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• Get Right 4.0 Beta 4 released
  Time: 17:16 EDT/22:16 GMT Source: Beta Bites Posted By: Alex H

  A new Beta 4 of GetRight 4.0 has been released that fixes some bugs. GetRight allows graceful recovery and resuming if you are disconnected in the middle of saving a file from the web to your PC's hard drive.

  Download the full version of GetRight 4.0 Beta 4 (1.87MB) here or grab the update from Beta - Beta 4 (676KB) here.

   
• Outcast Website Updated
  Time: 17:13 EDT/22:13 GMT Source: Beta Bites Posted By: Alex H

  Just read on Beta Bites that Infogrammes have updated their Outcast website with a new screenshot and Outcast Outakes. Plus, you can see behind the scenes cinematics from the making of Outcast with bloopers and blunders from the actual characters in the game. Best of all though, you can enter the Outcast contest for some major prizes by mailing an Ecard.

   
• Internet Explorer 5.0 Upgrades Coming
  Time: 16:51 EDT/21:51 GMT Source: Netigen Web Posted By: Alex H

  Just read on Netigen Web that WinInfo has posted a small look at the Internet Explorer 5.0 upgrades that Microsoft has planned for a Fall release. First on the list is Internet Explorer 5.0 Service Pack 1 -- a set of fixes for common issues. The SP fixes over thirty known problems though none are particularly serious.

  For new features Windows users will want to turn to MSIE 5.01 -- a new version of IE that includes the bug fixes in SP1 as well as several new features that were originally planned for Windows 2000. So IE 5.01 will be the version of Internet Explorer that's included with Windows 2000.

   
• Lycos Provides Live Webcam View of Last Total Solar Eclipse of the Millennium
  Time: 16:44 EDT/21:44 GMT Source: Yahoo News Posted By: Alex H

  Lycos, Inc. (NASDAQ: LCOS - news), the fastest growing Internet portal and world's largest online community, in cooperation with the datacenter of the ULM University in Ulm, Germany, will provide live video from the EclipseCAM at the Planetarium Laupheim, in Laupheim Germany, giving users real-time access to the total solar eclipse on Wednesday, August 11 beginning at 10:00 a.m. Central European Standard Time (4:00 a.m. EST/1:00 a.m. PST). Lycos.com users across the globe can safely and efficiently view this extraordinary event via the World Wide Web at The Planetarium Laupheim Lycos site located at http://www.lycos.de/webguides/special/sofi99/english.html.

  Two camera-equipped telescopes will cover the total solar eclipse while another camera will take pictures of the surrounding areas as the moon blocks the sun. Online astronomers can choose between ``GIF-Streaming'' and ``Real Video'' video formats.

   
• IBM boosts hard drives for notebooks
  Time: 16:44 EDT/21:44 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Alex H

  IBM is flexing its muscle as a component supplier by announcing a hard drive for portable computers that has the largest data capacity yet. IBM said today that it has started shipping a 25GB hard drive for notebook PCs, the largest to date. IBM is delivering the drive in limited quantities to Dell Computer and Compaq. 

  Under the aegis of its technology group, IBM has accelerated its push this year to establish itself as a major supplier of components to computer makers. IBM is one of the world's largest manufacturers of hard drives, liquid crystal displays, and semiconductors respectively.

  IBM also said today that it has started to deliver an 18GB drive. Typically, the largest hard drive in most notebook PCs today is about 14GB. This matches Fujitsu which has begun shipping a drive with 18GB of data capacity. High-capacity drives enable, among other things, the storage of large music, video, and multimedia files on a computer. For example, the IBM drive can hold about 20 TV-quality movies, the company said.

   

• Hewlett-Packard starts E-speak pilot projects
  Time: 16:42 EDT/21:42 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Alex H

  Hewlett-Packard's E-speak Internet service technology is moving out of the company's labs and into pilot projects, the project's leader said today. HP unveiled the technology in May, describing its plans to spread e-speak to the computers across the Internet that help businesses deliver services to customers. E-speak is a software architecture that includes server-based software applications and programming tools. 

  The E-speak system is intended to give companies a jump-start in building e-commerce applications. E-speak includes basic infrastructure capabilities like messaging, mediation, security, naming, and monitoring for e-services running on or accessed by various devices. E-speak is core to HP's e-services campaign, an effort to make sure HP benefits when companies move sophisticated services and their own business processes to the Internet.

  The e-services plan has helped propel HP's stock price to its recent all-time high, but much of the effort still is in its early stages. Today's announcement is an indication that E-speak is moving out of the confines of HP and one of its initial partners, the Internet Travel Network.

   
• Memory prices climb in August
  Time: 16:41 EDT/21:41 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Alex H

  Memory chip prices are climbing in August after having dropped in May and June, a sign the market may be stabilizing after a brief downturn and further evidence that the "free" PC phenomenon may be contributing to PC growth.

  The market for the 64-megabit variety of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) rose 10 percent from July, according to a report in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, a major Japanese business daily. The 64-megabit chip is the most widely used memory chip and succeeds the 16-megabit version for use in the main memory of personal computers.

  Memory prices have been on a roller coaster over the last 10 months. After a number of years of price free-fall, Micron Technology, back in March, reported a jump in earnings for the first time in a year, partly due to a rise in prices. Then, prices plunged again on the spot market. At that time, 64-megabit DRAM chips fell to a record low.

   

• Phoenix announces USB support for Microsoft Windows NT Embedded 4.0
  Time: 16:36 EDT/21:36 GMT Source: USB Workshop Posted By: Alex H

  Phoenix Technologies Ltd. -- the leading provider of system enabling solutions for the connected computing universe -- today announced full USB software support for the Microsoft Windows NT Embedded operating system version 4.0 with its system enabling software and its USBAccess(tm) connectivity solutions.

