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Tech News for Tuesday February 27th 2001

NVIDIA GeForce3 Preview.
Posted: 02/27/2001     Source: nVNews.net  Added by: Kim Heise

Mike Chambers who runs nVNews.net took a road trip (a very long one) down to NVIDIA's head-quarters to witness the unveiling of the new GeForce3 video processor. The entire industry is sitting and waiting for the official release from NVIDIA on this very impressive (but expensive) new video card.

Take a ride along with Mike as he shares his experiences and thoughts on the trip to Silicon Valley to meet with NVIDIA. 

Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, I traveled over 5,000 miles in three days to attend the affiliate event at NVIDIA. My work was cut out as I wanted to make sure that nV News had a preview at the time of the GeForce3 announcement and had only 9 days left. With the help of my partner Brian Gray we were able to pull it off.

Performance 175mhz SDRAM Review.
Posted: 02/27/2001     Source: The TechZone  Added by: Kim Heise

SDRAM prices are still sitting at an all time record low and it has never remained this low for this long. If you are considering more ram for your PC: BUY SOME TODAY!

Anyway, The TechZone reviews the upcoming 175mhz SDRAM spec and runs the new memory through a series of benchmarks. What I find unusual is that the tester uses a Micron PC which is unable to achieve more than 150mhz FSB speeds to even begin stressing the newer 175mhz SDRAM chip.

The newer 175mhz SDRAM chip can offer serious performance gains on your PC assuming your motherboard supports boosting the FSB (front-side bus) speeds above 133 mhz. The new SDRAM core speed is music to the overclockers' ears.

While standard Micron PC-133 can run my P3 at 150FSB, I was not able to get maximum memory performance because I have to back down the RAM settings in the BIOS so the RAM can run at 150Mhz. This is not the case with the OCZ Performance Series RAM. Both the Plus and Max was able to run at 150Mhz CAS 2. If you need a higher bus speed than 150Mhz, then the Max is for you. For the rest of us, the Performance Plus is more than fine. You pay a bit more for these hand pick RAM but the end result is worth it.

Intel Pentium 4 Northwood Unveiled.
Posted: 02/27/2001     Source: The VR-Zone  Added by: Kim Heise

The rate of change in the PC industry is ridiculous. Just when you build or purchase a new system a new standard materializes not even weeks after your current choice. The problem with this model is that chipsets and processors do not have time to mature and the customer ends up paying the price in both the wallet and sanity. 

Over at IDF today, Intel has unveiled their new upcoming processors that is going to replace the current 0.18 Pentium 4 (423) that have frequency up to 1.7Ghz. The Willamete 478 is going to launch at Q3 this year has a frequency of 2Ghz based on 0.18 micron. The other processor unveiled by Intel today is the Northwood 478 which is going to launch this year end with frequency of >2Ghz based on 0.13 micron.

As you can see the size of the the Northwood 478 is almost half of the Willamete 478 and also comes with a heat spreader as well so we can't really see the die size. Chipsets like the Brookdale SDR/DDR and i850(478) are already on the way to support these new processors.

Seagate Serial ATA 1.0 Drive.
Posted: 02/27/2001     Source: The VR-Zone  Added by: Kim Heise

Seagate has a new hard-drive technology in store for us. The end result is fantastic as it demonstrates lower prices on hard drives and FINALLY there will no longer be jumpers to configure for master or slave configurations.

Seagate Technology, Intel Corporation and APT Technologies today unveiled the first Serial ATA Revision 1.0-compliant disc drive and PCI host bus adapter. The prototype represents another major step toward a future of faster, simpler, more cost-effective ATA disc drive technology. In a demonstration at this week's IDF, the Seagate Serial ATA disc drive, containing APT's Serial ATA Bridge and PHY technology, is attached via new Serial ATA-compliant cables and connectors to APT's Serial ATA PCI Host Bus Adapter, which is connected to an Intel® Pentium® 4 processor system.

