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
   
Matrox Parhelia Surround Gaming Videos 5/31/2002
  

There have been some surround gaming videos floating arround which have originated from the Korean Graphic Information Site DarkCrow

You can find the videos here:

DarkCrow
http://www.darkcrow.co.kr/newsdirectory/content.asp?idx=938

and

OCWorkBench
http://www.ocworkbench.com/ocwbcgi/newsid1022819487,35555,
   
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
   
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
   
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
   
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."
   
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
   
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
   
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/
   
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
   
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
   
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
   
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
   
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
   
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
   
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
   
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.
   
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
   
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
   
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
   
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
   
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
   
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
   
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
   
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
   
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
   
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
   
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
   
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
   
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
   
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
   
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
   
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
   
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
   
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
   
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)
---------------------------------------------------------------
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
   
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 motherboard region of the case, a removable motherboard tray would have been a good addition to the functionality of the case. Also I think that Coolermaster have made a mistake in the sizing of the tray, since it is clearly aimed somewhat at the server market the ability to fit a server motherboard would be an addition I would see as essential. The case I have no doubts in recommending this case as another great addition to the Coolermaster ATCS range."

Full Review:
http://www.hexus.co.uk/review.php?review=365
   
Old hardware fools CD protection 5/28/2002
   More accidental discoveries have revealed shortcomings in the controversial copy protection mechanisms being brought into use on CDs.
This time round older hardware may work more effectively than a felt tip pen.

Satirical technology magazine Need to Know recently discovered another method of circumventing some of the less obvious copy protection mechanisms.

On CDs protected with the 'corrupt data track' system, a marker pen is all that is needed to beat the system, because the data track is clearly visible on the outside edge of the CD.

But technologies which don't have such an obvious flaw proved more difficult to crack, until CD copying was tried on older hardware.

Attempts to copy the recently released Star Wars: Attack of the Clones soundtrack in a HP8100 CD-Writer Plus proved futile, as did attempts to locate the corrupt data track on the CD.

But a chance attempt on a "crappy old LiteOn LTN382 32X", which is about two years old, copied the CD "without a hiccup".

"So all you need to get round copy protection is a friend with moderately lame old hardware," said the Need to Know crew. "Unless that's illegal under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act nowadays as well."

Original Article:
http://www.vnunet.com/News/1132135
   
Pocket PCs based on Intel PXA210 and 250 in June 5/28/2002
   An array of new handheld computers using Intel’s PXA210 and PXA250 chips and running on Microsoft’s Pocket PC software will hit the market in June.

Casio’s first Pocket PC powered by a PXA250 processor is scheduled for launch next month, and Taiwan-based Wistron, which already makes Casio’s Cassiopeia Pocket PC E-200 models, will manufacture the new machines.

Hitachi also will make its debut in the handheld device market next month with its PXA250-based Pocket PCs, with an initial sales target of roughly 10,000 a month. The devices are equipped with wireless data transmission and communications functions and will be sold through value-added retailer channels as opposed to the mass retail market. Compal Electronics will design and manufacture the devices for Hitachi.

Toshiba also expects to introduce its Pocket PCs using PXA250 processors. Currently Taiwan-based High Tech Computer (HTC) makes the company’s Intel StrongARM SA 1110-powered GENIO e550 and e550MD handheld computers that started selling in Japan last August. The Pocket PC e310, a newer version using the same processor, was contracted with Compal and launched this month.

Acer’s PXA210 and 250-based Pocket PCs, designed and produced by Compal, will be launched next month.

The latest Compaq iPAQ machines based on the PXA250 will also soon hit the market. HTC remains the preferred designer and manufacturing partner for the iPAQ’s higher-end, technologically advanced versions, but HP has been delegating more of its orders to LG Electronics of South Korea.

Original Article:
http://www.digitimes.com/NewsShow/asp?=2002/05/28&pages=06&seq=37
   
VIA to Launch Savage XP Graphics in June 5/28/2002
   "According to sources, VIA Technologies plans to launch its first graphics chip, the Zoetrope core-based Savage XP, in June, aiming at the low and medium-end markets. Several graphics card manufacturers also reportedly plan to showcase supporting products at the Computex Taipei exhibition.

However, VIA was still reluctant to comment about whether it has decided to introduce the product as an independent graphics chip.

VIA’s Savage XP is said to be able to support the DirectX 8 standard, dual-display function, 64 or 128MB DDR memory and a memory bandwidth of 5.7GB/s. The performance of the chip is similar to that of Nvidia’s GeForce4 MX420.

Sources said that the new chip will be quoted at around US$15, which is almost half as cheap as the latest Xabre400 graphics chip from Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS), whose performance matches that of the GeForce4 MX460.

Although several graphics card makers have shown interest in developing Savage XP-based cards, they noted that the launch schedule may not be very favorable to VIA, as the mass production of the Savage XP chips is likely to coincide with Intel 845G chipsets hitting the market on a large scale. Comparatively, they have greater expectations for VIA’s Columbia high-end graphics core, whose performance is reportedly similar to that of Nvidia’s NV25."

Full Article:
http://www.digitimes.com/asp?datePublish=2002/05/28&pages=14&seq=85
   
Chinese firm to compete with PS2, Gamecube, Xbox 5/28/2002
   "A REPORT IN THE TAIWANESE press claims a Chinese company will attack Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft by introducing its own video game consoles.
The Economic News quoted the chairman of Sichuan Changhong Electric – a massive TV firm on the mainland, as saying that his firm will take a lead from Sony.

Changhong – which made 12 million TV sets last year -- has already approached a number of Taiwanese manufacturers with a view to making the consoles, the newspaper reports.

It has plants in China but is also building a factory in Russia.

The firm has already approached a Taiwanese chip firm, Sunplus, to design microcontrollers for the machines, and is also talking to some Japanese majors."

ETA: 2 years and lets hope they don't call it something cliché like the "red box" or the "commu-nes" and if they do kick me back some of the money for those names ;)

Full Article:
http://www.theinquirer.net/28050207.htm
   
Google cache uncovers data security breach 5/28/2002
   SEARCH ENGINE Google is so good that practically everyone swears by it these days.

But people who made reservations at Mesa Verde Motel – motto: Your Home Base in Southwest Colorado – may well have reason to swear at it, not by it.

There must have been something wrong with the reservation system when Google gobbled up the contents of a page that still remains in its cache.

Because on the Google page linked to below, there's a long list of names and addresses of people who made their reservations.

Full Article:
http://www.theinquirer.net/28050202.htm
   
Deep Vision Display: 3D of the Future? 5/28/2002
   "Researchers at Boston University are out to prove that a picture is worth a thousand databases.

The university's Scientific Computing and Visualization Group recently opened a new front in the techno revolution: creating oversized and extremely detailed 3D images out of reams of data and mathematical models to better study phenomena such as solar wind, electrical pulses or particle interaction.

On a 7.5-by-10-foot screen, dubbed the Deep Vision Display Wall, researchers generate larger-than-life simulations of DNA strands or chemical reactions. The screen is powered by an IBM supercomputer containing 96 Power 4 processors capable of performing 500 billion calculations per second. Wide-screen TV it's not.

"It's a mechanism for new discoveries," said Glenn Bresnahan, adjunct professor and director of the Computing and Visualization Group. "You can go into areas where you normally just couldn't go. You can get visual experiences that you just couldn't get in any other way."

Full Article:
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-922122.html?tag=fd_lede
   
Intel Cuts Pentium Prices 5/28/2002
   "Intel slashed the price of Pentium 4 processors for desktops and notebooks over the weekend by up to 53 percent, an annual spring ritual designed to stimulate demand for its premier PC chip.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker cut the price of the desktop version of the chip from 12 percent to 43 percent, according to a price list issued by the company. The 2.4GHz version of the chip dropped from $562 to $400, a 29 percent drop, while the 2.26GHz and 2.2GHz versions of the chip fell from $423 to $241, a 43 percent drop. Other Pentium 4s were cut from 12 percent to 32 percent.

Notebook chips dropped even more. Pentium 4 notebook chips have not sold as well as expected, according to analysts, especially in the corporate market. The chip is primarily usedin the thicker "desktop replacement" notebooks rather than the "thin and light" versions more popular with corporate America. Both price cuts have been expected.

The 1.8GHz mobile Pentium 4 fell 48 percent, from $637 to $348, while the 1.7GHz version dropped from $508 to $241, a 53 percent decline. The 1.6GHz version was discounted 51 percent, from $401 to $198. The company also marginally cut prices on Pentium III mobile chips."

Full Article:
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-923046.html?tag=fd_top
   
Last "Right" Celeron 1.4GHz Selling Now! 5/27/2002
   "Japanese stores started selling the last "right" Intel processor Celeron 1.4GHz on Tualatin core. The technical features of the CPU are well-known already: the "right" clock frequency of 1400MHz providing the corresponding performance, 100MHz system bus, 256KB L2 cache, Tualatin core, FC-PGA2 package. The CPU sells for around $98.88-$103.96.

We would like to stress the heat dissipation of this CPU, which makes 34.8W. Just for your reference: the new Celeron 1.7GHz dissipates around 63.5W of heat (in reality up to 25% more).

Of course, the twofold difference in power consumption is explained by different manufacturing technologies, because Tualatin is produced according to 0.13micron standards, while Willamette – with 0.18micron technology. On the other hand, a question emerges: why new things should be worse than old ones?"

Original Article:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/story.html?id=1022352595
   
AMD Athlon XP 2200+ Already Selling 5/27/2002
   "Athlon XP 2200+ Already Selling! New Athlon MP to Have 166MHz FSB?
Posted 5/25/02 at 3:07 pm by Rat

We have already told you that on Monday, May 27, 2002 AMD is allegedly going to carry out a massive price reduction. As The Inquirer reports, the CPU retailers try to sell out as many processors as possible before the prices go down.

The prices usually get reduced when the new fastest models are announced. This time is also not an exception. In this and this online stores you can see Athlon XP 2200+ selling for $249 and $215 respectively. $249 seems to me to be a bit too high, because on Monday the No.1 competitor, Intel Pentium 4 2.2GHz will cost $241 (see this news story). In this case we dare suppose that Athlon XP 2200+ (1.8GHz actual core clock) will drop down to around $200-$215.

Thoroughbred based processors are expected to come out on June 10, 2002. This way, the already selling Athlon XP 2200+ is nevertheless based on Palomino core, although there used to circulate some rumors about AMD’s inability to develop an Athlon XP based on the old core but working at 1.8GHz.

According to the info coming from our unofficial sources, AMD is going to release a server Athlon MP 2100+ in the end of June-beginning of July. It is even more interesting that the new processor will support faster system bus, and the core logic – faster memory type. The use of 166MHz FSB grants a pretty tangible performance increase by Athlon XP processors (see our article called AMD Athlon XP and 166MHz FSB: Why Not?), however there are no chipsets in the market yet, which could work at this frequency officially and be certified for server usage.

Can’t wait to get some official facts now."

Original Article:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/story.html?id=1022353676
   
Net effect: Antiterror eavesdropping 5/27/2002
   "In the seven months since the passage of a sweeping law to combat terrorism, Internet and telecommunications companies have seen a surge in law enforcement requests to snoop on subscribers.

Privacy advocates fear that expanded police power under the Patriot Act -- combined with lax oversight and increased cooperation between the government and private sector phone network and Internet gatekeepers -- may be stomping on civil liberties.

The new laws do not apply just to terrorism but to other crimes as well.

"The trend up to September 11 was for more privacy protection, greater procedural safeguards, more sunshine on the process and more notice," said Al Gidari, a Seattle privacy lawyer who represents Internet and telecoms companies.

"I now see all those things tied up in a box with a little bow on them and forgotten about in the corner," he said.

Law enforcers say they need stepped-up electronic surveillance to keep up with sophisticated criminals, stressing that such efforts are targeted -- they're not trolling every server for e-mails mentioning Osama bin Laden.

Most of the time, they need to identify the source or recipient of a threatening or suspicious message.

Privacy advocates agree that terror must be stopped, but worry that a wider net is being cast that will capture information from innocent citizens."

Full Article:
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/05/27/terror.surveillance.ap/index.html
   
Klez.H Biggest Virus 5/27/2002
   "The computer virus Klez.H has become the biggest of all time, surpassing SirCam, according to an e-mail security company.

Klez.H, which was first detected on April 15, now affects one in every 300 e-mails, said UK-based MessageLabs on Monday. The company has traced 775,000 copies of the virus so far.

