Tomorrow's News Today

Please visit our Sponsor

RSS Feeds

• Anandtech

• CNET News

• CrankyGeeks

• DailyTech

• Endgadget

• Security Now

• TechARP

• TGDaily

• Winsupersite

NVIDIA GeForce3: Reflections.
Posted: 05/15/2001     Source: N/A  Added by: Kim Heise

I've been considering upgrading my system with a speedy new 1ghz+ AMD Athlon machine from my current 770mhz P3. The decision is not an easy one to make at all since it would involve a new CPU (of course), a new motherboard and new case since my existing power supply is not AMD approved.  The sum of the previous parts would set me back around $450 when all is said and done. The end result would only be a rough 500 point speed increase under 3DBench 2001 graphics benchmark which to me was a lot of money for such a small performance gain.

For what I do with my computer - 3D graphics performance is everything so this is where I focus the performance marker for any new system that I would consider. On Sunday I happened to be in Best Buy and low and behold the first batch of GeForce3 video cards by Visiontek were on the shelves. Initially my reaction was "Wow the first batch of GeForce3 video cards are on the shelf already - pity they cost $400+". However, when I examined the tag, it listed the card for $50 off down to $350. Now you add a $100 gift certificate and the GeForce3 would run me $250 - now I was interested.

Yes, folks I broke down and purchased the Visiontek GeForce3 for $250 and I must say I've very impressed. My 3DMark 2001 scores almost doubled from my previous GeForce2 GTS system and I only spent $250. I will post my 3DMark scores up on the web site as soon as get a chance.

Let me reflect a little on the GeForce3: I've owned every single NVIDIA video processor (expect the GeForce2 Ultra) and by far the GeForce3 is the most impressive release yet. When I purchased the first GeForce video card the results were relatively impressive but it felt like a TNT2-Ultra with a much higher clock speed. Of course there was T&L (transformation and lighting) but it not used very often and it is not easy for developers to use.

This is where I sound as if I'm on NVIDIA's payroll but you can be rest assured that I am not and have no affiliations to the company. The new graphics engine (called Infinite FX Engine) on the GeForce3 is simply breathe taking. The new graphics engine on the GeForce3 is fully programmable as if it were a separate CPU  - the performance and visual quality has to be seen to be believed. Many of you may not remember when the original 3DFX Voodoo 1 was released for around $300 and will also remember how the first 3D accelerated graphics made your jaw drop. Well I can tell you with the demos that shipped with the GeForce3 will make your jaw drop likewise. If you are asking if new software titles would take advantage of the GeForce3 then let me reassure you by reminding you that Microsoft's upcoming XBOX gaming console sports a variant of the GeForce3.

In a nutshell it has been (in my case) since the Voodoo1 that I have been left with such a strong impression and from my perspective it felt that we finally have made a leap in 3D graphics. If you are asking if you should go out and purchase a GeForce3 -  the question is not easy to answer. It depends on what you do with your PC.

If you enjoy fast 3D graphics and you are not impressed with your current performance/quality of the GeForce2 then you may want to seriously consider upgrading.  The 2D quality of the GeForce3 is much crisper and brighter than my older GeForce2 so even users who do not rely heavily on 3D graphics will benefit from the card. Keep in mind the card is not cheap so the question you may want to consider is: "Can I afford it?". In my case it was worth every Dollar since it would have cost me at least $150 more to replace my entire machine and the performance would have only been marginal.

If the price does scare you, remember that when the GeForce2 GTS shipped it was well over $300 and now you can find one for around $200.

Official Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 Bugs Fix List.
Posted: 05/15/2001     Source: ActiveWin  Added by: Kim Heise

Since Microsoft has not officially posted the release of Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 many users have been asking me if I knew what has been fixed in the update.

ActiveWin has been kind enough to post a page (actually several pages) listing all the various changes in Service Pack 2. It's astounding how many fixes there are in the new update and often it makes one a little unsettled to see a list of all the items that were broken. The question now is what is still broken?

Thanks Rick and Fraser. Here is Microsoft's final list of fixed bugs that are included in Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 2. There are a ton of them, and they are divided in teh following areas:

• Application Compatibility
• Base Operating System
• Directory Services
• Internet Information Services/+COM
• Mail
• Management/Administration
• MDAC/Data Access
• Networking
• Other
• Printing
• Security
• Setup
• Shell
• Terminal Services

Microsoft XBOX price and launch date to be announced at E3.
Posted: 05/15/2001     Source: CNET  Added by: Kim Heise

Expect a whole slew of exiting announcements at this years' E3 computer electronics and gaming show. Microsoft is expected to announce the price and launch date of the much anticipated XBOX gaming console. Here's what CNET has been able to find:

Battle plans will take shape this week in the video game wars, as Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo square off at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) trade show in Los Angeles.

