Op Gamecenter vond ik zonet de Hardware awards van 1998. Ik zal maar even een paar dingen op een rijtje zetten:
Best graphics accelerator Voodoo2, 3dfx interactive Best sound card SB Live, Creative Labs Best joystick Cyborg 3d stick, Saitek Best gamepad Xterminator, Gravis Best Steering Wheel RS and Force RS, ACT Labs Best console controller Dual Force, Mad Catz
Check dit:
Overnight, MOSR staff spied 466MHz-rated G3 ZIF upgrades at Powerlogix's online store. Although there don't seem to have been any official announcements from any vendors yet, these new chips appear to be seeping into the market. According to the site, these new upgrades can be purchased immediately. It may be several weeks before these processors are available widely, so if you'd like one, you may want to get it now, as supplies will certainly be constricted once the press releases go out. With Intel still running at 450MHz, this puts the Mac at a higher raw clock speed than Wintel for the first time since the 9600/350 shipped while the Pentium II was limited to 266MHz. Always good for a little brag value =)
Op Hardwarecentral vond ik een 52x CD-ROM speler review. Effe kijken of je hier ook nog echt wat aan hebt, of dat het total crap is...:
Just last year, Kenwood and Zen Technologiesannounced to the hardware world a breakthrough in CD-ROM technology: the Kenwood TrueX 40X CD-ROM. With an innovative 7 laser pick-up, the 40X True X was able to do what no other CD-ROM could - read sustained transfer rates of 40X magnitude across the entire disc. Now, nearly half a year later, the Kenwood 40X has finally given up the
top spot to Kenwood's new TrueX 52X! So what are the differences between the 40X and the new 52X?
What Kenwood essentially did to improve the TrueX 40X to the 52X version was increase the motor speed. By increasing the motor speed, the data read and transfer rates are increased.
One problem that the original Kenwood 40X CD-ROM had was the inability to read some CD-R and CD-RW media. By increasing the power of the laser, Kenwood was able to remedy this with their new 52X revision.
Meer stuff vind je op http://www.hardwarecentral.com/reviews/multimedia/kenwood52x/
Vandaag is de grote dag: M$ Window$ refund day! Op Nepwereld vond ik deze stuff:
Vandaag, op President's Day, organiseren aanhangers van het alternatieve besturingssysteem Linux op bij verschillende Microsoftkantoren in de Verenigde Staten een Windows Refund Day. Ze roepen computerbezitters die geen Windows gebruiken op om hun Microsoft-software en certificaten in te leveren. In ruil voor geldteruggave. Hiermee wil de rap groeiende Linux-aanhang protesteren tegen het verplicht winkelen bij de gehate concurrent Microsoft. Het is immers nagenoeg onmogelijk om een PC zonder Windows te kopen. Maar niet iedereen heeft Windows nodig om zijn PC goed te laten lopen. Integendeel zelfs: velen zweren bij het zeer stabiele en gratis verspreide Linux. De actievoerders zijn bij Microsoft echter aan het verkeerde adres; het bedrijf is niet van plan ook maar één cent terug te geven. Volgens Microsoft moeten de Linux-fans bij de PC-fabrikanten zijn, omdat deze de volle verantwoording voor geldteruggave heeft. Microsoft geeft alle steun om in contact met de fabrikanten te komen. Dit is evenwel niet zo gemakkelijk; in de meeste gevallen volstaat het opsturen van een CD-Rom met certificaat niet. In plaats daarvan moet de gehele PC worden opgestuurd. Bij Dell bijvoorbeeld moet het systeem binnen 30 dagen worden geretourneerd aan de fabrikant. Recent betaalde Toshiba een protesterende gebruiker 110 dollar ter compensatie van het niet gebruiken van Windows. Ook in Nederland zijn vandaag protesten bij Microsoft gepland.
Op Slashdot vond ik nog een link naar een artikeltje in de USA today
De rumours zijn trouwens dat niemand wat terugkrijgt, maar dan blijft het toch nog een goed gebaar om te laten zien dat niet iedereen Window$ gebruikt.
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Volgens The Register gaat Qualcomm een paar apps droppen om ervoor te zorgen dat ze ook echt wat aan Eudora gaan hebben:
According to many company insiders, cited on the MacOS Rumours Web site, who claim the announcement was made via in internal email, Qualcomm will not be selling its Eudora Software division. Instead it will drop a number of applications to focus on the Eudora email application.
