All stories come true in the end
By Sylvie Barak, 18 December 2008
THE INQUIRER aren't ones to say "we told you so", except, in this case, after former Nvidia partner XFX has finally admitted it is defecting to AMD. Something Inquirer said months ago, and which Nvidia vehemently denied. XFX has been manufacturing Nvidia-based graphics cards and motherboards for yonks, but as we reported back in July, has now confirmed it will no longer be remaining monogamous, becoming an official AMD technology partner. This means the firm will now also be flogging AMD Radeon HD 4000 series graphics cards... not good news for the Green Goblin. As if that wasn't enough, XFX is adding salt to the wound by producing motherboards with Intel chipsets, too. XFX wasn't the first to go, either. Gainward abandoned ship back in June. When we asked the Green Goblin to confirm the rumours on several occasions, company spinners denied it until quite blue in the face.
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Thursday, December 18, 2008
Nvidia chips show underfill problems
By Charlie Demerjian, 17 December 2008
WHEN WE TOLD YOU about the 'bad bumps' in the Apple Macbook Pro 15-inch models the other day, we expected it to end there. But as luck would have it, Nvidia pointed us to a much deeper problem that not only affects at least some of the Macbook Pro notebooks, but likely every other high Temperature of Glassification (Tg) underfill chip Nvidia makes. Technical BackgroundTo understand this article, you really need to understand the problem, so please read the technical three part series (Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3) explaining what the problem is and where it occurs. Nvidia's current problem stems from its half-hearted response to its earlier problem by only changing the underfill. Nvidia said that's what it did, both near the end of our initial Macbook article and in a later Cnet article here. In that, Nvidia's Mike Hara said, "Intel has shipped hundreds of millions of chipsets that use the same material-set combo. We're using virtually the same materials that Intel uses in its chipsets." Note the word 'virtually'. The problem with this statement - other than his analogy being misleading and not addressing Nvidia's chip design problem - is that 'virtually' in this case means Nvidia missed a key coating component in its revised chip engineering design. It is NOT the same material-set technology as Intel, AMD, ATI and everyone else we talked with uses. Unfortunately for Nvidia, the coating material it left out is critical for the life of the chip. Before we break out the electron microscope again, we feel the need to point out some of the things that Nvidia managed not to talk about in its purported explanation of the fix. It is sad to have to point this out, but underfill does not crack, bumps do. The bumps that cracked did so for a long chain of reasons that are explained in my earlier three-part article linked above.
Read more here -->Link
WHEN WE TOLD YOU about the 'bad bumps' in the Apple Macbook Pro 15-inch models the other day, we expected it to end there. But as luck would have it, Nvidia pointed us to a much deeper problem that not only affects at least some of the Macbook Pro notebooks, but likely every other high Temperature of Glassification (Tg) underfill chip Nvidia makes. Technical BackgroundTo understand this article, you really need to understand the problem, so please read the technical three part series (Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3) explaining what the problem is and where it occurs. Nvidia's current problem stems from its half-hearted response to its earlier problem by only changing the underfill. Nvidia said that's what it did, both near the end of our initial Macbook article and in a later Cnet article here. In that, Nvidia's Mike Hara said, "Intel has shipped hundreds of millions of chipsets that use the same material-set combo. We're using virtually the same materials that Intel uses in its chipsets." Note the word 'virtually'. The problem with this statement - other than his analogy being misleading and not addressing Nvidia's chip design problem - is that 'virtually' in this case means Nvidia missed a key coating component in its revised chip engineering design. It is NOT the same material-set technology as Intel, AMD, ATI and everyone else we talked with uses. Unfortunately for Nvidia, the coating material it left out is critical for the life of the chip. Before we break out the electron microscope again, we feel the need to point out some of the things that Nvidia managed not to talk about in its purported explanation of the fix. It is sad to have to point this out, but underfill does not crack, bumps do. The bumps that cracked did so for a long chain of reasons that are explained in my earlier three-part article linked above.
Read more here -->Link
Opera releases fix for 'highly severe' flaw
By Carrie-Ann Skinner December 18, 2008
Opera has released a security fix for seven flaws in its web browser, Opera 9.6. Opera follows in the footsteps of Microsoft and Mozilla, which have released security updates for Internet Explorer and Firefox, this week. Opera says the fix, which only applies to machines running Windows, covers two flaws categorised as 'extremely severe' and three listed as 'highly severe'. The 'extremely severe' flaws could allow a hacker to take control of a PC while those rated as 'highly severe' leave PCs open to attack if users open websites hosting malicious software.
