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Small Form Factor Case Modding |
5/31/2002 |
  Project JellyBean
"The Beginning: In late February, I received an email from Fiona Gatt at VIA asking if they could use pictures of one of my previous case mods, the GTRPC, in a presentation they were doing on the cool things you could do with small form factor motherboards. Fiona also inquired as to whether I'd be interested in doing something similar using their new, ultra small Eden platform. Naturally I agreed, after all this was an opportunity for me to raise the bar that I'd set with the GTRPC. Smaller, quieter and DVD equipped. After preliminary designs and measurements were made, it was decided that the new case would be a 1/10th scale vehicle. 200mm wide, and around 420mm long. That was the easy part. It took the people at VIA about a month to decide what kind of car to do. I'm led to believe there was some intense debate in the Taipei office on the choice of model. In the end they settled on the new Volkswagen Beetle. Because it's small and cute, just like the Eden motherboard. (Editor's note: JellyBean is Antony's name for the project - we're still debating!)
Then the process of procuring parts began. I remember the day the Eden board arrived, it's not often that as a male, you appreciate a bunch of people pointing at you and commenting on how small something is. But small it is, at only 170mm x 170mm for a complete PC, there isn't much you can't build around an Eden board. Over the coming weeks other parts arrived. Slimline DVD, Laptop HDD, wheels, tyres etc. While things were being sent in, I spent a lot of time at Bunnings (editor's note: Bunnings is a really large hardware store in Australia) getting screws, angle aluminum and other bits. I can't complain, it gave me an excuse to buy a Dremel. Finally, everything had arrived and construction started on the 6th of May. It finished on the 26th of May. After 20 days of continuous effort and little sleep, these pictures are the result."
Full Article:
http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=120 |
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Microsoft Releases Direct X 9 Beta |
5/31/2002 |
"Microsoft Corp. today announced the release of beta version 1 of the Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0 API, the latest version of Microsoft’s suite of multimedia application programming interfaces. Beta 1 features Microsoft’s innovative new high-level shader language (HLSL), a powerful new programming model that offers the easiest-to-use graphics creation toolset for developers.
"DirectX 9.0 offers unparalleled advances in graphics technology," said Ted Hase, director of Windows® Third-Party Gaming and Entertainment at Microsoft. "Microsoft always has been a pioneer in the development of best-of-breed technologies and tools that facilitate the development of great gaming content. Developers will discover that the new capabilities built into DirectX 9.0 make it significantly easier to create content that demonstrates richness, robustness and totally immersive depth."
Availability
Microsoft DirectX 9.0 beta 1 is now available at no charge to registered DirectX beta sites (connect-time fees may apply). The final release of the DirectX 9.0 Software Development Kit (SDK) and DirectX 9.0 runtime is scheduled for fall 2002.
Full Press Release:
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2002/May02/05-30DirectX90PR.asp |
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Inquirer Lab Tests P4 |
5/31/2002 |
"While CPUS are obviously its bread-and-extra-creamy butter, Intel has come back into the chipset arena with a vengeance.
The newly updated Pentium 4 chipset offerings, the i850E, i845E and i845G, boast not just faster 533 MHz FSBs for the new Pentium 4 CPUs, but also improved memory support (a lot of it "non-validated" yet, though) and new I/O based on the ICH4 south bridge -- again "non-validated" for i850E, but guess what, most i850E mainboards will have ICH4.
How much benefit is there from a faster FSB if your main memory speed still lags behind heavily? Should a system integrator bother spending extra time and resources for scout for PC-3200 (DDR400) memory for his new PC line, and will it bring a real performance advantage? Will PC-3200 be faster than PC-800 RDRAM dual channel, and what about still expensive PC-1066?
For this the first of many INQlab tests, we set up four nice systems, with i850E, i845G and i845E chipsets, plus SiS645DX."
Full Article:
http://www.theinquirer.net/31050220.htm |
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AMD buys five bug-on-chip laser hunters |
5/31/2002 |
"The Straits Times of Singapore is reporting that AMD has bought five machines from Semicaps which will pick up bugs and flaws in semiconductor processing and allow fast re-starts at the fabs.
Flaws in silicon can cost chip firms millions if they're not fixed quickly, or, even worse, get into the wild and are then discovered by journalists.
