2005-June-30

Google has released Google Earth, a 3D interface to the planet earth. The program uses satellite images and also lets you see roads, buildings, and other elements of a locality including restaurants, bars, coffee houses, hotels and the like.

Some images are more highly detailed than others as Google builds up the Keyhole application.

Google's technology is free to any Web site that uses it for applications offered free to consumers. Mountain View-based Google wants the company's logo included on any maps the developers create, along with a link back to Google Maps. Google also cautions that it may show advertisements on the maps in the future.

Not to be outdone, Yahoo said Wednesday that it too will soon offer outside programmers the same sort of software information about its mapping service.

2005-June-8

Microsoft annocued that it is developing a Messaging and Security pack that will incorporate its new Direct Push technology as an add-on to Exchange Server 2003 via Service Pack 2. The software pack adds wireless email push technology to Windows Mobile 5.0 users, similar to Research In Motion’s Blackberry devices.

Microsoft said Outlook information, including e-mail, calendar and contacts list would be integrated by a direct connection between Exchange and a Windows Mobile device. This, said Microsoft, would give users instant access to their information in a central location without the need of third-party retrieval software. Moreover, users would be able to access the information from anywhere in the world, since the information will be stored on a server.

Microsoft is expected to deliver the Messaging and Security pack in October.

2005-June-7

Apple Computer Inc. chief executive Steve Jobs said that his company is dropping IBM's PowerPC products because Intel's lineup of forthcoming chips holds more promise. He said Apple did not know how to build the products it plans with chips planned by IBM.

He said the transition to Intel-built chips will begin next year and completed by 2007. Apple has been developing a version of its operating system that will work on Intel processors ever since the company was fine-tuning the first version of Mac OS X, its current operating system, five years ago, he said.

In a written statement, Paul S. Otellini, president and chief executive of Intel, lauded Apple as "the world's most innovative personal computer company." IBM did not respond to calls for comment.

2005-June-3

Samsung Electronics will ship its X20 notebook with an embedded wireless LAN (WLAN) chip from Airgo Networks that allows users to speed up wireless connections using MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) technology. Airgo's True MIMO chip set, which also works with 802.11a/b/g networks, amplifies the speed and range of wireless networks by using multiple antennas.

However, the 802.11n wireless standard does not exist. There are currently two competing proposals for 802.11n, and manufacturers such as Cisco and DLink have started marketing equipments based on either of the proposed standards.

Interoperability between the two competing standards is unlikely.

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2005-May-27

Nokia launched a pocket-sized Web browser prototype for wireless broadband networks. The Linux-based Nokia 770 measures 5.6 inches in length and has a 4.1-inch high-resolution display. Users can connect to the Internet via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, for email, VoIP and instant messaging.

The device has 128 megabytes of onboard flash memory and a memory card slot in addition to a USB port to connect with a PC and a Bluetooth transmitter. The transmitter can be used to connect with a mobile phone that has cellular online access. The Nokia 770 itself is not a mobile phone.

The Nokia 770 is expected to lanuched in late-2005, selling for below USD1500.

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2005-May-26

One of the methods for large scale spreading of unwanted e-mail messages is to transform every infected system into a spam generator; these systems, which operate without the user’s
knowledge, are called zombie computers.

Members of the London Action Plan (LAP), the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and government agencies in 18 other countries, have launched Operation Spam Zombies - a campaign to help fight spam.

In a written appeal to the ISPs on Tuesday, the FTC has urged service providers to monitor the amount of e-mail sent from a computer and quarantine them if needed reports News Rating.

The ISPs have been asked to educate their users about how to stop getting their PCs hijacked.

The Commission will send letters to 3,000 ISPs around the world encouraging them to take the following zombie-prevention measures:

• block port 25 except for the outbound SMTP requirements of authenticated users of mail servers designed for client traffic. Explore implementing Authenticated SMTP on port 587 for clients who must operate outgoing mail servers.
• apply rate-limiting controls for email relays.
• identify computers that are sending atypical amounts of email, and take steps to determine if the computer is acting as a spam zombie. When necessary, quarantine the affected computer until the source of the problem is removed.
• give your customers plain-language advice on how to prevent their computers from being infected by worms, trojans, or other malware that turn PCs into spam zombies, and provide the appropriate tools and assistance.
• provide, or point your customers to, easy-to-use tools to remove zombie code if their computers have been infected, and provide the appropriate assistance.

