Als je een iMac nog niet fleurig genoeg vindt kan je gewoon een iVase kopen. Wat het is?? Het is een vaasje dat je aan je iMaccie kan plakken.
Tired of putting roses in your cd-rom drive? Weary of sticking begonias in your USB ports?Who isn't, really.
Want to meld nature and technology with one elegant accent? And give yourself and your beautiful iMac a great present!
Hier kan je ze bestellen (maar waarom??)
Volgens dit stukje kunnen Windows 95 en 98 na exact 49.7 dagen crashen. Hier een stukje :
A bizarre and probably obscure bug will crash some Windows computers after about a month and a half of use.The problem, which affects both Microsoft Windows 95 and 98 operating systems, was confirmed by the company in an alert to its users last week.
"After exactly 49.7 days of continuous operation, your Windows 95-based computer may stop responding," Microsoft warned its users, without much further explanation. The problem is apparently caused by a timing algorithm, according to the company.
Niet dat iemand er last van zal hebben want er zijn weinig mensen die het voor elkaar krijgen om Windows meer dan een dag draaiende te houden...
Corel gaat z'n eigen Linux distributie bouwen. De bedoeling is om van Linux een volwaardig desktop OS te maken dat makkelijker in de omgang is dan klassieke Linux distributies. News.com heeft er een artikel over, waarvan hier een plak:
dopting a formula that has proven successful for Microsoft, Corel announced today that it will release not only office applications for Linux, but also a version of the Unix-like operating system itself.Corel's distribution of Linux, called Corel Desktop Linux, is designed to simplify the system and installation issues that impede more widespread use of Linux.
"So far, [Linux] has been mainly for enthusiasts and servers, and the desktop has not happened in a big way," Corel chief executive Michael Cowpland said today, leading off the LinuxWorld Expo and Conference here. "It's got to be like Windows."
The ultimate plan is to be able to offer a "one-stop shopping arrangement" that gives companies the ability to offer a complete Linux-based computer that costs $500, "without any built-in tax to Redmond," he said, referring to the Washington state headquarters of rival Microsoft.
Corel's strategy puts the Ottawa company in a similar category as Microsoft, in that both have an operating system and common software such as a word processor that runs on top of it. Microsoft has come under fire for leveraging its position as the dominant desktop OS supplier.
Gamespot UK heeft een preview van Prey op z'n site geparkeerd. Als we alle hoopla moeten geloven dan wordt dit een extreem vet spel, met heftige graphics en een stevige storyline. Helaas zal het wel weer ellendig lang gaan duren voordat het ding af is. Hier maar wat info over de Prey engine:
But perhaps the most interesting aspect of the Prey engine will be its implementation of what's come to be known as portal technology. Standard 3D shooters like Quake use a technique known as Binary Space Partitioning trees to describe their game worlds, but Prey's portal technology will allow it to move away from the more fixed environment geometry into a series of dynamic linked environments which can actually change and alter during a game. Although technically quite complicated, Portal Technology does allow game designers a lot more flexibility in designing their game worlds and the end result is a much more sophisticated and rich 3D environment for the gamer. Prey will be the first major title to implement this unique portal technology.
Diamond heeft vandaag een press release losgelaten over de MX25 dochterplank, waarmee je de Monster Sound MX300 van een digitaal S/PDIF dingetje kunt voorzien. De verwachte verkoopprijs van het ding is $39. Hier de info:
Diamond Multimedia today announced its first option in the MX-LINK series, the Monster Sound MX25 upgrade card, giving Monster Sound MX300 customers the latest advancements in Dolby Digital support at a very affordable price point. The Monster Sound MX25 option combined with the Monster Sound MX300 and software DVD offers S/PDIF (Sony and Philips Interconnect Format) output for an impressive home theater experience.The Monster Sound MX300 audio accelerator and the Monster Sound MX25 daughtercard connected to an external receiver with AC3 (Dolby Digital) decoding capabilities allow PC users to enjoy DVD titles in a cinema-quality environment. The Monster Sound MX25 upgrade provides a true-digital signal to a home-theater system delivering a high audio listening experience.
