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Site News Update.
Posted: 03/28/2002  Source: N/A Added by: Kim Heise

Thanks for all the emails of concern. I am very much still alive - albeit very tired.

I'm in this new work schedule from 3pm to 2am which is not much fun if you are used to being a early morning person. I spend my free time  with my wife and trying to squeeze in some much needed sleep here and there.

The late night schedule should hopefully end sometime during the middle of April and then I can return to a regular (hopefully) work routine where there is time to update the web site.

In case you are wondering what I'm doing working those unearthly hours - we are performance tuning our application and it requires these late hours so that we don't have to factor in network/server latency issues with other users using the corporate systems.

Rest assured - Hitechbits is not dead and thanks again for checking in. I do read and try to respond to all the emails in a timely order so please don't stop sending feedback/questions.

Coming soon: foot-powered laptops.
Posted: 02/21/2002  Source: The Register Added by: Kim Heise

Now this is something you could sell to management: Exercise and cost cutting for the company by reducing the electricity bill in one shot!

A US developer is coming to market with a device which lets users recharge batteries using a foot-operated pump.

The StepCharger, from AladdinPower, gives approximately 20 minutes of laptop power after five minutes of brisk pumping.

This is not a great deal of time but, as AladdinPower customer services rep Max Smith told us, it could come in extremely handy if you're stuck without access to an external power source or a spare battery.

The StepCharger weighs 10.5 ounces and is roughly the size of a paperback book; it can be used to charge anything from satellite phones to digital cameras and video cameras, as well as laptops. In fact it works with most electrical devices with a rechargeable battery. It provides up to six watts charge at 18 Volts DC, according to Smith (who incidentally
helped George Best run his businesses in Manchester in the 70s).

The StepCharger is not yet publicly available (contrary to what it says on the AladdinPower Web site). The US Department of Defense has bought an earlier version of the product for landmine testing and detonation (it's suitable as it can be used to generate and release a well-controlled quantity of electrical power).

Unsurprisingly, the DoD is not keen for civilians to use the StepCharger for this application, so AladdinPower is bringing a consumer version to market. This is expected to cost around $150.

Zoran filters foul language from kids in Sanyo DVD players.
Posted: 02/21/2002  Source: Silicon Strategies Added by: Kim Heise

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Zoran Corp. here and Japan's Sanyo Group today announced a long-term strategic partnership in DVD chip technology, and separately, the Santa Clara company said it has delivered a new integrated circuit that improves parental control over what children hear in TV programming, compared to V-Chip technology.

Zoran said it partnered with Principal Solutions to co-develop the software that enables the TV Guardian technology to filter out "adult language" and replace those words with "more appropriate" language for family viewing. The TV Guardian application runs on Zoran's Vaddis home entertainment server processor, which acts as a "convergence" backbone for manufacturers implementing television, digital camera, and other multimedia applications on DVD players.

Acronym Finder web site.
Posted: 02/21/2002  Source: NewsBytes Added by: Kim Heise

Wish I would have thought of this one...

Here's a web site to help you keep track of all those acronyms that you keep hearing on a daily basis and have no clue what they mean.

ADSL, NASDAQ, CUI or ARPANET? If it's an acronym, it's probably listed here, at Acronym Finder, a comprehensive directory of acronyms from a variety of categories, including military and government, organizations and schools, slang, business, science, medicine, and information technology. Just for laughs, we typed in CHOICE and found that it stands for two organizations, Center for Humanitarian Outreach and Intercultural Exchange and Combat Helicopter Operating in a Combat Environment (US Army). This Acronym Finder is quite a find! World Wide Web: http://www.acronymfinder.com/

Palm prepares pair of color handhelds.
Posted: 02/21/2002  Source: CNET Added by: Kim Heise

Palm seriously needs to take a step back and take a look at the Windows CE competition is up too instead of releasing these rather insignificantly improved versions of the Palm PDA which mostly annoys the customer.

How about MP3 support, more memory and a faster CPU?

