Matrox heeft vandaag de G200 MMS aangekondigd, een speciale versie van de G200 waarop je maximaal 4 flatpanels kunt aansluiten! Niet interessant voor de gemiddelde gamer, maar wel leuk voor professionals die vette desktop met veel 'lebensraum' nodig hebben:

SIA, New York, NY, June 15, 1999 - Matrox Graphics Inc. today announced the Matrox G200 Multi-Monitor Series (MMS), the first line of graphics cards ever to support up to four DVI based digital flat panel displays with a single 8" PCI board.

With continuing demand for digital flat panels in the financial workplace, the Matrox G200 MMS is the ultimate in flexible solutions. End-users can choose a Matrox G200 MMS which supports either four digital, four analog or two analog and two digital flat panel displays. The Matrox G200 MMS also supports the new digital video interface (DVI) created by the Digital Display Working Group (DDWG) designed to ease the adoption of digital flat panels. Other configurations include composite video capture ability and onboard TV tuner, making the Matrox G200 MMS the complete solution for business needs.

"The Matrox G200 MMS shows Matrox's firm commitment to affordable, market-savvy solutions for the multi flat panel market," says Mitch Furman, Senior Product Manager, Display Technologies, Matrox Graphics. "Its unique ability to output to as many as four digital or analog displays proves that Matrox leads the way for multi-monitor solutions."

High Performance Multi-Monitor Support Based on the award-winning MGA-G200 chip, the Matrox G200 MMS provides superior 2D/3D graphics acceleration to meet the demanding needs of business applications such as real-time stock quotes, live video feeds, multiple windows applications, word processing, spreadsheets and CAD.

Business users who spend long hours in front of monitors will also benefit from the superior internal architecture of the Matrox G200 MMS. An integrated 250MHz RAMDAC and 128-bit DualBus design ensure superior performance, outstanding image quality and flicker-free analog displays. Digital displays are crystal clear thanks to a state-of-the-art SiI 154 PanelLink transmitter for each MGA-G200 chip. Combined with 8MB of SGRAM for each output, these components make the Matrox G200 MMS a veritable graphics workhorse.

...en zo lullen ze nog een tijdje door. Check Matrox Users voor de volledige press release.

AGN Hardware heeft een review gepost van de 6-speed Pioneer DVD-AO3S DVD-ROM drive. Hier heb je een wat info over de performance van de drive, in vergelijking met de goedkopere IDE versie:

As you can see, the SCSI version of this DVD drive is quite the performer. Not only does this drive offer the same level of fantastic performance we saw with the IDE version, but it even one-ups the ATAPI / IDE version of the drive with better CPU utilization numbers, which we can only attribute to use of the SCSI-2 interface. We obviously did not experience the problems that many users had with the IDE version not being detected properly by the IDE bus.

En zo ziet het apparaat eruit:

Bij Firingsquad vonden ze blijkbaar dat ze ook maar eens een Intel roadmap op het net moesten gooien. In feite wordt er weer hetzelfde verhaaltje verteld als in de roadmaps van THG en Sharky Extreme. Dit stukje over Coppermine vs K7 lijkt me wel interessant:

Those keeping up with the news may have noticed that Intel has already begun shipping .18um CPUs, primarily in the form of mobile P2 and Celeron processors. A lot of people believe that this is high-volume "test run" to warm the fab plants up for the impending arrival of the AMD K7. While experience tells us that coincidence is usually the rule rather than the exception, we have no doubt that Intel has the capability to push out Coppermine Pentium IIIs at 600Mhz and up, right here and now, and definitely by the end of June.

While Intel has no reason to immediately fear AMD's K7 impact, they're not blind to the long-term implications. The fact is, their only option at this point is to take on AMD in raw MHz - put out faster rated chips for cheaper. This can be an annoyance for Intel, and heck it may hurt their quarterly earnings reports, but it's a practice they've perfected against AMD, a company that is depending on K7 to achieve profitability.

