- Qualcomm Launches Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 Mobile Platform
- AMD Launches Ryzen PRO 7000 Series Mobile & Desktop Platform
- Intel Launches Sleek Single-Slot Arc Pro A60 Workstation Graphics Card
- NVIDIA Announces Latest Ada Lovelace Additions: GeForce RTX 4060 Ti & RTX 4060
- Maxon Redshift With AMD Radeon GPU Rendering Support Now Available
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A Year Of WiFi Radiation Equals 20 Minutes On A Cell Phone
This debate du jour has raged on in the press there, and now Glenn Fleishmann points to an article in The Times that says the radiation exposure from a WiFi network for a year is equivalent to that from talking on a cell phone for 20 minutes, despite the claims from the head of an anti-radiation lobby group (who also happens to sell equipment to detect and block electromagnetic radiation) to the contrary.
So there it is. There have been no reported deaths or serious injury due to cell phones, so it’s even less likely to ever hear such a story regarding WiFi signals.
Behind a MySpace fugitive capture
Bates, 35, was arrested Thursday morning at the main branch of the Philadelphia public library. He had been on the run since escaping from the Hancock County Jail in Georgia in June while being held on charges of auto theft. Bates is also a suspect in the beating of an 88-year-old Georgia woman in her home. And he was also wanted on sexual assault charges in New Bedford, Mass.
If there’s any good to MySpace, this would have to be it. It humorous that people will escape from prison and then use the internet at all.
Customers Strongly Endorse New Microsoft-Novell Deal
REDMOND, Wash., and WALTHAM, Mass. – Dec. 11, 2006 – A survey of technology decision-makers shows very strong customer support for the recent agreement between Microsoft Corp. and Novell Inc. designed to improve interoperability between Windows Server and SUSE Linux Enterprise. Nearly all respondents agree with improving interoperability, having products that work well together, and having tools that make it easier to manage mixed Windows and Linux environments. The survey, jointly commissioned by Novell and Microsoft, was conducted by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates Inc., a respected independent market research firm.
You can read the full press release here.
UCLA security breach exposes 800,000 students
Officials at the University of California Los Angeles alerted about 800,000 current and former students, faculty and staff on Tuesday that their names and certain personal information were exposed after a hacker broke into a campus computer system. The attacks on the database began in October 2005 and ended Nov. 21 of this year, when computer security technicians noticed suspicious database queries, according to a news release posted on a school Web site set up to answer questions about the theft.
It’s now commonplace to have at least one security breach a week now, but 800,000 IDs is not a small problem. It didn’t say how the “hack” occurred or whether it even was an insider, but if you ever attended UCLA you may want to change some of your sensitive information.
Fujitsu Announces 300GB Notebook Drive
Fujitsu today announced the MHX2300BT series of mobile hard disk drives featuring impressive storage capacities of 250GB and 300GB, making them the first 2.5″ PMR hard disk drives in the industry to attain these high levels of capacity. PMR, or perpendicular magnetic recording technology, is essential to Fujitsu achieving the increased capacity per platter. PMR technology places the data bits standing on end so that more data can fit onto a disc, allowing for greater storage capacity while reducing corruption factor.
300GB! It wasn’t long ago that Toshiba announced their 200GB drive and here Fujtsu comes along and offers something with 50% more space. The drive retains a 4200RPM speed despite being so large in density. How much further can we push storage in these small frames?
Microsoft Releases XNA Game Studio Express
Your World. Your Game. With today’s release of Microsoft XNA Game Studio Express and the launch of the XNA Creators Club, this phrase has never been more true. Based on the easy-to-use Visual C# 2005 Express Edition and Microsoft .NET Compact Framework, XNA Game Studio Express opens up the world of game development to the masses and is now available for free to anyone with a Windows XP-based PC at http://www.msdn.com/XNA. With the release of XNA Game Studio Express, Microsoft Corp. unveiled the XNA Creators Club, opening up video game development to untapped creative minds, enabling anyone to affordably build and play amazing game ideas on Xbox 360 systems for the first time ever.
If you are a game developer or simply want to get in on the action, check out the full press release. The price for the creators? $49 for a four month subscription of $99 for the year. Not a bad deal.
Futuremark comic strip competition
The competition is sponsored by Alienware. The idea is to ask users to download a comic-strip template created by Futuremark and then have them draw their own mini comic-strip (subject is free) and submitting it as a competition entry.
The prize? Does an Alienware gaming laptop sound good? If so, hop on over to the site, grab the template and enter.
Steam Guest Passes
Later this week, new menu options will appear within Steam as Valve initiates the closed beta for Guest Passes, a new feature that will allow owners of certain Steam-enabled games (purchased either via Steam or at retail) to send a friend limited-time trials for those games. During the beta period the new menu items will appear on all Steam accounts, though the ability to send the Guest Pass will be inactive. When this closed beta concludes, Valve will extend the Steam Guest Pass Beta to Day of Defeat: Source owners.
As the message notes, this will be a closed beta for starters, but the functionality is on the way! Personally, I think this is far more practical than a free weekend. This way, you can invite a friend to try out a game on your terms.