``The Monster Sound MX25 option is the most cost-effective means of enabling Dolby Digital support for Monster Sound MX300 users today,'' said Michael Dexter, product manager for Diamond Multimedia's audio business unit. ``It allows the computer user to experience true surround sound for the full motion-picture sound quality right in the home.''
Diamond's Monster Sound MX25 will be available in late March.
Real3D (ontwikkelaar van de i740 chipset) en Intel zijn niet langer saampjes, aldus de info in deze wazige nieuwsposting op The Register:
Somehow we missed this information. Apparently, Real3D's next chip is called Cobra and is likely to be similar to nVidia's TNT-2 and ATI's Rage 128. It's a few months away, and will come with 32-bit, AGP 4x, Screaming Sindie enhanced drivers and multi-texturing.And this is the interesting bit: Real3D has had a split up with Intel regarding Portola 752.
Extreme Hardware heeft een review van de ATI Rage Fury gepost. Hier alvast een hap:
One feature that really makes the RAGE 128 stand out from the crowd is its hardware DVD decoding features. While it doesn’t offer full hardware DVD decoding, it has built in motion compensation and IDCT (Inverse Discreet Cosine Transform). The RAGE 128’s hardware features, combined with a software DVD decoder, allow for smooth DVD playback. Compared to the run-of-the-mill software DVD decoder, the RAGE 128 benefits because of its extra hardware DVD decoding features. With the RAGE 128, more CPU time will be available when DVD movies are being played, allowing for some multitasking (depending on your CPU speed). Unfortunately, for this preview, I was unable to completely test the DVD performance of the RAGE 128, but look for the DVD results in the full review when the RAGE 128 hits the market.
JC heeft wat info over de release van de Savage4, TNT2 en Voodoo3, die komen allemaal in april. Dat gaat een heet maandje worden...
KH sends me this URL, which contains information (well, not in English, I should warn you) about upcoming video cards. Dunno if this isn't common knowledge already, but I figured I'd take a chance and spout it out anyway. ;) Says that the Savage4, Voodoo3, and TNT2 will all be out in April. STB will be the only creator of Voodoo3-based cards (this part we already knew, and it's a damn shame -- 3dfx just handed the market to nVidia and maybe S3). Intel's next video chipset is the i752.
Ook nog wat info over de kloksnelheden van de TNT2 (waren al redelijk bekend):
TNT2 Pro = 125MHz TNT2 Plus = 143MHz
TNT2 Ultra = 166MHz
256 bits videoplank van Diamond!
Wie denkt te moeten patsen met z'n 128-bits TNT kan 'm nu het raam uit gaan flikkeren en naar Diamond lopen om een FireGL1 te gaan halen. Da's namelijk Diamond's nieuwe 256-bits videoplank voor WinNT workstations. Hier wat info THG Technews:
Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc. has introduced the Diamond Fire GL1, the first 256-bit engine for the NT workstation market.The $995 Diamond Fire GL1 is optimized for multi-processor systems with multi-threaded OpenGL drivers and supports Intel's new Pentium III Streaming SIMD Extensions.
Diamond claims the Fire GL1 accelerator can deliver up to 15 million anti-aliased vectors per second sustained and processes 200 million pixels per second fill rate. Featuring the IBM 256-bit graphics rasterizer, the GL1 provides twice the bandwidth of standard 128-bit engines to deliver faster 2D and 3D graphics performance. With an integrated 250MHz RAMDAC, the Diamond Fire GL1 accelerator supports True Color screen resolutions up to 1920-by-1200 with double buffering and a 24-bit Z-buffer.
For details, visit the company's web site at http://www.diamondmm.com.
Meer info kun je krijgen bij Diamond (als het meezit, hun Coldfusion server ligt plat).
Bezwaren NLIP tegen cache-verbod
De NLIP (gathering van hollandse internet providers) heeft bezwaren tegen de intens stupide plannen van het Europarlement om internet caching te verbieden:
NLIP, de club van Nederlandse Internetaanbieders vindt dat het besluit van het Europarlement om auteursrechten op zware wijze te zullen handhaven, schadelijk kan zijn voor Internet. Het parlement, niet gehinderd door kennis van zaken, besloot om tijdelijke opslag op computers op Internet die dichter bij de gebruikers staan ('caching') te verbieden. Caching spaart transportkosten, en versnelt het Internetverkeer, zegt de NLIP, en het is dom dat te verbieden.Geript van Planet Multimedia.