Microsoft will be counting on the annual fete to build buzz for its upcoming Xbox game console. The company is set to announce a price and a sale date for the Xbox, the last two major pieces of information to emerge about the device. Analysts expect the company will match Sony's $300 price tag for the PlayStation 2.

"They've got to come in equal to or less than the PS2," Gartner analyst P.J. McNealy said. "They're a new entrant in this market, and they have a chance to make a first impression only once."

The Athlon 4 - AMD puts the pressure on.
Posted: 05/15/2001     Source: Hardware Analysis  Added by: Kim Heise

Intel will most surely retaliate with more price cuts and upcoming speedier Pentium 4 processors. As I keep stating - no matter which company your prefer (AMD or Intel) - you have to appreciate the competition.

AMD seems to be putting the pressure on Intel lately, not only does its current line of Athlon CPUs offer equivalent or better performance than Intel’s current flagship CPU, the Pentium 4, but their CPUs are priced significantly lower too. While AMD has had the just released Athlon 4 in development for quite some time now, it delayed its launch to be able to put in extra features and make the CPU more attractive and better suited to take on various market segments beforehand dominated by Intel.

Athlon 4’s code name, Palomino, has been a buzz word in the industry for months and today AMD finally disclosed details about the new architecture and its features. The CPU introduced today is the mobile Athlon 4 and is naturally meant to go head to head with Intel’s Mobile Pentium III. One of the most compelling features right out of the box is its PowerNow! technology which in essence is a lot different from Intel’s Speedstep featured on Mobile Pentium IIIs. It works by reducing CPU clockspeed and core frequency when less processing power is required. This is actually different than Intel’s Speedstep solution, where the CPU is clocked to a lower frequency and core voltage at default when running on batteries and is issued a ‘halt’ mode when no processing is required.

Sony Spressa CRX200E-A1 Double Density Drive Review.
Posted: 05/15/2001     Source: CDR Labs  Added by: Kim Heise

CDR Labs reviews Sony's new 1.3GB CD recordable drive. No plans are for Red Book Audio encoding for these new 1.3GB recordable CD's. This means music companies and musicians are not expected to release 150 minute compact discs in the foreseeable future.

Imagine storing over a gig of files onto a CD that costs less than $2.  No, you are not dreaming.  The ability to store up to 1.3GB of data easily and affordably is here and it's from Sony.  

<SNIP>

For these new CD's, Sony adapted the ISO 9660 format, but doubles the density of the normal CD by narrowing the track pitch from 1.6 to 1.1 micron and shortening the minimum pit length from 0.833 to 0.623 micron. By doing this, Sony was able to fit 1.3GB of data onto one CD. These double density discs are much like existing CD-R and CD-RW media. The drives themselves have not changed much either. They use the same laser wavelength, but the scanning velocity has been slowed from 1.2 - 1.4 m/s to about 0.9 m/s to read these higher density discs. Sony has also developed a new type of error correction called CIRC7. Sony announced this new "Purple Book" standard last fall. Unlike these proposed technologies from TDK and others, Sony's is here today.

Intel Itanium to arrive in May.
Posted: 05/15/2001     Source: ZDNET  Added by: Kim Heise

Intel will release the long-awaited--and oft-delayed--chip at the end of May, according to sources, and most computer companies plan to come out with their products around the same time.

IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Dell and other large computer manufacturers will soon unveil 2-, 4-, and even 16-processor computers containing the 64-bit Itanium chip for the first time.

The chip, and computers containing it, will compete against more expensive Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) servers and workstations from Sun Microsystems, IBM and HP. Along with processors running at 800MHz and 733MHz, the Itanium boxes will tout such features as 32GB of memory--enough to store entire Web sites--and fairly large hard drives.

<SNIP>

For workstations, Itaniums running at 733-MHz and containing 2MB of cache will sell for between $1,000 and $2,000, or in the range of Intel's current Xeon chips. Judging by Intel's pricing history, the 800-MHz Itanium with 2MB caches will likely have a similar price.

As a result, workstations will cost more than traditional Intel boxes "but somewhat less than a comparable RISC workstation," said Rick Rudd, product line manager for the Intellistation workstation line at IBM.

