W.I.L. Tech-News Highlights for H1 May 2004

Hardware

May 2004 hardware news overview -- link.

Intel Labs’ Natural Born Killer technologies include a hardware-level virtualization demo that should raise eyebrows, and ire, down at Apple and IBM -- link.

WSJ tech pundit Walt Mossberg makes or breaks products from his perch -- link.

Five design giants build the supergadgets of 2014 -- link.

Hardware reviews: The pains of methodology and PR fallout -- link.

Electronic Entertainment Expo 2004 picks and pans -- here. Retro games find new life -- link.

Systems

Anandtech’s buyers guide for entry level systems -- link.

Server platforms today -- link.

Microsoft, HP unveil new PC designs -- link.

Build a Web-surfing PC for $500 -- link.

Sony’s ultra-cool portables -- link.

Via’s mobile Eve has big screen, small footprint -- link.

Shuttle Computer unveils its own custom-built PCs -- link.

CPUs/motherboards/chipsets

Analyst: Expect a 64-Bit desktop by 2006 -- link.

x86 desktop processor report -- link.

Choosing a budget CPU: 24 value processors from Intel and AMD tested -- here.

-- AMD

VIA K8T800 PRO chipset: PCI/AGP Lock and 1000 HyperTransport for Athlon 64 -- review.

AMD confirms low-power 64-bit chips for notebooks -- link.

AMD window opens as Intel Tejas closes -- analysis here.

AMD sneaks out 90nm core in 130nm chip -- link.

nVidia brings hardware firewall to updated nForce 2 chipset for Athlon XP -- links here, here.

-- Intel

Intel to segment Prescott CPUs in two ways -- link.

Intel halts development of 2 new microprocessors, Pentium 4 successor Tejas and server chip Jayhawk -- links here, here, here, here.

Intel cancels CPUs, sky doesn’t fall -- link. Ex-Intel engineer comments on Pentium 4 “Tejas” cancellation -- link.

Intel to divide processors by power consumption -- link.

Pentium 4 3.4GHz Prescott gets a not-very-favorable review.

Dothan is here, which represents Intel’s first mobile CPU based on its 90nm process -- review. Intel’s Dothan is a cool little shaker -- links here, here. Intel readies more mobile chips -- link. Dothan to hit 2.13GHz by end of year -- link.

Preview: Intel’s new Pentium M CPU -- here.

The Inquirer guide to confusing Intel technology -- link.

Intel maps out multicore roadmaps -- link.

Next Intel CPU will hit 64 bits -- link.

-- Other

VIA reportedly preparing handheld push -- link.

Via’s Pentium M licence may come into its own -- link.

Graphics

Intel, ATI, nVidia continue to dominate graphics market -- link.

How ATI double whammied nVidia over GDDR3 -- link.

ATI launches Radeon X800 Pro, with faster X800 XT Platinum Edition to follow soon -- link. X800 manages to squeeze more performance while drawing less power than its predecessor -- reviews here, here, here, here.

nVidia GeForce FX 5900 XT FAQ: All you need to know about it -- link.

Clash of the Titans: ATI Radeon X800 Pro and ATI Radeon X800 XT against the nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra -- link.

$599 graphics cards on the way? -- link.

What’s next for ATI: Interview with Dave Orton -- link.

Memory, hard drives

Hell freezes over, Rambus designs DDR interface -- links here, here.

DDR-2 faces long hike up memory hill -- link.

May 2004 optical and magnetic storage price guides here.

Seagate proves you you can spin smarter, rather than faster, to get better performance -- link.

22 hard disk drives with 120GB storage capacity -- roundup here.

Iomega REV 35/90GB external drive -- review.

CD/DVD drives

Blank media levies: record once, pay thrice -- link.

Sony DRU-700A Dual Layer DVD recorder review.

CDs, DVDs lifetimes may not be so long -- link.

Blu-Ray, HD DVD format war heats up -- link.