Serial ATA technology will allow for platform cost reductions and performance improvements while supporting a seamless transition from Parallel ATA technology. Serial ATA will supply storage interface headroom for many generations to come, beginning with 1.5 Gbps, and scalable to 2x, 4x and beyond. At the same time, Serial ATA is a drop-in solution that is compatible with existing ATA software drivers and will run on standard operating systems without modification. It will provide for systems that are easier to design, with narrower cables that are simple to route and install, smaller cable connectors, improved silicon design, and lower voltages, which alleviate current design constraints in Parallel ATA. Configuration of Serial ATA devices will be much simpler, with many of today's requirements for jumpers and settings no longer needed.

More GeForce3 Cards Coming.
Posted: 02/27/2001     Source: The VR-Zone  Added by: Kim Heise

A whole slew of video card companies will be announcing a series of new video cards based on the latest NVIDIA GeForce 3. Oddly enough the Creative Labs camp has been silent.

Take a look at the picture below of the Absolute GeForce 3 that ships in a wooden box. I wouldn't mind having a plain old paper package if the company agrees to knock off $150 off the shipping price. 

Folks, the GeForce3 isn't going to be cheap ranging from $550-$600 USD. Don't expect the prices to drop too soon as there is no competition on the horizon for this speedy new video card.

• Hercules 3D Prophet III
• ASUS V8200
• ELSA GLADIAC 920
• Leadtek WinFast GeForce3
• Absolute GeForce3
• Gigabtye GV-GF3000DF
• Microstar Starforce 822

GeForce 3 Specs

• 57 million transistors
• 64MB DDR SDRAM (3.8ns memory chips)
• 200MHz core and 460MHz memory frequencies
• 3.2billion AA Sample per second fill rate
• 7.36GB/s memory bandwidth
• 350MHz RAMDAC
• Light Speed Memory Architecture amplifies memory bandwidth
• GeForce 3 nfiniteFX Engine
• API (OpenGL 1.2, DirectX 8.0 Version 1.1)
• TV-Out
• High Quality HDTV/DVD Playback
• High-Performance 2D Rendering Engine
• True Reflective Bump Mapping (Z-correct Bump Mapping, Phong-style Lighting effects on Bump Maps with Reflections )
• Surface Engine For High-oder surfaces and patches
• Programable Vertex Shader
• Programable Pixel Shader
• HRAA(High Resolution Antialiasing)
• Integrated Hardware Transform Engine
• Integrated Hardware Lighting Engine
• DirectX and S3TC Texture Compression
• Dual Cube Environment Mapping Capability
• Hardware Accelerated real-time shadows

Windows XP Sneak Peek.
Posted: 02/27/2001     Source: The TechZone  Added by: Kim Heise

The TechZone has posted a "sneak" peak of the upcoming Windows XP operating system. One interesting note posted in the article is that the personal edition of Windows XP will not support multiple processors.

One point to get out of the way initially, because I know people are going to ask about it, is that the Personal Edition WILL NOT support SMP (symmetric multi processing.... i.e. dual/quad ect CPU configurations). SMP support will be reserved for the Professional and Advanced Server versions of XP. Personal is designed to replace Windows Millineum as the consumer operating system of choice, and as such doesnt really need SMP.

Common compound may lead to super fast computers.
Posted: 02/27/2001     Source: CNET  Added by: Kim Heise

Two labs may have discovered a new super conducting material based on a magnesium boron compound that could have significant impacts on the future of computer components. Very well worth the read:

In a startling result, scientists have found that a common metal compound can carry electricity with virtually no resistance at a higher temperature than previously thought possible. The compound might become useful for building superfast computers.

Two labs report that the magnesium-boron compound becomes "superconducting" at temperatures of around minus 388 degrees to minus 389 degrees. That is still mighty cold, but it is warmer than the previous record for simple metallic compounds of about minus 418 degrees.

Since superconducting compounds must be chilled to work, scientists are eager to find materials that work at higher, more easily attained temperatures

<SNIP>

"The field of superconductivity has been rocked" by the news, he said.

Cava said superconductivity researchers have virtually ignored such simple metallic compounds for 15 years in favor of a class of oxygen-containing materials, which superconduct at much higher temperatures than even the newly reported compound, up to minus 172 degrees.

Some experts said the magnesium-boron compound might pay off in making very fast computer components, where the oxygen-containing materials have proven hard to work with.