The machines cost around US$1 million and the newspaper says that they will be installed in facilities in Texas, Singapore and California.
Semicaps is a firm that was spun off by the National University of Singapore, the report says.
The machines will pinpoint potential failures in the silicon earlier and that will increase so-called yields on the wafers, which are cut up and then packaged to become the central processing unit or "brain" of a PC.
Without such laser-based technology, the paper explains, flaws or "bugs" can take weeks or months to uncover.
Semiconductor companies regularly have to make different "steppings" of their semiconductors to address such "errata" or "mistakes".
Original Article:
http://www.theinquirer.net/31050214.htm |
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Report: 'Digital divide' still an issue |
5/31/2002 |
My Solution: 5000 Hours of Free AOL for the poor!
"The "digital divide" separating the Internet-savvy from the unplugged is still a cause for concern and the United States government should consider subsidizing access, consumer groups said on Thursday.
Despite the fact that nearly two-thirds of all Americans now have access to the Internet, less-affluent households run the risk of being shut out of the digital economy because they are less likely to be online, said a report sponsored by several consumer groups.
The U.S. government should reinstate technology-grant programs that have been proposed for elimination in 2003, and should consider subsidizing access for low-income and hard-to-reach households, the report said." |
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Aerospace workers arrested for hacking |
5/31/2002 |
"Three workers at a major Japanese aerospace company were arrested Thursday for allegedly hacking into the computer network of Japan's space agency to spy on a rival company, a Tokyo Metropolitan Police spokesman said.
Shunsuke Migita, 28, Shoichi Motohashi, 44, and Masao Amano, 40 -- all employees at NEC Toshiba Space System Co. -- were charged with illegally obtaining Mitsubishi Electric Corp.'s antenna designs for a high-speed Internet satellite from a computer at the National Space Development Agency in December, the spokesman said on condition of anonymity.
Police believe Migita figured out the password to gain access to the agency's computer system.
NASDA discovered the breach in February when Migita sent an e-mail to a list of more than 80 people boasting about it. The list included Motohashi and Amano, the agency said."
Full Article:
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/05/31/japan.space.hackers.ap/index.html |
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No instant winners at Longbets.org |
5/31/2002 |
"Stewart Brand is betting that time is on his side.
As co-creator of a foundation dedicated to long-term thinking, Brand doesn't believe in wristwatches. He prefers a clock that measures time in 10,000-year increments.
The clock is a project of the "Longnow Foundation," the Web site of which, Longbets.org, is sort of a bulletin board for futurists. The clock has become a mascot for the site, representing the patience usually required to cash in.
"It forces people who are making a prediction to put it in falsifiable terms, just as if it were a scientific hypothesis," says Brand.
But the site is also partly a Vegas betting pit. You don't just make far-out predictions -- you also have to back them up with a minimum of $1,000.
Of course, the payout could take a very, very long time.
Some wagers are more whimsical than others; actor Ted Danson is betting that the Boston Red Sox will win the World Series before the United States soccer team takes the World Cup.
On the more serious side, author and futurist Ray Kurzweil put up $10,000 betting that a computer will receive human-level intelligence by 2029. He's not sure whether the new age of computers will resemble the emotive replicants in the movie "Blade Runner" or the deceptive HAL 9000 from "2001: A Space Odyssey," but Kurzweil believes projects to model the human brain will make the smart PCs possible."
Full Article:
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/int§³¨t/05/31/japan.space.hackers.ap/index.html |
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United Linux |
5/31/2002 |
If Linux is your thing then you'll probably want to check this out:
"UnitedLinux is a standards-based, worldwide Linux solution targeted at the business user and developed by Caldera, Conectiva, SuSE, and Turbolinux. Designed to be an enterprise-class, industry-standard Linux operating system, UL provides a single stable, uniform platform for application development, certification, and deployment and allows Linux vendors, Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), and Independent Hardware Vendors (IHVs) to support a single high value Linux offering rather than many different versions."
I.E. United Linux is a way for big companies to make money off of a product you can download for free.
Website:
http://www.unitedlinux.com/ |
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Internet geeks = social butterflies |
5/31/2002 |
"The perception of the type of person who spends all their time online as a Billy-No-Mates is bogus, according to an expert in cyber-sociology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Interviewed by the BBC, Professor Keith Hampton said it was more likely that people who spend a lot of time online had a greater number of social ties than those who did not. He said the internet increases communication skills and leads to more social ties."
