- 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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Firefox 1.5.0.5 Released
If you are a Firefox user, you should have already been prompted to upgrade. If not, go and grab the latest version. This is primarily a bug fix release, and these were squashed:
- chrome: scheme loading remote content
- Crashes with evidence of memory corruption (rv:1.8.0.5)
- XSS with XPCNativeWrapper(window).Function(…)
- UniversalBrowserRead privilege escalation
- PAC privilege escalation using Function.prototype.call
- Privilege escalation using named-functions and redefined “new Object()”
- JavaScript engine vulnerabilities
- JavaScript new Function race condition
- Native DOM methods can be hijacked across domains
- Memory corruption with simultaneous events
- Javascript navigator Object Vulnerability
- Code execution through deleted frame reference
Mice need LCD love too
The mod that I’m about to show you is again somewhat different from the mainstream. For some reason I seem to like to work with computer mice and try to come up with different ways on making them… well, different. Combining unusual items together can produce very interesting results and hopefully you will find this little project of mine worth a read.
Japala has done it again… this is one sweet mod. He gives a pretty good idea of how everything was done, in case you want to start a similar project.
Samsung Introduces Highest Density MMC Flash Media
The MMCplus flash memory cards are based on Samsung’s 8Gb NAND flash memory that will alow it to hold up to 8GB of data on a single flash card. The 8GB version, along with the 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB cards, will be based on multi-level cell NAND flash.
There’s no word on pricing yet, sadly, but the 40MB/s read is sure a welcomed feature.
Freescale Joins Futuremark’s Benchmark Development Program
Orlando, Fl – Freescale Technology Forum – July 26th, 2006 – Futuremark Corporation, a leading provider of system performance-analysis software and services for PCs, smartphones and other handheld devices, announced today that Freescale Semiconductor is joining its handheld benchmark development program.
You can read the full press release here.
Review Roundup for July 27
- Antec SOLO Mid-Tower Enclosure – Virtual-Hideout
- Enermax Chakra ATX Case – Big Bruin
- Sansun Galaxy ATX/BTX Black Computer Case – TweakNews
- Shuttle XPC SN27P2 – Tech Report
- Shuttle XPC X100 – SFF Tech
- SilverStone TJ07 – XYZ Computing
- Sunbeamtech Silent Storm – OC Inside
Cases & Enclosures
- OCZ Tempest – Overclockers Online
- SilverStone NT04 CPU Cooler – Think Computers
- Titan Eagle Copper VGA Cooler – Viper Lair
- Verax Helado PWM-T Low Noise Heatsink – FrostyTech
Cooling
- GIGABYTE GC-RAMDISK i-RAM – Hexus
- SuperTalent PC2-8000 2x512MB – Driver Heaven
Memory & Storage
- AMD Athlon64 3500+ (Orleans) – MadBoxPC (Spanish, Translated)
- ECS KA3 MVP Extreme – Bit-Tech
Motherboards & Processors
- Logisys Office, Internet and Multimedia Pro Illuminated Keyboard – Bjorn3D
- Super Talent MEGA Screen MP3 Player – 3D Gameman
- Ultra X-Connect X2 550W PSU – Legit Reviews
- Vizo UFO USB Hub – Red & Blackness
Peripherals & Power Supplies
- Albatron 7300GT – LAN Addict
- ASUS EN7600GT Silent – Motherboards.org
- HP LP2465 24-inch LCD – Digital Trends
- NGO NVIDIA Optimized Driver v1.9137 – NGOHQ
Displays & Video Cards
- Mio C510E – BIOS Magazine
Complete Systems, Competitions & Etcetera
Adobe returns attention to Flash for Linux
Adobe has resumed work on a Linux version of its Flash Player and plans to catch the software up to its Windows and Mac OS X equivalent, version 9, the company has said. “We expect to make a pre-release version available on Adobe Labs for early feedback and testing before the end of the year, with the full release expected in early 2007.”
This has been a hot topic lately, and it’s good to see that Adobe is working to bring 9 to Linux. They’ve also opened a blog which has been updated near everyday.
Nigeria orders first million OLPC laptops
Nigeria has officially ordered and paid for one million of the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) devices, according to the Nigerian Vanguard newspaper. The deal is the first actual order for the project that aims to provide Linux-powered laptops to children in developing economies.
It’s good to hear that one Country has jumped on the bandwagon. Before production begins though, OLPC needs a total of 5 Million orders.
Amazon’s profits drop dramatically
Darling of the dotcom boom – online retailer, Amazon – has reported that in Q2 2006, its operating income declined dramatically from $104 million in Q2 2005 to $47 million in 2006. A contract dispute with Toys ‘R’ Us was partly to blame.
Who would have thought Toys ‘R’ Us was such a big part of Amazon? Of course it’s not the only reason for the drops, but they are quite significant.
Samsung 4GB Flash Disk: Windows Vista Performance Booster
Samsung is beginning production of a special 4GB solid-state disk (SSD) it says will dramatically speed up notebooks and PCs when using Microsoft Windows Vista. Using a Vista feature called Windows ReadyBoost, Samsung says this little flash disk will eliminate hundreds of exasperating multi-second delays when working with the operating system.