Alweer een preview van een RTS spel waar nu al ellendig lang op de gewacht wordt: Force Commander van LucasArts, uiteraard gebaseerd op het Star Wars Universum. Hier heb je wat info uit de preview van Gaming Age:

Force Commander is expected to feature more than 50 individual Star Wars personnel, vehicle and building units that players amass while fighting for the Rebel Alliance or Galactic Empire. Players direct all major strategic aspects of a mission, including the requisition and command of combat units, the gaining of experience while engaging the enemy, and exploration of a 3D world, all while participating in a growing dynamic Star Wars story. Ground troops range from squadrons of Imperial stormtroopers and Rebel soldiers to various classes of droids. Vehicles abound for both the Rebel Alliance and Galactic Empire, including never-before-seen tanks, missile launchers and troop transports. Forces are rounded out with familiar Star Wars vehicles such as AT-AT and AT-ST walkers, Y-wings and TIE bombers.

The Hive heeft een interview gepost met Harry Teasley van Valve, waarin gesproken wordt over Team Fortress 2. Hier heb je een vraag:

JC: What improvements has Valve made in game features from Half-Life to Team Fortress 2?

Teasley: Real-time voice communication like we showed at E3 is one of the most exciting new innovations in TF2. With the new voice capabilities, you can talk to your friends within the game and your character's mouth will move as you talk. MRM technology allows very sophisticated level-of-detail rendering for 3D objects, which permits us to have very high polygon characters that really must be seen to be believed. Our goal is to make Team Fortress 2 the most immersive computer game experience ever, and we're making the technology investments that will allow us to do this.

iXBT heeft een drietal PIII heatsinks gereviewed: de Elan Vital FSCL03-L, TennMax P3 TF en een onbekende noname cooler. Van de drie coolers werd de Elan Vital als beste bevonden:

Now let's compare the results of Elan Vital FSCL03-L to those of TennMax P3 TF Cooler. The conclusion, however, is more than evident already: a strong airflow is far not the end. Although Elan Vital FSCL03-L has only one single fan, it still manages to surpass even TennMax P3 TF Cooler. Besides, we would also like to draw your precious attention to the fact that Elan Vital FSCL03-L possesses no L2-cache cooling. But the results it showed in the tests were even higher than those of the coolers with the L2 cache airing. And this means only that a free air circulation provided by the SECC2-cartridge open design is quite enough.

Ik las net op Betanews dat Creative Labs druk bezig is met het maken van een SBLive-driver voor Windows 2000 (alhoewel er al een driver is vanaf build 205x (ze zijn nu ergens bij build 206x en er komt er elke dag weer 1 bij) die werkt), dat vind ik wel even supertof !!!

We reported earlier that Microsoft does have native support for the Sound Blaster Live! in the newer builds (newer than Beta 3) that are being used internally. Microsoft is waiting for the latest release of the drivers for Windows 2000 to get kicked out by Creative Labs. These drivers will then be tested out on Beta 3. Once the bugs are fixed and some issues are resolved, it is reported that everyone may be able to download them from Windows Update. Finally, a public release of the drivers is coming!

Tevens werkt de Voodoo3 met samengevoegde drivers van Banshee en Voodoo3 wel degelijk onder Windows 2000(in tegenstelling tot berichten eerder gepost)
Ik heb mijn Voodoo3-3000 Retail vanmorgen gekregen en hij voldoet mij tot nu toe erg goed (ook in Windows 98 trouwens)

Een dag nadat ome Tom z'n Intel roadmap gepost heeft, doen ze bij Sharky Extreme precies hetzelfde... Uiteraard vind je ook hier weer een berg info over nieuwe Intel processors, chipsets en video chips.

Het is hier (even off topic) in Hilverdorp trouwens fokking heet aan het worken !

