Monday Tech Reading - tech
(hx) 01:12 AM CET - Dec,02 2003
- Post a comment / read (4)
- Sysbug-A Virus On the Prowl - The Sysbug-A virus has been set loose
and is attacking "the usual suspects"--meaning that Microsoft Windows users
should be on alert, according to one IT security company. According to
security provider WhiteHat,
those vulnerable to the virus include anyone using Windows 2000, Windows
98, Windows 95, Windows ME, Windows NT, and Windows XP.
- Asian Pirates Sell Microsoft's Next Windows System - Malaysia's
brazen
software pirates are hawking the next version of Microsoft Corp's Windows
operating system years before it is supposed to be on sale. Underscoring
the scale of U.S. companies' copyright problems in Asia, CDs containing
software Microsoft has code named "Longhorn" are on sale for six ringgit
($1.58) in southern Malaysia. Microsoft's current version of Windows, XP,
sells for upwards of $100 in the United States. The software is an early
version of Longhorn demonstrated and distributed at a conference for Microsoft
programmers in Los Angeles in October, Microsoft Corporate Attorney Jonathan
Selvasegaram told Reuters.
- .name registry site hacked -
The website of the .name registry was hacked over the weekend through an
Apache exploit. London-based Global Name Registry was updating its Apache and
PHP system when hackers SUr00tIK & GroMx broke into the system and replaced
the frontpage index file
- Gametrac mobile console to ship for under L60 - On the basis of its
web site,
Gametrac Europe's kids-oriented handheld Windows CE .NET-based gaming
console appears as much like vapourware as does Infinium Labs' still
unlaunched Phantom. A few hi-res Wavefront or Maya renders and a noisy Flash
presentation do not a real product make. However, Gametrac's parent, Tiger
Telematics, does at least have some impressive partners associated with the
development of the console, making its debut during Q2 2004 seem more likely
to happen.
- Sony Readies Pared-Down PSX -
Sony has dropped several features from its upcoming PSX, a combination
video and gaming device. The company has not been able to complete development
in time for the year-end sales period, Sony said Monday. Gone from the latest
specifications are the abilities to play back DVD+RW discs, play back data
CD-R discs (although audio CDs recorded on CD-R discs are supported), display
TIFF and GIF format images, display movies taken with Sony's Cybershot digital
still cameras, and play back MP3 files. In addition, copying of video files
from the PSX's hard drive to DVD discs has been slowed down, from 24X speed to
12X speed, and the device also cannot connect to the PlayStation BB online
gaming service.
- Future PlayStations to read hand gestures - Phil Harrison, a vice
president at Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), told the Australian Financial
Review newspaper that "future generations" of
PlayStations will include motion-sensor and camera hardware similar to
that found in the EyeToy, a peripheral device for the PlayStation 2. While
Harrison didn't mention the PlayStation 3 specifically, his remarks suggest it
is likely to incorporate current hardware upon its scheduled launch in 2005.
- Video game consoles Guide - Detroit Free Press has published
a newbie's guide to video game consoles.
- Linux tablet PC breaks $1,000 barrier - A small PC maker and
a
Linux distributor have teamed up to offer a tablet-style PC for $999,
hundreds of dollars less than similar devices running Microsoft's Windows XP
Tablet PC Edition software. The device runs on a 1GHz Antaur processor from
Via Technologies, includes a 30GB hard drive and uses a customized version of
the open-source Linux operating system put together by Lycoris, a Seattle-area
company that specializes in dressing up Linux with a user interface similar to
Microsoft's Windows.
- Intel scientists find wall for Moore's Law - Granted, that end
likely won't come for about two decades, but
Intel researchers have recently published a paper theorizing that chipmakers
will hit a wall when it comes to shrinking the size of transistors, one of
the chief methods for making chips that are smaller, more powerful and cheaper
than their predecessors. Manufacturers will be able to produce chips on the
16-nanometer manufacturing process, expected by conservative estimates to
arrive in 2018, and maybe one or two manufacturing processes after that, but
that's it.