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Like I always said before I'll say again. --No such thing as an Online safe browser - Only safe browser is one that doesnt get used on the internet.
Opera has released a security fix for seven flaws in its web browser, Opera 9.6. Opera follows in the footsteps of Microsoft and Mozilla, which have released security updates for Internet Explorer and Firefox, this week. Opera says the fix, which only applies to machines running Windows, covers two flaws categorised as 'extremely severe' and three listed as 'highly severe'. The 'extremely severe' flaws could allow a hacker to take control of a PC while those rated as 'highly severe' leave PCs open to attack if users open websites hosting malicious software.
Read more here -->Link
Like I always said before I'll say again. --No such thing as an Online safe browser - Only safe browser is one that doesnt get used on the internet.
Mozilla Disputes Bit9's Claim That Firefox is "Most Vulnerable App"
By Jason Mick - December 18, 2008
Experts are taking issue to a recent study which warned users of potential risk of using FirefoxA recent security study from Bit9 argued that Mozilla's Firefox was the most vulnerable application and thus a major threat to businesses. One of the chief reasons it gave was the lack of a large-network patching system. For this reason, despite recent security flaws, it did not consider Microsoft's Internet Explorer software, as it assumed that such a patching system dramatically lowered vulnerability.Bit9 went as far as to suggest that enterprises block their employees from having access to Firefox and delete it from work computers.Some firms, including Mozilla, were quick to take issue with Bit9's alarming comments. Representatives from Mozilla's security branch, Human Shield contacted DailyTech with remarks on the topic. The company's Johnathan Nightingale states, "While we're always happy to see stories that focus on educating our users about security, there are some problems with Bit9's methodology that hinder its ability to draw any meaningful conclusions."
Read more here -->Link
Interesting that in light of the denial by Firefox users we see something like this that lends validity to Bit9 claims -->Firefox patches address three critical vulnerabilities
Experts are taking issue to a recent study which warned users of potential risk of using FirefoxA recent security study from Bit9 argued that Mozilla's Firefox was the most vulnerable application and thus a major threat to businesses. One of the chief reasons it gave was the lack of a large-network patching system. For this reason, despite recent security flaws, it did not consider Microsoft's Internet Explorer software, as it assumed that such a patching system dramatically lowered vulnerability.Bit9 went as far as to suggest that enterprises block their employees from having access to Firefox and delete it from work computers.Some firms, including Mozilla, were quick to take issue with Bit9's alarming comments. Representatives from Mozilla's security branch, Human Shield contacted DailyTech with remarks on the topic. The company's Johnathan Nightingale states, "While we're always happy to see stories that focus on educating our users about security, there are some problems with Bit9's methodology that hinder its ability to draw any meaningful conclusions."
Read more here -->Link
Interesting that in light of the denial by Firefox users we see something like this that lends validity to Bit9 claims -->Firefox patches address three critical vulnerabilities
VIA Trinity small form factor multimedia platform unveiled
by Thomas De Maesschalck December 18 2008
VIA has announced Trinity - a new platform that aims to bring HD to small spaces. The platform consists of three chips: the VIA Nano or C7 processor, VIA VX800 IGP chipset and S3 Chrome graphics. VIA Technologies, Inc., a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms, today announced a powerful new 3-chip silicon platform that brings HD performance to ultra compact systems for a far richer user experience. While desktop PCs, notebooks and embedded devices are getting smaller and thinner, demands on system resources are growing by the day, with higher definition video content, richer Internet resources and increasingly complex image manipulation requiring more powerful processing, video and graphics capabilities. Codenamed “VIA Trinity”, the new platform meets all these performance requirements using much less board real estate than traditional 4-chip platforms, yet still within a comparably low power envelope.
Read more here -->Link
VIA has announced Trinity - a new platform that aims to bring HD to small spaces. The platform consists of three chips: the VIA Nano or C7 processor, VIA VX800 IGP chipset and S3 Chrome graphics. VIA Technologies, Inc., a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms, today announced a powerful new 3-chip silicon platform that brings HD performance to ultra compact systems for a far richer user experience. While desktop PCs, notebooks and embedded devices are getting smaller and thinner, demands on system resources are growing by the day, with higher definition video content, richer Internet resources and increasingly complex image manipulation requiring more powerful processing, video and graphics capabilities. Codenamed “VIA Trinity”, the new platform meets all these performance requirements using much less board real estate than traditional 4-chip platforms, yet still within a comparably low power envelope.
Read more here -->Link
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