IBM Memory Faster and Cheaper

Memory is one of the biggest things people have to deal with in their computers. It seems everytime you turn around you are needing to upgrade your memory because you ran out or your computer crashed. This is a particular problem due to the price of some memory.

But the new memory from IBM plans to change everything we know about memory. According to England's university of Leeds physicist Christopher Marrow, "Racetrack memory will be a vast improvement over today's leading computer memory technology - flash and hard disk - which each have serious limitations." IBM shows it's new Racetrack memory, as it has been named, has been more reliable in recent tests than hard disks which hopefully will make frequent computer crashes obsolete.

Racetrack is also said to be cheaper than the current prices for hard disk memory. According to Marrows, "This technology will have the best of both worlds - cheap nano-size with huge memory in 3G phones, MP3 players, camcorders, and other devices. But more importantly there will be more sites that will be able to give away storage for free like YouTube and Gmail."

The main point of racetrack is speed, hence the name, and reliability. In hard disks, a motor-operated head, like the ones seen in record players, has to move to the data to read it. Data stored on the Racetrack is moved around on a wire which is pushed by spiraling magnetics. The moving parts in the hard disk makes it very susceptible to crashing. "Hard disks are so good because they are so cheap. But they are bad because of the moving parts." says Marrows.

The other memory device, flash memory, was created in 1980 by Toshiba. But, like hard disks, flash memory has its own problems as well. On the good side, flash memory has no moving parts and is a solid-state storage device. This makes it more reliable and faster than disks. However, on the flip side flash memory has a limited number of erase-write cycles it can perform before the memory capacity begins to deteriorate.

The thing for Racetrack is to have the speed and durability of flash memory combined with the hard disk affordability. According to Stuart Parkin, IBM fellow and inventor of Racetrack, "Racetrack will have cheap memory with the possibility of being one million times faster than hard disks without the risk of wearing out." Unlike hard disks, there is no need to search for information. According to Parkin, this will allow computers to boot up almost instantly.

And, like everything else in the world, Racetrack memory will use less energy making it green. Parkin says, 'The tremendous amount of storage, faster performance, and reduced energy requirements make it a nice green and smart technology."

One of the biggest, and smartest, innovations of Racetrack is that it is designed vertically which allows it to take up less room than the current memory. This will make it extremely less expensive due to the fact that the price of a chip is based on the space it uses. This design makes Racetrack the first 3-D memory allowing it to obtain more bits per transistor. According to Parkin, "This will allow us to take a chip and increase the transistor size 10 to 100 times, breaking Moore's Law." Moore's Law was founded by Gordon E. Moore, co-founder of Intel. In 1965, Moore observed that the number of transistors per square inch on a circuit board will double every 18 months.

Some experts believe that Moore's law will hold true for another couple of decades. However, Parkin is hoping that his Racetrack will quash that ide in about 5 to 7 years. It is at this point Parkin hopes the Racetrack memory will be fully operational and available. Zeljko Zilic, associate professor of the Department of Electrical Computer Engineering at Montreal's McGill University, says that, "As technology enabler, racetrack fits within the 'universal memory' concept, where one type of memory could be used across the full spectrum, replacing the need for multiple types of internal memory. Currently, flash memory comes closest to the ideal, but disadvantages of flash will become more and more apparent."

The goal of IBM is not, in any way, to improve current technology. Their goal is to absolutely replace it all together. Racetrack has the potential to replace both hard disk and flash," Parkin says. "Our goal is to replace all flash memory as it will get rid of the concept of trading performance for cost."

While there are still a few years before Racetrack comes out, people are already waiting with high anticipation. The thought of completely replacing the memory system we have used for the past 60 years is no small feat. But with the brains at IBM, we can bet that they will give it their all to give us the best quality tehy can.

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HP Firebird with VoodooDNA 803

Voodoo was recently purchased by HP and this union has resulted in the Blackbird 002 and the Voodoo Envy 133 subnotebook, both of which are Editor's Choice-winning gaming computers. The newest computer to arrive from the company is the HP Firebird with VoodooDNA 803.