Palm is expected to announce two new color handhelds in the coming weeks, sources say.
One handheld, the m515, is expected to replace Palm's current high-end m505 and will be priced similarly at $399, according to sources. The other handheld, the m130, is expected to cost approximately $280.

Palm is expected to announce the devices March 4, sources said, but product launches have been known to change because of last minute hiccups.

CompuSmart, an online Canadian retailer, leaked information about the new handhelds Wednesday morning. Those details were quickly pulled from the site, but not before handheld enthusiast sites grabbed information about the new devices.

A CompuSmart representative declined to comment, and a Palm representative also declined to comment.

If consumers take to the new higher-end handhelds, Palm may be able to increase the average selling price of its devices across the board. Palm said in its second-quarter financial report that the average selling price of handhelds fell to $164, compared with $227 in the previous quarter and $212 in the same quarter a year ago.

Both devices come with a 16-bit color screen and a Secure Digital expansion slot. The m130 includes 8MB of memory, while the higher-end m515 includes 16MB of memory.

VIA's KT333 chipset Socket A bonanza.
Posted: 02/21/2002  Source: The Tech Report Added by: Kim Heise

With the price of memory moving up almost weekly now it is tough to justify an entire upgrade to your PC to the newer 333mhz memory speed.

As for the extra performance over 266mhz DDRAM....rather unimpressive at this point.

VIA IS TAKING the wraps off its new Socket A chipset today, the KT333. This successor to the impressive KT266A chipset promises to take AMD's Athlon XP to the next level, provided the Athlon can squeeze some extra performance out of 333MHz memory while reaching through a 266MHz bus.

We decided this was the perfect occasion to catch up on something we've been meaning to do for a while: a gigantic Socket A chipset round-up. So we rounded up as many of the KT333's competitors as we could muster, and we've tested no less than seven different chipsets—including the SiS 745 and NVIDIA's nForce—in nine different configurations. So which chipset is the best match for that shiny, new Athlon XP processor you've been eyeing? Keep reading.

AMD announces chip set  'Hammer' 64-bit processor line.
Posted: 02/21/2002  Source: Silicon Strategies Added by: Kim Heise

AMD has announced a new motherboard chipset to support the upcoming 64 bit Hammer processor. Here are more details:

CPU & Video Card Price Guide: February 2002 2nd Edition.
Posted: 02/21/2002  Source: Anandtech Added by: Kim Heise

It's been sometime since I've posted a link to the CPU and video price guide. Nothing overly interesting expect the depressing sight that RAM prices are still on the upward trend.

We select vendors to appear in our Price Guides based on two requirements: solid consumer feedback and having the lowest possible pricing. You'll notice that these vendors aren't paying us to be listed here; we do not accept requests to be listed here. We have tried to eliminate vendors with low feedback rating, but we do encourage you to do your own research before purchasing from any of these vendors.

With the new and improved Price Guides we have not only increased our standards when evaluating online vendors, but we have also partnered up with our friends at CNet to offer yet another service to you all. Using CNet's Shopper.com search engine we can provide you with an additional pool of vendors to search from that are checked up on by CNet. You can wade through those results by clicking on the CNet Pricing link in the second to last column on the right.

Microsoft Media Player Tracks User Info.
Posted: 02/21/2002  Source: Yahoo News Added by: Kim Heise

Now if this doesn't get you "fired up" then nothing else will. The fact that Microsoft is keeping track of your listening/viewing habits with giving you the option of disabling it is simply unacceptable. I hope someone over at Redmond lands in hot water over this!

WASHINGTON - Microsoft's new version of its popular Media Player software is logging the songs and movies that customers play.

The company changed its privacy statement Wednesday to notify customers about the technology after inquiries from The Associated Press.

The system creates a list on each computer that could be a treasure for marketing companies, lawyers or others. Microsoft says it has no plans to sell the data collected by Media Player 8, which comes free with the Windows XP (news - web sites) operating system. The company said last month it had sold more than 17 million copies of Windows XP.

"If you're watching DVDs you don't want your wife to know about, you might not want to give her your password," said David Caulton, Microsoft's lead program manager for Windows Media.

