Items tagged with RAS
This week, at ISSCC (International Solid-State Circuits Conference) Intel unveiled its next-generation Itanium processor, codenamed Poulson. This new octal-core processor is easily the most significant update to Itanium Intel has ever built and could upset the current balance of power at the highest-end of the server / mainframe market. It may also be the Itanium that fully redeems the brand name and sheds the last vestiges of negativity that have dogged the chip since it launched ten years ago… Intel Previews 32nm Itanium "Poulson" Processor...
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This week, at ISSCC (International Solid-State Circuits Conference) Intel unveiled its next-generation Itanium processor, codenamed Poulson. This new octal-core processor is easily the most significant update to Itanium Intel has ever built and could upset the current balance of power at the highest-end of the server / mainframe market. It may also be the Itanium that fully redeems the brand name and sheds the last vestiges of negativity that have dogged the chip since it launched ten years ago. Here's the sneak peak To discuss why, we'll have to flip through some history. From Merced to Tukwila Intel began work on what would become Itanium back in 1994 in a joint venture with HP. The two...
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Many techs will agree: antivirus programs can be a hassle. Mostly, the issues tend to stem from slower performance and similar issues that result from using an antivirus program. Still, it’s a bit of a lesser of two evils deal: you can risk getting a virus, or you can deal with lags in performance. Usually, you can count on well-known antivirus programs to only touch malicious files, but this isn’t always the case.AVG, a free antivirus scanner, recently created problems for some of its users when it mistook user32.dll, a critical Windows component, for a container for the Trojan Horses PSW.Banker4.APSA or Generic9TBN. When the scanner activated, it assumed this critical file was a virus and deleted...
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Although most of us will admit that no one is perfect, Apple fanatics love to poke fun at Microsoft’s many patches designed to fix holey and buggy software. Now, Italian systems engineer Piergiorgio Zambrini has found a bug that can crash the iPhone and other devices such as the iPod and Apple computers. Zambrini isn’t releasing the technical details of the bug right now, but Forbes.com was able to confirm that the bug Zambrini found did in fact crash the latest generation of iPhones. The bug is in the audio portion of Apple’s video format. A person who knows of the bug could potentially incorporate it into a video file and trigger a crash whenever that file is accessed. Most of Apple’s operating...
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With Windows 7 slated for either late 2009 or early 2008, those of us foolish enough to buy into Microsoft's hype over Windows Vista Ultimate Extras are probably running out of time in which we might see a really useful Extra come down the pipe. The latest set of underwhelming Extras were released last week, so quietly we sure didn't notice. Microsoft announced them in a blog post on the official Windows Vista blog. The new release includes: Microsoft Tinker: Microsoft Tinker is a casual game that provides players with short puzzle game play sessions set in a warm, calming environment. Ultimate Extras Sounds from Microsoft Tinker: Based on the positive feedback we received from the release of...
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Force feedback has become commonplace in today's game controllers. To many, the simulated forces create a more realistic game-play environment. A group of scientists at the University of Tokyo in Japan are on working on a new technology that can potentially allow force feedback-type sensations and controller input without the need of a joystick or other physical input device at all--all feedback sensations and input could be done simply in "mid air." The scientists, Takayuki Iwamoto, Mari Tatezono, Takayuki Hoshi, and Hiroyuki Shinoda, have developed what they call an "Airborne Ultrasound Tactile Display." Tactile feedback in "3D free space" is not necessarily a new concept: in the abstract for...
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Email spam got you down? Is your first name Aaron? A study by Cambridge University security expert Richard Clayton shows that the first letter of your email address has a lot to do with the amount of spam you receive. The study (.PDF), titled "Do Zebras get more Spam than Aardvarks?" analyzed traffic logs from the U.K. ISP Demon Internet. The data analyzed was from the period Feb. 1st - March 27th of 2008. In the study, Clayton noted that those whose local part of their email address (this is the portion to the left of the "@") begins with "A" receive about 50% spam and 50% non-spam. Clayton called this group aardvarks. When the local part begins with "Z" (call them zebras) about 75% is spam.You're...
