Slashdot Mirror

Nate Fox writes "Finally all the mp3 storage I want: TechWeb has a lil story on 2,300GB solid state drives available within 2 years. " Interesting stuff-but as always, I'll wait to see it in the proverbial flesh.

More details of SGI's upcoming Linux server have emerged. According to the article, SGI is already shipping a 4 processor machine, and plans to ship 8-way and 2-way machines at a later time. Both Linux and NT are available pre-installed. The servers look like they're not your mother's typical x86-based server, and come with some interesting hardware features that I didn't even know Linux supported (hot swap drives). Am I not well-informed, or is it possible SGI has some patches (that they're hopefully itching to give us)? Regardless, I'm glad to see a big Unix vendor shipping Linux, and touting it so highly.

crisco writes to us with an article from InternetWeek addressing the concern of "trojan horse programs concealed inside open source code that could create new security headaches for IT managers", as the article says. The article deals mainly with the BO2K issue, which makes the whole open source connection a bit of a stretch.

nadador writes "Apparently, Microsoft is readying an enterprise class clustering and failover version of Windows 2000. Techweb, and Microsoft, I'm sure, seem to think this is going to be a "Unix Killer". It also mentions Linux as a driving force in making Windows truly enterprise class software" It actually sounds quite impressive. I can't wait to see what some of the upcoming HA (high-availability) enhancements for Linux will look like.

BetaBenj sent us the latest update from TechWeb concerning the latest advances in solid quantum computing. Recently, there have been a couple key advances bringing us closer-but we're still a ways out. Still, the ramifications of it are almost as staggering as nanotech. Almost.

petchema writes "Corel is been sued by Advanced Software for software patent infringement. The contention feature is the side-by-side file comparison found in Wordperfect. " Yeah because nobody did that before. Update: 07/07 02:50 by CT : originally this story linked through to advancedsw.com- this company is in Colorado and has nothing to do with the Advanced Software from California that was doin' the suin'. Sorry about the confusion.

Geoff Parker wrote in with a story about competition between Unix and Linux vs. NT in the EDA market. An interesting read that puts Linux in good light and says that expctations for the EDA on NT market are falling short . It also seems Intel has a 1000-member LUG.

Code-Fu writes "NetWare is nowhere. That's the word from Lotus Development." You can read the rest of the story here. This involves Lotus bringing Domino to Linux, and will probably mean Linux being used in more business settings. I like it.

An anonymous reader sent in the following: "A story on Techwire discusses the UK government proposal to require providers of digital communications services to make available interception capabilities for all pagers, IP telephony, email etc. As usual, the US Feds have some involvment in this. " Quite distressing. Even VPNs are covered.

webslacker writes "ESR's been invited to speak at Microsoft on June 21st. The question: Why? The answer: Nobody knows... " All it took was bribing him with dinner with Neil Stephenson. I think that would work for Hemos too...

desslok writes "A new type of attitude-control system will be put to the test this August when it is launched into orbit as part of the Swedish Hugin satellite. The new board, developed by researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory, in N.M., comes directly out of research that uses analog electronics to simulate the nervous systems of real animals. "

feeder sent us a recent Techweb story purporting to talk about the Open Source community reaction to the announcement from Microsoft and ActiveState about ActiveState being funded to extend Perl support under Windows. The story is indicative of some of the standard concerns-but how much do we have fear - what does everyone think?

Anonymous Coward writes "US/UK stealing industrial secrets?
Report: U.S. Uses Key Escrow To Steal Secrets "

profesor writes "Scott McNealy had some interesting comments on Linux at the dedication of Sun's new campus in Massachusetts. " Well interesting, assuming the comment "a great way to get to the wrong answer" is interesting. Scott's keeping his cool on this one, and doesn't want to be seen like a certain someone else.

Lazzaro wrote in with the most exciting thing I've seen all day: A TechWeb article about VA (Research) buying Linux Hardware Solutions and mandrake's company, Enlightened Solutions. It goes on to say VA will regroup into three separate groups: an apparently RHAD-like development division, a web unit for Linux.com, and a systems group.

fluffhead wrote in to send us an article over at tech about Clip on Monitors. The real nifty thing is that this one allows you to see through it so you can super impose digital stuff over real life. Yum.

