Evening Tech Reading - tech
(hx) 12:11 AM CET - Dec,18 2003
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- Eighteen people arrested in England for piracy, more raids today -
Eighteen people were arrested in a joint anti-piracy operation involving
industry bodies BPI, FACT and ELSPA on Sunday December 14 at Inglistone
open-air market near Edinburgh airport. Over one hundred officers from the
Lothian and Borders police force took part in the raid where they seized an
estimated Ł10 million-worth of counterfeit CDs, DVDs, as well as business and
games software.
- B'buster chief: End regional codes, thwart pirates - Blockbuster
Inc. president and chief operating officer Nigel Travis on Thursday
called for an end to regional coding on DVDs, saying they merely create
more opportunities for piracy. "I believe, in addition to the elimination of
two-tier pricing, the studios should also make another significant strike
against piracy with the elimination of regional coding," he said.
- Israeli Gov't Moves Away From Microsoft - Y-net reported that
the Israeli Treasury has decided to
walk away
from the Government's contract with Microsoft. Signed two years ago, the
contract expires this month, and the ministry is testing localized builds of
Mandrake Linux.
- Off-topic: Techie makes "WMD" treasure hunt game - As computer
programmer Shane Messer watched U.S. forces look for weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq, the search struck him as a perverse sort of treasure
hunt. So he created an international treasure hunt called
"Find Those Weapons: The Hunt for the Real WMD" by using actual public
documents related to the American invasion as clues. The game he
created, which started shipping this week for $39.99 a copy, is also a clever
piece of self-promotion that Messer hopes might generate enough profits to put
him through law school. The game includes a booklet with 10 clues and a master
clue; a map of Iraq; and a CD-ROM that contains 3,000 public documents,
leaflets dropped in Iraq and text transcripts.
- Off-topic: EA Bans Players Over Fan Newspaper - According to
this Salon
article, Peter Ludlow, professor of philosophy and linguistics at the
University of Michigan, was banned recently from EA and Maxis' The Sims
Online. Ludlow, who goes by the name Urizenus in the game, writes a blog in
which he exposes the dark side of Alphaville, a large city within the game.
(thanks Peter)
- Off-topic: Tiny nanowire could be next big diagnostic tool for doctors
-
A tiny nanowire sensor -- smaller than the width of a human hair, 1,000
times more sensitive than conventional DNA tests, and capable of producing
results in minutes rather than days or weeks -- could pave the way for faster,
more accurate medical diagnostic tests for countless conditions and may
ultimately save lives by allowing earlier disease detection and intervention,
Harvard scientists say.
- Off-topic: New 'smart' highways could warn drivers of trouble -
Transportation Department officials are testing the technology at an
intersection in McLean, Virginia, where sensors can automatically warn a
motorist when another car is approaching, thus helping to avoid a collision.
The technology, still five to 10 years away from being installed in cars
and along highways, also could use a beep, a dashboard light or an electronic
voice to tell drivers when it's safe to change lanes, or when to put on the
breaks to avoid rear-ending the motorist in front.
- Off-topic: 100 Years Of Powered Human Flight -
In this
centennial year we celebrate the world's first manned powered flight of
17th December 1903 and mark a century of achievement that has changed the
whole of society. Another nice article can found at
Time.com
- Windows XP 64-bit Edition delayed again? -
TheInquirer is reporting that the 64-bit version of Windows XP for AMD
x86-64 processors is now scheduled for release at the beginning of Q2 2004, so
all being well that should be sometime in April next year, with, we presume,
the hype happening at CeBIT in March.
- Intel to launch WiMax chip in Q2 -
Today's
Economic News from Taiwan is reporting that Intel will start selling a
WiMax chip in the second quarter of 2004. According to the report, the 802.16a
broadband chip will throw data over the aether at speeds of 70Mbs and at
distance of a staggering 50 kilometres.
- SiS ships mobile Athlon XP chipset - SiS yesterday
unveiled the mobile incarnation of its SiS741 integrated chipset for the
AMD Athlon XP. The SiSM741 supports a 333MHz frontside bus and DDR SDRAM
clocked at up to 400MHz. The integrated DirectX 7 graphics core - SiS' Real
256E - utilises a portion of the main memory as video RAM, communicating at
the memory's own speed rather than that standard AGP 8x connection rate. It
can support display resolutions of up to 1920 x 1600. The chipset's South
Bridge is SiS' SiS963, which provides Serial ATA, ATA-133, six USB 2.0 ports,
5.1-channel surround sound, a 56Kbps modem and 10/100Mbps Ethernet.
- Toshiba Adds VOIP to PCs - Toshiba America Information Systems'
Digital Solutions Division released a software program Tuesday
that can turn a desktop or notebook PC into a VOIP (Voice over Internet
Protocol) telephone, the company says. The Toshiba SoftIPT SoftPhone costs
about $200 per software license depending on the number of licenses purchased
and the system for which the software is designated.
- Java-powered home audio device frees music files from computers -
A new Java powered home entertainment audio device design promises to
simplify sharing computer music files among computers and stereos in connected
homes.
The Gloo middleware can theoretically run on any device that supports Java,
and Gloolabs's first customer is MacSense, which built its $250 HomePod around
embedded Linux and a hardware design of its own. Both MacSense and GlooLabs
have hardware reference designs that device manufacturers can license.