Who the hell says "Billy-No-Mates."
Full Article:
http://vnunet.com/News/1132239
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DFI to demo Serial ATA board, drive |
5/31/2002 |
Now we really have an excuse to upgrade to a new hard-drive.
"MOTHERBOARD FIRM DFI is claiming it will be the first to demonstrate live a serial ATA motherboard and drive at next week's Computex show in Old Taipei .
Serial ATA, said DFI, is the next generation of storage interface support and it is to show off a chipset which supports an early version of a serial ATA hard drive from an unnamed manufacturer.
The company expects that Serial ATA will deliver as much as 150MB/s, a boost of around 40 per cent over current ATA66/100/133. You can find a bigger version of this drive here This is a Fujitsu drive, if you care to get your magnifying glass out. The firm said it is also showing its NB76 board, based on the reference board it made for the Intel 845G chipset, and it claims it will deliver 66 per cent better performance than other systems using the chipset."
Full Article:
http://www.the-inquirer.com/30050210.htm |
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Abit to enter low-price motherboard market |
5/31/2002 |
Why don't Asus and Abit just hold hands and do it together? They could call the company AsSbit.
"Seeing that demand from the clone market has continued to wither, Abit Computer has decided to expand its business further into the low-end motherboard market this month, following the lead of Asustek Computer and Foxconn Electronics (the registered trade name of Hon Hai Precision Industry).
Company president Edwin Lin said that Abit is planning to launch two lines based on the SiS645 chipset from Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS) and Intel’s 845GL chipsets. Prices of the new boards will be quoted higher than products made by Asustek’s Hua Ching (transliterated from Chinese) subsidiary and Foxconn’s First Tech.
Lin predicts that the company should be able to ship 100,000 units per month and is expected to start achieving results from the latest product line in the fourth quarter.
In the second quarter, overall business in the motherboard industry has continued slackening, Lin said, but this month boosted by product transition demand from an OEM client, the company predicts that its shipment performance should be better than in April."
Full Article:
http://digitimes.com/Article.asp?datePublish=2002/05/30&pages=14&seq=95 |
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nVIDIA: 12 New Chips in Autumn |
5/31/2002 |
That's right! GeForce 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 all in Autumn! Well, not quite.
"According to the guys, some time ago NVIDIA had a conference call and said there that in autumn they will release NV30. This chip will differ from the predecessors and will be manufactured by TSMC with 0.13micron technology. They also promised that NV30 would prove much faster than all existing products from NVIDIA’s competitors and would support AGP 8x. So, the analyst was evidently talking about NV30.
Where does the magic number 12 come from then? Well, no mystery here: you know that NVIDIA is making bunches of new chips releasing new modifications. For instance, when they launched GeForce4 and GeForce4 MX there were 14 products announced altogether: 3 modifications of GeForce4 Ti, 3 GeForce4 MX, 2 GeForce4 Go, 4 Quadro4 XGL, 1 Quadro4 NVS and 1 Quadro4 Go GL. So, you shouldn’t be surprised with the number of NV30 based products coming,
The only thing that we can also expect from NVIDIA bearing in mind the "12", is the simultaneous announcement of the cheaper "NV30 MX" version of the chip with cut down features, which will be targeted for the mainstream market."
Full Article:
http://xbitlabs.com/news/story.html?id=1022820103
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Time is money, professor proves |
5/31/2002 |
Time, however, is only worth British money apparently.
"A mathematical formula calculated by a British university professor has found that time actually is money.
According to the equation, the average British minute is worth just over 10 pence (15 cents) to men and eight pence (12 cents) to women.
The formula is: V=(W((100-t)/100))/C, where V is the value of an hour, W is a person's hourly wage, t is the tax rate and C is the local cost of living.
It shows that there is no such thing as a free lunch or even a free dinner, while brushing your teeth for three minutes uses up 30 pence (45 cents) in "lost" time, and washing a car by hand has a hidden cost of £3 ($4.50).
Economics professor Ian Walker, of central England's Warwick University, says process can show people just how valuable their time is in relation to any task they have to perform, from a lie-in or cooking a meal to sleeping and working."