SirCam broke out last summer and maintained an unprecedented growth rate as it replicated itself. That trend has been mirrored by Klez.H, which covers its tracks and deceives recipients, said Alex Shipp from MessageLabs.

Unlike previous viruses like the Love Bug, Klez.H appears as different attachments and with different subject names, making it harder to spot.

It is the eighth version of the virus to be released into cyberspace. A ninth version -- Klez.I -- was launched at the same time but failed to take off. MessageLabs traced only two copies.

Klez.H attacks Windows software, but bypasses Microsoft Outlook e-mail, probably after Microsoft strengthened its anti-virus security, Shipp told CNN.

"Klez.H is able to select random names from address books to use as the sender address, and also creates a large range of subject, text and attachment names, making it difficult to identify and track."

Full Article:
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/05/27/virus.klezh/index.html
   
Bugs may control weather: Study 5/27/2002
   "British scientists have launched a study to find out if airborne bugs in clouds control the Earth's weather.

Scientists believe certain bug species may have evolved the ability to manipulate the weather in order to secure their own survival.

A team of microbiologists from the University of East London (UEL) are examining if the microbes play an active role in the formation of clouds and making it rain.

Using a revolutionary "cyclonic cloud catcher", the team, led by Dr Bruce Moffett, will collect samples of cloud water from aircraft and on uplands across the UK.

These samples will then be analysed to discover the composition and activity of any microbes present.

Preliminary analysis of samples already taken from low-lying cumulus clouds near Oxford has shown the presence of micro-organisms, including ammonia-oxidising bacteria.

The 18-month pilot project, funded by a $190,000 (£130,000) grant from the Natural Environment Research Council, aims to test the theory that a self-sustaining ecosystem exists in clouds and that bacteria and algae play a key role in creating clouds and triggering rainfall."

Full Article:
http://www.cnn.com/2002/WEATHER/05/27/bugs.weather/index.html
   
Kazaa network to fold 5/27/2002
   File sharing network Kazaa is to fold after being beaten by high legal fees in a copyright infringement case brought against it by major film studios and record labels.
Although the company maintains that it has not violated any copyright laws by allowing users to share files over its service, it looks like Kazaa, owned by Sharman Networks, is set to go the way of its predecessor, Napster.

Kazaa's lawyers have said that the company can no longer afford the ongoing legal fees in the case and will be forced to accept a default judgement, which may leave it responsible for damages in the region of millions.

The San Francisco Chronicle quoted Kazaa's lawyers as saying that the plaintiffs had used legal hardball tactics to "run Kazaa out of business".

Full Article:
http://www.vnunet.com/News/1132038
   
Arcade PC 5/27/2002
   For those of you who want the comfort and feel of an arcade machine but want the power and convenience of a PC look no further than:

Hanaho

The Deluxe Console: $2999 USD (-$1000 for using your own PC)
The Ultra Console: $1999 USD (-$1000 for using your own PC)
The Mega Console: $1999 USD (-$1000 for using your own PC)

http://hanaho.com/products/ArcadePC/index.html


You could always make one yourself:
http://www.arcadeathome.com/

Even CmdrTaco can do it: http://cmdrtaco.net/jubei/
   
Beware: World Cup Virus Variants 5/27/2002
   "The World Cup could provide virus authors with a great excuse to get creative, and IT managers must encourage staff to be extra vigilant, experts have warned.
Antivirus company Sophos insisted that companies should be careful of seemingly harmless World Cup screensavers, spreadsheets and electronic wall charts.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant, at Sophos, said: "Millions of people worldwide will be following the World Cup and will be using the internet and email to keep up to date with all the action.

"We have already seen viruses using the popularity of celebrities like Anna Kournikova and Britney Spears. David Beckham or Michael Owen could be next.

"Amid the enthusiasm for the competition, it's important that users maintain a solid defence [against unsolicited mail]."

World Cup viruses are not without precedent, Cluley warned.

"In 1998, in the run-up to the competition in France, the WM97/ZMK-J virus asked infected victims to gamble on who the winner might be," he said.

"If the user did not choose the right team, they triggered a warhead which was capable of wiping all the data off the hard drive."

Full Article:
http://www.vnunet.com/News/1132064
   
Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express Banned at Cambridge 5/27/2002
   "Cambridge college bans Outlook and Outlook Express due to security concerns
Newnham women's college, Cambridge, has banned Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express because it is tired of cleaning up after virus attacks.
The college, which has around 700 users, took the decision after the latest Klez virus outbreak.

The university mail servers blocked around 200,000 copies of the mail, but the college had a number of infections that caused a huge amount of disruption.

"We have banned all users connected to the college network from using Outlook or Outlook Express on their machines," Paul McLaughlin, computer officer at the college, told Network News. "I am tired of having to allocate time and resources to clean up virus infections.

"We have taken a phased approach - Outlook is banned but not immediately to give people a chance to change over," he added.

McLaughlin said at the moment users are recommended to use Mulberry - a program which the University Computing Service helped develop. For users keen to keep a familiar interface to Outlook he said the Netscape mail module could be used."

Full Article:
http://www.vnunet.com/News/1131823
   
Why Ergonomic Keyboards Suck 5/27/2002
   "Doubts surround the benefits of ergonomic keyboards in preventing repetitive strain injuries at work, writes BBC News Online's technology correspondent Mark Ward.
Work is bad for you, for all kinds of reasons.

Curvy keyboards offer few benefits

It forces you to meet its schedule, separates you from your loved ones too long and too often, and can inflict all manner of indignities, not least of which are the range of ailments classed as repetitive strain disorders.

Recent studies show that almost 40% of workers in the Netherlands reported pain in their upper-neck and limbs that they attributed to conditions in their workplace; and 17% of British workers report similar problems.

Doing something about RSI, or work-related upper-limb disorders, could also save money. Estimates of how much these disorders cost economies range from 0.5% to 2% of GNP. In the UK, the Health and Safety Executive estimates that these disorders cost more than £1.25bn a year."

Full Article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/in_depth/sci_tech/2000/dot_life/newsid_1402000/1402589.stm
   
The Search for Mafiaboy 5/27/2002
   "Shortly after 12 o'clock on Tuesday, June 8, 1999, students at Sisters High School in Sisters, Ore., ran down the hall looking for Jon Renner. They found him in a classroom teaching a social studies class.

"One of the servers crashed," a student said, peeking his head through the door to the classroom. "None of us can get to our files or our personal Web pages."

Renner, who also served as the school's technology co-ordinator, wasn't particularly concerned by the news of the crash. The system had gone down before, and it was usually just a matter of making minor tweaks to restore operations. But there was something in the sounds of the kids' voices this time, a look on one of their faces maybe, that told him he should go have a look right away. After all, the server they were talking about wasn't your typical high school network server. This one powered a legitimate business enterprise.

It all started five years earlier. Renner, with the assistance of a $50,000 grant from a local businessman, had helped the school set up a student-run Internet service provider (ISP) network. The ISP was called Outlawnet, Inc., after the Sisters High School nickname, the Outlaws. It was a small operation, designed to help pay for Internet access for the school district's 500 students. The ISP had grown to the point where it was now serving more than 1,000 local residents and business customers in the towns of Sisters, Black Butte and Camp Sherman. A group of 22 students helped run the company, developing Web pages, installing software for clients and managing accounts. Each year, a new Outlawnet class was selected, providing dozens of students with valuable real-world experience in the computer industry. There was much to be proud of.

But on this day, that sense of pride and hope was replaced with fear. In a few minutes, Renner and another technician realized what had happened to their server was no glitch. There was nothing routine about what they had found.

A computer hacker had gnawed his way into the Outlawnet server. A vulnerable password had allowed the intruder to establish a shell account and inject himself into the network."

Full Article:
http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?f=/stories/20020525/337557.html
   
Pirates? According to this guy: Mike Magee 5/27/2002
   Hi there,
I am a regular visitor at the inquirer, and i find it a very informative and even entertaining site, but must point out a very big flaw on your part: you continuously keep "flaming" pirates, and seem to poke fun at them at every chance you get? let me tell you a few of the facts, that you may not be aware of:

1) Every body is a pirate

Full Article:
http://www.theinquirer.net/27050203.htm
   
MPAA: Who are the real pirates? 5/27/2002
   "Pirates," according to Bobbie Johnson in these pages last week, "are costing Hollywood billions in lost profits." Just as George W says we're either with him or against him in the war against evil, so the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) goes on the attack against those who dare to, uh, think different.

The MPAA is a rich lobby group, with powerful allies in the World Trade Organisation and an international copyright regime which favours corporate profits over individual freedoms. But is the MPAA justified in its war against the pirates? And are its claims of lost billions even credible?

A few years ago, Margaret Matheson and I tried to make a British TV mini-series based on HG Wells' The War of the Worlds. Wanting to do things right, we contacted Aardman Animation, and, though in the thick of Chicken Run, they were very interested. Most of the rights to the book - including all US rights - had long ago fallen into the public domain. Only the British rights appeared to be privately held: by a former rock musician who hoped to turn Wells' story into a travelling stage musical along the lines of Blood Brothers or Fame. He was determined to hang on to them.

So, we thought, let's wait: in less than a year all rights to Wells' intellectual property were due to fall into the public domain. At that point, we, and anyone else, would be free to adapt his works throughout the world. Well, we were wrong. A group of bureaucrats in Europe decided to extend artistic copyrights by another 15 years. So our musical friend could sit on the project that much longer."

Full Article:
http://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,7558,722669,00.html
   
Microsoft's .NET Passport service under investigation in Europe 5/27/2002
   "he European Union's head office said Monday that Microsoft Corp. could face new fines for possible violations of European data protection laws.

EU spokesman Jonathan Todd said the charges against Microsoft related to its free-of-charge .NET Passport service on the Internet, which is used for purchases, playing games and banking transactions.

Todd said EU governments and consumer groups expressed concern about the service to the European Commission, which then passed them on to national regulators.

He added that several EU governments had launched a probe into the service. He said that each of the EU's 15 member nations could impose separate fines against Microsoft in this case.

Microsoft already faces another, unrelated EU antitrust investigation into its product line, focussing primarily on Microsoft's Windows program."

Full Article:
http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/415272p-3311147c.html
   
PC1066 RDRAM vs. DDR SDRAM 5/27/2002
   "It is quite evident from the benchmarks shown in this article that PC1066 RDRAM teamed with the Intel 850E chipset is currently the fastest, most superior and effective combination available for achieving the highest possible memory bandwidth. Intel started off in the right direction with the initial RDRAM support for their original line of Pentium 4s, but would have suffered in the long run if they didn't make the switch to DDR just in time to keep face with the growing demand, pressures, and competition from AMD. Until AMD or Intel produces a CPU that runs on a 166MHz or 200MHz data bus, the benefits from anything faster than PC2100 are going to be sorely missed on any DDR based platform. Intel has once again secured their piece of the pie in the high-performance arena with their 850E chipset, the new variety of Pentium 4, and their true support for PC1066 RDRAM. If your tossing up between DDR and RDRAM for your next upgrade, then PC1066 is definitely worth considering if you seek nothing more than pure muscle alongside the '533' Pentium 4."

Full Article:
http://www.tweakers.com.au/articles/cpu_mem/rdram_ddr/page1.asp
   
US plan to strike enemy with Valium 5/26/2002
   "American military chiefs are developing plans to use Valium as a potential weapon against enemy forces and to control hostile populations, according to official documents seen by The Observer.
The Pentagon has also asked scientists to evaluate proposals to use genetically modified bugs that 'eat' the enemy's fuel and ammunition supplies without harming humans.

The development of these 'non-lethal' weapons angers campaigners who claim that they would breach international treaties on biological and chemical weapons.

US documents reveal that two years ago the Pentagon commissioned scientists at Pennsylvania State University to look at potential military uses for a range of chemicals known as calmatives. The scientists concluded that several drugs would be effective to control crowds or in military operations such as anti-terrorist campaigns. The drugs they recommended for 'immediate consideration' included diazepam, better known as the tranquilliser Valium, and dexmedetomidine, used to sedate patients in intensive care. The scientists advised that these drugs can 'effectively act on central nervous system tissues and produces a less anxious, less aggressive, more tranquil-like behaviour'."

