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Dual Athlon MP system review.
Posted: 06/11/2001     Source: AMD Zone  Added by: Kim Heise

The first couple of AMD dual processor machines are slowly starting to trickle into the market and the AMDZone has picked up one of the first test systems from a company called BOXX Technologies.

This is significant news since AMD's new dual processor machines will further lower prices for the average consumer and hopefully force more innovations from both the AMD and Intel camp due to competition.

BOXX Technologies is one of the launch partners for the new AMD dual Athlon MP solution.  Luckily they are also located just a short drive from me here in Austin.  I was able to acquire a loaner of their 3DBOXX R1 dual AthlonMP systems for review.

As you probably guessed their 3DBOXX R1 is based on the Tyan Thunder K7.   It can be configured with either 1 or 1.2GHz AthlonMP CPUs.  In fact the number of options BOXX has for this machine is impressive.  You can choose from any number of high end video cards from 3DLabs, Elsa, ATI, Matrox, S3, and Appian.  You can also choose from a normal server tower or a rackmount and add hotswap drives and a 2nd power supply.  The 3DBOXX R1 is aimed at high end 3D modeling so all of these options are a necessity.

Sony launches first AMD DURON 800 MHz notebook CPU.
Posted: 06/11/2001     Source: AMD Zone  Added by: Kim Heise

Sony is now shipping a VAIO notebook PC featuring AMD's new Duron processor. The AMD Zone has the official press release online:

Responding to the needs of cost-conscious consumers who want a practical solution to performance, Sony is among the first PC manufacturers to incorporate the new 800 MHz1 AMD Duron mobile processor in a notebook PC. The VAIO notebook encompassing this chip is the PCG-FX210, which features a 10 GB3 hard drive, 128 MB of SDRAM, a DVD player and built-in floppy drive. With its built-in DVD player, the PCG-FX210 is ideal for consumers seeking a fast, fully-functional and affordable communications and entertainment system in a portable PC.

Windows XP nears RC1 as Microsoft Freezes UI.
Posted: 06/11/2001     Source: ActiveWin  Added by: Kim Heise

If you plan to ride the Microsoft OS bandwagon make sure your PC will be ready for the new OS which is slated to be released later this fall.

Microsoft released one of the final interim builds of Windows XP that's expected before Release Candidate 1 (RC1), a build which includes the new Windows Messenger client that the company announced earlier this week. More importantly, however, is the fact that this release--build 2481--marks the finalization of the Windows XP user interface. This means that the Windows XP UI will not change between now and the final release. Changes with this most recent build include two new color schemes, Metallic and Homestead, which build off of the default Windows XP visual style (code-named Luna), and various other small refinements.

In addition to the UI freeze, build 2481 also marks the point of no return for hardware compatibility: Though this build doesn't contain all of the hardware drivers that Microsoft intends to ship in the box with Windows XP, the company does not intend to add device support beyond that which is currently planned. Microsoft expects to ship RC1 the week of June 18, and this release will go out to hundreds of thousands of Preview Program customers. A smaller RC2 milestone is expected in late July, with the final RTM (Release To Manufacturing) code due in August. Windows XP will hit retail stores in late October, but PC makers are expected to begin shipping XP-based systems as early as September.

Intel Creates The World's Smallest Transistor.
Posted: 06/11/2001     Source: BetaNews  Added by: Kim Heise

Here's something hot of the news press that is filled with the usual "hype". How can we possibly predict what will be on the market in 2007? We cannot even accurately predict 6 months from now.

The reason why it is posted here is because it does offer a future glimpse of what we may be witnessing in the not to distant future.

NVIDIA Detonator 12.41 vs. 6.50 Review.
Posted: 06/11/2001     Source: Icrontic  Added by: Kim Heise

In the event you had missed the huge fanfare last week as NVIDIA released the new Detonator video drivers. NVIDIA has now officially released the new Detonator video drivers (for all NVIDIA video cards) from 6.50 to 12.41. That is a serious version upgrade.