Corsair announces 16GB Voyager
Users will no longer have to worry about having enough space on their personal flash drives to store all their files, music, photos, videos and applications. Today Corsair, a worldwide leader in high performance computer products, expanded its lineup of the award-winning Flash Voyager USB2.0 drives to include new 16GB capacities. Enclosed in the Corsair proprietary all-rubber Flash Voyager housing and boasting water-resistant properties, the new 16GB drive allows users to carry more valuable data and applications without compromise. Equipped with a security application and featuring the latest controller technology, the 16GB Flash Voyager delivers an outstanding combination of functionality and ultra-high capacity.
Leave it to Corsair to release an 8GB drive and then double it only a few months later! You can read the full press release here.
Rumor Mill: Aqua to be replaced with Illuminous
Apple Gazette has received a tip from an apple insider that the Mac OS Aqua User Interface will be replaced with a new UI named Illuminous. The source goes on to say that we will see a demonstration of Illuminous at Macworld 2007.
Seeing as how Apple are the kings of GUI, we should be in for quite a treat. I don’t think this move has anything to do with Aero in Vista however. That is just straight out lackluster compared to Aqua on the OS X.
Nintendo Sued Over Wii Remote
With all the reports of snapping Wii Remote wrist straps causing broken TVs, Nintendo has been hit with the first lawsuit over its controllers. The surprising thing, however, is that the complaint is not because of a broken TV, but rather patent infringement.
Is it even possible nowadays to release a product that doesn’t “infringe” on a patent in some way? They are being sued over the B button specifically, which is odd since the N64 controller had a near identical function.
1080p DOES Matter
If you are serious about properly setting up your viewing room, you will definitely benefit from 1080p (and even 1440p.) Why? Because the 1080p resolution is the first to deliver enough detail to your eyeball when you are seated at the proper distance from the screen. But don’t just take my word for it: read on for the proof.
If you are having trouble deciding what new TV to buy, or you simply want to know how far back to sit from the boob tube, this is the article you’ve been looking for.
Stop the RIAA?
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is on a rampage, launching legal attacks against average Americans from coast to coast. After over 18,000 lawsuits and counting against P2P users, file sharing has continued to increase rapidly. Meanwhile, music fans, like 12 year-old Brianna LaHara, college student Cassi Hunt, and parent of five Cecilia Gonzalez, are being forced to pay thousands of dollars they do not have to settle RIAA-member lawsuits, and many other innocent individuals are being caught in the crossfire.
If you live in the US, do yourselves (and everyone else) and sign the petition to stop these pathetic losers we call the RIAA. They currently have a staggering 80,000 signatures so far, and need 100,000 to deliver the list to the Senate and House Commerce and Judiciary Commitees.
Mozilla Ships Alpha Release of Firefox 3.0
Mozilla today hit an early milestone on the road to the next version of its open-source browser, but the final product is still a year away, developers say. The Mozilla team released its first alpha release of Firefox 3.0 today, giving Firefox and Web application developers an early look at the next-generation browser. This release is not intended for regular users, not even those who like to play around with early versions of a product, Mozilla said.
This is an early, early developers build of the browser. This is proven by the fact that 2.0 still has a large slew of bugs still unfixed. Of course, if you want to feel like a champ, you can download it anyway.
Lineage II Omega’s Revenge
Omega’s Cat smiled at her master, happy to see him alive and whole. Her memories of the recent events were mostly a blur. She could recall the many adventurers who had listened to her sad tale and given her their wealth earned by their own spoils of battle. Omega’s Cat doubted that their intentions were really to free their master. She had seen their eyes light up at the sight of the crimson masks and horns, glittering crystals, and more that came from the depths of the Coffer of Shadows. No matter, she thought, she had still reached her goal. She had only dim memories of racing from the town, carrying a sack filled with jingling coins; she had stood before the leader of the undead army and demanded the return of her master.
Want to learn more about this amazing event? Head on over to the official site!
Microsoft sued for 360 update issues
GameSpot obtained a copy of the original complaint, which was filed in a Washington district court. The suit accuses Microsoft of breach of contract, negligence, and violation of the state of Washington’s Consumer Protection Act (CPA). Stating that the affected consumers number in “at least the thousands,” the suit contends that Microsoft is refusing to repair or replace the broken systems unless the users pay “up to $140” to ship it back to the company.
The Plantiff is asking for $5 Million, which seems a little odd for a $140 fix. But what’s interesting about this is that it seems the -only- consoles affected are modded. Some say MS did this on purpose to thwart piracy, but I doubt it. The mod likely changed something that the update was not familiar with. Modders brought this on themselves.
Nintendo takes straps seriously
Legendary Nintendo producer Shigeru Miyamoto also commented on the problem, saying: “We are encouraging people to understand that you really don’t have to be so excited, but rather you need to understand the control and then you’re going to be the best player. We are looking into the situation to see if there are additional methods to encourage people to kind of calm down so they would never throw away the controller itself.”