Full Article:
http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,722395,00.html
   
Leadtek K7n420DA (nForce 420D Chipset) Review 5/26/2002
   "Leadtek's nForce is definitely a very good product. It's priced very reasonably and offers a lot of features along with performance that is pretty good. Overclocking is also the best we've seen in an nForce board up-to-date. What would have made this board even better would've been the inclusion of USB 2.0 and RAID along with a TV-Out card. RAID would have definitely improved on office benchmarks as Winstone depends quite a bit on it. Speaking of performance, DDR-333 performance was a let down- that is what happens when you sometimes try to do things unofficially. All that aside, Leadtek has a solid product that you should definitely take a hard look at if you're thinking of going the nForce way. It's definitely the best nForce board to hit our labs."

Total Score:
84/100

Full Article:
http://www.tbreak.com/hard/mobo/leadtek_nforce/page1.html
   
Face scans check visitors at Lady Liberty, Ellis Island 5/26/2002
   "As visitors to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island board a ferry from Manhattan, a new surveillance system is taking their pictures and comparing them to a database of terror suspects compiled by the federal government.

The system was installed just ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, days after the FBI said it had received uncorroborated information that terrorists had threatened New York and some of its landmarks, including the Statue of Liberty.

"We're going to look at the facial recognition technology to see if it can be expanded for use in other parts of the city," Gov. George Pataki said on Saturday during a visit to the statue with his family.

"People are still coming to New York City, to the Statue of Liberty, from around our country and around our world because they appreciate that this is a secure, safe and free city," he said.

The facial recognition technology, provided by Visionics, of Jersey City, N.J., already is used in some airports and government buildings.

Mustafa Koita, a manager for Visionics, said the system searches 1 million images per second. "It has not slowed any of the foot traffic and I think people feel a little safer, too," Koita said.

Several cameras at varying heights snapped tourists' photographs just before they walked through a security checkpoint to board a ferry to the statue and Ellis Island, both operated by the National Park Service. Koita said the cameras were positioned so it would be difficult for people to look away or hide their faces."

Full Article:
http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/414447p-3298271c.html

Featured Response: ACLU Blasts Plan to Use Flawed Facial Recognition System at Statue of Liberty and Other NY Landmarks

"To have such a system in place near the Statue of Liberty -- our nation’s beacon of liberty -- is both ironic and disheartening,” said Barry Steinhardt, director of the national ACLU’s Technology and Liberty Program. “It may be a good sales stunt for the manufacturer, but it is an insult to the American people and to those in law enforcement who truly know how to keep us safe."
   
Intel Sticking to its guns on pricing Maybe 5/26/2002
   This article is essentially broken down into two parts:

Intel vs. Mike Magee part 3

"You are right about Magee not valueing time with 'execs' -the reality is he is an anti-establishment kind of guy. Facts and snippets of info work better with him. So, the 'exclusive access' to our hierarchy will not lure him and make him behave - nor will he feel penalized if we deny him that access. The trick is - not to make him feel he has hit a cord when he writes one of his numerous incisive pieces (directed randomly at everybody in our industry), not to show our sensitiveness - or he will delve deeper as he was initially just 'fishing'. Retaliation will enbitter [sic] him not win him over. Being firm in what we say is fine and answering back with nonchalance and a few well chosen quotes from our industry partners and some data points is really the best tactic to use with him" – from an Intel internal email – more Chipzilla baloney...


Intel Pricing Speculation:

Intel will make some big price adjustments today/tomorrow on its Pentium 4 range of microprocessors.

Some crazy optimists in the USA and others, following their lead, believe that Intel will not now adjust their prices on Pentium 4s until the 27th of October.

They might have seen the same roadmap we did in early May for week 18. The next update on the Intel desktop roadmap is just a few days before Computex starts in week 22, that is on May 31st.

As a bit of a veteran of Intel roadmaps, we have to tell you here at the Inquirer that just because Chipzilla tells you something in May doesn't mean everything doesn't change in August.

You will remember that last year some beancounter at Intel put every single plan of the marketeers awry by introducing a 50 per cent cut on P4 processors just to ensure that it made its figures.

Roadmaps are for customers, and believe you us, if Intel finds it necessary to cut prices again earlier, it will do so.

Full Article:
http://www.theinquirer.net/26050205.htm
   
New Amino Acid Discovered 5/26/2002
   "Two teams of researchers from Ohio State University reported today that they had identified the 22nd genetically encoded amino acid, a discovery that is the biological equivalent of physicists finding a new fundamental particle or chemists discovering a new element.

Two papers describing the discovery appear in the current issue of the journal Science. Prior to this, scientists had believed that there were only 21 natural amino acids -- the key building blocks of proteins.

For 30 years after the discovery of the structure of DNA and the unraveling of the genetic code, scientists believed that there were only 20 natural amino acids. Then in 1986, researchers broke that numerical barrier announcing that the 21st had been discovered.

Finding a 22nd suggests that even more of these basic biological building blocks may be found using modern genome sequencing techniques.

The discovery grew out of some very basic biochemistry examining how a particular type of microbe - methanogens - can convert methyl-containing compounds into methane. While researchers have long understood the biochemical mechanisms f$£ƒÇow acetate and carbon dioxide are converted to methane, they didn't understand how a common class of compounds - the methylamines - are transformed into this gas.

One research group, led by Joseph A. Krzycki, an associate professor of microbiology, had been working for several years with a particular strain of microbe, Methanosarcina barkeri. This organism, a member of the recently identified domain Archaea, is able to convert monomethylamine, dimethylamine and trimethylamine into this greenhouse gas."

Full Article:
http://www.osu.edu/researchnews/archive/aminoacd.htm
   
Ice reservoirs found on Mars 5/26/2002
   "Water-ice has been found in vast quantities just below the surface across great swathes of the planet Mars.

The finding by the American space agency (Nasa) is undoubtedly one of the most important made about the Red Planet.

It solves one of its deepest mysteries, points the way for manned exploration and reignites the question of whether life may exist on the planet.

Insiders suggest that, partly as a result of this finding, Nasa may now commit itself to a manned landing within 20 years."

Full Article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_2009000/2009318.stm
   
How to 0wn the Internet in Your Spare Time 5/26/2002
   Abstract
The ability of attackers to rapidly gain control of vast numbers of Internet hosts poses an immense risk to the overall security of the Internet. Once subverted, these hosts can not only be used to launch massive denial of service floods, but also to steal or corrupt great quantities of sensitive information, and confuse and disrupt use of the network in more subtle ways.

We present an analysis of the magnitude of the threat. We begin with a mathematical model derived from empirical data of the spread of Code Red I in July, 2001. We discuss techniques subsequently employed for achieving greater virulence by Code Red II and Nimda. In this context, we develop and evaluate several new, highly virulent possible techniques: hit-list scanning (which creates a Warhol worm), permutation scanning (which enables self-coordinating scanning), and use of Internet-sized hit-lists (which creates a flash worm).

We then turn to the to the threat of surreptitious worms that spread more slowly but in a much harder to detect "contagion" fashion. We demonstrate that such a worm today could arguably subvert upwards of 10,000,000 Internet hosts. We also consider robust mechanisms by which attackers can control and update deployed worms.

In conclusion, we argue for the pressing need to develop a "Center for Disease Control" analog for virus- and worm-based threats to national cybersecurity, and sketch some of the components that would go into such a Center.

Full Article:
http://www.icir.org/vern/papers/cdc-usenix-sec02/index.html
   
New Rules for the New Advertising Economy 5/26/2002
   "Over the past year, a small company called X10 has practically become a household name, despite the fact that it sells little the average household would want. No need to explain how it did this, or what it's pushing; you already know. Its ubiquitous pop-under ads have made X10.com one of the most visited sites on the Web. And in the banality of billions of slightly suggestive webcam pitches lies the future of advertising - a radically different model that will challenge many of the presumptions about online media.

Thanks to a savage online-advertising downturn, a few choice deals won X10 blanket coverage. It managed to do what was once unimaginable - it bought the Internet. You can run, but you can't hide from those cheesy spycam offers.

It also spawned copycats, from Orbitz and Netflix to several online casino operators. These companies pay as little as $1 million a month to reach about 5 million unique users. (Even more impressive, most pay only after their ads succeed, measured by clickthroughs or even sales. When a company pays for advertising after a sale is made, marketing ceases to become a cost center. It's a commission.) Compared with television, this amounts to three times the reach per dollar. For the advertisers, at least, Web marketing works great these days.

But there's more to the X10 approach than a smart media buy. The company's ads are especially intrusive, which is precisely what it takes to get noticed online. X10's ads open in a separate window, requiring you to take note at least long enough to close them. Other advertisers prefer big, elaborately animated interstitials, hijacking your browser between pages. Some even crawl over content, forcing you to simply wait helplessly for the nightmare to end.

In other words, it's not unlike the average TV viewing experience (TiVo users and other time shifters aside). Many commercials are well done; some are even entertaining. But whether good or bad, they work because you're pretty much forced to watch them. Compare that with the latest pop-up ad window, which uses Flash technology and faster connections to be more like video every day. In exchange for hijacking your screen, it tries to entertain - or at least engage.

However, there's a big difference between the two media. Television viewers have no expectation of being able to control the pace of their experience. They will put up with what amounts to 16 minutes of interstitials for each hour of content. Web users will not."

Full Article:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.06/view.html?pg=4
   
FBI asks Web sites to remove video of Daniel Pearl's death 5/26/2002
   The FBI said Saturday it has contacted at least two Web sites and asked them to stop displaying video footage of the killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

Special agent Sandra Carroll of the FBI's field office in Newark, N.J., said the sites had been asked to voluntarily remove the video "out of consideration for the family" of Pearl. "To my knowledge, most have voluntarily done that," she added.

She declined to identify all the sites contacted but said there had been only a couple. The only one she mentioned by name was ogrish.com, which shows a variety of macabre images.

The ogrish Web site states that the FBI "contacted our host Prohosters to inform them that they were going to sue us for putting on the Pearl video on 5-18-2002. We had no other choice than deleting the video. ... We live in a censored world."

Full Article:
http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/413776p-3296340c.html

Wired Article:
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,52772,00.html
   
UCSF acknowledges tests on human cloning 5/26/2002
   "The University of California-San Francisco acknowledged Friday that scientists there conducted experiments in ``therapeutic cloning'' -- the controversial procedure that would be banned by legislation now before Congress.

The work was conducted from 1999 to 2001 in the laboratory of Roger Pedersen, a leading embryonic stem cell researcher who left the university last year for England because of fears his research would be restricted in the United States. The experiments were funded by Geron, a biotechnology company in Menlo Park, with matching money from BioSTAR, a university-run program.

In the experimental procedure -- also called ``somatic cell nuclear transfer'' -- Pedersen's team replaced the genetic material in human eggs with the genetic material from the cells of adult donors. The same technique has been used in animals to create offspring genetically identical to the adult -- like Dolly, the cloned sheep.

The university scientists' eventual aim was to create an early stage human embryo from which stem cells could be harvested for study and use in treating patients with disorders like Parkinson's and heart disease.

The UC research, first disclosed in Friday's Wall Street Journal, becomes the second instance to come to light in which scientists in the United States attempted to apply the cloning technology to human cells. Last year, scientists at Advanced Cell Technology in Massachusetts kicked up an international controversy when they claimed to have cloned an early-stage human embryo. Since then, scientists in China have made similar claims."

Full Article:
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/local/3336936.htm
   
Beer-fetching Robots? 5/25/2002
   "Imagine having your laptop fetch a beer from the refrigerator and then roll over to the baby’s room to sing a lullaby while e-mailing snapshots to grandma a thousand miles away.

EVOLUTION ROBOTICS, a start-up backed by Pasadena, California-based technology incubator Idealab, unveiled this week what it calls a “personal robot system” — essentially a robotic framework centered on a laptop computer.
The company’s ER1, which is able to perform the kinds of automated functions once considered science-fiction fantasy, retails for $499 in a do-it-yourself assembly kit or for $599 in a pre-built format.
Users can plug any laptop into the robot, though the current configuration does not power the computer from the robot’s battery. Planned future functions will allow for automatic recharging from standard electrical outlets, the company said."

Full Article
http://msnbc.com/news/757076.asp
   
Internet scam artist faces huge fine 5/25/2002
   "An elusive Internet scam artist has been ordered to pay almost $1.9 million back to victims and stop a scheme that used thousands of misspelled Web addresses to trick Internet users into seeing adult advertisements, federal regulators announced Friday.