Icrontic tests the new performance/features of the new 12.41 Detonators and compares them to the previous 6.50.

If you're anything like me, you're very hesitant about installing new drivers the minute they come out, especially if your current drivers are working just fine. Since the recent release of Nvidia's latest official drivers, the 12.41's, many people have been wondering if it is worthwhile for them to upgrade even though they're running a GeForce2. To be honest, I was curious myself and decided to pit the new 12.41's against the 6.50's, so you won't have to.

ATI TRUFORM Technology.
Posted: 06/11/2001     Source: Anandtech  Added by: Kim Heise

ATI's new video technology sounds very promising but the company has made me wary of over-hyped late products and sub par driver quality. The industry will not take another repeat kindly so I hope we have a strong contender to the NVIDIA's GeForce3.

The ATI Radeon would have been impressive if it would have been released in parallel with NVIDIA's GeForce card with solid video drivers.

Three months after the GeForce3's official launch, today we get a glimpse of how ATI intends to address image quality in their future products. Coined TRUFORM, it can be expected that ATI's "next generation chip" (presumably the Radeon II) will include the technology that could mean drastic improvements in image quality in not only new but also existing games.

Napster cuts a deal with recording companies.
Posted: 06/11/2001     Source: CNET  Added by: Kim Heise

Napster is in the press again today which sounds more like positive news for the music sharing company.

Capping a day of speculation, Napster announced a deal Tuesday that should allow it to sell music from three of the five major music labels as part of its proposed subscription service.

The company has struck a distribution deal with MusicNet, the music subscription service jointly created by RealNetworks, Warner Music Group, Bertelsmann and EMI Recorded Music. Expected to go live this summer, the MusicNet affiliation will eventually give Napster access to more than half of the mainstream music most often sought by consumers.

"Certainly when you think about digital distribution, and you think about the consumer experience, then Napster is at the forefront of that," Rob Glaser, CEO of RealNetworks and MusicNet, said in a conference call announcing the deal. "Napster has played a pioneering role in moving (this market) forward."

Via demos Pentium 4 DDR chip set.
Posted: 06/11/2001     Source: EETimes  Added by: Kim Heise

Nothing overly to become excited about. This is simply a marketing move to show it can be done.

The performance of DDRAM RAM memory has yet to be shown on motherboards. DDRAM RAM on video cards does make a major difference so I would suspect that immature motherboard chipsets are hampering the technology.

TAIPEI, Taiwan — After a last-minute decision, Via Technologies Inc. debuted its Pentium 4 chip set supporting double-data-rate SDRAM at the Computex trade show on Tuesday (June 5), despite being mired in negotiations with Intel Corp. over a license for the Pentium 4 bus.

Via is the first third-party supplier with a Pentium 4 chip set for the mainstream PC market. The company said it will ship the P4X266 chip set in August whether it has a license for the Pentium 4 bus from Intel or not, and has secured the cooperation of Taiwan's top motherboard makers, which will begin shipping boards around the same time. During a limited benchmarking demonstration Tuesday, Via ran a 1.5-GHz Pentium 4 with an Intel 850 chip set and Rambus memory against a Pentium 4 with Via's X266 chip set and DDR memory. On a 3D Mark 2001 test, the X266 showed roughly 8 percent better system performance, according to Via.

Hack Allows Copying of TiVo Recordings.
Posted: 06/11/2001     Source: Beta News  Added by: Kim Heise

BetaNews has posted some information regarding recent hacks on the TiVo entertainment system.

While initially tolerant of hackers modifying its product, TiVo may have been unprepared for the power of open source. A new software utility has surfaced with the ability to extract digital video directly off the recording unit, raising numerous copyright concerns. With an added network card, TiVo users may now archive and view recorded television shows on a computer.

The software, dubbed ExtractStream, reads video data stored on the TiVo and copies it to a PC via network interface. Once extracted, the raw video can then be encoded into MPEG format and viewed or transported. Possible applications include archiving favorite shows, or viewing recordings on a laptop while away from home.

