NEWS, ETC.
March 2002
Saturday, 30 March 2002
Semiconductor
Alert! (March 25-29) Commentary & analysis of week's chip
news. Is DRAM market morphing away from commodity parts? DDR-II...
Eggs
and Computers. The connection between technology and oology
Jump
in Spending Suggests Robust Recovery. U.S.
consumer spending rose in February at the fastest pace since a car
sales-led surge in October, as the economy sailed ahead at full tilt
in the early stages of its emergence from recession.
Warning:
Any User Can "Root" Windows NT and 2000. A
serious hole in Windows NT and Windows 2000 allows any user (even "guest")
to gain complete control of the machine.
Yahoo
Users Fume Over "Spam" Switch. Some Yahoo members
on Friday reacted angrily to changes in the Web portal's e-mail marketing
practices, comparing the company's revised policy to an open invitation
to spam.
Friday, 29 March 2002
Intel
Speeds Up, Boosts Efficiency. 2.4 GHz Pentium 4 next week.
Microsoft
Announces Accumulative Security Patch for Internet Explorer. Includes
the functionality of all previously released patches for IE 5.01,
5.5 and IE 6. In addition, it eliminates two newly discovered
vulnerabilities, the most serious of which would allow script to
run in the Local Computer Zone.
Tech
Companies Set on MPEG-4 Box.
Seven companies agreed this week to build a system that would bring
MPEG-4 to cable set-top boxes. The companies are developing an enhanced
set-top box that combines the movie playback features of a DVD player
and the interactivity of the Web.
Mozilla
1.0 Plods to the Starting Line. The long-awaited open-source
version of the Netscape Web browser has reached a major development
milestone as it nears a first official release.
Bringing
the Net to the Bedroom. Even an amateur can create a custom-designed
Internet appliance.
Robots
Take Aim at Human Heartstrings. Robot riding a bike...
'Parallel'
Migration to Blue-laser DVD Urged
Semiconductor
Sales in January Were Unchanged
Thursday, 28 March 2002
IE
6.0 is Burying Netscape. The death of Netscape would mean writing
for one browser therefore fewer headaches. IE
does not run on Linux, Netscape does.
Inkjet
Process Suggests Wide Spectrum of Innovations. Scientists
say they can produce light-emitting pictures and even photo-voltaic
solar cells from digitized computer images.
Group
Makes Cheap Plastic Solar Energy Cells
Hewlett
Sues Over HP Proxy Solicitation. Walter
Hewlett has filed suit against Hewlett-Packard Co., taking issue with
the process by which HP solicited votes for approval of its acquisition
of Compaq Computer Corp.
In
Depth: Will History Repeat Itself? How could the electronics
industry have misread the tea leaves so badly in late 2000?
How
Fast Can You Surf on a Wireless Network?
IT
Training Rip-offs
Tuesday, 26 March 2002
Just
Plug It In: Networking Via Power Circuits. HomePlug makes it
easy to use existing in-wall wiring for fast home networks. "We
tried out the first HomePlug networking products and found them easy
to install, robust, and fast..."
Memory
Chip Makers Demur on 400MHz DDR-I. Samsung Electronics and
Micron Technology within the last two weeks introduced DDR400 chips
in the present DDR-I architecture. However, the remaining Big Five
DRAM firms said they would wait for the next generation DDR-II standard
to start sampling next year with 400MHz speed. JEDEC
Describes New DDR-II Specs, Says First Parts Due Out in Late 2002.
Unannounced
2.4GHz Pentium 4 Appears in Tokyo. A
new Pentium 4 processor running at 2.4GHz, as yet unannounced by maker
Intel Corp., has appeared in the component shops of Tokyo's Akihabara
district.
Sapphire-based
Chip Moves Data With Light, Not Wires. A research team at Johns
Hopkins University has developed a prototype chip with an optical receiver
that moves data on and off chip with light instead of wires.