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION lawyers sued John Zuccarini of Andalusia, Pa., last October to stop the scheme. Zuccarini set up Web sites that contained misspellings of popular names like the Backstreet Boys, Victoria’s Secret, Bank of America and The Wall Street Journal.

Visitors that inadvertently misspelled a site’s name, like victoreasecret.com instead of the lingerie retailer, went to Zuccarini’s site and were barraged with a hailstorm of pop-up ads for Internet gambling and pornography. The new windows returned to the screen even after they were closed, the FTC said."

Full Article:
http://msnbc.com/news/757058.asp?0bl=-0
   
New Kryo Drivers 5/25/2002
   If you have a Kryo based card you can find generic drivers here:
http://www.pvrdev.com/driver/index.htm

Or if you have a Hercules card you can find them here:

4000/4500 15.084 Windows 9x/ME/2000/XP
http://us.hercules.com/support/link_drivers.php3?prodid=12&c=0&p=4

4000/4500 Linux 2.00.20.0234 Beta
http://us.hercules.com/support/link_drivers.php3?prodid=12&c=0&p=4
   
I'll leave you on this note.... 5/25/2002
   "Apparently there are laws in some states that require the seller to disclose this type of information. This house had been on the market nearly a year for no reason other than someone had been killed there. It seems other people are more squeamish about such things than I am.

I bought the house anyway, for about 75% of its appraised value. A real steal, in my opinion. The "ghost" began visiting about a month after we moved in. Initially, she made herself known by making a loud slamming noise against the wall in one particular spot. Sounds just like someone taking a Louisville Slugger and hitting the wall, hard as they can. It's always in the same spot on the same wall. There's nothing in or behind that wall that can account for the noise.

After we opened up the previously blocked-off attic and started to do work upstairs, we started hearing footsteps up there -- steps that sounded like hard-heeled shoes on a wooden floor. Thing is, there's no floor in the attic yet. It's open beams with insulation. Interesting how that sound can come from the attic when there's nothing up there to make that kind of noise. Sometimes we come home and find the television on, when we hadn't left it that way. We've never actually seen our resident spook, nor has anything been moved. It's kind of odd, but not scary. The scariest thing is when she slams the wall really hard because it's a very startlingly loud noise. More than once I've been woken from a sound sleep by that bang."

Full Story:
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2002/5/21/122145/875
   
MX-EVA3 CPU Evaporator Cooler 5/25/2002
   Icrontic has their grubby little hands on the MX-EVA3 CPU Evaporator Cooler. This is a product that no one has really heard of before and that weighs in at a hefty $500 USD. It cools like a monster though allowing for maximum overclocking.

"Good things

As you can see the MX-EVA3 can take care of some very high heat load. It is by far the best extreme cooling solution on the market today. I've used all sorts of cooling to get to the top and I was under the impression that my 220 pelt and chilled water cooler was bringing my chip to its limits. I was wrong.

With the MX-EVA3 you can eliminate the use of pelts, extra power supplies and water. Now you use just one simple evaporator hook up.

It also is pretty good for space. It fits under your case so all you're doing is adding about 9 inches to the height of your case. As far as the noise level it is very tolerable for any Xtreme Overclocker. This can only be written up as a good thing.

Bad things

I'll start with the instructions. They are very good for condensation proofing but that's about it. There are no instructions for adjusting the Digital Display as far as setting the boot temperature or setting what ever it is you can set with the 4 buttons on the Digital Display. This would be nice to know.

They have no recommendation on moving your 4 AMD CPU tabs which in my opinion is a critical must.

Mounting is a bit tough but if you take your time you can get it right. It's always a scary moment when it comes to risking frying your CPU. I'm sure the Intel 478 mounting may be a lot easier.

Price

I believe the MX-EVA3 retails at $499 (USD). I personally find this price to be a descent deal. I know I've spent thousands of dollars for cooling since I began overclocking. For anyone that wants to skip the trial and error method of cooling then the $500 outlay will save you money in the long run and bring you straight to the top."

Score: 98%

Full Review:
http://www.icrontic.com/index.php?page=public/hardware&hardwareId=364
   
New Intel Chipsets 5/25/2002
   XBitLabs has some info pertaining to some of the new chipsets that you will be seeing soon.

Here is another bit of info on the new mainboard announcements. As usual we are talking about the products on new Intel chipsets (see the first part of the story here):

Gigabyte GA-8IEXP, GA-8IEMK (both on i845E), GA-8IGXP, GA-8IGMK (both on i845G) and GA-8IHXP (i850E);
Jetway 845GDA, 845GDAL (both on i845G), 845EDAK (i845E), 845LDA and 845LDAL (both on i845GL);
PC Chips 903ULR (i845G).

Full Article with links:
http://xbitlabs.com/news/story.html?id=1022219981
   
Athlon MPs to support high FSB speeds 5/25/2002
   "Distributers and dealers for AMD tell us that the firm is preparing deeper than normal price cuts on its high end Athlon parts over the weekend.
That's in preparation for the introduction of the XP2200+ using the Palomino core in June, and the introduction of another MP (multiprocessing) part scheduled for the end of June, the beginning of July.

Normally AMD introduces new processors at the latest speed and drops other models down a notch, a method also used by chip rival Intel.

But, according to our sources, this time the XPs will drop by larger amounts than normal – we will supply that information when we've got it.

AMD will introduce an MP 2100+ we learn at the end of June, but the chip firm is ensuring that new higher speed XPs are "MP locked", so they won't work in dual boards."

Everything is becoming clear as AMD plans to unveil it's new processor lineup. Remember, pricecuts on Monday ;)

Full Article:
http://www.theinquirer.net/25050201.htm
   
Pentium III SMP Xeons thrash Pentium 4 SMP Xeons 5/25/2002
   "SOURCES TELL us that Intel has once more made a gaffe in its plans for four way servers and that has caused many PC manufacturers to put their plans on ice until the chip giant fixes everything again.
This time PC manufacturers are upset because Pentium 4 Xeons in a four way symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) configuration are thoroughly thrashed by a chip that Intel wants to consign to the microprocessor gulag.

The Pentium III Xeon 900MHz with 2MB of cache – the so called Cascades processor – easily thrashes a Pentium 4 in a four way configuration but Intel wants the manufacturers to go with the current Xeon.

Xeons with big caches – codenamed Gallatin – are not due to be released until the third or fourth quarter of this year, as exclusively revealed here."

Full Article:
http://www.theinquirer.net/25050202.htm
   
Asus sets up subsidiary to target low-price market 5/25/2002
   "To consolidate as well as expand the company’s market share, setting up a new subsidiary to target the low-price sector is a necessary move, said Johnny Shih, chairman of Asustek Computer, at the company’s May 23 shareholders meeting.

Shih indicated that the number of overall shipments plays an important role in the motherboard business. In this highly competitive market, incessantly expanding shipment scale is the only way to allow companies to enhance the levels of product development and also industry standards. Launching a low-end, second brand will be able to help Asustek obtain both market share and profits, thus strengthening the company’s competitiveness.

To increase its operating flexibility, Asustek decided to establish a new subsidiary called Hua Ching (transliterated from Chinese) in early May, focusing on the low-price motherboard market. According to the company’s current production timetable, shipments are expected to officially begin in the third quarter of this year."

Full Article:
http://www.digitimes.com/NewsShow/Article.asp?datePublish=2002/seq=42
   
Recording Industry sues AudioGalaxy 5/25/2002
   "The recording and music publishing industries extended their legal pursuit of online music swapping firms Friday, suing AudioGalaxy for copyright infringement.

The Recording Industry Association of America and the National Music Publishers Association accused the Austin, Texas, firm of "willfully and intentionally" encouraging and facilitating millions of users to copy and distribute copyright work of artists, ranging from Dave Matthews and Celine Dion to Alicia Keyes and the Beatles.

The two industry groups claim that AudioGalaxy, with more than 15 million registered users, uses a system that is even more egregious than Napster, which the music industry effectively shut down in the courts last year.

Founder Michael Merhej and other AudioGalaxy officials did not immediately return calls placed to their offices late Friday afternoon.

Merhej said previously that AudioGalaxy was taking measures to prevent copyrighted music from being illegally shared, but RIAA officials complained that the measures were insufficient.

AudioGalaxy, which grew out of a music search engine at the University of Texas, not only allows users to download songs and albums, but also cover artwork and software."

Full Article:
http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/413317p-3291837c.html
   
Comcast sued for recording customers activity 5/25/2002
   "Comcast Corp., the nation's third-largest cable company, is being sued in U.S. court in Michigan over accusations it violated a federal privacy law when it recorded the Web browsing activities of each of its 1 million high-speed Internet subscribers.

Lawyer Steven Goren of Bingham Farms, Mich., filed a class-action complaint against Comcast and its cable subsidiary Tuesday. Goren, who predicted "months or years" of litigation, is seeking attorney's fees plus damages of at least $100 per day for every Comcast subscriber during the period from December to Feb. 13, when Comcast pledged to stop the practice.

A Comcast spokesman did not return repeated phone calls Friday from The Associated Press. Comcast, which is seeking U.S. approval for a $45 billion merger with its largest rival, AT&T Broadband, previously has denied wrongdoing. It said no more information was recorded about Comcast customers than is common in the industry and no more than was needed to optimize its Internet network.

The AP reported in early February that Comcast had started recording each customer's visit to Web sites as part of a technology overhaul to save money and speed up its network. Comcast pledged to stop immediately a day later, after a consumer backlash and after Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., criticized the tracking in a letter to Comcast President Brian Roberts.

Goren, who usually handles medical malpractice cases, argues that Comcast violated the 1984 Cable Act, which prohibits companies from collecting personal information from customers without obtaining "prior written or electronic consent." The act was originally intended to protect the privacy of cable TV customers."

Full Article:
http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/412970p-3289687c.html
   
FCC ordered to rewrite broadband rule 5/25/2002
   "A federal appeals court on Friday ordered regulators to rewrite a government rule meant to increase the number of companies offering Internet users high-speed service over their telephone lines.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit also told the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider another broader rule aimed at stoking competition with the four regional phone companies, which emerged from the Bell System breakup and now dominate the local phone game.

The FCC's Internet rule requires the former Bells to allow competitors access to their telephone lines to provide high-speed Internet service, called Digital Subscriber Line, or DSL.

But the challenge by the incumbent carriers through their trade group, the United States Telecom Association, was successful before the court.

"The commission ... completely failed to consider the relevance of competition in broadband services coming from cable (and to a lesser extent satellite)," Judge Stephen Williams wrote.

Relatively few of the nation's Internet users subscribe to more expensive broadband, which offers connections dozens of times faster than the standard telephone dial-up service. But most who do receive their high-speed service through cable modems and consumers have a choice between DSL and cable high-speed service in very few markets."

Full Article:
http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/413195p-3291008c.html
   
550w Sunflower Power Supply (PSU) Review 5/24/2002
   "You very probably don't need a PSU with more than 500 watt capacity. But there's no harm in having one. It won't draw any more power when running a modest PC than any other PSU would, and it gives you the security of knowing that everything's likely to be well within its operating limits. And these PSUs also look spiffy and have enough air-shifting power to be a useful part of your PC cooling solution.

Or, in thermally controlled mode, they'll keep the noise down unless your computer seems to need a lot of air movement.

The 550 watt Super Flower PSU is almost twice the price of a quality basic 300 watt supply, like the AOpen one that Aus PC sell for $AUD115.50 delivered. The 470 watt Super Flower's not much cheaper. And most PCs need nothing more than the cheap AOpen can provide.

$110 extra isn't a huge margin in the computer hardware world, though, and these PSUs with silly names do seem to deliver, in all departments.

Recommended."

Full Article:
http://dansdata.com/sfpsu.htm
   
Chinese crackers prepare for cyber war 5/24/2002
   "Students may launch attacks on vital western systems
Chinese hackers could be readying themselves to launch a cyber attack on key western computer systems.
The Institute for Strategic Studies, run by the US Army War College, has released a classified report warning the Defense Department, US diplomats and law enforcement agencies to be on the look out for Chinese student hacking attacks some time this summer.

The Institute believes that the attacks will try to spread computer viruses and deface sensitive government websites.

The report, Chinese Information Warfare: A Phantom or Emerging Threat?, claims that the hackers are trying to achieve information dominance as a way of overcoming US military superiority.

It would not be the first time that China has turned to cyber space to vent its anger.