Tech-Review.com heeft een review gepost van de Sony Spressa CRX100E/CH. Wel een wazig naam voor een CD-Rewriter (doet mij denken aan koffieautomaten ). Maar goed, het gaat hier dus om een 4-speed recorder / 2-speed rewriter / 24x speed reader die op een EIDE interface aangesloten dient te worden:

Known for their excellent audio/video equipment, Sony has continued their quality tradition with the Spressa CRX100E/CH Internal CD-RW drive. By providing easy to follow installation directions, quality CD recording software, and living up to specified performance, the Spressa CRX100E/CH delivers exactly what one would expect. Working against the Spressa are its high price and competition releasing faster drives at every turn.

Een dag nadat Intel nieuwe mobile processors tot 400Mhz heeft aangekondigd doet AMD hetzelfde:

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. here today announced a 400-MHz version of its K6-2-P microprocessor for notebook PCs. AMD's announcement comes just one day after Intel Corp. announced 400-MHz versions of its Pentium II and Celeron notebook processors.

The 400-MHz processor will be manufactured with 0.25-micron process technology, while some of Intel's 400-MHz chips will be fabricated on a 0.18-micron manufacturing line.

[...] AMD's K6-2-P has the same price as Intel's 400-MHz Celeron, $187 each in 1,000s. Intel's 400-MHz Pentium II is priced at about $530.

Niet dat ik denk dat jullie geïnteresseerd zijn in Compaqs ofzo, maar mocht je per ongeluk toch in aanraking met zo'n ding komen, dan loop je vanaf nu de kans dat er een Savage4 in zit:

S3® Incorporated (Nasdaq:SIII - news) today announced that Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE:CPQ - news) has selected S3's Savage4(TM) accelerator to power its new line of Presario consumer PCs. Compaq's new line of Internet PCs that incorporate the Savage4 deliver high-speed 3D graphics performance, photo-realistic image quality, and stunning digital video playback.

``With the Presario series, we set out to build the best price performance line of consumer PCs that delivers the latest in PC technology for today's market,'' said Mark Vena, Director of Product Marketing, Consumer Desktops, Compaq Computer Corporation. ``So, when it came to the graphics subsystem, we chose S3 as they were the one company that could provide us with a solution that delivers the best combination of affordability and performance.''

``Compaq's decision to partner with S3 as the preferred graphics supplier for Presario PCs is a milestone achievement for S3,'' said Dan Karr, Vice President of Worldwide Sales for S3 Incorporated. ``This announcement clearly shows that S3 is well on its way toward its goal of reclaiming its position as the number one PC graphics company.''

Nee, geen major schokwekkend en/of heftig nieuws, wel een kleine blurb van Anand over de AMD K7:

I just finished up a quick meeting with AMD, although I can't report anything I can say that, in my opinion, AMD has really got their act together with this next release. While it'll be a while before you can buy or even read about their current project (you all know what it is), it'll be worth it.

There's no more trashing AMD and kicking them around as being the "value" performers in the industry - times are changing guys, just wait and see how...

Anand heeft er vertrouwen in, dus het gaat allemaal goed komen .

AGN Hardware heeft een review gepost van de nieuwe Creative Labs MiniGL drivers voor de Voodoo2 en Voodoo Banshee. Creative heeft wat aan de reference drivers lopen pielen waardoor de Voodoo nu opeens wel in staat blijkt te zijn om 512x512px textures te gebruiken!

Creative Labs has posted a new version of their MiniGL for their Voodoo Banshee and Voodoo 2 based products. This MiniGL is unique in that it forces these boards to use larger texture sizes then is normal for 3Dfx boards. Instead of the 'plain-jane'256x256 texture sizes, the new MiniGL forces 512x512 textures to be used giving a much better look and feel to MiniGL based games such as Quake III Arena, Quake II, Half-Life,etc. We had a chance to take a look at this MiniGL while it was in the BETA stages to see if all of the hype was worth it's weight so to speak, and we were quite surprised with what we found.

AGN HW heeft ook screenshots waarmee je zelf het verschil kunt beoordelen.

CNN heeft best wel kewl news over een of andere super computer die 60.000 maal zo snel is als een 350MHz PII, en dat voor 1000 dollar!

Within 18 months, you may be able to put the equivalent of today's supercomputer on your desktop--for about $1000. The CPU, long the heart of all PCs, may be an unnecessary component in tomorrow's high-performance computers.

