W.I.L. Tech-News Highlights for H2 May 2004

Hardware

NextFest 2004, Wired Magazine’s next-generation technology expo, in pictures -- link.

E3 Electronic Entertainment Exposition show was a great event for gaming fans -- link. ExtremeTech’s E3 wrap-up -- link. Retro games find new life -- link.

Toshiba pushes hard disk DVD recorder -- link.

Cheap PCs have environmental impact downside -- link.

Customers have bought new PCs every four years, but analysts say that is about to change -- link.

Geeks just wanna have fun: When all that matters is appearance, not function -- link.

Computex 2004 Early Bird Coverage: nVidia NV45 in the flesh, new chipsets, BTX mother boards and more... -- link.

Systems

Latest AnandTech Buyer’s Guides -- Mid-Range Systems; High-End Systems.

How to make your PC quiet -- link.

Toshiba Portege R100 ultra-slim notebook is a sexy little number -- review.

For power notebook users, Centrino-based Fujitsu-Siemens Lifebook E8010 should be on your shortlist -- review.

Sony PCG-Z1XSP Centrino notebook is a design cracker, but graphics performance in question -- link.

ClearCube puts bells and whistles on blade PC -- link.

Acer Ferrari notebook a beauty to behold -- link.

HP Athlon 64 DX 6050 business desktop is outstanding value for money -- link.

iWill announces small form factor dual Opteron barebones machine -- link.

iWill Pentium 4-based ZMAXap deserves to be on your SFF shortlist -- link.

VoodooPC Rage F-50 wraps a Zalman Fanless TNN-500A case/psu/cooling system around an Athlon A64, ATI 9800XT, RAID drives and gobs of fast RAM ... and it will cost you $4100 -- review.

CPUs/motherboards/chipsets

Ripple effects of the AMD, Intel performance plateau: price/value supplants price/performance -- link.

-- AMD

How AMD can cut into Intel’s market dominance -- link.

AMD projects more cache, more features in future chips -- link. AMD CEO says desktop dual cores feasible -- link.

AMD following in Intel’s naming footsteps -- link.

AMD adds muscles to Opteron processors: Opteron 150, 250, 850 unveiled -- link 1, link 2.

HP’s quad Opteron makes a big splash; chip puts Xeon MP counterpart in the shade -- link. AMD takes Opteron To 2.4GHz -- link.

Socket 754 chipset shootout -- link. Socket 754 chipset roundup: comparing generation 2 -- link.

HP’s Pavilion family showcases AMD quality and value -- link.

AMD’s 64-bits better than Intel’s 64-bits, says Microsoft V.P. -- link.

IWILL, using advanced nVidia chipsets, on track to begin production of platforms intended for high-end 64-bit workstations and servers in H2 2004 -- link.

Revamped AMD Athlon 64, Socket 939, chips to launch in days -- link.

EPox 8HDA5+ puts Via back in the front in AMD 64 contest -- link.

-- Intel

Intel prepares WiMAX, 3G push in 2005, 2006 -- link.

Intel PCI Express and 775 CPU get going over -- link.

Intel to add security, power-saving capabilities into forthcoming Pentium 4 “Prescott” chips -- link.

Intel competes against customers in attempted motherboard market share grab -- link.

Intel unveils next-generation “Graphics Media Accelerator 900” integrated graphics core details. Looks to be one of the fastest integrated graphics cores ever, will support two independent displays -- link.

Intel’s new processor number schema, and a glimpse of Intel’s plans for its desktop and mobile lines through early 2005 -- link.

Intel Prescott CPU heatsinks the size of small elephants -- pictures.

-- Other

Via reveals C5J “Esther” processor details -- link 1, link 2, link 3. IBM to fab next-gen VIA CPU -- link.

Upcoming Transmeta Efficeon chips will beat Pentium M on inclusion of virus- and worm-blocking NX (No Execute) feature -- link. Discussion here.

Is IBM working on a processor called the PowerPC 975? -- link.

VIA to Preview EPIA SP Mini-ITX Mainboard for x86 Consumer Electronics Devices at Computex 2004 -- link 1, link 2.

Transmeta to showcase 90nm processors at Computex -- link.

Graphics

nVidia rolls out mobile graphics add-in card format -- link 1, link 2.

ATI’s All-in-Wonder 9200, 9600, and 9600 XT; Wal-Mart dabbles in a bit of ATI -- link.

ATI’s All-in-Wonder 9600XT videocard -- review.

