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

Hardware

PCI Express SIG reveal future specifications -- link.

Systems

Should your next PC be a workstation? -- link.

Looking for the ultimate Pentium 4-powered desktop PC killing notebook -- link. AMD powered desktop replacement notebooks -- link.

PCWorld ranks the top 15 notebooks -- link.

Soltek Qubic EQ3801A SFF can easily turn into a small-size, but powerful and full-function, quiet and exquisite-looking computer -- review. Soltek to equip future systems with higher wattage PSUs as components increase power consumption -- link.

Shuttle’s XPC SB81P is one slick little machine, just slightly expensive -- review.

Shuttle’s SN95G5 nForce3 Ultra Socket-939 XPC demonstrates why the company is the SFF market leader -- review.

Two subnotebooks from ASUS -- reviews.

Build the most PC for your money -- link.

Microsoft Media Center 2005 DRM is draconian (just say no) -- link.

Laptop Desk accessory gets high marks in airports, kitchens -- link.

Sony VAIO VGN-A117S 17” notebook sports 1,920 x 1,200 resolution on a superb looking X-Black screen -- link.

Convert your Xbox into a mini rack mount server or media center -- link.

11 Small Form Factor PCs compared -- roundup.

CPUs/motherboards/chipsets

AnandTech price guides -- CPU and Motherboards.

Huge 40-CPU roundup (in French) -- link.

Intel Xeon 3.6 (Nocona) vs. AMD Opteron 250 database test -- link.

Chipset wars hot up with Longhorn approaching -- link.

-- AMD

AMD samples Athlon 64 4000+, FX-55 Chips, but on 130nm technology -- link.

AMD’s socket 754 Sempron 3100+ entry-level CPU redefines value for money -- link.

AMD is increasingly out-selling Intel in the US desktop PC retail arena -- link.

Socket 939 motherboard roundup -- link. Socket 754 roundup, Part 3 -- link.

nForce 4 chipset will not include an integrated graphics processor -- link. IWILL brings out the world’s first nForce4-based mainboard -- link.

-- Intel

Intel Developer Forum Fall 2004 coverage --- X-bit labs reports here, here, here. ExtremeTech’s wrapup here, links to all IDF articles here. The Inquirer’s coverage here. The Register’s complete coverage here.

Future Intel CEO Paul Otellini outlines a dual-core future -- link. IDF Fall 2004 day 1 keynote address -- link.

65nm circuit sizes and beyond (or below) discussed at Fall 2004 IDF -- link 1, link 2.

Intel roadmap update for mobile machines and servers -- link.

Intel prepares Pentium 4 chips with 2MB cache for Q1 2005 -- link.

Intel targets embedded systems with “Shelton” chip. Based on hobbled Pentium M (130nm process, 1GHz, no L2 cache), it is reportedly still faster than Via C3 chips targeting same market -- link.

Intel looks to fend off AMD in server market with new 2006 chipset -- link.

Intel readies price cuts on notebook chips -- link.

-- Other

Transmeta ships 90nm Efficeon processor -- link 1, link 2. Newest Efficeon processor offers antivirus protection, higher frequency using less power -- link. Discussion here.

Four years after its splashy launch, Transmeta is still struggling -- link.

Cambridge Consultants introduces 32-bit RISC core which allows the deep embedding of applications -- link.

Graphics

AnandTech video and memory price guides for September -- link.

GPU cheatsheet: A history of modern consumer graphics processors -- link.

nVidia GeForce 6800-based Leadtek WinFast A400 Ultra TDH graphics card -- review.

Startup co. uses graphics chips for audio computing. High-End sound cards to be replaced with GPUs? -- link.

PowerColor Radeon 9250 mainstream videocard is inexpensive, has excellent 2D image quality, and is dead quiet. Just do not expect to play Doom 3 on it -- review.

nVidia 6800 Ultra cards from Leadtek, AOpen compared -- reviews.

Graphics cards model names, numbers designed to confuse -- link.

Creative 3DLabs high-end 3D cards plans -- link.

