NEWS, ETC.
April 2001
4/30 Chinese
Hackers Strike U.S. Sites. Chinese crackers apparently got an
early start on what the government and security companies are predicting
will be a wave of attacks against U.S. Web sites this week.
4/30 IBM
Unveils New Picture-in-Picture Computer Monitor. ...20.8-inch
screen featuring a picture-in-picture television stream, split-screen
configurations, and a resolution so high that analysts say it could almost
be used for X-rays.
4/30 Broadband
Homes To Number 90Mil Globally By '04 - Report
4/30 Intel
Faces Delays to 0.13 Micron Move
4/30 Peer-to-Peer
Begins to Look More Server-Centric. "It looks
now like the model that is going to be prevalent will be some sort of
hybrid where you have centralized services but you [also] have interactions
managed through peer-to-peer protocols..."
4/27 GDP
Grows at 2 Percent Annual Rate. Analysts said the report indicated
that the economy was not in as bad shape as it had appeared.
4/27 Nanotechnology
Breakthrough Forwards the Chip Revolution. Manipulation of molecular
structures, will allow IBM to more easily create groups of transistors
from tiny cylinders called carbon nanotubes, which are 10,000 times narrower
than a human hair. Organic... More here. Press
release.
4/27 Robot
Arm Handshake on Hold. For a second day, a computer "glitch" on
the International Space Station delayed NASA’s attempts to operate the
newly installed robot arm.
4/27 Update:
FBI Warns of Chinese May Day Hack Attacks
4/27 Group
Says Microsoft's XP Raises Antitrust Anew. Microsoft Corp.'s
rivals on Thursday accused the company of continuing to flout U.S. antitrust
laws by tying the latest version of its media player software into its
new Windows XP operating system.
4/27 Vishay
Critical of General Semiconductor's Response to Proposed Business Combination
4/26 Let
the Game Wars Begin. Microsoft alone declaring that it will spend
$500 million over an 18-month period to market Xbox. You
may have to log into the NY Times, but it is free and is well worth the
little effort that it takes.
4/26 Bills
To Extend Net-Tax Moratorium Debut In Congress
4/26 Intel
Says 2 ghz Pentium 4 on Track for Third Quarter
4/26 Intel
Shows Off 2-GHz Pentium 4
4/26 AMD
Touts Size Advantage of New Chip. AMD disclosed that the
first of several forthcoming processors, code-named Clawhammer, will
be only 105 millimeters square--about the same size as a current Athlon
chip and half the size of Intel's current Pentium 4 chips.
4/26 AMD
2001 Shareholders' Meeting: New CPU Roadmap.
4/26 Office
XP Cracks Down on Casual Copying.
4/26 State
of the Art: Makeover for Desktop PC Adds Style, and a Stylus. Sony
Vaio Slimtop Pen Tablet is the first consumer PC with a 15-inch flat-panel
touch screen.
4/26 AMD
Will Cut Prices on 30th April.
4/26 Sun
Project Seeks Unified Peer-to-Peer Computing. Project could
create a protocol for peer-to-peer computing that will be as widely used
as TCP/IP and HTTP have been for the Internet.
4/26 Gigabit
Ethernet for the Masses. Gigabit Ethernet is becoming a network
commodity...
4/26 Chernobyl
to Hit Again Today. This virus can delete a computer's entire
hard drive and corrupt its BIOS, leaving it unbootable.
4/26 Intel:
MEMS the Word. Micro-refrigerators, mini-tweezers for microbiologists,
wireless antenna controllers--these are the types of products Intel could
start producing with its move into microelectrical mechanics.
4/26 Microsoft
ties Media Player 8 to Windows XP. The latest features of the
Windows Media Player 8, particularly CD recording and DVD playback, will
only be available in Windows XP.
4/26 Intel-AMD
Price War May Spur New Tech Boom. Now,
where have I heard that before? Ah, yes, here.
4/26 New
Dinosaur Fossil Ruffles Feathers
Do to a computer error, actually mine, we lost
the headlines for 23-25 April 20001. Larry
4/20 The Intel 1.7 Ghz Pentium 4 Will
Launch on Monday and Cost $350 (no hyperlink).
