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

Hardware

The transistor radio turns 50 -- link.

The Milwaukee 6546 2.4 volt 2-speed screwdriver makes building and repairing PCs a lot easier -- review.

Are hardware review site editors’ awards editorially challenged? -- link.

Systems

PCI-Express is the first major upgrade to desktop PC expansion since the days of the 486, and purchasing a system without it now would be foolish -- overview.

AnandTech’s October buyer’s guide for mid-range systems (target $1250) -- link.

[H]ard|OCP shows you how to spend $1500 on a system -- link.

Apple updates iBook laptop and G5 PowerMac lines -- link.

System building strategies for future upgradability -- link.

Samsung’s X10 Plus is a great thin and light notebook, with a strong feature set and good ergonomics, and a price a little on the steep side -- link.

Custom Xbox mods are on the front line -- link.

AMD offers blueprint for $249 PC -- link 1, link 2.

Sun’s w2100z dual Opteron workstation is a design win -- link.

Epox eX5-320S SFF PC is a top-notch showing for a company relatively new to the barebones arena -- review.

CPUs/motherboards/chipsets

AnandTech’s CPU and motherboards price guides for H2 October -- link.

Intel and AMD in a Web application shoot-out results in a draw, except on the .NET platform where Intel is superior -- link.

Moore’s Law broken, chip researcher reiterates -- link.

Calibrate your CPU temperature reporting -- HowTo.

-- AMD

AMD introduces Athlon 64 4000+ and FX-55, cuts prices across the rest of its 64-bit desktop and desktop-replacement mobile CPU line-up -- link. Athlon 64 FX-55 and 4000+ CPUs, both still based on the 13nm process, reviewes -- here, here, here.

nVidia nForce3 250 motherboard shootout -- link.

nForce4 brings PCI Express and SLI for Athlon 64 -- review.

AMD’s 90nm chips dissipate only 67W (less than equivalent 130nm chips), claims AMD -- link.

Epox’s 9NDA3+ is competitive with the best 939 motherboards, but does not break any new ground. It also has a problem when 3 or more DIMMs are used -- review.

Athlon 64 and silent computing -- link.

Soltek’s K8TPro-939 is a great value motherboard, with a BIOS issue that needs to be fixed -- review.

-- Intel

Intel has interesting plans for the Pentium M/Centrino family -- link. The Inquirer’s cribsheet for the Pentium M family, crossreferencing model #’s and specs -- link.

Intel cuts prices of Pentium M and Celeron M mobile processors, and its Centrino bundles -- link. Intel unleashes new Pentium M -- link.

Intel set to focus on technology and features instead of megahertz -- link.

Intel 925X motherboard shootout -- link.

Intel’s dual core strategy investigated -- link. Intel lines up schedule for dual core chips -- link.

Intel prepares for the next 20 years -- link.

Intel’s 915/925x platform introduces BTX, DDR2, NCQ, HD Audio and PCI Express -- link.

-- Other

Via develops twin-core x86 processor that is likely to hit the market by June 2005, could steal spotlight from AMD, Intel -- link.

IBM supercomputing goes retro using a feature of its new Power5 processors -- link.

IBASE’s MB860 is the first Mini-ITX form-factor motherboard to be built around the Transmeta Effecion platform. Too bad it is so expensive -- link.

Graphics

Seven PCI-Express graphics cards compared -- roundup.

XGI unveils details of its graphics chips roadmap -- link.

ASUS V9999 Gamer Edition graphics card is a high-performance device with a compact, efficient and low-noise cooling system and a set of gorgeous accessories that looks cool … for a price -- review.

ATI’s PowerColor X300SE introduces DirectX 9 and PCI-Express to the value graphics card market. It is a high-quality, inexpensive solution for users who do not need fast 3D but who find integrated graphics solutions insufficient -- review.

ATI introduces FireMV line-up of 2D workstation graphics accelerators -- link.

ATI topples Nvidia in stand-alone graphics card sales. Both are still behind market leader Intel due to its domination of integrated sector -- link 1, link 2.

Albatron Trinity’s PCX5750 offers adequate mainstream performance at a low price (apx. $130) -- review.

ASUS’s Radeon X600 XT Extreme, with built in HDTV output and VIVO support, shows ASUS staying ahead of its competition -- review.

nVidia SLI performance preview: next-generation graphics performance with (2 of) today’s cards -- link.

Memory, storage

Two Seagate HDDs reviewed -- Savvio 2.5” SCSI and Barracuda 7200.7 3.5” SATA with NCQ.

