IT-Code-News: IT News HeadLines (TechConnect Magazine) 17/04/2009

Lian Li unveils the NC-09 notebook cooler
Putting the enclosure releases on hold for just a bit, Lian Li has stepped up to announce the NC-09 notebook cooler. The upcoming release measures 400 (W) x 337 (D) x 34 (H) mm, is compatible with 12- to 17-inch laptops and provides three-level height adjustment.

The all-black NC-09 is equipped with a USB-powered 220mm fan (customized with blue LEDs), has two USB ports and even a mini USB connector. The NC-09 is expected to arrive at the end of May and cost $70 (without VAT).

Yahoo to shut down Jumpcut in June
Set on finishing what started back in December when it stopped letting users upload new content, Yahoo is planning to close up Jumpcut.com on June 15. Not even out of beta, Jumpcut is a photo and video service that also provides an easy to use editing tool for making 'remixes' from uploaded clips. Unfortunately, the service didn't pick up in popularity to the extent that Yahoo would have had to continue to invest in it.

Since it is going offline, Jumpcut will soon release a tool that will enable users to download their video remixes.

Limited Gmail outage comes and goes
Five weeks after the last small outage, Google's mail serve has again posed problems for a number of its users. Late last night, Google reported that due to an unnamed problem a "small subset of users" were unable to access their GMail account. One hour after this message, the company claimed that it had already restored access for some and that the issue will be resolved for all within an hour. Unfortunately, that estimate was too optimistic as five more hours passed until everything went back to normal.

Currently, Gmail is back to its old secsy self so email on.

Chrome 2.0.174.0 reaches the Dev channel
A new Chrome version (2.0.174.0) has now made its way into the Chromium dev channel and is ready for testing. The release brings the ability to remove thumbnails from the New Tab page, adds "Undo Tab Close" and "New Tab" to the context menu on the tab bar, and also includes the following:

- The bookmarks title in the bubble is now left justified.
- Fixed a crash which occurred when Chrome failed to find the default font.
- Chrome now temporarily disables a download item on the download-shelf when the file is opened. This prevents multiple clicks and shows that an action has been taken.
- Added a "clear all downloads" link to downloads page.
- Entering Kangi characters into the address bar no longer crashes Chrome.
- Corrected a regession where the suggestions from the address bar auto-complete were not correct for non-Latin languages.
- PageUp, PageDown and Up and Down arrow keys will now scroll the page when the Find bar is on screen.
- Chrome now displays a confirmation box when closing a tab with an in-progress download.
- Closing Chrome while a download is in progress no longer causes a crash.
- It is no longer possible to cut or copy from a password text-field.
- Fixed an issue where a maximized window was the wrong size after unlock.
- SVG images with .svgz extension are now properly displayed.
- Fixed regression where favicon of History and Downloads page was missing.
- Chrome now supports favicons that are provided as encoded data in html.
- Corrects an error where the "Install plug-in" info bar would not show up.
- Ctrl+Shift+Arrow allows change in text direction in RTL UIs. Also now support Ctrl+Shift text alignment based on which side of the keyboard those keys are pressed.
- Fixed a regression where mouse wheel scrolling would close the bookmarks menu.
- The title of a JavaScript dialog box used to contains "Alert" regardless of how it's made: whether by alert(), prompt(), or confirm(). Now it only displays "Alert" for alert() calls.
- Fixed issue where the Google Calendar Widget would not load schedule content.

Those wanting to take Chrome 2.0.174.0 for a spin can download the browser via this link.

Intel still hoping for good Classmate PC sales
With the third-generation of its educational-prone netbook released earlier this year, Intel is said to be expecting to surpass the previous estimate of 2 million Classmate PCs sold in 2009. Intel shipped about 700,000 units last year and for to pass the 2 million mark this year the company has increased its focus on retail, giving more companies the opportunity to use its latest Classmate design and market the machines under their brand.

Announced at CES in January, Intel's latest Classmate PC is a convertible netbook which features an 8.9-inch touchscreen LCD with a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels, a water-resistant keyboard, an accelerometer, and boasts a 1.6 GHz Atom CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 60B hard drive, WiFi and a six-cell battery.

IBM and fab buddies working away on 28nm tech
Hyping up their latest achievement, the chip pack made up of IBM, Chartered Semiconductor, GlobalFoundries, Infineon Technologies, Samsung Electronics, and STMicroelectronics, has announced it has defined and is working hard on a 28nm high-k metal gate CMOS process technology. The companies are claiming that the new production process will deliver power-performance and time-to-market advantages for chips aimed to be used within various mobile devices. The first results achieved by using the upcoming process show a 40% performance improvement and a more than 20% reduction in power compared to silicon made using the 45nm node.

"Through this collaboration, IBM and its alliance partners are helping to accelerate development of next-generation technology to achieve high-performance, energy-efficient chips at the 28nm process level, maintaining our focus on technology leadership for our clients and partners," said Gary Patton, vice president for IBM's Semiconductor Research and Development Center.

According to the IBM Joint Development Alliance hopes are high to get early risk 28nm production kicked off in the second half of 2010.

Time Warner backs off from price plan change
Time Warner has been talking about the roll out of a bandwidth usage based pricing plan for its customers for months, and even though the public outcry may have seemed to go unheard apparently it did not.

Most of the public does not like the idea of bandwidth metered internet as it enforces that there be overage charges if users go above a limited amount of bandwidth.

The concept behind limit and overage based pricing plans for broadband usage is not a new one and numerous countries and ISPs throughout the world provide numerous iterations of the same methods. However no ISP provides this pricing plan in the United States and it would seem the United States consumer doesn't want to see it anyway.

Some congressional hearings were called for as well as several city council meetings in an effort to stop the roll out of this plan.

Arctic Cooling debuts the Arctic F Pro PWM case fans
Switzerland-based Arctic Cooling has now officially let loose the Arctic F Pro PWM line-up of case fans. Coming in 80, 92 and 120mm sizes, the fans feature a fluid dynamic bearing, a patented fan holder that eliminates buzzing sounds, support for the PWM Sharing Technology (PST) which regulates the speed up to 5 fans via BIOS and the following specifications:

- Arctic F8 Pro PWM | 700 to 2,000 RPM (working speed) | 28 CFM (air flow) | 0.3 Sone (sound output) | $6.10 / 4,70 Euro (recommended price tag)
- Arctic F9 Pro PWM | 700 - 2,000 RPM | 35 CFM | 0.4 Sone | $6.50 / 5 Euro
- Arctic F12 Pro PWM | 400 - 1,500 RPM | 57 CFM | 0.5 Sone | $7.70 / 5,90 Euro

All the Arctic F Pro PWM fans are backed by a 6-year warranty.

Shuttle unveils the X270V openSUSE-powered nettop
Famed Mini-PC maker Shuttle has started to cuddle up to Tux by announcing its first Linux-loaded machine, the X270V nettop. Based on the Barebone X27D, the new nettop comes in a compact silver black X-type chassis and features a dual-core 1.6 GHz Atom 330 processor, an Intel 945GC motherboard, support for up to 2GB of RAM and one 2.5-inch hard/solid state drive, GMA950 integrated graphics, and 5.1 channel audio.

The X270V also boasts Gigabit Ethernet and a 60W fanless power supply, offers D-Sub and DVI outputs, and comes with openSUSE 11. The open saucy machine is backed by a two-year warranty and has a starting price tag of 299 Euro.

Friday, April 17, 2009

IT News HeadLines (TechConnect Magazine) 17/04/2009

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