This high powered gaming desktop has some unique attributes to it. On interesting thing is that the guts of this desktop have many characteristics similar to those of a notebook. The rig has switchable graphics, the first ever seen on a desktop. It has a distinctive style about it which also incorporates a resemblance to the HP?Voodoo family. This computer comes with a Intel Core 2 Quad processor with 4GB of RAM and and 640GB of storage space. The Firebird runs the nVidia GeForce 9800S SLI graphics card which delivers powerful graphics quality. However, this computer does have a few things that might turn away a serious hard-core PC gamer.

First off, the performance of the device has been a little disappointing to some users. Also, the Firebird has limited upgrade ability which means you better be satisfied with what you get because you are not going to be able to do much to it. There are only two DIMM slots both of which are filled. This means you will need to swap the current 4GB of memory if you want to add more. The Firebird does have two innovative hard drive sleds. Considering they are compact and built well, you will be able to connect and disconnect multiple times. However, both of these slots are filled as well with 320GB drives. This system also lacks a set of PCI/PCIe connectors. This computer kind of resembles a gaming console. All the internal components are permanately attached, except for the memory and the hard drives.

One great thing about this system is that is completely free of anything annoying. For example, it does not come with any trialware programs or ads. The only things that occupy the the hard drives is HP total care for one year, a one year subscription to AVG Professional Anti-Virus Software, and a copy of Cyberlink DVD for the ability to play DVD's and Blu-ray. This computer also comes with a wireless keyboard and mouse.

The graphics setup for the Firebird is really innovative. It has the NVidia nForce 760s motherboard chipset. Which allows you to switch between power saving intgrated graphics and the two nVidia GeForce 9800s graphics cards. It has a save power mode for video viewing but if you want all the features in Nvidia's PureVideo HD, the discrete graphics need to be turned on.

This computer isn't your average gaming computer. It is a top-of-the-line gaming computer for a reasonable price. It has a nice, sleek design to it and the energy saving capabilities will save you a few needed bucks, especially in today's economy. And the incredible graphics can be turned up whenever you need it to. This computer was going to set you back around $2,099 but is on sale now for $1,299. If you are in the market for a good gaming desktop, the HP FireBird with VoodooDNA 803 is definitely worth a look at, especially if you are looking to save a few bucks.

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US Electricity Grid Compromised

How safe is the United States from an electricity grid take over? It all depends on who you ask. There are reports out now saying cyberspies have hacked into the U.S. electrical grid, leaving behind damaging software that could be used to disrupt the system.

The cyberspies are believed to be from China, Russia and other countries and were also believed to be on a mission to navigate the U.S. electrical system and its controls. In the past China has tried to map our infrastructure, such as the grid said a senior intelligence official.The Russians have also atempted this.

There was no specific company or region targeted in the most recent attack. A former Department of Homeland Security official said, "There are intrusions, and they are growing," the former official also said, referring to electrical systems. "There were a lot last year."

The U.S. intelligence agencies detected the majority of the breeches in the grids security. Intelligence officials worry about cyber attackers taking control of electrical facilities, a nuclear power plant or financial networks via the Internet.

Software tools have been found left behind, authorities investigating the intrusions believe that they were left there so the hackers could come back and turn them on in a time of war.

Specialists at the U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit, a nonprofit research institute, said attack programs search for openings in a network, much as a thief tests locks on doors. Once inside, these programs and their human controllers can acquire the same access and powers as a systems administrator.

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Conficker Worm: Panic Passes

I posted early about the intended Conficker C virus that was set to wreak havoc on computers across the world yesterday, April 1. Well I am pleased to announce that the doomsday affects that were reported to take place didn't happen, yet.