2005-May-19

America Online launched Netscape Browser 8.0. Based on Mozilla Firefox, this latest release can render pages using either the Gecko or Internet Explorer layout engines. It displays most sites using a Firefox engine that's embedded in Netscape's software. But, when it deems a site relatively safe, it uses the IE software engine that is built into Windows.

Other new features include Site Controls (per-site security settings), the MultiBar (a toolbar for personalised content), a new way of automatically filling in forms and a quick way of clearing private data like the browsing history. Unlike previous releases, Netscape Browser 8.0 is just a Web browser (no email application, newsgroups client or Web page editor), though it does include an integrated AOL Instant Messenger and ICQ client. As AOL laid off the Netscape browser development team in 2003, most of the programming work for version 8.0 was outsourced to Canadian firm Mercurial Communications.

Netscape Browser 8.0 is only available for Microsoft Windows, with no Mac or Linux versions planned.

UPDATE 2005-05-28 : There is a bug in Netscape Browser 8.0 that would cause Microsoft Internet Explorer to fail in rendering certain XML pages. Microsoft is advising users to uninstall Netscape Browser 8.0.

2005-May-13

Microsoft announced Windows OneCare antivirus package. It is a consumer subscription service that will provide automated protection, maintenance and performance tuning as an all-in-one package for Windows-based PCs.

The plan is to test this service by Microsoft's own 60,000 employees and later expand to public beta testing. The service is expected to be launched early next year. The subscription cost has not been decided at this point.

2005-May-12

Microsoft released Windows Mobile 5.0 today, its latest platform for mobiles, PDAs and portable devices.

New features include support for mini hard drives, persistent memory storage and support for a typewriter-style (QWERTY…) keyboard.

Windows Mobile 5.0 will offer network support for higher-bandwidth 3G networks, Wi-Fi for the Smartphone platform and improvements to existing Bluetooth support.

The release also includes Microsoft Office for Windows Mobile for viewing, edting and creating Excel and Word files, and for viewing PowerPoint presentations.

The new Windows Media Player 10 Mobile allows synchronization of users' playlists, album art and song ratings.

2005-May-10

Google was down on Sunday morning for 15 mins. Access to Gmail, Google News and other properties were unavailable during that period.

The problem was related to the DNS (Domain Name System) Servers operated by Google, which were malfunctioning and unable to map www.google.com to the actual numerical IP (Internet Protocol) addresses.

2005-April-19

Intel announced the immediate availability of its "Rosedale" chipset that supports long range, wireless high speed Internet capabilities. Dubbed WiMAX, the system can transmit and receive wireless broadband signals at speed upto 40 Mbps from several kilometers away.

In contrast, the current 802.11g WiFi standard supports 54 Mbps at less tnan 0.1km.

WiMAX, or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is based on the IEEE 802.16-2004 standard.

2005-April-7

TMNet upgraded its network overnight by installing new routers and firewalls, the effect is that all Malaysian Internet that depends on TMNet backbone is now off-line. ALL Streamyx users and some TMNet dial-up users are affected.

You may experience intermittent unavailability of network services, seemingly caused by incorrect configuration of TMNet's security devices.

The downtime is expected to be between 5:00AM-11:00AM of April 7. Expected rolling blackout of Internet connectivity for the next few days.

2005-April-6

There have been significant degradation of electricity quality in the Johor Bahru area. As the JB power grid is connected with Melaka and KL, you should prepare for some unexpected blackouts in parts of those areas in the next few days, and possibly some network, specifically, Internet outages.

2005-April-5

With the release of Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1, Microsoft is also changing its Windows Update policy for Windows XP.

Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 was made available in September 2004 as a security-bolstering upgrade to Windows XP, but only 7% of companies accepted SP2, while 40% actually avoided the upgrade.

Starting on April 12th, Windows Update's Automatic Update will automatically download and install SP2 on systems set up for auto-updating. Microsoft warns that the deadline could trigger a round of support calls to IT help desks as end users call with questions about their upgraded computers or broken applications.

As a reference, Windows Server 2003 SP1 is 330MB in size, Windows XP SP2 is 270MB. If your computer seems to slow down on or after April 12th, chances are it is attempting to download one of the service packs.