TOP    MORE

Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 released.
Posted: 05/11/2001     Source: Microsoft  Added by: Kim Heise

Microsoft has finally released Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 for public download. Be prepared for a hefty  101MB download. The service pack 2 does include service pack 1 so no need to download/install both.

You can download the service pack 2 here for Windows 2000 server, advanced and professional.

IBM revs PowerPC chips up to 2GHz -what's the hype?
Posted: 05/11/2001     Source: ZDNET  Added by: Kim Heise

Not to dampen the news clip but if you read the article closely you will note that the PowerPC will reach speed of 2GHz by late 2002. I would bet the odds of ten-to-1 that we will see 2GHz or faster Intel or AMD processors before this Christmas. Read on for yourself:

IBM Microelectronics is counting on its research powerhouse to push it ahead of Motorola in the lucrative market for chips with PowerPC processors that reach the 2GHz mark.
IBM's PowerPC development team plans to use several homegrown technologies to help boost performance of future PowerPC chips, which it will announce later this year. The chips will be capable of hitting 1GHz late this year, with IBM eyeing the 2GHz mark for late 2002.

The added speed will help IBM, which prides itself on its cutting-edge chip technology, keep pace with Motorola in the PowerPC market.

Faster chips likely will mean faster Apple computers, which are based on the PowerPC. The new chips still won't let Apple close the speed gap with Intel and AMD, however. Intel is scheduled to hit 2GHz with its Pentium 4 in the third quarter of this year.

New IP phones on the horizon.
Posted: 05/10/2001     Source: ZDNET  Added by: Kim Heise

IP (internet protocol) based cell phones are inevitable in the future but nobody expected to see them available this soon. I suspect the initial growth will be slow as skeptics (including myself) need to see how well it actually works.

Also keep in mind the IP addressing schema for wireless phones would need to differ significantly from the typical IP you are used to seeing - 255.255.255.255. This is because there are not nearly enough IP addresses available to services the growing demand and now we also plan to add cell phones.

Business customers can expect a new communications tool to hit their desks starting this summer--an Internet Protocol telephone. Large enterprise carriers, including AT&T, Cable & Wireless and WorldCom, are getting ready to roll them out, and so are more nimble, vertically integrated carriers, such as Allied Riser Communications.
While phone calls over the Internet still aren't ready for prime time, phones using the language of the Internet by moving conversations as packets of data are finally of business-grade quality, experts said.

IP phones, manufactured by such vendors as 3Com, Alcatel, Broadcom and Cisco Systems, range in price from $150 to $700. Businesses embracing this new technology will finally start to wave goodbye to regional Bells as telephone providers, and start completing phone calls over broadband connections. Backers claim the new technology will result in higher productivity and lower costs.

"An IP phone is basically a computer, and we say you are going to get 30 percent more features at 30 percent less cost using a pure IP softswitch and an IP telephone, because you now have a more intelligent phone on your desk that can do more things, naturally," said Jeff Weiss, vice president of engineering at Allied Riser.

Microsoft has temporarily nixed a controversial plan to sell Office XP on a subscription basis to some U.S. customers.
The surprising turn in positioning comes less than a month before Office XP's official May 31 launch and days after Dell Computer started offering the productivity suite on new PCs.

In an e-mail late Friday, a Microsoft spokeswoman explained the strategy.

"(The) Office XP subscription offering will not be offered in the U.S. this year," she wrote. "It will be available in a few select locations when Office XP becomes available in those locations. Those countries plan to make their subscription offering announcements at a later date."

100mbps fiber broadband coming for homes.
Posted: 05/10/2001     Source: ZDNET  Added by: Kim Heise

Offering 100mbps broadband internet speeds in the average home is by far overkill. Yes, it would be appealing to most users but I'm curious to the cost for this speed.

What worries me is that it would allow companies who distribute online software to become overly relaxed on file sizes and we would be stuck with downloading 500MB-600MB files.

Local phone giant SBC Communications will announce a step forward in its broadband Internet plans next week, touting superfast fiber-optic connections directly to homes and small businesses.
So-called fiber connections have long been viewed as the next step in broadband because they provide Internet access speeds beyond what is available through cable or DSL connections, or business-grade T1 or T3 lines. The new speeds would range from 10 megabits per second to 100mbps--or 200 to 2,000 times faster than a dial-up modem.

