Tech News December 2005

VoIP Growth Vastly Outpacing Traditional Voice
Network Computing :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
News from the “well, duh…” department…

VoIP system sales dwarfed those of traditional voice systems for the year ended in June 2005, according to a new research report issued this week by investment firm Merrill Lynch. As of June, VoIP system sales grew 31 percent year-over-year, while sales of legacy voice systems declined by 20 percent during the same period, according to the report.

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Vonage Markets on Despite FCC E911 Order
Internet News :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
Vonage plans to continue offering service to new customers despite failing to meet the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) mandate to provide full E911 by Nov. 28 or cease marketing Voice over IP (define).

In a compliance report submitted to the FCC Monday, Vonage said it is capable of providing a callback number and a fixed location to 911 operators for 100 percent of its customers.

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Selling through Auction Marketplaces
DT & G Magazine :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
Consumers are increasingly feeling more comfortable in buying products through the Internet.

According to a report released recently by the Department of Commerce first-quarter retail sales rose 23.8 percent to US$ 19.8 billion in the United States from US$ 16 billion a year ago. E-commerce sales during the first quarter of 2005 rose 6.4 percent from the fourth quarter of last year.

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Cingular, Orange Pact ‘Eases Pain’
Internet News :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
With an eye toward keeping corporate customers with international operations happy, Cingular Wireless today announced that Orange SA has joined its WorldView partner program.

The pact allows customers with operations in the United States, Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium or Switzerland to manage their Cingular and Orange wireless accounts through a secure online portal.

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BitTorrent Cleans Up
Internet News :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
The creator of the BitTorrent protocol along with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) have agreed to help protect against illegal downloading of copyrighted material.

Under the terms of the publicly announced deal, BitTorrent creator and founder of BitTorrent Inc. Bram Cohen has pledged to remove links in his BitTorrent.com search engine that lead to pirated MPAA content.

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The Five Security ‘Musts’ You Can’t Ignore
Network Computing :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
Last month I told you about some myths that have grown up around security, but that are not necessarily things you should believe. This month it’s time for things you really do need to believe in and act upon if you’re to stay out of trouble. Instead of myths, they’re the “musts”: security actions you must take regardless of the size of your enterprise or your network.

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VZ Wireless Sues Alleged Spammer
Internet News :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
Verizon Wireless today said it is suing a Florida vacation outlet for allegedly sending nearly 100,000 unsolicited text messages to the carrier’s customers.

The suit charges that Ormond Beach, Fla.-based Passport Holidays violated the Federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act by using auto-dialing equipment to send bursts of text messages to sequential phone numbers.

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The Rewards And Perils Of Meshing With Wi-Fi
Network Computing :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
Wireless mesh networks have been a popular idea for years. Visionaries talk about “smart dust”–tiny radios that organize themselves into networks as needed, bypassing service providers and eliminating the need for wires of any kind. New technologies such as ZigBee aim to extend the range of very-low-power networks by making every network node act as a router.

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Indesign plugins for layout designers
Design Talk Board :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

Design software such as QuarkXpress, Photoshop and InDesign are great, as far as they go. But there is always something that is lacking, or that could enhance or change the way that designers and graphic artists work with a graphics application. That’s where plugins come in.

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Confused about graphic design job descriptions?
Design Talk Board :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
Are you new to design? A graphic design student looking for jobs or career advice? Or a professional graphic designer trying to further your prospects? Perhaps you are confused about the various job descriptions and design career specifications in the creative industry? On the other hand, maybe you are just trying to work out what to put on your business card?

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How to run a successful link exchange program
DT & G Magazine :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
Link Exchanges are a very time consuming project. The time it takes to find the sites to exchange with, contact them and place a link on your page can seem like an eternity, but the hardest part about link exchanges isn’t the research, it’s the waiting. This article will give you some tips to help speed response time to your requests.

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Adobe and Macromedia shareholders approve deal?
Design Talk Board :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

Design software publisher Adobe has announced that its stockholders have approved the recent acquisition, by Adobe, of web graphics company Macromedia. According to Adobe, the stockholders of both companies have voted in favour of the merger.