ATI makes DirectX 9 breakthrough for $89 -- link.

Sapphire previews ATI X800-based “Toxic” line of cards, showing several cool features -- link.

Powercolor X800 Pro 256MB GDDR3 card is for the gamer who wants top performance but without creating a very large hole in his wallet -- review.

ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 vs. nVidia GeForce FX Go5700 -- link.

Memory

OCZ 3700EB DDR modules: Making hay with Athlon 64 -- link.

DDR vs. DDRII: Fight! -- link.

Will the market delay adoption of DDR2 systems? -- link.

OCZ to release 667MHz, 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM, leaving competitors in the dust -- link.

OCZ, Corsair unveil new PC3200 memory modules with extremely low latencies to achieve the maximum effective bandwidth out of 400MHz memory -- link.

Storage

Sony DRU-700A dual layer DVD burner’s 8.5GB capacity is impressive, but it has some shortcomings -- review.

Good-bye CD-RW, hello DVD burner -- link.

Seagate plans smaller disk drives with 73GB to 300GB capacities -- link.

Transcend 1.8" portable hard disk comes in 20 and 40GB sizes, delivers pretty impressive performance while still maintaining silent and cool operation -- link.

V-Tec FotoBar an innovative 8-in-1 memory card reader that also doubles as a CD-RW (24X)/DVD-ROM (8X) combo drive -- link.

High-speed DVD burner roundup -- link.

Cornice Touts 1GB, 2GB hard disk drives fitting on a key-chain. Miniature HDDs to take over from flash memory? -- link.

New flash memory card from SanDisk offers 256MB of storage and an 802.11b wireless connection -- link.

Iomega’s introduces Super DVD Writer 12x Dual-Format USB 2.0 Drive. Finding double-layer discs could pose a problem -- link.

Cases, cooling

Monarch Hornet pro case impresses -- link.

ClearPC “Secret Agent” Briefcase clear acrylic PC enclosure review.

Casetek CS-1007 MicroATX case does the trick -- review.

Thermalright SP-97 heat sink review.

Zalman “Reserator” (“Reservoir” + “Radiator”) works well with natural convection and integrates a water pump inside for convenience -- review.

SwifTech US Socket A and Socket 478 coolers impress -- link.

Water cooling solution for around €100 -- link.

Fans of a clear case of transparency -- link.

SilverStone SST-ST30NF fan-less power supply is totally quiet, but can get warm during normal operation -- link.

Lian-Li PC-V2000 case is news from their PC-V, which represents a fairly radical rethinking of the case’s internal configuration -- review.

Miscellaneous components and periferals

Sharp LL-191A-B: 16ms Response Time for 19” LCDs -- link.

HP’s F2304 high-definition LCD monitor is a good first effort -- review.

Society for Information Display 2004 pictures from the trade show floor -- link.

EPSON’s new flagship in the Perfection SOHO scanner line, the 4870 PHOTO, impresses -- link.

Start-up touts x86, Wi-Fi as mobile gaming future -- link.

HKI’s “clicker” links paper and PCs -- link.

Creative Lab’s Nomad Muvo TX, best of the micro MP3 players -- review.

Handset that will make voice calls over both cellular and 802.11a networks coming out soon -- link.

Operating Systems

Linux

Doubt cast upon Linus Torvalds’s authorship of Linux, implying that it is a knock-off of Unix -- link. Linus and Linux: The big lie versus the small truth -- link. Linux and MINIX code compared -- link.

IBM dishes out Power tools for Linux -- link.

Build yourself a Linux-based Internet gateway -- link.

Interview with Andrea Arcangeli -- link.

Red Hat’s Matthew Szulik on putting Linux on the corporate desktop -- link.

A first look at SUSE certification -- link.

Forbes looks at IBM’s promotion of Linux -- link.

KDE: Putting Linux on the desktop -- link.

Building a Linux Media PC -- link.

Linux is finally gaining momentum on the desktop -- link.

Using BG-Rescue Linux to recover given-up-for-lost data -- link.

KDE 3.3 release cycle starts -- link.

The Penguin that ate Microsoft -- link.

Slow going for Linux in Iraq -- link.

Is a swap partition necessary for Linux when there is sufficient RAM? -- link.

One (strange) man’s hunt for the Linux desktop -- link.

Learning Linux with Linux From Scratch, now at version 5.1 -- link.

BSDs, other Unixes

OpenBSD 3.5: a peek at another free Unix -- link.

