AMD has recently cooked up a little something they like to call the Phenom II X4 TWKR Black Edition, a hand-picked, limited edition processor that is designed to be overclocked “to the extreme.” Currently labeled “Not for Sale,” with no serial numbers and only one hundred of these bad boys in existence, just a few lucky folks have got their hands on one. According to the company, one of these guys could be pushed by 100MHz with air cooling, which doubles to about 200MHz with “extreme cooling.” As far as impressions go, the reviewer at Neoseeker quickly decided that the units aren’t meant to be overclocked on air only, and that dry ice isn’t much better. Hot Hardware says pretty much the same thing. Though they weren’t able to test with liquid nitrogen or liquid helium (the only way to get real speed) they did put a Koolance LN2 pot (and about 20lbs of dry ice) to the test for 4.73GHz. For best results, according to Tom’s Hardware Guide, bench the processor at -190°C or cooler. But for the real overclocking experience you simply must check out the video of the “world renowned overclockers” K|ngp|n, *chew, and Gomeler as they run the gamut of “extreme overclocking techniques”
Tracy Jones-Harris Uncategorized *chew, AMD, Black Edition, Gomeler, Klngpln, Phenom II TWKR CPU, Phenon II
After some rather impressive RC builds, Firefox 3.5 is all packaged up and ready for public consumption. Mozilla is saying its new browser is more than two times faster than Firefox 3, but what has us more excited is the support for plugin-free “open codec” video and audio playback using Ogg Vorbis and Ogg Theora– it’s still in its infancy, but the subtle glimpse we’ve seen so far of a world without Flash video reducing our CPU to jelly is rather compelling.
Tracy Jones-Harris Uncategorized Firefox, Firefox 3, Firefox 3.5, Mozilla, Ogg Theora, Ogg Vorbis
Kodak’s already taken some steps to cut down on counterfeiting of its batteries, and it looks like Panasonic is now taking some fairly drastic measures of it own, which could leave some users of its cameras a tad unhappy. Apparently, the company has determined that some third-party batteries amazingly don’t meet its own rigid safety standards, so it’s now released a new firmware update that can detect said batteries and prevent them from working. At the moment, that only includes cameras that use DMW-BCF10, DMW-BCG10, or DMW-BLB13 battery packs (some sixteen cameras in all), but it seems safe to assume that this’ll soon be standard practice on all Panasonic cameras.
Tracy Jones-Harris Uncategorized Batteries, Conterfeiting, DMW-BCF10, DMW-BCG10, DMW-BLB13, Kodak, Panasonic, thirid-party batteries
Developed by a team at Duke University, the bot uses ultrasound to identify areas of density in human flesh, then starts probing them with a rather painfully large looking needle. It could be used to locate and extract bits of shrapnel from stricken GIs on the battlefield, but that same tech might also be deployed to pierce women’s breasts and men’s prostates — ostensibly to treat cancers of those respective regions, but we can think of more nefarious reasons. The bot doesn’t have a name, but once it and its kind take over, neither will you.
Tracy Jones-Harris Robots Duke University, Robot, Shrapnel, Surgeon
MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.7 addresses an issue reported by a small number of customers using drives based on the SATA 3Gbps specification with the June 2009 MacBook Pro. While this update allows drives to use transfer rates greater than 1.5Gbps, Apple has not qualified or offered these drives for Mac notebooks and their use is unsupported.
You’ll still need an SSD to take advantage of these speeds, but if you really want to do that, now it looks like you’ve got the option. If you’re not planning on swapping in an SSD, you don’t need to worry about this firmware update.
Tracy Jones-Harris computers Apple, MacBook, MacBook Pro, SATA, SATA 3Gbps, SSD
Hold onto your hats folks, ’cause Microsoft has just done the unthinkable and extended availability of its Windows XP downgrade option, again.
This latest move, of course, follows complaints that new licensing issues with Windows 7 could cause some serious headaches for businesses still hanging onto XP, and basically force them to either stock up on XP-ready systems before April 23rd, 2010 or face the possibility of Vista-only downgrades thereafter.
The new deadline isn’t quite as clear cut as past ones, however, with Microsoft saying only that the XP downgrade option will be available for 18 months after the release of Windows 7, “or until the release of a Windows 7 service pack, whichever is sooner.” So, as ComputerWorld notes, if Microsoft pushes an SP1 update out the door six months after Windows 7 is released, folks could well be out of luck yet again — at least until Microsoft sets a new deadline, that is.
Tracy Jones-Harris computers
As expected, the update is out. For all you iPhone users you can click on the “Check for Update” button right now to get your iPhone updated.
Tracy Jones-Harris Mobiles Apple, iphone, OS 3.0, Software, update
Apple has finally addressed the Java vulnerability that nearly everyone else patched months ago. Available now for OS X 10.4 and 10.5, and through Apple’s Software Update service, this update patches a flaw in the Java Virtual Machine that could potentially allow a malicious Java applet to execute arbitrary code on the machine. Apple had previously advised users to turn off Java temporarily in their Web browsers.
Tracy Jones-Harris computers Apple, Java, OS X 10.4, OS X 10.5
The program, called “Browser for the Better,” is connected to those wacky Dean Cain IE8 commercials that launched earlier this month.
And while the Dean Cain marketing effort will likely last forever thanks to the glorious wonder of the Internet, the charity portion of Browser for the Better only runs from June 10 to August 8. As for the images accompanying the announcement. Apparently, for the meals to become viable, Microsoft had to truck in a bunch of artists so they could stack them into shapes resembling the Empire State Building and Golden Gate Bridge.
Tracy Jones-Harris Internet Browser, Browser for the better, IE8, Internet Explorer, Microsoft
Likely being mindful of the ever-watchful eye of the European Union, Microsoft’s announced its Euro version of Windows 7, affectionately and officially dubbed Windows 7 E, will not come packaged with Internet Explorer, or any other browser for that matter.
Of course that’s not the whole story, as OEMs will be provided free copies of IE8 to bundle themselves alongside / instead of other browser options, and consumers can pick up their own copies via CD, FTP, or retail channels. This is undoubtedly in response to the antitrust cases the EU keeps throwing Microsoft’s way, and while we wouldn’t be surprised to see it end up on almost every European computer sold, we do wonder if this will at all speed up IE’s already rapidly diminishing share in the war of web browsers.
Tracy Jones-Harris Internet Browser, IE8, Internet Explorer, Microsoft, OEM, windows 7, Windows 7E