  Windows NT Embedded 4.0, announced by Microsoft Corp. in February -- with general availability announced yesterday -- delivers new features and design tools to help manufacturers of embedded and specific function devices reduce time to market for new devices, lower development costs and improve the functionality of their solutions. The new features include support for headless operation (in which no mouse, keyboard or display devices are required), diskless operation (in which users can operate from read-only media such as CD-ROMs or FLASH) and remote management capabilities.

  The Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard has been extremely successful, with millions of USB devices on the market today. Now, Phoenix solutions in two areas allow USB capability to be added to embedded systems based on Windows NT Embedded 4.0. Phoenix system enabling software, also known as BIOS, not only supports USB, but also provides additional support and features to complement the Windows NT Embedded 4.0 software. Phoenix's USB protocol firmware, USBAccess, commonly referred to as the 'USB Stack,' enables Windows NT Embedded 4.0-based systems to support USB peripherals.

   

• Mobile Celeron speeds ahead of PII
  Time: 16:31 EDT/21:31 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Alex H

  Intel set release a 466MHz mobile Celeron - making it 'faster' than the high-end Mobile Pentium II. Intel Corp. is facing a mobile megahertz quandary. The Santa Clara, Calif., chip maker will launch its fastest-yet mobile processors in September -- but they won't be Pentium IIIs. Instead, Intel's mantle of the fastest processor will pass to the 433MHz and 466MHz mobile Celeron chips with 128KB of integrated level 2 cache, due on Sept. 15, according to sources. And there's the rub. That product release will create the unusual situation where cheaper, Celeron-powered notebooks will appear to be faster than top-of-the-line Mobile Pentium II notebooks.

   
• GM forms giant e-commerce unit
  Time: 16:31 EDT/21:31 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Alex H

  In yet another indication of the growing importance of e-commerce, General Motors Corp. is combining its disparate worldwide efforts to reach buyers on the Web. The world's biggest corporation on Tuesday announced e-GM, a new business unit that will encompass its 100-plus Web sites and its OnStar Service, an onboard navigational and communications system. e-GM also will be responsible for heading up projects and partnerships that could bring a raft of new information services directly into GM makes such as Saturn, Chevrolet, Buick and Oldsmobile.

   
• MyShoppingClub Offers Free MSN Net Access
  Time: 16:23 EDT/21:23 GMT Source: Techweb Posted By: Alex H

  Online shopping MyShoppingClub said Monday that it would give free Internet access from Microsoft with every membership. Joining the Club cost $59 a year or $99 for two years. Internet access through Microsoft Network normally costs $19.95 a month. MSN has been fighting a losing battle to overtake America Online, which boasts 20 million users, compared to 2 million for MSN.

   
• AOL Finds Ally In Juno
  Time: 16:23 EDT/21:23 GMT Source: Techweb Posted By: Alex H

  America Online on Monday signed Juno Online Services to its growing list of instant-messaging ISP allies. Under the terms of the deal, AOL will let Juno's 6.8 million customers to receive instant e-mail from AOL users. Dulles, Va.-based AOL has a subscription base of 17 million users and 28 million AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) registrants. Juno plans to collaborate with AOL and offer a co-branded version of the AIM technology, company executives said. 

  The terms of the deal were not disclosed. New York-based Juno would not say when the service would be available to customers. The company offers free dial-up Internet access and Web mail.

   
• Red Hat IPO Could Launch In Stormy Market
  Time: 16:22 EDT/21:22 GMT Source: Techweb Posted By: Alex H

  Red Hat Software, scheduled for its IPO this week, could be in for a rough ride if the sour IPO market trend continues. Because many IPOs last week underperformed, eight of the 11 companies scheduled to go public Friday on the Nasdaq exchange have delayed their offerings until this week, said Corey Ostman, CTO at Ostman, in Torrance, Calif., a provider of IPO information over the Web. The three companies that were introduced on Wall Street Friday -- Datalink, Internet Gold-Golden Lines, and Tumbleweed Communications -- either closed pennies above or below their offering price.

  Goldman, Sachs & Co., Thomas Weisel Partners, and ETrade Securities certainly are among those anxious to see what Monday's market will bring. All are underwriters for Red Hat, North America's leading distributor of Linux, an upstart open-source OS that has gained acceptance in corporate boardrooms as well as snagged server market share during the past year.

   

• Lucent Strikes Again
  Time: 16:18 EDT/21:18 GMT Source: Wired News Posted By: Alex H

  Lucent Technologies, moving to strengthen its data networking business, said Tuesday it would buy telecom software maker International Network Services for about US$3.7 billion worth of stock. International Network Services, or INS, makes software used to integrate and manage IP networks -- those that run on Internet protocol, which directs traffic on the World Wide Web. Lucent (LU) said in a statement that it had signed a definitive agreement for the acquisition. Under its terms, each share of INS (INSS) will be converted into 0.8473 shares of Lucent. Based on Lucent's closing Monday stock price of $63.625, the acquisition would be valued at about $3.7 billion, or about $54 an INS share, on a fully diluted basis.

   
• FTC Closes Book on Intel Case
  Time: 16:15 EDT/21:15 GMT Source: PC World Posted By: Alex H

  Antitrust case closes quietly, with both sides claiming victory.  After a 60-day period for public comment, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Friday quietly finalized its antitrust settlement with Intel.