The media player has been bundled as a free addition to Windows for several years and allows users to play music CDs, DVD movies and digitally stored songs on their computers.

When a CD is played, the player downloads the disc name and titles for each song from a Web site licensed by Microsoft. That information is stored on a small file on each computer in the latest version of the software.

The new version released with Windows XP last fall also added the same technology for DVD movies.

Microsoft's original privacy statement informed customers that they were downloading the information about CDs but never stated it was being stored in a log file on each computer.

TOP    MORE

CANNES, France — Continuing its quest to mold profitable enterprises onto its personal-computer template, Microsoft Corp. this week is unveiling an operating system that supports telephony features on handheld computing platforms.

The PocketPC 2002 Phone Edition is a PDA operating system based on Windows CE 3.0, said Marcus Perryman, senior application development consultant at Microsoft. The OS will debut at the 3GSM World Congress here.

Microsoft has drafted a two-pronged strategy to attack the smart-phone market. The PocketPC Phone Edition equips PDAs for phone functionality, while the Stinger is a smart phone platform that enables PDA functions. The Stinger, already used in mobile phones from Sendo and others, is based on a customized PocketPC 2002 core, said Perryman.

The key difference between the two resides in the user interface, Perryman said. The PocketPC Phone Edition lets users navigate through a bigger screen with touch functions and handwriting recognition. The Stinger allows operation via soft keys on a mobile phone.

Researchers close to delivering molecular circuits.
Posted: 02/21/2002  Source: EE Times Added by: Kim Heise

This article is definitely worth the read:

Although it's a little like watching a chess match in slow motion, molecular electronics researchers are converging on viable circuit-fabrication methods.

Several approaches to building circuits with molecules reached the stage of at least rudimentary logic or simple devices, such as inverters or AND gates, last year. Ratcheting up the pace, Hewlett-Packard Laboratories has announced two patents that are said to solve some small but nettlesome problems with a molecular FPGA approach based on a switching molecule called rotaxane. The HP patents detail a practical method for connecting molecular-scale circuits to the outside world and a method for defining circuit sub-blocks in a massive crossbar array of nanowires. A third patent describes an approach to memory arrays using rotaxane.

The design rules of molecular-electronics schemes hint at the scale of the problems the researchers face. The erbium disilicide wires used in HP's process are 2 nanometers in diameter and are spaced 9 nanometers apart on a silicon substrate. The HP design is based on a Manhattan architecture in which a parallel series of north-south wires intersects a similar series of east-west wires. Each wire crossing becomes a location for a molecular switch. Billions or perhaps trillions of gates could be put on a silicon die.

NVIDIA GeForce4 - NV17 and NV25 Come to Life.
Posted: 02/21/2002  Source: Anandtech Added by: Kim Heise

A little late news but very exciting news for those of you who are interested in desktop computer graphics.

As a recommendation - stay away from any GeForce4MX and rather upgrade to a similarly priced GeForce3 if you cannot afford a higher end GeForce4.

The past couple of launches from NVIDIA have been of products that have never really surpassed their predecessors by more than 10 - 20% initially. The gaps eventually extended beyond that but never has an NVIDIA launch been as exciting from a pure performance standpoint as today's launch of the GeForce4. Many situations placed the GeForce4 Ti 4600 anywhere from 20% to over 50% faster than the GeForce3 Ti 500, and that's without even turning on anti-aliasing.

The GeForce4 is not only capable of quite a bit in today's games but it will be a serious contender in titles that will be hitting the streets in the coming months before the end of the year. The improvements to the architecture of the GeForce3 have definitely given the GeForce4 a decent boost in performance, and coupled with more efficient management of die space (removing some portions of the die, optimizing others) NVIDIA is sitting on a very impressive GPU.

<SNIP>

We can't feel more than a little disappointed by the GeForce4 MX however. The $99 GeForce4 MX 420 will be a good replacement for the current GeForce2 MX, and the $149 GeForce4 MX 440 may be justifyable but the $179 MX 460 makes very little sense to us. Even the 440 could use some more justification in order for it to make perfect sense to the user that does care about gaming. Our recommendation is to stay away from the MX 460 and wait a few more weeks for the GeForce4 Ti 4200; pay the extra $20 and gain full DirectX 8 pixel and vertex shader support as well as two additional rendering pipelines.