Well said. Don’t throw your controllers, there’s little point. You can easily sit down and play all these games, it’s just more fun to stand up and play them. I am still surprised how many people have damaged tvs/furnature/people over something that seems so common sense. I am not a very smart guy, so I know I can’t be alone in this thinking.
Google Checkout Goes Fee-less in 2007
According to reports, Google will be eliminating fees from its online payment, Checkout. To compete better with PayPal, Google is letting merchants use its Checkout system to process payments without taking a hit on transactions. Traditionally, merchants who use PayPal take a 2.9-percent hit on the total value of a transaction plus another 30-cents for actually processing a transaction. Over the years, many PayPal users have scoffed at the high fees that PayPal enforces on its customers. Despite this however, PayPal remained a growing and popular online payment service for users worldwide.
This is a huge deal because some regular eBay sellers constantly owe a good chunk of change to PayPal. Now all we need is for Google to release an eBay killer, since eBay doesn’t allow anything but PayPal on their site.
Apple is not green
Apple may be producing beautiful products but it apparently is producing a lot of waste as well. According to environmental group Greenpeace, Apple ranks the lowest o ut of all the major tech companies when it comes to environmental issues. The worst part of it is, Greenpeace notes that while other companies have improved year after year, Apple is the only one that has not moved at all.
Come on Apple please! Show some pride here. You develop some of the most popular products on the market… so clean up your act. Nokia ranks the highest on the scale with a 7/10. You have to run a very pristine company in order to hit 10. Will we see that happen? Probably not.
uTorrent is uWNED
Together, we are pleased to announce that BitTorrent, Inc. and µTorrent AB have decided to join forces. BitTorrent has acquired µTorrent as it recognized the merits of µTorrent’s exceptionally well-written codebase and robust user community. Bringing together µTorrent’s efficient implementation and compelling UI with BitTorrent’s expertise in networking protocols will significantly benefit the community with what we envision will be the best BitTorrent client.
This couldn’t be anymore perfect. The top rate Torrent program for the Windows platform joins forces with a company who is essentially very tight with the MPAA. Note my sarcasm please. Long live KTorrent/Azureus and all the rest… for now at least.
Optical HD Battle May Be Over: HD DVD Wins
Back in August of 2005 we did know that HD DVD, which used DVD production technology, would be easier to bring to market but it simply did not seem reasonable that Sony would put their PlayStation franchise at risk for anything but a technology they were absolutely certain they could bring to market on time. That turned out to be incorrect. The problems with Blu-Ray have created extreme cost and execution problems for Sony and now their premier division (instead of being the profit center for Sony) is predicting they will take a $1.5B loss next year largely resulting from this decision.
This is a very straight forward article that brings up a lot of interesting points. It does look like HD-DVD does have the extreme advantage. As for consumers, they are virtually the “same”, so whatever one is easier and more sensible to get will be the winner.
ATI Loses Market Share in Every Category
JPR estimates that a record 22.7 million mobile graphics devices shipped in Q3’06, 17.4 million of which were integrated chipsets for notebooks. Mobile IGCs claimed a share of 76.8% in the mobile graphics market, up from 75.4% in the prior quarter and up from 72.3% in the same period a year ago. Intel led the mobile graphics market with a 51% share (down from 54%), ATI dropped to a 24% share, and Nvidia jumped with an 8% market share gain to 19% for the quarter.
Ouch, that is one large decrease. Even with 23%, they retain 1% over NVIDIAs share. But if the growth continues, NVIDIA should surpass ATI quick.
Kingston Technology First with Fastest 1.2 GHz Memory
Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced the immediate availability of 1.150 GHz and 1.200 GHz DDR2 HyperX memory modules. To the delight of gaming and computing enthusiasts worldwide, Kingston is first to bring 100% production tested PC9600 HyperX memory to market and is concurrently bringing new high frequency PC9200 modules to market.
Kingston really came out of nowhere with these modules, and as far as I know, take the top slot for performance memory. Price? $525 for the 2GB DDR2-1200 kit and $518 for the DDR2-1050 kit. These modules are not only fast, but you will need an equally fast (very overclockable CPU) in order to take advantage. Don’t run out and buy if you don’t have a system to match up.
Nintendo Responds to Flying Wii Remotes With Safety Tips
In its safety advice, Nintendo suggests Wii players to “Wear the wrist strap when using the Wii Remote,†as mentioned prior to playing any Wii game. Some users, unfortunately, hurtle their controllers with such force that it completely obliterates the tiny string at the end of the wrist strap.
I think the number one way to prevent a flying remote, is to… not let go of the remote while playing. Common sense is on my side with this one.
Remembering James Kim
We reported the other day about the rescue of James Kims family. Sadly, he was found dead yesterday a few miles from where he first ventured out in an effort to find help to save his family. Although he left his car with very little, he managed to walk a staggering 7 miles.
Our thoughts go out to the Kim family. Though I did not know him personally, it was not difficult to see what a great guy he was. He was a “hero” who always put his family before anything else, which was made evident this week. There is much discussion on his passing around the web, and you can read a few articles below. RIP James, you will be remembered.