When NATO accidentally bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade killing three journalists, Chinese hackers broke into the US Department of Energy's website and replaced its homepage with a note written half in English, half in Chinese."

Full Article:
http://www.vnunet.com/News/1132068
   
Nvidia waves goodbye to Nforce 620/615 5/24/2002
   "Anyway, one big question that occurred was what kind of processor from AMD Nvidia will support, since we are talking about two completely different chips that will come from AMD. One is the good old Athlon /Duron generation and the other is the future Hammer generations.

All Nvidia will say is that it will support "The latest processors from AMD as they are available"

We believe that Nvidia is far too tied up with its Hammer chipset plans and this is causing some of the problems in development.

And also, the chipset market is getting more than a little crowded and more and more cutthroat. Just as well ALI appears to be treading water in its chipset division."

Full Article:
http://www.theinquirer.net/24050219.htm
   
Microsoft demonstrates new Windows XP feature 5/24/2002
   "Microsoft Corp. is disclosing how it will let users of its latest Windows software effectively replace its own Web browser, e-mail and instant-messaging tools with rival programs. The action was required by Microsoft's landmark antitrust settlement with the government.

Microsoft demonstrated a new feature this week that its engineers will include within Windows XP to allow users to trick their computers into behaving as if some of Microsoft's own software tools had been removed from Windows.

Microsoft, which also disclosed that sales of Windows XP have exceeded 32 million copies, said it will offer the change, probably in August, in a 40-megabyte "service pack" update. Customers can download the update from Microsoft's Web site or order it for shipping costs expected to run less than $10."

The government demanded the redesign, aimed at helping rival software companies compete against Microsoft more fairly, as a cornerstone of its agreement to end the historic antitrust case against the software maker. Nine state attorneys general are pursuing additional penalties against Microsoft.

Lawyers for the Justice Department and the nine states that also agreed to the settlement expect to review Microsoft's plans in the next few weeks. Microsoft does not plan to demonstrate its changes for U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who will decide later this year whether to approve the settlement.

The government did not force Microsoft to make similar changes to earlier versions of Windows; the update will work on both home and professional editions of Windows XP.

Microsoft also will use the Windows update to crack down on software pirates: It identified a stolen unlocking combination widely distributed on the Internet to install Windows XP illegally."


Full Article:
http://nandotimes.com/technology/story/412328p-3285790c.html
   
Game Over For Nintendo Chief 5/24/2002
   "Japanese video game maker Nintendo said Friday that its charismatic president Hiroshi Yamauchi, 74, would step down after more than half a century at the helm, handing power to a carefully groomed management group.
Yamauchi, outspoken but publicity-shy and a standout with his purple suits and plainspoken style, guided Nintendo's meteoric rise from a tiny maker of card games to a video game powerhouse.

His strategy, centered on creating innovative games rather than building ambitious entertainment technology like the rival PlayStation 2 and Xbox, is expected to remain intact under the new management team.

Taking the post of president on May 31 will be Satoru Iwata, the 42-year-old chief of corporate planning who joined the company two years ago from a game software developer."

Full Article:
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-922209.html?tag=fd_top
   
NEAR Resurrection: Bringing Back the Dead Spacecraft 5/24/2002
   "A death-defying comeback might be in store for NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft. The probe is now muted, quietly resting in a no-shout zone on the surface of asteroid 433 Eros.

An attempt to reconnect with NEAR may occur at year's end as the rocky world and Earth move into close proximity and sunlight washes over the spacecraft's energizing solar panels.

The stab-in-the dark at re-establishing radio contact with NEAR could be done though NASA's Deep Space Network managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

Those who worked on the NEAR project hope it can be revived. But it's a long shot, they quickly add.

Super-cold temperatures may have done in the electronics aboard the spacecraft. On the other hand, turning on NEAR would be coup de grace of cosmic proportion. A fit-and-fiddle spacecraft would give engineers confidence in future hardware designs - equipment that can take a beating but keep on keeping on."

Full Article:
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/near_reboot_020523.html
   
Mozilla Release Candidate 3 Debut 5/24/2002
   "Mozilla 1.0 RC3 Released
In response to the feedback from RC2, we have released Mozilla 1.0 Release Candidate 3, our last planned candidate before we release Mozilla 1.0. Try it out and let us know if you find any really serious problems. Read the Release Notes for more details."

Mozilla Site:
http://www.mozilla.org/releases/

Release Notes:
http://www.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla1.0/
   
Motherboard Co.'s Sending Overclocked Products .. 5/23/2002
   ..for Review?

"Recently we have been testing lots of mainboards. While going through the review process, we discovered that there are a number of manufacturers tends to default their 133Mhz fsb at 134.6 or even higher FSB. What does that mean ? That means that they secretly overclock their systems for media reviewers like us.

Most media publications might have overlooked this growing trend and manufacturers sending overclocked bioses for review sites. We see that this is not a fair playing ground when we compare boards of the same chipset since the results might differ up to 100 points (in 3Dmark2001SE). You can check the default fsb using WCPUID (downloadable fom www.h-oda.com)

I would suggest that all manufacturers to stick to 133.33Mhz as the standard. If the clock gen used cannot generate 133.33 exactly, a FSB range of 133.3 ~ 133.7 should be encouraged."

Original Article:
http://www.ocworkbench.com/ocwbcgi/viewnews.cgi?newsid1022150780,60805,
   
Thermal Grease in Squares! 5/23/2002
   This article is a few weeks old but I found it interesting nonetheless.

"For the average PC tweaker, the credit-card-spreader technique is adequate. If you're doing the job over and over, though, there's no way to do it with ordinary thermal grease that isn't messy and wasteful.

Many CPU cooler manufacturers solve the problem for you, at least the first time, by pre-installing some kind of thermal compound on the bottom of their coolers.

In the olden days a couple of years ago, rubbery thermal pads were common; they perform quite poorly, but you can usually remove and replace the cooler without having to replace the thermal pad as well, and they work well enough for low-heat CPUs."

Full Article:
http://dansdata.com/powerdev.htm
   
Graphics Technologies Compared 5/23/2002
   If you're getting a bit confused about the new graphics cards that are coming out I think you should take a look at this table over at theInquirer.

Graphics Card Table:
http://www.theinquirer.net/2502table.htm

The article can be found here:
http://www.theinquirer.net/23050217.htm
   
Blaine taking the Intel PR Challenge 5/23/2002
   "Mater Illusionist David Blaine is to face his most dangerous challenge yet as he takes on the might of Intel. Fresh from his death-defying 80 foot leap earlier this week, Blaine now plans to create the illusion of being an Intel PR person with a difference - one who doesn't write derogatory emails about well-known IT journalists.
"Jumping from great heights and being frozen inside a block of ice were pretty simple compared with this challenge," says a spokesman. "It's not known if anyone who has worked in the PR department in Santa Clara has ever been able to withstand the temptation to diss working journalists or to pretend to be members of the public when flaming hardware sites using Hotmail accounts. It will be Blaine's toughest challenge yet."

We asked Intel for comment but at press time the chip giant merely replied: "We do not comment on unannounced illusions – Jesus, who do these limey faggots think they are? Bastards the lot of them, especially that Magee, he's scum, and as for that Thomas bloke, he needs stringing up. Hang on, that's the send key, not the delete one – oh bugger…"

Full Article:
http://www.theinquirer.net/23050212.htm
   
Matrox Parhelia AGP Continued 5/23/2002
   "That story stemmed from two Matrox official documents which gave contradictory information about AGP support.

Because 3D companies insist that AGP 8X and DirectX 9 are crucial for future generation 3D hardware, it was important for us to find out which type of AGP Matrox supports.

We contacted Matrox yesterday and the company has confirmed that the Parhelia 512 is an AGP 4X part.

However, bear in mind that cards based on the technology will be fully compatible with AGP 8X motherboards that have started to put their heads above the parapet."

Full Article:
http://www.theinquirer.net/23050208.htm
   
Internet Privacy Bill Passes in Minnesota 5/23/2002
   "A newly adopted Minnesota law will allow Internet users to control whether their service providers disclose their personal information, a development that could speed federal action on Internet privacy.

National Internet companies fought the bill, signed by Gov. Jesse Ventura on Wednesday, and its authors described it as the most comprehensive state Internet privacy law. It won't take effect until March.

The law requires ISPs to tell Minnesota consumers whenever they plan to disclose such personal information as which Web sites users have visited, their e-mail or home addresses or their telephone numbers. They also would have to say what the information would be used for.

It requires that ISP contracts say in a "conspicuous" way whether their customers would have to take action to prevent the information-sharing once people are notified, or if the service provider would need permission to proceed.

The bill will let consumers sue businesses that violate the law, with exceptions for giving information to law enforcement.

Frank Torres, a spokesman for the Washington-based Consumers Union, said the law is a victory for privacy advocates and becomes their new minimum goal for national legislation."

Full Article:
http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/411094p-3277612c.html
   
Army is looking for a few good gamers 5/23/2002
   After watching the popularity of video gaming grow into a $9 billion business last year, the U.S. military is launching a video game with an eye toward recruiting.

But there's also a twist on how the Army will get the game into young hands.

Most people are familiar with the images of U.S. Special Operations forces, being all they can be, defending the country.

Starting in July, gamers will be able to conduct their own Special Ops missions on PCs, and the only weapons they'll need are a Pentium III processor and a modem.

The U.S. Army is launching the video game "America's Army" as a way to boost its ranks.

The game is getting plenty of attention at this week's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, especially since a tank greets visitors at the massive trade show as part of a promotion.

Full Article:
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/ptech/05/22/e3.army.game/index.html
   
FBI Agents Use Database to Commit Fraud 5/23/2002
   Two FBI agents were among five people charged with securities fraud for allegedly participating in a scheme to feed confidential information to an Internet stock analyst.

Federal prosecutors charged FBI agent Lynn Wingate of Albuquerque, N.M., and Jeffrey Royer, a former Oklahoma City agent who resigned last year, in an indictment unsealed Wednesday.

Analyst Amr ``Tony'' Elgindy, who allegedly used the inside FBI information to make money on the market, was also among those charged.

In exchange for money, the agents used FBI databases to provide their co-conspirators information on publicly traded companies, the indictment said. In 2000 and 2001, an associate of Elgindy, Derrick Cleveland, wired Royer $30,000 while he was still an FBI agent, court papers said.

Full Article (Free Reg):
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-FBI-Insiders.html
   
1.7Ghz Celeron "Iffy" 5/23/2002
   It seems the cogs of the Intel PR machine must not be toiling hard enough to silence PC World who calls the Intel Celeron 1.7ghz "Iffy."

They also have these kind words to say:
"But based on PC World's exclusive tests of a PC using the new Celeron, you should avoid it: This chip is all bark and no bite."

Expect an email soon to saying that Intel won't be giving complete acess to PC World unless they start writing more "objectively."

PC World Review:
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,100124,00.asp

It looks like Intel's golden promises shimmer enough to cloud Anand's eyes in this review at Anandtech:
http://anandtech.com/cpu/showdoc.html?i=1622&p=1
   
Price Cuts Abound 5/23/2002
   We linked to XBitLabs who in turn said that we could expect Intel price cuts on Friday of this week. It seems as if they are changing their minds and now predicting Monday as the correct date. AMD is expected to drop their pricing in response and XBitLabs takes note that prices of AMD's processors seemed to have dipped slightly over the past week.

Check out the article for pricing info:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/story.html?id=1022132004
   
Doom III 5/23/2002
   GameSpy has a three page preview up right now that includes several screen shots: http://gamespy.com/e32002/pc/doom3b/

ShackNews has some info as well: http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/20603

There is a Doom Legacy movie going around as well. The legacy video (97mb) is one of two videos shown at E3 but isn't the 11minute Doom III video playing at the E3 booth.

fileshack dallas server
or
http://www.fileplanet.com/index.asp?file=88339

CNN's got the same 4 pics I've been seeing everywhere else:
http://money.cnn.com/news/specials/e3/doom1_frame.html

Apparently GameSpot has all of the goodies but I'm not paying those bitches to see 1 more screenshot ;)

My money, as always, is on id rather than epic games.
   
Inquirer: Matrox Parhelia 4X AGP or 8X AGP 5/23/2002
   So what kind of interface does this chip really support? We could speculate that this very well formed marketing quote that the chip supports up to AGP 8X bandwidth means the first chip will use AGP 4X and after a while it will support AGP 8X, or perhaps it will simply have two versions of the chips and cards.

