Evening Tech Reading - tech
(hx) 01:48 AM CEST - Jul,09 2002
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- First legal Linux program runs on Xbox -The first Linux
program to run legally on Xbox has been released, says the Xbox Linux Project. It is
not clear to us what the program, which was created without the Xbox SDK, actually does,
and just maybe all it does is put Tux on the Xbox screen, but still, it's progress.
- The Spy Inside Your Cell Phone - Every new technology gives birth to new
security and privacy fears. When mobile phones first started gaining popularity in the
late '80s and early '90s, it seemed anyone who could navigate a Radio Shack could put
together a little receiver to intercept random cell traffic from the air. Although
carriers have made it a little harder to do that today, the sense that some conversations
are better had in person, or over a wired line, has not disappeared.
- Bugs delay flagship MS phone - The Sendo Z100 has
been delayed again, with a spokesperson for Sendo citing integration issues as the
cause. The Z100 was originally slated to ship last autumn [Feb 01 prediction], then
delayed to first quarter of this year [Nov 01 prediction] - which we said here might be a
touch optimistic - was subsequently delayed to June [March 02 prediction].
- Redmond retirement ratchet spells doom for Win2k - Windows 2000 has
been given nine months to live, as far as OEMs are concerned, and Microsoft is
pressuring the PC companies to stop offering dual install Win2k/WinXP systems immediately.
- Riptech Releases Elite Hacker Profile - Internet managed security firm Riptech, Inc., has released volume II
of its Internet
Security Threat Report, showing that Internet attacks grew at an annualized rate of 64
percent in the period in the first six months of this year and provides what the
Alexandria, Va.-based company calls the "first insight into U.S. designated terrorist
states' cyber-attack volume and patterns."
- EBay Pays for PayPal - The Web's largest auction site pays $1.5
billion in a stock swap for the online paying system that most of its customers use.
- Mexican film star Katy Jurado has died at her home in Cuernavaca - Mexican film star Katy Jurado,
who also appeared in U.S. classics including "High Noon" and was the only
Mexican actress to ever garner an Oscar nomination, died on Friday in the central state of
Cuernavaca, family members said.
- Quake For the Blind - This weekend, a small company cofounded by
Spitzer is presenting its first product, an online video poker game, at the convention of
the National Federation of the Blind in Louisville, Ky. Spitzer says their game is the
first of its kind: a video game where the blind and fully sighted can compete on a level
playing field. The poker game, launched last month, is modest compared with popular
shoot-em-up thrillers. But Spitzer's Northampton-based company, called ZForm, has also
built a prototype of Quake, an intensely visual game where players cruise a maze
delivering mayhem. Spitzer, who subsists on rice and pasta, said he already considers the
tiny start-up venture to be a success.
- Cracking MS SQL Server passwords - The inner workings of the undocumented
pwdencrypt() hash function in Microsoft SQL Server have been revealed in a paper by
security researcher David Litchfield of Next Generation Security Software (NGSS).
pwdencrypt() creates the user's password hash, which is stored in the main database.
- Western Digital to ship 200GB drives in July - Western Digital's
new 200GB high-performance (7,200 rpm) EIDE drives will be available later this month. The
new WD Caviar 60 GB-per-platter 7,200 RPM hard drives will be offered in capacities
ranging from 120 to 200 GB and can optionally be equipped with fluid dynamic bearing (FDB)
motors for low-noise environments.
- Cornerstone c1035 Monitor Review - A lot of monitors will suffice for
just entering data into spreadsheets, or surfing the web. But, when its 3:30 AM after 4
hours of Medal of Honor and you need to snipe the loudmouthed kid from Texas halfway
across a German encampment, will your 15 inch, glary, distorted monitor cut it? Can your monitor
handle multiple windows open while you edit that all important spreadsheet you need to
finish for tommorow? Enter www.bigmonitors.com (also known as Cornerstone Peripherals
Technology). A small monitor simply will not cut it when you need to have an edge, in the
business world, and the consumer world, and this company knows that.
- ATI's Radeon 8500DV vs. NVIDIA's Personal Cinema - For
the first time in a while, NVIDIA has a lot of catching up to do. ATI has a head start of
several years. ATI has a pretty good product in the DV graphics card arena, their Radeon
8500DV. NVIDIA, on the other hand, still has its inaugural Personal Cinema in Visiontek's
Xtasy Everything 5594. Though both target roughly the same audiences, the cards and
philosophies behind them couldn't be more different. Can NVIDIA match ATI's All-In-Wonder
experience with its first shot at the market? Let's
find out...
- Pentium 4 Northwood DDR Overclocking Guide - The overclocking
process for the Pentium 4 is greatly simplified due to the locked multiplier present
in all consumer-level processors. Sure, you might nab an engineering sample through other
means, but for the vast majority of users, Intel Pentium 4 can only be overclocked via an
increase to the front-side bus speed.
- ACPI Tweak Guide - The Tweakers Asylum have published their ACPI Tweak Guide for WinXP with the goal being to gain additional
performance from your PC.