The new computer will be able to process 100 billion instructions per second, according to Kent Gilson, chief technical officer of Star Bridge Systems. Company representatives discussed their plans for a high-end PC this week while announcing HAL-300GrW1, a "hypercomputer" that is said to be 60,000 times as fast as a 350-MHz Pentium, and many times as fast as IBM's supercomputer Pacific Blue. (The test used to measure the HAL's performance was different from the measure used for Pacific Blue, so exact comparisons are difficult.)

The new $1000 computer will be "three orders of magnitude different in price-performance [ratio]" from today's PCs, Gilson claims. It will fill many of the roles of a supercomputer, such as voice recognition, natural language processing, and holographic displays, he says. What's more, Gilson says, this super-PC will "run PC applications in emulation mode, in a manner similar to how the DEC Alpha runs NT, but it will run it a lot faster."

Voodoo Extreme heeft het een en ander aan UT info gepost. Allereerst een mailtje van Planet Hardware over de verbeteringen aan de Direct3D engine. Tim Sweeney geeft antwoord:

We're working very closely with NVidia now to deal with the Unreal TNT slowdowns. Since the last public beta, I've optimized the Direct3D code quite a bit (around 20% frame rate boost in Direct3D on TNT). The texture management slowdowns (when you walk into a room or see a new player, and the game drops to 5 fps for a frame or two)are the big remaining issue, and we're working with NVidia's driver engineers to find a good solution. If it's humanly possible to improve this, we'll do it! NVidia is being very helpful with code and suggestions on this. [break]Verder heeft James Schmalz van Digital Extreme / Epic een post geplaatst op het GT Interactive message board over de release status van Unreal Tourney:[/break] FYI, the content/game is done and we are testing, tweaking and debugging.

We will continue to do this until we can find no more bugs. We do not want to rush this process or we could end up like we did on Unreal... with pooly tested multiplayer.

Even though we are very close, we cannot comment on a release date. Why? What happens if we find a huge bug that holds us up for a week or two? Then we will be off on our release date and people will be very angry with us for giving an inaccurate date. [break]In dezelfde thread nog een post van James over de release van een UT demo en movie:[/break] We are getting closer to a release candidate every day. We are preparing a demo even now and our goal is to release the demo right around the time UT hits the store shelves, if not sooner. We are planning on another movie, but I'm not sure when it will get put together since everyone is busting their asses finding bugs.

Ik lees op het Sharky Extreme message board dat Matrox een addon kaart gaat uitbrengen waarmee de G400 voorzien zal worden van hardware geometrie acceleratie!:

Coming in Q4, there will be a hardware geometry accel add-on for the MATROX G400, that may fit into the funky unknown slot onboard the new card. More details on that slot soon at the MURC http://www.matroxusers.com

More on DirectX7 and Geometry Accel:

http://www.maximumpcmag.com/inside_sources/99.6/99.6.9.phtml#MeltdownHighlightsGeometryAcceleration

You can find more info on the subject here: http://www.3dlabs.com/press/headline3.html

Hardware Geo. Accel would allow the G400 to SCREAM past any other card on the market, even further than it already does. It's performance could even be TRIPLED! Forget about the TNT2 Ultra, The HARDWARE GEO CONNECTOR ON THE G400 is WHERE IT'S AT! No other card on the market has this connector.

Here's what others are already saying:

"Yep, I got a gut feeling that Matrox has got something else up their sleeves. Ant even said there was an unusual connector on the board. Hope he hasn't forgotten about putting up some screenshots of it. If this were true can you imagine "accelerated geometry, TRUE GROUND-UP AGP 4x, and DirectX 7" ROCKIN!

[[[ THIS WOULD OBVIOUSLY MINIMIZE THE CPU DEPENDENCY OF THE CARD ]]]

"If Matrox also implements their own version of 3DLabs Power Threads, and provides SSE/SIMD support, then you will see performance beyond anything you can imagine."