Cards should be available sometime in late June or early July but this seems a trifle overoptimistic to us. Anyway we would be delighted to discover once we get a card whether Matrox owns the performance crown for a week or two until the NV30 and the R300 chips slip out of their purdah.

The big question is which one will be the fastest to get their cards into shops – or as Heathrow Airport calls them "retail facilities".

Full Article:
http://www.theinquirer.net/22050214.htm
   
How Intel "treats" journalists Part Deux 5/23/2002
   "Our source at Intel has now revealed the entire text of a very contentious internal email, about journalists, in full.
Here's one from Dan Francisco, who we have reason to believe still works for the corporation. He is a senior PR executive – or was – when he penned the below.

How can any journalist ever, ever trust Intel again, given the below, we ask.

We note that Intel has yet to tender any kind of apology at all for this. Under the UK Data Protection Act, we are allowed to ask Intel for every piece of paper and electronic communication it has ever made that mentions yours truly. We intend to do so."

Intel makes Tom Pabst look like a nice guy.. :/

Full Article:
http://www.theinquirer.net/23050201.htm
   
How Intel Subverts Journalists 5/23/2002
   "A Mike Magee article, published late yesterday, offers a public glimpse at what is common knowledge among journalists: Intel manipulates and subverts the media.

In the article, Magee exposes two internal Intel memos that discuss how the chipmaker works to get journalists "into line" by using a "tough love approach." In the first of the two Intel notes, the subject is the effectiveness of these strategies on various journalists.

It's really a juggling act. We've had some luck (ie, Mark Hachman, EBN, and PC World editors) with tough love approach, telling them they'll get more access to us if they are more objective and less sensational/negative in their articles.

The trick is actually not giving them the "special" access after we go down that path.

In the case of Magee, his reporting doesn't indicate that he values the exec access and the efforts to build a stronger relationship. Hachman was the same way when we started working with him. There is no value for the special access until it stops and is given to someone else. Then they realize the benefits of "working with us." Hachman's writing has come full circle.

Mark Hachman works for ExtremeTech and is the author of the recent AMD Thoroughbred news article that we criticized for disclosing NDA material sent to that organization. [You can read ExtremeTech's Editor-in-Chief's statements to us regarding this article as well as our responses in a thread on our message board.]

Intel's control of "special access," simultaneously a carrot and a stick, is a mechanism that we have discussed here many times before. The chip titan has often tried to influence VHJ's editorial direction by turning the spigot on review hardware and information. In fact, Intel even attempted to promote division in our site by secretly promising hardware to individuals officially representing VHJ (and encouraged them to freelance on other sites) on the condition that the material would not flow to this site."

Full Article:

http://www.vanshardware.com/articles/020521_Intel_Subverts/
   
AMD Athlon XP and 166MHz FSB: Why Not? 5/23/2002
   "Well, DDR333 memory is little by little becoming an industrial standard. There are pretty many chipsets for different platforms in the market already, which support this memory type. JEDEC approved the spec and many memory makers started mass production of DDR333 memory modules. This way the bandwidth of the mass DDR SDRAM has finally increased up to 2.7GB/sec.

However, is there any real need for DDR333? As our tests showed, using faster DDR333 makes sense for Pentium 4 platforms, providing a noticeable performance increase. And that is not surprising. Pentium 4 processor bus bandwidth makes 3.2GB/sec, which means that systems like that have the chance to involve the entire bandwidth of DDR333 memory. As for Athlon based systems, the situation is a bit different here.

The system bus frequency there has stopped at 266MHz, which means that the processor bus bandwidth is only 2.1GB/sec. We have already seen what comes out of it. The performance grows just a very tiny bit when we shift from DDR266 to faster DDR333.

However, we would like to remind you that EV6 processor bus used in Athlon systems was initially designed to be able to work at up to 400MHz. so theoretically, no one can prevent AMD from speeding up the Athlon CPU bus another time, up to 333MHz, for instance. In this case, the systems based on processors with faster bus will boast a significant performance increase as more data will be transferred between the processor and the memory.

Nevertheless, AMD doesn't seem to be so willing to increase the CPU bus frequency. Athlon XP processors with 266MHz bus will stay with it later on. Even the upcoming shift to finer 0.13micron manufacturing technology and Thoroughbred core will not change this state of things. All Athlon XP CPUs coming out at least this year will not get a faster bus anyway."

Full Article:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/cpu/athlonxp-166/
   
ATI Delays RV 250... again 5/23/2002
   "ATI TOLD US at the CeBIT conference earlier this year that it was about to introduce its RV250 mainstream part but it seems that ATI got the jitters because of its big chipset rollout and postponed its introduction.
Then it told us the RV250 would probably appear in April but now we're close to the end of May and it could as well be on Sirius 3.

The value cards, using the RV250, were possibly to be called the Radeon 8800 – and we know for a fact that the chip has taped out and the cards were just about ready even back in early March.

But this particular delay might be one of the great Marketing Mysteries of the 21st century.

Perhaps ATI might introduce the RV250 in tandem with the DirectX9 R300.

The RV250 is only supported by Direct X8.1 and this wouldn't do the ATI Radeon 7500 much good, locked as it is in a fight-to-the-death struggle with the Nvidia Geforce 4MX."

Full Article:
http://www.theinquirer.net/22050213.htm
   
Netscape 7 Preview Release 1 5/22/2002
   According to CNet:

The good: Fast, Mozilla-based browser; includes industrial-strength e-mail client; integrated, full-featured AIM client supports ICQ.
The bad: Won't work with Mozilla installed on the same machine; still missing minor fixes, such as the ability to reject cookies from inside an e-mail message.
The bottom line: If Preview Release 1 is any indication, Netscape 7 will be the best non-Microsoft browser around--and may be the best browser, period.

Rating 7/10

Full Article:
http://www.cnet.com/software/0-3227883-8-9916554-1.html?tag=ld

PCWorld Article:
http://www.pcworld.com/resource/printable/article/0,aid,100564,00.asp

Netscape Link / Download
http://channels.netscape.com/ns/browsers/7/default.jsp
   
Sun Releases Major Software Upgrade 5/22/2002
   "Sun Microsystems Inc. debuted on Wednesday its biggest software upgrade in years, a new version of its flagship Solaris operating systems, which the computer maker is trying to integrate with popular upstart Linux.

Aiming to simplify networks choked by many layers of software, Sun has incorporated security and management features that are usually separate programs into the operating system, the software which sits between applications and the machine, it said.

The roughly 300 new features of Solaris version 9 would help networks run with less intervention from administrators, a key to Sun's vision of the future and a potential cost savings for customers. It would also provide most users with a handful of "killer" improvements, said IDC analyst Al Gillen."

Full Article:
http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=technologynews&StoryID=993244
   
Intel Celeron 1.4ghz at .13micron (Socket 370) 5/22/2002
   Akiba PC Watch!

Our non-english website friends in the land of the rising sun seem to have found an Intel Celeron 1.4ghz Processor touting the .13 micron label and using a socket of the 370 variety.

Check out all of the info and pictures:
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/akiba/hotline/20020525/cel14ghz.html
   
Teachers claim Web sites offer students easy cheating chance 5/22/2002
   Here's a solution... let's just turn off the Internet. We can do that right??

"Plagiarism has always existed, some say since the birth of formal education. But the Internet has made the temptation to steal words much harder to resist.

Faculty members say some students create entire papers using a patchwork of paragraphs from different sources without giving the original author credit for the words or ideas.

Some students cut corners with research papers because they feel the pressure to earn top grades; other students do it to keep up with their classmates.

Still others do not see the crime in lifting a few lines of someone else's work.

In a 2000-01 survey, more than half of 4,500 high school students said they had used sentences from Internet sources without citing them, according to Rutgers University professor Donald McCabe. Of those students, about a third said they cheated because they "didn't study" or they were "lazy."

Whatever the motivation, if students are plagiarizing they are not learning, said Dimitri Keriotis, an English professor at Modesto Junior College in California.

"I hate to feel that I'm a writing cop, but at the same time, the student (who plagiarizes) should not be graded equally as someone who has done original work," he said.

Faculty members now have access to anti-plagiarism technology that they hope will deter students from taking the risk - a risk that could result in failing grades, or, in extreme cases, expulsion."

Full Article:
http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/408408p-3256855c.html
   
Indiana State will never be a top 10 College because: 5/22/2002
   "TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (May 21, 2002 6:25 p.m. EDT) - Indiana State University accidentally posted personal information about 10,000 of its students - including names and Social Security numbers - on the Internet for two weeks.

The information was available from April 30 to May 14 about ISU students enrolled in the 1996-97 school year, university spokeswoman Teresa Exline said.

Officials removed the information once they learned about the situation, and Exline said the university was in the process of notifying those students

"This is not a hacking incident. No one broke into our security," Exline said. "This is an incident that involves inadvertent exposure."

The university said the posting was an accident and no one will be disciplined, but it is reviewing procedures to make sure the problem does not occur again."

Full Article:
http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/408966p-3260107c.html
   
P4 Price Cuts Friday? 5/22/2002
   Intel may be readying price cuts for this Friday and then again closer to AMD's June 10th launch of it's new processor lineup.

"Trading volumes on the CPU spot market are low, as system builders wait for their new Intel price lists, according to the channel checkers at Boston investment bank Fechtor Detwiler. Expect price cuts on Friday and in the order of 10-20 per cent on 1.7 P4s and above, they say.

Intel’s last big round of desktop P4 price cuts was in April – by the end of Q2, some parts will be almost 60 per cent cheaper than they were at the beginning of the year."

Full Article:
http://theregister.co.uk/content/3/25376.html
   
Intel on Mike Magee 5/22/2002
   It seems like the boys at Intel have been having some choice words about Mike Magee as of late. I doubt this was anything that Mike didn't know.. you better be careful or you might find Mike infiltrating you as well *gasp*

"In the case of Magee, his reporting doesn't indicate that he values the exec access and the efforts to build a stronger relationship. Hachman was the same way when we started working with him. There is no value for the special access until it stops and is given to someone else. Then they realize the benefits of "working with us." Hachman's writing has come full circle.

"And following this last IDF and his ridiculous coverage, I'd be hard-pressed to lobby for Magee to come to future IDFs, especially on Intel's dollar."

Leaked Email:
http://www.theinquirer.net/21050201.htm

TheInquirer Mocks Back:
http://www.theinquirer.net/22050202.htm
   
Sony's Expensive Copyright Protection Hacked 5/22/2002
   I know that some of you really get up in arms about this sort of thing. You will be glad to know that Sony spent a lot of money making a protection scheme that can easily be circumvented with a felt-tip marker.

Go figure it out at CNN via Routers.
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/bc.media.cd.piracy.reut.reut/
   
Gaming Edition 5/22/2002
   I realize that some of you might not be into games... if that describes you feel free to skip over this.

Gamespy seems to have struck a deal with Satan id Software to get some exclusive peaks into the upcoming Doom III. They will be releasing their material on Wednesday, May 22nd so feel free to get all the info here:

http://gamespy.com/e32002/pc/doom3/

And if you are annoyed by ads or by paying for things that you shouldn't have to then I suggest you stay away from Gamespot. See those thousands of little red "lock" icons those mean that you have to pay to read them. Come on guys, you're telling me that the companies that sponsor those endless Flash ads aren't paying for them? :P charge them, not us.

Be way of: http://www.gamespot.com

If you're into Zelda take a gander at what they're going to be doing to it for the GameBoy Advance:

(Hint: Multiplayer Madness)
http://www.planetgamecube.com/previews.cfm?action=profile&id=179

Then check out its big brother for the GameCube:
http://www.planetgamecube.com/previews.cfm?action=profile&id=10

I heard someone say Metroid? Well, that will be coming in two flavors:

Metroid Fusion:
http://www.planetgamecube.com/previews.cfm?action=profile&id=45
http://www.gameforms.com/games/gba/metroidf/media

and

Metroid Prime which will be shown at E3 soon.

Capcom is doing the Resident Evil thing.
So far Resident Evil 2 and 3 are scheduled for 2002 release exclusively for the GameCube and there is a Residen Evil 0 in the works:
http://www.gameforms.com/news/0205/20/re0.html

The XBox goes online (who cares) and also claims sole ownership of Ninja Gaiden:
http://www.gameforms.com/news/0205/20/ninjagaiden.html

If you have been living in a cave you might not have noticed that Final Fantasy XI has gone live in Japan and has been causing all sorts of mischief to Square's servers... I guess they can make a rendering farm for their movies but not a gaming farm for Final Fantasy XI *rolls eyes*

More gaming info as it unfolds tomorrow.
   