- HW Reviews Round-up - Albatron
GeForce4 Ti4600 / XFX GF4 Ti 4200 / Siluro
Ti4200 to the Triplex Millennium Ti4200 / X-Micro
GeForce4 Impact T4200 128 MB / Asus
V8420 Deluxe (Ti 4200) / Prometeia Microfreezer / Samsung SyncMaster 152B
LCD / NVIDIA
GeForce 4 Ti4200 (reference / MSI
845E Max2-BLR / Abit AT7 / MSI
KT3 Ultra ARU
- 4x AGP vs. 8x AGP Benchmarks - OCworkbench.com have posted the first benchmarks
for 4x AGP vs. 8x AGP. "We ran the Eng. board based on SIS648 chipset using a P4 2.4G
at DDR333 CAS 2,2-2-5 mode. Here are our results of 3dMark2001SE Build 330. Drivers used:
3.02a.02. 3DMark2001SE Build 330 results -> 8X AGP 7382 ~ 4X AGP
7366 // Q3A Demo 001 (800x600x32) results - > 8X AGP
248.0fps ~ 4X AGP 245.7fps. Looks like the 8x AGP and 4x AGP difference isn't that
a big performance jump on the 3DMark2001SE Build 330. Do take note these results are based
on initial beta BIOS and drivers. The final results should improve!"
- Nvidia 3DMark 2001 Driver Comparison - I've noticed lately that
there is a lack of Nvidia detonator driver tests, actually a lack of comparisons between
them. So I have compiled
this list of current drivers and tested them using 3DMark2001 Build 330. I have
included full, unaltered screen shots to show the 3DMark and Nvidia Defaults.
- Visual Boy Advance v1.0 SDL - Visual Boy Advance is a Game Boy Advance
and Game Boy emulator that runs with Windows system. This the SDL version. SDL stands for Simple DirectMedia Layer. It is a
cross platform library for graphics, input, audio, threading, etc... that can be used for
games, emulators, etc. To some people, the SDL version on Windows may be faster than the
DirectX version.
- Visual Boy Advance v1.0 DirectX - Visual Boy Advance is a Game Boy
Advance and Game Boy emulator that runs with Windows system. This is the DirectX version of Visual Boy Advance.
- Easy CD-DA Extractor 5.0 - Easy CD-DA Extractor is
a powerful and easy digital audio extraction utility that makes digital copies from audio
CDs and saves as audio files such as MP3, Windows Media Audio and Windows Wave.
- Serence KlipFolio v1.1 - Serence Klipfolio is
a free information channel viewer that lets you view and manage Klip information channels
right on your desktop. KlipFolio is a real time saver - a "break through the
clutter" approach to gathering information that interests you.
- VisualRoute v6.1a - VisualRoute
is a visual, fast, and integrated ping, whois, and traceroute program that automatically
analyzes connectivity problems, displaying the results on a World map.
- Powerstrip 3.20 Final - The final version of Powerstrip 3.20 has been just
released for download.
- Applet Menu Builder - Applet
can be customized highly and easily by using Applet Configuration Program. You can
define text, image, font, color, URL and more for the applet. You don't need to write any
code by yourself. Applet Configuration Program will generate it for you.
- CheepoBios 1.02 Beta for K7S5A is released - chb0626.rom
non-LAN / chb0626l.rom LAN / chb0626f.rom
LAN version with fastwrites enabled (disable LAN in bios Setup to use it on a non-LAN
board). thanks OCWorkBench
- Xabre Drivers v3.03.51 (WinAll) - SiS have released the first updated drivers
(9MB) for their Xabre line of graphics cards.
- Brooktree's Video Capture Driver - The current driver is a Video Capture driver for Bt848,
Bt849, Bt878 and Bt879 based video capture boards. It tries to take the most of the
hardware, using all the features the chipset has to offer. It is also implemented as a WDM
driver, so the same driver works under Win2000, Win98SE, WinXP and WinMe without
modifications.
- MSI BIOSes - MSI have released some new BIOSes: MS-6382E v3.0 / MS-6340M v6.2 / K7T266 Pro2 v3.6 / K7T266 Pro2-RU v3.6 / 845E Max2 v5.3 / 845G Max v1.3 / 745 Ultra v1.3.
- ASUS BIOSes - Asus has released BIOSes: A7V333 BIOS v1008 final / A7V266 BIOS v1010 final / A7V266-C BIOS v1010 final / A7V266-E BIOS v1010 final / A7V266-EX BIOS v1010 final / A7V266-M BIOS v1010 final / TUV4X BIOS v1005 final.
- Omega Drivers Win9x/ME v2.4.44 - These new drivers are based on the
Catalyst drivers by ATI, added some new settings to increase image quality and fixed
the problem with 7500 cards not working correctly.
- Creative 3D Blaster Drivers v29.42- Creative's dudes relased a new
drivers (Win9x/ME / Win2k/XP
/ WinNT4)
for their 3D Blaster. They claim better support for newer graphics cards and
Improved performance in some graphics-intensive games.
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Updated:09:48 AM CEST Jun,21
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