One of our ever loquacious AC's sent an interesting story over our way. A Researcher at Johns Hopkins has created an artifical eye chip that "has image sensing and object tracking" capabilites. This has been demonstrated in other systems, the key difference here: speed. One chip, rather then different chip sub-systems.

heretic writes "Here's a techweb article on Apple's response to the criticism they've drawn on their source license for Darwin. Personally, I hope they fix at least the cancellation clause. "

jocknerd writes "The RIAA is reporting that MP3 is the reason for declining CD sales. " God I hope so. Do you guys realize how convenient it is to have all audio on demand? I've ripped all my CDs- its just so wonderful. Why won't the music industry give me that? I don't think the music industry is totally doomed- it just needs to change. The radio industry has more to fear. Why would I listen to WXYZ when I can select my own music mix for the the same cost as cable? Thats where I hope this ends.

Chris Calabrese writes "CMP TechWeb just posted a story on a new wearable monitor technology that promisses low power consumption and high performance. Still kind of expensive, but it would be nice to have one anyway. " $2500-$5k? Ah well, I can dream.

ttyler sent us a link to a little techweb bit talking about NSI Losing Records from the DNS. Supposedly as many as 18,000. Mentions a nice conspiracy theory that this is a plot to promote their new registration service before they lose their monopoly in the not so distant future.

There appears to have been some confusion about what the FCC actually said... AgentOrangeJuice also submitted a detailed MacObserver Correction Wired also states that internet access by 7-digit number will remain a local call.

Andrew Morton sent us a link to a techweb article that discusses IBM and Linux on PPC. Apparently they are going to start support Linux throughout their product lines- including preloading Linux on their low end RS/6000 boxes.

One of the big stories of 1998 was the impact of ultracheap computers. The marketshare of computers which had stayed firmly stuck around 40% of US-households increased to 50%. Similarly Intel's market share collapsed in the mail-order and retail PC market: 75% of overall unit sales in the 1997 fourth quarter to about 49.5% in the most recent period. The cheapest computers reveal a trend of making money off services rather than hardware, with an associated lack of choice (don't expect to run Linux on these things): $300 PCs are shipping in France but you must use a specific ISP, zero-cost PCs are available if you agree to being bombarded by adverts even if you are not online (remember 1984: the TV things were always on), and finally zero-cost iMacs are available if you pledge to spend 3600 dollars over 3 years at some online mall. Moreover, the cost has already hit the industry: AMD is hurting while system development of Tier 1 manufacturers is leaving the US, being done instead by contract manufacturers in countries where electronics labour costs are less than a buck an hour. More people on the internet may be good, but at what cost?

One of the big stories of 1998 was the impact of ultracheap computers. The marketshare of computers which had stayed firmly stuck around 40% of US-households increased to 50%. Similarly Intel's market share collapsed in the mail-order and retail PC market: 75% of overall unit sales in the 1997 fourth quarter to about 49.5% in the most recent period. The cheapest computers reveal a trend of making money off services rather than hardware, with an associated lack of choice (don't expect to run Linux on these things): $300 PCs are shipping in France but you must use a specific ISP, zero-cost PCs are available if you agree to being bombarded by adverts even if you are not online (remember 1984: the TV things were always on), and finally zero-cost iMacs are available if you pledge to spend 3600 dollars over 3 years at some online mall. Moreover, the cost has already hit the industry: AMD is hurting while system development of Tier 1 manufacturers is leaving the US, being done instead by contract manufacturers in countries where electronics labour costs are less than a buck an hour. More people on the internet may be good, but at what cost?

Intel and HP have been awarded 2 patents which reveal more about Merced. Speculatively executing both code paths originating at a conditional branch wastes resources which could be better used concentrating on one path. By applying speculative execution only when branch-prediction will probably fail, speculative execution is minimised to the cases where it will really help. In pretty much unrelated news, Intel's selling toys which might actually teach kids something.

