Archive for May 19th, 2006
Core Duo Reaches the Desktop
Straight from Slashdot: “AMD has long reigned the desktop CPU market due to Intel’s offerings struggling to keep up in terms of performance and power consumption. Yonah is the predecessor to the Core architecture and is predominantly a mobile chip, and is used at the heart of Intel’s Viiv technology. Bit-tech has an article about Yonah beating the top of the range desktop AMD chip, the FX60, clock for clock. From the article” ‘When Yonah is running at the same clock speed as AMD’s Athlon 64 FX-60, we found that it beat it into a corner in just about every situation.’”
Lenovo Banned by U.S. State Department
Straight from Slashdot: "The BBC is reporting that the Chinese-made Lenovo PCs are not allowed inside secure US networks." From the article: "Assistant Secretary of State Richard Griffin said the department would also alter its procurement process to ensure US information security was guaranteed. His comments came after Rep Frank Wolf expressed national security concerns. The company Lenovo insisted such concerns were unwarranted and said the computers posed no security risk."
Robot surgeon performs world’s first unassisted operation
Straight from Engadget: "We're sure that more than a few of our readers are keen on robots and interested in the latest developments in robotics, but how many of you would volunteer to be the guinea pig for the world's first unassisted heart surgery? Even though there were about a million doctors on hand to monitor Dr. Carlo Pappone's robosurgeon doing its detailed work on a 34-year-old Italian patient suffering from atrial fibrillation (heart flutters), we can't help but wonder if a juxtaposed "0" and "1" in the bot's code is all it would take to drive a scalpel somewhere that it isn't supposed to go. Luckily for the pioneering patient, the 50-minute surgery went off without a hitch, most likely due to the fact that the prototype bot has software containing data about some 10,000 real-world operations, and has already performed assisted procedures on at least 40 people. Pappone, who initiated and monitored the latest surgery from a computer in Boston while it was occurring in Milan, plans to release a commercial version of the unnamed robosurgeon later this month."
AT&T Whistle-Blower’s Evidence
Straight from Wired News: "Former AT&T technician Mark Klein is the key witness in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's class-action lawsuit against the company, which alleges that AT&T illegally cooperated in an illegal National Security Agency domestic-surveillance program.In this recently surfaced statement, Klein details his discovery of an alleged surveillance operation in an AT&T office in San Francisco, and offers his interpretation of company documents that he believes support his case.
For its part, AT&T is asking a federal judge to keep those documents out of court, and to order the EFF to return them to the company. Here Wired News presents Klein's statement in its entirety, along with select pages from the AT&T documents."
AMD Unveils K8L: Quad Core Desktops And So Much More
Straight from Daily Tech: “Moore revealed that K8L will be the first AMD processor to have L3 cache since the K6 CPU. Each core has an independent L2 cache, but the entire processor shares an L3 cache pool. There’s no word yet on exactly how much cache the K8L can hold, though the K8L will be a 65nm SOI process so AMD engineers have a bit more die real estate to play around with.”
North Korea prepares launch of missile that could reach U.S.
From NHK World Daily News:
"South Korean government sources say there is activity in North Korea that could be taken as preparation for a launch of its longest-range ballistic missile.
The sources say satellite photos and other data show that activity increased earlier this month at a missile base in Musudanri, North Hamgyeong Province, in the northeastern part of North Korea.
A missile about 35 meters long has reportedly been moved near a launch facility. It is believed to be a Taepodong-Two ballistic missile.
The missile is believed to have a range of 6,700 kilometers. A high-ranking US government official indicated that a new type of the missile has a range of 15,000 kilometers and is capable of reaching all parts of the United States.
In a joint declaration with Japan in 2002, North Korea said it would extend a freeze on test-firing missiles beyond its original term of 2003.
Observers believe that North Korea is not ready yet to launch the missile. Some of them say the latest activity is aimed at influencing the United States, which is intensifying pressure on North Korea to return to the six-party talks on its nuclear program."
Three Neptune-sized Planets Found Nearby
Straight from Slashdot: “CNN reports the discovery of three Neptune-sized planets found in orbit around a sun 41 light years away. The star they orbit is similar to our Sun, and the planetary distribution is probably similar to our Solar System. Recent observations by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope last year revealed that HD 69830 also hosts an asteroid belt, making it the only other sun-like star known to have one. No word on if they have habitable moons, or monoliths yet.”
Dell to use AMD chips in servers
Straight from Ars Technica: "In the enterprise, we will launch new ninth generation servers featuring Intel's Woodcrest microprocessors. Dell will also introduce new AMD Opteron processors in our multiprocessor servers by the end of the year offering a great new technology to our customers at the high-end of our server line," Dell said in a statement.
Symantec Sues Microsoft, May Delay Vista
Straight from Slashdot: "Symantec filed a lawsuit against Microsoft over patents on the volume management technology in Vista. They're seeking an injunction to stop Vista from being sold until the suit is completed. Given the recent Supreme Court ruling it should be interesting to see if the injunction is granted, since Symantec does produce software which uses the patent. If it is granted, expect MS to settle to prevent another Vista delay."