Full Article:
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/05/29/time.money/index.html
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Copy Protection CDs Part Two |
5/31/2002 |
"Consumers should be aware that attempting to circumvent copy control by writing or attaching anything to the disc can result in permanent damage to the disc, and possible damage to the playback device," Sony DADC said in a statement last week.
All five major recording labels are in trials with various copy protection schemes, mostly in the European market.
But a felt-tip marker easily broke the protection on a CD of Dion's "A New Day Has Come" bought in Berlin. An ink line drawn across the copy-protection data portion of the CD allowed the disc to be copied digitally. The original CD, however, no longer worked in a standard CD player.
Some CD customers also reported breaking the protection by attaching a small piece of paper to the protected data portion.
Sony Music Entertainment labels have yet to unleash copy-protected CDs in the U.S. market. To sate U.S. consumer's appetite for digital-format music, Sony plans to release music CDs containing a second digital format. A computer will be able to read the so-called second session on the disc, but won't be able to copy the music on the hard drive or share it over the Internet."
Full Article:
http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/419302p-3341929c.html |
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Aussie AMD CPUs may not be guaranteed |
5/31/2002 |
AMID ALLEGATIONS OF grey marketing and dodgy invoicing AMD fired a top Australian distributor last month and that has sparked a legal fight between it and the chip company, ARN Net reports.
But it's also left down-under distie APD International with a staggering $1 million of AMD stock and that might not be covered be guarantees.
APD reckons it's not going to have any problem selling the stock, however, with the wire reporting that the distributor used to sell a million $AUS worth in half a day.
It also quotes AMD's MD for Australia and New Zealand as saying that stock APD holds since it was fired last month isn't covered by guarantee. That would not be the case in UK law but maybe it's true in Australia, we dunno.
APD is challenging AMD's decision to fire it in court.
Full Article:
http://www.theinquirer.net/31050207.htm
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Intel Banias Pic / Info |
5/30/2002 |
If you follow Intel closely you would know that the Banias processor was demoed at IDF in February. Well the latest Banias A0 system can be seen here:
http://www.tecchannel.de/news/20020529/images/0010270_PIC.jpg
The Banias processor has 75million transistors and (as you can see from the picture) is cooled by a relatively small fan. You will start to see notebooks containing the Banias CPU in early 2003 at 1.4GHz, 1.5GHz and 1.6GHz or higher.
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ATI RV 250 = Radeon 9000 |
5/30/2002 |
Reports are coming in that ATI is set to display both RV 250 and RV 300 behind closed doors at next week's Computex. The ATI RV 250 is going to be released as the Radeon 9000. Your guess is as good as mine about what they will be calling the RV 300. Depending on the performance of the 9000 probably something a tad bit higher ;)
ATI Webpage:
http://www.ati.com |
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Nintendo posts record profit |
5/30/2002 |
"Nintendo Co. reported Thursday it had a record group net profit for the second year in a row for the year that ended March 31. The company credited the increase to higher overseas sales on a weaker yen and the launch of advanced game machines worldwide.
The developer of Super Mario and Pokemon said its group net profit rose 10.2 percent from a year earlier to 106.44 billion yen, or $8.6 billion, last fiscal year, on a 20 percent increase in group revenue to 554.89 billion yen, or $4.47 billion.
Group operating profit jumped 40.7 percent to 119.15 billion yen, or $961 million, partly reflecting a decline in procurement costs for key parts used in game machines, including small-sized liquid crystal displays and semiconductors."
Full Article:
http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/418613p-3337374c.html |
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Microsoft gets slap on the wrist |
5/30/2002 |
THE SEC AND MICROSOFT are set to come to an agreement over alleged accounting misdemeanours which will result in the software giant getting a mild ticking off from Big Teach.
The Wall St Journal reports today that the SEC and Microsoft are close to a settlement following an investigation started in 1999 over alleged misrepresentation of accounting which made its financial results seem less than they were.
The SEC is likely to press civil charges that Vole failed to keep accurate records, and that, says the newspaper, means very little by the way of punishment. Microsoft is likely to only have to promise never to do it again.
According to the Journal, Microsoft set aside reserves to counter the peaks and troughs of the turbulent IT industry.
The paper also says that Microsoft has 600 people in its legal department, so we'd better just stop right here before we get a letter from one or more of them.
