Thursday Tech Reading - tech
(hx) 02:44 PM CEST - Sep,09 2004
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- Microsoft extends XP SP2 block to 12 April 2005 - Users have more
time to prepare for Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2).
Microsoft has doubled the time a special registry key will prevent PCs
from automatically downloading and installing the update. The company last
month made available a tool that allows users to set a Windows registry key
that instructs the system to skip downloading and installing SP2 for 120 days,
but still download other critical updates. Microsoft has now doubled that
period to 240 days. The blocking mechanism will now prevent Automatic Updates
and Windows Update from delivering SP2 to Windows computers until 12 April
2005.
- Sasser kid charged with computer sabotage - The self-confessed
author of the infamous Sasser worm has been charged with computer sabotage.
Sven Jaschan, 18, was arrested in the village of Waffensen near Rotenburg, in
northern Germany, in connection with writing and distributing the Sasser worm
back in May. He later confessed to police that he was both the author of
Sasser and the original author of the NetSky worm. The computer sabotage
charges, announced by prosecutors today, come as little surprise.
- Kazaa colleague sues RIAA - P2P company
Altnet has instigated legal action against the RIAA, claiming the music
trade body and other anti-piracy operatives have infringed its intellectual
property. Altnet is a joint venture of Brilliant Digital Entertainment and
Joltid, the P2P software company founded by Kazaa's creators after they sold
their original P2P offering to Sharman Networks. Sharman is currently being
sued by the Australian equivalent of the RIAA.
- Microsoft Puts Fingerprint Readers Into Hardware - Microsoft
on Wednesday unveiled
a new array of keyboard and mice, with some featuring built-in fingerprint
readers to make it easier for users to log on to personal computers and
Web sites. A keyboard, mouse and stand-alone fingerprint reader were added to
Microsoft's hardware lineup, which works with software to verify and switch
between users of its Windows operating system, as well as automatically enter
the identifications and passwords needed to log onto secure Web pages. Another
article with some pictures can be found at
Neowin.net.
- Satellite Pics Going Dark? -
Defense Tech reports the U.S. Gov't. is proposing to exempt satellite
images from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The proposed exemption has
already passed the Senate and awaits House/Senate conference committee this
month.
- Off-topic: Vampire robot developed -
MICRO
robot which kills flies and powers itself using their dead bodies, is
being developed by British boffins.
The EcoBot II, attracts flies by emitting a stench concocted from human
excrement. Once the fly shows up it is sucked into the digestion chambers of
the robot where a chemical found in the exo-skeleton will power the whole
thing. The new machine is being developed at the University of the West of
England (UWE) in Bristol according to a report published in the New Scientist.
The robot can so far operate for five days on just eight fat flies. Of course
it does not move much, every 12 minutes it gets enough energy to move an inch
and a half, but when you are that smelly it does not matter much.
- Microsoft Xbox sales triple in UK due to price-cut to 99 pounds -
Sales of Microsoft's Xbox console tripled in the UK in the week following
its price-cut to UKP 99, according to sources in the UK retail sector -
bringing weekly sales of the system up to around the 15,000 mark. The boost to
sales of the console is expected to continue through the coming months, as
Microsoft and its publishing partners roll out a strong software line-up for
the Xbox - which should find a more receptive audience among consumers thanks
to the lower price point.
- No PCI Express for Athlon 64 until 2005? -
AMD said
that PCI Express for its Athlon64 family will arrive in the first quarter of
next year.
That requires support from other manufacturers. The firm wouldn't say which
chipset partners were designing for it, but it's easy to guess Nvidia won't be
backwards in coming forward.
- Intel's Dual-Core Chips Debut -
Intel's plans to bring dual-core chips to its desktop, notebook, and
server processors in 2005 have been one of the central themes of this IDF, but
the company has not said very much at all about its plans for the Xeon and
Pentium 4 processors based on the Netburst architecture. Intel is eventually
expected to move away from the power-hungry Netburst architecture but it plans
to keep that architecture for the first dual-core desktop and server chips,
according to sources.
- Dual Core Processing: Over-simplified, demystified and explained -
The
benefit will come for users who multitask. As in a dual processor system
there is a second processor core to share the load either in balanced form or
by itself. If one processor is busy burning a DVD then the second is available
to, I don't know, bake bread. The point is there are now two pairs of
processor hands to execute multiple tasks simultaneously. For the home
enthusiast it mean less processor hiccups while playing DOOM III and, at the
same time, burning a DVD or listening to music.