4/20 Microsoft
Posts Solid Earnings, Beats Street. Microsoft
quote a long time ago: "Software... It's like printing your own
money."
4/20 Dell
Grabs PC Top Spot from Compaq. Dell Computer surpassed Compaq
Computer in the first quarter to become the world's largest PC maker,
the first time the rankings have shifted in about seven years.
4/20 Ignition
for Scramjets. The first flight tests towards ultra-high
speed air travel will take off in May.
4/21 Chip
War Heats Up. In the fourth quarter of 2000, Intel processors powered
81.5% of PCs while AMD had 17.1%. Now, in the first months of 2001,
Intel's share has fallen to 77.3% and AMD's has grown to 21.1%.
4/19 New
Epox BIOS Solves VIA KT133A Chipset, 686B Southbridge Problem
4/19 New
Pentium 4 to Debut Next Week. Intel will show off Foster, the
Pentium 4 chip designed for workstations and servers, for the first time
next week at the National Association of Broadcasters conference in Las
Vegas.
4/18 Who
Needs Software Engineers? Soon We'll All be Programmers
4/18 Mobo
Makers Turn Backs on Rambus Development
4/18 Intel
Profit Slid 82% in 1st Quarter
4/18 New
AMD Processor Pricing
4/18 P-To-P
Can Be Efficient Solution For Lean Times
4/17 Dean
Kent's April 2001 Industry Update. VIA continues to take
market share in the chipset business from Intel. Socket A motherboards
have gone form 22% to over 30% of the market in the last year. P4
motherboard sales were fairly dismal the past quarter with less than
half of the expected volume.
4/17 Words
and Pictures Are Combined to Form a New Industry. You
may have to log into the NY Times, but it is free and is well worth the
little effort that it takes.
4/17 Designing
a Behemoth and a Comet
4/17 Etching
Process Shrinks Design Rules to 25 Nanometers. Or about 100 silicon
atoms wide.
4/17 Office 95 Doesn't Make the Upgrade. Microsoft
Office 95 users will not be able to take the upgrade route to Office XP and
will instead have to buy the full version.
4/16 The first issue of the Dux Computer Newsletter
has been sent. Click Newsletter to
read it on-line.
4/16 Intel
to Slash Pentium 4 Prices. Intel spokesperson confirmed the
company will be slashing wholesale prices of its Pentium 4 processors
on April 29th. %50-%60. 1.7 Ghz Pentium 4, will drop from US$700
on its April 23 release date to $350 six days later.
4/16 Red
Hat Unveils Latest Linux Distribution
4/16 LCD
Monitor War Looms
4/16 Deciphering
Microsoft's .Net Puzzle. Microsoft's .Net strategy is something
akin to the old television game show "Concentration," which
challenged viewers to decipher a phrase cleverly written in letters and
hieroglyphics.
4/16 Neutron
Stars Contain Diamond Cores. "Thus it seems likely that
inside each neutron star is a 'Diamond as big as the Ritz..."
4/16 Free
to Be P-to-P. Although all eyes will
be on the July 1 rebirth of Napster, companies aren't waiting to see
whether a legitmate p-to-p business model can be found.
4/16 MPEG-4
Video Format Picks up Key Supporters. An MPEG-4 transfer format
based on the Real-time Transfer Protocol (RTP) has moved closer to becoming
an accepted standard for the transfer of compressed video streams.
4/13 Ellis
Island Records Go Online. The immigration records of more than
17 million Americans who entered the country through Ellis Island, N.Y.
will go online for the first time next Tuesday, Apr. 17.
4/13 Owl
Hearing Relies on Advanced Math
4/13 Authorities
Uncover Global Net Banking Scam
4/13 DSL
Voice Proposal Stirs Ire
4/13 Windows
XP Will Support USB 2.0, Somehow
4/13 Samsung
SM-308: Three Drives for the Price of One. The drive has the
ability to read from and write to CD-R and CD-RW media as well as read
DVD-ROM disks.
4/13 Can
the Pentium 4 Recover? This
year looks bleak. Expect continued margin erosion and declining
ASPs. The erosion of market share to rival AMD will endure relatively
unabated, and expect upstarts VIA and Transmeta to also make more gains
at Intel’s expense.