A similar solution can be obtained with a TV card, but directly copying from the TiVo offers a couple advantages. Quality is theoretically higher because digital to analog conversion is avoided, as TiVo only supports analog video out. In addition, video capture is quicker because copying occurs at speeds faster than real time.

NEC to Begin Sales of 61-inch Plasma Display Monitor.
Posted: 06/11/2001     Source: Electic Tech  Added by: Kim Heise

Can anyone email me a price on one of these 61 inch monitors? Not that I plan to purchase one but I am curious to know what the price tag is.

NEC Corporation today announced it will begin sales in Japan from July 23rd of the industry's biggest sized plasma display monitor. With a panel size of 61-inches (diagonal 155cm), the jumbo-sized plasma monitor is aimed to meet the growing demand coming from the business and educational sectors for large size screens. NEC plans to expand sales into the European and American markets soon after, expecting to sell 8,000 units of the PX-61XM1 (Product named: PlasmaSync 61 MP1) by March 2002.

NEC, through using the latest plasma display production facilities and through the development of excellent surface uniformity large-size panel production technology, has lead the field since 1998 when they commenced mass production of the world's first production line capable of producing two 42-inch PDP panels from a single mother glass. With this large-size plasma display technology NEC will be the first company to take the 61-inch jumbo-size screen from the prototype stage into mass production.

The plasma module used for the new big screen has a peak brightness of 600cd/m2 (panel based). It has contrast levels in bright light of 60:1, providing the highest specifications in the industry for its size.

Boeing is near deal with airlines to test in-flight Internet access.
Posted: 06/11/2001     Source: MSNBC  Added by: Kim Heise

Anything to make the long flights more bearable would be fantastic. Then again the boss can send you work to complete while you are trying to go on vacation.

Boeing Co.’s project to provide e-mail and Internet access to airline passengers is about to get a big boost, with the three largest U.S. carriers expected to sign up as initial customers, according to industry officials.A YEAR AFTER launching a major expansion drive into onboard communications, Boeing is close to announcing an agreement for UAL Corp.’s United Airlines, AMR Corp.’s American Airlines and Delta Air Lines Inc. to start limited in-service testing of its fledgling system, these officials said. Although Boeing’s much-publicized initiative has fallen well behind its original schedule and is slated to involve only about three or four dozen aircraft at first, the move still amounts to a strategic and marketing coup for the aerospace giant.

It could pave the way for Boeing to dominate a market that some experts expect to mushroom, offering passengers instantaneous connections to the Web, corporate e-mail and ultimately even in-flight airline and hotel reservations. Users would be able to use laptops or digital personal assistants to download and send messages as easily as on the ground. If the early tests prove successful and passengers embrace the concept, by the end of the decade Boeing expects such services could produce as much as $5 billion in annual revenue.

In addition to potentially wiring up the majority of the 1,500 or so aircraft flown by the trio of U.S. carriers, Boeing also is moving toward a similar agreement with Lufthansa of Germany, the officials said. Continental Airlines also has been in extensive discussions.
Dubbed Connexion by Boeing, the system links satellites with sophisticated new aircraft antennas able to reliably send and receive large amounts of data while planes are cruising miles above the ground. Boeing officials are proposing to charge users between $15 and $25 an hour, comparable to typical cellphone rates on the ground but only a fraction of the cost of current in-flight phone calls.

Site News Update.
Posted: 06/05/2001     Source: N/A  Added by: Kim Heise

Apologies for the lack of news posts but I've been swamped with work and I am also taking classes at the same time.

I will be going off on vacation starting tomorrow (Wed 06/06) and will not be back until Monday (06/11). I will be far away from computers and even the internet which may be a blessing in disguise.

If you would like to contribute articles or news posts to Hitechbits please send me an email.