Western Digital’s WD360 36GB SATA HDD is the fastest ATA drive available, and is surprisingly quiet, but be prepare to pay up -- review.

LiteOn’s SOHW-1213S dual DVD±RW recorder leaves a nice general impression -- review.

Tape backup giant Quantum adds muscle by acquiring Certanc -- analysis.

Miscellaneous components and periferals

Why is Soundstorm so important? Because it is the only solution that will offer you Dolby Digital 5.1 encoder -- link. Intel’s 915/925 motherboards that use optical connectors support Dolby Digital Live -- link.

Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Notebook brings a full-featured audio solution to laptop gamers and audio enthusiasts -- review.

Lian Li PC-V1000 aluminum case is beautifully styled, extremely well engineered and offers top of the line performance, albeit not at a cheap price ($189) -- review.

11 midi tower cases, from the flamboyant to the conservative -- roundup.

Thermalright’s XP-90 CPU heatsink is a winner -- review. Thermalright’s XP-120 is the 1st 120mm fan CPU heatsink and outperforms all other heatsinks used by a big margin (as long as it fits in your case) -- review.

Fortron Blue Storm FSP400-60THN-R power supply -- review.

Logitech’s Z2200 THX Certified 2.1 speaker system provides a lot of power for the price -- review.

Antec’s Phantom 350 is a super-efficient fanless PSU -- review.

HP Labs demonstrates prototype plastic color LCD screen -- link.

Contemporary LCD monitor parameters and characteristics -- guide.

Epson Perfection 3170/4180 photo scanners are targeted at amateur photographers and beginners who want professional-like quality -- review.

PalmOne launches Treo 650 -- link.

Operating Systems

Two PC hacks for Linux -- link. Three PC hacks for Windows -- link.

Windows vs. Linux security: the real facts -- link.

Linux

SimplyMEPIS is the absolute masterpiece of desktop Linux distributions, and a few modifications can make it even better -- link. Discussion here.

Ubuntu Linux is the promise of all the good things about Debian without many of the problems -- link.

New Linux-based firewall releases IPCop 1.4.0 and Devil-Linux 1.2 are out -- link.

Linux.com’s “CLI Magic” series latest -- Taming a wild mount, Ifconfig, Route, Is iproute2 right for you?, Sharing more with sysctl. Series index here.

Linux kernel 2.6.9 released -- link.

Linux’s laptop support with the latest kernels discussed -- link.

Getting new Linux users a blueprint to go along with the LiveCD -- link.

Reports from the GNOME summit -- link.

Portable Linux virtual machines -- link.

Linus Torvalds interviewed -- link.

A VB & Access developer’s view of Desktop Linux -- link.

20 third party GNOME apps you cannot live without -- link.

X11 is a firm foundation for the Linux desktop -- link.

Red Hat dominates the enterprise Linix market -- link.

C++ In The Linux kernel -- link.

Linux on your USB key -- link.

A couple of applications from your future Linux desktop -- link.

BSDs, other Unixes

Rob Pike, co-author with Brian Kernighan of seminal Unix books, answers some questions -- link.

How to migrate your enterprise to Unix -- link.

OpenBSD 3.6 released -- link.

NetBSD, for when portability and stability matter -- link.

Sun releases Solaris-based version of Release 2 of its Java Desktop System -- link.

Windows and DOS

Windows XP Release 2 is coming -- link.

Hacking Windows XP excerpt: Speeding Disk Access -- link.

How to change the overall look and feel of Windows XP so that it is more like Mac OS X -- link.

The wonders of “format c:” -- link.

Other OS’s

Overview of SkyOS Beta8 -- link.

Updated AmigaOS4 SDK is available -- link.

The CherryOS emulator, claiming that it could seamlessly run Mac OS X at 80% the speed of the host computer on standard x86 hardware, turns out to borrow heavily, without attribution, from PearPC (a somewhat slow open-source Mac emulator) -- link.

A first look at eComStation 1.2 -- link.

QSSL (manufacturer of QNX) sold to Harman International -- link.

Applications

The free software just keeps on coming -- link.

The software industry’s identity crisis -- link.

7 cool Mono applications -- link.

Storming the Microsoft edifice -- link.

Getting started with OpenOffice.org macros -- link. OpenOffice.org’s integrated development environment -- link.

ZoneMinder: Linux home security par excellence -- review.

Connect Linux desktop applications using D-BUS -- link.

Nvu is intended to be an open-source alternative to Microsoft FrontPage and Macromedia Dreamweaver for the non-technical user -- link.

