Evening Tech Reading - tech
(hx) 01:26 AM CEST - May,20 2003
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- US Price Cuts for PS2 and Xbox, Player bundle for Cube - Microsoft
and Sony
have both cut $20 off the price of their consoles in the USA, bringing
them down to $179 - while Nintendo has announced plans to bundle the Game Boy
Player accessory for free with the Cube. In Sony's case, the $179 price point
is designed mostly as an inventory clearing inventory for the current PS2
model. This should clear the decks for the slightly revised SCPH-50000 model
which launches in the USA in June. The new model is to be sold as a bundle
with the network adapter for the current price of $199. As reported
previously, it features a built-in IR receiver and a variety of enhanced DVD
playback features, but the only games-related difference is the lack of the
little-used i-Link (IEEE-1394, or FireWire) port on the system.
- Worm Poses as Microsoft Message - Kaspersky Labs reports the
detection of
a new network worm named "Palyh", which is spreading via email and local
area networks while masquerading as a communiquĘ from Microsoft's technical
support. Presently, infections at the hands of Palyh have already been
confirmed in several countries. Palyh gains access to targeted computers as an
attached file or writes itself to systems via local area networks. The worm
becomes active when an unsuspecting user opens the attached file carrying the
infected code; once this is done Palyh infects the computer and starts its
spreading routine. When installing, the Palyh worm copies itself into the
Windows directory under the name MSCCN32.EXE and registers this file in the
systemregistry's auto-run key so that it is placed into system memory and
automatically launched upon operating system start-up.
- Getting Inside Einstein's Head - More than 900 scientific
documents and personal papers detailing the thoughts and emotions of one of
the world's most fascinating minds are now available at
the Einstein Archives
Online. In addition to the voluminous collection of Einstein's writings,
some never before published and none previously available online, the website
will house an extensive database of 40,000 documents, images and research on
Einstein's life and work, as well as digitized copies of Einstein's
professional and personal correspondence and pages from his notebooks and
travel diaries. (thanks
Wired.com)
- 1,000 UK pubs to get wi-fi - The Cloud - the UK-wide broadband
wi-fi network that's part of Inspired Broadcast Networks and Leisure Link
Group - is to launch its service in more than
1,000 pubs in the UK later this week. / Ed. note ~ Heh that's nice but
what about Czech and Slovak pubs? (cough..)/
- Go racing with the P800 - After six months of development,
Digital-Red has now
launched its latest title for the UIQ-based Sony Ericsson P800. MotoRacer
3D is based on the company's Dragon Bone 3D Engine, and pitches players as
motorcycle racers against AI players in 8 different motodromes - each designed
with distinct features and modelled after real tracks to provide a higher
level of realism.
- Hitachi Maxell stores 1000 GB on a disc, new DVD technology -
Hitachi Maxell has
announced it has developed a technology that will enable consumers to
store up to 200 (which would mean 200 times about 5 GB of data, or even more)
movies on a DVD disc. The technology works by adding several data layers to
the disc.
- Taiwan's DVD player and 52x CD-RW SoC solutions in mid-2003 - Three
Taiwanese optical chip designers - MediaTek, ALi and VIA Optical Solution
(VOS) -
plan to launch self-developed SoC (system-on-chip) solutions for DVD
players and 52x CD-RW drives starting in mid-2003, sources said.
- Understanding Modern Pipelines - According to
this
article, small sites, big sites ( won't give names must resist ) ,
individuals, organizations - practically everyone is making gigantic mistakes
about pipelines in modern GPUs. Or well, sometimes, how you should imagine
pipelines, because in some cases, pipelines just don't exist. More on that
later. First, let's see this on an architectural standpoint. When it exists,
what's a
pipeline?
- NV35 will ship in June - NVIDIA Euro Sales Director, Roy Taylor
told the assembled masses of
system
builders that NV35 will ship in June apart from the low end model which
will ship in July. He managed this despite being faced by a phallanx of ATI
execs and partners who lined up on the front seats of the giant auditorium in
an attempt to put him off.
- NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 Ultra 256MB review - VR-Zone has done up
a
review on the latest GeForce FX 5900 Ultra card equipped with 256MB DDR-I
memory and clocked at 450/850Mhz core/memory.
- MSI, Asustek launch GeForce FX 5900 series cards - Micro-Star
International (MSI) and Asustek Computer recently
launched new graphics cards based on Nvidia's GeForce FX 5900 (NV35)
series chips, targeting both the high-end and mainstream market. MSI is
offering three cards: its FX5900 Ultra, FX5900 and FX5900V adopt Nvidia's
GeForce FX 5900 Ultra, GeForce FX 5900 and the more simplified GeForce FX 5900
Value chips, respectively. Asustek is offering two cards - its V9950Ultra and
V9950 are based on Nvidia's GeForce FX 5900 Ultra and GeForce FX 5900 chips,
respectively.
- Buffalo 256MB PC3700 DDR Memory Review -
With a retail price of just $194 CDN ($130 US) here or vai Newegg the 2x
256MB Buffalo PC3700 DDR is easily one of the least expensive performance
memory modules we've tested! About $75 CDN cheaper then two sticks of Corsair
XMS3500 CAS2 and $120 CDN cheaper then OCZ's PC3700 DDR DIMM's!
- 63 Accelerators on the Pentium II 350 MHz in Three Tests -
Digit-Life has posted
an article called "63 Accelerators on the Pentium II 350 MHz " ~ "I
think that the period starting 6 years ago with the first 3D accelerators is
not that big so that the teenagers do not know anything from the 3D history.
