Archive for June, 2008
Gates pushed change in security culture at Microsoft
In January 2002, then-Microsoft CEO Bill Gates launched the company’s “Trustworthy Computing” effort to bolster security in Microsoft products. While the move set the company on the right path, analysts say more work is needed.
Is Ballmer the right man for Microsoft — for another 10 years?
Bill Gates may be retiring from Microsoft, but Steve Ballmer hopes to remain its CEO until 2018. That doesn’t sit well with critics who increasingly doubt whether he’s still the right person for the job.
Meet tomorrow’s mobile phones: Sensational shape-shifters and more
Here’s an inside look at the exciting new world of form-fitting, highly intuitive, very personal mobile phones that will replace today’s cookie-cutter designs.
Image gallery: Meet tomorrow’s mobile phones
Take a peek at some concept phones and technologies that point the way toward an exciting new world of form-fitting, highly intuitive, very personal mobile phones that will replace today’s cookie-cutter designs.
New VIA drivers provide boost in HP Mini-Note 2133 performance
Filed under: Laptops
Not particularly thrilled with the performance of your HP Mini-Note 2133? If you’re vigorously shaking your head up and down as that render chugs along in the background, take a listen at this. The folks over at HP 2133 Guide took the time to benchmark their Vista / XP systems and then apply VIA’s recently released drivers for the CN896 chipset and Chrome9 integrated graphics. Not surprisingly, they found the update totally worthwhile. Based on pure numerical changes, there’s not a lot to phone home about, but critics did note that “video playback was improved quite a bit on each OS,” and that YouTube / Hulu vids were actually watchable post-update. Not a lot of downside to upgrading, so head on over and see what the new drivers have in store for you.
[Via jkOnTheRun]
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BlogTalkRadio Chats About New Funding and New Plans
BlogTalkRadio, a service that lets anyone host a live online radio show, raises more than four million in a funding round lead by The Kraft Group, owners of the New England Patriots.
T-Mobile Offers New Home Phone Service
T-Mobile will launch a $10-a-month service that will allow its cellphone customers to make unlimited phone calls from regular phones using their Internet connections and a special home router.
ATI Radeon HD 4850 and 4870 reviewed: all that and a bag of RV770 chips
If you haven’t heard of AMD’s new RV770 graphics processor then you either haven’t been paying attention or are simply too set in your ways to start calculating your GPU’s performance using a 1.0 TFLOP base unit. For the rest, we bring you all the reviews that on-line advertising can buy in the link round-up below. We’ll give HotHardware the honor of summarizing the performance of the sub-$200 Radeon HD 4850 and $299-ish 4870: “it appears AMD is back in the graphics game versus rival NVIDIA.” Now put on your propeller caps and start clicking.
Read — Hot Hardware
Read — PC Perspective
Read — Hardware Canucks (HD 4870 only)
Read — AnandTech
Read — TweakTown (4870 in Crossfire)
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HIS iClear claims to reduce noise, really just fills an empty PCIe slot
Filed under: Peripherals
If you’ve been hankering for a good dose of snake oil, we’ve found something sure to satisfy. The HIS iClear card is marketed as a device that rides shotgun with your graphics card and “provides up to a 10-percent increase in signal-to-noise ratio performance.” From what we can gather, this mostly barren piece of kit is supposed to reduce noise generated by your graphics card (or something to that effect), but considering that NewEgg gives this thing away for free with GPU purchases, we feel our doubts about its effectiveness as justified.
[Via BoingBoing]
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Keeping an E-Commerce Site Cooking
The phone of Steve Bozzo, the chief information officer at 1-800-Flowers.com, does occasionally ring in the middle of the night. If all goes as planned, however, the site’s customers never know about it. “We work hard with our partners to avoid those 4 a.m. phone calls,” Bozzo told the E-Commerce Times.
Whatever happened to Microsoft’s DRM plan?
From DRM to disk encryption–the sordid tale of how Microsoft’s plans to appease Hollywood were derailed.
Maker’s Mark distillery is bourbon lovers’ nirvana
The oldest continually running distillery in the world is based in a tiny Kentucky town. Its product? One of the most loved liquors of all.
Photos: Raising a glass to the science of bourbon
Road Trip 2008 visits Maker’s Mark, the world’s oldest continually operating distillery.
HP’s TouchSmart 2 all-in-one PC now shipping
Filed under: Desktops
Yeah, we realize that the first two words after “HP TouchSmart IQ504 PC” are “coming soon,” but apparently the web design humanoid forgot to notice that little “Ships same day” note down there by the Purchase button. That’s right kids, HP’s latest all-in-one PC (you know, the TouchSmart 2) is all boxed up and ready to be shipped to your home or office. All’s that left for you to do is scrounge up $1,249.99 and punch in those gory details e-tailers tend to ask for.
[Thanks, jmacman1]
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