  The FTC's commissioners voted 3-1 in favor of accepting a consent decree agreed to between Intel and the FTC in March, shortly before the case was due to come to trial.

  The FTC last year said Intel harmed competition when it refused to do business with three companies--Digital Equipment, Compaq Computer, and Intergraph--unless they agreed to license certain technology patents to Intel on favorable terms.

   
• Play DVDs Almost Anywhere
  Time: 16:13 EDT/21:13 GMT Source: PC World Posted By: Alex H

  Discounted X10 gadget lets you watch your PC's DVDs on your television.  X10's DVD Anywhere, a nifty set of devices that let you transmit a television or properly equipped PC's picture and sound over a distance of about 100 feet, is now available through X10's Web site at a 60 percent discount.

  If you have a DVD player on your computer, you can broadcast the picture and sound for more convenient viewing on a television set. Essentially, you can use a computer in your den or office to play a DVD, and watch it on a television in your living room or bedroom.

   
• Digital Music body announces anti-piracy technology
  Time: 16:11 EDT/21:11 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Alex H

  The music industry-led Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) yesterday announced its chosen copyright protection technology for phase one of its hardware specification. And the winner is (rips open gold envelope): Aris Technologies for its 1998 album, MusiCode.

  Aris' watermarking system will now be built into emerging SDMI-compliant devices, such as digital music players from Philips and Matsushita, and future versions of Diamond Multimedia's Rio. It will also ultimately be used to stamp official SDMI-compliant digital music files. During the SDMI's Phase I period, players will essentially play any music track downloaded to them, including those encoded in the MP3 format.

   
• Intel: 133MHz FSB plot to thicken sooner than thought
  Time: 16:09 EDT/21:09 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Alex H

  Sources which in the course of their business have to be very close to Intel are reporting that 600MHz Pentium IIIs and 533MHz Pentium IIIs will arrive on August 23rd at prices of around $675 and $370 respectively.

  According to other sources close to these plans, Intel will release its Vancouver motherboard early September using the 820 chipset to replace the SE440BX-2 Seattle mobo.

  Intel will put jumpers on this mobo to allow machines to be configured to switch between RDRAM modules and PC-133 modules, the source said. The moves, if our sources are correct, will allow Intel another strike against AMD and its famous Athlon processor.

   
• System Shock 2 "OSA" character details
  Time: 16:05 EDT/21:05 GMT Source: Email Posted By: Alex H

  Just got sent an email about the "OSA" character details for the new game from Electronics Arts and Looking Glass Studio. Here is a snippet of the email:

  Electronic Arts and Looking Glass Studios today revealed details about the "OSA" character in the new sci-fi/horror RPG, System Shock 2, which hits stores this week. This character, from the "black ops" division of the military, focuses on infiltration, espionage and intelligence. In a computer RPG first, the OSA character has access to a coherent and exciting psionic powers system that can be used not only to kill enemies, but also to distract, confuse, obtain information from and even control enemies.

  The title features 35 unique psi skills, including Projected Cryokenesis (launches a blast of heat draining energy, perfect for fleshy enemies), Psionic Hypnogenesis (Non-robotic creatures are calm and docile) and Anti-Entropic Field (which protects weapons from breaking or degrading when activated). The psi-powers are divided into five tiers; once the player "buys" into a level, he or she can learn any of the available skills in any order.

  The weapon of choice for an OSA character is the Psi Amplifier. This device allows certain individuals to amplify and project their powers. The Amp inhibits the normal diffusion problems inherent in Psi phenomena and allows the user to effectively channel his character's innate Psi powers to a number of different effects.

   

• IBM joins advanced Linux effort
  Time: 16:00 EDT/21:00 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Alex H

  IBM has joined the effort to make sure that Linux will be ready to run Intel's next-generation microprocessor. The computing giant has signed onto the Trillian initiative to "port" Linux to Intel's first 64-bit chip, code-named Merced, joining Intel, VA Linux Systems, SGI, Hewlett-Packard, and Cygnus Solutions, according to sources. The move indicates IBM's increasing seriousness toward the upstart operating system.

   

• ActiveWindows Mouse Pads
  Time: 13:16 EDT/18:16 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Bob

  Now with a lower price, don't forget that the first ActiveWindows piece of merchandise is now available to order. The mousepads have just arrived and they look fabulous! The first product in our new range of logos is the ActiveWindows Mouse Pad.

   
• Confessed cracker Mitnick sentenced
  Time: 13:22 EDT/18:22 GMT Source: News Posted By: Bob

  LOS ANGELES--Computer cracker Kevin Mitnick, who pleaded guilty earlier this year to computer and wire fraud charges, was sentenced today to 46 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $4,125 in restitution.

   
• '2300GB on a PC Card' RAM technology: more details
  Time: 09:24 EDT/14:24 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Byron

  More details have emerged regarding the amazing '2300GB on a PC Card' memory technology developed by a Keele University team led by the remarkable Professor Ted Williams.

  The team's system crams 86GB of data storage per square centimetre of physical medium, and uses a magneto-optical system to read, erase and write data within the solid state system. That allows, claim the researchers, a data access rate of 100Mbps.

   
• Novell ships Small Business Suite 5
  Time: 07:54 EDT/12:54 GMT Source: Cool Computing Posted By: Alex H

  I just read on Cool Computing that Novell has shipped Small Business Suite 5. Here is a portion of the press release:

  Novell Small Business Suite 5 helps customers alleviate these problems at the desktop level with the inclusion of a five-user version of Greenwich Mean Time's Check 2000 v. 3.11. This Y2K assessment tool helps identify Year 2000-related issues and then recommends potential fixes. Users of Small Business Suite 5 may purchase additional licenses of Check 2000 v. 3.11 for $44 per user.

