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Archived News - March
2001
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 Don't
forget to set your clocks... um... forward... tonight (2am Sunday). I
think it's forward. If I'm wrong, I owe you two hours...
And don't forget that Sunday is April fool's. I don't know about you,
but when I was in school, what was the deal with teachers that would just
assign a bunch of on April fools day? Then everyone would think, "ha
ha, very funny..." but the teacher would be all, "I'm serious...
shut up and do it." I hated that...
Anyway, with April fools, it's always fun to see what kind of twisted
things that guys who run web sites do... So take a sec to look around
the web and see if you can't find something funny...
 Related
links:
That's a "fantazien" clock - wtf?
If you want one, you can buy one here,
here or
here.
WIRED
News
has an article about how notoriously unreliable computer clocks are.
btw - I've been using TClock
(from Kazubon) lately,
but there several utilities that will help you synchronize your computer's
clock to an atomic clock
or something. I find it essential to know exactly how late I am...
I don't know if we're supposed to link the Reg or not, but whatever...
In case any of you haven't been convinced that Microsoft is a. evil, and
b. owns you (or at least all your data), see this
Register article. This isn't anything new. If anyone took the time
to actually read a TOS (Terms of Service) or EULA (end user license agreement)
you'd see that you're basically screwed.
I should clarify. This applies to Microsoft's online services under the
Passport umrella (hotmail, msn ...etc). This doesn't apply to the OS,
yet. With Dot-NET coming and when all your data and software and information
stored and accessed via the internet, this makes you wonder who will own
what was formerly known as YOUR information.
Related
links:
Greorgi Guninski security research
Has discovered many of the security exploits found in Internet explorer
In related news:
I guess there's another security exploit in Microsoft Internet
explorer. This one allows "bad people" to send you email attachments
and execute them through your browser or something...
This CNet
story has the scoopage.
 Get the
patch from Microsoft
here.
In unrelated news:
MSNBC has a story
from AdCops.com where I guess some brilliant
(er...) reporter paid some "hackers" to write a diary of they
do on an average day. Here's a clip:
"5:30 p.m. I’m going to go meet my girlfriend.
Take her out to dinner, go back to her place. Enough of this diary stuff."
Yeah right. I think they should've paid the "hackers" more
considering this fine work of fiction is so realistic... um...
The lessons here: don't reply to spam, don't give your credit-card number
to unknown sites on the web, trust no one... and so forth.
Yet more unrelated news:
Check out this little tid-bit, "ABIT is also
working on a dual AMD processor board." Jonathan Hou of FullOn3D
did an inteview with Scott Thirlwell. I am the Regional Marketing Manager
of Abit. If you're not in-the-know,
Abit was one of the pioneering manufactureres of overclocker-friendly
motherboards. They also manufactured the popular BP-6 dual Pentium2 &
3 motherboards.
Check out the full interview
here.
WindowsXP (aka whistler) will require more resources, according
to this CNet
article. OMG! So you're telling me that Microsoft's
next OS will require more resources?!? As if that's news... The company
who necessitated the invention of the word "bloatware". btw
"more resources" means a more powerful (more MHz) processor,
more RAM, a bigger hard-drive... an so on...
Anyway, what I found interesting about this story is that WindowsXP is
supposed to be the next version of Windows 2000, "2K1" if you
will, but according to one source quoted in the article,
"The difference between Windows 2000 and
Windows XP is largely cosmetic," Smith said. "There's no new kernel,
no new memory management system, and the guts are the same." The real
payback would be for consumers, who would get the most stable operating
system Microsoft has offered along with better ability to run multiple
programs simultaneously"
So to sum it up, if you're running windows 9x (which includes Millenium
Edition, ME), by switching to WindowsXP personal or "home" edition,
you will get the stability of the Windows NT/2000 along with the cosmetic
features of XP. (Ooh, don't forget DOT.NET
and the promise of paying monthly to use software instead of paying for
it upfront and "owning" it).
Related
links:
Paul Thurrott's Windows SuperSite
WindowsXP hype-central
ZDNews
commentary:
"My first look at XP"
In other news, I thought this
article on Technology Review was interesting: Researchers are working
on organic LEDs (light emitting diodes) to replace LCDs for flat-panel
displays. If they can get this technology to work, it would mean smaller,
faster, cheaper displays. (Thnx slashdot
for this link).
Just a side note about DOT.NET. Since Microsoft owns the .net extension
now, does that mean everyone with a .net domain name will have to give
it up to Microsoft or be threatened with legal action? I'm just curious
because a friend of mine has a .net domain and I'd hate to see him lose
it because Microsoft got there last... er...
I guess Mike Magee (founder of the
Register) had a falling out with his new bosses, the new owners of
the Register and he no longer works there, or something. Now he has started
a (as yet, non functioning) news web site of his own called "The
Inquirer". If his former bosses were truly evil, they
would've made him sign an NC (non-compete) agreement... slackers...