SBC will initially target small businesses, but it plans to extend the superfast connections to homes, a spokeswoman said. Further details on timing and availability were not immediately available, though the company's plans will be detailed in a keynote address by SBC Senior Executive Vice President Ross Ireland at the Networld+Interop networking industry trade show next week in Las Vegas.

Divisions of SBC have said they will install fiber connections into new housing developments, including one in San Francisco, which would provide Net connections of about 5mbps.

Internet Explorer 6 public preview blank E-mail update.
Posted: 05/10/2001     Source: Microsoft  Added by: Kim Heise

For those of you (including myself) who were brave enough to download the IE 6.0 preview (alpha) release and were burned by the Outlook Express email bug should take note to this news post:

If you use Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express, using Internet Explorer 6 Public Preview is known to cause incoming e-mail messages to display a blank subject line. Sometimes the message text is affected by this issue as well. If you are experiencing this problem, Microsoft recommends that you install the Internet Explorer 6 Public Preview Blank E-mail Update.

Logitech Introduces Cordless Optical Mouse.
Posted: 05/10/2001     Source: Electic Tech  Added by: Kim Heise

The next time I stop by a local computer retailer I'm going to be purchasing one these Logitech Cordless Optical mouse (or is it mice?).

Jury finds Rambus committed fraud.
Posted: 05/10/2001     Source: Silicon Strategies  Added by: Kim Heise

Not sure how many of you have been keeping up with the RAMBUS "sue-all" fiasco. A Richmond, VA judge finally told the company off because RAMBUS is acting very much like a spoilt brat and is upset the new RAM type has not been as widely adopted as it had wished.

RICHMOND, Va. - A federal court jury here Wednesday afternoon found Rambus Inc. had committed fraud by failing to disclose its synchronous patent applications to the industry JEDEC standards body.

The jury ordered Rambus to pay $3.5 million in punitive damages to Infineon Technologies AG, which Rambus had sued for alleged patent infringement.

The damage amount, however, will likely be reduced to as low as $350,000 due to a Virginia state law capping the level of punitive awards.

In a separate count, the jury Wednesday determined that Rambus had not violated RICO anti-racketing law as a result of its patent application silence at JEDEC.

Infineon attorneys told Federal Judge Robert Payne Wednesday that they will file a motion, based on the jury's verdict of fraud, to have the Rambus patents declared unenforceable against the German chip maker.

For Speedier Web Loading, Press F5.
Posted: 05/10/2001     Source: TechWeb  Added by: Kim Heise

Interesting concept and it could offer serious potential for wireless products that rely on relatively low speed connections.

F5 Networks Inc. (stock: FFIV) has launched a new version of its load-balancing system that can improve Internet page-load performance and reduce the need for bandwidth by cutting down on the number of connections required for each page. The new BIG-IP Controller 4.0 load balancer offers a feature called OneConnect Content Switching that eliminates the need for Internet clients to open up a separate TCP connection for each of the objects—such as GIF files and other graphics—that make up a Web page. The new capability speeds page performance and can reduce bandwidth requirements by up to 20 percent, according to F5 officials.

Yahoo Adds Voice To Messaging Service.
Posted: 05/10/2001     Source: TechWeb  Added by: Kim Heise

I've yet to attempt making a long distance call with Yahoo's voice messaging service that is bundled with the new instant messenger 4.0 package. Let me know if you have tried it.

Rest assured major phone companies do no like the looks of this.

The new version of Yahoo's messaging service arrives as Internet media companies look for new ways to make money to offset the drop-off in advertising spending. Yahoo (stock: YHOO), which named ex-Warner Brothers executive Terry Semel as chief executive, replacing Tim Koogle, last month warned of lower second-quarter earnings, citing the decline in ad spending.

The new version will let users set up a Yahoo virtual prepaid calling card to pay for the calls, which Pollock said will generally be half of what most traditional phone companies charge for international calls.

Yahoo Messenger users are already able to dial domestically using their PCs. Domestic phone calls cost 2 cents a minute through the PC-to-phone service on Messenger, Pollock said.

Light Driven Micromachines.
Posted: 05/10/2001     Source: Beyond 2000  Added by: Kim Heise

Beyond 2000 has posted a very interesting article about the future of nano-technology. Very well worth the read.

Using specialized lasers, Scottish researchers from St Andrews University have devised a way to spin even the most delicate microscopic objects, from a hamster chromosome to a glass bead, without damaging them. This system may give researchers an unprecedented amount of control for manipulating objects in living cells or components of micromachines.