Lees meer
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HvJ EU: geen inbreuk op auteursrecht bij bestanden in cache Nieuws van 5 juni 2014MegaProvider breekt met NLIP Nieuws van 9 oktober 2003
Quake III Arena preview
Thresh heeft een preview met een bespreking van alle wapens in Quake III. De extreem vette BFG (of wat voor naam het ding ook mee zal krijgen), ons allen welbekend van Doom, zal terugkeren in QIII. Tresh is kritish:
Do we smell imbalance here? I despise the whole premise behind having an "ultimate weapon" in the first place. I don't see a purpose in having it, and I certainly don't see how it aids "newbies." Here's the deal - the purpose behind having a BFG is to give newbies the satisfaction of at least getting one kill. How? By providing them with a weapon that doesn't require much (if any) skill to use/aim, but is extremely powerful. You can see such an example in the Quake 2 BFG. It doesn't require any aim… simply shoot it at the ground and anyone around you (that can be seen) will receive damage.While this is a very noble feature, it obviously didn't sit well with the better, more hardcore players. Good players don't like being killed by newbies who use weapons that don't require any skill… but that is actually not the issue here.
The hardcore players are the guys who sit on high bandwidth lines, have extra computers lying around, and have the technical knowledge (and motivation) to set up servers and create mods. Thus, most of these server administrators set up servers without the BFG, and consequently, the whole purpose of throwing such a weapon in there is rendered moot.
32Meg Savage4 kaart van Creative
Creative Labs gaat een Savage4 kaart bakken met maar liefst 32Meg onboard memory. Nog leuker is de prijs, voor al dit goeds moet slechts 129 dollar neergelegd worden.
Hier een stukke info uit de press release van Creative:
Creative Technology Ltd. (Nasdaq: CREAF - news), the leading provider of multimedia hardware for the PC, further penetrates the graphics card market with the introduction of its 3D Blaster(TM) Savage4, the latest addition to Creative's award-winning 3D Blaster family. Designed with the budget-conscious PC gamer in mind, the 3D Blaster Savage4 is available at retail for the breakthrough price of US$129.99Based on S3's Savage4 PRO(TM) graphics controller, Creative's new 3D Blaster Savage4 delivers spectacular performance and stunning visual quality using S3's patented S3TC texture compression. The 3D Blaster Savage4 offers support for PCI, AGP2X and AGP4X bus architectures, true 32-bit 3D rendering, a full 128-bit 3D graphics Engine and dual texture 3D rendering pipeline to enhance gameplay. In addition, 3D Blaster Savage4 features 32MB of SDRAM, a 300MHz RAMDAC, and hardware-assisted DVD, all supported by Creative's own drivers and utilities.
``We have come to a turning point in the graphics industry where gamers an developers are now directing their attention to image quality,'' said Steve Mosher, vice president, graphics business for Creative. ``The introduction of the 3D Blaster Savage4 marks the beginning of a distinct transition for the 3D graphics business as we move beyond raw speed to satisfy the eyes' need for better image quality.''
Anand's Savage4 preview
Anand heeft een preview van de S3 Savage4 op z'n site gelegd. De specs van de Savage4 staan er frisjes bij en met de support van o.a. Diamond en Creative zal-ie ongetwijfeld succesvoller worden dan z'n geflopte broertje. Vooral S3 Texture Compression is een erg prettige feature:
S3's 6:1 compression ratio provided for by the S3 Texture Compression (S3TC) technology allows for the seamless integration of compression technology, with no noticeable visual penalty, due to its full support in Microsoft's DirectX 6.0. S3TC isn't something S3 cooked up on the side, it is a fully licensable and readily available compression algorithm that is supported in DirectX 6.0, it's about time a company realized that proprietary isn't the way to go to make your presence known in the market. Just to get a vague idea of the capabilities of S3TC, while the Voodoo2 is limited to texture sizes of 256 x 256 bytes, a S3TC texture is limited to 2048 x 2048 byte textures.