ATI All-In-Wonder X800 XT announced -- link.

nVidia GeForce 6600 GT assaults mainstream gaming market -- review 1, review 2. nVidia GeForce 6600 GT’s architecture -- link.

Sapphire adds “lower cost” Radeon X800 XT into lineup -- link.

ATI rolls out new video processor THEATER 550 PRO that will enable TV and video multimedia applications and some new features on PCs at relatively low price-points ($99). Benefits include low power consumption, with no need for heatsink or cooling fan, and small size -- link.

Memory, storage

XDR is latest Rambus RAM offering -- link.

New Hitachi 1.8” hard drives may boost battery life in portable devices -- link 1, link 2.

Hitachi readies 100GB (also 40, 60, 80GB) Travelstar notebook hard drives. Only 0.4 inches high, consuming relatively little power, offering parallel and serial ATA support -- link.

Hitachi and Intel are teaming up to add storage to more mobile devices -- link.

A RAID array of tiny hard drives -- review.

Serial ATA hard drive interface for miniature hard drives called “CE-ATA” planned -- link.

Seagate shows 3GBps Serial ATA setup -- link.

USB flash drives’ popularity should not obscure their security risks -- link.

NEC ND-3500A 16x DVD+/-RW 4x double layer writer is a good value, but 16x writing is not ready for prime-time -- review.

Miscellaneous components and periferals

Zalman ZM-2HC1 Heatpipe hard disk drive cooler reviewed -- link.

5 ways to cool your Athlon 64 -- link (in German).

Logitech’s MX1000: the first laser-guided mouse -- review.

Roundup of 8 miditower cases shows that control displays do not always live up to their promise -- link.

Emerging LED technology will boost the colors in a flat-panel display -- link.

LCD displays with 8ms response time (much faster than fastest to date, but still much slower than CRTs) emerge in weeks -- link.

Shuttle XP17 TFT makes your eyes happy -- link.

A big (30”) LCD TV that won’t break the bank -- review.

Pegasus Mobile NoteTaker a neat idea ... shame about the price -- review.

The latest high-tech gadgets from Tokyo -- link.

Operating Systems

Linux

Linux Distribution Chooser has been updated to version 0.2 -- link.

Linux desktop distros with quality fonts? -- link.

Linux.com’s “CLI Magic” series continues -- Symbolic Links, It’s About Time. Series index here.

Peace, Love and Paychecks -- link.

Longhorn’s loss, Linux’s gain -- link. Longhorn’s demise gives Linux its chance -- link.

KDE projec announces the successful completion of the KDE Community World Summit -- link.

Programming Linux 2.6 -- link.

Implementation of a Database File System for Linux -- link.

More notes on reiser4 -- link.

Linux cannot compete with Longhorn (because it does not exist) -- link.

Desktop Linux will be a viable alternative to Windows within two years, says analyst -- link 1, link 2.

IBM to launch new line of Power5 Linux-based servers this week -- link.

What is the best training in Linux Administration? -- link.

Gnome Desktop Environment 2.8 released -- link. GNOME: We have overtaken Windows (user experience-wise) ... bring on Apple -- link.

Build a home Linux server -- link.

Metisse: An experiment in three dimensional thinking on the Linux desktop -- link.

The X.org 6.8 release -- link.

BSDs, other Unixes

FreeBSD rising as a reliable web host server OS -- link.

FireFlyBSD unveiled -- link.

ZFS, the breakthrough file system in Solaris 10, delivers virtually unlimited capacity, provable data integrity, and near-zero administration -- link.

Windows and DOS

Dell, prisoner of the Beast of Redmond -- link.

OSS torpedoed: Royal Navy will run on Windows for warships -- link.

Widget Wars: The battle for your Windows desktop -- link.

How to fix XP when it goes bad, according to Inquirer readers -- link.

Gartner: Ignore Longhorn and stick with XP SP2 -- link.

Microsoft readies Media Center updates with updated OS, new consumer products -- link.

Other OS’s

Bringing the Apple to the masses, revisited -- link.

Athene OS is beautiful but flawed -- link 1, link 2. Athene 4.1 released -- link.