The GeForce4 Ti 4200 is the perfect example of a product that would have never seen the light of day had it not been for competition from ATI, which clearly reiterates the point that competition definitely helps an industry, especially when it's competition between two capable firms such as ATI and NVIDIA.

TOP    MORE

HP patents nanochip process.
Posted: 01/24/2002  Source: ZDNET Added by: Kim Heise

The top computer companies that were once accustomed to building massive (physically) computers have understood that the future is all about miniaturization. Tomorrow's computers will be smaller and those big bulky servers systems are something of the past.

Spyware, In a Galaxy near you.
Posted: 01/24/2002  Source: Wired Added by: Kim Heise

It is unbelievable that any company would operate under business practices that are highly unethical (in my opinion) as this particular case.

Keeping track of which particular web site a user visits and then displaying annoying banners according to your web surfing habits is offensive. To make matters even worse the company collects information you submit to online forms!!

The latest scandal over so-called spyware involves a mysterious and particularly insidious program that tracks your surfing, delivers pop-up ads and could even collect your credit card information.

You may not have heard of the VX2 Corporation, but if you've downloaded Audio Galaxy lately, VX2 may know a lot about you.

VX2's spyware program comes bundled with other software. Audio Galaxy, a company that makes Napster-style file-sharing software, delivered it for a short time last fall, but says it no longer does so.

The VX2 program is currently bundled with a free screensaver program from Aadcom, an Internet advertising company, and may be included in other popular file-sharing programs.

Like other spyware, the program, once installed, tracks which websites the user visits, and reports the information back to the company's servers to build a user profile. It also serves pop-up ads so they appear to be coming from websites that don't actually serve the ads.

But that's not all it does. According to VX2's own privacy policy, "VX2's software also collects some information from online forms that you fill out."

The policy statement assures users it has engineered the program not to collect sensitive data, such as credit card numbers. However, "if such data were -- despite VX2's best efforts -- ever inadvertently collected, VX2 would immediately purge such information from its database."

But that should offer little comfort, according to privacy expert Richard Smith, because there's really no way to verify what VX2 does with the data it collects.

"The privacy policy says a lot of nice things," Smith wrote in an e-mail, "but I am not sure what to believe because the company refuses to identify itself, and the e-mail address given in the privacy policy does not appear to be valid."

Shuttle's AK35GTR motherboard review.
Posted: 01/24/2002  Source: Tech-Report Added by: Kim Heise

There are a handful motherboard manufacturers on the market and typically there are only one or two leaders but Shuttle has moved from being a follower to a leader.

For the first time I have not followed my pervious upgrade path from moving with a Asus or a Abit motherboard but  have upgraded to the Shuttle AK31 which is very impressive for price/performance/quality.

Now take a look at the latest specs on Shuttle's AK35GTR motherboard and tell me you are still not impressed!

SHUTTLE PLEASANTLY SURPRISED us with their AK31 motherboard. Revision 2 of that board miraculously combined VIA's KT266 chipset with decent performance and stability—a feat few other motherboard makers had accomplished at the time. Not only that, but the AK31 rev. 2 had fully six PCI slots, four DIMM slots, and BIOS-based overclocking options out the wazoo. For 90 bucks, it was a wonder.
We did have a couple of complaints about the AK31, though. There was no on-board RAID controller, and most good enthusiasts' mobos now include ATA RAID. Also, we were lukewarm on the integrated AC'97 audio. We have nothing against AC'97, but the audio controller on VIA's south bridge chips 90wehf hoifewo fewiho...

Sorry, something got garbled there. Must be static.

Anyhow, Shuttle appears to have listened to us, because their new AK35GTR is everything we liked about the AK31 plus everything we were asking for in addition. Coupled with VIA's KT266A chipset, the AK35GTR aims to put Shuttle in the running for "best Athlon motherboard" in a field that's grown considerably more crowded in recent months. Can Shuttle's new mobo really run with the best of the pack when the competition is intense? Read on to find out.