Hackers
Find New Way to Bilk eBay Users. Using Geary's
user ID, the person set up an auction for an Intel Pentium computer
chip. Not only that, but the person changed Geary's password so she
could no longer access her own account--or cancel the bogus auction.
Consumer
Confidence Roars in March. The
Conference Board said on Tuesday its closely watched index of consumer
confidence reached its highest level since August, rallying to 110.2,
far outpacing analysts' forecasts of a rise to 98.8.
Monday, 25 March 2002
Start-up
Claims Video Compression Breakthrough. A
Silicon Valley startup claims it has found a new approach to video
compression that blows away the commonly used MPEG-2 standard and will
allow transmission of broadcast-quality video over DSL connections.
Gamers
Helping Specialty PCs Thrive. Companies such
as Voodoo as well as Hypersonic PC, Falcon Northwest and Alienware
are selling high-end PCs to computer game buffs who don't mind paying
a premium for state-of-the-art components and flashy cases.
Nvidia
to Introduce nForce 220 Series Chipsets in April. The nForce
220 series comprises two chipsets, the nForce 220 and the nForce 220-D,
supporting SDRAM and DDR266 architectures, respectively.
A
Guide to Wireless LANs
Remote
Access Software
Saturday, 23 March 2002
Semiconductor
Alert! Commentary & analysis of week's chip news, March
18-22.
E-mail
Giants Change the Rules. AOL rescinds an in-house
e-mail edict, allowing employees to use outside services. Meanwhile,
Microsoft does some spring cleaning in Hotmail accounts, and Yahoo
Mail members are told to pay up.
Friday, 22 March 2002
Expert
Says Look Out With Outlook. A security
specialist issued a research note Thursday warning of a handful of
flaws in Microsoft's Outlook 2002 e-mail software which he claimed
could let "bad guys" cause havoc on a user's computer.
IBM
Acts to Quell Hard-drive Concerns. Desktop
drive reliability is typically measured with the assumption that the
drive is on 60 percent of the time--somewhat higher than 46 percent
of the time that 333 hours a month would mean. On laptops, the standard
duty is 40 percent...
128
Mbit SDRAM Spot Prices Down 10% in One Day. With DRAM manufacturers
also eager to clear out inventories, wholesalers are not optimistic
about short-term DRAM price trends...
Senate
Drops Digital Hammer. Sen. Ernest Hollings (D.-S.C.) dropped
the hammer on Hollywood and Silicon Valley Thursday by introducing
legislation that gives the two quarreling parties one year to develop
standards to prevent online piracy or have Congress impose a standard...
'Bill
Clinton' Worm Gets Around. Virus experts today warned of an
e-mail worm that is spread when recipients open an attachment bearing
a caricature of former president Bill Clinton holding a saxophone with
a bra emerging from the horn.
New
Tips for Windows XP. We
Have a Few also.
Briton
Wires Nervous System to a Computer
Microsoft
Password Research Looks to Images, Not Text
NVIDIA
Powers Digital Entertainment Experience at Game Developers Conference
Thursday, 21 March 2002
Compaq
Shareholders Approve HP Merger. Unlike
the contested battle for HP shareholder votes, in which HP claimed
a narrow victory but opponents have yet to concede defeat, there was
no organized opposition to the merger on the Compaq side.
Micron
Taste-tests Speedier PC Memory. The company
has begun sampling 400MHz double data rate SDRAM to chipset manufacturer
Silicon Integrated Systems. SiS will test the memory with its SiS648,
a new chipset for Intel's Pentium 4 processor.
CeBit
2002 Report Part 1: Intel and AMD
StarOffice
Goes Commercial, and Stays Open-source. "We
are positioning this product as a direct competitor to Microsoft's
Office..."