Original Article:
http://www.theinquirer.net/30050206.htm |
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AMD decides on pricing moves |
5/30/2002 |
"Its premium Athlon XP, the 2100+, now costs $224, the 2000+ $193, the 1900+ $172, the 1800+ $160, the 1700+ $140 and the 1600+ $130.
AMD is expected to introduce a 2200+ with a Thoroughbred on the 10th of June or thereabouts.
Prices for its MP (multiprocessing) parts are now $224 for the 2000+, $214 for the 1900+, $192 for the 1800+ and $154 for the 1600+.
AMD is expected to introduce a 2100+ MP processor towards the end of next month.
Prices for its AMD XP+ for notebooks are as follows. The 1700+ costs $235, the 1600+ $192, the 1500+ $175, and the 1400+ $150.
For the Athlon 4 notebooks, the 1600+ costs $192, the 1500+ $175, the 1.2GHz $150, the 1.1GHz $125 and the 1GHz $125.
Notebook Durons cost $120 for the 1.2GHz, $89 for the 1.1GHz, and $69 for the 1GHz.
There are only two desktop Durons left in AMD's range – that's the 1.3GHz at $72 and the 1.2GHz at $69.
AMD will "transpose" Athlons to Durons when its Clawhammer desktop chips come out later this year. Clawhammers will be the new Athlons. The prices above are for trays of 1000."
Original Article:
http://www.theinquirer.net/30050203.htm |
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Apple Re-Thinking FireWire |
5/29/2002 |
For several years, Apple Computer's FireWire has been the leading means of providing high-speed connections between computers and digital devices, but fresh competition is forcing the company and other backers to rethink how they market the technology.
What Apple has traditionally sold under the FireWire trademark has also been pitched as i.Link and even under its technical name, IEEE 1394. That multiple identity has interfered with efforts to sell consumers on the benefit of using the connection to link PCs with add-ons such as digital cameras and camcorders.
On Wednesday, the 1394 Trade Association, the group charged with licensing and promoting the standard, announced a deal with Apple that will allow the group to market and license the FireWire name along with the underlying technology. And for the first time, the group will also push companies using the technology to adopt the FireWire moniker, although it is not forcing them to do so.
"Numbers don't work," said 1394 Trade Association President James Snider. "Names work, and the FireWire name just sticks."
With FireWire facing increased competition from USB 2.0 and various other connection technologies in the struggle for a port on the back of a PC, the group needs all the marketing power it can get.
"There's some pressure there," said 1394 spokesman Dick Davies. "It's a race to the socket there between USB 2.0 and 1394."
Full Article:
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-928089.html?tag=fd_lede
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Itanium 2 Benchmarks |
5/29/2002 |
If Intel were to release this on its own website that would be fine. But getting a major hardware site like VR-Zone to do it for them reflects poorly on both parties. The benchmarks shown are all "projections/estimates" meaning that Intel might just have told their marketing guys to go crazy and make up the numbers. They compare the new Itanic 2 to a Sun USIII setup which consistently changes mhz from 750mhz to 1050mhz and then to 900mhz. You too can work for Intel if you have a Microsoft powerpoint degree and take some creative writing courses.
VR-Zone you know better than to post this filth.
Full Article:
VR-Zone Benchmarks 1
and
VR-Zone Benchmarks 2
TheInquirer has an article up as well:
http://www.theinquirer.net/29050210.htm |
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Enforcing laws in a borderless Web |
5/29/2002 |
Former Yahoo CEO Tim Koogle could find himself cuffed if he sets foot on French soil. His alleged crime: Allowing the posting of Nazi collectibles on Yahoo's U.S.-based site--an action Holocaust survivors say violates France's war crimes laws.
In another case, Russian software programmer Dmitry Sklyarov was jailed after entering the United States last year. The charges related to providing software that could be used to crack e-books, an action that is not a crime in his homeland but that violates U.S. copyright law, federal authorities say.
These are only two examples of companies and executives that do business online and are being dragged into foreign courts for selling products or posting materials that are legal in their own countries but that offend the sensibilities or violate the laws of another land. Such challenges increasingly include criminal charges.
"That is the scariest prospect for people who are either posting or doing business on the Internet," said Mike Godwin, a policy fellow at the Center for Democracy and Technology. "If you operate a Web site that's accessible in France or even if you're an (Internet service provider) who provides services in France, you might find yourself touching down at the airport there and being served."