Airline industry grounds high-speed Net.
Posted: 01/24/2002  Source: CNET Added by: Kim Heise

It is not too difficult to understand that the massive costs with beefing up the security in the airline industry is forcing all other developments into the back seat.

Hopefully we will see the light of day with internet access on international and domestic flights. Anybody who has spent more than 8 hours sitting in a seat would appreciate the ability to have internet access. I suspect that eventually internet access will be available on airlines due the movement of the industry.

Netscape Communications files Suit against Microsoft.
Posted: 01/24/2002  Source: Anandtech Added by: Kim Heise

This issue of Netscape suing Microsoft is getting very old indeed. Microsoft simply does what any other company does given the situation. From my experience - sure Internet Explorer has several bugs but it is far more stable than Netscape. At one point the situation used to be reversed.

Don't hold your breath that this will end with any results. It sounds like Netscape has a "bone to pick" for loosing the browser war. Instead of paying for lawyers Netscape should invest in more development and research into improving their browser in terms of stability and features.

If you think I'm taking a far to dim view of this lawsuit - most of the IT industry feels the same.

Dulles, VA -- January 22, 2002 -- Netscape Communications Corporation announced late Tuesday it has filed suit in the District Court of Washington DC against Microsoft Corporation to seek damages for the anticompetitive practices surrounding the promotion of Microsoft’s popular web browser, Internet Explorer. This suit is not connected with the antitrust findings in the Justice Department’s antitrust case, but seeks to use those findings to gain more specific remedies which will directly benefit AOL Time Warner’s Netscape Communications subsidiary.

In addition to seeking multiple injunctions barring Microsoft from bundling its Internet Explorer and other middleware applications with its Windows operating system, Netscape claims that it is owed damages for illegal activity perpetrated by Microsoft since 1995.

"Netscape's lawsuit is a logical extension of the findings entered by the District Court and unanimously affirmed by the Court of Appeals that Microsoft thwarted competition, violated the antitrust laws and illegally preserved its monopoly at Netscape's expense," said Randall J. Boe, General Counsel to America Online. "Netscape's lawsuit seeks not only an award of damages, but for the Court to provide injunctive relief that will help restore competition on the computer desktop."

Netscape representatives also voiced their dissent with the Justice Department settlement with Microsoft and threw its support behind states which did not agree to the settlement.

The microengine that you are currently viewing is located in the MEMS Design Lab at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The microengine is being magnified by a 200-power microscope to which an automated-zoom/pan video camera has been attached (see Figure 1). The signal from this camera is digitized, and then transmitted live over the Internet.

Since this particular microengine is used in hands-on demonstrations for various groups who tour the MEMS Design Lab, you may sporadically see the rotational frequency of the gears change (or even stop), or the camera may focus on different areas of the microengine.

The gear teeth of this tiny microengine are about the size of red blood cells; it is powered using electrostatic forces. Because the microengine has virtually no inertia, we have been able to run them at speeds over 1/2 of a million revolutions per minute (RPM). To compare, at highway speeds your car engine runs 100 times slower. The current endurance record is an amazing 7,000,000,000 revolutions. Your car engine would accumulate about the same number of revolutions if you drove to the moon and back 5 times!

IBM's new 1GB Microdrive.
Posted: 01/24/2002  Source: ZDNET Added by: Kim Heise

It's truly amazing what mass storage devices literarily bi-monthly are showing up on the market and these devices keep getting physically smaller but yet are storing more and more data.

IBM's new micro drive offers 1GB of portable storage. Jokes aside - let's hope we don't need to carry a portable battery pack to power this drive.

Mercedes-Benz S600 review.
Posted: 01/24/2002  Source: The Tech Zone Added by: Kim Heise

What's this? An automobile review? Not just any automobile review but a review which very well applies to the theme of Hitechbits.

This $115,865 Mercedes Benz is packed with the state of the art computer gadgetry that would make any tech savvy person drool.