However, I met some students specializing in computer engineering who had no
idea about Riva128, RAGE II, Voodoo Rush etc. But most readers interested in
3D or in the history of the videocard development (not necessarily 3D) will
certainly feel nostalgic seeing..."
- nForce2: single-channel mode vs. dual-channel mode - If you are
going to use the integrated graphics of the
nForce2-G/T chipset, you should definitely use the dual-channel mode since the
speed drop might reach 10 to 70%. Also remember that it's said that the
graphics core used on the nForce2-G corresponds to the GF4 MX440-8x chip, but
actually, the lower frequencies of the chip in IGP and of the system memory
bring much worse results in the 3D graphics tests.
- Nehemiah M10000 Review - The Nehemiah M10000 is the latest EPIA M
motherboard from VIA, with an improved "Nehemiah" C3 CPU core. Mini-itx.com
has published a
review of
the Nehemiah and compares this little baby twith other EPIA motherboards.
Does it live up to all the hype?
- Commell LV-670 review - Hexus.net let us know they have posted
a new
review titled: "Commell LV-670, this is a Mini-ITX motherboard with a P4
socket present" ~ "If you are after the fastest MiniITX board you can get
your hands on this is definitely a board you should consider, however the high
price means that very few will be able to justify it up against other Mini ITX
solutions."
- Via Aqua 1300 Review - This is a great,
inexpensive pump that I feel has got a real bad rap from the Water Cooling
community. Buy one! Heck, at $23 USD buy two!
- Detonator FX Version 44.03: Feeling Cheated - Elite Bastards
let us know they have posted
an article called "Detonator FX Version 44.03: Feeling Cheated". This
article is definitely
worth reading.
- ATi Catalyst 3.4 vs. Catalyst 3.2 Comparison -
Check it out! Seems that new Catalysts drivers bring a reasonable increase
in games and benchmarks.
- KDE 3.1.2 -
The KDE Project today announced the immediate availability of KDE 3.1.2, a
maintenance release for the third generation of the most advanced and powerful
free desktop for GNU/Linux and other UNIXes. KDE 3.1.2 ships with a basic
desktop and seventeen other packages (PIM, administration, network,
edutainment, utilities, multimedia, games, artwork, web development and more).
KDE's award-winning tools and applications are available in 51 languages.
- jv16 PowerTools 1.4 RC1 -
jv16
PowerTools (download)
is the next generation of RegCleaner. A full set of tools to keep your
computer and your LAN up and running. jv16 PowerTools is basicly the Tool to
control your computer. Until now your computer might had been the one who is
in charge, but with jv16 PowerTools you can take the control. The program
contains all the tools needed for monitoring and cleaning the Registry and the
file system. In addition to that, you can control all the computers in your
LAN.
- Fraps 1.9D - As promised last week,
an improved build of
Fraps v1.9 is out. Fraps is a tool that lets you monitor current
framerates in a corner of the screen for programs using DirectX or OpenGL
technology.
- WinRAR 3.20 Final - The compression utility
WinRAR v3.20 (changelog
~ download) is a
powerful archive manager with support for packing RAR and ZIP archives and
unpacking RAR, ZIP, CAB, ARJ, LZH, TAR, GZ, ACE, UUE, BZ2, JAR and ISO
archives.
- Opera 7.11b - Opera
(java
~
non-java) has been hailed as the fastest browser on earth by users and
press worldwide. Opera uses less memory and less space on your hard drive than
competing browser applications, making you more productive on the Web. In
addition,
Opera 7.11(final) for Linux OS has been released too.
- FAR 1.70 beta 5 (build 1634) (09.04.2003) - Seems I have
missed that Rarsoft has released
a new beta of FAR
(download), my favourite
file manager. This new version has many bugs fixed.
- DAEMON Tools v3.33 - Oh yeah, this is
definitely one of the best virtual drive application around. This program
allows running BACKUP copies of SafeDisc (C-Dilla), Securom or Laserlock
protected game.
This new version fixes problems (download)
people had with instant reboots when mounting over the network.
- Alcohol 120% and 52% v1.4.3.518 -
Alcohol 120% (download)
is a combination of both Alcohol 52% and Alcohol 68%. It enables users to both
copy and emulate real or virtual CDs & DVDs. Alcohol 120% can handle the
creation of 31 virtual CD & DVD-ROMs, allowing the user to play discs whithout
needing the physical disc. It also allows users to make copy CD & DVD to CD-R
/ CD-RW / DVD-R / DVD-RW / DVD-RAM / DVD+RW.
- SoftR9x00 Patch Scripts For Catalyst 3.4 - I've noticed over at
Guru3D that they have received
a new patch
scripts to use in combination with RivaTuner 2.0 RC12.4.
- M-Audio Revolution 7.1 Driver v5.10.00.36 - M-Audio has released
a
new driver (v.5.10.00.36) for the Revolution 7.1 soundcard.
- nForce/2 Drivers v2.41 - NVIDIA (Win9x/ME
~
Win2k ~
WinXP) has released new nForce/2 drivers version 2.41. The drivers contain
WHQL certified kit for nForce and nForce2, support for nForce2 400 and nForce2
Ultra 400, there's also added full IDE driver with performance enhancements
(no longer shows as SCSI miniport driver), updated audio performance fixes for
EAX supported games and audio control panel.
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Updated:12:40 AM CEST Jun,21
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