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH G400 ROCKS!

Ik heb even gecheckt bij Matrox Users maar ik kan er niets vinden over een addon kaart voor de G400. Het zou in ieder geval wel erg vet zijn. Let er trouwens op dat andere fabrikanten zoals nVidia in het vierde kwartaal met nieuwe videokaarten zullen komen die ook allemaal hardware geometrie acceleratie zullen kennen. Check deze SE thread voor meer info.

Anand heeft een review in elkaar gezet van de Pine Technology BA1-D dual slot1 moederplank. Nou kan ik me voorstellen dat je nog nooit van de fabrikant 'Pine' hebt gehoord. Dat kan wel kloppen, want ze blijken vooral in de OEM en modem business te zitten. Anand geeft de plank een beoordeling van 77/100, dus echt geweldig issie niet:

Contrary to Pine's own spec sheet, the BA1-D is not a jumperless motherboard. The board, by default, performs a B21 state detect meaning it determines whether you are running a 66MHz or 100MHz FSB processor. In the event that a 66MHz FSB processor is installed alongside a 100MHz FSB processor the board defaults to the 66MHz FSB, with no jumper that toggles between B21 states. The board features no additional FSB settings other than the 66/100MHz settings officially supported by Intel for use with the BX chipset, the lack of any overclocking options can be expected considering that most OEMs, Pine's primary source of sales, don't really care about overclocking at all and would rather the potential not be there to save them any tech support calls from users asking why "the 133MHz setting crashed my computer." The clock multipliers are controlled by an 8-pin jumper block adjacent to the secondary IDE connector. The available documented settings range from 3.0x to 5.5x, unfortunately the BA1-D only comes with two jumpers for use on the 8 pins, so if you plan on using the 3x or 4x settings, make sure you have another jumper handy or have a tiny piece of metal to connect two more pins with.

Tja, wat wil je nog minder?

Diamond heeft de rechtszaak gewonnen die de RIAA (Bumra stemra achtige organisatie in de VS) tegen hen heeft aangespannen (over de Diamond Rio, MP3 & illegale shit). Hier heb je de press release:

June 15, 1999-- Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc., (NasdaqIMD - news), a leader in PC multimedia and Internet connectivity, and its wholly owned subsidiary, RioPort, Inc., today announced that the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled that the Rio portable music player does not qualify as a ``digital audio recording device'' and therefore is not subject to the restrictions of the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 (AHRA).

The court stated that, ``The Rio's operation is entirely consistent with the Act's main purpose -- the facilitation of personal use.'' The court recognized that the Rio merely makes copies in order to render portable those files that already reside on a user's hard drive. ``Because the Rio cannot make copies from transmissions or from digital music media such as CDs and tapes, but instead can make copies only from a computer hard drive, it is not a digital audio recording device.''

``We are thrilled with the ruling,'' said Andrew Bridges, attorney at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati representing Diamond Multimedia. ``This suit was brought on by the RIAA as a violation of the Audio Home Recording Act (AHRA), which imposes technology restrictions and royalty requirements on certain types of consumer audio recording devices. Diamond Multimedia's Rio, which is incapable of independent recording or serial copying, simply is not covered by the Act. Diamond Multimedia has argued this point from the beginning in this case.''

``The ruling opens a host of new opportunities for us,'' said David Watkins, president of RioPort, Inc., Diamond Multimedia's Internet music subsidiary. ``We have always believed that the Rio line of devices operated well within the law. The Rio has always been marketed as a playback-only device for the thousands of legitimate music and audio tracks on the Internet.''

Watkins added, ``We do, however, continue to share the RIAA's concerns about piracy and protecting the rights of content owners. While the Rio device has become a world-renowned product, we have expanded our digital audio initiative beyond the hardware players with the deployment of RioPort.com, a leading resource for consumers who want access to working, legitimate digital music and audio content on the Internet.''

``The MP3 format will remain a popular format for distributing and listening to music for both content providers and consumers,'' added Watkins, ``But as larger content providers begin to distribute digital audio content, security becomes a critical component of delivery that we are addressing through our strategic relationship with InterTrust and our participation in the RIAA's Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI).''