Why Sun’s stock value may not have hit bottom -- link.

FreeBSD 4.10 released -- link.

What Sun really wants to sell in the x86 Market -- link.

Windows and DOS

A first look at Longhorn’s second build -- link.

Top 12 ways to degunk your PC -- link.

Mac

OS X makes slow debut on PC -- link. PearPC 0.1: Is it a miracle? -- link. PearPC translates PowerPC into x86 instructions, but more work is needed -- link.

Apple to slow pace of Mac OS X tweaks -- link.

The Web SE is a faithful replica of Apple’s iconic Macintosh System 7, rendered in Macromedia Flash -- link.

Apple releases Mac OS X 10.3.4, the latest Panther update -- link.

Other OS’s

QNX first realtime operating system (RTOS) vendor to certify conformance to POSIX.1 -- link.

MorphOS 1.5 presentation -- link.

Applications

Macromedia looking into releasing Linux versions of their development tools -- link. Flash Player 7 for Linux is now available -- link.

SQL In 10 Minutes (3rd edition) -- book review. An introduction to SQL here.

Computer Associates to make database Open Source -- link.

Cross Platform Open Source applications more successful? -- link.

Beta testing blues: Are companies moving away from a commitment to rolling out only finished products? -- link.

Shocker: Computer Associates to open source Ingres database -- link.

SVG and Typography -- Part 1, Part 2 (requires SVG viewing plugin).

Desktop-oriented

Mozilla: Back to Basics -- Part 1: Firefox.

Slew of browser updates -- link. Mozilla gets a Mini-Me -- link.

Group-Office 2.2 Pro review -- link.

The missing digital photography hacks -- link.

Desktop publishing with OpenOffice.org -- link.

Migration In-Depth: Why Health First is dumping MS Office -- Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

The Grumpy Editor’s diagram editor followup -- link.

An Introduction to GraphViz and dot -- link.

2do: A simple Open Source Web-based to-do list -- review.

A scan of the headline scanners (RSS readers) -- link.

A first look at CodeWeaver’s CrossOver Office 3.0 -- link.

The new Opera Browser on Linux -- review.

Sun to share Project Looking Glass 3-D software with developers -- link.

Triscape’s FxFoto (Standard) offers free introduction to its photo-editing and management applications -- link.

AOL to release new version of Netscape -- link 1, link 2.

EIOffice 2004 vs. MS Office 2003 -- link.

Interview with Daniel Glazman, the man behind standalone Web page composer NVu -- link.

Interview with Ben Goodger, chief developer of Firefox, about whats new in the upcoming release, and much more -- link.

Landscape projection with Blender? -- link.

Games

Playboy computer game lets you be Hugh Heffner -- link.

The wrinkled future of online gaming: No hardcore blood and guts, just low tech checkers and bridge, rated G for grandma and played 8 hours a day -- link.

What the new pixel and vertex shaders mean to this generation of videogames -- link.

Programming

The Register offers unlimited access to their 475 online training courses for $149/year -- link.

Why today’s programming is still similar to what it was decades ago -- link.

The History of Programming Languages diagram -- link.

Paul Graham’s Hackers & Painters -- book review. Paul Graham interviewed -- link.

What is in store for GCC -- link. GCC gets a new optimizer framework -- link.

UML basic: An introduction to the Unified Modeling Language -- link. UML, XMI, and code generation -- Part 1: Design XML vocabularies with UML tools; Part 2: The inner workings of UML.

High Integrity Software: The SPARK Approach to Safety and Security -- book review and discussion.

Graphical user interface

Build GUIs with the Eclipse Visual Editor project -- link.

Rapid dialogs design with the Qt C++ GUI toolkit -- link.

The Official GNOME 2 Developer’s Guide -- book review.

C/C++/Java family

SmartRisk Analyzer from @stake searches C, C++, and Java binary code for security flaws that could let hackers into PCs -- link.

Introducing SSS (Small, Simple, Safe), a tool for teaching the Java framework and basic object-oriented concepts -- link.

Scripting and high-level languages

Open Source scripting made easy -- link.

Network your shell scripts with Netpipes -- link.

Simple API for XML (SAX) processing in Python -- link.

Dissecting a nice Python script line-by-line -- link.

Scripting GNU in the 21st Century -- link.

Fast Python implementation for .NET and Mono -- link.

Security & Privacy

If only stolen Cisco code had been Open Source -- commentary.