2005-April-5

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies says it has discovered new method of magnetizing particles on the hard drives. The technology is called Perpendicular Recording where the magnetically charged particles will be perpendicular instead of longitudinal, allowing more particles into a smaller disk area.

The company demonstrated the “industry’s highest data density” hard drive at 230 Gbits per square inch using perpendicular recording. Hitachi plan to start selling 1TB (1,000 Gigabytes) hard drives and 20GB microdrives by 2007.

2005-April-2

Goggle Inc. annonced that it is doubling its Gmail storage limit to two gigabytes as it competes for users with Yahoo Inc. Yahoo said last week that it would quadruple the amount of e-mail storage it offers, to one gigabyte.

Yahoo's e-mail service was the Web's most popular in February, with an estimated 40.5 million visitors. America Online e-mail was second, with 34.6 million, and MSN from Microsoft was third, with 28.4 million.

Google's Gmail is currently at the forth place. The company said it will beat the storage limit of any of its competitors by one gigabyte.

However, Karen Mahon, a Yahoo spokeswoman, said, "For many e-mail users, anything beyond one gigabyte is just a number."

2005-March-31

Intel officially launched its 64-bit Xeon microprocessor. Codenamed "Truland", the processor requires a new chipset, E8500, that supports a 667MHz dual, independent system bus with theoretical 10.6GBs of system bandwidth.

The new architecture will also support Intel Extended Memory 64, PCI Express, DDR2-400 DDR2 memory, and enhanced Intel SpeedStep technology.

Dell, Fujitsu Siemens, HP, Hitachi, IBM, NEC, Toshiba and Unisys said new servers based on the new chips will be available in 2006.

2005-March-29

In March 2004 Microsoft was found guilty of anti-competitive behavior in the European Union, and was ordered to provide versions of its operating systems without Microsoft's Windows Media Player.

Yesterday Microsoft announced that it would call those versions Windows XP Edition N, or Windows XP N for short.

2005-March-24

Yahoo annouced that it will give users of its free Web e-mail service 1 gigabyte of storage starting from mid-April. The current limit is 250 megabytes.

Yahoo also said it is beefing up antivirus protection for free e-mail users to clean viruses detected in attachments.

2005-March-8

Google has officially launched its Google Desktop Search Version 1.0, allowing users to search their entire computers, including information found in emails, PDF files, instant messages, and multimedia files.

The program can search through web pages that have already been visited, and through chat logs from AOL instant messenger. A plug-in will allow users to search through other communication devices like MSN IM as well.

Companies such as Yahoo and Microsoft are expected to launch similar programs.

2005-March-8

Samsung Electronics unveiled the world's largest at a Seoul hotel. The new 82" panel will be manufactured in Samsung’s 7th generation fabrication facility. Most of the 45,000 items expected to be produced at the facility will be LCD panels for television sets.

The company has announced its plans to spend more than US$2 billion to develop a new production line for liquid crystal display technology under a collaborative deal between Sony and Samsung where consumers LCD products will be produced by a new joint venture, S-LCD Corp.

2005-February-23

Intel releases the immediate availability of its newest line of Pentium 4 Extreme Edition processors. The new processors support 64-bit memory, double the cache to 2MB, and raise the speed to 3.6GHz.

Intel said that its Extended Memory 64 Technology (EM64T) boost performance for rich media, real-time video conferencing, gaming and high-definition video.

To take full advantage of the new processors, you will need a true 64-bit operating system, such as the new Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 edition.

Intel has also begun production of dual-core Pentium 4 chips, and will roll them out once it has sufficient stockpile before mid-2005. AMD, on the other hand, demonstrated its 64-bit Athlon Dual Core processor today and promised to ship them in the second half of 2005.

2005-February-17

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has announced that his company will release a new, more secure version of Microsoft Internet Explorer, in response to general public dissatisfaction with holes in the browser and perhaps to counter the open source Firefox browser which is emerging as a strong alternative.

Microsoft originally planned to include new version of the browser in the next version of Windows "Longhorn" in 2006, but decided to release IE 7 as a stand-alone download. IE 7 will be for users of Windows XP with Service Pack 2.