4/12 Data-corruption
Bug Hits VIA Chipsets. KT133A, 686B Southbridge.
4/12 Why
are Moths Attracted to Light?
4/12 Moving
Music Past the MP3 Format. 'Microsoft plans to severely limit
the quality of music that can be recorded as an MP3 file using software
built into Windows XP, according to the report!'
4/12 MP3
Encoders Ripping Along Without Microsoft.
4/12 First
Chip-making Machine Using 0.03 Micron Technology Announced. News
release.
4/12 Scientists
Teach Computer to Speak
4/11 Dear Readers... Next Monday, April
16th, I am going to start an E-Mail Newsletter. It will be a biweekly
and about 2-3 pages long. If you would like to subscribe please
click here. I have already signed-up current Forum members
and those who took our survey a few months ago. I hope that is OK... The
link also has an unsubscribe function. Please E-Mail
me if there is a problem. I hope you will find the Dux Computer
Newsletter interesting... Got to do something besides banner ads
if I want to take the wife out to dinner once and a while... Larry
4/11 Chip-making
Machine to Fuel Next-gen Computers. Machine prototype uses
extreme ultraviolet lithography to trace ultra small circuitry lines
on silicon wafers.
4/11 Big
Bang. Our Universe exploded into action after being hit
by another, say physicists. Sure...
and where did the two universes come from?
4/11 Farewell
Clippy: What's Happening to the Infamous Office Assistant in Office XP. Good
riddance!
4/11 When
the Music's Over... In the face of increased advertising fees
prompted by actors, streaming radio sites are getting their plugs pulled
for a while.
4/11 LEDs
Eye Benefits of Going Organic. There's uniform agreement that
organic light-emitting diode displays will be the next big thing in flat
panels, but there's substantial disagreement on how fast the technology
will get up to speed.
4/10 CPU Price War! Pentium
4 Prices May Drop by Over 50% Before the End of April. More here. And here.
4/10 Why
Mathematicians Care About Their Hat Color
4/10 3D
Web Surfing Gets a CPU Boost. Macromedia's
Director 8.5 Shockwave Studio lets Web surfers view 3D graphics faster
by sending the data across the network and an instruction set that tells
CPU what to do the with the data. Press
release.
4/10 FTP
Software Open to Attack
4/9 Internet
Critic Takes on Microsoft. You may
have to log into the NY Times, but it is free and is well worth the little
effort that it takes.
4/9 New
Material Reverses Snell's Law. Material with a negative
index of refraction...
4/9 Intel
Closes in on 2GHz. 1.7GHz Pentium 4 will officially debut 23
April and will appear in PCs from Dell Computer, among others. Intel
and AMD to cut prices 20 percent or more 15 and 16 April, respectively.
4/9 Intel
Releases 850MHz Celeron.
4/9 PlayStation
2 Gets Hard Drive, Broadband.
4/9 Carrier,
IBM to Provide First Web-enabled Air Conditioner. Air conditioner
that wirelessly communicates in real time with other devices such as
mobile phones and personal computers.
4/9 Bush
to Propose Legislation on TV Move to Digital
4/9 High-speed
Wireless LANs Are Coming. About a year from now, the first high-speed
wireless LAN products will hit the market, promising to deliver a data
rate of up to 54M bit/sec.
4/9 Microsoft’s
Whistler: Now Serving Up Beta 2. Windows
XP may be getting all the attention, but Whistler Server Beta 2 is
nothing to sneeze at.
4/9 RDRAM
vs. DDR: Will A Lawsuit Lead To A Price War?
4/6 Crucial
PC2100 DDR Memory Selling Like Hotcakes
4/6 Intel
to Cut P4, Pentium III Prices 15 April. May Intro 1.7 GHz P4
4/6 Microsoft
Tweaks Its Browser. IE6 gets
a tune-up, but stays the same under the hood. You can download
the Beta here. IE6
Beta Bug Can Blank-out Email.
4/6 Microsoft's
Virus Antidote: Ban Attachments. Outlook 2002 will by default
reject more than 30 types of files sent as e-mail attachments.