Internet Explorer 6 Public Preview?
Posted: 02/27/2001     Source: ActiveWin  Added by: Kim Heise

ActiveWin has posted an unconfirmed report that Microsoft is planning to release a public preview of IE 6.0. This would hardly surprise anyone in the industry as Microsoft has demonstrated this procedure in the past. Expect the full release sometime in the fall to coincide with the release of Windows XP.

This article has feature information, availability information, technical issues of the first Internet Explorer 6 Public Preview which will be available on Wednesday, Feb 28th. Here is an excerpt:

"This article describes the additions and changes in Internet Explorer 6 Public Preview (version 6.00.243x.0051). Internet Explorer 6 provides new Explorer Bars, greater privacy support, virus protection in Outlook Express, and other new features."

"Internet Explorer 6 can be installed on Windows 98 or later and Windows NT 4 or later as an upgrade to any existing version of Internet Explorer. To download Internet Explorer 6..."

"An Explorer Bar is a Web page that is contained in a window within the Internet Explorer window. It occupies a vertical pane to the left of the main document pane. Some Explorer Bars with which you might already be familiar are Search, Favorites, and History. Internet Explorer 6 adds a Media Bar, Contacts Bar, Search the web Bar, News Bar, a Personal Bar, and the ability to add new HTML based Explorer Bars created by Microsoft or 3rd parties."

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Visual Studio 6.0 Service Pack 5 - Released.
Posted: 02/27/2001     Source: ActiveWin  Added by: Kim Heise

Visual Studio developers take note:

Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0 Service Pack 5 (SP5) provides the latest updates to the Visual Studio 6.0 development system and its component products. Service Pack 5 is recommended for all Visual Studio 6.0 users, and is currently available free for registered customers to order on CD (coming soon) or download. Service Pack 5 is a cumulative collection of all previous service pack updates (SP4, SP3, SP2, and SP1) and includes fixes for the following Visual Studio applications:

• Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0
• Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0
• Microsoft Visual FoxPro 6.0
• Microsoft Visual J++ 6.0
• Microsoft Visual SourceSafe 6.0

Weekly CPU & Video Card Price Guide.
Posted: 02/27/2001     Source: Anandtech  Added by: Kim Heise

Anandtech has posted an article listing the price of CPU and video cards for this month. Well worth the time to read if you plan to make major changes to your PC or are planning to build/purchase a new system.

Welcome to the first installment of the CPU and Video Card Price guide for February 2001. We publish this article to help you, the consumer, find the best deals on the internet. All the tedious work like finding the best prices and locating reputable retailers has already been done so all one has to do is figure out what product is right for them. As always we encourage the reader to investigate every retailer's reliability before ordering, but we have eliminated typically problematic ones from our price guides.

Office XP Testers Receive RC1.
Posted: 02/27/2001     Source: Beta News  Added by: Kim Heise

Office XP should see the store shelves sometime before Windows XP. Microsoft has release RC1 or release candidate 1 for testing and the overall feedback is rather positive when compared to Beta2.

Office XP testers have begun to receive the first release candidate of the suite after seven months of testing. RC1 graced the doorsteps of beta testers this week as a 5-CD set that included a product guide and three language pack CDs. The build, 10.2511.2511, sports the name 'Corporate Preview Beta', and will ship as 'Microsoft Office Professional with Frontpage.' This will be the final release candidate sent to testers, although Microsoft does have RC2 running internally, with RTM expected early March and a retail release in June.

Contrary to earlier reports, Microsoft has included a version of its Sharepoint Team Services with RC1, a lighter version of Tahoe. This will allow Office users to share their documents with other users via the Web and provide a venue for online collaboration.

Feedback on RC1 thus far has been extremely positive. "This release is much, much improved over Beta 2 - RC1 is definitely release quality," wrote one tester. Earlier betas were not received nearly as well.

Ericsson Unveils Web Tablet.
Posted: 02/27/2001     Source: Beta News  Added by: Kim Heise

What better way to market a new product as a hot gizmo in a upcoming movie.

This June when Lara Croft officially hits the big screen portrayed by Angelina Jolie, users will see a lot more than Ms. Croft in the flesh. In the movie you will catch a first glimpse at Ericsson's new venture, the H610 Web Screen. Driven by RedHat Linux, the color wireless is set to hit retail stores later this year.