- Panasonic 400Gb recorder burns 1 hour DVD-R in 56 seconds -
The DMR-E500H high-end model in the DIGA DVD recorder range, features a
built-in 400GB hard disk drive with a recording capacity of 709 hours of video
in EP mode. It offers high-speed dubbing from hard disk drive onto DVD-RAM at
speeds of 40x and onto DVD-R disc up to 64x in EP mode. This makes the
DMR-500H the fastest DVD recorder in the industry as it can record a one-hour
program onto DVD-R disc in just 56 seconds. (thanks
CDFreaks)
- S3 Graphics, Club 3D Bring Cost-Effective HDTV Multimedia Cards -
Club 3D OmniChrome S4 is based on S3 OmniChrome S4, a chip that is
sometimes referred as GammaChrome S4, clocked at 350MHz, is equipped with
128MB of 600MHz DDR memory, on-board 1216/1236ME TV tuner from Philips
Electronics along with HDTV VIVO capabilities. Retail package will include a
remote control and feature a software bundle that includes InterVideo’s latest
revisions of WinDVR, WinDVD and WinDVD Creator.
- AMD Athlon 64 3800 CPU review - Those of you who are out looking
for a new CPU
can't really go wrong with the 3800, it's top of the range, it's 64-Bit
ready for the upcoming 64-Bit version of Windows and performs superbly. The
only drawback is the price, but as with all new processors this is something
we have to live with but when you compare it to the top of the range Intel
equivalent the AMD one is still cheaper and if you go the Intel route now,
you'll want to update to a new processor once Windows 64-Bit edition comes out
so you could end up paying out for two chips in the space of a year.
- Crucial Ballistix 2x 512MB PC3200 (DDR400) Memory review -
Currently the Ballistix DDR line is only available in 512MB and 256MB
sizes. I hope that in the future, we can see some 1GB low-latency, high
performance memory from Crucial. Most people I know prefer to run one bank of
memory (unless they have dual channel) to help reduce the variables when
overclocking. We'll just have to wait and see where Crucial takes their
performance line.
- Shuttle SN95G5 is Athlon 64 (939) Interview - GamingGroove's Phil
"Cain" Hall has just put together
an
interview with the folks at Shuttle regarding their new gaming system,
targetted directly at hardcore gamers.
- Tyan's Thunder i7525 vs. Supermicro's X6DAE-G2 review -
GamePC take a look at at two of the first "Tumwater" E7525 Xeon platforms
which have hit the market. Neither are really targeted at consumers, but both
will certainly appeal to the high-end workstation markets with their wide
arrays of expansion slots, huge maximum memory capacities, and high-end
storage options. The two boards are Tyan's new Thunder i7525 and Supermicro's
X6DAE-G2 .
- NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT review -
THG's
comparison benchmarks show whether the card's graphics performance lives
up to its on-paper specifications.
- Asetek Antarctica vs Swiftech MCW6000 Water Blocks review -
It includes the water block itself (which has the mount for Socket
754/939/478), an additional mount for Socket A, all necessary mounting
hardware, a detailed instructions manual (for all platforms), about 2 feet of
Tub Clair tubing, some standard silicon paste, and a Y adaptor. It even comes
with extra stickers for more aesthetic appeal. Perhaps with these decals added
to your setup you'll gain faster performance out of your PC...
- OptoRite DD1205 12x DVD±RW review -
OptoRite's new DVD±RW drive performed pretty well in CDRLabs' DVD read
tests. While not the fastest drive to come through the 'Labs, the DD1205 read
single layer data and video DVD-ROM's at speeds near 12x and had some good
seek times. It also read DVD±R discs at an impressive 11.8x, but slowed to
about 8x when reading DVD±RW and DVD+R DL media.
- OCZ PowerStream 520W Power Supply Unit review - The performance of
the power supply was amazing. For idle measurements, we recorded the voltage
rails to be 3.33, 4.98, and 12.01. The stress on the system proved to have
little impact on the power supply's rails as we received some stable numbers
under these conditions - 2.99, 4.96, and 11.97.
The noise of the power supply, with two LED fans, is unnoticable. Of
course, the power supply wasn't as quiet as the Silverstone SST-30NF, but
since it is impossible to have a power supply with no fans at such high
wattage (520W), we can't exactly hold OCZ responsible for this. The noise of
the power supply, although not completely silent, will easily go unnoticed
with the GPU and CPU heatsink fans.
- Logitech MX1000 Laser Cordless Mouse - The mouse has another one of
my favorite features, a lithium-ion battery. Digital cameras and cell phones
have improved dramatically as a result of those little powerhouses, and the
mouse does too; it's able to run for 21 days straight without charge. I don't
want to buy batteries not even one every six months if I can help
it. Still, I hate rechargeable devices that die suddenly, another flaw of
earlier Logitech rechargeables.
The MX1000
has a three-bar battery indicator on its side that keeps me from
forgetting to charge it. Also, since it's lithium-ion, it can perform at full
strength on a mostly-drained battery.