The Mercedes-Benz S600 is more than just a normal car. It just very well maybe the most technically advanced car in the world! The S600 is Mercedes-Benz's flagship sedan. For the super deal maker who refuses to be driven around in a limo, there is simply no better self propelled, land-bound way to get somewhere quickly while simultaneously keeping tabs on the corporate empire. Why? Simple! This car is made for multi-tasking. The S600 is so advanced it can almost do the driving for you; leaving you time to check the stock quotes from its net enable LCD display.

Mercedes was first to market with an "Internet on wheels" telematics system, available on all models equipped with the COMAND navigation system. CNN Interactive beams the Web content to the car for an annual fee of just $125, plus air time. What's more, the S600 comes standard with Tele Aid cellphone link to keep the driver in touch with the factory or emergency services should you find yourself stranded in the middle of nowhere.

With the telematics system, customers can have their own personal Web page on the Mercedes home site, and it can be personalized to track stocks, news topics, sports, weather, etc. You can even make dinner reservations! Text can then be downloaded and displayed on the screen at the touch of the button in the COMAND cluster. Calendar reminders are also available for the harried executive on a tight schedule. However, COMAND will make you wait until the car is parked to read the text, but it can be displayed on the fly. Expect many upgradable Web related features to be added, but for now all data transmission comes across the screen at just 9600 bits per second. I suppose this is a good thing as it would eliminate a whole category of naughty driver distractions. :)

The ability to surf the net and make dinner reservations are just the start. Let's see what else this car can do.

Reporting Rumors...
Posted: 01/24/2002  Source: N/A Added by: Kim Heise

From this point forward I'm going to refrain from posting rumors on any upcoming products due to the problems rumors create when leaked products/information are "smuggled" on to the net.

I know we are all interested in learning the news first but often when products/specs are stolen from companies just to create a sensation and "hits" to particular web sites is not something that I would like to be involved with.

Occasionally I may accidentally misprint a news article which I had interpreted as factual information which is often caused by rumors being posted as officially released information. If a news article is posted here and it is found to be a rumor please let me know and I will remove it.

Plextor launches world's fastest CD-Rewriter at 40x.
Posted: 01/24/2002  Source: Digit Life Added by: Kim Heise

Good luck finding 40x CD-recordable disks on the market anytime soon. Plextor's new drive will launch in Europe first and then eventually cross the Atlantic to the US.

Plextor Europe, one of the world's leading manufacturers of CD-ROM drives and CD-ReWritable drives, is proud to present the world's fastest CD-Rewriter: the PlexWriter 40/12/40A.

The PlexWriter 40/12/40A writes at 40x, rewrites at 12x and reads at 40x.

The PlexWriter 40/12/40A also has a number of unique new functions:
VariRec (Variable Recording): with the VariRec technology, the user can change the writing Power, so that a more personalised sound tone can be obtained.

High quality Digital Audio extraction

A wide range of CD-R and CD-R/W media support

A black CD tray, to reduce "jitter" and so obtain a better quality in the CD

An optimized PCB, to reduce noise and so obtain a better quality in the CD

5 high speed CD-R media in the retail packaging
The PlexWriter 40/12/40A will be available from mid February 2002 in retail and bulk version.

AMD Unveils Cool'n'Quiet Chip.
Posted: 01/24/2002  Source: IDG.NET Added by: Kim Heise

What makes this new AMD CPU unique from the rest is that the chip has no locked multiplier which means you can "over clock" to your hearts' content.

For example current 1.33ghz AMD chips are multiplier locked at 9.7 so you choices are rather limited.

Advanced Micro Devices unveiled a power management technology on Friday called Cool'n'Quiet that enables its Athlon XP family of processors to alter clock speed depending on the tasks they are performing.

This generally results in lower power output and is well suited to the Japanese market, which places a premium on compact desktop PCs, according to Mari Hayashi, a spokesperson for AMD.

"In Japan, the mainstream desktop PCs for corporate users are smaller and thinner than the ones used at offices in the U.S.," Hayashi says, as typically many desktop PCs need to be crammed into a small office. "Therefore, according to our research in Japan, many desktop users at work requested a less power-consuming processor made for compact desktop PCs," she says.