Wednesday, 20 March 2002
GeForce4
Ti4200 Based Videocards in the End of April
PayPal
Takes Aim at Developers
Asteroid
Buzzes Earth
The
Incredible Shrinking Mobile Phone
Hot
Wireless Trends Not Obvious
Microsoft
Warns of New Java Security Hole
Tuesday, 19 March 2002
Clearly,
This Chip Could be a Monster. The
X3 sensor produces images so real in appearance that some experts
are saying it will render conventional film obsolete.
HP
Claims Victory in Shareholder Vote. Management believes shareholders
have approved H-P/Compaq merger but dissident shareholder Walter Hewlett
is also optimistic about the outcome of the vote.
Shark
Tank: We Have a Winner. IT manager pilot fish has been up all
night stomping out network problems, so when he tracks it down to a
router problem, he calls Cisco technical support -- and promptly falls
asleep...
Global
Warming Shatters Giant Antarctic Ice Shelf. An
Antarctic ice shelf the size of a small country has disintegrated under
the impact of global warming, scientists said Tuesday.
Monday, 18 March 2002
MandrakeSoft,
SuSe Add New Life to Linux. SuSE and MandrakeSoft are set to
release new versions of their software, improving multimedia features
as well as introducing more advanced versions of the underlying core
technology.
Dell
Sees No Signs of Strong Market Rebound
Friday, 15 March 2002
Semiconductor
Alert! (March 11-15) Commentary & analysis of week's chip
news.
Newsbytes
Internet Week In Review. These were the top, breaking news
stories in interactive services, the Internet, broadband, and e-commerce,
as reported by Newsbytes this week...
Koreans
About to Roll-out New LCD Generation. "We can make 17,
22, and 40in. TV screens at the new generation 5 fab," Lee said. "That
can help this market take off. LCD screens for TV will be a growth
market, although I don't think it will ramp up as quickly as the explosive
growth of LCD monitors."
HP,
Compaq Product Lines in Question. The
two companies have a significant overlap in product families across
the PC, PC server, and handheld groups, and there is even potential
for clash on their Unix servers as well.
Serving
the Holy Grail. LED BY
IBM, a range of industry players is expected to deliver later this
year a variety of solutions that promise to lower the inherent costs
associated with running distributed computing environments.
SiS
Chipset Supports 400-MHz DDR Memory. SiS
Makes a Splash at CeBIT 2002 Computer Show.
2Q
motherboard and Chipset Sales Estimate: Down 10-15% from 1Q.
With weak demand from distribution channels, high DRAM prices and a
possible Pentium 4 price reduction, many motherboard and chipset manufacturers
are already predicting that the impact of the traditional low season
in the second quarter will be more pronounced this year.
Tasty
Web Sites
Distant
Planet is Blue and Beautiful
Thursday,
14 March 2002
FCC
Takes Major Step Toward Deregulating Broadband. Rule change reclassifies
broadband via cable modem as an "information service," freeing
the cable industry from regulations that typically are applied to "telecommunications
services," including making access to their lines available to
competing Internet service providers.
NVIDIA
Announces nForce 620-D And nForce 615-D Platform Processors
Desks
are Alive with the Sound of Music. The Soundbug can be plugged
into the headphone socket of, for example, an MP3 player or a walkman,
and then fixed by suction to the flat surface--effectively turning
a desk or window into a speaker.
PC
Stocks Fall as Analysts' Forecasts Converge
Wednesday, 13 March 2002
AMD
Introduces New Processors a CeBIT. Athlon™
XP 2100+, Athlon MP processor 2000+ for servers and workstations, and
the mobile Athlon 4 processor 1600+. AMD
Announces Transition to .13 Micron Technology. AMD
today announced that it plans to begin shipping Athlon™ XP processors
codenamed “Thoroughbred” based on .13 micron technology to customers
later this month. AMD
Partners With Compaq and NVIDIA. Compaq
Presario 8000 systems featuring the NVIDIA nForce Platform Architecture
with integrated GeForce2 graphics are available with AMD Athlon XP
processors 1600+ up to 2100+, with starting prices ranging from $885
to $1,299.