Soyo SY-5SSM SS7 mobo review
De Super Socket7 Hardware Guide blijft aan de lopende band reviews van socket7 moederplanken uitpoepen. Ditmaal mogen we er eentje van de Soyo SY-5SSM, een plank met SiS530 chipset, verwelkomen:
Use of the SiS530 chipset provides an onboard AGP video graphics accelerator that functions at the external CPU frequency as opposed to the normal 66MHz. While the chipset's VGA controller can support up to 8MB of onboard frame buffer memory, the SY-5SSM offers no onboard memory, choosing instead to rely on shared system memory, operator selectable through the BIOS at 2, 4, or 8MB. This means that the amount of system memory you select is set aside by the BIOS for use solely by the VGA controller. Extremely cost efficient it offers thoroughly acceptable 2D performance but sadly the impact of relying on system memory for VGA frame buffer is somewhat slow for 3D applications.Meer spul over dit bord zie je in de review op super7.net.
Review Bigfoot TS 8,4Gb harddisk
Upgradecenter heeft een review een de 8,4Gig dikke Quantum Bigfoot TS drive. De low-budget 5,25" Bigfoots staan vooral bekend om hun onbetrouwbaarheid en traagheid, dus hoe zit het met dit exemplaar?
If you don't let this size of this drive shock you I think you'll be okay. However, if you're looking the high performance drive this isn't it, but if the cost effective high capacity drive then this is the perfect solution.Meer info vind je in de (overigens erg korte) review van Upgradecenter.
AMD K6-III artikel
Destination AMD heeft een artikel over de K6-III in elkaar gepleurd, helaas wel gedipt in een heel erg vet pro-AMD sausje. Hier een plak info over hoe ze bij Destination AMD denken over de toekomst van de K6-III:
The price is right. The K6-III costs $284 for a 400 MHz version and $476 for a 450 MHz version (in 1000 unit quantities). It performs great. What could go wrong? The K6-III should do great as long as AMD can sort out their manufacturing process and obtain good yields. One other questionable area of the K6-III seems to be its ability to reach clock speeds over 500 MHz. Many analysts say with the current design, clock speeds over 500 MHz will not be easy. AMD representatives rebuke this though, saying the K6-III will be produced past 2000 and will increase in clock speed. Does this mean a transition from a .25 micron process to a .18 micron process for the K6-III is in the future? I doubt has AMD concocted a way to squeeze more speed out of the .25 micron process. But, you never know. After all analysts said socket 7 was dead!
Disk On A Chip
AGN Hardware heeft wat info over een nieuw geintje van Advantec waarmee je tot 144Meg op een flash disk kunt parkeren. Handig voor WinCE doosjes:
dvantech's Ready To Run Windows CE applications platform is based on a version of Windows CE supporting on-board functions and devices. Advantech plans to offer a full line of embedded motherboards addressing a variety of needs, providing a built-in DiskOnChip socket and ready to run Windows CE. This feature will improve time-to-market for new designs and simplify the development of Windows CE-based applications.M-Systems' DiskOnChip is a family of compact, bootable flash disk solutions. The DiskOnChip product line offers products ranging in capacity from 2 to 144MB that can be inserted into a standard 32-pin DIP socket. These fully functional flash disks are plug'n'play, easy to integrate and consume minimal power, making DiskOnChip the optimal solution for embedded computers in industrial automation, Internet access devices, game machines, Internet kiosks, point-of-sale and many other embedded applications where the product is recognized as an industry standard.
De complete info vind je bij AGN Hardware.
Simcity 3000 review
Maar weer eens een review van Simcity 3000. Warzone heeft er eentje, waarvan hier wat info:
The wonderful thing about SimCity 3000 (and the SimCity series, really) is that everything happens for a reason, and it’s generally a good reason. If you have heavy traffic on a particular road, it’s because your sims are using that road to get from their houses to work. The higher-density the houses, and the more industry over there, the more cars that road will have to carry. The model behind SimCity 3000 is good enough that if your city has a problem it’s generally pretty obvious what’s causing it. If your city is short water, you don’t have enough water pumps. If things keep catching on fire, you’re short firefighters. Air pollution is the result of too much heavy industry. Land values are low next to the garbage dump. That’s the real point of SimCity 3000 – it implements a realistic simulation of the forces shaping 20th century city development and asks "Can you, given all these problems, build a city worth living in?"En voor de rest moet je ff gaan kijken naar de review van Warzone.com.