Afternoon Tech Reading - tech
(hx) 09:10 PM CEST - May,14 2003
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- More details on "Advanced Optical Disc (AOD)" standard - This week
Toshiba and and NEC have produced more details about their blue-laser format,
called Advanced Optical Disc (AOD), a standard that could increase the minimum
capacity of a single-layer, single-sided read-only optical disc to about 15GB.
The current capacity of a comparable "red-laser" DVD disc is 4.7GB of data.
For dual-layer and dual-sided discs, AOD capacity borders on 40GB, reports
say. The technology works by using shorter wavelength blue-violet lasers to
read and write data on discs. The two firms
presented
details of the technology at the Optical Data Storage 2003 conference in
Vancouver, Canada.
- Microsoft Tries To Close the Lid on iLoo - The iLoo was to be built
with a high-speed Wi-Fi connection, a wireless keyboard, and an adjustable
flat-panel display at an appropriate height for seated browsers. It
seems Microsoft cannot flush away the iLoo controversy. After a press release
from MSN UK announced the launch of an Internet-enabled portable toilet to
debut in Britain this summer, Microsoft reversed itself and said the
announcement was a hoax.
Now
the software giant has reversed itself again, explaining that the
so-called "iLoo" was indeed a real project planned by its British MSN online
service. But after the idea was met with howls of derision, the company
decided to scuttle it.
- IBM shows off new mainframe computer code-named after dinosaur: T-Rex -
The system, officially
called the IBM eServer zSeries 990 but code-named T-Rex, is mainly
targeted at financial services and other industries that require security,
reliability and computing horsepower. System prices start at $1 million US.
But customers who only occasionally need such capabilities won't have to buy
their machine. IBM also is deploying z990s at its data centres as part of the
company's "on-demand" computing strategy.
- San Francisco court will decide on legality of DVD back-up software -
Tomorrow will be an important day since on this day a
federal court will
consider the legality of software (DVDXCopy and XPRESS) that enables users
to back-up DVD discs.
- AMD Opteron in the Army Now - Super Computer, Inc. (SCI)
will unveil
world's first AMD Opteron Processor-Based Cluster featuring U.S. Army's
"Americas Army Game" at the 2003 E3.
- Nvidia set to up GeForce FX 5600 speeds - Nvidia is preparing
to
boost the performance of its GeForce FX 5600 graphics chip. The GeForce FX
5600 Ultra core currently clocks at 350MHz, the same as its memory clock
frequency. However, both speeds will soon be raised to 400MHz, in the form of
the GeForce FX 5600 Ultra, the company said. The current Ultra has a memory
bandwidth of 11.2GBps. With the memory clock increase, that figure will rise
to 12.8GBps. Upping the core clock to 400MHz, should boost the part's fill
rate from 1.4 billion texels per second to 1.6 billion.
- Western Digital WD2500JB 250GB (7200RPM) Review -
The new WD2500JB is their latest and biggest drive for the performance
desktop PC. Spinning at 7200RPM, Western Digital has managed to squeeze as
much as 80GB of data into a single platter. The WD2500JB uses three of these
disk platters to make up the full 250GB of its capacity and it represents the
industry's biggest hard drive based on the 7200RPM spindle speed. For those
who constantly run out of hard drive storage space, the WD2500JB is truly the
only drive available today that will satisfy the hunger for more capacity.
- TwinMOS Dual Channel PC3200 Review - Viper's Lair has posted
a review of TwinMOS Dual Channel PC3200.
- Innovatek Innovaset 2 Liquid Cooling kit Review - As you can see
from the results, the Innovatek muscled out the competition in our testing.
The only place it could have done better was in the ambient tests while the
system was idle.
The system ran very quiet with the kit installed and that in itself is a
bonus in my eyes. In all, I was able to push my AMD Athlon XP 2600+ (2.1GHz)
all the way up to 2.45 GHz which is our best OC yet. I imagine someone with
better oc ing skills could push on for a bit better result. I should note, the
temps for under load (prime 95) hung around 113 degrees Fahrenheit while at
this speed.
- IOSS Bios Saviour Review - Ever flashed your BIOS before? If you
are anything like us its for sure you have done it at least once, if not
dozens of times, either because of CPU compatibility issues or just because
you want to keep up with the latest release from your motherboard manufacturer
in hope of getting some extra tweak-ability. Now what would happen if the
flashing process failed for any reason? You know this may happen to you, but
this time it happened to me, I was left alone in the cold with a corrupt BIOS
and no possible way of booting. While looking for a simple solution to my
problem I came across the RD1 BIOS Saviour from IOSS, its a sort of backup
device for your BIOS.
Read on to learn more about this product.
- Recording Vinyl records to mp3 or WAV - This article will show you
how to convert your vinyl collection to CD or mp3 format.
Nvidia Launches nZone -
nZoneThe (Flash req)
currently offers wallpapers, screensavers, videos, some game demos. Among the
videos is an interesting Doom III - Making (6minutes).
- PlexTools Professional v2.02 - Plextor Japan has released the
PlexTools Professional software on their website. They also offer an
Activating SecuViewer to allow you see the contents of SecuRec burned
discs without the PlexWriter Premium.
- DirectX 9.0 SDK v4.09.00.1058 July Beta1 -
This release contains new versions of the D3DX library (17th April -
v4.09.00.1058). The new features contained are support for shader model 2.0
with capability bits on, and new animation system updates. The support for
shader model 2 allows the High-Level Shader Language (HLSL) to enable flow
control via predication to reduce the amount of instructions needed to run
advanced shaders. For information on the what is supported in shader model
2.0, refer to the DirectX 9.0 SDK reference documentation. The animation
system adds functionality for looping, callback functions, event quering, and
more advanced animation cloning functionality. (thanks
Neowin.net)
- VIA Onboard Sound Driver v3.50c - For customers of the VIA Six-TRAC
(VT1616 Codec)
the VIA Stylus driver (relnotes)
integrates that latest Sensaura technology to realize a new level of audio
performance and functionality. Sensaura technology is designed to enhance the
industry standard Microsoft DirectSound3D API, allowing game players to
experience their games with high quality audio in three dimensions. For VIA
AC97 codecs incorporated into the VT8231,VT82C686A, VT82C686B, VT8233,
VT8233A, VT8233C, VT8235 and VT8237 southbridges.
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Updated:10:44 AM CEST Sep,20
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