Mozilla updated to correct Win Protocol July. 09, 2004 @ 05:33PM GMT +10

Three new branches have been created for Firefox, Thunderbird, and the original Mozilla suite, in order to fix an external windows protocol handler bug. The new version numbers are Firefox 0.9.2, Thunderbird 0.9.2, and Mozilla 1.7.1. Alternatively, you can set the pref network.protocol-handler.external.shell in about:config to false to remove the exploit, or install the XPI listed below. (This will only set it on your current profile, if you have more than one profile, or could be creating more, you should use the XPI or the updated build.) It should be noted that this patch was released within hours of the flaw being discovered. Update: It should also be noted that this flaw effects all browsers for the Windows operating system which take advantage of the "shell" function, not just Mozilla. Click links below to download the updated builds: Download Firefox 0.9.2 XPI fix for older builds Mozilla 1.7.1 Thunderbird 0.7.2 Source:Neowin

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Intel Begins Shipments of 3.60GHz July. 09, 2004 @ 05:21PM GMT +10

Intel Corporation has initiated shipments of its recently announced Pentium 4 3.60GHz processor also known as Intel Pentium 4 560. Announced in mid-June, the chip did not immediately make appearance in retail and personal computers assembled by leading makers of PCs, such as Dell. Intel Pentium 4 processor 560 operates at 3.60GHz, features HT and SSE3 technologies and comes in LGA775 form-factor. The chip is compatible with Socket T mainboards supporting 800MHz processor system bus, based on i915- or i925X-series chipsets from Intel. The chip can dissipate up to 115W of power and requires mainboards to support Platform Compatibility Guide 04B. Source:X-bit labs

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ATI Catalyst 4.7 July. 09, 2004 @ 05:19PM GMT +10

If you guys haven't already found out, ATI just released Catalyst drivers revision 4.7 ! This unified driver has been further enhanced to provide the highest level of power, performance, and reliability. [Download] Resolved CATALYST™ Driver Issues This section provides information on CATALYST™ driver issues that have been resolved in the latest release of CATALYST™. These include the following: * Enabling both the CRT and DVI connectors and setting the CRT to primary no longer results in display corruption being seen on the display connected to the DVI when running 3D Labs applications and disabling the display on the DVI connector * The mouse pointer no longer flashes or becomes corrupted when setting the display mode to 1080i and launching Windows MCE * DVD playback hesitation at the beginning of a movie is no longer noticed when using the ATI DVD Player under Windows XP with an ATI 8500 ALL-IN-WONDER™ installed * The Windows XP operating system no longer fails to respond when a D3D application generates a floating-point exception error * The BIOS Version information is now stated correctly in the Details found in the ATI Options tab. Further, the correct DAC and ASIC information is now displayed in the Adapter tab found in the advanced setting of the display properties * The Overlay Theater Mode table has now been extended to support 1080i and 720p * Launching EVE Online under Windows XP with an ATI RADEON™ 8500, 9100, or 9200 series no longer results in a VPU recover error before the terms and conditions is displayed Resolved Game Issues This section provides information on game issues that have been resolved in the latest release of CATALYST™. These include the following: * Setting the D3D option to Optimal Quality and configuring the game Freedom Fighters to 1280x1024 no longer results in display corruption being seen on the test resolution window. This issue occurred under Windows XP with an ALL-IN-WONDER™ 9200 installed * The water that surrounds Death Island in the game Halo: Combat evolved is now seen as blue in colour. This issues was known to occur under Windows XP with an ATI RADEON™ 8500 installed * Image rendering issues in the Truform room found in Serious Sam are no longer noticed when increasing the Truform level to maximum under the Advanced Rendering Option * Flashing textures in the water are no longer noticed when running Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow under Windows XP with an ATI RADEON™ X800 XT installed * Playing the game TOCA Race Driver under Windows XP no longer results in the shadows being missing under the car when the shadow quality is set to high 1. Navigate to the CATALYST™ Download folder on your desktop. Double-click on the folder to view its content. 2. Double click the CATALYST™ display driver. Accept all the default prompts. 3. Restart your system as required. Source: Guru3d

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New Microsoft Mice Pictures July. 09, 2004 @ 05:11PM GMT +10

Eyeit have found out that there are some new microsoft mice on the way! Source: Eyeit

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MSI K8N Neo2 nForce3 Ultra July. 09, 2004 @ 04:27PM GMT +10

PC Perspective have thrown up the review of MSI K8N Neo2 nForce3 Ultra motherboard for AMD's 939-pin Athlon 64 processors! Click here The nForce3 series has seen slower acceptance than the K8T series of chipsets from VIA, both because of cost differences and feature gaps. NVIDIA is quickly changing these key items though and now that VIA’s overclocking ability with their PCI/AGP lock may be up in the air, NVIDIA is set to take back some of the AMD market share. Source:Warp2search

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BFG Tech GeForce 6800 GT OC July. 09, 2004 @ 04:21PM GMT +10

