AMD Phenom pricing

The pricing for the AMD phenoms has arrived, but as to whether this is the final pricing for the latest offering from AMD, nobody ain't sure of it yet. But sources say it should be close or rather correct. So folks, get set for an AMD christmas!!!

Phenom is the latest offering from AMD which is quad-core competing with Intel's quad-core.

Sneak Peek: AMD's Phenom Quad-Cores, Spider Graphics Platform

Advanced Micro Devices is getting set to launch its first quad-core desktop processor and accompanying Spider platform for high-performance desktop systems. The specific details are under lock and key until the release date, but Spider is coming sooner than earlier reports indicated, and it's the first desktop platform from AMD that was built from the ground up in concert with the chipmaker's graphics division, ATI.

The Spider release will coincide with AMD's launch of its Phenom quad-core desktop processor. That's no accident, as the platform was built to integrate Phenom with a new series of GPUs and chipsets from ATI that will be released alongside the new CPU. AMD acquired the maker of graphic processors, chipsets and video display cards last October.

Oh, and one quick note, in case you missed it -- Phenom isn't a codename. It's the name of the new brand AMD is launching with these quad-core chips.

Phenom's specs are impressive. It will come as no surprise that the chip's "native" quad-core design bears desktop fruit similar to what AMD's recently-launched quad-core Opteron processor does for servers. We're talking energy efficiency, high floating points for memory-intensive applications and easy switch-a-roos from dual-core Athlons to the new quad-cores. Though it's a bit apples-and-oranges, it's also worth noting that the first Phenoms to hit the market will have higher clock speeds than the initial shipments of quad-core Opterons.

All very tasty, though AMD's stress on performance-per-watt for Phenom did strike as a bit odd. It's one thing to highlight Opteron's energy efficiency for the data centers, but don't those crazy gamers actually get a kick out of burning through more fuel than necessary? AMD's response: True, gamers aren't the most power-stingy customers around, let alone the Greenest. But better energy efficiency is still a good sell, because it means fewer fans, which means more headroom in gaming shells for system builders to drop in more gear.

So there.

While Phenom will be available as a processor-in-a-box, and ATI's new products don't require a quad-core processor, by combining all that good stuff on an optimized platform, AMD banks on hitting the enthusiast and high-end home theater markets hard ahead of the holidays.

The new ATI gear fills a hole in AMD's DirectX 10-compatible Radeon line, in the $200 neighborhood. It will also support DirectX 10.1, when that multimedia/gaming interface update ships with the first Windows Vista Service Pack in January. Also look for boosts in ATI's PCI Express, CrossFire and AVIVO HD technology, as well as a brand new chipset family for Phenom called the AMD 700 series.

And overclockers have something to look forward to as well, thanks to a little surprise AMD has built into Spider.

Spider is already in the hands of some partners in AMD's system builder channel. When you get a chance to see it demoed, it's tough to wipe the silly grin off your face as the platform roars into action. Spider is geared towards gaming, and the way it handles lighting, angles and texture is all very impressive.

So everyone stay tuned for AMD latest punch at Intel. Doesn't it looks good already?

The Firewall In The Mac OSX Leopard Is Mostly Useless, Say Experts

"Best firewall – no firewall" has been a common joke in the IT world for some time. However, it seems that Apple has taken it for serious, and their latest released OS goes to prove it.

As Heise Security's report points out, the firewall included in the Leopard OS managed to fail every security test performed by the firm. - Now that's a bummer

Jurgen Schmidt writes:

“The most important task for any firewall is to keep out uninvited guests. In particular, this means sealing off local services to prevent access from potentially hostile networks, such as the Internet or wireless networks.

But a quick look at the firewall configuration in the Mac OS X Leopard shows that it is unable to do this. By default it is set to "Allow all incoming connections," i.e. it is deactivated. Worse still, a user who, for security purposes, has previously activated the firewall on his or her Mac will find that, after upgrading to Leopard, the system restarts with the firewall deactivated.”

Also, it seems that the firewall is also unable to to make the difference between trusted networks and networks that present a certain risk; Leopard will treat them all the same, at least initially.

Of course, there's always the possibility of blocking all incoming connections, but this time the option won't be much help either. The report points out that potential attackers will still be able to communicate with at least two system services, the time server and the NetBIOS name server.

The report notes that the “problems and peculiarities described here are not security vulnerabilities in the sense that they can be exploited to break into a Mac”. However, it suggests that Apple users would do better not to rely on the firewall for the time being.

PS: all OS have their vulnerabilities, whether you choose to accept it or not.

iPhone will cost a minimum of €1601 in Germany !

As you may have known, in Germany iPhone sales will start on November 9th.

The cheapest subscription will cost €49 per month, for a minimum of 24 months.
And the iPhone and its activation will cost €425 ( 400+25)

so the minimum a iPhone will cost is €1601 in Germany

The cheapest subscription includes, unlimited data transfer, 100 calling minutes and 40 SMS.

While the other two subscription ( €65 & €85 per month ) the iPhone will cost €2081 and €2561

Its certainly a different way to calculate the cost of a iPhone. But it gives a rough guide of how the whole iPhone package costs.

Aussie student makes copper broadband faster

Up to 200 times quicker

A MELBOURNE PhD student has worked out a way to make copper broadband technology 200 times faster.

John Papandriopoulos has managed to get a signal down a copper line at 250Mbps compared with the top speed of 1-20Mbps that can be managed now.

Papandriopoulos has patent applications for the technology being processed in the US and Australia, won one of Melbourne University's top academic prizes yesterday.

He told news.com.au that telephone wiring is poor quality and was not designed for high-speed internet when it was created.

One of the things that slows down broadband is the fact that a telephone line interferes with a neighbour's.

Papandriopoulos' uses mathematic modelling to reduce the interference that slows down downloading.

Vista deludes itself into thinking driver upgrades are major changes

A FEATURE in Microsoft Vista means that something as small as swapping the video card or updating a device driver can trigger a total Vista deactivation.

According to APC mag, minor upgrades to your desktop will result in your PC going into "reduced functionality" mode, where you can't do anything but use the web browser for half an hour.

You'll then need to reapply to Microsoft to get a new activation code.

Hack, James Bannan noticed the flaw when he swapped over the graphics card on his Vista Ultimate box. A few days later he got a Windows Activation prompt and had to speak to a Microsoft customer service representative before he got all his functionality back and the feeling in his toes.

Wondering why he got the shut down request, Bannon obtained some tools from Microsoft which listed all the hardware changes on that machine since activation. Vista thought his disk controller had changed, so the graphics card change was the final change which tripped deactivation.

But Bannan had not changed his disk controller, all he had done was upgraded the Intel Matrix Storage Manager application. Vista reported this driver upgrade as a major hardware change event.

It appears that Microsoft Vista designers had not worked out that if you change device drivers it does not necessarily mean you have changed your hardware. It could be, as in Bannan's case, you have updated or changed the drivers and not the hardware.

This is quite common as some of the drivers which ship with Vista are out of date or not as good as what you can find on the manufacturer's web site.

Wii bubble set to burst

It sits at home and gathers dust

According to the Nikkei magazine, although many Japanese homes have a Wii, they hardly get any use.

One developer quoted in the article said that people had a Wii out of curiosity and have not needed to use it since.

Many companies who rushed to support the console are finding that their support has not translated into sales.

It seems that only Nintendo, who had more time to plan its Wii titles, is the only outfit benefiting from the Wii's success.

Sales of the console fell in September which suggests that the Wii bubble is starting to burst.