The Webtablet-like device features a built-in speaker phone with a base station that plugs into a regular phone line for communications. The Bluetooth device has a range of up to 100 meters and will start at 56K data transfer.

Newsbytes reports that the H610 will feature 32MB RAM with 32MB flash memory for local storage and a 200MHz StrongARM processor.

Sun pushes Unix workstation price below $1,000.
Posted: 02/27/2001     Source: CNET  Added by: Kim Heise

Competition is becoming more fierce as components for computers drop at an astounding rate. Sun is turning up the heat with shipping Unix workstations that finally break the $1,000 range. This will be interesting for the companies who seek cheaper development and testing environments but will have little impact on the average consumer.

The wildfire for super-cheap PCs has been reduced to smoldering embers, but Sun Microsystems has developed a Unix workstation that indicates the server giant is still feeling the heat.

Sun will announce Tuesday a Unix workstation that costs $995 in its most basic configuration--an all-time low for Sun or any other company in the market. The new Sun Blade 100 will cost more if customers also want features such as a monitor or a 3D graphics card, but the price is still half that of the previous least-expensive model, the Ultra 5.

Unix workstations historically have offered higher performance than their cousins using cheaper Intel parts and the Windows operating system, but they're under pressure as Dell Computer and others have released ever-more-powerful Wintel competitors.

Gnutella worm finds new way to squirm into PCs.
Posted: 02/27/2001     Source: CNET  Added by: Kim Heise

Users wishing to discover alternatives to Napster should take heed to this news article. 

A so-called proof-of-concept worm started spreading over the weekend among the PCs of people using the peer-to-peer file-swapping protocol known as Gnutella.

The computer worm was likely created to prove that viruses can spread among computers connected to peer-to-peer networks.

The worm acts as a superficial chameleon, taking the name of whichever file a person requests. Although its name changes, people who use the Gnutella network can easily spot the worm by its constant size: 8,192 bytes.

That makes it unlikely that the virus will spread very quickly, said Vincent Gullotto, director of antivirus research at security software maker Network Associates. "Its ability to spread on a mass scale quickly is not going to be there," he said. "There's still going to have to be some kind of social engineering involved in it."

Record your own DVD movies without a new computer.
Posted: 02/27/2001     Source: ZDNET  Added by: Kim Heise

To be able to record your own DVD discs is going to have the movie industry up in a roar. What the music and cinema industry fails to realize is that "the cat is out of the bag" and they had better figure out ways to work with the technology or spend all their time and resources fighting this concept.

People will soon be able to record their own DVD movies without shelling out money for a new computer.

Pioneer plans to start selling around May an add-on version of its drive that can play and record both DVDs and CDs. DVDs recorded using the drive can be played back on most consumer DVD players.

Right now, the Pioneer drive is only available as the SuperDrive in Apple Computer's priciest 733MHz Power Mac and in several high-end computers from Compaq Computer just hitting the market.

Pioneer will sell the DVD-R unit as an internal drive that can be added to a computer tower, while other peripheral makers will be allowed to sell it as an external drive.

<SNIP>

And for external drives to really find success, the price has to be right. Analysts say that won't happen right away. Pioneer's new drive will carry a suggested retail price of about $1,000.

"You won't start to see these things take off before a $499 price point," said Stephen Baker, an analyst with market researcher PC Data.

For those who want to record DVDs today, however, the new drive represents a dramatic savings over past devices, which cost thousands of dollars.

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Intel Phasing Out 900-MHz Pentium III.
Posted: 02/27/2001     Source: TechWeb  Added by: Kim Heise

Intel is pushing the Pentium 4 processors as much as possible but OEM's and consumers are slow to take the plunge. With all the debacles with the Pentium 4 and the chipset (let us not forget RAMBUS) companies and users are waiting for a more mature product.

Intel Corp. will phase out a 900-MHz Pentium III by the end of March, according to a notice sent to its customers.

The company usually phases out its oldest, slowest microprocessors as demand shifts to faster products. Now, Intel (stock: INTC) will also start retiring the Pentium III chips that use the slowest front-side bus, currently at 100 MHz, a spokesman for the company confirmed.

Most of the demand for Pentium III products is for those using the 133-MHz bus, Intel spokesman George Alfs said Friday. “There is only selected demand for 100-MHz products,” he said.