I could see how this could benefit notebooks, but what about PC’s with 2 – 4GB of system ram?
Ritual on Piracy
A few days ago, Ritual Entertainment’s Mike Russell posted a frustrated blog entry about piracy and its effect on his job and on developers such as Ritual. Recently, Russell has observed that he has been dealing with about five times as many support requests from pirates as he has from legitimate users, a figure that has a significant impact on Ritual’s bottom line.
Five times? That’s insane. It’s one thing to steal a game from a company, but then to take up their time with support? Just how clueless are people?
HP Buys Mercury Interactive for $4.5 Billion
HP announced this week that it agreed to buy Israeli-based Mercury Interactive Corp. for roughly $4.5 billion in stock. HP said that it will pay $52 per share in Mercury Interactive and the acquisition is aimed about expanding HP’s business software portfolio. News of HP’s acquisition surfaced Tuesday, which negatively affected HP’s share price, knocking down the value roughly 4 percent.
Man, this is the week for mergers and acquisitions! Phillips Semiconductor is still up for grabs, for only around $10B for those interested.
Dual-CPU kits for ‘4×4’ to sell for under a grand
In a demonstration session for the media at its Silicon Valley headquarters yesterday, AMD revealed a few more details about its plans for its upcoming enthusiast-oriented platform, code-named 4×4. Read on to see why 4×4 may prove to be a really nice development for PC hobbyists, not just a stunt to distract attention from The Other Guy’s shiny new processors.
It’s really good to hear that you will not need a pricy FX processor to take advantage of this. However, it does not look like you will be able to just go out and pick up a 3800+ X2 and expect it to work. When AMD finally has it figured out, things are going to be interesting.
Building your own open air test rig
In the past, the majority of EclipseOC’s hardware reviews have been in a case. To be specific, an Antec Super Lanboy, complete with the stock fans that move next to no air. The somewhat cramped quarters and rather odd placement of the watercooling loop that is used to cool the CPU was getting more and more frustrating with each passing day. Finally, I have put my foot down to say: “No more!”. To be able to change things was an exciting, but slightly daunting idea.
If you are interested in an open air case, they can be somewhat expensive for something that looks so simple. EclipseOC was fed up with a cramped up case, so they built their own.
AMD And ATI Merger – Questions And Answers
In June at our analyst day in Sunnyvale, AMD introduced “Torrenza” and reinforced our commitment to an open architecture for third-party innovation. In the near term, 2007, we should be able to deliver new customer-centric, unified solutions for key market segments like mobile and commercial. For these market segments a tighter coupling of the CPU and GPU has the potential to deliver a compelling performance-per-watt proposition.
This is a great interview if you want to know what’s going on. The future doesn’t seem so bad, at this point.
Futuremark develops OpenGL ES 3D Demo for DMP PICA
Saratoga, California – July 25th, 2006 – Futuremark Corporation, the world’s leading provider of system performance-analysis software and services for PCs, smartphones and other handheld devices, today announced the delivery of their latest demo production to Digital Media Professionals (DMP) of Japan.
You can read the full press release here.
Func Industries announces the launch of Func Custom Gear
Func Industries LLC, a leading provider of precision mousing surfaces for competitive gaming and other professional PC applications, is offering online customers the ability to fully customize products using their own uploaded graphics, in addition to a growing selection of images. The Func Custom Gear utility initially features four sizes of Func’s award-winning gaming mouse pads for customers to choose from with additional products scheduled for inclusion later this year.
You can read the full press release here.
Review Roundup for July 26
- SanSun Galaxy BTX Case – 3D Gameman
Cases & Enclosures
- Apack ZeroTherm BTF80 Copper Heatsink – FrostyTech
- orsair Nautilus 500 Watercooling – Guru3D
- Vizo Sleet Chipset and DDR coolers – Pro-Clockers
Cooling
- Edge Tech Corp DiskGo 4Gb 1” Mini Hard Drive – DragonSteelMods
- OCZ Ultra-Slim Mini-Kart USB 2.0 Flash Drive – OCIA
- Smarthumb 2.0 Software – Think Computers
Memory & Storage
- Intel Pentium D 940 3.2GHz Dual Core – PC Stats
Motherboards & Processors
- Logitech V450 Cordless Notebook Mouse – ASE Labs
- Logitech MX1000 – GamePyre
- Nova Mousepads – Technic3D
- Primera Bravo II Disc Publisher – ExtensiveMods
Peripherals & Power Supplies
- Gainward BLISS 7300 GT PCX Golden Sample – TechARP
- GeForce 7300GT vs. Radeon X1600 Pro – Tech Spot
- GeForce 7600GT Round Up – Tech-Hounds
- NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GS AGP shootout – Hexus
- NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX vs. 7950 GX2 – techPowerUp!
Displays & Video Cards
- Everglide Fantasy Baseball Give Away – Big Bruin
- Philips Holidays in June Event – Digital Trends
Complete Systems, Competitions & Etcetera
Does password size matter?