  Novell Small Business Suite 5 provides everything a small business needs to take advantage of the Internet. The suite is an ideal solution for small businesses that need remote access, collaboration, faxing and Web serving capabilities to grow their businesses. Some of the tools small business customers will benefit from include:

  - Novell Internet Connection Expert -- A graphical wizard that guides customers through the initial setup and process of connecting to the Internet.
  - BorderManager™ Enterprise Edition 3 Proxy/Caching Services -- An Internet solution that increases productivity by speeding up access to Internet-based information.
  - Netscape Enterprise Server for NetWare® -- A high-performance Web and application server based on open standards.
  - Ragula FatPipe Internet -- A two-modem version of FatPipe Internet that reduces download time by delivering Web pages over multiple modem lines.

   

• Netscape's Browser Share Now 25 Percent
  Time: 07:36 EDT/12:36 GMT Source: PC World Posted By: Alex H

  Netscape, a few years ago the undisputed leader in browsers, continues to lose momentum to Microsoft and now holds only a 25 percent share of the browser business, according to one study. Only one out of four people surf the Web using Netscape's Navigator, while in March it was one out of three, according to Geoff Johnston, director of marketing and communications at WebSideStory, a company that tracks Internet traffic. WebSideStory gathers data in real-time from 114,000 Web sites worldwide using the company's HitBox Web traffic analysis software. The results show that 75.3 percent of the hits registered on August 2 were powered by Explorer, and only 24.7 percent by Netscape Navigator.

   
• Asus P3B-F BX Motherboard review
  Time: 07:30 EDT/12:30 GMT Source: Email Posted By: Alex H

  Just received an email from Jarod Lam over on ComputingPros telling me that they have just posted a review of the Asus P3B-F BX Motherboard. Here is a snippet of the review:

  What do you do when you have one of the best selling boards on the market? You capitalize on its brand name and respected performance and quality. That's exactly what Asus did with their latest motherboard, the P3B-F. They didn't just revise their P2B, but made a whole new one from the ground up. If you read our review on MSI's 6163 you heard me mentioning that I would like to see BX boards sporting 6 PCI slots and 1 ISA slot at the most. Well, it looks like my prayers have been answered. Asus comes through with a unique board here that supports up to 6 PCI slots, 1 ISA, 1 AGP. Not only does it have 6 PCI slots but 4 DIMM slots, which also satisfy my other criteria for having the perfect layout. The other item that's being seen with more regularity is the lack of jumpers which is a warm welcome to all motherboard tweakers out there who hate to fiddle with jumpers. They coined their jumperless feature as "JumperFree" and even the voltage can be adjusted from within the BIOS.

   

• Hollywood outfit to use Merced
  Time: 07:08 EDT/12:08 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Alex H

  In all the K7-Athlon hullabaloo yesterday, Chipzilla snuck out a press release, which named a firm which will be a test site for its IA-64 family of chips. The timing of the release, along with a release which shows huge price reductions on various networking products, is purely coincidental. Digital Domain which created special effects for films Titanic and the Fifth Element, will serve as a test site for Merced, said Intel. It will also adopt PIII and PIII/Xeon processors, Intel said.

   

• SDMI Chooses Tracking Tech
  Time: 05:41 EDT/10:41 GMT Source: Wired News Posted By: Alex H

  The Secure Digital Music Initiative has taken its first steps toward offering music companies copyright protection over the Net. The group has chosen an audio watermarking technique that will allow hardware manufacturers to start producing SDMI-compliant players. "This decision keeps SDMI on track with its ambitious schedule," said Leonardo Chiariglione, Executive Director of SDMI, in a statement.

   

• ICQ 99B beta v3.16 build 2562 released for public alpha
  Time: 05:04 EDT/10:04 GMT Source: Desktop Watch Posted By: Alex H

  Just read over on Desktop Watch that Mirabilis have released this new build (2562) for public alpha. Some of the new features include Active List (which enables you to participate in, and to create and manage your own interest communities), E-ICQ (which will enable you to join interest groups and receive information via ICQ about issues related to these groups) also, the long awaited ICQ Enhanced E-mail Check, which will improve your options for checking your incoming E-mail.

  You can download the new version of ICQ from here.

   
• HP, Yahoo to team on corporate intranet services
  Time: 05:04 EDT/10:04 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Alex H

  Yahoo will team with Hewlett-Packard in offering corporate intranet services, the two companies will announce tomorrow. Corporate users will be able to access Yahoo's member service features, offered in conjunction with customized content behind a company's firewall, according to a knowledgeable source. The move comes as the leading portal tries to increase business services and the computer giant looks to emphasize its so-called e-services strategy.

  The initiative will be similar to a May agreement with software maker Tibco, according to the source. Hewlett-Packard issued a press advisory saying an announcement would be made tomorrow at 9 a.m., but wouldn't confirm any details. Yahoo couldn't be reached for comment.

  The partnership comes as Yahoo looks to expand the services it offers to businesses. The industry-leading portal is looking to find a more upscale market for its email, instant messaging, calendar, and address book services, not to mention the audio and video capabilities it acquired with the purchase of Broadcast.com.

   
• MSN, Costco offer low-cost Net access
  Time: 05:02 EDT/10:02 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Alex H

  Microsoft has quietly released a low-cost Internet access service with wholesale retailer Costco. The new service, called "Microsoft MSN Internet Access Presented by Costco Online," is being sold as a CD-ROM at Costco for $35.97 and includes three months of Internet access--which breaks down to about $11.99 per month. The CD-ROM, which has been on the shelf at Costco since last week, is only available to Costco's 13.1 million members.