Jump into LAMP development with XAMPP -- link.

MySQL version 4.1.7 certified as production-ready -- link.

Transcode is capable of taking virtually any video file and encoding it to any other video codec -- link.

Computer Networking First-Step fills a long standing void for a truly introductory book which can be read and understood by anyone in less than a month -- book review.

Desktop-oriented applications

Coming-out party planned for Mozilla on its version 1.0 release -- link. Firefox 1.0 limbers up for launch -- link.

Google’s browser plans: some informed speculation -- link.

Google Desktop Search tool considered and ultimately rejected -- review. Does Google Desktop Search pose security and privacy risks? -- link.

MS-Google search wars hits desktop computers -- link.

Give me Firefox, or give me death -- link.

Programming

OpenStep celebrates its 10th anniversary -- link. Doing the GNUstep two-step -- link.

An interesting combination of tools that let you become productive with RSS -- link.

The Web Design Business Kit free sample chapters available -- link.

Mono: A Developer’s Notebook -- book review.

Alan Cox on writing better software -- link.

Graphical user interface

XML is not Evil, just smelly -- link.

Applying Wart-B-Gone to XML’s imperfections -- link.

C++ GUI Programming with Qt 3 book is freely downloadable -- link.

Web development IDEs tested -- link.

C/C++/Java family

Is the Java revolution over? Is Java the new COBOL? Several editors/programmers debated -- link.

The Ocean and Synth look and feels in JDK 5.0 enable non-programmers can develop custom look and feels -- link.

Design By Contract for C -- link.

Scripting and high-level languages

Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmers’ Guide (Second Edition) -- book review.

Foundations of Python Network Programming: If you program in Python and want to write Internet applications, buy it -- book review.

PHP 5’s new look -- link.

Learning PHP 5 is the most accessible introduction to PHP the reviewer has read -- book review.

Conduct Web experiments using PHP -- Part 1.

Build an object-oriented file system in PHP -- link.

Microsoft speaks on Mono -- link.

Security & Privacy

Hacking into your competitors’ sites: the must-have business tool -- link.

Hackers are starting to work out exploits for the Mac -- link 1, link 2.

CNET in-depth coverage of IT security -- link.

nVidia puts a firewall on its nForce 4 motherboard -- link.

DDoS vigilante militia could tackle net porn, says pundit -- link.

Consumers hit by net security jitters -- link.

Linux more secure than Windows says study -- link.

Net extortionists threaten to send out images of child abuse in emails in the name of threatened company -- link.

Website promotes caller ID spoofing for the masses -- link.

Zombie PCs a silent, growing threat -- link.

Holes, patches, defenses

Freeware and shareware downloads can protect your system from myriad threats and save you a buck. Are they for you? -- link.

On the trail of one recent worm to see how the security system works ... and whether it can be fixed -- link.

The We’s 20 worst security flaws -- link.

Spam, advertising

Legitimate mortgage lenders inadvertently support, and get tangled in, spam traps -- link.

4 million email addresses yours for just £29.95 -- link.

AOL supports Microsoft antispam plan -- link.

Miscellaneous

Digital Retro is a trip down memory lane -- book review.

Bill Gates says PC will replace TV, TV will become a giant Google -- link.

TV-B-Gone is a new universal remote that turns off almost any television -- link.

Business

Much smoke to British Phonographic Industry’s fileshare suits, but where is the fire? -- link.

Microsoft moves in on music downloads. What is the threat to Apple? -- link.

Music sales rise despite RIAA’s best efforts -- link.

Prepare to get screwed by digital rights management -- link.

Lexmark suffers a setback in its fight to keep third-party ink cartridges off store shelves -- link.

Microsoft subsidiary Corbis and Getty dominate the stock image business -- link.

Google acquires 3D mapping company Keyhole -- link.

Science

Scientists slice graphite into atom-thick sheets -- link.

Southeast Illinois mound city remnants now mystifies both archeologists and anthropologists -- link.

Memory-augmentation chips coming to a brain near you -- link.

Burt Rutan takes a V2-powered wander down memory lane -- link.

Telecommunications

Telecomm firms looking to integrate mobile and wireline operations and move to a multi-network platform embracing VoIP, mobility, WiMAX -- link.

FCC chairman advocates hands-off approach to VoIP -- link.

The state of VoIP -- link.

WiMAX roadshow rolls into Boston, which will includes cheerleaders and skeptics, November 3-4 -- link.

Cable vs. Fiber: Bells fight back by offering video via phone lines -- link.

Skype for Pocket PC -- review.