Roger A. Grimes, a security columnist at InfoWorld, has posted a $100 challenge — extra goodies as well — both on the mailing list and at his blog at InfoWorld, to anyone who can crack one of three password challenges. Grimes’ assertion is that password length alone can provide more than adequate password protection.
If you feel up to cracking some passwords, you may be ‘abel’ to win $100. Of course long and complex passwords are the best. It’s remembering them that’s the hard part :)
Microsoft says no Physics API
Microsoft has denied its working on a DirectX physics API for the upcoming DirectX 10. DailyTech previously reported Microsoft may be interested in developing a physics API due to a job description on Microsoft’s employment page. However, according to a recent interview with Rick Wickham, Director of the Windows Gaming business in the September issue of Maximum PC magazine, such rumors were denied.
Adding a physics API to Direct X wouldn’t be such a bad idea, so even though they deny the fact, it’s likely they still have something in the works. Physics.. is the future. When that future will be, is yet to be seen.
Nintendo Fesses Up to DS Lite Defect
Nintendo has acknowledged a flaw in the DS Lite that could leave some with a cracked case. Some DS Lite handhelds are showing cracks in the left hand side of the case near the hinge, just above the power connector. Nintendo claims the flaw is rare only affecting 0.02% of the total number of DS Lite handhelds shipped.
It seems unlikely that 0.02% is an accurate number, especially since pictures were spotted at a Nintendo store of DS Lites with cracked hinges. Either way, they will fix it for free as long as it’s under a year old.
Review Roundup for July 25
- NMediaPC HTPC 180BA Case – ModTheBox
- NZXT Lexa & Apollo ATX Cases – 3D Gameman
Cases & Enclosures
- Apack ZeroTherm BTF90 Copper Heatsink – FrostyTech
- Evercool SilverKnight Heatpipes + Water CPU Cooler – MadBoxPC
- nMedia ICETANK CPU Cooler- Think Computers
- Thermaltake Big Typhoon – ModSynergy
- Thermaltake Big Typhoon – techPowerUp!
Cooling
- Western Digital WD5000KS 500GB SATA HDD – HotHardware
Memory & Storage
- Foxconn C51XEM2AA 8EKRS2H – Overclockers Online
- Intel Xeon 5160 ‘Woodcrest’ CPU & Armari Magnetar X2 – Hexus
Motherboards & Processors
- Connectland/Brando USB Mini Vacuum – DragonSteelMods
- Logitech mm28 Portable Speakers – Digital Trends
- Super Talent 2GB MEGA Screen MP3 Player – UK Gamer
Peripherals & Power Supplies
- Leadtek 7900 GTX – Technic3D
- Philips 200WB7 20″ WSXGA LCD Widescreen Monitor – Bona Fide Reviews
Displays & Video Cards
- Evesham Voyager C545 – BIOS Magazine
- Sitecom USB On-The-Go Copy Box CN-131 – TechDomain
Complete Systems, Competitions & Etcetera
Philips Semiconductor to Sell for More than $10B
According to reports, Philips’ semiconductor business is up for bids with three private equity teams that is expected to amount more than $10 billion. The reports said that Philips has just a few days to submit a final bid for its business. The company recently announced that it wanted to sell off its semiconductor business unit to focus more heavily on core competencies.
This is somewhat of a surprise. Like we needed another crazy sell so fast ;-)
AMD price drops, not substantial enough?
While the decrease is substantial across the board, the reductions may not be enough to enable AMD to claim an overall price-performance leadership. According to findings published by TG Daily last week and according to a price list we received from Israel today, especially the 4200+, 4600+ and FX-62 models do not achieve this goal.
Even if AMD didn’t drop the prices enough, they are still a relative bargain. Whether the drops are enough to help AMD gain back some of the market after Conroe hits, is yet to be seen.
WGA Identified 60 Million Pirated Copies of Windows OS
Microsoft has recently announced estimative statistics on the performance of its Windows Validation Tool. According to the data, no less than 60 million machines running copies of WGA have failed the tool’s validation since its starting implementing the anti-piracy utility. The controversial tool that many regarded as spyware and that even attracted two class action suits, steered further controversy when the users whose operating system were deemed pirated claimed that they were actually running genuine versions of Windows.
If I had a penny for each installed pirated version of Windows… Yes, this is a crazy high number, but I have to wonder how many of those are not actually illegal copies. Still… a 1 in 5 ratio is ridiculously high!
AMD Plans To Demonstrate Native Quad-Core This Year
Yesterday during AMD’s Q2’06 earnings conference call, AMD’s President and Chief Operating Officer Dirk Meyer recapped the long term plans for the company. Although the bulk of his comments were already stated in during the June AMD Analyst’s Day, Meyer also added the tidbit that the company plans “to demonstration our next-generation processor core, in a native quad-core implementation, before the end of the year.”
It’s too bad that we will not be able to touch these for ourselves until at least late 2007 though. Since Intels Quad Cores will see the light of day later this year, it would be interesting to see some benchmarks run on AMDs version to see how things compare. Either way, it’s too bad these will not be released closer to Intels date.