  The initiative comes at the same time Microsoft said it was considering a low-cost access service to compete with America Online. Increasingly, the two giants appear to be on a collision course for domination among consumers online. AOL has distanced itself significantly from its ISP competitors. It has nearly 18 million subscribers that pay $21.95 per month. In addition, about 2 million users subscribe to AOL-owned CompuServe. By comparison, MSN Internet Access has 1.8 million subscribers, according to research firm Jupiter Communications.

   
• Disney quietly shutters family Net guide
  Time: 05:00 EDT/10:00 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Alex H

  Disney Internet Guide, or "Dig," the family-friendly Web search directory created by Disney Online, has quietly shut its doors. Unveiled last June, the directory was touted as the first Web search engine safe for kids and families. Dig was also Disney's first attempt to step into the popular world of Web search engines, which at the time were beginning to be called "portals," sites that aggregate much of what the Web can offer.

  But Dig was launched a week after Disney acquired a 43 percent stake in Web portal Infoseek. Subsequently, the entertainment giant jointly developed another Web portal, Go Network, as a way to drive traffic to its Disney-owned Web content, search engine, and free email. Accordingly, Dig was taken scrapped this past June because Disney management wanted to maintain Infoseek as its primary search brand, according to a Disney spokeswoman.

• ICQ Surpasses 40 Million Users
  Time: 19:59 EDT/23:59 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Alex R.

  America Online Inc. (NYSE: AOL) said today that it has signed up more than 40 million members for its ICQ instant messaging service. AOL said that ICQ membership has tripled since AOL acquired the company in June 1998. AOL said 85 percent of ICQ's members are under 35.

   
• New Hercules TNT/TNT2 Drivers
  Time: 19:47 EDT/23:47 GMT Source: BluesNews Posted By: Alex R.

  Noticed over on BluesNews that Hercules has released new Windows 95/98 drivers for their TNT/TNT2 line of cards.  Click the headline for the download page.

   
• Patch Released for NT "Terminal Server Connection Request Flooding" Vulnerability
  Time: 19:42 EDT/23:42 GMT Source: email Posted By: Alex R.

  Another day, another security patch.  Microsoft has released a patch for NT 4.0 Terminal Server Edition for the "Terminal Server Connection Request Flooding."  Basically, this is a DOS attack that can cause the machine to cache/page to the disk endlessly, with no end in sight.

   
• Clinton creates group to "address unlawful conduct" on Net
  Time: 18:54 EDT/22:54 GMT Source: Slashdot Posted By: Alex H

  Ungrounded Lightning Rod writes "President Clinton has issued an exectutive order creating a "Working Group" to "address unlawful conduct that involves the use of the Internet". The text of the Executive Order is online.. " The text of it looks disturbing-perhaps a legally-qualified person can offer some thoughts, but a trying to change the Internet by fiat doesn't seem the most effective.

   
• Windows 2000 News
  Time: 18:52 EDT/22:52 GMT Source: Email Posted By: Alex H

  Just got an email about this Windows 2000 news. Originally Win 2000 RTM was planed at Oct 6. But now this has been changed. MS will release RC3 at very early Oct for last minute check -- only top bug reported beta testers and OEMs will get this RC3. RTM plans for very late Oct. IE 5.01 and IE 5.0 SP1 are also in Beta.

   
• American Megatrends Designs Firmware and a Driver Pair for Hitachi's SH3 Digital Camera
  Time: 18:47 EDT/22:47 GMT Source: USB Workshop Posted By: Alex H

  American Megatrends Inc. (AMI) today announced it developed firmware and a driver pair used for transferring images from a digital camera to a host PC via an Universal Serial Bus (USB). The firmware, designed to run on Hitachi's SH3 USB enabled digital camera with an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), can be ported to other platforms as well.

  The camera's driver side software is TWAIN compliant and has Microsoft® Still Image (STI) Architecture. The USB enabled digital camera also has a compact flash that stores pictures. ``AMI's development of the firmware and driver pair enables Hitachi's SH3 camera to become a leading product in the digital camera industry,'' said Mark Hemingway, Sales Account Manager at AMI.

   

• Microsoft announce better performance on an AMD today
  Time: 18:39 EDT/22:39 GMT Source: Beta Bites / Press Release Posted By: Alex H

  Microsoft Corp. today announced that a broad range of Microsoft® products achieve new levels of performance on systems powered by the new Athlon processor from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD). Microsoft products that run faster on the AMD Athlon platform include the Windows® 98 and Windows NT® 4.0 operating systems, as well as other Windows technologies such as the DirectX® API. Today leading applications such as Windows Media(TM) technologies are optimized to achieve high levels of performance with the AMD Athlon processor, and Microsoft is committed to ensuring that application developers will be able to capitalize on the new AMD Athlon processor. In addition, forthcoming products such as Windows 2000 are poised to take ultimate advantage of the new chip.

   
• Matrox RT2000 (TM) announced today
  Time: 18:36 EDT/22:36 GMT Source: Beta Bites / Press Release Posted By: Alex H

  Matrox® Video Products Group today announced Matrox RT2000(TM), a realtime nonlinear editing solution for corporate and event video artists, that provides an impressive array of professional features at the unprecedented price of $1,295 US. The revolutionary ``Matrox Flex 3D(TM)'' architecture of RT2000 exploits the explosive 3D graphics performance of the award-winning Matrox Millennium G400 accelerator to provide broadcast-quality 3D DVE and 32-bit, uncompressed, animated graphics in a native DV editing environment. MPEG-2 output for DVD, Video CD, and web video streaming applications, along with 1394 and analog video output for tape distribution, rounds out the solution.

