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Modern PC News for the Week Ending March 30, 2003
Commodore.ca |Windows 2003 Licencing Changes The two notable changes to Windows 2003 Server licencing are:
For complete details click HERE. TomsHardware.com | Intel Introduces Super Cheap Gigabit Cards that By-Pass PCI Bus Intel today
announced a new gigabit Ethernet (GbE) controller that bypasses the
limitations imposed by using the PCI bus for GbE adapter connection.
Commodore.ca | Light Laptop Detailed Comparison, Including Tablet PC's I recently had to complete an analysis of light weight laptops for a client of mine and you may find it useful to determine which device is right for you. It details five laptops that Toshiba Tablet PC and the new Panasonic Toughbook, Click HERE for the excel file.
Geek.com |
Windows Update Spies on Users FYI, I tried to verify this with other sites, but I could not get a response from any of the agencies or news web sites I asked The difficulty of keeping up with the endless flow of patches and fixes coming from Microsoft has long been a reason for the poor security administration worldwide of its products. To address this concern, Microsoft rolled out its Windows Update service several years ago to much fanfare... Privacy advocates took issue, though, with the possibility for sensitive data to be passed to Microsoft during the update procedure. Microsoft's verbage on the update site indicates that no personal data is being sent to Microsoft, but German researchers at tecChannel were a bit perplexed at the amount of data flowing not into your computer from Microsoft, but out of it to Microsoft. So, they analyzed the packets to see what was going on. As it turns out, packet analysis is useless, as the stream is encrypted via Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). However, using an undocumented Windows feature, tecChannel was able to get around this and view the raw data. The results were alarming. Embedded in the data stream were lists of what software you have installed on your PC--and not just Microsoft products. Apparently the folks in Redmond can find out just what you've got installed on your PC, all without you ever knowing about it or explicitly consenting to it. ...The intercepted messages have the following format: > <SOAP:Envelope
xmlns:SOAP="x-schema:http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"> MSNBC.com |
Pioneer 10 Falls Silent After 31 Years Pioneer 10, the first spacecraft to venture out of the solar system, has fallen silent after traveling billions of miles from Earth on a mission that has lasted nearly 31 years, NASA said Tuesday Feb. 25. WHAT WAS APPARENTLY the
spacecraft’s last signal was received Jan. 22 by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s
Deep Space Network. At the time, Pioneer 10 was 7.6 billion miles from Earth;
the signal, traveling at the speed of light, took 11 hours and 20 minutes to
arrive. No more attempts at communication are planned. Pioneer 10 was launched March 2, 1972, on a 21-month mission. It became the first spacecraft to pass through the asteroid belt and the first to obtain close-up images of Jupiter. In 1983, it became the first human-made object to leave the solar system when it passed the orbit of distant Pluto. The Voyager 1 spacecraft, which was launched in 1977, outpaced Pioneer 10 in 1998 to become the most distant human-made object. That probe is still in communication with the Deep Space Network, and is currently involved in the Voyager Interstellar Mission to study the outer limits of the sun’s sphere of influence. Although Pioneer 10’s mission officially ended in 1997, scientists continued to track the TRW Inc.-built spacecraft as part of a study of communication technology for future interstellar missions. Pioneer 10 hasn’t relayed telemetry data since April 27. Pioneer 10 carries a gold plaque engraved with a message of goodwill and a map showing the Earth’s location in the solar system. The spacecraft continues to coast toward the star Aldebaran in the constellation Taurus. It will take 2 million years to reach it. Forbes.com |
Google Buys Blogger With
its acquisition of Pyra Labs, Web-search juggernaut Google.com
apparently sees dollar signs in the business of letting anyone easily publish
their comments and thoughts on the Web. Associated Press | Unix Sues IBM for $1B Over Linux Trade Secrets In a potential boon to Microsoft Corp. and other proprietary software companies, the owner of the Unix operating system filed a $1 billion lawsuit against International Business Machines Corp. for allegedly giving away trade secrets in its open-source Linux programs. ...Though SCO claims it is targeting IBM alone in the suit filed late Thursday in a Utah state court, analysts say it could cast uncertainty over all companies that offer Linux. ...SCO Group, which acquired Unix in 1995, claims IBM is freely distributing proprietary code by converting aspects of its own Unix variant into a Linux product. "The people who would really benefit are folks like Sun Microsystems and Microsoft because this casts some fear, uncertainty and doubt on the Linux market and will cause some folks who were about to embrace Linux to pause," said David Freund, an analyst at Illuminata... ExtremeTech.com | Inside PCI Express