Bjorn3D have thrown up their latest review which looks a pre-overclocked version of a GeForce 6800 GT ( 370MHz instead of 350MHz ) form BFG Tech and compares the performance to Sapphire’s Radeon X800 PRO!: Click here Well, BFG really is a different kind of company, at least it seems to be from my perspective (from the outside trying to look in). The company is made up of gamers, so they really do care about releasing top-quality products. Quality isn't their only concern though. Performance is right up at the top as well, as is evidenced by their newest line of "OC" (or overclocked) GeForce 6800 cards. All of BFG's current 6 series cards come only in the "OC" flavors currently. That's right; there's a 6800 OC, 6800 GT OC and a 6800 Ultra OC. All of these cards are of course overclocked right out of the box (when compared to other 6800s clocked at default reference clock speeds). Source:Warp2search

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Evolution could speed net downloads July. 06, 2004 @ 10:51PM GMT +10

Well this is cool: Survival of the Fittest(..bandwidth)! It turns out that the popular evolutionist scientist may have left with us more than just records of animals on a lonely island and the idea behind natural selection. Internet download speeds could be improved dramatically by mimicking Darwin's evolution to "breed" the best networking strategies, say computer scientists. Transferring popular data across the internet repeatedly can be inefficient and costly, so networking companies have developed ways of temporarily storing, or "caching", data at different locations to reduce costs and increase download speeds. But figuring out where to store data and for how long is a complex problem. One solution might be to have caches "talk" to each other repeatedly, but this is inefficient as it takes up a lot of bandwidth. To tackle the challenge, Pablo Funes of US company Icosystem and Jürgen Branke and Frederik Theil of the University of Karlsruhe in Germany used "genetic algorithms", which mimic Darwinian evolution, to develop strategies for internet servers to use when caching data. Using a simulation they were able to improve download speeds over existing caching schemes. The researchers evolved algorithms for specific types of network, for example networks with a bottleneck. But they also developed algorithms that worked well on various types of network. Source: Neowin

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Todays Video Card Reviews July. 06, 2004 @ 09:51AM GMT +10

ATi Radeon X800XT PCIe review by Beyond3D BFG GeForce 6800GT review by Bjorn3D Leadtek GeForce 6800 Ultra 256MB review by Digit-Life Asus AX800 Pro Radeon X800 Pro 256MB review by HotHardware

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Far Cry Articles July. 06, 2004 @ 09:49AM GMT +10

Far Cry v1.2 patch analysis - DriverHeaven Far Cry Interview - FiringSquad Crytek weighs in on Shader Model 3.0 - TechReport Far Cry v1.2 patch Detailed analysis - TomsHardware

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Corsair DDR 2 667 Soon July. 06, 2004 @ 09:44AM GMT +10

The Inquirer reports: We got an email from Asus that claimed that its board that we are currently testing have capability of running far beyond 533MHz, and even 600MHz or more. Corsair has a cure for users that want to overclock heavily as it will soon ship DDR 2 667MHz. Intel's plan is to have this memory ready for its 1066 MHz FPS CPUs and faster platforms that are due to come at the end of this year and next. Full Article

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AMD's "Celeron Killer" July. 06, 2004 @ 09:40AM GMT +10

Benchmark results of the AMD Sempron processor in its incarnation for Socket 754 hit the web. While the chip cannot outperform the more powerful AMD Athlon 64 rivals, it is likely to offer a nice price/performance ratio in the value segment. The new Sempron microprocessors from Advanced Micron Devices will be supplied in a number of flavours depending on the socket the new chips are designed for. The initial versions will be available for Socket A platforms and Socket 754 platforms, while the longer-range prospects include Socket 939 revisions of the chips. Full Article @ Xbit

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HL2 Beta GeForce 6800 vs Radeon X800 July. 06, 2004 @ 09:32AM GMT +10

Digit-Life have thrown up their review of Leadtek's WinFast A400 TDH and WinFast A400 Ultra TDH Based on NVIDIA GeForce 6800/6800 Ultra Graphics Cards! What's so interesting about their review is they've thrown in some Half-Life2 (beta) benchies comparing Nvidia's Geforce 6800 Ultra againist ATi's Radeon X800 XT. Source: Warp2Search

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XP SP2 cracked already? July. 06, 2004 @ 09:29AM GMT +10

As seen on The Inquirer: EVEN THOUGH Microsoft has not yet released service pack 2 for Windows XP, word reaches the INQ that its anti-piracy features have already been cracked Microsoft has claimed that it's introduced features in SP2 which mean that illegal users of stolen or cracked activation codes won't be able to upgrade the OS, which is due for release in August of this year. Read More

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AMD 64 3200+,Upgrader's Perspective July. 06, 2004 @ 09:26AM GMT +10

ViperLair looks closely at the AMD Athlon 64 3200+ "As a short term fix, the Socket 754 still has some life left to it. You will not be able to bring it with you later on though, as many manufacturers are only making Socket 939 version motherboards based on the newer chipsets. Availability is still limited though, and Socket 754 systems are something that are readily available now." Source: TCMagazine

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Intel problem puts PCI Express on hold July. 06, 2004 @ 09:23AM GMT +10

Intel really caused a problem with the delay of its long awaited PCI Express chipsets due to the south bridge production problem. All 915 and 925 boards were temporarily withdrawn due to this nasty leaking issue that can kill your RTC and BIOS battery on your beloved motherboard, but as we reported all chips produced after 14th of June have this problem fixed. Nvidia's partners have shipped bridged PCX5900, 5750 and 5300 cards but in very small quantities, we learned. But they still aren't even dreaming to have NV45s, Geforce 6800 Ultra PCI Express units at least for a couple of weeks. Read more

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