Nightly Tech Reading - tech
(hx) 03:01 AM CEST - Sep,21 2002
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- Microsoft buys game developer Rare - Nintendo said in a statement
that it has
sold its 49 percent interest in Rare--developer of games based on popular
Nintendo franchises such as Donkey Kong--but declined to name the buyer or
price. But Peter MacDougall, executive vice president at Nintendo of
America, confirmed to CNET News.com that the sale was part of Rare's
acquisition by Microsoft, which now owns Nintendo's 49 percent stake and
Rare's majority share.
- Lawmaker wants 2006 digital TV deadline - A proposal released
Thursday by Rep. Billy Tauzin, chairman of the House of Representatives Energy
and Commerce Committee, would require broadcasters to transmit digital signals
by the beginning of 2006, and require them to cease standard, analog
broadcasts by the end of that year. The new, high-definition signals could
only be picked up by digital TVs
and recording devices that included built-in anti-piracy features,
according to the Louisiana Republican's draft bill.
- U.S. Busts 'Date Rape' Internet Drug Traffickers - U.S. and
Canadian
authorities arrested 115 people and broke up four distribution rings in
the first crackdown on Internet traffickers of "date rape" drugs, officials
said on Thursday. Asa Hutchinson, director of the Drug Enforcement
Administration, said DEA agents and law enforcement officials began "Operation
Webslinger" on Wednesday and were following up on Thursday. It has resulted in
115 arrests in 84 cities across the United States and in Quebec City, Canada.
"We have dismantled four nationwide drug distribution rings in this first-ever
operation that targets Internet traffickers of the date-rape drugs called GHB,
GBL and 1,4 Butanediol or BD," Hutchinson said. "These criminals are leaders
and mid-level brokers of Internet drug-trafficking rings.
- Rings around Earth shaped past climate: study - Resembling the
rocky halos that encircle Saturn,
one such terrestrial ring might have chilled the globe considerably about 35
million years ago. The geologic record indicates that Earth endured a
brutal cold spell at the time, possibly sparked by a debris ring that
persisted from 100,000 to several million years, the New Mexico researchers
said.
- UK firm creates GPS tracker for kids - Parents in the UK will
soon be
able to track the whereabouts of their children using a GPS device that
can be partly disguised as a badge. The product, called Kidcontact, is
due to be released before Christmas and uses both GPS and mobile technology to
monitor the location of the child wearing it. Kids can also alert their
parents in an emergency with the click of a button, its makers have claimed.
When released, it will cost L495 plus VAT.
- Spider-Man to spin game on Web - Marvel Enterprises Inc. has
licensed its universe of 4,700 comic book characters to Vivendi Universal
Publishing for 10 years, the two companies said Thursday. Vivendi Universal
will develop the characters into games that can be played by thousands of
people at a time over the Internet.
- Sun reveals open source PC plans - Sun Microsystems has
announced plans
to provide an open source PC to companies seeking a lower cost alternative
to Microsoft-based desktops. Chief executive Scott McNealy unveiled the
initiative - called Project Mad Hatter - at the vendor's SunNetwork user
conference in San Francisco. Sun is not planning to sell the product as a
general-purpose PC in direct competition to existing suppliers. McNealy said
it would provide a "compelling but limited-use environment" for users whose
main need from a desktop is for web browser access plus local productivity
tools such as word processing and email.
- Nokia 3650 Symbian phone unveiled - Like the Nokia 7650, the
3650 sports an
integrated digital camera capable of taking pictures in VGA resolution, 4 MB
RAM a 12-bit color display, GSM, GPRS, HSCSD and Bluetooth - but there are
some subtle differences as well. Apart from the updated looks of the 3650,
which sports a rotary style keypad, the phone has tri-band and not dual-band
GSM, its Bluetooth is likely to support Bluetooth headsets and car kits -
meaning it's v1.1, and there is also an integrated MMC card expansion slot. (read
announcement).
- Nvidia to launch NV18 and NV28 chips on September 25 - Nvidia's
long-awaited NV18 and NV28 graphics chips
will finally be launched worldwide on September 25, formally leading the
company into the AGP 8x market. The NV18 and NV28 in fact differ little from
the former NV17 and NV25 chips in core structures, except that the two new
products are able to support the latest AGP 8x graphics technology. According
to sources, the NV18 and NV28 will be named the GeForce4 MX440 8x and GeForce4
Ti 4200 8x, respectively, following Nvidia's two better-selling products, and
will be priced only slightly higher than the current chips +
X-bitlabs.com have
the latest Info and screenshots.
- GeForce 4 Ti: Which Version Delivers The Most Bang For Buck? -
NV18 and NV28 are imminent, which will add AGP 8X support to GeForce 4 MX
and Ti, and of course, the next flagship GPU, NV30 is also headed toward final
production. But in the meanwhile, board makers of nVidia-based products have
begun to aggressively cut prices in an effort to stimulate demand for the
GeForce 4 Ti-based offerings. A recent search on PriceWatch found 128MB Ti
4600 boards for as little as $235, a far cry from the $399 premium nVidia and
its board partners could command a short while ago. But with NV30 just around
the corner, and a little tsunami named Radeon 9700 soon becoming widely
available, boards using GeForce 4 Ti GPUs are going at near fire sale prices.
- Error With Add/Remove Programs Using Service Pack 1 - I've
noticed quite a few people asking questions about getting errors when using
Add/Remove Programs, when Windows XP Service Pack 1 is installed, so I've
decided to do a quick
"How-To" on fixing the problem.
- XtraWarp 1.1 Final -
XtraWarp (download)
is specifically designed to optimize your application tuning time in
real-time. It is monitoring your all running processes and Optimize them for
your specific needs (Media, Games, Graphics applications).
- Fresh Diagnose 5.0 -
Fresh Diagnose -
your FREE System Information & PC Benchmarking software - just got better with
the release of version 5.0.
- Pioneer DVD-R/W Firmware Update (Important) - As the DVD Forum
releases the specifications for high-speed media, Pioneer Europe NV announces
that a number of its DVD-R/RW computer drives and
DVD-R/RW recorders will require a firmware update in order to use the new
media and avoid potential damage to the units and media. This problem is
caused by a "bug" in the unit's firmware. The firmware update corrects
internal code in the recorders and drives, which would otherwise malfunction
when attempting to record to blank new high-speed media. The update process is
simple and it is extremely important that consumers make sure it is completed
prior to using the new high-speed media.
- Leadtek Detonator Drivers 31.00 + WinFox - Leadtek has released a
new version of Nvidia Detonator driver 31.00 for
Win9x/ME /
Win2K/XP /
WinNT4, and also a new version of
Winfox Tool 5.13.01.2002-2.27
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Updated:12:40 AM CEST Jun,21
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