Full Article:
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-927316.html?tag=fd_lede |
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Macromedia releases software upgrades |
5/29/2002 |
Software maker Macromedia on Wednesday began shipping new versions of several key products, including its market-leading Dreamweaver Web authoring package.
As previously reported, the new MX versions of Dreamweaver, ColdFusion application server software and Fireworks animation software are part of a wide-reaching effort by Macromedia to more tightly integrate Web applications with content and allow for smoother presentation.
Besides individual versions of the new applications, Macromedia will offer Studio MX, a package that combines Dreamweaver, the FreeHand 10 illustration tool, a developer version of ColdFusion MX and Flash MX, the new version of the popular animation software.
Analysts are counting on the products to seed new profit growth for Macromedia after an extended fallow period. The company released no major new products in 2001, as it retooled its entire software line to focus on Web applications.
Dreamweaver MX sells for $399, or $199 for those upgrading from previous versions of Dreamweaver or ColdFusion Studio. ColdFusion MX Server Professional Edition costs $799 per server or $549 for the upgrade version. Fireworks MX sells for $299, or $149 for the upgrade. Studio MX is $799 for the full version, $599 for those upgrading from a single Macromedia product or $399 for those upgrading from two products.
Original Article:
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-927605.html?tag=fd_top
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Modem owners get AT&T cable surprise |
5/29/2002 |
A new pricing structure from AT&T will result in modem owners paying an extra $7 for their high-speed Internet service.
AT&T Broadband Internet will announce later Tuesday several changes to the way it charges for its cable modems. AT&T marketing executives framed the changes as price reductions based on the decreasing cost of hardware, but the end result will be higher costs for roughly 162,500 AT&T customers who own their own cable modems.
Almost all AT&T broadband customers now pay $35.95 per month for high-speed Internet service. Those who lease modems through AT&T pay an additional $10 per month for a total of $45.95, and those who own their own modems pay no additional fee.
Starting on June 1 in most regions, AT&T will increase the monthly service rate to $42.95. Customers who lease their modem from AT&T will have their lease fee reduced by $7, paying an additional $3 per month for the modem. That will make their monthly bill come to $45.95--the same price they paid last month.
But bills will increase for the 10 percent of AT&T's 1.63 million customers who own their own modems. Their monthly service fee will also go up to $42.95, which means they're going to pay $7 per month more than they paid last month
Full Article:
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-923692.html |
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Brazil Wins World Cup |
5/29/2002 |
Computer simulation equipment has predicted that Brazil will win the World Cup.
Researchers at the University of Ulster have used a computer to work out which team will win, based on FIFA world rankings and the distance teams had to travel to compete.
Another factor is the effect of switching between South Korea and Japan for games and rest periods.
According to the university the simulation was run 2,000 times and came up with the same result without exception.
The prediction is that Brazil will beat Italy in the final, and Argentina will take third place ahead of Spain.
As usual England and Ireland will finish runners-up in their qualifying groups, but will lose to France and Spain respectively during the first knock-out stage.
Original Article:
http://vnunet.com/News/1132188 |
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Itanium 2 twice as fast as original Itanium |
5/29/2002 |
Which means it's roughly as fast as a Celeron 300 ;)
Intel said Wednesday that its next-generation Itanium 2 processor, aimed at high-end servers and super computers, performs as much as two times faster than computers using first-generation Itanium chips.
The chipmaker, based in Santa Clara, Calif., also said that Itanium, Intel's second 64-bit chip, is on track to be introduced in the middle of this year. A 64-bit chip crunches data in 64-bit chunks, compared with 32-bit chunks found in Intel's current Pentium and Xeon processors.
Because the chip can crunch more data in the same amount of time, it boosts the performance of the processor, which is aimed at supercomputers and high-end servers used by financial services, insurance companies and in other industries that maintain and manipulate vast amounts of data.
The Itanium 2 chip will power systems designed to compete with high-end systems from Sun Microsystems and IBM.
The performance boost comes partly from higher data speeds on the chip itself and enhancements to the chip's microarchitecture, Intel said.