AOL
Testing Mozilla as Alternative to the Internet Explorer
Tuesday, 12 March 2002
Component
Orders Jumped 30% in February. After a yearlong downward spiral,
electronic component orders turned up in February as more parts suppliers
reported rising OEM demand in line with the improving U.S. economy
Intel
Shrinks Chips to 90 Nanometers. Intel announced
that its labs have produced memory chips that contain 330 million transistors,
through manufacturing technology that will hit the mainstream next
year.
Monday,
11 March 2002
Military
Spending Up, but... The government seems to have gotten that
message loud and clear. The focus in the defense establishment now
is heavily on buying commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) parts...
Guide
to Do-It-Yourself Tax Sites. Tax sites on the Web offer cheapest
do-it-yourself alternatives, with caveats.
Shuttle
to Introduce New “X-Book” at CeBIT Hannover. “X-Book” is based
on the concept of notebooks without equipment such as batteries, so
the price is lower.
Friday, 8 March 2002
It
Will be Raining Chips at CeBit. Intel and AMD are expected
to release a flood of chips next week as the world's biggest trade
show rolls into Hannover, Germany. Tech
Companies Look to Ignite IT Recovery.
Astronauts
Complete Space Walking Work on Hubble Telescope
Parts
Maker Recalls HP Printer Power Cords. HP
Deskjet 800 series and 900 series; and HP Photosmart 1000 series, 1100
series, 1200 series and 1300 series ink-jet printers. Safety
Hazard!
Apple's
OS X: What Linux Wants To Be? Following Apple's
successful introduction of its new UNIX-based operating system, OS
X (pronounced OS Ten), many are asking whether OS X poses a serious
challenge to Linux for the title of best alternative desktop operating
system. Others go even further, asking whether OS X is the UNIX world's
best chance to topple Microsoft's Windows hegemony.
Specs
Defined for 2.5-inch Removable Hard Drive. Looking to establish
a common platform for removable hard-disk drives in both PC and non-PC
products, eight Japanese companies have formed the iVDR Hard-Disk Drive
Consortium.
DRAM
Makers Celebrate Revival of Prosperity. A resurgence in demand
from the PC sector and tighter capacity due to industry consolidation
and cutbacks in capital spending seem to have created a new inflection
point in the DRAM market, which in 2001 suffered perhaps its worse
year ever.
Sun
Sues Microsoft Over Java
Thursday, 7 March 2002
Greenspan:
Expansion 'Well Under Way'
Nanya:
Strong DRAM Orders From International PC OEMs Point to PC Market Recovery
Shuttle
Astronauts Add Powerful Camera to Hubble. Columbia
added a new camera the size of a phone booth to the Hubble Space Telescope's
array of scientific instruments on Thursday, potentially extending
the telescope's optical reach to the ends of the universe.
Home
Internet Access Tops Record 500 Million. The United
States and Canada led with 191.7 million people connected to the
Internet.
Sequencing
One Human's Genome In Less Than 24 Hours. What took hundreds
of researchers working together for nearly 10 years to complete soon
may be accomplished in less than a day.
Ziff
Davis Looks for More Time. And with its ad revenue outlook
still deteriorating, the company may be headed for a bankruptcy if
it can't buy more time on a loan it took out in the form of a credit
line while it restructures. Ziff
Davis brings us PC
Mag and ExtremeTech among
other publications.
Spies
Can Exploit Computer Lights, Monitor Glow
Sharp
Embeds a Digital Still Camera in PDA. The
Zaurus MI-E25DC has a 310,000-pixel digital still camera embedded in
the back of it will allow users to send and receive still images from
mobile phones.
Washing
Machine the Key to Low-power Processing
Wednesday, 6 March 2002
Beware
of Microsoft Security Updates. Security firms Wednesday warned
that another virus began making its rounds on the Net this week, and
this one is masquerading as a Microsoft security update.