First serious security hole discovered in Mac OS X -- link.

Google embarks on a crusade against malware -- link.

eBay scammer gets stung -- link.

Apple finally releases OS X security patch -- link. Secunia says Apple OS X flaw still poses security risk -- link.

Creepy RFID applications of our time -- link.

Virus writers and scammers now plying their trade via instant messaging -- link.

Secure e-mail specifications could be merged -- link.

Nevada Area 51 hackers dig up trouble -- link.

Would you trade your password for chocolate? -- link.

Fed up with spyware or fearing lawsuits, file swappers are going underground or giving up -- link.

From Russia, With Love? As Internet access spreads in the former Soviet Union, so does malicious code -- link.

Week’s worth of Net threats reviewed -- link.

Linux’s IPTables allows powerful firewalls to be implemented at a minute fraction of the cost of many commercial offerings -- link.

Did your ex-ISP purge your personal data? -- link.

Can Mozilla-based browsers be hijacked? -- link.

FDIC faulted for weak security -- link 1, link 2.

More scam artists go phishing: Increase in e-mail, Web site hoaxes prompts calls for change -- link.

Microsoft

Why Windows is a security nightmare -- link.

Microsoft’s anti-virus bounty success -- opinion.

Viruses will grow more vicious: More secure products will lead to more complex malicious code, experts say -- link.

Spam, advertising

Spambayes anti-spam filter shows promising signs -- review.

Over 80% of U.S. mails are spam -- link.

Why you might be an unwitting spammer -- link.

E-mail is getting expensive, as we are forced to shell out for filters, receipts, and other supplementary services -- link.

Miscellaneous

EU patent law dies, software law lives -- link.

Why IT managers value analyst firms’ conferences -- link.

Is a Moog renaissance nigh? -- link.

Richard Stallman speaks against software patents -- link.

Mossad goes online to recruit a bunch of spies and, er, waiters -- link.

Kerry’s fans of venture capital -- link.

Business

Go tech, young man! -- link.

Will Microsoft Netscape Google? -- link.

Inside Nick Denton’s plan to become the nanopublishing media mogul -- link.

How Pixar became an animation superpower and left Disney in the dust -- link.

The Wired 40: 40 companies driving the global economy -- link.

HP wouldn’t undercut their resellers, would they? -- link.

Did Novell sue Microsoft through Caldera, only to have it come back to bite them later? -- link.

in 2003 online sales topped $100 billion for the first time -- link.

The Internet

Tim Berners-Lee does not like the idea of any more top-level domains -- link. Berners-Lee promotes Semantic Web for database-like online operations -- link.

Spymac.com offers 1GB free e-mail storage, and POP3 access -- link.

My left arm for a Gmail account -- link.

Who owns your email address? -- link.

ICANN grows up at last, and their proposed budget reflects it -- link. Europe balks at ICANN budget -- link.

Search to see if you are famous -- link.

European TV broadcasters are losing viewers to the Web -- link.

Lies, damn lies and Web site statistics -- link.

Chinese build free net encyclopedia: “Chinese Wikipedia” contains more than 9000 reader-edited entries and growing -- link.

Science

Researchers are developing aircraft that mimic the flying methods of birds -- link.

The dental world of the future will be one where patients grow their own new teeth, much like a 6-year-old -- link.

Astronomers baffled by suburban quasars -- link.

New device may soon help battle with obesity by sending electrical pulses to the patient’s stomach, tricking him into thinking he is full -- link.

UK scientists seek silent aircraft -- link.

Researchers who want to grow genetically modified plants that contain pharmaceutical drugs are being forced underground ... literally -- link.

A fiery death for dinosaurs? -- link.

Green Cars Strive to End Oil Era -- link. Out of Gas: All You Need to Know about the End of the Age of Oil -- book review and discussion.

Burt Rutan’s SpaceshipOne hits 200,000 feet on only its third powered flight -- link.

Nanobacteria discovered? -- link.

Telecommunications

New York classifies Vonage as phone company -- link.

VoIP to transform telecoms market says report -- link.

FCC trial balloon for unlicensed wireless devices to operate in unused TV spectrum -- link.

Why is everything going Blackberry’s way? -- link.

Bellcos loosen their grip as they start to lose their grip -- link 1, link 2.

The Cartoon Guide to Federal Spectrum Policy published -- link.

Suggestions for a home VoIP provider sought -- link.

A DIY VoIP telco for the price of $79 WiFi router -- link 1, link 2.