I don't know if this means we'll all (by "we" I mean the people
that run link-whore web-sites like this one) ban the Reg or not. I'll
ask around and find out...
Last but not least, it seems that a person I admire a great deal, John
Cholewa (most of us know him as JC)
is bummin'. I think he's just a little down. If you've visited his
site in the past, or you are just a kind human being, why don't you
send him a little message telling him things aren't so bad. TELL HIM!!!
oops...
btw - I have a new idea for an invention, more like an improvement: a"better
mousetrap" as it were... I'm now accepting pre-ridicule in advance
of an announcement. I don't know if I'll actually put any time into it,
but we'll see... Sign-up here.
 I
just whipped up this little ditty on how to customize
your desktop aka wallpaper.
"Well that's totally lame," you say?
You're probably right, but there are links to half-a-dozen sites that
have awesome wallpaper images for you to use, so maybe you should cram
it  !
There are also some links to utilites that make your icon text transparent,
if you're into that sort-of thing...
Related
links:
DeskMod.org's
wallpaper section
Just one of the sites I have links to in the article: I really like this
site.
I just thoght I'd keep you apprised on some of the nerdly stuff giong
on:
advertisement
Sick of all those ads? I was too.
Ads are distracting, slow down your connection, add more traffic to the
web in general and for what?
If you love banner ads, or if your income depends on them <cough>get
a job<cough> this article probably isn't
for you.
Advertisers always seem to find ways to stick you with ads. JavaScript
ads, Flash ads, ActiveX ads, pop-up ads... Get the last laugh and take
back YOUR browser.
Related
links:
Ad Terminator
This is what I used. It's simple and works REALLY well.
I was browsing through TechTV when I
came across this
article entitled, "Spruce up your cube." It basically gives
you some ideas of crazy crap you can get to make the time you spend in
your cubicle more tolerable.
Some of this stuff is funny though. I particularly like the fake
diplomas and I just about wet myself at the demotivational
posters site. Check this out: the
Dysfunction poster - boy this hits the nail right on the head!
The PC Mirror is also a handy
device I recommend. I already got busted at my new job browsing the web
for ...er... you know... pictures...
Related
links:
Despair, Inc.
Your source for demotivational stuff  .
Those guys at Ars need to
get off their Arse and write some more articles.
This one's "golden" though. You can always count on Ars to give
you the technical scoop in a way not many other web sites can.
Akiba
PC has a little ditty on the (highly) anticipated Tyan
Thunder K7 dual Athlon motherboard slated
for release later this year (June/July-ish?).
The price tag is 𨓾,000 - that's $961 USD folks (using Friday's
currency values) ... OUCH!
Better switch to water tonight and save your beer money for this bad-boy...
Thanks Chris Tom (AMDZone) for the link.
Related
links:
My recent ramblings on dual Athon stuff
|
Napster filtering taking effect
source: everywhere
|
|
You can read about it here,
here,
here and
here,
but Napster's filters are finally taking
effect: some say limiting downloads by up to 50%. Just for kicks, I tried
looking up Madonna's song "Music". Result: No results found.
What a load of crap.
I suggest switching to one of the many open source servers running, such
as OpenNap. You can even run your own OpenNap server if you like.
There's a great utility called Napigator
that you can use. The latest version installs itself as part of Napster,
allowing you to choose which server to connect to.
You may also want to try the CatNap
Napster proxy. From what I understand, it sits between your Napster client
and the world and changes the filenames of the songs to slip them past
the filters.
Related
links:
CatNap
Napster song name scrambling proxy
Napigator
Allows you to easily locate and connect to alternate Napster servers
OpenNap
Open source Napster-like server. Also, links to a ton of alternate Napster
servers and clients.
Update 03/16: CNet
is reporting that the judge in this case has delayed the trial until
April 10. In unrelated news, RAMBUS stock is down
to 15.80.
Electronic
News is reporting that the judge in the RAMBUS
vs. Infineon will be making a decision
to limit the scope of the trial? Whatever that means.
"A judge is expected to issue an official
pre-trial ruling limiting the scope of Rambus Inc.’s patents in the
U.S. court case against Infineon Technologies AG."
In case you didn't know, RAMBUS is suing Infineon (and Micron/Crucial
and NVidia... etc) for manufacturing DDR SDRAM memory and/or controller
chips without obtaining a license from RAMBUS.
RAMBUS stock is down
11.26 points (31.85%) to 24.09 in trading today.
Related
links:
Register
article
crime fraud element enters RAMBUS case.
Grab your drool-rag (what? you don't have a drool rag?)
JC has gotten his hands on confidential (well...) information on the upcoming
dual-Athlon motherboard from Tyan,
the Thunder K7 S2462 (based on the AMD 760MP chipset). I'm won't
reprint all the specs here, but definitely
go check it out. Anyone who's anyone wants this motherboard! You heard
me.
Rumors are that the chipset will be released mid-May with motherboards
available June/July-ish.