   
• PixelFusion and Number Nine Announce Agreement
  Time: 18:30 EDT/22:30 GMT Source: Cool Info Posted By: Alex H

  PixelFusion Ltd., and Number Nine Visual Technology Corp. today jointly announced that they have entered into a relationship whereby Number Nine would utilize PixelFusion's massively parallel FUZION 150 chip to design a high-end 3D graphics accelerator card that is specifically designed to take full advantage of AGP Pro-equipped PCs.

  The new 3D accelerator should be the first graphics add-in card to incorporate Rambus RDRAM memory - a memory that was selected for its throughput characteristics. Current simulation tests show that this architecture will be able to surpass existing ProCDRS-02 benchmark scores by more than doubling the scores of today's most advanced high-end, proprietary 3D workstations.

  The resulting 3D feature set and performance capabilities of the proposed solution would allow PC vendors to deliver the first true Windows NT-based 3D workstation that promises to rival most UNIX or proprietary 3D workstations, yet do so at a fraction of the price.

  A 3D graphics solution of this caliber would allow the PC-OEM to expand their product offering into the fast growing workstation market and allow them to compete effectively against vendors who have traditionally focused on delivering expensive, high-margin workstations that are proprietary in nature. PC vendors will be able to compete on price, deliver systems with superior 3D performance and sell solutions that contribute greater profits to the bottom line. The new accelerator will offer unmatched graphics capabilities for Windows NT professional users in the MCAE, digital content creation, visual simulation, AEC, scientific visualization and video effects markets.

   
• Seagate Introduces New U-series Disc Drives
  Time: 18:28 EDT/22:28 GMT Source: Cool Info Posted By: Alex H

  Seagate Technology Inc. today introduction its third generation of U-series disc drives. The new models extend the U-series by doubling capacity to as much as 17.2 Gbytes and significantly improving performance. The U8 includes the latest in drive component technology, including GMR heads, Seagate G-Force Protection and the Ultra ATA/66 interface.

  Featuring Seagate's exclusive, G-Force Protection, the U8 can withstand up to 350 Gs of shock when not operating and up to 63 Gs of shock when operating - the best in the industry. This breakthrough in shock tolerance was enabled by leading-edge internal drive enhancements and external shock protection components such as the U8's soft SeaShield cover. The U8 also ships with Seagate's DiscWizard software.

  The U8 will be available with capacities of 17.2, 13.0, 8.4 and 4.3 Gbytes. Evaluation units of the U8 are now shipping, with volume OEM availability in September.

   
• Glaze3D Preview
  Time: 18:20 EDT/22:20 GMT Source: Voodoo Extreme Posted By: Alex H

  Just noticed over on Voodoo Extreme that FiringSquad have posted a preview of Glaze 3D. Here is a snippet of it:

  Bitboys originally intended to get a large manufacturer to make the chips or buy the entire design, but they didn't find any takers. Eventually, they decided to build it themselves. Skip forward to Monday, August 2nd. Bitboys releases an updated Glaze3D spec sheet. The new Glaze3D 1200 sports 600 million dual-textured pixels per second, and the 2400 model clocks in with 1200 million dual-textured pixels per second.

   
• The Bruno MP3 CD player
  Time: 18:11 EDT/22:11 GMT Source: Geek News Posted By: Alex H

  This sleek looking MP3/CD player automatically identifies MP3 or CD-DA, remote capability, 63 memory locations and can read CD or CD-R. Nice for only $299 dollars.

   
• Sony and EA coming for net pirates
  Time: 18:08 EDT/22:08 GMT Source: Geek News Posted By: Alex H

  EA and Sony Computer Entertainment of America have joined together to crack down on Internet pirating, starting with a lawsuit against members of a ring of pirates calling themselves "Paradigm." A computer, hard drives and CDs were impounded by authorities as evidence of the ring, which has worldwide ties in United States, Canada, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Russia, and other locations. Riley Russell, Vice President of Legal and Business Affairs for SCEA, was confident in this first step against the rings. "We will work diligently to ensure that these counterfeiters are fully prosecuted and that other who think Internet piracy and 'trading' is acceptable will think again." That means you, Razor 1911, Class, Origin, Hybrid, Divine, Fairlight, and friends.

   
• Real teams with Warner for music downloads
  Time: 18:02 EDT/22:02 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Alex H

  RealNetworks today became the latest technology firm to join up with a major record company in an online music effort. Warner Music Group--one of the "Big Five" record companies, along with Sony Music, EMI, BMG, and Universal Music--plans to offer songs for download from popular artists via the new version of Real's Jukebox player, released today. The downloads, from artists including Jewel, Edwin McCain, and Vitamin C, will be available on the Trans World Entertainment e-commerce site, the companies said.

   

• PC makers announce Athlon-based systems
  Time: 18:02 EDT/22:02 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Alex H

  Two of the biggest PC makers will put AMD's new Athlon chip in high-end models, bringing competition to this market for the first time. Compaq Computer and IBM today announced computers built around the new processor from Advanced Micro Devices, guaranteeing a spot for the chip at the top of consumer PC lines for the first time. Athlon, formerly known as the K7, is AMD's next-generation processor. Formally released today, the chip outperforms Intel's Pentium III, according to observers, and should allow AMD an opportunity to claw its way into the more lucrative performance computing segment and, next year, into workstations and possibly servers. A Presario model from Compaq with a 600-MHz processor and a monitor will be priced at about $2,000. This will compete with similar computers that use Intel's Pentium III chip.