The phase-out is surprising but it probably won't have a major effect on PC OEMs, and OEM sources contacted by TechWeb said they weren't especially concerned. But the discounts likely to come as the part is discontinued could give a needed boost to the PC market, analysts said.

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3Com To Lay Off 13 Percent Of Workforce.
Posted: 02/27/2001     Source: TechWeb  Added by: Kim Heise

I suspect that all this doom and gloom of the US economy is simply driven by the media. Not to sound like a conspiracy but there is no reason for the US economy to be slowing down. One solid reason is the fallout of all the over hyped dotcoms and the shakeup on Wall Street.

3Com is the next major computer company to loose a significant number of employees. All these companies are expecting a major market crash and are trimming costs to be prepared. This is a mistake as it takes months and countless amounts of capital to retrain new workers when the market swings upwards.

Networking company 3Com fleshed out previously announced plans to cut expenses Monday by announcing it will lay off 1,200 workers, or 13 percent of its employees.

"In light of the U.S. economic downturn and turmoil in the telecommunications industry, I announced in December a global cost-reduction initiative," said Bruce Claflin, president and CEO of 3Com Corp., Santa Clara, Calif. "3Com will focus all of its resources on work critical to market leadership and superior financial returns."

The company—whose Palm Inc. (stock: PALM) spinoff is the leader in the PDA market—said it will focus its austerity program in four areas: employment; discretionary costs, such as travel and meetings; product costs and savings in plants; property and equipment.

"Every part of the 3Com business is being examined under these guidelines, " said company spokesman Mike MeCey. "It's a continuous review of all fixed expenses."

Today Nvidia and Apple's Steve Jobs unveiled the new GeForce3 video accelerator. I must say the demonstration by John Carmack of the new Doom3 engine is breathtaking. 

Offering the recording industry $1 billion Dollars is synonymous to offering Bill Gates a $1 bill for his permission to copy and freely distribute the Windows OS. Both offers are something to laugh at compared to what the respective music industry earns in a year.

Several users use dual display configurations on their PC's and I understand that it is very popular with stock traders as it allows them to trade on one display and monitor stock changes on the other.

Now, with 3 very different and very powerful dual display cards out there on the market, the decision which one to get, if any, has just become exponentially more difficult. Today we take a look at ATI's, Matrox's, and NVIDIA's solutions for dual monitor setups and help you decide which one is best for you and what the best way to use the system is.

So much for the rumors that Microsoft will be dropping the IE web browser for a more integrated solution in Windows XP. That's not to say that it won't happen but the company understands the fact that not everyone will upgrade to Windows XP over night.

We have just received word that Microsoft released yesterday, to a group of testers, a brand new beta build 2436.1 of Internet Explorer 6. Internet Explorer 6 is the next evolution of Microsoft flagship browser and should be released later this year.

VIA Pro2002 : 333 MHz DDR for Pentium 4.
Posted: 02/22/2001     Source: Ace's Hardware  Added by: Kim Heise

The performance gains we have seen over the last six months on memory speeds are mind boggling. It is good news that we are seeing these leaps and bounds because memory currently is the largest bottleneck in overall system performance (excluding mechanical storage devices).

PX266 will also officially support the 133MHz bus, which Intel will be transitioning to with the Northwood processor. By virtue of the P4's Quad Data Rate (QDR) bus, a 133MHz processor bus will be able to transfer data at an effective 533MHz. Combined with the 64Bit data path, the 533MHz bus delivers an astounding 4.2GB/s in bandwidth.

AMD aims data-transfer technology at industry standard.
Posted: 02/22/2001     Source: CNET  Added by: Kim Heise

AMD understands the notion that the bus multiplier system we currently have in PC's is a serious bottleneck in overall system performance. The reason for the multiplier is because main memory speeds cannot keep up with processor clock speed and add on peripherals also cannot keep up with these speedy new processors.

AMD is smart enough to develop a new bus type called "Hypertransport" which could address some of these problems.

Advanced Micro Devices aims to increase the performance of PCs and other computing devices with an internal connection that increases the both the speed and amount of data that get ferried between chips.