Plextor 712A, first 12X DVD+R to retail -- review.

Miscellaneous components and periferals

OKI color laser printers are full of promise -- link.

What’s in your USB port? -- link.

Acer widescreen LCD monitor is respectable performer -- link.

Playing old records (no needle or contact of any kind required) -- link.

PalmOne’s latest addition to the Zire family, model 31, reviewed here. PalmOne preps Treo 600 code update -- link.

Sony unveils tiny wireless pen PC -- link.

M-Audio Studiophile LX4 5.1 speaker system -- review.

Operating Systems

Linux

Kernel 2.6.6 is out -- link.

Latest “CLI Magic” from Linux.com -- “need redirection?”; “mmmmm pizza”, got backup?, and network tools, can you dig it?.

coLinux: Linux for Windows without rebooting -- link.

Some aspects of KDE usability as seen by a long term Gnome user making the switch -- link.

Linux in “battle of the century”, MontaVista CEO says -- link.

Advanced window managers in the UNIX world -- link.

Linux PCs for small businesses now online at Sam’s Club -- link.

Analyst: Linux will overtake Windows within 3 years -- link. Red Hat’s Szulik sees desktop Linux take off -- link.

Linux ready to take on Windows on desktop, says Red Hat boss -- link.

Linux in action: A public library’s success story -- link.

Linux courses rise in demand, says top European training company -- link.

The 2004 Desktop Linux Summit -- link.

Gnu Compiler Collection (GCC), version 3.4 details, etc. -- link.

The importance of Linux -- link.

Legacy Windows users might be better off running their applications on Linux -- link.

Miguel de Icaza: Rest of the World to Eventually Force U.S. into Linux -- meeting report here.

Desktop Linux to-do list -- link.

Benchmarking filesystems: JFS, XFS, ReiserFS, ext3 -- link.

Giving XFce4, a lightweight desktop environment for unix-like operating systems, a spin -- link.

Linux community sites thrive on the Web -- link.

Accelerated Linux training at a “boot camp” -- link.

Linux is the Unix reference implementation -- link.

Ultimate Linux Box 2004 sneak preview -- here.

Open CD allows you to have the goodness of Open Source’s best without abandoning Windows -- link.

Windows and DOS

Gartner says Longhorn migration will be painful -- link.

Windows Hardware and Engineering Conference 2004 roundup here.

Longhorn in-depth -- alpha preview.

Here comes WinXP SP2 -- link. Microsoft SP2 will run on pirated Windows XP -- link.

(Almost) everything may go, as Longhorn rushes to release -- link.

Avalon and the future of the Longhorn UI -- link.

Mac

Say repeatedly: “Apple is a business” -- link.

Spending a year with Mac -- link.

PearPC to allow OSX Emulation on x86? -- link.

Other OS’s

RISC OS vs. AmigaOS -- link.

The next NetWare: Not your dad’s NetWare -- link.

Syllable live CD available -- link.

HawkinsOS: Commercial FreeBSD distribution & service -- link.

Applications

Zap annoyances on the Web -- link.

Routers face open-source threat -- link.

The SourceForge hegemony -- link.

The ideal digital photographer’s workflow -- part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.

Google’s Gmail beta previewed here. Google unleashes updated Blogger -- link.

BBC develops yet another codec, “Dirac” -- link.

Microsoft security update breaks Samba -- link.

Mozilla: From browser to desktop environment? -- link.

Weblog tool company vendor Six Apart releases developer edition of Movable Type, its blogging application -- link.

Desktop-oriented

Andrew Brown, award-winning correspondent, author and OpenOffice.org contributor interview here.

The Gimp from the eyes of a Photoshop User -- link.

Softmaker releases Linux spreadsheet software beta -- links here, here.

Learning to use GPLed, cross-platform sound editor Audacity -- link.

Blender 2.33 includes numerous significant enhancements, most notably the restoration of some of the core functionality it had when it was a proprietary, closed source program -- link.

