More bulging capacitors, the video card version

Subject: General Tech | November 2, 2005 - 11:54 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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I really hope that this is a one time problem that The Inquirer had the bad luck to run into, but checking your video cards capacitors might well be a good idea.

"The symptoms included corrupted graphics, and then repeated rebooting of the GPU, sometimes up to

once a minute, it was really odd. So, if you have problems like this, check the caps on your

cards, and let us know if you see any.

Intel Launches Next Wave Of Multi-Core Server Platforms

Subject: General Tech | November 1, 2005 - 12:57 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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SANTA CLARA, Calif., Nov. 1, 2005 — Originally planned for early 2006, Intel Corporation's first dual-core, hyper-threaded processors for servers with four or more processors started shipping today. The processors deliver record levels of performance² and are optimal for multi-threaded applications such as database, supply chain management and financial services software.

'With a current installed base of over 30 million, Intel Xeon processor-based servers are the proven platform of choice,' said Kirk Skaugen, general manager of Intel's Server Platforms Group.

Beware! Poison .bats ahead!

Subject: General Tech | November 1, 2005 - 11:49 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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CNet reports on a vunerablility affecting many popular Anti-Virus programs.  They describe a "magic bit" that could be added to a .bat file, that will make your scanner completely ignore the file instead of scanning it.

"By adding some data to a file, an attacker could trick virus scanners into letting a malicious

executable file pass through, security researcher Andrey Bayora wrote in an advisory last week.

When 1600 DPI just isn't enough

Subject: General Tech | October 31, 2005 - 06:46 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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... you get the Razer Copperhead 2000 DPI Laser Mouse.  Big Bruin gives you the full run down on all it's bells and whistles.

"Razer has packed a lot of features into a mouse with great looks.

MP3 Player Madness - Just which one do I want?

Subject: General Tech | October 31, 2005 - 02:31 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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R&B Mods offers some advice to those who are finding the MP3 Player market a little confusing.  With the dozens of main brands, each having dozens of models, finding the right player to put under the tree might not be as easy as you first though.

"I have worked at an Mp3 company before, (not to mention any names) and I have somewhat of an idea

of what to look for when it comes to an mp3 player. I worked as support crew which gives me an

idea what people are looking for in general.

Intel lets the Cats out of the bag

Subject: General Tech | October 28, 2005 - 06:28 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Intel has devised 2 new benchmarking tools, the Gaming Capabilities Assessment Tool (G-CAT), and the Digital Home Capabilities Assessment Tool (DH-CAT). Silent PC Review will give you the full run down on what they test, and why you should be interested.

"They're benchmarks, designed to test a PC's gaming or "Digital Home" capabilities. It's probably

the first time that a processor company is trying to create benchmarks for a whole PC rather than

specific components.

50 years up time, 0 reboots!

Subject: General Tech | October 28, 2005 - 11:43 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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"CHIEF SOFTWARE Architect Bill Gayes is 50 today.

He was born under the sign of Windows and Uranus is on the cusp.

Motorola and Intel Team to Promote Adoption of Mobile WiMAX Technology

Subject: General Tech | October 28, 2005 - 11:29 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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SCHAUMBURG, Ill. and SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 27, 2005 — Motorola* Inc.

Intel Simplifies Storage

Subject: General Tech | October 28, 2005 - 11:27 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 27, 2005 — Intel Corporation announced today a new storage platform designed to make it easier and more affordable for small- and medium-sized businesses to deploy storage solutions that help ensure prompt disaster recovery and extend backup capabilities.

Businesses today are inundated with an increasing volume of data due to greater use of digital information, such as business reports, employee records, photos and videos.

A High Definition Vista

Subject: General Tech | October 27, 2005 - 07:07 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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PC Stats has a long hard look at how Vista's HDCP (High Definition Copy Protection) will affect you and your PC viewing habits. 