So save your pennies kiddies, this one ain't gonna be cheaps. I'm just
guessing but I'm thinkin' definitely $250+, maybe even in the $400 to
$500 range?
This
is a great article. I think this helped to put my mind at ease. If
you're "low on experience" and looking for a job in the tech
industry, this might help you feel better.
If you know someone who sends out 50+ resumes a week and gets maybe 1
or 2 responses, (I don't know any losers like that!) they're not
alone.
What sucks is that I had to rent a heated mini-storage to store my arrogance.
It barely fit in there. I can't wait for the economy to pick up again
so I can continue being an arrogant bastard. For now, I have to be, ugh...
nice.
Other than that, there's not much going on, so as soon as something happens,
I'll tell ya.
btw - I'm hearing
rumors that the AMD760MP chipset (multiprocessor Athlons y'all) will
be released in mid-May? I heard 2H availability, so that makes sense...
I can't WAIT to get a dually Athlon "rig" going... and if you're
not l4m3, you share my anticipation .
Oh yeah, wonder-boy, aka Anand did a little
write-up on the new ST Microelectronics KyroII (PowerVR) based video card.
It, to my suprise it's not a bad performer... At around $140, it definitely
gives users an alternative to the $600 beasts NVidia have been cranking
out. Go take a
pull. It would smoke the G400
I've got in this machine.
If you go to the desktops
thread in the "[H]ard" (...ugh) forums, you'll all these
guys with really cool wallpaper (background images) on their desktops.
I finally figured out where they all get these images from. It's a place
called Deskmod.
Deskmod has a ton of stuff for modifying
your computer's look, not just desktop images.
btw - a lot of guys are running WindowFX
(from Stardock), which lets you make
your menus and windows transluscent, if you're into that sort-of thing.
You simply have to see this.
Thanks to the nerds at the MIT
"legs lab". To be honest, this is baby-stuff. We did this
stuff with lego mindstorms back in high-school. Ok, maybe we didn't.
Let it be known, I love this stuff. Ace's does another great in-depth
look at the Pentium 4's architecture. They look into why the P4's
performance dissappoints on certain (read nearly all) benchmarks.
If you like branch-predictors, ALU's and the like, this
article is definitely for you.
Since Napster is implementing some-sort of filename filtering last weekend,
a number of people have taken it upon themsleves to create filename encoding
software. These applications change the names of files so they slip by
Napsters screens.
This particular filter uses pig-latin.
Finally, after over a year of putting off, I got aroundt to giving the
tweaks area a much needed facelift. I plan to (over time) build up some
more articles and organize the site into something easy to navigate and
full of useful information and links. Pretty ambitious, we'll see how
it goes.
For now, go take a look and tell me what you
think.
A lot of it isn't done, but it's just a matter of moving content around
the site... Shouldn't take too long (fingie's crossed).
The Reg is running a
story about how Congress is holding privacy hearings but hasn't passed
any privacy law. Many law professors are testifying, one of them calling
privacy law and restrictions, "unrealistic". Some even go so
far as to say that passing laws against collecting personal information
about people would violate the first amendment.
Privacy? what privacy?
Those crazy brits sure know a lot about US law and the constitution...
According to this
CNet news story, beginning this weekend Napster
will begin voluntarily blocking about 5,000 or so songs from being transferred
via their service.
Now would be a good time to start looking into some Napster alternatives
such as OpenNap or Gnutella
(again) so you're not totally cut-off when that day comes...
Related
links:
ClickZ (huh?)
article
with some more alternatives to Napster
|
Some tweakin' links
source: all over
|
|
I stumbled across a butt-load (that's a technical term for few)
web sites and links that I think are worthy. I'll get them added to the
links areas soon enough. But for now, enjoy:
Stardock.com
WindowFX, part
of their ObjectDesktop package. A great program that lets you make windows
and menus transluscent (Win2k & 98/ME only I think)
and Icon Packager
-a great little icon utility.
Desktopian.org
The site for customizing your desktop. Seriously those guys
put me to shame! Go check 'em out!
HardForums
HardOCP's forums are great! You can find
out what other people are doing, get help with broken stuff™, and
get new ideas!
BlueScreenOfDeath
Being a Windows user, I have no idea what a BSOD is (see definition here
or here). ha ha...
They have some pretty funny
error message pictures, among other things.
Just so you know, I'm working on revamping the whole site basically.
Adding some content... not. But there will be links galore! Here's a sneak
peek:
They must be hard- up for news as this has been going on for years and
years.
If you didn't know, overclocking is the black-magic (something-for-nothing)
art of making your computer go faster than before. Nowadays it involves
ungodly-large heatsinks and more fans than you can shake a stick at. Those
of us that are really into it, "would overclock a toaster, if we
could." It's pretty addictive.
If you're interested in overclocking, check out some of the links,
or just save yourself the effort and head straight for [H]ardOCP
(I've learned that OCP stands for Oatmeal Cream Pie) - hey whatever dude...
Tell Kyle I sent you, cus I get 3 cents per click-thru! Thank you UGO!
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