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AOL Search Service Gone Mobile
Internet News :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
America Online (Quote, Chart) today launched AOL Mobile Search Services, which brings search capabilities and local information to mobile users.

The service, which has been in beta since July, allows mobile users to perform Web searches just as they would on a desktop computer, as well as access any Web site.

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‘Google Murder’ Trial Nearing Conclusion
Network Computing :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
Update: Jurors late Tuesday found former computer consultant Robert Petrick guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of his wife. Prosecutors have found more computer evidence in the trial of a computer consultant accused of killing his wife and dumping her body into a lake.

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Skype 2.0 Beta in The Air
Internet News :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
A public beta of Skype 2.0 was released Thursday morning with a full-screen video VoIP feature, as well as other bells and whistles, such as being able to group your contacts, customize mood settings, a new user interface and one-click calling to Microsoft Outlook contacts through a toolbar.

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Good financial news for designers.
Design Talk Board :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

The survey, which took responses from more than 3,600 design professionals, has proved to be interesting reading, with reports of a clear rise in salaries for the first time in several years.

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Macromedia Studio 8 – is it the end for Freehand?
Design Talk Board :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

Macromedia has announced Studio 8, its bundle of web design programs. Included in the suite of graphics tools includes Dreamweaver 8, Flash 8, Fireworks 8, Contribute 3 and Flashpaper 2.

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Skype Partners With Logitech, Creative For Webcam Sales
Network Computing :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
Logitech and Creative, which together own about three-quarters of the Webcam market, joined Skype on Thursday to co-market the Luxembourg-based VoIP developer’s newest software with their cameras and headsets

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Making your BlackBerry more secure
DT & G Magazine :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
Your BlackBerry device allows access to your email account, so you must take steps to secure it against misuse by others. The following instructions will help you do so:

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Focusing after the shot, the plenoptic camera
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Ren Ng, graduate student at Stanford University has developed a hand-held plenoptic camera which takes a shot first and allows you to make the decision about focus point in software after the event. The prototype camera is actually a Contax 645 with a modified Megavision FB4040 back (sixteen megapixel). The back has had an array of 90,000 microlenses mounted in front of the sensor (with a gap between the array and the sensor). These microlenses create a unique image on the sensor surface which includes not only the amount of light deposited at that location, but how much light arrives along each ray. The image is then reconstructed in software and a focus point can be chosen. Note that the final resolution is the same as the number of microlenses.

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OCZ Rally Drives
Overclockers Online :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
Quote: I’ve now had these two units for about a month, the ability to drop half a DVD’s worth of content on to the drive in a few minutes is great. The Rally drive’s small form makes carrying the unit a breeze. While it’s certainly possible to find smaller thumb drives, going any smaller brings the risk of breaking the unit or simply losing it. I find the Rally drive to be the perfect size for me to clip onto my carabineer and keys without adding too much weight. The only thing I’ve noticed after a month of use is that the black paint on the Rally drive eventually does scratch off. While it doesn’t affect performance, those who care about aesthetics will want to be a bit more careful and avoid leaving the drive in a pocketful of keys and coins; eventually you’d be left with a logo-less aluminum casing.

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Asys Freedom Tower Series (CK-1022-5) Eiffel Tower @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Quote: “Today for review I have something I think is very cool, and has now become my favorite case of all time. Asys is a new sponsor to ThinkComputers, this is our first review for them. I received from them what they consider a Super Tower or Entry Level Server PC Case from their Freedom Tower series called the Eiffel Tower. This case has so many features, and is just so well built I was amazed by it, truly amazed at the fact that they are not more popular. The quality of this case can easily be considered the best of every case that I have reviewed and owned thus far. Let’s get into the review and you can see why I am so excited about it.”

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HEXUS.reviews :: Alienware Area-51 m5700 laptop
Hexus :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Where the Alienware Area-51 falls foul of the competition is with respect to 3D graphics. NVIDIA’s GeForce 6800 Go 256MB PCIe graphics adapter is no slouch, but the Ultra model, as specified by Dell, is significantly faster. The comparison Rock’s Mobility Radeon X800 XT 256MB is faster still, so Alienware, pricing this particular sample at around £1800, really needed to out-specify the established hierarchy for DTR laptops. Matters would have been fine if one had the option of upgrading the video to the ‘6800 Ultra model, or even the more-impressive GeForce 7800 GTX Go, but that isn’t the case.