2005-February-14

Microsoft Corp. announced a partnership with Singapore-based Flextronics International Ltd. on Monday to market a new range of high-specification phones, running Windows Mobile, to handset makers and network operators worldwide. Microsoft and Flextronics said the new "Peabody" phone platform - a blueprint from which any number of new models can be designed to order - would cut costs and production time.

The Peabody platform runs on GSM and GPRS. Flextronics also said it is working on a new range of devices based on the next generation of Windows Mobile software to run on EDGE, the prevalent third-generation or "3G" standard in North America.

Microsoft also unveiled a new software package designed to smooth wireless service delivery, overcoming interoperability problems between different network operators, service providers and handset types. The new "Connected Services Framework" will be launched by three mobile operators: Bell Canada, Celcom Malaysia and Britain's BT.

2005-February-8

Sony, IBM and Toshiba announceed details of their newest microprocessor design. Called the "Cell" microprocessor, it is a multicore, multithreaded supercomputer-on-chip that is 10 times faster than current PC processors. The chip is based on IBM's Power PC architecture, and is expected to be available in 2006.

The Cell comprised of one 64-bit Power PC processor core and eight separate processing cores that the companies call "synergistic processing elements," or SPEs. The cores can support multiple operating systems and programming models through the use of virtualization technologies.

Sony plans to use the new microprocessor in its PlayStation 3, IBM said it will release a new line of workstation with the chip, while Toshiba will look to use the chip in advanced high-definition televisions.

2005-January-27

Microsoft Corp. will fight Piracy of Windows by using the Windows Genuine Advantage scheme to verify every OS that accesses the main Windows update site. This comes after last year's pilot scheme to see if the system would be accepted by their legitimate customers: by offering free software such as the anti-spyware program and access to updates, many customers accepted the inconvenience of typing in their unique Windows serial number.

Authentication will become necessary in mid-2005 for all users who want to access software updates. The trails for the Authentication of Copy of Windows is already going on.

Still Microsoft has taken a generous view about pirates. Some Critical Updates and Security Patches will still be available to Users of pirated copies of Windows. But they will not be given add-ons.

2005-January-26

Following the release of Solaris 10 source code, Sun Microsystems released 1,670 patents to the open source community in what it called a "significant shift in the way Sun positions its intellectual property portfolio". The release covers all aspects of Solaris operating system technologies, ranging from kernel technology and file systems to network management.

Open source developers are given free access to OpenSolaris-related patents under the Common Development and Distribution License.

Sun had been steadily losing market shares as it clinged to Solaris and the SPARC hardware architecture while Linux, Windows and the Intel CPU platform have become de facto industry standards.

2005-January-19

Google releases an update to its Picasa software, acquired in July 2004 from the software company Picasa. Google calls the new update Picasa 2, and it is available for download from Google's Picasa website for free.

Picasa 2 scans stored images and sorts them by date, allows users to add labels and star ratings to favorites, and lets them keep pictures in multiple albums.

It also allows photographers to edit photographs easily. Picasa 2 comes with filter effects, colors and lighting adjustments, red-eye removal, cropping and straightening tools. Photos can be burned onto a CD or DVD or saved to an external drive. They can be printed on home printers in standard sizes or uploaded to photo sites such as Ofoto, Shutterfly, Snapfish and Walmart.com, where they can be printed in many sizes and formats.

2005-January-13

Apple Computer Inc.'s stock prices went up by more than 11% after it posted strong earnings due to strong demand for its iPod players and iBook notebooks. It has also released a series of new products within the past one month, including new server, new storage device, new low-price Mac mini, and flash-based iPod Shuffle.

Two of the devices were lanuched by Apple's chief executive Steve Jobs at MacWorld in San Francisco. »

Smaller than even some standalone external computer drives, the Mac mini lacks a monitor, mouse and keyboard. The 40-gigabyte Mac mini will cost $499, an 80-gigabyte model $599.

They ship with Apple's latest operating system, Mac OS X Panther, as well as the newest version of its iLife suite of digital media software programs, also unveiled Tuesday.

Foxconn Electronics (the registered trade name of Hon Hai Precision Industry) is the contract manufacturer for Apple’s Mac mini computers, while Asustek Computer is contracted to manufacture the iPod shuffle, in addition to Apple's iBook and iBook G5 notebook computers.