   

• Digital Signatures for the Palm
  Time: 17:54 EDT/21:54 GMT Source: Wired News Posted By: Alex H

  In another push toward a paperless world, an application for collecting digital signatures with a Palm handheld was released Monday. Designed for e-business, PenOp's PocketSign is the first electronic signature application for the Palm platform, the company said. According to the company, an electronic signature is now as good as an ink one, and as legally binding. While PenOp hopes businesses will license the application for their field sales agents so that customers can sign forms electronically, the software will also let Palm users sign e-commerce transactions with their handhelds.

   
• Will Hackers Exploit Y2K Confusion?
  Time: 17:51 EDT/21:51 GMT Source: PC World Posted By: Alex H

  As federal officials warn that year 2000 programmers could covertly introduce malicious code or install trapdoors, security experts urge organizations to scan their networks for sabotage before January 1.

  Anita D'Amico, information security practice manager at Applied Vision, recommends that companies conduct repeated vulnerability scans before and after January 1 to establish whether potential problems are caused by a Y2K glitch or by a security breach.

  "If you don't understand what your vulnerabilities are prior to the turn of the century, you may be fooled. You may not have a Y2K problem at all; you may have been hacked," D'Amico says. "If you have a sense of what your vulnerabilities are and start plugging them, you have a shot at isolating your problem."

   

• Microsoft Tackles Win 2000 Problems
  Time: 17:50 EDT/21:50 GMT Source: PC World Posted By: Alex H

  Microsoft listens to testers and focuses on ease of installation.  After hearing concerns from beta testers, Microsoft has worked for the past several months to make it easier to install Windows 2000, from notebooks to servers. Industry watchers say a smooth installation will be key in persuading corporate users to adopt the new operating system soon after its debut, expected next quarter.

   
• eBay suffers weekend outage
  Time: 17:48 EDT/21:48 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Alex H

  Online auctioneer eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY), which experienced at least a six-hour outage last Friday, was down again over the weekend, according to statements on the company's Web site. Portions of the site were unavailable starting Sunday night, and running through early Monday morning.

   
• MS-DOJ judge sought to avoid 'Vietnam morasses'
  Time: 17:46 EDT/21:46 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Alex H

  The government's complex antitrust suits against International Business Machines Corp. and AT&T Corp. stretched on for years, but limitations on witnesses, a firm trial date and other measures kept the Microsoft Corp. trial to only 76 trial days, the presiding judge said Monday. U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, who is presiding over the Microsoft case in Washington, D.C., told a session at the American Bar Association annual meeting that he had studied other long running antitrust cases in order to avoid the "Vietnam morasses" that caused the delays. "Whatever was done in those cases was something I was going to try and avoid," he said.

   
• ActiveWindows Mouse Pads and Competition Reminders
  Time: 14:18 EDT/19:18 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Bob

  Now with a lower price, don't forget that the first ActiveWindows piece of merchandise is now available to order. The mousepads have just arrived and they look fabulous! The first product in our new range of logos is the ActiveWindows Mouse Pad. And also don't forget to enter our DVD-Game Competition to win a copy of Shadoan and a Mouse Mat.

   
• AMD goes public on Athlon
  Time: 09:11 EDT/13:11 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Alex H

  Chip company Advanced Micro Devices has now released its official statement on the introduction of the Athlon K7. As revealed earlier, it comes in 650MHz as well as 600MHz, 550MHz and 500MHz flavours, and has support from both Compaq and Big Blue. Jerry Sanders III, CEO of AMD, is going to release some sound bites later on today.

  AMD has also opened its main Athlon page for business. Here you will find benchmarks and the like, which demonstrate the processor's technological virtues. There are also some application and technical notes on this page.

   
• Cyrix M3 Athlon Killer strangled at birth by Via
  Time: 09:09 EDT/13:09 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Alex H

  Sources close to Cyrix, Via and IDT Centaur have now given us yet more facts and figures about Via's decision to shut down M3 development and suggested that the Taiwanese company has shot itself in both feet by choosing the WinChip instead. According to the sources, who declined, for obvious reasons, to be named, the architects had succeeded in producing M3 designs with similar performance to AMD's Athlon K7 but at 40 per cent of the die size.

  And Via's decision to lay off engineers has now dissolved a superior team of architects which had succeeded in severely good optimisation, the sources added.

   
• Microsoft to release Windows NT for embedded applications
  Time: 09:04 EDT/13:04 GMT Source: News.com Posted By: Alex H

  Microsoft plans to release a version of its Windows NT operating system Monday for use in so-called embedded settings. The new version of NT, originally discussed last fall, is targeted at specialized markets, such as manufacturing, networking equipment, and point-of-sale devices. Microsoft plans to sell the software through third-party device makers, often called original equipment manufacturers (OEM).

  Microsoft's latest Windows operating system variant is tailored for use in devices such as network routers and switches, industrial machines, and health care equipment, for example. Copier giant Xerox intends to use the software within its document management systems for corporate offices. 3Com has also pledged to utilize the software within its network switching hardware.

  Windows NT Embedded 4.0 enters a market dominated by numerous small firms, such as Wind River Systems, QNX Software Systems, and Integrated Systems, among others.

   
• Red Hat IPO To Be The Buzz Of Linux Show
  Time: 04:28 EDT/09:28 GMT Source: Yahoo News Posted By: Alex H

  When devotees of the Linux operating system gather for another big trade show this week, the IPO of the biggest company in this quirky community, Red Hat Software Inc., is sure to be the biggest buzz of the show.