...A family of connectors is specified, ranging from x1 to x16 bus widths, including x1, x4, x8, and x16. It appears x2 will be reserved for other types of PCI Express interconnects, but not in slots. Legacy PCI slots will exist on their own, and will sit adjacent to native PCI-Express connectors. It will be possible to "up-plug" smaller PCI Express cards into larger slots, but not vice-versa... PCMagazine.com | Intels Next Chips Will NOT Have Any Pins Good news, PC enthusiasts:
Intel's "Tejas" processor will do away with pins entirely, making swapping out a
new processor quite literally a snap. But you'll have to wait. "Tejas", Intel's successor to the Pentium 4-style "Prescott" processor, will officially launch in the second half of 2004, according to confidential Intel documents viewed recently by ExtremeTech. Tejas uses a 775-contact pinless Land Grid Array (LGA) that far exceeds the 478 pins used on the Pentium 4, and Prescott. However, the additional pins were required for the additional I/O and power requirements of Tejas, the documents say. A direct socket loading technique, similar to a waffle iron, traps the LGA package inside a "socket body stiffener" and prevents it from breaking contact with the motherboard. The design also insulates the processor itself from potential damage from the heat sink. If a user aligns the processor correctly -- the "keying" mechanism to prevent the processor from being misaligned hasn't been passed along to OEMs -- upgrades should take place in a matter of seconds, by snapping the load plate over the top of the processor package. However, users will have to snap out their wallets, too. Although Intel plans a chipset, "Grantsdale", that supports both the Prescott and Tejas processors, the radical redesign of the processor socket will require users to purchase new motherboards... Reuters.com | Bill Gates Still the Richest Man on Earth The net worth of the 476 billionaires on Forbes' annual list of the world's wealthiest people totaled $1.4 trillion, a drop of $141 billion from last year. Bill Gates, 47, the chairman and co-founder of software giant Microsoft Corp., is still the richest person on the planet, with a fortune of nearly $41 billion. But even Gates has not been immune to the global economy's recent trials and tribulations: His net worth has fallen more than $10 billion in the past year, according to the magazine. Investor Warren Buffett again ranked No. 2 on the list, although his fortune shrank to $30.5 billion from $35 billion in the magazine's last survey. The list's top 10 includes Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, Oracle Corp. CEO Lawrence Ellison, German discount supermarket kings Karl and Theo Albrecht, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud of Saudi Arabia, and the heirs of the Wal-Mart Stores Inc. discount retail empire. While not included in the ranking, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's fortune totals at least $2 billion, the magazine said... BetaNews.com |
Microsoft to Release Windows Automotive ...Windows Automotive was
developed as part of Microsoft's "Connected Car" strategy and will not actually
power automobiles. Instead, Microsoft wants to bring Internet-based technologies
such as entertainment and Web services directly into cars. Seven auto
manufacturers are currently onboard to embed Windows Automotive in upcoming
models. TheRegister.co.uk |
Amazing New Stealth Tools Remote Control Windows Machines
Hackers are using vastly more
sophisticated techniques to secretly control the machines... the presence of an
until-then unknown tool that can render an intruder nearly undetectable on a
hacked system. Now dubbed "Slanret", "IERK," and "Backdoor-ALI" by anti-virus
vendors, experts say the tool is a rare example of a Windows "root kit" - an
assembly of programs that subverts the Windows operating system at the lowest
levels, and, once in place, cannot be detected by conventional means. Greg Hoglund, a California computer security consultant, believes intruders have been using Windows root kits covertly for years. He says the paucity of kits captured in the wild is a reflection of their effectiveness - not slow adoption by hackers. "It's happening now," says Hogland. "People don't realize that it's happening, but in the next two or three years we're going to see a lot more of this activity." ...Once Slanret is installed on
a hacked machine, anti-virus software won't pick it up in a normal disk scan.
That said, the program is not an exploit - intruders have to gain access to the
computer through some other means before planting the program. Lindows.com | Lindows PC's Now Available at The Brick in Canada The Brick is a well-established
outlet with 70 locations across Canada; they're offering their customers great
products at great prices. Customers finally have a choice on store shelves that
hasn't been seen for more than 15 years.
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