- Printer: P915 Photo Printer/P6250 Photo All-In-One -
The P915 and P6250 are include features that render the digital photo printing
process quick and intuitive. The LCD display offers unparalleled help to
make users' lives easier. The 2.5in. colour LCD features: built-in video
instructions - a video demonstration visually walks the user through the steps
of replacing cartridges, while they are actually changing the cartridge; count
down timer - users are given an accurate print time via an on-screen timer
which counts down how long it will take to generate the photo; and print
preview - when using these products in standalone mode, the colour LCD
previews how the printed image will appear.
- D-Link AirPlus Xtreme G DI-624 review -
The D-Link
AirPlus Xtreme G Router is a 2.4GHz 802.11g wireless Broadband router with
robust firewall security features and four 10/100Mbps auto-sensing ports. It
enables users to securely share files, Internet access and peripherals with
multiple users and is easily setup and managed through a simple setup wizard
and a convenient web-based interface. The D-Link AirPlus Xtreme G DI-624
includes an embedded DHCP server that once enabled will automatically assign
IP addresses to wireless clients, allowing other computers to access the local
network and Internet seamlessly. The DI-624 has a high-performance
omni-directional detachable antenna as well as power and link status/activity
LEDs for at a glance diagnostics.
- Yepp YP-55I MP3 Player -
The Yepp has an interesting tube like design and is a little larger that a
cigarette lighter. The display and controls are very well laid out and has an
'intuitive' feel when you use it. What i mean is even with out the user manual
i was able to get the player to not only play MP3s, but also switch to the FM
radio, and even play with the equalizer. That's a good thing for all you 'read
the manual' haters. :) As for storage capacity the 55i can handle 192
megabytes of storage. That's good for around three hours of music, and the
battery life is good for up to 15 hours.
- VisionTek Xtreme2 USB 2.0 1GB GO drive -The
tiny GO DRIVE's come in memory sizes of 64MB all the way up to 1GB. USB
drives aren't really all that new to the market, and personally, have never
really been of much interest to me. This lack of interest was due to two main
factors, the small storage space of the early models (the ones I saw were
usually in the range of 16MB to 128MB) and the fact that I had a CD burner
drive. With 700MB of storage space on one CD, the measly 128MB amount found on
the USB drives just didn't compare. While I feel that my reasons were valid at
the time, with the introduction of USB 2.0 and larger drive sizes, the 1GB
VisionTek GO DRIVE really caught my eye.
- Installing WindowsXP and Service Pack 2 with 1 CD - Installing
WindowsXP and the recently released Service Pack 2 no longer requires separate
installations. Using a process called slipstreaming,
Microsoft allows users to burn CDs that combine a WindowsXP installation
CD and Service Pack 2.
- phpMyAdmin 2.6.0 RC2 -
phpMyAdmin can manage
a whole MySQL-server (needs a super-user) but also a single database. To
accomplish the latter you'll need a properly set up MySQL-user who can
read/write only the desired database.
- Paint Shop Pro 9.0 Final (demo) -
Paint Shop Pro
(download
trial) takes image editing to a new level of functionality and ease of
use. Designed for users who want control, power, and flexibility, Paint Shop
Pro delivers the tools you need to easily capture, create, enhance, and
optimize your graphics projects.
- Weather Watcher 5.5 -
Weather Watcher
(download ~
screenshot) will display current conditions, hourly forecast, daily
forecast, detailed forecast, severe weather alerts, and weather maps for
almost any city world-wide.
- Maxthon (formerly MyIE2) 1.0.0250 -
Maxthon (download)
is a powerful web browser with a highly customizable interface. It is based on
the Internet Explorer engine (your most likely current web browser) which
means that what works in IE, works the same in Maxthon but with many
additional efficient features.
- RightMark Memory Analyzer 3.4 -
RightMark Memory Analyzer
3.4, the universal CPU/Chipset/RAM experimental test suite has been
released! RightMark Memory Analyzer provides stable and accurate measurements
of the most important low-level characteristics of the CPU/Chipset/RAM
subsystem of your PC.
- DivX 5.2.1 & Dr.DivX 1.06 -
DivX (changelog
~ download win2k/xp
~ win9x/me) is a
package that includes all the DivX codec, player, utilities, and documentation
that you need to play DivX files. DivX codec is based on the MPEG-4
compression standard. This codec can reduce an MPEG-2 video (DVD format) to
ten percent of its original size.
- Codec Pack All in 1 6.0.1.9 -
A collection of codecs for playing DivX movies.
- Realtek ALC AC97 Audio Driver v3.63 - Realtek released a new
driver v3.62 for their ALC AC97 audio chipsets.
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Updated:12:47 AM CEST Jun,04
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