DOJ:
Microsoft Case Not Strong Enough. Conceded
that it settled with Microsoft in part because trustbusters failed
to prove part of the basic theory of the antitrust case.
Top
10 Scanners
Hubble's
Heartbeat Healthy. Astronaut John Grunsfeld tightened
up a final connector to complete a complex electronic heart transplant,
wiring in a replacement power control unit to give the observatory
a new lease on life.
Tuesday, 5 March 2002
Broadband
Access Usage Outpaces Dial-Up Access. High-speed
Internet usage accounted for more than half of all time spent online
in January, outpacing dial-up Internet access for the first time...
DRAM
Prices Expected to Continue to Rise... as demand from the computer
sector and inventory replenishment eats away at supplies.
Internet
Worm Set to Delete Files on Wednesday. Computer
security companies on Tuesday warned that a dangerous new Internet
worm, dubbed Klez.E, that is spreading will try to delete and overwrite
files on infected computers beginning on Wednesday.
Microsoft
Issues Java Patch... for a security flaw in Java virtual machine
(Microsoft VM) that attackers could exploit to redirect browser traffic.
Morpheus
Boosts Gnutella, But Leaves Users Wanting More. The release
last week of a new Morpheus based on open-source software for peer-to-peer
file-sharing led to a dramatic increase in the number of users on the
Gnutella network over the weekend...
Comdex
Chicago: Focus Should be on Mobility, Kumar Says
Monday, 4 March 2002
Intel
Takes Pentium 4 on the Road. Intel says the
Pentium 4-M chip for laptops offers an overall performance increase
of as much as 49 percent compared with its top-of-the-line Pentium
III-M chip.
Picture's
Fuzzy for DVD. DVD Forum gives nod to low-bit-rate encoding,
nixes blue laser.
Vendor
Bets $100,000 its New Web Server is Impenetrable
Macromedia
Gives Flash a Major Overhaul
Friday, 1 March 2002
Nvidia
to Launch Updated nForce Chipset in March and nForce2 Likely in June. The
new chipset, possibly to be codenamed Crush17, will continue to support
the AMD platform. Although other specifications of the chipset have
still not been released, the market expects that the nForce2 will likely
be based on the latest DDR333 or DDR400 architectures.
Recovery
Gains Steam in First Quarter. "Recovery
is here and it is here more forcefully than I think just about anybody
expected," said Richard Berner, chief U.S. economist at Morgan
Stanley. Wars do that sort of thing.
Does
Business Really Care About Faster Computer Chips? The desktop
machines are plenty fast enough for the environment that most of us
use at the office...
Microsoft
Steps Up Anti-AOL Campaign. MSN is upping the ante in its fight
against America Online for Internet access subscribers, offering a
cool $50 to anyone willing to make the switch by the end of May.
XP
Update to Go Beyond Mere Fixes. Along with
squashing bugs, as service packs normally do, Microsoft's first major
update to Windows XP will add support for Tablet PCs and a fancier
graphical interface. Will be available as early as the third
quarter.
IBM
Will Steer PowerPC Into Mobile Mart. IBM is establishing a
separate design group in Raleigh, N.C., that initially will create
follow-on products based on the PowerPC 405LP (low power) system-on-chip,
which is slated to sample next quarter.
Swedish
Scientists Find Way to Kill Cancer Tumors. Experts
have found a way to repair a defective gene that encourages cancer
and to make it kill off tumors.
Swedes
Take The Lead In Nano Thread Semiconductors. “In nano threads,
we can combine semiconductor materials that no one has previously been
able to grow. This results in entirely new electrical properties: a
single electron can be monitored and made to run a unidimensional electronic
steeplechase.”
PHP
Security Flaws Widespread on the Web. Scripting language could
leave as many as 1 million Web sites vulnerable to attack, researcher
says. Make that 999,999 web sites...
fix was installed this AM.
Intel
Launches 'Radio Free Intel' to Connect PCs, Cell Phones via RF Technologies
Index |
