Reg Hardware

1st November 2006 Archive

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  • Intel set to show off 'Footballers' Wives' four-core line

    Hot, pricey and too fast for their own good

    The server and PC markets will get glitzy and awful hot in a couple of weeks when Intel pushes out its four-core chips. Both Kentsfield for high-end PCs and Clovertown for servers should officially arrive on 14 November, although review sites will be freed from their NDAs on 3 November, sources tell us. The Kentsfield chip …

    Bits 'n' Chips 1 Nov 2006, 01:06

  • US DoJ SRAM probe turns to Sony

    European Commission gets in on the act too

    Sony has been told by the US Department of Justice to provide information regarding its SRAM business, part of an investigation into an alleged attempt to fix prices. Separately, the probe took on a European dimension when it emerged European Commission officials are engaged in a similar investigation. Sony said it had …

    Bits 'n' Chips 1 Nov 2006, 10:07

  • CE giants punt wireless rival to HDMI

    WiHD to tread on Wi-Fi toes too?

    Six big-name consumer electronics companies have come together to thrash out a wireless alternative to the HDMI cabling standard that may also tread on the toes of next-generation Wi-Fi technology. The WirelessHD specification is described as a "high-speed wireless, multi-gigabit technology in the unlicensed 60GHz band [with …

    Networking and Wireless 1 Nov 2006, 10:32

  • Intel, AMD squeeze other x86 chip makers

    Arch-rivals both grew market share in Q3

    AMD increased its share of the x86 processor market during Q3 2006, it has emerged. But fanboys hoping AMD's gain came at arch-rival Intel's expense will be disappointed: the chip giant's market share also rose sequentially. No, it's the lesser players who took the hit during Q3, according to figures posted by market watcher …

    Bits 'n' Chips 1 Nov 2006, 10:48

  • Mystic mixes media player and VoIP phone

    All-in-one

    Say hello to the Rimax Mystic a 7mm-thick music and video player - that's a 1.5in, 65,536-colour OLED on the front - that doubles up as USB-connected VoIP phone. There's an FM radio on board too and a sufficient battery capacity for up to eight hours' music playback time. Available in 512MB, 1GB and 2GB capacities, the Mystic …

    Gadgets and Gizmos 1 Nov 2006, 11:16

  • AMD releases ATI Catalyst update

    Tweaks galore

    AMD's ATI division has released the latest version of its Catalyst drivers package, implementing the usual array of tweaks to boost game framerates and benchmark scores: gains of 6.7-15.8 per cent can be seen in 3DMark06 and 9.7-10.5 per cent in 3DMark05, the company claimed. ATI also pointed to a speed boost for folk doing …

    Bits 'n' Chips 1 Nov 2006, 11:33

  • Samsung squashes 16 Flash chips into one

    Multi-die stacking enhanced for cheaper MP3 players

    Samsung has worked out how to stack up to 16 memory dies in a single package, allowing a standard-sized chip to contain rather more storage capacity than is currently the case. A chip that might have once held 10GB of Flash memory can now hold 16GB. Samsung's technique is to narrow the thickness of each memory wafer to 30µm, …

    Bits 'n' Chips 1 Nov 2006, 12:08

  • Sony launches 'world's lightest' laptop in Japan

    Well, lightest 12.1in machine...

    Sony has launched what it today claimed is the world's lightest 12.1in notebook, an 898g machine constructed out of carbon fibre, though the weight pushes past 1kg if you want a machine with a bigger battery capacity and an optical drive. The Vaio G series comprises more than half a dozen models aimed at different segments …

    PCs 1 Nov 2006, 13:50

  • Hitachi punts Frankenstein storage

    Flash memory hybrids for 2007

    Hitachi's hard drive division today outlined its strategy for the next year, pushing encryption and flash memory hybrids at notebooks. It'll be increasing capacity on its cash cow 2.5-inch notebook drives too. A 2.5in 7,200rpm effort will lead the charge in the first half of next year with 200GB of storage. Later in the year a 5 …

    Bits 'n' Chips 1 Nov 2006, 14:50

  • HIS targets Radeon X1300 card at pre-Express PCI users

    Passive cooling

    Last week, Reg Hardware reported PowerColor's plan to bring AMD's ATI Radeon X1950 Pro to consumers with older, AGP-based motherboards. This week, it's Hightech Information Systems' turn. It's just announced an ATI-based board for users languishing in the PCI era. Hightech's HIS X1300 Silence is a passively cooled card fitted …

    Bits 'n' Chips 1 Nov 2006, 15:37

  • Windows Firewall exploit overhyped

    Nothing to see here, please move along

    The release of an exploit that means a hacker, who happens to be on the same local area network, can knock over Windows Firewall on machines running XP has created a lot of publicity, despite being not much of a threat. By using the exploit, an attacker could disable Windows Firewall on a fully patched machine running Internet …

    PCs 1 Nov 2006, 15:46