http://www.trustcenter.de/
http://ww.in-ca.individual.net/
\\//
In a DFN CERT meet net security experts defined "Hamburg Declaration
for Encrypton Freedom" -- ftp://troll.hz.kfa-juelich.de/pub/KRYPTO
\\//
An end-March OECD (29 signee countries) paper says cryptography
should be used more to increase trust into info/comm infrastructure/
networks. Free choice of cryptomethods and careful consideration with
regards to state regulation is suggested. Key escrow/key recovering
are mentioned, albeit sans further comment. (Hereabouts, they will
either sink crypto entirely, or make it controlling authority-
transparent as vacuum. Clear as mud).
\\//
I've seen the (ex-)U.S.Robotics Pilot yesterday. Cute, blitzn.
Hotsync. Display sucks, but this has been ameliorated by new
backlit models already. For all practical purposes, the Newton
is dead. As now pieces are soon expected to begin to fall off
the aged Apple zombie, they haven't been able to bring out a
Newton-technology desktop, and the new Newt 2000 is a dog
(according to one fried who sells them), that kinda figures.
\\//
Hitachi's new videocamera (about 5 kDM) can do realtime 1:100 MPEG.
\\//
Both DVD and CD-RW apparently haven't taken wing yet.
CD-RW, floppy++?
\\//
Gateway2000 might acquire Amiga tech & rights from ESCOM AG
which went bankrupt July 1996. Oh my.
\\//
After a police raid on ViPNet, a small Austrian ISP (one customer
of his with hang to cliches reportedly posted some child pornography
to a usenet newsgroup one _year_ ago), ISPA, a 20-ISP organization,
decided to take action. After some brief discussion on the
provider-at@netwing.at list, on 25. March Austria disappeared
from the face of Internet for two hours. In most European
countries, ISPs do not underlie phone/yellow mail legislation,
and thus can be held accountable for the content transmitted.
Little wonder, for there is zero awareness for modern telcom
potential in higher-echelon politics (and not only there).
Any low-natural resource country inhibiting its telco
infrastructure growth should remember it acting in a
darwinian theatre. Good riddance.
\\//
Memphis, aka Win97, will not be delivered before 1998.
\\//
Vobis, a popular teutonic computer chain, will offer a 64 MByte
RAM, 1 MB 2nd cache, 4 GByte IDE HD, 4 MByte gfx board and 8x
CD ROM Alpa for 6 kDM. Muckischrott NT 4.0 and FX!32 (a smart
run-time Intl-Alpha code compiler) is bundled. Won't sell, of
course.
\\//
IBM is attempting to place OS/2 in large customer market
segment solely, is pushing VoiceType. One OS/2 user I know says
IBMs voice technology is actually usable, albeit requiring some
getting used to (both on part of the user and the system).
\\//
AMD's K6, Digital's 0.533 GHz 21164PC and Cyrix-M2 are next hot chips
to watch. On 14 March Intel went to court against AMD/Cyrix regarding
unathorized use of their MMX(tm). (Regarding MMX, could anybody (h)url
the MMX opcode list my way? Even braindead SIMD is kinda useful for
sci code. Thanx).
CPU SPECint95b SPECfp95b clock MHz $$$'s qtty
M2-200 7.5 4.4
P55C-233 7.5 4.2
PPro-256 8.7 6.0
Klamath-233 6.3 4.9
K6-233 8.5 4.0 166/200/233 244/349/469 >1kpcs
21164PC-533 14.3 17.0 400/466/533 295/395/495 >1kpcs
(Pentium MMX 166/200/233 265/484/583 >10 kpcs, Pentium II 233/266
600/700 >10 kpcs).
\\//
DEC's 21164 0.6 GHz (18 SPECint95/27 SPECfp95) is official.
\\//
(Gra)Merc(y)ed: Production mid-1999. First 0.25 um on 300 mm^2 die.
35 MTransistors, 8x superscalar architecture. Flexible VLIW, as
in TI's SuperDSP 6Cx. 512 kByte integrated cache. 0.6 GHz clock.
40..45 SPECint95/80..90 SPECfp95. Yr 2000 shrink to 0.18 um, 1 GHz
clock, 60 SPECint95/120 SPECfp95.
\\//
TFT LCD, the end of CRT? Combatting yersinia pestis with
salmonella typhimurium, imho.
No TI's MDM DLP in sight, though encountered a Liesegang
MDM beamer ad already. Yield trouble?
\\//
ScanTalk by Olympus, an OCR scanner with speech synthesis.
Useful not only for the elderly. Hexaglot/WizCom OCRs, and
translates, no Babel, but also, no olympic babble. Bummer.
\\//
Motorola has defined WebRef, an MPC800-based NC specification.
Among others, HDS Network systems and Microware, will offer
netOS and OS-9 support. Who's afraid of the nanokernel?
\\//
Hot plugging and power managent to be soon part of PCI specs.
Still no news of cheap fiber optics standard/multiple serial
buses finishing off the backplane bus. However, remember
SGI Octane's 1.6 GByte/link crossbar. Leaving Archaicum; please
fasten your seat belts.
\\//
I_2O brings mainframe architecture to the PC server, a yet
another reminder of PC ontogony recapitulating mainframe
philogeny. Dust off your palantir, gaze into some
cutting-edge supercomputer designs to learn what the future
might bring.
\\//
net.jet, a Java application for Nettscrape >2.0 will suck
this-document referenced pages into local cache, thinking
ahead of user's mouse. Access latency? Which access latency?
http://www.peak-media.com
\\//
Eagle DMi by Exabyte/Eagle will bring a 13 GByte uncompressed/
cartridge, 4 MByte/s tape drive. This will suffice for video.
\\//
Mannesman Arcor, o.tel.o & Viag Interkom, local Telekomm rivals,
plan to use wireless/cable TV links to the end customer, since
lacking final few km to the user (ruling Telekomm, naturaly
will try to keep a monopol on end-customer terminal links).
Alternatively, utilizing power grid infrastructure for data
transmission is contemplated. Internet blasting optically
from skies seems a better choice, though. Speaking of that,
when (compressed) video-bandwidth cellular links?
\\//
Nokia presented Cellular Card Phone, Ericsson GSM Data Card GC25,
a cellular phone on a PCMCIA, a cell modem with a headset. Still
lacking headup video, but getting closer.
\\//
Roomancer by Moove http://www.moove.com . Walk your friend's
file system, avatars tete a tete.
\\//
3d accelerated, TV, and video is booming, as always. Expect
truly VR-useful video hardware in a couple of years.
\\//
Kai Krause, major gfx tool wizard (father of KPT, Goo), has
presented Metashow and Soap. Impressive.
\\//
NCs/Java languish still, as does USB. Good riddance (for the latter).
\\//
Digital photography has taken wing, silver stock will definitely not
be a good future investment. The palmtop Color ZR by Sharp (about
2.2 kDM) has a 18 cm 0.27 MPixel TFT, a CCD, and a uphone. 90
snapshots will fit in memory. Adding a Sirf GPS chipset, and
abovementioned cellular modem/phone hybrid, this will be almost
equivalent to the personal communicator I predicted some one year
ago.
\\//
ALife robot colony research is now mainstream. A thimbleful of
EHW thrown in for good measure, makes for a hot tetranitromethane
cocktail. Hold onto your heads.
\\//
ciao,
'gene