be sure. Most industry executives now expect them to ship 300,000 units at launch and 1 million to 1.5 million by year's end.