RSS feeds and readers roundup here.

Opera 7.50 works on Windows, Mac, Linux, FreeBSD and Solaris operating systems, and comes with better support for newsreading, email, an IRC chat client, and other improvements ... all in a 3.5MB download -- links here, here.

The Grumpy (Linux Weekly News) Editor’s guide to diagram editors -- link.

Programming

Why learning assembly language is still a good idea -- link.

The State of XML -- link.

Open Source in Africa -- link.

Extensible programming for the 21st century -- link.

Programming as if performance mattered -- link.

Graphical user interface

The Independent Qt Tutorial has been updated -- link.

Multi-platform C++ Fox toolkit 1.2 released -- link.

C/C++/Java family

Father of Java, James Gosling, defends the language -- link.

Eclipse.org eclipsing Borland’s Jbuilder in Java IDE popularity contest -- link.

Scripting and high-level languages

Python in Systems Administration -- Part I; Part II.

XSLT: Taming a functional language -- link.

Introducing the Lua-based Luax framework -- link.

On scripting languages -- link.

Security & Privacy

New wave of secret file sharing breaks over Web -- link.

Passwords that should never be used -- link.

Could a worm on Mac or Linux ever get traction? -- link.

Newly discovered vulnerability can knock Wi-Fi off the air -- links here, here.

Escaping from one’s past getting harder -- link.

Microsoft

Sasser worm plays havoc worldwide -- link. F-Secure offers free Sasser worm removal tool -- link. Microsoft got off lightly with Sasser worm -- link.

The mystery of Microsoft’s missing AV software -- link.

Child porn case highlights browser hijack risks -- link. Browser hijackers ruining lives -- link.

Spam, advertising

The biggest threat to personal computing is proliferation of a new category of deceptive software that takes over unwitting victims’ computers for the purpose of gathering their personal information and bombarding them with unwanted advertising -- link.

Judge ties antispammer’s hands -- link. Court reverses pro-spam rule -- link.

Spam fighters infiltrate spam clubs -- link.

A tightwad’s guide to ad blockers -- here.

Miscellaneous

What is wrong with the BBC these days? -- link.

A retrospective on sex in videogames -- link.

Frank Gehry’s Geek Palace: Inside the research center that could remake MIT -- link.

The return of the original Space Invaders -- link.

Websites for the frugal -- discussion here.

How info-overload experts unwind -- link.

Business

Microsoft hawks vision of DRM future -- link.

Record industry wants still more -- link.

Business buys into fuel cells -- link.

Why the markets still don’t trust Linux -- link.

US government wants to allow people to copy DVDs -- link.

Kerry Black is bringing world-class waves to the malls of America. Surf’s up 6 a.m. to midnight, 365 days a year -- link.

eBay’s growth just beginning, says CEO -- link.

The IT industry is looking more and more like a traditional, mature manufacturing business -- link.

The Internet

Brewster Kahle’s ultimate project is to digitize all of human knowledge -- link.

Have sex, save the planet -- link.

Makeovers Dot-Com: Check it out -- link.

Social networking, online community activism and blogs have started a “revolution of the ants,” and it is spreading beyond the Net -- link.

Internet Relay Chat remains the Internet’s Wild West -- link.

How does a meme travel through the blogosphere? -- link.

Web-user satisfaction on the upswing -- link.

The unfolding saga of the Web -- link.

Science

New Zealand astronomy enthusiasts building their own version of Stonehenge -- link.

How low-temperature surgery could kick-start the cryogenics game -- link.

Learning the joys of eating insects -- link.

Eating disorders rising among men -- link.

New insights about how obesity kills -- link.

Telecommunications

The Wi-Fi user as wireless felon -- link.

The life of a Blackberry widow -- link.

Cable providers preparing to promote their ability to provide the “triple play” of voice, video and data through one single company -- link.

Microbroadcasters stealing back the airwaves -- link.