But even though it didn't happen like predicted, doesn't mean it won't happen at all. People should be aware that this nasty virus is still out there and could attack at any time. This worm was no small disruption. It was supposed to disrupt the internet, has already worked its way into 12 million computers, and was feared worldwide. The virus is no actively looking for instructions on the internet. Either its creator hasn't delivered harmful instructions yet or the attempts to raise awareness has scared of the creators. Whatever the cause, the full effects of Conficker C have yet to be experienced. Conficker has infected anywhere from 12 million to 15million computers since early 2009 which includes everything from Windows 2000 to the Windows 7 Beta and Windows Server 2000 and 2008.

Things even got so bad in Europe that the French Air Force, Royal Navy Warships and submarines, the Sheffield Hospital network, the UK Ministry of Defense, the German Bundeswehr, and Norwegian Police saw affects from the virus which shows the severity of the worm.

The worm is programmed to evolve into multiple versions and has a sophisticated way of avoiding eradication. However, Conficker is not likely to cause massive internet crashes for one specific reason: it would be counter productive to its programming and the creator, who more than likely is out for money. It is designed to infect multiple windows based computers and create a botnet. The botnet would then function in concert to work as a supercomputer. From here it could do anything like generate large amounts of spam emails.

Although Conficker hasn't unleashed its fury yet, people should still take precautions. The most at risk are small to medium sized businesses that rely heavily in their computers but may have poor disaster prevention strategies. People should take as many precautions as possible to prevent infection from the virus. They should update everything related to their operating system and do everything possible to update their anti-virus and anti-spyware protection.

Since we were all in a big worry about this hitting on April 1, it might be safe to say that most of us are prepared. But even though the events originally set to take place yesterday didn't happen, doesn't mean they won't. Conficker C is still at large and ready to attack, so do like the Boy Scouts do and "Always Be Prepared."

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Conficker Worm Set to Hit April 1

No this is not an April Fool's Day joke, this is serious. Every few years, the internet is hit by a vicious malware that wreaks havoc on on computers. And it all seems to happen on one day, April 1st, and security experts are racing against time to mitigate the impact of this hazard. For some reason, malware creators like to target April Fool's Day and this latest attack, known as Conficker C, is rumored to be the most damaging attack seen in years.

The infamous Conficker had its debut in late 2008 and started getting buzz when its victims reached over 9 million in January. This third installment, known as Conficker C, has grown increasingly more virulent, complicated and powerful. However, no one really knows what exactly the damages will be come emergence day.

What is really impressive, is that Microsoft is offering a quarter-million dollar bounty on the head of the maker of the worm. Security researchers are desperately digging into the worm's code attempting to engineer a cure or find the writer before the deadline. What is known, is that as of April 1, all infected computers will come under the control of one master computer located somewhere in the vast reaches of the internet. At this point, anything and everything is possible. These controlled computers could do a number of things. They could steal personal information, completely wipe hard drives, deny service, or even generate more pop-ups and extortion-like services designed to sell you made up security software.

Conficker is no ordinary virus, it's smarter than the others. It is really really good at hiding it's tracks. It uses an incredible amount of URLs to communicate with its HQ computer. Conficker's first version only used about 250 different URLs daily, allowing researchers and ICANN buy and disable. Unfortunately, Conficker C has increased the dosage to an astonishing 50,000 different addresses each day! This incredible size makes ot impossible track and disable each one by hand.

Right now you should be extra careful about protecting your computer. Only patch Windows through Windows update and upgrade your anti-malware software as well. You should also make sure your antivirus software is running too, because Conficker just may have disabled it.

It makes me wonder, what with all this talk about master computers, computer HQ, controlled computers, nation-wide extremely violent computer viruses and such, if we are slowly approaching the D-Day foreseen in the Terminator movies? On a serious note though, what is the purpose of these computer viruses? Why do people sit around and create something that ruins people's lives? What joy do they get from it? I guess we may never know. All we can do is protect ourselves as best we can and pray to God that the amazing people trying to help us stop this virus before it infects us all.