AMD K8-based chipsets ready -- expected at Computex 5/21/2002
   Although new processors from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) based on the 8th generation (K8) core will not hit the market until the fourth quarter, Taiwanese chipset designers VIA Technologies and Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS) already have several products ready. Related motherboards will be showcased at the Computex Taipei exhibition in early June.

Full Article:
http://digitimes.com/Article.asp?datePublish=2002/&seq=2
   
Intel's New DDR Chipsets - 845E & 845G 5/21/2002
   "Now that the Pentium 4 is finally an attractive CPU, it's definitely a good thing that there are a multitude of high-performing chipset offerings that can harness the power of the CPU. Here are our thoughts on how the Pentium 4 chipset market stacks up:

- The 850E with PC1066 RDRAM is still the highest performing solution for the Pentium 4; however the performance advantage isn't too incredibly significant (generally under 10%). This keeps the 850E from being the most economical solution for the Pentium 4 but it is the best performing.

- The 845E and the SiS 645 are the two poorest performing chipsets on average although they are much more available than the two new DDR solutions (845G/P4X333). It's simply a case of out with the old and in with the new.

- The 845G and P4X333 are the highest performing DDR chipsets for the Pentium 4. The two solutions perform very close to one another however the 845G wins out because of the fact that you'll find it in more motherboards than the P4X333, unless VIA can surprise us with a tier 1 motherboard manufacturer. Since the P4X333 does not have any integrated graphics the price of P4X333 boards should be noticeably lower than 845G boards but given that the 845G GMCH is manufactured on a 0.18-micron process the integrated graphics shouldn't add too much to the price of the chipset.

The fact that the 845E/G support USB 2 with the new ICH4 means quite a bit for consumers since USB 2 support will soon become "free" on motherboards much like USB 1.1 support is currently (USB 1.1 costs the motherboard manufacturers virtually nothing to implement). It is interesting to note that Intel has not introduced AGP 8X support with either of the new chipsets meaning that we should expect another release from Intel closer to this fall (possibly at IDF?) with full AGP 8X support. It would make sense for Intel to introduce AGP 8X in the high end, potentially in a 850E successor with ICH4 so that they may boast taking full advantage of the many AGP 8X cards coming out later this year."

Full Review:
http://anandtech.com/chipsets/showdoc.html?i=1624
   
Doom III Fiasco 5/21/2002
   Amazon.co.uk is currently selling Doom III for the PC for a mere £29.95 and touts the release date as the 29th of November, 2002.

You can see the product here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/detail/videogames/3195015

However, at the E3 Expo you can clearly see that id isn't planning to release the title until 2003.

http://www.homelanfed.com/images/jcal/e3b1.JPG

Does Amazon know something that we don't? Obviously not since they also have advertized: Quake IV (6 December, 2002)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/store/detail/videogames/6784090
   
How to Select the Right Case 5/21/2002
   "As you can see, there are a lot more factors to consider in the purchase of a case than just "does all of my stuff fit into the case?" Of course, even after reading this article you may still have many questions about your next case purchase.

It is obvious to us that purchasing a case based just on it's looks can cause you problems down the road. With the ever-increasing popularity of case modding, case manufactures are going to be forced to come up with even better and more advanced case designs that cater the wishes of the buying public.

In this article, we have touched on most of the important factors, but there are still many others that could influence your buying decision."

http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/02q2/020521/index.html
   
Case Reviews 5/21/2002
  
Xoxide Midnight Wind Modded Case Review
http://www.gamingin3d.com/reviews/xoxid/




Cooler Master ATC-410 Aluminum Server Case Review
http://www.systemcooling.com/News&file=article&sid=18

Another great looking case from CoolerMaster the ATC-410 is definitely an eye catcher.



Xoxide Enlight Breeze Pre-modded Case Review
http://www.onepc.net/index.php?view=docs&doc_id=128&page=1





Skyhawk MSR4620EP(F) Aluminum Mini Server Case Review
http://amdmb.com/article-display.php?ArticleID=181
   
Dual Opteron pictures up 5/20/2002
   "I had to phone through a previous story on AMD's Hammer presentation earlier this week and so wasn't able to post the photographs I took – that's remedied now we're back here in Blighty.
The dual Opteron system photographed below - and capable of pretty good magnification when you check the full size pic out - was running Windows .NET 64, connected to a Clawhammer system, as we reported earlier.

Mark Tellez, AMD's server and workstation manager, also showed me a picture of the Opteron – unfortunately this one was more than a little out of focus but it's worth noting that although you can't see it on the photograph, it's got the word Opteron printed on top of the CPU.

As for the pictures of the Opterons – I asked the technical guy who was looking after the show why the case they were in was so large – was it because dual Opterons needed special cooling? He said no – in fact this was just a test rig case AMD used for demonstrations, and the Opterons required no special cooling."

Full Article and Pictures:
http://www.theinquirer.net/18050202.htm
   
Rumored nVIDIA NV30 Specs 5/20/2002
   nVIDIA's new video card line that will replace the GeForce 4 Titanium series is rumored to have these specifications:

73 million transistors;
0.13micron manufacturing technology;
450MHz chip clock frequency;
External T&L unit and TT&L unit (True Time and Lighting) implemented in a companion chip (supposedly working at 450MHz);
8 rendering pipelines (about the same amount of pipelines is expected to be implemented in ATI R300);
4 TMUs per pipeline capable of laying up to 8 textures in a single pass (loopback);
4 Vertex Shaders units;
2 Pixel Shaders units;
256bit memory access;
Up to 750MHz DDR memory working frequency;
370MHz RAMDAC;
Quad cache for vertex, primitive and pixel textures;
Dual (dounble-level, like Hyper-Z?) Z-Buffer for better lossless data compression;
12nvx – new anisotropic filtering mode (12x4=48, 48 texture samples?);
NVAutoShaper prediction unit also responsible for preliminary saving of data samples in caches, which allows operating the data location manually;
NvBlur: API Glide compatibility;
DirectX9.x compatible;
OpenGL 2.0 support.
   
Intel Celeron 1.7ghz Selling in Mass? 5/20/2002
   "Only two days have passed since the launching of Intel Celeron 1.7GHz on 0.18micron Willamette core, as they started selling in some Japanese retail stores in mass quantities. Note that these are all boxed CPUs.

As usual, PGA478 processors from Intel have a very funny-looking package: in the box you can find a small CPU lying next to an immense cooler :) However, this will never harm the popularity of Celeron (Willamette-128). If the prices of the CPU do not grow (it is now selling in Japan for $89-$102 retail price, and for $83 in 1,000-unit quantities), it will undoubtedly find its customers. I believe that the new Celeron (Willamette-128) processor will be a really great match to the SiS650GL, i845GL and SiS645 chipsets.

By the way, let me remind you that these CPUs will not live a long life (see this news story), they should be replaced fully with 0.13micron Celeron (Northwood-256) by Q2 2003 already."

Full Article:
http://xbitlabs.com/news/story.html?id=1021807397
   
ExtremeTech: Breaks AMD NDA 5/20/2002
   If you did not catch the below article at: http://www.extremetech.com/article/0,3396,s=201&a=27057,00.asp I suggest you do so.

There has been quite a hot forum discussion going over at Van's Hardware regarding ExtremeTech's diregard for AMD's Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA).

"... but ExtremeTech did not break AMD's nondisclosure agreement. ExtremeTech has both analysis and news sections. The analysts sign NDAs and keep their business entirely private from our reporter. This structure is common to many technical publications, such as InfoWorld and eWeek.

The technology companies we deal with know this. They understand that reporters are not bound by NDAs, and they also understand that reporters who snoop internally to get stories will be terminated immediately. The reporters know this, too, and we've done so on a couple of occasions in which reporters have crossed the line.

But when a reporter gets a story by any external means, it's fair game. In that case, our first obligation is to our readers. In this particular case, Mark Hachman called AMD to verify what he had learned, and the company substantially confirmed that it was true (not an email hoax or bogus information)."

Bill Machrone
Editor-in-Chief
ExtremeTech

This comes as no surprise really considering ExtremeTech has fallen on hard financial times and will sell their children to keep the site going.

Van's Forum Discussion Found Here:
http://www.flickerdown.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=2402
   
ExtremeTech: Throughbred on June 10th 5/20/2002
   "Advanced Micro Devices will launch the desktop version of its "Thoroughbred" Athlon XP microprocessor on June 10, according to an email from the company forwarded by an anonymous source.
AMD, Sunnyvale, Calif., will launch a "2200+" (1.8-GHz) version of the Thoroughbred on that date, although 1700+ to 2100+ (1.47-GHz to 1.73-GHz) models will also eventually transition to the Thoroughbred core, the email said.

While the Thoroughbred core does not offer any additional features compared to the Athlon XP, it represents a process shrink from 0.18-micron to 0.13-micron, allowing AMD to push future clock speeds even higher. But the clock speed of the first Thoroughbred also seems to indicate that AMD will not be able to release a 2200+ version of its current "Palomino" Athlon XP core, leading some observers to assume the manufacturing process has run out of steam."

Full Article:
http://www.extremetech.com/article/0,3396,s=201&a=27057,00.asp
   
Nvidia to make MX family DX8 compatible 5/20/2002
   "Graphics chip giant Nvidia is already working on its NV18 and will time its introduction to hit ATI with its RV250, which is being deliberately postponed for maximum impact, the INQUIRER has learned.
Here's some background to this. We've asked Nvidia quite a few questions about Geforce 4MX support and future support for some important up-and-coming games.

NV17, we suggested, should be a DirectX 8 part because quite a few of these games will require that kind of support for a good end user experience.

One senior Nvidia executive told us that we can expect the nextgen MX products to be DirectX8 compatible."

Full Article:
http://www.theinquirer.net/20050211.htm
   
Hammer the focus of Computex interest 5/20/2002
   THE CHINESE VERSION of Digitimes is reporting that Asus, MSI and Gigabyte will show off K8 motherboards at this year's Computex show in Taipei, according to a translation at OC Workbench.
This report confirms recent roadmaps seen by the INQUIRER which show that both SIS and Via are well ahead with plans to introduce their chipsets for the Hammer/Opteron platforms.

The report claims that the first Clawhammer/Athlon will be a 2GHz (3400+) model, rising to 4000+ in the first quarter of next year.

Full Article:
http://www.theinquirer.net/20050208.htm
   
3DLabs WildCat III Workstation Video Card 5/20/2002
   The Wildcat boards are available in two flavours, The Wildcat III 6110 and Wildcat III 6210. Apart from the various connectors available on the back-panel the main difference between the two options is down to the memory configurations available.


"Here’s a few of the key specifications of Wildcat III:

-Complete Hardware support for OpenGL 1.3
-Multiple T&L Engines
-Volumetric Texture Support
-SuperScene Antialiasing
-Dual Pipeline configuration
-400 Million Trilinear Filtered Pixels per clock

At the release for Wildcat III 3Dlabs outlined the key areas of performance that were increased from the Wildcat II boards, which are as follows:

-Up to 65% increase in T&L Geometry performance
-2X improvement in line/polygon rendering performance
-Improved anti-aliasing performance from dual setup units

Full Review:
http://www.beyond3d.com/articles/wildcatiii/
   
Check Out this Mod 5/20/2002
   This is hands down the best thing you can do to make your PC more interesting. Believe me and click below!

Link:
htpp://doc.ic.ac.uk/theory/futuristic/casemods/
   
Swedish Case Mods Done Right 5/20/2002
  

This is a mix of a ©Box I and II. The interior layout is like the II but with a smaller 1U power supply and the CD rotated 90 degrees, while the exterior looks a bit like the original ©Box standing on side, and with a new air intake in front.




Features:

It can hold a standard ATX (not extended) motherboard
One CD drive (slot-in behind the fins)
One HDD (later 2 HDD's)
1U power supply or modified std ATX
3x40 mm fans for PS/CD area
2x60 mm fans for MB area + 1x80 bottom fan (extra intake)
Measures approx. 340x300x230 (HxDxW)
Right now, there are two 60 mm 12 V fans running at 6 V on the backplane, and one 80 mm temp controlled fan in front of the PS. The PS is a standard ATX with the housing removed, and located just next to the motherboard.

And with rubber decoupled HDD, this one is almost silent.

