<IT WORLD> Gates' retread sums up Vegas show
By Martin J Young
The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) got underway this week in Las Vegas
when it opened its doors on Monday. The big names in technology were all in
attendance to showcase their latest products, ranging from robots to cars to
the largest TV in the world (measuring 3.8 meters on the diagonal and weighing
a quarter of a tonne). Over 140,000 people were expected to pass through the
doors of the exhibition, now in its 41st year.
Microsoft chairman and founder Bill Gates outlined his vision of the future to
a full house of more than 4,000 technology
aficionados with his "next digital age" being one in which gadgets that respond
to touch, speech and vision replace keyboards and mice. Strumming an Xbox 360
guitar, Gates also predicted simpler navigation from more intuitive devices
with the coming of a second digital decade more focused on connecting people.
He also announced several new Microsoft partnerships, including one with news
channel NBC, which will be streaming live video from this year's Summer
Olympics in Beijing using the software giant's Silverlight program, and with
MGM, ABC and Disney, which will be making movies available on the Xbox
platform.
There were few other significant announcements, which disappointed Xbox fans
expecting at least a couple of technology bombshells or swipes at the
competition. Gates also spoke of stepping down from daily operations at
Microsoft this summer to work for his charity organizations. "It will be the
first time since I was 17 that I won't have a full-time Microsoft job," he
said. "I'm not sure what the last day at work will feel like." Let's face it;
it's not as if he needs the salary to pay his bills.
Hardware
Intel unveiled 16 new 45-nanometer core technology processors at CES. The CPUs
are aimed at a wide range of applications, including mobile devices, desktops
and servers, with another 16 planned for later in 2008. This year will also see
the introduction of Intel mobile Internet (WiMAX), which will mean "smaller,
lighter and powerful Internet-enabled devices that ultimately will fit right
into your pocket".
The chipmaker also boasted "divine performance" from its new Skulltrail
platform with quad core architecture. Technology gurus demonstrated a prototype
on an Alienware rig using two 45 nanometer quad core processors water-cooled
and overclocked to 4GHz. Needless to say it churned through several benchmarks.
AMD also made some announcements at the CES, namely their new ATI Mobility
Radeon HD 3000 graphics processor with full DirectX 10.1 support. ASUSTek are
among the first notebook manufacturers to boast the new 3000 series chips in
its latest models. AMD also released hushed info on their next generation R680
dual core graphics card however specifications were not provided.
Plenty of new concepts, gadgets and gizmos were on display at the CES including
a 2000 pixel plus curved display from Alienware which was put to the test with
Crysis running at 2880 by 900 pixels. 3D web browsing was touted by SpaceTime's
revolutionary browser which previews and zooms in on websites without actually
having to enter them. And the tiny new EeePC from ASUS which was selling like
hot cakes. More information on this year’s CES can be found on the
CES website.
Internet
A new open source search engine called Wikia made its appearance this week as
an alpha version. The concept is to allow users to complain about flaws and
developers to fix them, unlike other well-known search giants that run under
the notion of their way or the highway. Co-founder Jimmy Wales stated last year
that the intention was to offer a search engine with something that Google
doesn't have - transparency - with the mystery taken out of how the web is
scanned, searched and ranked.
His philosophy is that Internet searching should be open, transparent and
democratic. "If you're relying on people not knowing how the system works,
you've got a big problem," he stated. A trusted network of users similar to
those that contribute to Wikipedia will be responsible for discussion and
planning of future developments of the project. Wales has cautioned users
against expecting too much too soon by stating that they won't find a
Google-killer at wikia.com; people should understand that they are at the early
stages of a project building a "Google-quality search engine".
Gaming
French developer Ubisoft has announced that its next iteration of the popular
shooter Far Cry will be available on PS3 and Xbox 360 and not kept exclusively
for PC as originally planned. Far Cry 2 will bring gamers to Africa where they
do battle with international arms dealers away from the lush tropical settings
and open-world landscapes that made the original game a hit. Official release
of the game, which features reactive game play elements that respond to the
player's actions, has not been announced but it is expected after April this
year.
Security
A new bug in the Firefox web browser could lead to identity theft and a
compromised computer if users are tricked into filling in fake authentication
boxes. The browser fails to sanitize single quotation marks and spaces, causing
it to display a variable called a "Realm" in the dialogue box. An Israeli
security researcher discovered the flaw, which makes it possible for an
attacker to create a specially crafted "Realm" value that makes the
authentication box look like it came from a trusted site. Mozilla programmers
are investigating the vulnerability, which affects the latest version of
Firefox 2.0.0.11.
OLPC
Following requests for exclusivity to the One Laptop Per Child program, Intel
has finally pulled the plug on it. Intel has started working on its own
initiatives to bring computers to children in developing countries with their
Classmate PC program. Intel spokesperson Chuck Mulloy stated: "We've always
said there will be many solutions. The most important priority is to serve the
need". OLPC, also aiming to bring laptops to underprivileged children initially
for US$100 per machine, has been suffering from rising costs putting the
computers close to $200.
AMD delivered a boost to the OLPC program as its employees recently pooled
their own money to buy hundreds of inexpensive XO laptops for developing
countries under the OLPC "donate one laptop get one free" initiative. The XO, a
hard-wearing water- and dust-proof machine designed for rural environments, is
powered by a hand-crank generator. AMD matched its employees’ contributions by
donating an additional $30,000 to the project; it is also responsible for the
low powered Geode CPU in the XO laptop.
Martin J Young is an Asia Times Online correspondent based in Thailand.
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Hardware