4/6 Web
Services: The New Plug And Play?
4/6 Storage
Networking: The Next Big Thing?
4/6 General
Semi Expected to Reject Vishay Bid
4/5 Microsoft
Puts Web Server on Smart Card
4/5 AMD
Announces CPU Price Drop Effective 16 April
4/5 Ten
O'Clock Tech: Low-End PCs Speed Up
4/5 Analysts:
Market Bottom for Internet, Tech Sectors at Hand
4/5 Study
Shows Web Radio Gaining Success. 23 radio sites in the
US are attracting at least 2 percent of all adults in their immediate
market.
4/5 Fly
Ear Research May Improve Hearing Aids. Sonar?
4/5 Site
to Pinpoint Federal Spending. An Internet site that will
show in detail how the federal government spends money in congressional
district.
4/5 Antivirus
Firm Predicts Bug Flood. Virus attacks may triple by the end
of the year.
4/5 IT
Telecommuting Brings Productivity Home
4/4 DDR
vs. SDRAM Power - Revisited. I
don't know how I missed this one, but it is definitely worth a read. In
a nutshell, 266 Mhz PC2100 DDR memory uses about 40% less power (and
generates less heat) than that used by PC133/100 SDRAM memory.
4/4 Top
Tax Software Programs
4/4 Micron
to Increase DDR Memory Output to 30% of its DRAM Output in Q4. The
company said it is currently offering DDR SDRAM products at "near
price parity" with mainstream SDRAMs.
4/4 General
Semiconductor Board to Mull Vishay Offer
4/4 Genetics
Company Links with Oracle, Hitachi. Oracle and Hitachi have joined
biopharmaceutical company Myriad Genetics in a three-year project to
map and catalog all human proteins and their interactions with cells.
4/4 PC
Users Enlisted to Fight Cancer. A distributed computing project
at Oxford University will let PC owners use their wasted CPU cycles to
find potential cancer-fighting drugs.
4/4 Record
Industry Back on the Hot Seat
4/4 MSN
Joins Net Music Players. Starts today here.
4/4 Boom
Predicted For Speech-Recognition Software. The speech-recognition
software market is projected to increase more than tenfold over the next
four years.
4/4 Analyst
Says Semi-Conductor Downturn Could Last Three Years
4/4 DRAM
Inventories Fall, but Prices Still Uncertain. Six months after
DRAM sales fell off a cliff, there's evidence the supply glut that preceded
that fall is starting to ease somewhat while demand has started picking
up again...
4/3 PC2100
266 MHz DDR Memory is Starting to Get Cheap. $60.29 for 128 MB.
4/3 Rival
Plans Stir Rumors of Post-PCI Bus War
4/3 Chip
Furthers AMD's Computer Overhaul Plan. API NetWorks' AP1011 chip
enables HyperTransport...
4/3 Fire
Storm. Sun's current bout of violent activity continues, with
the most powerful solar flare in 12 years
4/3 VIA's
KT266: The Socket A Champion?
4/3 Intel
Yields Silicon On 0.13-Micron, 300mm Wafers. 300mm = 12
inches! Production 2002... Costs 30% less than smaller wafers.
4/3 Vishay
Proposes Buying General Semiconductor for $466M
4/3 Microsoft
in Hot Pursuit of Software Pirates
4/2 COMDEX
Starts in Chicago
4/2 Motorola
Intros Java Phones
4/2 The
Palm Phenom. "I'm in control here." Palm CEO
Carl Yankowski eyes a new add-on that turns a Palm into a camera.
4/2 Windows
Hardware Engineering Conference Report. Lot's of
hardware stuff and plenty of pictures.
4/2 Into
Thin Air: Demand for IT Workers Ebbs
4/2 IT
Recruiters Exploit Layoffs. Companies
are now jockeying to grab dot-com downsizing victims in order to fill
long-vacant technology jobs.
4/2 Why
Do Fingers Wrinkle in the Bath?
4/2 AMD
Announces 900 Mhz Duron Processor. $129 in quantity.
4/2 XP:
A Wake Up Call for Windows
March
2001
February
2001
January
2001
2000
1998 & 1999 |