The new connection, dubbed HyperTransport, will be licensed royalty free to manufacturers and, so far, the concept is gaining interest. Cisco Systems, Sun Microsystems, Microsoft and others are looking at it, according to AMD.

Routing data between chips inside computing devices is full of hitches because many peripheral devices must share a single input-output connection. AMD aims to offer each device its own connection with HyperTransport and make that connection faster.

AMD won't only offer HyperTransport to PC makers. The chipmaker intends to offer the technology to companies that manufacture networking hardware, set-top boxes, handheld computers and even game consoles. So far, AMD has signed up several big names, including Sun and Cisco.

HyperTransport was originally developed as a new input-output method for multiprocessor servers based on AMD chips. However, the company now believes HyperTransport has a much broader appeal because of its ability to free up performance bottlenecks inside PCs, servers and networking equipment by establishing a wider pathway for data to move between chips.

AMD's plan is to spread the technology as widely as possible throughout the industry, establishing it as a standard.

Microsoft to Launch Stinger Cellphones Later This Year.
Posted: 02/22/2001     Source: BetaNews  Added by: Kim Heise

I need to dial 911 but my cell phone is displaying the infamous blue screen of death.

Microsoft, in its effort to set the standard for multimedia-enabled cellular phones, will launch a line of phones later this year with its new software code-named Stinger. Retailing for around $800, the phones are more of a microcomputer, featuring a "relatively large color screen" and contact management software. They will also be able to play video and audio, according to the press release. Basically a slim, phone-enabled version of the PocketPC, the Stinger software will allow developers to virtually "drag-n-drop" existing Windows applications into Stinger-compatible software.

"McKinley" set to star at Intel conference.
Posted: 02/22/2001     Source: CNET  Added by: Kim Heise

Any guesses on who is going to ship the first 64bit processor? Right now it is too early to tell but you can be assured there will be a tough race ahead between AMD and Intel.

Intel has completed the design of its "McKinley" processor for servers, according to sources--a manufacturing milestone that will likely be one of the highlights of the Intel Developer Forum next week.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker has "taped out," or completed, the blueprint on McKinley, a code name for a 64-bit processor for high-end servers, according to sources close to the company. Intel has also managed to run some software on the existing samples.

Although McKinley won't appear in servers until 2002, the news that the design is finished will likely be one of the focal points of the Intel Developer Forum, a three-day conference on all things Intel, starting Tuesday in San Jose, Calif.

Modem maker hears V.92's call to action.
Posted: 02/22/2001     Source: CNET  Added by: Kim Heise

Most households still cannot make use of DSL or Cable modem internet connections so for most users modems are the only choice.

The PC modem is far from dead, thanks to a new dial-up standard that promises increased speed and other features that partially narrow the performance gap with broadband services.

U.S. Robotics announced Wednesday that it has completed testing of modems based on the new V.92 standard, ratified late last year by the International Telecommunication Union. The modem chipmaker plans to ship products by the end of the first quarter.

The new standard increases the upload speed of data transmissions, allows a data call to be put on hold to take an inbound voice call, and shortens the time it takes to make a connection.

It also should help ensure that the industry is not standing over the grave of dial-up technology.

"There is still a lot of room for the acceptance of dial-up modems," said Roger Kay, an analyst at IDC. "A majority of home and small offices are still and will continue to get online through dial-up modems."

Recent figures from Gartner suggest that dial-up modems will be around for a while. Data from the research firm indicates that 55 percent of all people getting online will be doing so through dial-up connections even by the year 2004.

Navy Using Palms Aboard Their Ships.
Posted: 02/22/2001     Source: Palm Boulevard  Added by: Kim Heise

Just a little news clip to pass the time.

Sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Constellation look to the stars to help find their way, but for a growing number of other tasks, they gaze at their Palms.

Many of these seamen received their Palm Pilots from the Navy. Currently the Navy provides nearly all new officers with these handheld computers. Graduates of the Naval Academy, and many other programs also get use of one of these devices.

Lt. Mike Biemiller says that using a Palm Pilot cuts his workload in half. As he is making his comments he watches a Hornet jet landing onboard the ship. Lt. Biemiller records the landing data onto his Palm Pilot. He will upload the information to the ships network at a later time.