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Day two of IDF kicked off with a cheesy, classic Star Trek opening-credits rip-off that concluded with the statement: "The Internet, to boldly go where it has never gone before--in your pocket." Then it was Senior Vice President and General Manager of Intel's Ultra Mobility Group, Anand Chandrasekher's turn to present his keynote on the state of today's and tomorrow's MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices). We've got the full scoop from the keynote posted right here... IDF Day 2: Anand Chandrasekher: "MIDs: Platform for Innovation"...
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Day two of IDF kicked off with a cheesy, classic Star Trek opening-credits rip-off that concluded with the statement: "The Internet, to boldly go where it has never gone before: in your pocket." Then it was Senior Vice President and General Manager of Intel's Ultra Mobility Group, Anand Chandrasekher's turn to present his keynote on the state of today's and tomorrow's MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices). Chandrasekher says that in June, the number of people who used the Internet was roughly equal to three times the population of the U.S. Chandrasekher also said that we are now at an inflection point in regards to Internet access--although he didn't actually specify if he...
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J.D. Power and Associates has just released the results of its 2008 Digital Camera Usage and Satisfaction Study, based on responses from over 8,000 digital camera purchasers between April 2007 and March 2008. Not only does the study identify which cameras consumers liked best, but it also gives an indication of what consumers are doing with their cameras and what kind of features they want. The report breaks out digital cameras into four sub-categories: digital single-lens reflex (DSLR), point and shoot, premium point and shoot, and ultra slim. Then each of those categories is evaluated with four criteria--picture quality, performance, operation, and appearance--which are then rolled up into...
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On Tuesday, Facebook users in the U.S. and Canada awoke to horror - the shutdown of the extremely popular Scrabulous game, in the wake of a lawsuit filed by Hasbro, the parent company of the official Scrabble game. There shouldn't have been much withdrawal pain, though, since after all, Electronic Arts (EA, which handles the digital rights to Scrabble for Hasbro) had already created a beta version of the official game, right?Except for the fact that the servers couldn't handle the increased load from all the Scrabulous refugees, and crashed."We'll be back up shortly," an apologetic error message read. "We're working on some tech problems and Scrabble will be ready to play as soon as possible!"...
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It seemed obvious, didn't it? With the new in-store activation process, not only would it take longer, it would also be prone to the same sorts of server issues as last year, when customers would go home and be unable to activate. Only this time, it would in the store. Ah, the joys of early adoption.It seems that not only was the process taking a long time, now the servers have crashed, meaning that AT&T is sending people home unactivated. As AT&T said:We have had reports that customers attempting to download new iTunes 7.7 software to their new iPhone may get an error message saying “page not found.” We have reported this issue to Apple. While Apple works to resolve...
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Back in May Acer teased us with the announcement of its suped-up, hardcore gaming rig, the Aspire Predator. There's still no word on when we'll see this bad boy in the wild; but in the meantime, Acer is teasing us yet again with the announcement of its new 50,000:1 contrast ratio, LCD monitor, the 24-inch Acer G24. That's fifty thousand, like with four zeros. And just like its Predator announcement, there is no word on when the G24 will be available or how much it will cost. Perhaps Acer is taking a high-toned stance on these enthusiast-grade products: If you have to ask how much they cost, then you probably can't afford them. Or perhaps Acer is waiting for the economy to turn around before unleashing...
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In our excitement over the release of the new Playstation 3 firmware, 2.40, which includes in-game XMB support and trophies, we forgot what we usually recommend to people: don't jump on it (an OS update, a patch, a firmware update) until you see what happens to others who upgrade.One need only look at the XP SP3 fiasco involving Symantec for a good example.Reports have surfaced at the Playstation forums of issues while downloading the firmware, console freezes, and reboot issues. One user, noting the number of issues posted on the forum, decided to post the tongue-in-cheek thread, "Is there anyone who downloaded 2.40 update and had no problems?"Naturally, there are plenty. There are also, it...
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