"Our technique could be used to drive motors, mixers, centrifuges, and other rotating parts in cheap, tiny, automated technologies of the future," says Kishan Dholakia of St. Andrews University. Such components might someday appear on so-called "labs-on-chips," which could perform chemical and biological tests at very quickly, compared to conventional methods.

Windows XP launch set for Oct. 25.
Posted: 05/09/2001     Source: MSNBC  Added by: Kim Heise

Here you go folks: The big launch day for Windows XP has been announced and now you have ample time to double up on your PC's memory and hard drive space.

I've seen reviews that note a full install of Windows XP requires 1GB of drive space.

REDMOND, Wash., Microsoft Windows XP, the next version of the widely used Windows computer operating system, will go on sale Oct. 25, Microsoft Corp. officials announced Wednesday.

WINDOWS XP, hailed previously by chairman Bill Gates as Microsoft’s “most important release since Windows 95,” will be available on new personal computers and in full and upgrade versions at retailers, according to a news release that did not give prices. (MSNBC is a Microsoft-NBC joint venture.)
Two editions will be issued - Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional Edition for businesses of all sizes.

Site News Update.
Posted: 05/09/2001     Source: N/A  Added by: Kim Heise

Hopefully over the next several days I will have more time to post updated news articles as we move to complete a major software release. Between sleep and the office - time has been short but hopefully over the next several days I should begin to post news articles at a steady space - or you will see less if we encounter major problems with the release.

Thanks for being patient.

Matrox G550 video card next week.
Posted: 05/09/2001     Source: The Register  Added by: Kim Heise

The PC graphics market seriously needs a competitor to NVIDIA and Matrox may just have the ticket. In order to keep up the quality from NVIDIA and keep the prices down on the GeForce 3 we are going to have to rely on Matrox and ATI (among others) to develop serious competition.

Matrox is set to unveil its next-generation 3D graphics acceleration chip G550 next week in preparation for the part's official launch early June. Matrox's next major part was to have been the G800, which was said to offer twin rendering pipelines, support 128-bit DDR SDRAM video memory and feature a built-in transform and lighting engine as per Nvidia and ATI. The trouble appears to have been that G800 was a dual-chip solution and may have run into difficulty making the chip pay. The G550 will ship by the end of May, "at the latest". The chip will almost certainly appear under Matrox's Millennium brand and boards are expected to cost between $150 and $200.

	0.18 micron technology
	AGP 1X, 2X, 4X
	360MHz RAMDAC
	32MB 128bit DDR memory
	Support for OpenGL and DirectX
	256-bit DualBus
	New DualHead Display capabilities
	Vibrant Color Quality² rendering
	Environment-Mapped Bump Mapping
	Matrox Skinning
	Displacement Mapping
	UltraSharp DAC
	Integrated TV encoder
	High-quality DVD playback

Motherboard makers shifting to new Pentium 4.
Posted: 05/09/2001     Source: DigiTimes  Added by: Kim Heise

Finally motherboard vendors are paying more attention to the Pentium 4 processor as prices drop significantly and the advent of DDRAM supported chipsets.

Currently there is very little reason to purchase a Pentium 4 system over AMD unless cost is not an issue and you are looking for top of the line performance under certain conditions.

Intel promised that after the Socket 478-based Pentium 4 hits the market in the third quarter of the year, shipments of the Socket 423-based one will continue for a year. However, clone and OEM markets revealed that their product planning for Socket 423-based Pentium 4s for the second half of the year has completely ceased. Taiwanese motherboard makers pointed out that according to Intel’s roadmap the new Pentium 4 will start from 1.3GHz in clock speed but will be sold for the same price as the old one and will pose an immense threat to AMD processors.

Intel’s reduction of the price of the present Pentium 4 at the end of April, Taiwanese motherboard makers noted, has received a reaction from distributors. Asustek Computer and Micro-Star International (MSI) noted that orders for own-brand Pentium 4-based motherboards have increased slightly. The price drop of Pentium 4 motherboards to under US$150 is also attributed to distributors’ adoption of the Pentium 4.

<SNIP>

Motherboard makers noted that Intel’s 845 chipset is still the top choice for Pentium 4 motherboards. Although Taiwanese chipset suppliers Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS) and Acer Laboratories (ALi) have acquired authorization of Pentium 4 bus technology from Intel, samples of their products, like the SiS 645 chipset, have not been delivered to motherboard makers. On the other hand, VIA’s P4X266 chipset, compatible with both Socket 423 and 478 architectures, has not received Intel’s authorization, and first-tier motherboard vendors are conservative about its development.