Official GeForce 3 press release.
Posted: 02/22/2001     Source: Yahoo!  Added by: Kim Heise

Here's the official word from Nvidia on the much anticipated GeForce3 video accelerator. I must admit the card is very impressive but for $600 I think the price is insane. We have yet to see software titles take any advantage of the new features.

TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 22, 2001--MACWORLD/Providing the catalyst for a new graphics revolution, NVIDIA® Corporation (Nasdaq:NVDA - news) today introduced the world's most advanced graphics processor, the GeForce3TM GPU for the Macintosh® platform at Macworld Expo Tokyo 2001.

Powered by the new NVIDIA nfiniteFX(TM) engine the new GeForce3 GPU enables users to experience a rich, interactive environment. 3D scenes have ambiance with GeForce3 because objects appear photo realistic and custom lighting heightens drama and emotion. Characters and living creatures have organic behavior and unique expressions -- their personality emerges. Programmability and performance are the catalysts for this graphics revolution.

In addition, GeForce3 is:

• The first fully programmable GPU -- the nfiniteFX(TM) Pixel Shader processor and Vertex Shader processor give developers the ability to program a virtually infinite number of special effects and custom looks.
• The first high-resolution antialiasing (HRAA) GPU, featuring NVIDIA's patented Quincunx AA mode, for high-resolution, high-quality, high-performance multisampling capabilities.
• A platform for advanced transform and lighting features, enabling more complex, visually exciting objects and scenes.
• OpenGL® 1.2 compatible.
• Available in 64MB DDR SDRAM configuration that supports both the innovative Apple® Display Connector and the industry standard VGA connection.

Speech Recognition On Tap For Digital Audio Players.
Posted: 02/22/2001     Source: TechWeb  Added by: Kim Heise

Think about having portable MP3 players that store literary hundreds of audio tracks and you could simply retrieve the title by issuing voice commands. Sounds rather appealing...

Speech recognition capability will be the newest whiz-bang feature added to next-generation digital audio players and jukeboxes that store songs on a disk drive, according to consumer electronics OEMs and Sensory Inc., a speech technology provider.

By adding command and control features, speech recognition will help consumers navigate through the thousands of songs that can be stored on digital audio players equipped with hard-disk drives, suppliers said. A speech engine would recognize a set of prefabricated commands that control the searching, playing, and listing of stored songs.

Portable MP3 players that rely on flash memory to store a small number of songs accounted for the lion's share of digital audio player shipments in 2000, but players with hard-disk drives are a growing segment. Several manufacturers, including Hango Electronics of South Korea, have introduced or announced plans for drive-equipped audio players and jukeboxes that store tens of gigabytes worth of music, far more than flash-based players.

Cisco, CMG Wireless Partner On Unified Messaging Service.
Posted: 02/22/2001     Source: TechWeb  Added by: Kim Heise

Just something I stumbled on over at TechWeb's news site about Cisco's quiet move into the wireless industry.

Cisco made a move toward expanding the wireless footprint for its uOne unified communications offering Wednesday when it revealed a partnership with CMG Wireless Data Solutions to provide unified messaging to wireless carriers around the world.

Financial terms of the partnership were not released.

Lasers beat bandwidth bottleneck.
Posted: 02/22/2001     Source: ZDNET  Added by: Kim Heise

ZDNET has posted this new clip about using lasers to solve the network bottleneck problem. Read on: 

Although the technology is invisible, one thing is clear about laser-based communications networks: They are closer than ever to becoming a reality.

For months, communications carriers and equipment makers have tested new technologies, known as "free-space" lasers or sometimes "optical wireless," to deliver high-speed network connections to business customers. Until recently the technology has been relegated to white board theories, research and development labs and trial projects.

Now start-ups Terabeam, a Seattle-based laser service provider, and FSONA Communications, a laser equipment maker, are set to announce for the first time the commercial availability of their products and services within the next week.

"It's becoming apparent that this stuff is ready for primetime," said Jeff Kagan, an independent Atlanta-based communications industry analyst. "Now it's time for the pressure test by bringing it to market and signing up customers and seeing if it works.

"I can't imagine it's going to be a flawless rollout. Every new technology has its problems," Kagan said. "(But) if it works, it's poised to be a huge hit."

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