Full Article:
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-927271.html?tag=fd_top
TheInquirer's Take:
http://www.theinquirer.net/29050202.htm |
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AMD Opteron off to a slow start? |
5/29/2002 |
"Advanced Micro Devices will demonstrate a four-way server based on its 64-bit Opteron processor at the Computex 2002 exhibition here on June 3. However, there appears to be some question about the performance of the Opteron chips to be used in the demo, according to a draft media invitation that was inadvertently sent to IDG News Service by AMD's public relations company here.
"The demos we're currently showing are anything but high-performance. They're pretty low-performance right now, and we don't want to invite questions about just how fast they're running," read one unattributed comment contained in the draft invitation.
An AMD spokesperson in Hong Kong confirmed that the company does plan to demonstrate a four-way Opteron server at Computex, but denied that the Opteron chips it plans to use in the demo are low-performance processors. "This is wrong," says Carol Mui, a company spokesperson. "It's an eighth-generation processor. How can it be low performance'"
"We definitely will demonstrate a high-performance system," she says.
Specifics Scarce
AMD's Mui would not comment on specifications of the Opteron processors the company plans to use in the four-way server demo, including the chips' clock speed, saying the company would release more information the first day of the show."
AMD has taken this long to release the processor I doubt they will dissapoint us.
Full Article:
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,101483,00.asp |
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Pentium 4 2.6ghz and 2.66ghz for Sale? |
5/28/2002 |
INTEL PENTIUM 4 P4 NORTHWOOD 2.6GHz 512 CACHE 400FSB 478PIN FC-PGA W/O RAM RETAIL PACKAGE CPPIN472.6GA Ship in 3-4 Business Days $632.00
INTEL PENTIUM 4 P4 NORTHWOOD 2.66GHz 512 CACHE 533FSB 478PIN FC-PGA W/O RAM RETAIL PACKAGE CPPIN472.66GC Ship in 3-4 Business Days $633.00
You might as well splurge and spend that extra dollar for 60mhz more ;)
Store Link:
http://www.accessmicro.com/pentium4 2.66ghz |
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Calif. not alone in Oracle criticism |
5/28/2002 |
Oracle's contract fiasco with California has drawn a firestorm of criticism, but some of the more controversial aspects are all too familiar to technology officials in other government agencies.
The Golden State awarded a $95 million software contract to Oracle last year--a deal the company proposed would save the state millions of dollars. But a scathing state audit found the deal would cost California up to $41 million more than was needed and give the state more licenses than the size of its entire work force.
In its wake, some government officials elsewhere are recounting their experiences with the database giant, while others are expected to start digging into their own contracts to find similarities.
"I'm sure there will be other state auditors who will be looking at this California case and their own contracts with Oracle," said Relmond Van Daniker, executive director of the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and Treasurers.
The attention on Oracle comes as a decline in private-sector IT spending has forced the company to concentrate even more intensely on landing government contracts. Public-sector business comprises less than 20 percent of Oracle's approximately $10 billion in annual revenue, but individual government contracts tend to be larger than commercial counterparts, former Oracle executives say.
Full Article:
http://news.com.com/2100-1017-923066.html?tag=fd_lede |
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Bionic eye sees clearer future |
5/28/2002 |
After successes in tests on animals, Optobionics got U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to try the chips on humans last January. The results of those tests have yet to be formally calculated or released, but Chow and his patients have spoken informally about improvements in their vision.
Instead of silence, Cora Jean Kleppe, 73, can now hear everyday noises with the help of a bionic ear implant.
Three patients, including Rosene, got the implants in June 2000. Three more received them last July. Optobionics is seeking four more patients this summer, said Dave McComb, the 12-person company's spokesman.
Results vary from those of Rosene, who went from seeing nothing in his right eye, to being able to see his porch light, to a patient who went from being able to count fingers held a few feet from is face, to seeing a migrating flock of geese in the sky overhead.
"He can use eating utensils now," Dr. Chow said of the patient whose improved vision allowed him to see geese. "Many blind people use their fingers to feel the food."
Full Article:
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/05/28/bionic.retinas.ap/index.html
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YIM flaw could put 60 million users at risk |
5/28/2002 |
The latest version of the popular Yahoo Instant Messenger (YIM) software has been hit by multiple vulnerabilities which may allow an attacker to hijack another user's machine.
Because of the popularity of the software, the vulnerabilities may put as many as 60 million users at risk.