Link:
http://home.worldonline.se/cybert/
   
Newest Microsoft IE patch flawed 5/20/2002
   "A new patch designed to address six serious security vulnerabilities in Microsoft's Internet Explorer doesn't fix all the problems it purports to, according to security researchers.

The patch, which was released late last Wednesday, is designed to fix a cross-site scripting problem and other security and privacy flaws affecting Internet Explorer (IE) versions 5.01 through 6 and the Outlook e-mail client. However, the patch only fixes the cross-site scripting issue on one of the listed browsers and fails to address a second vulnerability altogether, according to two security researchers who sent e-mail to the Bugtraq security e-mail list after the patch's release.

According to Microsoft's explanation of the issues, the first flaw can only be exploited when a user clicks on an HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) link on a Web page or in an e-mail message. That's not true, as code embedded in an HTML file can automatically execute, according to both Thor Larholm, a security researcher who has discovered a number of Microsoft vulnerabilities and maintains a list of unpatched IE holes online, and the Israeli security group GreyMagic Software, which has also discovered a number of browser vulnerabilities. As a result, users can unwittingly launch malicious code simply by opening an infected e-mail message."

Full Article:
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/05/20/ie.patch.flawed.idg/index.html
   
100 GB Optical Drive 5/20/2002
   "The National Science Council (NSC) said Sunday that a local research team has successfully developed a new optical disc that can hold more than 100 gigabytes of information.

The research team was led by professor Tsai Ding-ping of National Taiwan University. The new disc can store 150 CDs of favorite songs or an equivalent of 20 DVDs, Tsai said.

By using "near-field" optical technology, the 100-gigabyte disc stores more than any other similar product in the world. The super-sized disc will be used at home to store large movie or music files, according to Tsai.

The near-field optical technology also allows the bits of information on a disc to be spaced closer together to increase the disc's storage capacity."

Full Article:
http://www.taiwanheadlines.gov.tw/20020520/20020520b5.html
   
Nintendo Cuts Gamecube to $150 USD 5/20/2002
   REDMOND, WA -- May 20, 2002 Less than one year after successfully launching NINTENDO GAMECUBE™ at a mass-market price, Nintendo of America Inc. is dropping the MSRP to $149.95, effective Tuesday, May 21, 2002. To date, Nintendo has shipped more than 4.5 million systems worldwide and its hit title, Super Smash Bros. ™ Melee, has topped the 2.5 million mark.

Today's announcement comes as the $27 billion interactive entertainment industry gathers in Los Angeles for the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) to preview the latest and greatest games coming out this holiday.

"It's simple, really: Nintendo is committed to offering our players the best games and the best price," says Peter MacDougall, executive vice president, sales and marketing, Nintendo of America Inc. "We were the first manufacturer to reach the $199 price level and now we?re leading the industry to $149 allowing even more players around the world to get their hands on our legendary favorites like Mario, Zelda, Star Fox and Metroid this year."


Full Article:
http://nintendo.com/news/news_articles.jsp?articleID=6727
   
Tiny IBM transistor beats silicon 5/20/2002
   IBM said it used a carbon nanotube — a tiny cylindrical structure made up of carbon atoms that is about 100,000 times thinner than a human hair — to make a transistor similar to today’s silicon-based electronic switches, or transistors.

The carbon nanotube transistor outperformed the fastest silicon transistor, IBM said, giving the company’s research division confidence that commercial microchips could one day be made out of carbon nanotube transistors.

When IBM first said last year it had made a tiny transistor based on nanotubes, it couldn’t show that a nanotube transistor could carry more than twice the electric current of a silicon transistor.

“The small (size) is of course very important, but it is a little bit overhyped. It is really the performance we are after,” said Phaedon Avouris, manager of nanoscience and nanotechnology for IBM Research.

Full Article:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/754741.asp?0dm=N12IT&cp1=1
   
2600's DMCA Challenge Blocked 5/20/2002
   On Thursday, a federal appeals court unceremoniously rejected the latest attempt by 2600 magazine to fight the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals said in a one-line ruling that it was not going to revisit an earlier decision in which 2600 was found to be unlawfully distributing a DVD-descrambling utility.

In January 2000, eight movie studios sued the legendary hacker quarterly for posting the DeCSS.exe utility, which decodes DVDs and allows them to be viewed on a Linux computer.

Any such utility, the studios successfully argued before U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, violated the DMCA -- which broadly prohibits anyone from distributing software designed to circumvent copy protection. Kaplan agreed. So did a three-judge panel from the Second Circuit, and now a majority of the entire appeals court has tacitly endorsed the earlier ruling.

That leaves 2600's editors, and their lawyers at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, in an uncomfortably tight spot. Their only option is to seek certiorari before the U.S. Supreme Court, but their odds of prevailing might be better if they wait until public opinion -- driven by copy-protected CDs, for instance -- is more on their side.

"We're disappointed that they didn't seek en banc review," says EFF legal director Cindy Cohn. "We'll make a decision shortly about seeking Supreme Court review."

Under Supreme Court rules, 2600 will have approximately 90 days to file a petition seeking a hearing. Most petitions for certiorari are denied.

Full Article:
http://wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,52609,00.html
   
Linksys: WAP54A 5/20/2002
   The Instant Wireless™ Wireless Access Point’s highpowered antenna offers a range of operation of up to 328 feet indoors, providing seamless roaming throughout your wireless LAN infrastructure; an advanced user authentication feature ensures a high level of network security. The Instant Wireless™ Wireless Access Point is easy to install (just plug it in and you’re ready to go!) and easy to use. With Internet browserbased diagnostics and statistic tools, you’re always in control.

- Interoperable with other 802.11a wireless equipment
- Up to 72Mbps turbo mode (with Linksys WPC54 only
- Operation in the uncrowded 5 GHz band

Product Page
http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?grid=22&prid=428
   
The Wired Top Twenty Sci-Fi Movies 5/20/2002
   THE WIRED SCI-FI TOP 20
Futureplex
1. Blade Runner
2. Gattaca
3. The Matrix
4. 2001: A Space Odyssey
5. Brazil
6. A Clockwork Orange
7. Alien
8. The Boys From Brazil
9. Jurassic Park
10. Star Wars
11. The Road Warrior
12. Tron
13. The Terminator
14. Sleeper
15. Soylent Green
16. RoboCop
17. Planet Of The Apes
18. The Day The Earth Stood Still
19. Akira
20. Barbarella

Full Article:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.06/scifi.html
   
China Sets Sights on the Moon 5/20/2002
   China says it is planning to establish a base on the Moon to exploit its mineral resources.

"Our long-term goal is to set up a base on the moon and mine its riches for the benefit of humanity," Chinese space official Ouyang Ziyuan

Beijing has not yet put a human into space, but scientists say they expect to do so within three years and they have outlined an ambitious programme for the future.

A chief scientist with China's Moon exploration programme, Ouyang Ziyuan, said that the country was planning to launch its first mission to the Moon in 2010.

Full Article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/english/tech/china.moon/
   
Slashdot.org - News Roundup 5/20/2002
   Console Pricing Economics
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/05/20/1424218&mode=thread&tid=127

Intel v. Hamidi
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/05/20/0044213&mode=thread&tid=123

Episode II Surpasses $116 Million at Box Office
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/05/20/1411250&mode=thread&tid=101

Fluorescent Lights Magically Activates iMac?
http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/05/17/2233235&mode=thread&tid=107

Finding the Truth Behind Cable Modem Traffic Bursts?
http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/05/17/2242200&mode=thread&tid=95

The Universe in 4 Lines of Code?
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/05/18/2242232&mode=thread&tid=134
   
Site News: Server Info 5/20/2002
   As some of you might have noticed the server has been down since Friday for some maintenance. Everything is back to normal now and we shouldn't be doing any major server work again for quite a while.

ES
   
$20 Dollar Bill and the World Trade Center? 5/17/2002
   It seems like some people have way too much time on their hands.

Check out the link below to see how the World Trade Center is "hidden" in every $20 dollar bill.

http://www.allbrevard.net/
   
Judge orders VeriSign to stop ad campaign 5/17/2002
   " A U.S. court on Tuesday ordered Internet naming giant VeriSign Inc. to immediately cease a direct-mail campaign that used what a rival called deceptive advertising to poach its customers.

Domain-name seller BulkRegister sued VeriSign in Baltimore on Monday, saying the company sent thousands of "renewal notices" to BulkRegister customers that sought to trick them into unwittingly transferring their accounts to VeriSign.

In a preliminary hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Frederic N. Smalkin agreed with BulkRegister, saying that VeriSign likely engaged in deceptive behavior."

Full Article:
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/domains.reut/
   
J-E-L-L-O 5/17/2002
   It seems that Jello has more practical uses than previously thought. How about to fool fingerprint scanners?

"A Japanese researcher presented a study on Tuesday at the International Telecommunications Union's Workshop on Security in Seoul, Korea, showing that fingerprint readers can be fooled 80 percent of the time by a fake finger created with gelatin sporting prints lifted from a glass, for example."

Full Article:
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-915580.html?tag=fd_top
   
AMD .13 Info Leaked? 5/17/2002
   "We managed to get hold of the AMD processor OPN tables for the month of May. OPN, Ordering Part Number, stands for the marking of the AMD processors available for ordering via the distributor network. Besides the processor marking, the OPN tables list their major specifications, such as: core clock frequency, bus frequency, Vcore, core type and packaging type. This way, if you take a closer look at the data in an OPN table, you will be able to get highly detailed info about the already shipping and upcoming CPUs from AMD."

Click the link to see the image with all of the information.

Full Article:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/story.html?id=1021532695
   
Age of Nvidia 5/17/2002
   If you are interested in the history of nVIDIA then you should check out this two part article over at Salon.

"Keep the gamers happy, and the world is yours: How one 3-D graphics company shrugged off a recession and vanquished every foe."

Part 1:
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/05/15/nvidia1/

Part 2:
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/05/16/nvidia2/
   
MS Hotmail Sells You to Spammers 5/17/2002
   Microsoft has gone ahead and checked preference boxes for you in your Hotmail account so that your account will:

"Share my e-mail address.
Share my first and last names.
Share my other registration information."

They have gone ahead and rechecked several of these boxes for you whether or not you personally wanted to keep this information private. Why do they do this you ask? To sell your information to companies that give you so much wonderful spam. Way to go Microsoft... dicks.

Related Article:
http://www.eastsidejournal.com/sited/story/html/92308
   
48X CDRW Drives... 5/16/2002
   On the heels of a previous news post where we discussed the influx of 40X and 48X CDRW discs in the second half of year is an announcement by ASUS that they have released their 48X Write 16X Re-Write 48X Read CDRW Drive.

"Taipei, Taiwan, May 08, 2002 - World leading technology solution manufacturer, ASUSTeK Computer Inc., announced today the latest optical storage drive - the ASUS CRW-4816A, the first and only CD-RW drive that delivers 48X Write and 16X ReWrite to the market while others are limited to 48X Write and 12X ReWrite. The ASUS CRW-4816A 48X/16X/48X CD-RW drive incorporates innovative technologies, including ASUS FlextraLink?, FlextraSpeed?, DDSS II and CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) writing strategy to provide a seamless fusion of flexibility, high-quality recording and reliable operation."

Full Press Release:
http://www.asus.com.tw//inside/crw-4816a.htm
   
Microsoft Windows 3D Desktop 5/16/2002
   And while we're on the subject of new Microsoft research you should check out this link:

http://research.microsoft.com/ui/TaskGallery/index.htm

There you will find Microsoft's 3D Task Gallery which is very reminiscent of GameSpot's 3D Browser from a while back. I don't know about you guys but when people talk about 3-Dimensional interfaces I don't expect it to look like that.
   
Fake Windows LongHorn Videos 5/16/2002
   There have been some movies floating around on the net that claim to be Microsoft's next version of windows.

MSBetas.net is where these first started showing up. You can find the videos here:

http://msbetas.net/longhorn/

The LongHorn Beta is set to start in June of 2003, so don't hold your breath.
   
AMD demos Slegehammer running Windows.net 5/16/2002
   "AMD has been wooing system builders with a demo of a two-way Sledgehammer running a 64-bit windows .net OS.
Usually staid box shifters were spotted licking their lips at the sight of a pair of Opterons wired up to a single way Clawhammer in what we believe is the first public demo of a functioning 64-bit Windows.Net system. Here's what we think is the part number, for thos