Polaroid focuses lens on new Tech.
Posted: 06/01/2001     Source: BetaNews  Added by: Kim Heise

Polaroid is smart by shifting it's technology to the digital medium because inevitably it is the future of photography. BetaNews posts a news bite on Polaroid's new "Opal" and "Onyx" services.

Coming soon to a shopping center, drug store, or mall near you - Polaroid. Rebounding off the success of its popular I-Zone instant pocket camera and digital cameras, the financially troubled company is betting that convenience, once a factor in its demise, will jumpstart sales. New digital printing technologies coded-named 'Opal' and 'Onyx', are the basis for a dramatic shift in Polaroid's business strategy.

Opel and Onyx are key parts of Polaroid's strategy to shift from analog to digital technologies. According a press release, Polaroid's Opal technology is, "a two-sheet, thermal print medium that combines the best of traditional thermal transfer and inkjet technologies to generate photographic-quality color prints. Opal's high image quality and stability, combined with fast print speed, make it an optimal technology for dedicated home photo printers or the retail photo finishing environment."

Adaptec introduces new RAID controller.
Posted: 06/01/2001     Source: Electic Tech  Added by: Kim Heise

For those of you in the computing server market take a look a Adaptec's new RAID controller. The price seems very reasonable for the listed amount of features.

The Adaptec 2005S is the first RAID product to take advantage of notebook technology in using an SO-DIMM connector in place of a standard PCI slot as a way to reduce the cost and size of the RAID controller. Adaptec's own EMRL technology (Embedded RAID Logic) allows the 2005S to take advantage of the server platform's on-board SCSI channels. This approach reduces power consumption by up to 75 percent and cost by up to 40 percent over traditional single-channel controllers.

The Adaptec 2005S breaks thermal milestones, operating at a mere two watts, where competing RAID solutions require up to nine watts of power to operate. This feature is a particularly important consideration for tightly enclosed rack-mount environments. The controller provides full RAID 0, 0+1, 1, 5, 0+5 and JBOD-level configuration capabilities in addition to advanced RAID features and is available in 8, 16, and 48MB cache memory configurations.

To simplify installation, the Adaptec 2005S is packaged with Storage Manager Pro, Adaptec's user-friendly RAID management software that ships on all Adaptec RAID controllers. This common platform approach enables IT personnel to manage multiple Adaptec RAID products using a single software management interface. The new RAID product is targeted for shipment to OEMs in the second half of this year, and will be priced at $225.

Rambus upcoming plans.
Posted: 06/01/2001     Source: VR-Zone  Added by: Kim Heise

Rambus is taking advantage of all the confusion with hardware standards in the consumer market. If you plan to announce new products and standards - now is the time where the market is looking for the next generation standard for our computing needs.

Rambus are very pleased with Intel’s move to drive significant volume to the Pentium 4 processor. Currently, RDRAM is the only solution for the P4 but we expect to see SDRAM solutions out shortly for solutions that don’t require the Rambus level of performance. Apart from just Intel, Rambus has an agreement with AMD with their Rambus technology but they have not been very active with them.

Rambus over the next few quarters is to help bring the cost of RDRAM down to the point where customers will always choose the higher performance alternative because it does not cost much more.

The cost of Rambus is about $10 per 128mb equivalent RDRAM. This is down from roughly $18 at the beginning of the year. Rambus are actively working with their partners to bring the cost down even further. By the end of this year they expect the cos of RDRAM to be only 20% higher than SDRAM. More technical changes coming next year that should bring them even closer to SDRAM costs. When 256mb RDRAM begin to ship with their technical changes, they can have the cost within 10% of SDRAM.

First dual-Athlon AMD systems available.
Posted: 06/01/2001     Source: x-bit Labs  Added by: Kim Heise

Expect to see several more dual Athlon systems to begin showing up on the market in the next couple of weeks. I suspect the seller of this system on EBAY obtained a test version of Tyan's dual Athlon motherboard and has decided to cash in.