  Whether the timing is coincidental or not is unclear, but Red Hat, the biggest distributor of the alternative Linux operating system, is expected to go public Wednesday, the second day of LinuxWorld, depending on the increasingly rocky stock market conditions and the volatile IPO market. `I think the deal will go and will work, provided the market is supportive of the pricing,'' said David Menlow of the IPO Financial Network based in Millburn, N.J. ``It does appear to be the best IPO of the week.''

  Red Hat has filed to raise at least $60 million, via six million shares, at a price range of $10 to $12 a share, with tech banking stalwart Goldman Sachs as the lead underwriter. Sources expect the deal to be priced Tuesday night, and the stock to trade Wednesday under the symbol RHAT on the NASDAQ.

   
• Sidewinder Software 3.02 knocks out Cable Modem
  Time: 04:16 EDT/09:16 GMT Source: ActiveWindows/Newsgroup Posted By: Alex H

  I was just reading on the microsoft.public.mshardware.product newsgroup about how someone's cable modem was knocked out by installing the Sidewinder Software v3.02. If anyone else is having this problem here is a solution posted by Eric Chew MVP:

  Change the I/O Range of the NIC card to like 210 or something like that.  I have found that NIC's with I/O ranges around 300 will stop working after installing the 3.0x Sidewinder software.

   
• RealNetworks Supports SMIL Boston
  Time: 04:00 EDT/09:00 GMT Source: Tech Web Posted By: Alex H

  Streaming media heavyweight RealNetworks showed its support for SMIL Boston, the latest draft of the Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) standard. RealNetworks' support means that users of the more than 1 million RealSystem G2 authoring tools and more than 50,000 free RealSystem G2 servers will be able to tap into the benefits of the new draft standard. The W3C's SMIL Boston draft standard will let developers deliver systems with television-programming-like features as well as the interactivity of the Web.

   
• MS, Softbank plan wireless Web venture
  Time: 03:53 EDT/08:53 GMT Source: The Register Posted By: Alex H

  The mysterious Microsoft wireless Web announcement that didn't happen a couple of weeks ago may be taking shape at last, with the imminent unveiling of what appears to be a pilot service in Japan. According to Japanese paper the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, the company will roll with a low-cost wireless service there in the middle of next year.

  The paper says the service, to be run in conjunction with Softbank and Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), will be announced on Wednesday, and will be run via wireless base stations installed on TEPCO's electricity network. That can then operate as an Energis-style backbone.

   

• Cisco to invest $1 billion in KPMG
  Time: 03:53 EDT/08:53 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Alex H

  Internet networking equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO will invest $1 billion in accounting and consulting firm KPMG LLP, the New York Times reported Sunday. Under terms of the deal, KPMG will use the money to hire 4,000 engineers and service professionals over 18 months to develop and deliver Internet-based data, voice and video services to its business and consulting clients, the newspaper said. KPMG will also build six technology centers, the newspaper said. In exchange, Cisco will own a less than 20 percent stake in the accounting firm's U.S. unit.

   
• AMD betting on 650MHz Athlon chip
  Time: 03:50 EDT/08:50 GMT Source: ZDNet Posted By: Alex H

  Advanced Micro Devices Inc. will at long last become the top performer in the processor market with Monday's release of the 650MHz Athlon chip. The Sunnyvale, Calif., chip maker will finally outdistance its arch rival from Santa Clara, Intel Corp. (Nasdaq:INTC). At least for now.Athlon, on paper, meets or exceeds Intel's Pentium III chip in megahertz, graphics performance and floating point performance.

  Althon will come out at 500MHz, 550MHz, 600MHz and 650MHz, making it the fastest available chip in the PC market. Intel currently offers 450MHz, 500MHz, 550MHz and 600MHz Pentium III chips. Athlon will sport a 200MHz front side bus, versus Intel's 100MHz bus, and an extended multimedia instruction set, which mirrors the Pentium III's Streaming SIMD Instructions, but takes it a step further with five extra extensions aimed at applications such as digital signal processors for soft modems.

  "We knew as a company that we couldn't continue to just fit into the value space long term," said Steve Lapinski, director of product marketing in AMD's computational products division.

   

• Bored? So were We, Until...
  Time: 22:06 EDT/03:06 GMT Source: ActiveWindows Posted By: Dennis

  With the slow weekend almost ending, we're as bored as "hell". If you're bored too, we'd like to invite you to join our MSN Community. We've been posting messages and have been chatting with other members of the community lately. Don't miss out on the fun! Join here!

   
• Joke of the Week
  Time: 22:02 EDT/03:02 GMT Source: Newsgroups Posted By: Dennis

  While browsing MS's public newsgroups I came under a real funny post by Chuck Upsdell, here's a quote:

  "Any truth to the rumour that AOL plans to buy the US Postal Service, and then block mail service to anyone who doesn't use *their* IM program?"

  With AOL, it wouldn't surprise me if they did buy the US Postal Service. I bet Ben Franklin, the first Postmaster, would roll in his grave if that happened.

   
• This Week in Review
  Time: 21:21 EDT/02:21 GMT Source: News.Com Posted By: Dennis

  Product delays, executive departures, declining prices, and even debunked rumors lent a bit of life to an otherwise dull August week in high technology.

  Among the notable disappointments, chipmaker Intel surprised the industry by postponing the release of its Pentium III processor for notebooks until October or November, cutting into high-volume holiday sales. Meanwhile, Alan Baratz unexpectedly stepped down as president of Sun Microsystems' software division.

  If you missed last week's news, this is CNet's Week in review, this will get you up to speed on what happened