- Samsung Shows 57-Inch LCD - Samsung Electronics has developed
a 57-inch liquid crystal display panel, the largest such panel in the
world, the company said Thursday. The panel was produced on the company's new
fifth-generation TFT LCD production line that began operation in September
this year. The maximum size panel that can be manufactured is governed by the
size of glass sheet that a production line can handle. Fifth-generation lines
can accept glass up to 110 centimeters by 130 centimeters (43.3 inches by 51.2
inches), making the 57-inch panel possible, said Samsung.
- Merconnet 7 Inch Mini Widescreen LCD TV review -
Merconnet's
7" LCD TV would be a great addition to a small portable DVD viewing
station, but as for the Cable TV viewing, it is a little lacking. If stereo
composite connectors were added and the TV tuner refined, this would be a
great product.
- SIS Flexible Dual Channel Memory Controller review -
This feature
allows users to mix & match memory sizes and odd number of sticks to operate
in Dual Channel mode.
- ATI Radeon 9100 IGP “RS300” Pentium 4 Chipset review - Till around
about two months ago, Intel hadn’t been bothered as far as competition goes in
the Socket 478 Pentium 4 chipset area. That was until ATI released their
codenamed "RS300" Radeon 9100 IGP (Integrated Graphics Processor) chipset for
the Pentium 4 offering many of the same features as Intel’s mainstream
Springdale chipset including Dual Channel DDR-400 support and onboard video to
rival the best in the business.
TweakTown have got ATI’s very first, now fully licensed and ambitious desktop
chipset on the test bed today in the form of the FIC P4M-RS300
motherboard.
- Asus Radeon 9800XT/TVD review - As its name suggests,
the 9800XT is a revision of the Radeon 9800Pro rather than a fresh design.
The essential differences are an increase in VPU clock speed, up from 380MHz
to 412MHz.
- TDK DED+440N DVD+RW review - HardwareZone.com has posted
a review of the
external TDK DED+440N dual format DVD burner. The drive uses the USB 2.0
interface and can burn DVD+R and DVD-R media at 4x.
- Saitek P3000 Wireless Gamepad Review - 3dXtreme has posted
a
review on the Saitek P3000 Wireless Gamepad.
- SuSE Linux Pro 9.0 review -
The SuSE
9.0 Pro packaging continues the tradition of previous SuSE Pro releases.
The box and contents are almost identical to the SuSE 8.2 Pro release. In
other words, a big box containing two hefty books, and a folded cardboard box
with the bits in 5 cd-roms and this time a single but double sided DVD-ROM
disk.
- 101 Tips and Tweaks for Windows XP - PC Stats has published
a new beginners guide: 101 Tips and Tweaks for Windows XP.
- XIII Problems and Tip Fixes -A
post to the official XIII forum offers some work around
tips for users having troubles running XIII on systems that have CD
copying software installed. According to post, the problem is caused by the
copy protection software that is encoded on the disk after the GM process.
The source of the problem is anything that creates a virtual drive on your
system, so it's not just limited to Daemon Tools, Clone-Cd and the like. Newer
versions of Nero, EZCD Creator and a lot of burning packages also create
virtual drives.
- Koepi's XviD Codec 1.0 Beta 1 Build 30112003 - They finally decided
to make the current development status
official beta 1 of
XviD-1.0 (download).
They need some feedback now to make final XviD-1.0 rock-solid. Please take the
time and test and report bugs over at Doom9's.
- aTuner 1.7.27.5216 -
aTuner is a small tool for changing/tweaking settings on your NVIDIA based
graphics card. Includes Anti-Aliasing (including all unofficial modes),
Anisotropic Filtering, VSync, and MipMap LOD Bias.
- Lite-On CD-RW Firmwares - LiteOn has released
a new CD-RW firmware updates for LDW-811S, LDW-411S, LSC-24082KX,
LTR-52327S, LTN-526S and LTN-486S.
- DON'T INSTALL Hyperion 4.50! - Due bugs, Via has removed their
Hyperion 4.50 driver that was released some days ago from download page. The
latest stabile version is
Hyperion
4.49p. (tnx
Warp2Search)
The
Inquirer is reporting: "After detailed investigation of the issues that
have been reported, we have found that they only occur with systems configured
with 1GB or more of memory and an ATI graphics card where the AGP aperture has
been set above 32MB. We are currently working on a new revision of the driver
that changes the default size of the AGP aperture to 32MB".
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Updated:03:04 PM CEST Jun,20
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