- eMachines T6000 review - Like most of the company's systems,
the T6000 ($1150) makes trade-offs to hit a sweet price, but breaking with
past practice, the CPU isn't one. In fact, with a fast AMD Athlon 64 3200+,
512MB of DDR SDRAM, and a 160GB, 7,200-rpm drive, the T6000 turned in a 21.6
on Business Winstone 2004 and a 31 on Multimedia Content Creation Winstone
2004-productivity performance comparable with that of our recent Editors'
Choice high-end box, the Velocity Micro ProMagix DX-W, which has twice the
memory and a RAID 0 configuration. Unfortunately, the pep stops with
productivity apps.
- Titan TTC-CW9TB/SC Copper Pentium 4 Heatsink review - FrostyTech
has posted
a review of Titan TTC-CW9TB/SC Copper Pentium 4 Heatsink.
- VIA EPIA CL10000 Mini-ITX - When building a HTPC, size and
noise are two key factors. The guys at ViperLair
take a look at an all-inclusive motherboard that addresses these concerns.
- Leadtek WinFast TV DV2000 TV&FM Tuner review -
The Leadtek WinFast TV 2000 Expert tuner leaves an unclear impression. On
one hand, it integrates the 10-bit CX23881 ADC from Conexant and has a
user-friendly user guide; on the other hand, the audio quality in the FM mode
is not that good.
- HIS RADEON 9600SE 128MEG VIVO review - If you do not need a $350
video card, why would you buy one? If you are not apt to use all of its
features, then save yourself a couple hundred bucks and buy something that
isn't as powerful.
The HIS
Excalibur 9600SE is a good little video card, albeit flawed. However that
one glaring fault (the 64bit memory bus), does not ruin the card.
- Plextor Premium-U (52/32/52) review - Based on one of the
most popular internal writers available,
the Premium-U is great looking, easy to install and overflowing with
features. The Premium-U also performed pretty well overall. However, there
were times when it did not deliver the level of performance we've come to
expect from Plextor.
- Plextor PX-708A review -
The PX-708A
is a real monster, not only does it write DVDs at speed, but it supports
both DVD writing standards (+/-). Add to this the fact that it is currently
one of the fastest DVD+R writer available today makes for one appealing
upgrade.
- DVR-A06 4x DVD+RW review - DukGamers
take
a look at Pioneer's DVR-A06 4x DVD+RW drive which is the retail version of
the popular 106 drive.
- ATX Case round-up - THG have
tested
over 25 ATX cases (If you are looking for the MicroATX cases, check their
earlier
MicroATX case madness).
- D-Link i2eye DVC-1100 review -
D-Link's i2eye DVC-1100 Wireless Broadband VideoPhone lets you
videoconference with friends and family using just your TV. No wires. No PC.
The device lets you videoconference over the Internet wirelessly using
Enhanced 802.11b. The DVC-1100 can send and receive video at up to 30 frames
per second. An optional telephone handset can be attached for enhanced voice
quality.
- Creating an Unattended XP CD Guide - Have you ever wanted a
Windows XP CD that would install Windows XP by automatically putting in your
name, product key, timezone and regional settings? Followed by silently
installing all your favourite applications along with DirectX 9.0b, .Net
Framework 1.1 and then all the Pre-SP2 hotfixes, updated drivers, registry
tweaks, and a readily patched UXTheme.dll without any user interaction
whatsoever?
Then this guide will show you how you can do just that!
- AutoPatcher 4.2 (December 2003) - This release contains
over180 fixes for your Windows operating system. If this works as
advertised, you might be my new best friend this week.
- .NET Compact Framework 1.0 SP2 Final - The Microsoft
.NET Compact Framework 1.0 SP2 Redistributable includes everything you
need to run .NET Compact Framework applications, including the Common Language
Runtime and the .NET Compact Framework class library. The Microsoft
.NET Compact Framework 1.0 SP2 Developer Redistributable includes the
latest .NET Compact Framework 1.0 SP2 CAB files for all supported processor
types.
- MySQL 4.0.17 -
MySQL 4.0.17, a
new version of the popular Open Source/Free Software Database Management
System, has been released.
- RegSupreme 1.1.0.24 -
RegSupreme
is the superior standalone, ultra fast and lightweight registry cleaner.
- Macromedia Flash Player 7.0.19 -
Macromedia Flash (download
~
changelog) lets designers and developers integrate video, text, audio, and
graphics into effective experiences.
- DeepBurner v .1.0.89b (free) -
This
new version (download
1.58MB) adds check for audio files consistency (44 Khz, 16 bit), Ogg Vorbis
audio format support, check for updates via Check for New Version on the Help
menu and displaying progress of files while creating image.
- Hotmail Popper 2.1.1 -
Hotmail Popper (download)
is a small application that allows you to check your Hotmail account e-mail
from a normal POP mail client (such as Eudora). Unlike standard mail accounts
which allow users to retrieve their e-mail through a POP mail client.
- Official DeltaChrome drivers - A new Logo'd: WindowsXP Drivers for
DeltaChrome (DevID 8E00) v15.06.33.4 are available (with
InstallShield version /
No InstallShield version) (thanks longo213)
- CATALYST Windows XP 3.10 Driver (Dec 17, 2003)
-
ATI CATALYST drivers (fixed
in this driver) provide fully qualified display support for Windows XP
Media Center Edition 2004 systems with Radeon display cards, but requires a
special version of ATI's Video Capture (WDM) drivers for Windows XP Media
Center Edition 2004 systems with All-in-Wonder boards, which will be provided
by your computer manufacturer.
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Updated:03:04 PM CEST Jun,20
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