These relationships are paving the way for a new generation of portable devices and increase the opportunity for new digital audio distribution models based on the Internet's worldwide infrastructure. In addition, the new line of Rio devices, expected to ship later this year, will be among the first widely available devices to support the playback of secure content.

RioPort, Inc.'s overall strategy encompassing content aggregation, software, and hardware devices will be more fully unveiled on June 23, 1999 in Los Angeles. Attendance to this event is by invitation only.

Is zo'n EIDE schijf van 37Gig misschien toch niets te groot, dan heeft (alweer) IBM nog iets leuks: een harddisk met de omvang van ene luciferdoosje:

IBM also said that it has begun limited shipments of its Microdrive. This matchbook-sized hard drive fits into a small slot in a handheld Windows CE device or a digital camera. For example, IBM's z50 Windows CE handheld PC can use this drive and camera makers have released products that can use the drive.

The drive offers data capacities up to 340 MB. Though IBM has shown the drive at conferences since last year, this is the first time it has announced shipments.

IBM also announced customers for its Microdrive including Casio, Compaq, the RioPort division of Diamond Multimedia, Kodak, Hitachi, and Nikon.

"Launching the microdrive is a strategic next step in the growth of IBM's Original Equipment Manufacturer technology business," IBM said in a statement.

The retail price of the Microdrive kit, which includes the 340 MB drive, PC Card adapter and case, is $499. The IBM Microdrives will be available in Japan and the U.S. in retail stores by early summer.

Upcoming Rio digital audio devices supporting the drive will provide users with high-capacity MP3 storage, said David Watkins, president of the RioPort Division at Diamond Multimedia in a statement. The IBM microdrive will allow future Rio customers to store several hours of CD-quality music or hundreds of hours of spoken audio, he said.

Zo'n RIO MP3 player met een capaciteit van 340Mb lijkt me ook wel interressant. De 32 of 64Mb van de huidige MP3 players is eigenlijk te weinig.

Sierra Studios heeft de officiële Teamfortress2 website geopend. Op zich niet zo interessant, ware het niet dat ze er ook maar meteen een paar leuke screenshots op gezet hebben:

AGN 3D heeft een review van Rollercoaster Tycoon op de site gepoot. Het schijnt nogal een leuk spelletje te zijn, wat ik best wil geloven (ben zwaar verslaafd geweest aan Transport Tycoon ). AGN 3D geeft trouwens een 10/10 voor gameplay!:

This game surprised me the first time I played it. As I progressed through the first level, I discovered that the complexity was immense. The details are really what set this game apart from other sim titles. Anything can be clicked on and an information box will pop up with tons of data that can be used to improve the park. Clicking on a park visitor will show how much money they have, how many rides they were on, what they thought about certain rides, and dozens of other small details that are not only interesting but useful. For example, you may have built a gigantic roller coaster that you are quite proud of, but no one seems to be interested in riding it. Clicking on a visitor that ignores the ride might show a reaction like “that ride looks too intense for me”, and right there you know what the problem is.

3DLabs en Formac gaan een Permedia3 kaart voor de Mac uitbrengen. Hier is de info uit de press release:

3Dlabs®, Inc. (Nasdaq: TDDD - news) today announced that as a result of a strategic relationship with Formac, the graphics power of 3Dlabs' new Permedia®3 graphics processor will be available to users of Apple Computer's Power Macintosh. Formac's new ProFormance 3 card uses the Permedia3 processor to deliver up to twice the 2D, 3D and OpenGL performance and productivity for Web and design professionals using the Macintosh platform. As previously announced, 3Dlabs sells the Permedia3 Create! board for the PC market and is limiting sales of the Permedia3 processor to selected board manufacturers, such as Formac, to enable additive and complementary markets.