Cool'n'Quiet technology allows the processor to change its frequency according to the amount of power each operation needs, Hayashi says.

New 1.3GHz AMD Duron processor.
Posted: 01/24/2002  Source: Yahoo Added by: Kim Heise

Just fresh of the press today with news about AMD's new 1.3ghz AMD Duron processor. I still cannot understand the idea of the AMD Duron and the Intel Celeron processor since for a couple of Dollars more you can purchase the "power-house" variants such as the AMD Palomino or the Intel Tualatin. If we are talking strictly for laptops then I understand.

Anyway, here are the details:

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 21, 2002--AMD (NYSE:AMD - news) today announced a new desktop processor for the mainstream PC market, the 1.3GHz AMD Duron(TM) processor, offering best-in-class performance on digital photo, audio and Internet applications.

As with all AMD processors, the 1.3GHz AMD Duron processor is optimized for the Microsoft® Windows® XP Home and Professional operating systems and supports Double Data Rate, or DDR, memory.

``With the 1.3GHz AMD Duron processor, AMD delivers tremendous performance to mainstream PC users. DDR memory taps into the processor's performance potential even further. In tandem, AMD Duron processor-based systems with DDR memory can offer cost-conscious purchasers better performing, more cost-effective PCs than widely available competitive products,'' said Ed Ellett, vice president of Marketing for AMD's Computation Products Group.

Currently, more than 100 motherboard solutions are available on the market supporting the AMD Duron processor and DDR memory, offering purchasers flexibility of choice. These include offerings by Asus, Gigabyte and MSI. These motherboards are all based on our Socket A infrastructure, and offer unmatched platform stability for our AMD Duron processor commercial customers.

AMD expects worldwide availability of the 1.3GHz AMD Duron processor through the system builder and direct channels.

Hitachi fashioning wearable PCs.
Posted: 01/24/2002  Source: CNET Added by: Kim Heise

I remember the early days when the Sony "Walkman" made it's debut on the market and the world has never been the same again.

Several co-workers here in the office carry enough gadgets on their belts to put Batman to shame and it's about to get worse.

Hitachi's wearable PC will begin shipping in the United States and Japan by the end of this quarter, the company said.
Hitachi had planned for the product to go on sale by the end of 2001.

The wearable PC includes a head-mounted display unit that lets a person view a high-resolution image, while the rest of the device is small enough to slip into a pocket. Hitachi believes that people will use the wearable PC to work, surf the Web or play games when they're not at home or in the office.

Hitachi developed the wearable PC in collaboration with Xybernaut, a U.S. company that has developed a range of similar products.

Japanese customers will buy the wearable PC from Hitachi, which calls it the WIA-100NB Wearable Internet Appliance.

Xybernaut, which will target U.S. consumers, has called the device the "Poma" and is already taking orders on its Web site. The Poma will cost $1,499.

The wearable PC runs on Microsoft's Windows CE operating system and contains a Hitachi 128MHz Risc processor and 32MB of RAM. It will also offer slots for CompactFlash cards and USB.

The headset will give people the illusion of a 13-inch color screen in front of their face. The machine is operated via a hand-held optical mouse.

Xybernaut already sells a number of wearable applications that are used by workers in sectors such as aerospace and travel.

NVIDIA's nForce motherboard review.
Posted: 01/24/2002  Source: Hot Hardware Added by: Kim Heise

The first NVIDIA nForce motherboards are finally showing up on the market and so reviews are also popping up all over the net. NVIDIA is not comfortable just dominating the video processor industry and aims to take on the motherboard chipset companies.

A word of caution for NVIDIA about spreading yourself far too thin across to many markets - It creates weak-spots for upcoming competitors to break into the market by surprise.