Well, according to this report, IBM is going to fully support Linux, and Sell PowerPC based machines (low end RS/6000) bundled with Linux. Its about time.

XBS writes "It seems that Macs are not quite Y2K compliant. They are hardware compliant, but software wise not quite. This is research done by Pedagoguery, which makes a Y2K-testing tool for the Mac. So if you open a file with dates that only contain 2 digits,that does a 'StringToDate' routine currently interprets '89' as 1989. Next year it will interpret '89' as 2089. The rule of thumb from Pedagoguery said. "So, after the year 2000, most Mac applications will work correctly, as long as you don't open any files that contain dates." "

Gon writes "According to this Techweb story, the emulation side has legal precedent on their side. This might explain why the SF court rejected SONY's request for a restraining order against Connectix." Kristian Dorland sent us this email from the authors of UltraHLE who claim they have not been contacted by Nintendo and that they know nothing about the security device Nintendo claims they circumvented in the N64." Interesting Ultra HLE Tech doc posted by an AC below.

ewhac writes "According to TechWeb, Nintendo has not ruled out the possibility of suing the authors of UltraHLE, the Nintendo-64 emulator for PCs with Voodoo graphics cards. Nintendo holds the dubious opinion that the emulator is illegal, predicated on the assumption that the emulator would not have been possible without circumventing the security chip. (Circumvention of copy-protection/authentication systems was recently criminalized in the United States, with fines up to $500K.) "

ewhac writes "According to TechWeb, Nintendo has not ruled out the possibility of suing the authors of UltraHLE, the Nintendo-64 emulator for PCs with Voodoo graphics cards. Nintendo holds the dubious opinion that the emulator is illegal, predicated on the assumption that the emulator would not have been possible without circumventing the security chip. (Circumvention of copy-protection/authentication systems was recently criminalized in the United States, with fines up to $500K.) "

The new EETimes (print edition) hit the canteen tables today, leading with an article about TeraGen's new processor. Like the processor described by Transmeta's patent, this processor is able to emulate multiple instructions sets. But it adds an extra twist: the ability to emulate more than one CPU simultaneously. This allows it to replace a DSP, a CPU and other parallel devices by one chip, making it ideal for embedded applications. Update: 02/02 03:30 by S : More details here.

lorax writes " Techweb has a good article on Google, everyone's favorite Linux based search engine. They expect to get venture-capital in a couple of months. "

ensor sent us a link to a ZD article about Microsoft's Response to all the recent Windows Refund Hoopla. It's not taking is seriously. They consider it a PR stunt. Update: 01/22 02:14 by S : Apparently Microsoft has removed the refund clause from the EULA for Windows 98... which sounds like I can't use Win98 if I don't agree to its EULA, but I must still pay for it if I want a particular notebook? Anybody know what the new EULA is? LWN is claiming the clause removal in Win98 is untrue, any Australian readers care to comment? Update: 01/22 06:42 by S : Dell will not pay a refund because their systems are only quality assured with Windows. Seems like the perfect loop-hole: it is not Microsoft that is requiring Windows on the computer, but the hardware manufacturers... but the tactic could back-fire, since it casts doubts on the PC-compatability of their hardware.

Breadf-n wrote in to send usa link to an interesting techweb snippit where you can read how DivX and Circuit City are doing. The interesting thing to me was the number of DVD players sold. I wonder how long before it becomes the standard. I'd really love to obsolete analog movies ASAP.

Ryano writes " TechWeb has a story about LinuxPPC's strong debut at MacWorld. I was interested to read the bit about Linux tapping into Mac extensions to use features it doesn't yet support itself. Additionally, there is also some stuff on the future of LinuxPPC. "

cholko writes "Over on TechWeb there is a story about the use of Firewire in the new Macs. What makes the story interesting is the comment about the possibility of SCSI being dead within 2 years. Firewire will eventually supplant USB as well, but apparently IDE will be around a while in the mass storage market."