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Falcon Northwest Mach V - Radeon HD 2900 XT

When it comes to gaming computers, you always want the larest and greatest model so you can have that extra step on the competition. Well now you can have it with the Falcon Norhwest Mach V(Radeon HD 2900 XT).

When you are in the market for a gaming computer, your best option is to go with a company that custom builds one to your needs. The boutique system builder like Falcon Northwest is one of the better companies out there. Falcon NW offers many more flexible configurations than most companies, like the ability of installing both Windows XP Pro and Windows Vista Premium on the same computer. Other companies will require you to choose one or the other or may not even offer XP Pro amd most new machienes only come with Vista.

But what is special about this particular computer? This computer comes with the new ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT cards which are the first single 1GB cardson the market. These new cards are set up in a CrossFire configuration and use internal connectors. This is good because ATI's CrossFire and nVidias's SLI require extra cables to have the cards connected for direct communications. The new version uses internal ribbon cabels which is way more attractive than the previous generation CrossFire's ugly external dongle. In addition to being better looking, you now do not have to worry about your external cabels getting caught on things when you move your PC around.

The Mach V has an overclocked quad core QX6800 processor which helps to boost the system's multimedia scores. Like the prvious model of the Mach V, the new version runs the Photoshop CS2 test in 27 seconds and smokes all competition at the Windows Media Encoder Test with an impressive 47 seconds. This fast speed lets you finish multi-media projects very quickly and allows you to get over a dozen different iterations of the project before most computers can pump out three or four.

With all this power, the Mach V has particular forte, gaming. But this Mach V is different from most gaming computers. Like always , the Mach V tops all 3D gaming tests but this version does it on Vista. The Mach V breaks the 16,000 barrier at 3DMark06(16,660 at 1,280-by-1,024 res.) Games have fluid and stutter free animations.

Compared to some other gaming PCs on the market, like the XPS 710 H2C from Dell and Gateway's FX530XT, the Mach V may seem overpriced and overpowered. However, the money you save on the other ones will result in a downsize of performance. The Falcon NW Mach V will run you around $7,930, a hefty price to pay but the performance you are getting is unparalled. This computer is definitley worth a look if you are in the market for a top notch gaming PC.

As an added bonus, Falcon Northwest comes with a beatuiful variety of custom designs you can outfit on your PC. Each design is custom sage brush painted for a truly unique look.

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Apple Ipod Shuffle How Small is Too Small

The new Ipod Shuffle is here and if you thought the last one was small then this one might just blow your mind. The new Ipod shuffle is the worlds smallest mp3 player.
Height - 1.8 inches Width - 0.7 inches Depth – 0.3 inches Weight – 10.7 grams or 0.38 ounces. This thing is tiny it weighs roughly the same as 2 nickels and is the size of a standard paper clip!

Also did I mention it has no buttons on the device itself. It looks like a glorified flash drive with an off/off switch and an apple logo that’s it. All the button are on Apples Headphones on a remote that’s attached to the cable. The remote come with 3 buttons: two for the volume control (up/down); and a central button that has multiple functions. Press once to stop/play, twice to skip song, three to skip back, or you can hold to activate the voice system. Holding down the button will cause the Shuffle to say the song that you are playing.

Also if you hold down the middle button for 3 seconds your Shuffle’s Voiceover will start naming your playlists and just press the clicker again to access the playlist that the voiceover is currently announcing.

One big complaint that I would have with this is what I you have your ipod shuffle hooked up to your stereo in your car. You literally could not use it unless you have some software that integrates your car stereo with your ipod otherwise there would be no way to play your music because you would have no buttons.

The specs on the shuffle though are pretty good. It comes with 4GB of space which is about 1000 songs, and has a battery life of 10 hours. The cost though is a big disappointment with a high cost of $80.

Ok back to the size of this. I personally would never be able to hold on to this for more than a week before loosing it. I mean if I can’t keep quarters or pens from falling out of my pocket how am I going to keep this from falling out. This should be the final size that these get down to, any smaller then I am going to have to be using a microscope to find my shuffle.

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