AMD Palomino chipset to be released on May 15.
Posted: 05/09/2001     Source: The Register  Added by: Kim Heise

AMD is not letting the PC industry down and expect dual-Athlon configurations to be available - hopefully sometime soon.

	AMD looks set to launch Palomino at a special event on 15 May.
	AMD to unveil three varieties of the chip, aimed at the server/workstation, desktop and notebook markets
	Server / Workstation Palomino will be different from the Desktop version as it include new design for multi processor support and more die cache
	AMD will launch their AMD-760MP chipset supporting dual-Palomino configurations as well

NVIDIA N17 Geforce3MX announced.
Posted: 05/09/2001     Source: XBIT Labs  Added by: Kim Heise

For those of who do not have $350 to burn on a GeForce3 from NVIDIA may wish to wait for the GeForce3 MX version. Expect the obvious performance loss over the beefier GeForce3 processor but you can still take full advantage of the new 3D engine.

CD-R Media prices to triple this summer.
Posted: 05/09/2001     Source: PCWorld  Added by: Kim Heise

Time to run down to the local retailer and stock up on recordable CD's for the summer. Sometimes one has to wonder if these articles are released to drive up the demand for CDR discs to promote sales - but then again it could be true. Either way you have nothing to loose by stocking up on cheap CDR's for the summer.

Maybe the price of US gasoline prices are directly related to the price of CDR's.

Get ready for a hefty price increase in CD-Recordable media, possibly as much as 350 percent over the lowest CD-R media prices seen this past year.

This summer, discs are expected to cost 30 to 35 cents on average, after being "down as low as 10 cents a disc" on a spindle, says Peter Brown, removable-storage analyst at IDC.

While that percentage increase seems like a lot, it's still less than last year's average cost for CD-R media, pegged by IDC at 47 cents per disc.

However, the increase in CD-R media prices lowers pressure on CD-Rewritable media, which should stay around current prices (about 70 cents per disc) instead of dropping. The reason is that CD-RW media is less affected by market fluctuations; the formulation of rewritable discs is a costlier process. Plus, adds Brown, "the volumes are still not going to be quite as much as you're seeing with CD-R media."

Announcements of price hikes are pending from CD media sellers Memorex, TDK, and Verbatim, a subsidiary of Japanese giant Mitsubishi Chemical. A TDK spokesperson declines to say how soon consumers will notice the hike, but says it will be substantial in relation to where the prices are now.

Why is CD media bucking the downward pricing trend? Blame it on a complex mix of consolidation among manufacturers, high patent royalties, and recent soaring demand.

Intel and Handspring Visors develop wireless tools.
Posted: 05/09/2001     Source: Electic Tech  Added by: Kim Heise

Intel and Handspring are working on wireless add-ons for easy internet access on your handheld Visor computer. Take a look at this:

Palm M505 vs Handspring Visor Prism review.
Posted: 05/09/2001     Source: PC Scoop  Added by: Kim Heise

PC Scoop details the differences between the Palm's new M505 and Handspring's flagship - the Visor Prism. If you are in the market it is very difficult to state one or the other is a sure win. It just depends on your requirements from a PDA.

OK, so what's the deal with this shootout?  Well, some of us like to be complete nerds and have a lot of bells and whistles on our devices that just scream "I'm a geek."  I have to have a PDA for school, so I thought I might as well go all out.  I decided that the PalmOS was the way to go for me since that's what a lot of the medical programs I will be using are written for.  I do feel that Microsoft's PocketPC is gaining momentum and will give Palm a run for their money IN A COUPLE OF YEARS.  Since I want the most geekiest baddest gonna make you jealous PDA out there, I decided to look at the Palm M505 and the Handspring Visor Prism.  They have everything I want right now plus a few extras.  OK, enough BS.  Let's get right to the competition.  One of these two devices is going to get pcSCOOP's Excellence Award, and the other goes home crying.  

ZoneAlarm 2.6 released.
Posted: 05/09/2001     Source: ZoneAlarm  Added by: Kim Heise

Not to sound like a salesman but if you are weary of hacking on your computer via the internet you may want to download a free (for personal use) copy of ZoneAlarm. It is difficult to beat a free product that offers so many features.

Typical software based firewall programs introduce performance degradation on your internet connection but I do not notice with Zone Alarm.

Download ZoneAlarm 2.6 here for Windows 9x/NT/2000.