Mark Bickford writes "There's a nice column in Information Week titled "Linux Takes Shot at Making History." Refreshingly FUD-free, and the author is the Executive Editor of the magazine. Maybe a sign of some pro-Linux spin in '99? "

CSD writes "As I was surfing for news bits this morning I noticed that the guys over at Ars Technica have an in-depth review of the new SGI NT box. Apparantly they got hold of a 320 model. I figured this was OK content for this site as well, since people are clammoring to know about Linux support, and from some of the hardware mentioned in this review, it leaves room for doubt about Linux working on it w/o some major tweaks. " If SGI is smart, they've got an army of hackers making sure these 'tweaks' are ready as soon after this bugger is announced. Update: 01/05 11:50 by CT : afniv writes "In an interview with SGI CEO Rick Belluzzo regarding the launch of the new "NT workstation", he discusses the new direction of SGI and the fact that he "can't go on a customer visit without somebody asking about Linux." "

Kris_J wrote in to send us a link to a techweb article which talks about DivX (shudder) and some suspicious Fan Sites that have popped up to support divx. They seem to think that they are faked by the either Circuit City or DivX. Interesting form of marketing.

The ULTIMATE Crippler writes "According to this story, the U.S. government has already conceded that its systems are vulnerable to wide-spread attacks that would cut off power, military computer systems, and more. The tools used to prove this are available to any 12 year old with a PC and modem. So after all these years of hacking legends, security has gotten worse??? " Now... how many people are surprised?

_damnit_ writes "Macosrumors had a strange bit on MacOS X today. What would a common UNIX binary accomplish? " Probably even more notable is the bit that thinker sent us where you can read about Apple shipping LinuxPPC Boxes. All I can say about that is "wow". If the prices can be competitive, PowerBooks, iMacs, and the G3s are all great Linux workstations. (even USB is coming along)

A nonymous Coward writes "Computer Retail Week claims that Acer may soon sell Linux servers for the educational market. This was seen on Linux Today. " H: It's a bit hard to find-read down in the article.

Chris Weber (Go Gusties) writes "Here is a good article from Techweb about some of Sun's ideals for Jini. Also...check then end. They quote McNealy. "If you can out-engineer Sparc and Solaris, go for it." Be careful what you wish for..."

Seems like people have been reading slashdot again... Sun apparently wants developers to know that it will not enforce the clause in its binary licensing agreement that prohibits the publication of benchmarks of the JDK 1.2, now called Java 2. Apparently you should be seeing a 20 percent speed improvement with the new JDK.

JoeF writes " link "Sun Microsystems said Tuesday that it has teamed up with the loose-knit community of Linux software developers to make the popular freeware run on the network computing company's systems." I like this the most: "Palo Alto, Calif.-based Sun also said it intended to add Linux compatibility to its Solaris operating environment." "

Avant! has announced the availability of their Polaris Verilog simulator, which they started porting to Linux not that long ago. It costs $15000, and is targeted at Linux server farms. This is good news for the growth of Linux in the EDA market.

wesman wrote in to send us a link to a fluffy little a description of Pixar's Render Farm . 100 Suns with 14 processors each. 4 terebytes of data. Its not really very technical, but its still kinda neat.

AOL will renew its contract to use IE because its CEO believes "It is critical to be on the Microsoft desktop", the condition upon which Windows is shipped with AOL on the desktop. If AOL won't be using Mozilla, will it be interested in funding its development? Perhaps Sun will be the one to fund Mozilla development to increase the number of pure Java platforms.. update! According to this TechWeb article, Netscape's Mike Homer, director of Netscape's Netcenter division, is stating that Netscape will continue to administer Mozilla.org. Further confirmation comes in this Wired article.

AOL will renew its contract to use IE because its CEO believes "It is critical to be on the Microsoft desktop", the condition upon which Windows is shipped with AOL on the desktop. If AOL won't be using Mozilla, will it be interested in funding its development? Perhaps Sun will be the one to fund Mozilla development to increase the number of pure Java platforms.. update! According to this TechWeb article, Netscape's Mike Homer, director of Netscape's Netcenter division, is stating that Netscape will continue to administer Mozilla.org. Further confirmation comes in this Wired article.