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AVC Z7UB301 ‘AMD Reference’ Athlon64 Heatsink Review
Frosty Tech :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
“The AVC Z7UB301 heatsink is one of the first stock Socket 754 heatsinks AMD shiped with its processors, and it is currently used with most Socket 939 Athlon64 CPU models too. While its name lacks any mention of ‘extreme,’ ‘whisper,’ ‘ultimate,’ or some other such stereotypical marketing sloganry… it is a damn fine heatsink. That, in spite of its complex alpha-numeric ‘Z7UB301001’ nomenclature. Asia Vital Corporation (AVC) itself is one the largest heatsink manufacturers in the industry, but primarily so in an OEM capacity. The company produces several models of stock Intel and AMD heatsinks, in addition to a variety of after market models.”

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SANSUN SN-C001 BAT Enclosure Review
TweakTown :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
QUOTE: “Whether you’ve heard the character referred to as the Dark Night, the Caped Crusader, or even something entirely off the wall, the concept behind this design is more than a little obvious. Coming out just after the release of the latest movie, the BAT enclosure is based on the popular DC Comics here, Batman. The masked face is currently available in three color choices of red, blue and white. The eyes are LED lighted and have a semi-bright glow in the dark. The black area at the base of the front bezel, where you would imagine is the mouth, is actually a plastic covering over a vented area to allow for air circulation inside the case.”

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Dates announced for Matsushita and Olympus D-SLR
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
Matsushita and Olympus are expected to exhibit new digital SLRs at the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) show in February 2006. The interchangeable lens D-SLRs will comply with the FourThirds standard in 2006. The Japanese companies are working jointly in developing products and key components, but will market products under their own brands, which for Matsushita includes Panasonic. A joint statement says that Olympus and Matsushita are responding to what they see as a soaring global demand for digital SLRs, with shipments expected to reach 5.5m units in the year to 2007, from 2.7m in the current year to March 2005.

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PimpRig Review // Thermaltake Big Typhoon (CL-P0114) CPU Cooler
PimpRig :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
The Thermaltake Big Typhoon has managed to usurp the Zalman 9500 from it’s relatively short reign as performance king. Here is a snip from the review: “I couldn’t decide if the Big Typhoon looked more like an insect or a work of art. The copper heatsink fins and 120mm fan are elevated and rest on top of 6 heatpipes that are in turn attached to a copper block at the bottom. The fan has a shroud around the base so that all the air is forced through the fins to cool the heatpipes. The look isn’t as striking as the Zalman CNPS9500, but will still cause a double-take just due to the size alone.”

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Scythe Samurai Z heatsink @ Pro-Clockers
Pro-Clockers :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Quote: As you all know Scythe is no stranger to us here at Pro-Clockers, so when they ask us to review their latest yet to be released product I was happy to say yes. Scythe is known around the world for making some of the best cooling products. They really hit it big with the Ninja cooler. A ultra performing heatsink that made all the big comapnies, great overclockers and well known gamers take notice. Well they are at it again with another cooler aimed at quietness but yielding great performance. The Scythe Samurai Z.

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Konica Minolta updates for A1 and A2
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Konica Minolta has announced firmware updates for the five megapixel Dimage A1 and the eight megapixel A2. Version 1.1.3 (A1) and 1.1.4 increases the writing speed of the memory card and USB transfer speed. The A1 was first announced in August 2003, making it over two years old and its predecessor, the A2, was launched in February the year after. Both cameras feature an Anti-Shake CCD, whereby the CCD is stabilized, rather than the lens element, which is designed to counteract camera shake

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Nonux v2.0 @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Summary: “Nonux, a Slackware-based distribution basically keeping its residence to the Netherlands and other Dutch communities, has released their v2.0 release that includes the 2.6.14.2 kernel, GNOME 2.12.1, and a good deal of other package updates. This distribution is designed primarily for Dutch office use and bundled into a single ISO are both the LiveCD and install variants. For reference, the system failed to operate properly on two of the three systems we had tested with Nonux v2.0.”

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