Month: November 2009

Intel Anti-trust, Net Bug Dominate this Week’s Tech News

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It has been another busy week for the tech industry. Dominating the news was the lawsuit filed by New York City Attorney General Andrew Cuomo against Intel for allegedly engaging in a systematic campaign to protect a monopoly. Intel allegedly paid computer makers billions of dollars in the form of rebates as a reward for continuous use of Intel microprocessors. Likewise, manufacturers using rival chipmaker’s CPUs were threatened payment cutoff as well as competing manufacturers receiving funding. It was Cuomo’s assertion that Intel was not competing fairly, instead bribery and coercion was used to maintain a monopoly on the market. The rebates Intel gave to computer makers was done without no legitimate business purpose. Intel was already fined $1.44 billion by the European Commission in May, 2009 after being found guilty of antitrust violations.

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The Biological Effect of the Internet on You

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The popularity of the internet has caused millions of people to use online resources to connect, market, research, and communicate, among other things. However, the use of the internet is proving to have more effects on the functions of our brains than we care to believe.

A recent finding in UCLA shows that the more one uses the internet, the more one’s brain is stimulated in a unique way that further affects how our brains process information. This was determined through a study that compared sets of MRI scans of different test subjects of 55 to 78 year olds who were internet savvy and also those who were not. The good news is that the use of the internet can stimulate your brain in a way that prevents dementia from affecting you, especially if you are older.

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The Trouble with Modern Warfare 2

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This year’s most anticipated game, and sequel to best selling first-person game, Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (COD:MW2) seems to be having some trouble selling because of its partnership with giant on-line game storefront Steam. Steam is also software that acts as a go-between between your computer and game publisher and Steam owner, Valve. Without the software, games cannot be bought online and the same game after downloading cannot be played. The Steam client is required for purchasing, downloading, playing and backing up games. Aside from Steam, there is also Steamworks, which is another software that manages game updating as well as keeping tab on Digital Rights Management of games bought on retail or downloaded from storefronts.

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How Safe is Your Computer, Even with Security Precautions?

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How safe are you keeping your computer? Do you follow the religiously scheduled scans and Windows updates that all software and computer companies advise you to do? If you do, then you may think that you are in the clear, but recent findings have shown that no matter what you do, someone can still get into your computer system.

Data “leakage” is one attack on computer systems that has caught the eye of the technological world. With data leakage, whether or not your data is encrypted, if data is in actual use then accessibility to it opens up to outsiders. For instance, in terms of cached data, if you have your file opened up on your computer (decrypted) and are viewing or using it, and at the same time there are other programs that are open and working in the background, any of these programs could steal the information that you have on your opened cached data file.

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Whether to Make Windows Sleep, Hibernate or Shutdown

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When we press the shutdown button on Microsoft Windows, we are presented with at least four choices – shutdown, sleep, hibernate or restart. This feature has left hundreds of Windows users confused. To enlighten us confused users on the subject, let us consult a reliable authority on things that are Windowish – the user manual or online help.

In today’s world where energy efficiency and and green computing is becoming more important, computers adopt what is called a power management system. For most people, power management is defining how a computer behaves when it is not being used for a while. A while may mean a lot of things – like what do we want to happen to our computer when we are out for lunch ( an hour at most), when we are on a plane (a few hours maybe), or when its time for us to get some sleep (at least six to eight hours).

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A Fix for iPhones Unable to Sync with Windows 7

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Apple iPhone users have recently complained about a bug where they are unable to sync their smartphone with Windows 7 computers. The bug is somewhat random because it only happens mostly to a combination of computers with Intel P55 chipsets that run the 64 bit version of the operating system. As early as September 12, 2009, users began posting on an Apple forum reporting the bug. A lot of suggestions where posted on the forum, some said to tweak the power management settings, others said to downgrade to a lower iTunes version. Pretty soon, it was established that most of the users experiencing the syncing problem were using the same hardware – a Gigabyte motherboard with Intel P55 chipset. On November 6, 2009, the motherboard manufacturer issued a BIOS update version F4v where it fixed among other things an Apple iPhone sync issue.

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Third Quarter of 2009 Shows Increase in Intel Market Share

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With the increasing competition in netbook and laptop sales by different companies, there has also been a corresponding rise in demands for microprocessor chips to run the system units. Laptop and netbook chips have been in high demand by over 22 percent when compared to 2008 orders. It is notable that the chips for mobile units, like netbooks and laptops, are ever-increasing while the chips for PC desktops and servers are decreasing.

At Mercury Research alone, up to 100 million units of PC processors were shipped in the third quarter of 2009, according to their principal analyst, Dean McCarron. The third quarter in 2009 was still higher than the record set in the third quarter in 2008.

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The Rise of the E-Book Reader

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The electronic book is now starting to make waves in today’s society as more people want to stay mobile, travel light, and conserve on materials. With the release of the e-book several years ago, it never quite caught on during the outset of its introduction, but with the increasing popularity in mobile gadgets, the e-book is finally getting the recognition and attention that it deserves.

Seven of the best e-book readers are now on the market for consumers to take their pick. These are the Astak EZ Reader PocketPro E-Book Reader; the Foxit eSlick E-Book Reader; the Interread Cool-ER E-Book Reader; the Sony Reader Pocket Edition (PRS-300) E-Book Reader; the Amazon Kindle 2 E-Book Reader; the Amazon Kindle 2 E-Book Reader; and the Sony Reader Touch Edition (PRS-600) E-Book Reader.

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