Microsoft Launches Office XP in New York City.
Posted: 06/01/2001     Source: Win INFO  Added by: Kim Heise

Yesterday all the hype in the media was Microsoft's new Office XP. If you are wondering if the new office suite is worth the extra cash over Office 2000 then visit Microsoft's web site where they list the new features in XP compared to the previous versions.

Linux for the PlayStation.
Posted: 06/01/2001     Source: ZDNET  Added by: Kim Heise

Can anyone explain to me what the point is for running Linux on a gamming console? If you plan to use the customized Linux OS to develop Playstation 2 titles I can see why it may serve some purpose. It sounds like a marketing drive by Sony to imply that the Playstation2 is more than just a gaming console.

Over the next several months we will be bombarded from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo on which gaming console is the one to purchase for the holiday season.

Following high demand for Sony's Japanese release of Linux for the PlayStation2 game console, another company has leapt into the fray: the Czech firm Blokman Trading, which has released an alpha version of the Linux 2.4 kernel for the original PlayStation console.
Sony has strictly controlled its release of PlayStation2 Linux, building only 1,000 of the kits, which are to go on sale next month and will only work on the Japanese version of the console. The PlayStation2 LinuxKit includes a DVD with software, 40GB hard drive, keyboard and mouse.

In response, Blokman says it will make its Linux port, called Runix, available for free and open it up on the GNU Public Licence. The aim, according to Blokman co-founder and chief executive Vadim V Veshchezerov, is to "transform [the] Sony PlayStation and Sony PlayStation2 into a low-priced desktop computer".

"Clippy" pops up again in Office XP.
Posted: 06/01/2001     Source: ZDNET  Added by: Kim Heise

Many IT professional thanked Microsoft for putting "Clippy" out to pasture but for some unknown reason the Office XP team decided to reverse the plan and include the most annoying "feature" ever (in my opinion) devised by the Redmond company.

Clippy, the cute but much maligned animated paper clip introduced with Office 97, was given his walking papers by Microsoft recently as part of a $30 million marketing campaign promoting Office XP.

The Redmond, Wash.-based company even set up a special Clippy Web site with his resume, an online poll for his next job, and Macromedia Flash movies starring the outgoing Office assistant. By retiring the Office assistant, Microsoft hoped to emphasize how easy Office XP is to use compared with earlier versions.

But Clippy's demise is more myth than reality. Anyone installing Office XP will find Clippy and seven other animated assistants available with the new version. One of the assistants, Merlin, is even featured during the Windows XP Beta 2 installation. The difference: In Office XP, the software user must choose to install the Office assistants rather than getting them by default.

Acer shakes hands with Palm OS.
Posted: 06/01/2001     Source: ZDNET  Added by: Kim Heise

Palm's unfortunate market slide has to be "beefed" up by licensing the OS to as many large OEMS possible. No matter which side of the fence you prefer to be as a Windows CE user or a Palm user you have to admit the Palm OS is small, fast and very easy to use.

If I were to take look at "crystal" ball I can see that Windows CE will eventually surpass Palm OS in terms of sales and percentage use just because Microsoft has a "huge hand" for garnering up strong support. This would be unfortunate and I sincerely hope that I am wrong - not because I own a Handspring PDA but because we need competition to drive any market.

Palm will extend its popular Palm OS operating system deeper into Asia on Friday with the announcement of a major licensing deal with Acer.
Acer, the Taiwan-based computer and computer component powerhouse, plans to base a new line of handhelds called the Acer Mobile Device on the Palm OS. The deal, which will be officially announced in Taipei, will be good through 2005, according to sources close to the company.

In addition to the licensing agreement, Acer and Palm plan to jointly develop versions of the Palm OS based on the local languages of the Asia Pacific Region and China.

The move is one of the first positive signs to come out of the Santa Clara, Calif., company in some time. For the past two months, Palm's stock price has been stuck in a holding pattern over the $5 mark, a far cry from its 52-week high of $67.38 in November.