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

Intel Invests $650 Million In U.S. Manufacturing Site

Subject: General Tech | October 25, 2005 - 11:40 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 24, 2005 — Intel Corporation today announced plans to invest $650 million in the company's existing manufacturing site in New Mexico. The investment will be used to increase the capacity of the 300mm wafer fabrication facilities in Rio Rancho, N.M., called Fab 11X.

'Today's announcement signals another important addition to one of Intel's pre-eminent U.S. manufacturing sites, and better positions us to meet customer requirements,' said Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini.

Steel Headphones, built to travel

Subject: General Tech | October 24, 2005 - 02:04 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Adrian's Rojak Pot reviews Steel Sound's 5H-USB Professional Gaming Headset.  This headset has LAN party written all over it, from the stylish lines to the earphones that fully cover your ears from the ineviatable cries of anger from fellow gamers.  It is easy to completely dissasemble, and come with a USB "Soundcard" that allows similar acoustical performance on any system it's plugged into.

"The new Steel Sound 5H-USB professional gaming headset looks just like any other gaming headset.

Don't FEAR the tweaker

Subject: General Tech | October 24, 2005 - 11:54 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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You bought F.E.A.R. as soon as it came out, but now comes the frustration of getting the game to run perfectly on your system.  Instead of starting out by trying the first level 42 times, with different resolutions and detail levels, let the folks at Tweakguides give you a head start!

"Before getting into any game-specific settings and tweaks, this section covers the obligatory system optimization information I include in all my guides.

Spansion Extends Wireless Family With Introduction Of 3-Volt Mirrorbit(TM) Product Line

Subject: General Tech | October 24, 2005 - 11:42 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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 SUNNYVALE, Calif., -- October 24, 2005 --Spansion LLC, the Flash memory venture of AMD (NYSE: AMD) and Fujitsu Limited (TSE: 6702), today announced the introduction of the 3-volt MirrorBit™ technology-based PL-N product line, designed to satisfy the growing code storage demands in wireless handsets. The 256 Mb devices build on the momentum of the successful 1.8-volt products and allow designers to migrate from floating-gate technologies to Spansion's award-winning, two-bit-per-cell MirrorBit technology for improved price performance.

AMD EXPANDS CHINA RELATIONSHIPS WITH KEY X86 MICROPROCESSOR TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER

Subject: General Tech | October 24, 2005 - 11:41 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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BEIJING - Oct. 24, 2005 - At a ceremony today in China's Great Hall of the People, AMD executives signed agreements with the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and Peking University to license AMD

AMD UNVEILS COMMERCIAL CHANNEL PROGRAM ENHANCING AND EXTENDING CHANNEL INITIATIVES WORLDWIDE

Subject: General Tech | October 24, 2005 - 11:39 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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SUNNYVALE, Calif. - Oct. 24, 2005 - AMD (NYSE:AMD) today introduced the AMD Commercial Channel Access Program to enhance and extend the company's commitment to partners' business needs and contribute to their continued growth and success in the commercial market. The program is designed to foster an environment of collaboration and innovation within the growing worldwide AMD64 ecosystem of systems integrators, value-added resellers (VARs) and distributors.

AMD TO USE 100 PERCENT RENEWABLE ENERGY IN AUSTIN

Subject: General Tech | October 24, 2005 - 11:37 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Oct. 24, 2005 - Austin, Texas - AMD today announced a new agreement with the Austin Energy GreenChoice(r) Program to purchase green energy derived from renewable resources that will power all AMD Austin operations for the next 10 years, including the new AMD Austin Campus which is expected to be operational in 2007. The new agreement makes AMD the largest private Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Green Power Partner in Texas, the fifth largest private Partner in the U.S. and 12th largest overall Partner in the nation.

She chopped off their tails with a carving knife ...

Subject: General Tech | October 21, 2005 - 06:00 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Three wireless mice from Logitech, the cordless Mini, and the V200, intended for notebooks and the cordless LX 7 are examined at GeekExtreme.  The butcher's wife had no comment.

'Today we're going to take a look at three of Logitech's new wireless mice: the Cordless Mini, the

V200, & the LX 7. The Cordless Mini & the V200 fall into Logitech's "Notebook Mice" category,

while the LX 7 is simply in the "Cordless Mice" category.

Hot Pinouts gone wild, everything revealed

Subject: General Tech | October 21, 2005 - 12:17 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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The Hardware Book is "The Internet's largest free collection of connector pinouts and cable descriptions."  If you have trouble remembering how to splice an S-Video into a composite wire, or how to build a Serial to PS/2 mouse adapter, then you will spend hours on this site.

"The Hardware book is the internet's largest free collection of connector pinouts and cable

descriptions. All pages have the same style of presentation.

AMD OPTERON PROCESSOR TO POWER KOREA'S NATIONAL EDUCATION INFORMATION SYSTEM

Subject: General Tech | October 20, 2005 - 05:46 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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SEOUL, Korea-Oct. 20, 2005-AMD (NSYE:AMD) today announced the Ministry of Education & Human Resources Development of Korea has selected the AMD Opteron(tm) processor to power its server systems for the National Education Information System Project (NEIS).

The NEIS project, establishing an online education information system to improve teachers' working environments and increase efficiency of national educational administrations, is the largest IT project in 2005 in Korea and will service over 10,000 schools and education offices nationwide.