Nightly Tech Reading - tech
(hx) 03:03 AM CEST - Sep,18 2002
- Post a comment
- Negotiations Under Way for Seat on Russian Space Shuttle -
Pepsi-Cola Co.
is
negotiating a deal for what could be one of the highest-profile promotions
in marketing history: an unprecedented $35 million program that would award
the winner a ticket to ride on the Russian Soyuz space shuttle. Should it
reach agreement on buying a seat on the rocket, the soft-drink giant would
back the program with a powerhouse marketing budget. Among its plans: a
reality TV show with contestants competing
to win a trip to space. Executives working on Pepsi-Cola's behalf are
fashioning a program around the concept and are negotiating with at least one
undisclosed network, according to a person familiar with the situation.
- Pioneer DVD drives too hot to handle - The consumer-electronics
maker says its DVD-rewritable
drives overheat when recording on certain high-speed disks.
- Cheap PCs boosted by DVD burners - PCs with recordable DVD drives,
a feature once found only on high end machines earlier this year, will likely
be seen
for $1,000, analysts and executives predict.
- PlayStation 2 gets TiVo-like functions - Sony's PlayStation 2
video game console will gain
TiVo-like video functions with software to be announced Monday by two
start-ups.
- CD pirates add blow-torches to arsenal - US record company is
battling pirates by issuing reviewers
with portable CD
players that are glued shut so that the disc cannot be removed. Epic
Records is sealing CD players and gluing headphones onto them to stop digital
copies being made from promotional albums. Many in the record industry believe
that the leak in security comes from journalists handing music to pirates, or
simply leaving pre-release CDs on their desks.
- Talk To a Convicted Warez Guy - Chris Tresco is one of those evil
"software pirates" cybermoms warn you about. He was a sysadmin at MIT, and
also a member of "the secretive Internet software trading ring known as
'DrinkOrDie'" who got caught by the DoJ's Operation Buccaneer, got convicted,
and was sentenced to 33 months in prison on August 16.
Chris has a little time left on the outside before he goes away and has agreed
to spend some of it answering your questions, so ask away.
- Atari Jaguar Interview - Toxic Mag has posted
an interview with John Mathieson, creator of the short-lived Atari Jaguar
64-bit game system - the system we can thank for such awesome games as the
original Alien vs. Predator, Iron Soldier, and the gorgeously psychedelic
Tempest 2000.
- Razer Boomslang 2000dpi Review - The first thing you notice with
this mouse is its sheer size and shape.
The
Razer is much flatter or lower than current mice out on the market. This
makes long gaming periods more "natural" feeling and reduces tension on the
wrist. Once you have it in your hand you will notice its weight. The Boomslang
weighs much more than current popular mouse. Most likely because of it's "old
school" track ball. Some say that the Razer Boomslang actually reminds them
of, *bites tongue*, a Star Trek phaser.
- Quadband DDR Article - Currently, DDR SDRAM cannot keep pace with
the demands of these new CPU's and high performance system components. The PC
industry has been planning for this eventuality by developing
a new specification for DDR memory enabling it to scale to higher
frequencies. This successor named DDR II is still a few years away with
samples expected in 2004.
- WinXP + SP1 = 56% CPU Usage @ Idle? -
Shortly after installing SP1 on WinXP Pro I noticed a few games were
running a bit choppier, also a slight keyboard lag. I checked my CPU Usage and
sure enough, 56% and my computer was idle. I did some service tweaks, and no
help. I noticed my IDE HDD Controller reverted back to a MS version.
Previously I had the Via 4-1 Controlling this. I reinstalled the 4.43 4in1's
manually. Removed the SB Audigy Drivers (suspected component) and updated my
Nvidia Drivers (Surely not related to the problem) And now my cpu usage is
back below 5% when idle.
- NetCaptor 7.0.2 Beta 2 - The small IE based browser
NetCaptor has been updated to version 7.0.2 Beta 2.
- News Interceptor 1.0 - If you have
not installed it yet, visit the official
News
Interceptor site to download this new version.
- WindowBlinds 3.41 -
WindowBlinds is the first utility of its kind. It extends Windows XP,
Windows 98, ME, NT, and 2000 to have a fully skinnable user interface. You can
change the style of title bars, buttons, toolbars and much more. It gives you
total control over your graphical user interface.
- Intel Processor Frequency ID Utility v4.61 -
The Intel Processor Frequency ID Utility was developed by Intel
Corporation to enable consumers the ability to identify and, in some
circumstances, determine if their Intel processor is operating at the correct
and rated frequency intended by Intel Corporation. Beginning with the PentiumR
processor, this utility provides consumers with the ability to determine
standard CPU identification of Intel processors. In addition, supported
processors can utilize the Frequency Test feature of the utility to help
determine if a processor has been overclocked.
- Realtek's RTL8139(A/B/C/D/8130)/810X WinXP Drivers - Realtek have
released
Windows XP driver v5.04 for Realtek's RTL8139(A/B/C/D/8130)/810X network
card series.
- KYRO Drivers v1.06.16.0051 - A new
WHQL drivers for the KYRO line of cards has been released.
|
Updated:12:40 AM CEST Jun,21
(new)