De Mitsubishi Electronic Corporation heeft volgens eigen zeggen SRAM 'gemaakt' dat op 500 MHz werkt:
Further, the technology is 100 times more resistant to cosmic ray soft errors than previous chips. According to Mitsibushi, soft errors caused by cosmic rays have plagued the semiconductor business and caused problems for execs using notebooks when they're flying. The neutrons are 100 times more concentrated at 30,000 feet, said Mitsubishi. The 500MHz synchronous SRAM will be used with 800MHz processors throughout 1999 and into 2000 as second level cache, said Mitsubishi, so telling us something that Intel hasn't explained, yet. Personally, it isn't neutrons that plague us when we're flying -- it's usually lack of cigarettes, air rage and a battery life on our StinkPads of precisely 20 minutes...
Op The Register vond ik wat PIII stuff:
Intel has its famous "preview" day for the Pentium III this Wednesday and on that date it will persuade every type of vendor to support its new platform. Just a matter of days after it formally announced the Pentium III on the 24th of February, Intel will slash prices on its PII/350, PII/400 and PII/450, making them an exceptionally good buy if you don't want the 70 Streaming SIMD instructions. Intel supporters will include software and hardware vendors including HP, Compaq and IBM and a whole bevy of games companies eager to jump onto the Streaming SIMD bandwagon. Thankfully, for the short term at least and if you can afford it, BX motherboards will support the Pentium III, an Intel representative said. He said: "The BX chipset will support the Pentium III. You need a BIOS upgrade to recognise the new registers." He said that Intel's own Seattle II BX board had a BIOS upgrade at the end of January and that (Pentium II board) will support the Pentium III.
Gisteravond op Radio1 werden een paar dingen verteld over de nieuwe voordeelnummers. Ik zal het even op een rijtje zetten:
Opgeven van voordeelnummers kan via 0800-0429. Een eenmaal opgegeven nummer kan tot half mei niet meer verandert worden. Daarna zijn de administratiekosten F 10,- per wijziging.
Voor vragen over voordeelnummers: 0800-1212
Op Coolinfo vond ik wat stuff over Abit's ZM6:
The ZM6 motherboard is ABIT's second Socket 370 offering -- the first was the BM6, an Intel BX-chipset-based product. The Intel ZX/100 chipset was used in the ZM6. What differences are there between the BX and ZX chipsets? The primary differences are that the ZX will only support 256Mb of memory (as opposed to the 1-gigabyte limit for the BX), as well as a limit of 4 bus master PCI slots. Other than that there are no differences between the two chipsets. Are those limitations significant? Read on to learn more.
Eventjes een paar kleine dingentjes over notebooks:
Rarely do we see such a bevy of new CPUs as appears in "Top 10 Notebooks," in the upcoming April 1999 issue of PC World. Three of the six new mobile CPUs Intel announced recently are reviewed in four new notebooks that shake up our chart. Usually, new CPUs trickle down, starting in power systems and moving to budget models as even newer and faster processors appear. Not this time: While we do see record-setting performance from two new 366-MHz Pentium II power notebooks, a snappy new 300-MHz Celeron budget notebook also makes a strong showing. So it's good news, whether you're buying for power or price. Of the two Pentium II-366 power notebooks, one earns a Best Buy on the strength of performance that beats a PII-300 sibling by a whopping 21 percent--while boosting the price only $85. The Celeron-300 budget notebook also wins a Best Buy, costing hundreds less than a Pentium II-300 and performing just as well.
Op Coolinfo vond ik een klein previewtje over het nieuwe game driver. De echte preview staat op Sharky Extreme, maar da's even niet belangrijk. Hier nog wat meer stuff:
Some of you, our readers, will already have driven the streets of San Francisco either in 'real-time' (meaning if you've actually been to the city), whilst others may well have played the San Francisco Rush series of racing games. The fact remains, with its steep hills, jumps and suspension bridges San Francisco makes for the perfect experience and setting for a driving game on a PC. Throw in scenes from three other major US cities, including Los Angeles, New York and Miami and you get some 'diverse' levels. Is there anything else missing? Well judging by the success of Activision's 70s themed Interstate '76, a few afros might come in handy. So there you have it, a '70s themed driving game set across the US. Enter: Reflection Studios' Driver. You'll play the role of an undercover detective going by the name of Tanner (no relation to Elsie we might add) and go up against the mob in cities that are rendered with an advanced 3D engine. Reflections Studios will attempt to convey realism via pedestrians, traffic lights, other cars and even other cops for you to deal with accordingly. GT Interactive is set to publish the game in early Q4 of 1999. Until then we'll leave you with some eye candy.