According to security researcher Phuong Nguyen, of security firm Vice Consulting, the flaws allow unauthorised execution of programs on an instant messenger user's machine via buffer overflows or injections of Java or Visual Basic script in the instant messenger content tabs.
"The net impact is to allow a relatively simple opportunity to hijack users' YIM client outright, and use it to attack or intrude into YIM users' supposedly private information systems," said Nguyen.
Nguyen explained that potential attackers could use the exploits to request a YIM user's ID and password and send it to an email address or internet URL, with minimum user intervention required.
Full Article:
http://www.vnunet.com/News/1132167 |
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Nintendo to slash GameCube Prices Again? |
5/28/2002 |
Nintendo is expected to cut the price of its GameCube yet again this year.
The move may come despite what has so far been a tough year for the game console giant, whose financial results are due out on Thursday.
Facing stiff competition in the games console arena from Sony's PlayStation2 and Microsoft's Xbox, Nintendo recently cut the US price of its GameCube console by a third to $149, leaving both its competitors still standing at $199.
But despite the fact that the price cut will have an effect on the company's profits, analysts predict that a further price cut could come this business year as competition heats up between the three major players.
"I expect Nintendo to slash the GameCube price again at the end of this year," one Japanese analyst told Reuters.
Nintendo also announced a new board last week after president Hiroshi Yamauchi retired at the age of 74 after over 50 years in charge.
Original Article:
http://www.vnunet.com/News/1132154 |
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Cloning to revive extinct species |
5/28/2002 |
"Conjuring images of Jurassic Park, Australian scientists say they are on the way to reviving a previously extinct species -- the Tasmanian Tiger -- using cloning technology.
The last Tasmanian Tiger, or Thylacine, died in captivity around 65 years ago.
The dog-like creature was a carnivorous, pouched marsupial with distinctive stripes on its back and hindquarters, which lived in the wilderness of Australia's Tasmania state.
Geneticists working for the Australian Museum said Tuesday they had successfully replicated Thylacine DNA using a process called polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
This breakthrough allows the scientists to produce millions of pure copies of undamaged DNA fragments which they believe can work in a living cell."
Full Article:
http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/auspac/05/28/aust.thylacines/index.html
Related Site:
http://www.austmus.gov.au/display.cfm?id=788 |
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CoolerMaster ATC-400 Rack Case |
5/28/2002 |
 Speaking of CoolerMaster... it seems that this case is pretty new.
Specification :
Model No: ATC-400
Part No: ATC-400-MX1
Material: All Aluminum Alloys
Drive Bay: 5.25' Bays (exposed) x 8
3.5' Bays (exposed) x 2
Slot Bracket: 7
M/B Type: AT/full size (extended) ATX/full size (extended)
I/O Bracket: ATX
Power Supply: Optional Power Supply Unit(400W or 300W+300W Redundant Power)
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DELTA DPS-300KB-1 A FOR P4 & PIII 2.03
SEVENTEAM ST-300BLP(PFC)
SEVENTEAM ST-400GL
ETASIS EPR-2305H
Cooling: Three 80 mm fans attached inside of case (in)
Two 80 mm fans attached back panel (out)
Dimension: 673 x 440 x 260 mm
Weight: Case :9Kg
Power Supply :2Kg for 400W, 6Kg for 300W Redundant Power
Yum :)
Product Page:
http://www.coolermaster.com/products/atc/atc400.html |
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Hexus CoolerMaster ATC-410 SX1 Review |
5/28/2002 |
 I've been straying away from reviews for awhile since most of them are the same old products that every site has been tossing around for the past 3 months. Well here is a product that is definitely appealing to the eyes but not so much to the pocketbook.
This baby is also known as the CoolerMaster ATC-410 here in the U.S. ;)
"This case is one of the nicest cases I have used; its cooling is great and it is very attractive. The row of holes along the top, which are not used when the case is being used as a tower, spoil the looks a little. I love the versatility of the case; it can be used in a rack or a tower very easily. The price of the case is a little off-putting but in this case, and as usual for Coolermaster you pay for the sheer quality of the case. A decent quality rackmount case can cost a lot more than this case and a Coolermaster 410 would look brilliant in any rack. One of the aspects that disappointed me was the m | | | |