When rumors began circulating regarding NVIDIA's entrance into the motherboard chipset market, both enthusiasts and OEMs eagerly anticipated details on the 3D Graphics Giant's new offering.  Then in June 2001, the "official" information hit and the excitement really began.  NVIDIA claimed their Integrated Graphics Processor (IGP) would be up to 10X faster than any other integrated PC graphics accelerator.  They incorporated AMD's HyperTransport technology, to provide approximately 6X the amount of bandwidth, between the Northbridge and Southbridge, than any other chipsets available at the time of the announcement.  The nForce would also have integrated high-performance DSPs to handle real-time 3D Audio and Dolby Digital 5.1 encoding.  The impressive feature list went on and on.

NVIDIA's nForce also incorporated some very interesting underlying technology like their "DASP" (Dynamic Adaptive Speculative Pre-Processor),  "TwinBank" memory architecture and the "StreamThru" data transport system.  The DASP technology is, in essence, a data pre-fetch / caching technology that should provide a performance boost to any x86 processor by retrieving anticipated data before it is requested by the CPU, and storing that data for faster access.  We suspect CPUs based on the Thunderbird core will experience greater performance gains than CPUs based on the Palomino core however, due to the fact that Thunderbirds lack data pre-fetch circuitry altogether.  The TwinBank memory architecture offers up to a 128-Bit interface to the CPU, Graphics Processor and Media Processor, and a maximum of 4.2GB of bandwidth.  Finally, their StreamThru data transport system was to provide uninterrupted data streaming for improved network and broadband communications.  If, when the nForce arrived, all this technology worked as well as NVIDIA proposed, they would no doubt have a killer product on their hands.

USB 2.0 Frequently Asked Questions.
Posted: 01/24/2002  Source: ActiveWin Added by: Kim Heise

Activewin has posted an online FAQ to get you up to speed on the upcoming USB 2.0 standard. Currently in order to obtain USB 2.0 support it requires the purchase of separate cards but motherboard manufacturers will be rolling out USB 2.0 compliant motherboards within the next couple of weeks.

In the meantime feel free to visit the Activewin USB 2.0 FAQ guide to get you educated to fend off misinformed retail salesmen.

Internet ".name" suffix makes debut.
Posted: 01/24/2002  Source: Silicon Strategies Added by: Kim Heise

Expect the new ".name" suffix to show up on the internet shortly. The ".name" suffix is by far overdue and would help create a domain group for end users who wish to register personal web pages.

NEW YORK (AP) -- The first Internet address suffixes created exclusively for individuals on Tuesday join the familiar ''.com'' and ''.org'' domain names.

Currently, Internet users with personal Web sites tend to use ''.org,'' which is commonly associated with nonprofits.

Operators of ''.name'' are hoping individuals will be lured by e-mail and Web addresses featuring their own names.

The London-based Global Name Registry, which in 2000 proposed and won rights to administer the suffix, is also exploring expanding ''.name'' to mobile phones and other personal devices later this year.

``We think the personal space is in its infancy,'' said Andrew Tsai, the registry's chief executive.

The ''.name'' suffix was one of seven approved in November 2000 by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, an Internet oversight body. They are the first major additions to the domain name system since its creation in the mid-1980s.

Pheromone Robotics.
Posted: 01/24/2002  Source: HRL Laboratories Added by: Kim Heise

Here's another invention that leaves you wondering why you didn't think of the idea yourself. The idea of having robots communicate with each other using similar concepts that insects utilize is rather ingenious.....

The HRL Pheromone Robotics program aims to provide a robust, scalable approach for coordinating actions of large numbers of small scale robots to achieve large scale results in surveillance, reconnaissance, hazard detection, path finding, payload conveyance, and small-scale actuation. We intend to accomplish this by developing innovative concepts for coordinating, and interacting with, a large collective of tiny robots.

Borrowing techniques used by ants and termites, our robots exhibit emergent collaboration. Inspired by the chemical markers used by these insects for communication and coordination, we exploit the notion of a "virtual pheromone," implemented using simple beacons and directional sensors mounted on each robot. Virtual pheromones facilitate simple communication and coordination and require little on-board processing. Our approach is applicable to future robots with much smaller form factors (e.g., to dust-particle size) and is scaleable to large, heterogeneous groups of robots.