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August 8, 1998
News
- The first official Windows 98 Update is apparently scheduled
to become available on August 18. Microsoft claims that this multimedia upgrade is not a
Service Pack or bug fix, but a genuine upgrade with new and enhanced versions of several
different multimedia-related utilities and support files, such as: version 6.0 of DirectX,
which is the software technology that underlies most games; the Windows Media Player,
which lets you play back a variety of different streaming audio and video file types in a
single player, including QuickTime, RealAudio, NetShow and more; version 2.5 of
NetMeeting, which is the company’s application for online "virtual
meetings"; and an update version of the company’s Chat software, which you can
use in conjunction with IRC chats. In addition, however, the company has also admitted
that they will be incorporating some bug fixes, although it’s not clear exactly how
many and what kind they are. Windows 98 users will be able to get to the upgrade via the
Windows Update feature built into the Windows 98 start bar.
- A problem that’s similar—but not identical—to
the e-mail security hole that was reported on last week apparently does affect
Windows-based versions of the popular Eudora Professional e-mail program. The freeware
Eudora Lite program is apparently not affected. Company officials this week conceded that
a similar type of problem—in which a web location embedded into an e-mail message
received in Eudora could lead to a destructive application wiping out the data on your
hard drive or doing any number of other nasty things—does affect the Professional
version of their program. The company has a fix for versions 4.0 and 4.01 of Eudora Pro
and states that the current beta of 4.1 is not affected. Again, this only affects
Windows-based Eudora users.
- And in related news, Microsoft and Netscape have still not
released final patches for the problems initially reported last week. As I mentioned
previously, Microsoft does have a preliminary patch for Outlook 98 and Outlook Express
4.0, but not a final patch for all related problems. And Netscape—unfortunately, true
to their word—still doesn’t have any type of patch at all yet.
- As predicted, Toshiba released a whole rash of new portables
and, along with them, price cuts on most of their existing lineup. New to the line are the
Tecra 8000 series, which are all based on various Pentium II processors, and the Portege
7000 series, which is the company’s entrance into the ultrathin marketplace. The
Tecra 8000 line—which ranges in price from about $2,500 up to well over $4,000 and is
available in one of 5,800 different configurations, according to the company—includes
active matrix TFT screens ranging in size from 12.1 to 14" and comes with either an
internal 24x CD or DVD-ROM drive. The one-inch thick, four-pound Portege 7000 is also
based on the mobile Pentium II processor. The $2,999 Portege 7000CT offers a 266 MHz
Pentium II, 32 MB of SDRAM, 4.3 GB hard drive, built-in 56K modem, 128-bit graphics
accelerator with 2 MB of SGRAM, hardware support for MPEG-II decoding, support for USB and
more. The optional docking station offers a 24x CD-ROM or optional DVD-ROM drive and a
standard 10/100 Mbit Ethernet connection.
- Speaking of fast portables, September 9 is apparently the
launch date for a new 300 MHz Pentium II for portables. Toshiba as well as lots of other
vendors, including IBM, Dell and more will have machines that use the new processor
available on that date. Look for even more price cuts on existing mobile Pentium II
processors as well as notebooks that use them around that time. Remember, too, that August
24 is the launch date for the new 450 MHz desktop Pentium II, as well as the
cache-enhanced 300 and 333 MHz Celeron processors.
- There’s yet another new entrant into the soon-to-be
burgeoning world of home networking products: Diamond Multimedia’s HomeFree Wireless
Home Network lets connect either two (or more) desktop PCs or a desktop and a notebook
wirelessly across a range of 150 feet. The $199 desktop version includes an ISA card and a
PCI card—presumably you’ve got machines that can handle either one or the
other—as well as the necessary software, including some type of Internet proxy
server, which lets the two machines share a single Internet account. The $229 mobile
version includes a PCI card and PC Card that you can use with a desktop and notebook PC
respectively. You can additional desktop machines for $99 and additional laptops for $129.
The HomeFree products all work at speeds up to 1 Mbps and operate in the 2.4 GHz range,
which means they won’t interfere with other home appliances. To avoid security
concerns, the HomeFree adapater cards use frequency hopping to jump across any one of 83
different frequencies multiple times per second.
- HDTV, or High Definition Television, finally took a step
closer to reality this week when the Panasonic division of Japanese conglomerate
Matsushita announced that they will be shipping the first digital television to their
dealers within the next few weeks. The first model offers a 56" screen and will
retail for around $5,600. Although these TVs are only intended for entertainment use and
in conjunction with high-definition video devices such as DVD initially, eventually the
HDTVs may become our windows onto the world of the Internet. Only time will tell, however.
- Small business owners looking for low-cost business machines
have a new option in the form of HP’s $799 Brio 7000. The low-cost Brio is one of the
first mainstream computer systems to use the new micro-tower format which is only about
11" high. Inside the least-expensive new Brio you’ll find a 266 MHz Celeron
processor, 32 MB of RAM, 2.1 GB hard drive, 2 MB Matrox video card, built-in Ethernet
support, but no CD-ROM. HP also plans to offer new versions of the systems with the 128K
of L2 cache-equipped Celeron "A" processors when they become available later
this month.
- Symantec’s Norton software division has announced the
official introduction of Norton AntiVirus 5.0. The latest version of the popular
anti-virus application will be available for download or purchase around the 20th of the
month. The new version includes some enhancements specifically designed to work with
Windows 98, including the ability to be integrated within the Win98 Task Scheduler, but
the product also works on Win95 and Windows NT systems. Other additions include more
frequent automatic updates of virus definition files and the ability to look out for rogue
JavaScript and ActiveX applications that you come across in your Internet travels. The
retail version is expected to ship for $49 and upgrades will be around $29.
- AltaVista, the popular search engine now owned by Compaq as
part of that company’s purchase of Digital Equipment Corp., has released their first
software program. AltaVista Discovery 1.0, which is available for free download at the
company’s web site—www.altavista.digital.com—combines always available
Internet searching capability, as well as similar searching features for your own hard
disk. So, you can use Discovery to search your hard disk in the same way you normally
search the web, which is pretty cool. In addition, the program lets you easily find
additional information about sites you visit, including what sites link to or are similar
to the one you’re visiting and more.
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