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Tid-bits
11/16 - Bill Gates with a keynote yesterday kicked off Supercomputing 2005, "an international conference for high-performance computing (HPC), networking and storage".
Possibly the best way to force the IT industry's hand to move to 64-bit is to not release any 32-bit software. It's not like Windows users have a choice if Microsoft chooses to not release any 32-bit software. And that's what Microsoft intends to do with some of their products. This may not be as traumatic as it sounds. Most core hardware sold today is already 64-bit. And the 64-bit hardware can still run most old 32-bit applications. You can run 32-bit software on x64 hardware, but not x64 software on 32-bit hardware. And the 32-bit apps perform pretty well, too. So "the next version of Microsoft Exchange as well as the upcoming Windows Server 'Longhorn' ... will only be released as 64-bit".
Keystroke loggers are on the rise. Keystroke loggers are computer programs that run in the background of your computer session and capture what you type, your mother's maiden name, passwords, usernames, social security numbers if you type them—and send them to someone else, who can steal your identity, initiate fraudulent transactions, or sell the information to someone else who does these things. Something that you can do to guard against keystroke loggers is to use "basic protections like up-to-date anti-virus programs".
Just as Microsoft recently did with MSN Shopping, so Yahoo! Shopping has been improved with new features, and its shopping search boast a new "streamlined interface".
Presler—a Pentium D desktop processor that is in the works—has hit a speed bump on the road to 65nm. Motherboard makers are reporting stability issues, and the release scheduled for January of 2006 may have to be postponed. Other 65nm products have reported no such issues: "Yonah processors ... have gone through tests smoothly".
The largest memory maker, Samsung, did not grow its sales as well as most other memory makers did last quarter. Chip maker Nanya did the best. While sales growth is not the only measure of importance, this bodes well for the future: "most memory manufacturers were able to achieve double-digit sequential sales growth".
AMD intends to release quad-core processors in 2007 and move to a new architecture at some time in 2008 or 2009, which will also be quad-core. AMD has thrown down the gauntlet to competitor Intel. It will all come down to "how efficiently multicore has been implemented".