"Part of the feature set of Microsoft's upcoming Windows Vista operating system is support for

High-Definition content, either through television signals, HD or Blu-Ray DVDs, or Internet video.

Along with this support though, is a new set of restrictions designed to ensure the sanctity of HD

content and protect it from copying.

The IceMat Cometh, Second Edition

Subject: General Tech | October 27, 2005 - 03:41 PM | Alex Marsters
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It's been about 2 years since the original IceMat was first available, and now the 2nd Edition has arrived.  It is much bigger and come in a wider variety of colours.  XYZ computing took it out for a test drive, see what they had to say about it.

"One of the first high-end mouse pads to make a name for its was the glass Icemat.

Holy Horus in 32 ways, Batman!

Subject: General Tech | October 27, 2005 - 11:50 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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If you haven't heard of AMD's upcoming Horus chip, it is designed to allow Opterons to work in 12, 16 and 32 way systems.  Keep an eye out for the conference, and head over to The Inquirer to read up on what is known about the Horus so far.

"AMD AND NEWISYS are set to demonstrate a 32-way or more Horus system at a Supercomputing event in

Seattle in a couple of week's time.

And the event will have Microsoft's Bill Gates as the keynote speaker, prompting speculation that

the firm might have a bash at showing off a

AMD64 SETS THE GOLD STANDARD AT LUCASFILM ANIMATION SINGAPORE

Subject: General Tech | October 27, 2005 - 11:23 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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SINGAPORE-Oct. 27, 2005-At a ceremonial opening of Lucasfilm Animation Singapore today, AMD (NYSE: AMD) announced that the digital backbone of the new Lucasfilm Animation Singapore digital animation center is powered by AMD64 processor technology - the gold standard for 64-bit computing.

AMD, Merrill Lynch to Webcast Server Market Discussion

Subject: General Tech | October 26, 2005 - 06:05 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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SUNNYVALE, Calif. - October 26, 2005 - AMD (NYSE:AMD) today announced that Marty Seyer, corporate vice president/general manager, Commercial Business Unit and Performance Computing, Microprocessor Solutions Sector

And you thought your patching was behind

Subject: General Tech | October 26, 2005 - 11:46 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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20% of the DNS servers that form the backbone of the world wide web are seriously behind in their updates. CNET has the story, with all the gory details.

"DNS servers, which translate domain names such as "yoursite.com" into IP addresses, underpin the

workings of the Internet. In its survey, Internet performance company The Measurement Factory

found that the BIND software used for domain-name resolution is out-of-date on a fifth of DNS

servers.

Enhancing video podcasts with WMA

Subject: General Tech | October 25, 2005 - 03:45 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Jealous of the things people can do to videos with their Macs?  Head over to MediaBlab to see just how much you can add to a plain old Windows Media video file.

"Apple's AAC format allows podcasters to create "enhanced podcasts" complete with embedded photos

at publisher defined points throughout the podcast. These files are only compatible with iTunes

and iPods, leaving a large universe of listeners out of the picture.

Even your wires can be upgraded

Subject: General Tech | October 25, 2005 - 03:22 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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If your stereo system just doesn't sound good enough, consider upgrading the cheap and nasty wiring between your component's and speakers, before going out to buy a whole new system.  While I would not recommend buying cabling that costs $100/ft, The Tech Zone has an article describing why when you spend $0.02/ft on cables, the sound may not quite be "live". 

"The very basic reason why audio cables are important is because they change the signal going

through them.

Say hello to Microsoft's little friend

Subject: General Tech | October 25, 2005 - 12:12 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Microsoft is finally re-doing it's command line,

the Microsoft Command Shell (MSH), to bring it up to date with it's .NET inititatives.  If you know (or at least know of) Windows Scripting Host (WSH), do not despair.  The new MCS will be mostly Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-ins built on top of the existing MSH and WMI.  Don't take my word for it, get it straight from Ars Technica.

"Also known by its code name Monad, the new Microsoft Command Shell hopes to revolutio