MenuetOS gets a new look -- link.

Remaining vehement OpenVMS users -- link.

New “tour” available at SkyOS homepage, showing off forthcoming version 5.0 -- link.

Applications

Searching for substance: the road to safe software -- link.

The Top 7 MySQL licensing questions -- link.

Web design company uses Open Source shopping cart to grow business -- link.

Sybase releases free, limited version of its database for deployment on Linux systems -- link.

Browsers

Firefox Toolbar: a set of search toolbars for Mozilla users -- link.

Which browsers do techies use? -- link.

Mozilla fixes 10 browser security flaws found in Firefox browser, Thunderbird e-mail client, accompanying release of Firefox 1.0 PR (preview release) -- link.

KDE adds support for Mozilla -- link.

A review of Firefox for newbies -- link.

Other desktop-oriented applications

Windows Media Player 10 reviewed -- link.

A free, easy alternative to MS Office -- link.

The Audacity audio editor -- link.

Open Source desktop publisher Scribus has evolved into a worthy competitor to PageMaker and QuarkXPress -- link. Scribus version 1.2 released -- link.

OOo Off the Wall: The Outlining and the Ecstasy -- link.

Text formatting with OpenOffice.org Writer -- link.

Adobe Photoshop Elements version 3.0 announced -- link.

Programming

The future of Microsoft development tools -- link.

OpenGL 2.0 specification released -- link.

A developer’s guide to evaluating Eclipse vs. Netbeans -- link.

Scripting and high-level languages

JRuby is a priceless addition to Java development -- link. Discussion here.

PHP form handling -- link.

Dive Into Python gets high praise -- book review.

Python APIs for converting good or bad HTML to XML -- link.

Security & Privacy

Old PCs are goldmine for data thieves. Many of the worst data security risk takers came from the financial services industry -- link.

Gartner Group is predicting that system downtime will increase from 5% this year to 15% in 2008 due to security holes -- link.

20,000 “zombie” PCs can be had for $3000 -- link.

Via’s Padlock utility truly deletes hard drive files -- link.

Holes, patches, defenses

Can anything stem the spyware tide? -- link.

Is it time to ditch IE? -- link.

WinXP SP2 = security placebo? (In a word: “yes”) -- review. Discussion here.

Symantec goes anti-phishing: New service helps companies thwart online scams -- link.

Major JPEG graphics flaw threatens Windows PCs -- link.

Spam, advertising

Spammers embrace email authentication faster than legitimate emailers -- link. Spammers love Sender ID -- link.

Ads that annoy also succeed -- link.

Spam influx reaches new heights -- link.

Miscellaneous

Ghana gets a “Fab Lab” from MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms -- link.

Translating market-speak -- link.

Amazon unveils its search engine, A9.com, designed to compete with Google et al ... and driven by Google -- link.

Researchers experimenting with a greenhouse-gas reduction procedure pioneered thousands of years ago by farmers in the Amazon basin-- link.

Business

RIAA created a Hydra when it chopped off Napster’s head -- link. Illegal digital music and movie trading continues to flourish in underground havens -- link.

GEICO suit against Google alleges that algorithms used in keyword advertising programs that use GEICO’s name as an input infringe on its trademark -- link.

Investors fret about IT security -- link.

US in tech job massacre -- link.

Telecommunications

Alternative form of high-speed Internet access, fiber-to-the-home (FTTH), makes its way to U.S. homes -- link.

Net phones and their portable phone numbers help business avoid Republican Party Convention crowds in NYC -- link.

Building a Wi-Fi antenna out of a tin can -- link.

Wi-Fi Alliance considers security set-up standard -- link.

Where did the Internet go? -- link.

Ericsson’s decision to drop Bluetooth not a death knell for the short range wireless technology, but indicative that the standard has reached maturity ... with no obviously viable next generation -- analysis.

Surf wirelessly at dialup speed -- link.

Intel discloses plans to make WiMAX chips -- link 1, link 2.

Regulators debate broadband by power lines, leaning towards a light touch in order to encourage this alternative form of high-speed Net access -- link.