Formac's 8MB SGRAM ProFormance 3 board is expected to ship in June, with an MSRP of $189, followed by a high-end 16MB SGRAM version with an MSRP of $259 which is expected to ship in July. Both boards will support Formac's Digital Flat Panel upgrade modules, supporting the standard MDR20 interface or SGI's 1600SW Flat Panel Display. The boards can operate in any Macintosh with a PCI bus and significantly boost the performance of all QuickDraw 2D and 3D graphics operations. In addition, Formac expects to ship OpenGL® drivers for the ProFormance 3 board in the third quarter of 1999 -- enabling the industrial-strength OpenGL acceleration of Permedia3 to bring workstation-class 3D to the Macintosh.

Erg leuk allemaal, maar laten ze er nou maar eerst voor zorgen dat de Permedia3 voor de PC eindelijk leverbaar wordt...

Jeremy van AGN 3D heeft een paar vragen gedropt bij George Broussard, de geestelijke vader van Duke Nukem Forever. Hier is heb je 1 vraag:

Will there be a fairly strong storyline (not too much of course) that develops with each stage or scenario, (movies in between levels) or will the game be pure action and exploration?

Yes to everything. A strong story that develops as you play is not mutually exclusive of pure action and exploration. DNF will have a very solid story and reasons for doing things. We've actually just hired a scriptwriter in California to help us wrap up and polish plot and script and make sure we have everything in place, as you would expect in a movie.

De overige 2 vind je hier.

Netscape zal in Communicator 5.0 geen ondersteuning bieden voor z'n eigen DOM (whatever dat allemaal mag zijn) Voordat ik onzin uit ga kraaien kun je beter checken wat News.com in dit nieuwsbericht te vertellen heeft:

In an attempt to speed its next-generation browser to market, AOL is dropping support for its proprietary version of an important new browser technology.

America Online's Netscape Communications division has long promised support for the standardized Document Object Model (DOM) in its upcoming version 5.0 of the Communicator browser. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommended its version of the DOM last year.

Netscape now says that in the process of implementing support for the W3C DOM, Level 1, it will not make Communicator 5.0 backward-compatible with some of its own proprietary DOM technology.

Version 5.0's "contract is to fully support DOM1/CSS1/HTML 4.0," wrote Communicator senior product manager Eric Krock in a post to the "netscape.public.mozilla.layout" newsgroup last week. "We unfortunately lack the time and resources to do that *and* support either of the two legacy proprietary DOMs (IE4 and Nav4), so we're going to focus on doing the W3C standards right, providing a robust, unchanging, standard platform going forward."

Dus dit gaat in de praktijk betekenen dat Netscape <layer>'s niet meer gaan werken in Communicator5?

Slashdot weet te vertellen dat er een nieuwe versie van BeOS gereleased is. De upgrade naar 4.5 is verkrijgbaar bij BeDepot, maar op de site van Be Inc. valt er nog geen info over 4.5 te vinden...

Er zit weer eens een bugje in de webserver van Microsoft, en als ik dit nieuwsbericht zo lees dan gaat 't niet om zomaar een onschuldig kevertje, maar om een groot gat in de beveiliging:

A major security flaw in a Microsoft Web server could allow crackers to take complete control of e-commerce Web sites, security experts warned Tuesday.

The flaw in Microsoft's Internet Information Server 4.0 allows unauthorized remote users to gain system-level access to the server, according to Firas Bushnaq, CEO of eEye, the Internet security firm that discovered it.

"This hole is so serious it's scary," said Jim Blake, a network administrator for Irvine, a city in southern California.

"With other [Windows NT] security holes, crackers have needed to gain some level of user access before executing code on the server. This is different.... Anybody off the Web can crack IIS," he said.

Planet Hardware heeft een review van de Cambridge Microworks speakers gepost. Hier heb je een stukje:

After playing a few songs I began to understand one of the best points of this system, good, clear overall sound quality. The satellites output great highs and mids, while the sub belched out clear distinct bass. The sound quality had an overall well-rounded feel, with no frequencies overpowering others. The bass can be cranked up to achieve room shaking proportions, but I preferred to leave it at 50% to get that rounded sound.