Australian PC World articles from February 2002

Australian PC World archives from February 2002

A fortunate life: when you're trying to foretell the future of technology, to whom can you turn to separate the hyped also-rans from the potential winners? This month, PC World checks out which way the cookie crumbles. (Editorial).
February 1, 2002... It is that time of the year again, when the tinsel has been well and truly wound up for another year. And most of our good intentions and resolutions for the new year were long forgotten by the time the bubbly went flat on 1 January (come on,...

Healthy e-com appetite. (News Analysis).
February 1, 2002... After having little appetite for online shopping, Australians are now feasting on the idea -- literally -- with food predicted to be the growing market for this year. A survey by Pinpoint Research Services expects online shopping by the...

com.au gets cheaper. (News analysis).
February 1, 2002... The cost of registering a domain name should decrease substantially this year. This follows from the .au Domain Administration (auDA) making AusRegistry a registry operator for a four-year period. AusRegistry will now perform registry...

Compaq recalls 5300/5600 Presarios.
February 1, 2002... In December, Compaq recalled all of its 5300 and 5600 series Presario desktops after it discovered the PC's 56Kbps modem did not comply with Australian Communications Authority (ACA) specifications. Compaq's product manager of Presario...

Sony decides against local PC sales.
February 1, 2002... Sony has killed any plans of introducing desktops into the Australian PC market. The company has said it will push all its marketing and branding awareness into Vaio notebooks instead. "We will not be mass marketing the desktop," said Ian...

Handhelds embed Linux. (News Analysis).
February 1, 2002... Sharp has become the first manufacturer to offer a handheld device designed around an embedded version of the Linux operating system. At a recent trade show in the US, the firm unveiled the Zaurus SL-5500, a Palm and Pocket PC lookalike with a...

Nimda takes top spot. (News Analysis).
February 1, 2002... The Nimda worm took honours as the most destructive worm or virus of 2001. Nimda accounted for 27 per cent of all reports received by Sophos's help desk last year, followed by the Sircam virus at 20.3 per cent, according to Graham Cluley,...

Dell falls foul of ACCC.
February 1, 2002... Dell Australia has been cited by the ACCC to appear in the Federal Court, Sydney, in February to respond to allegations the direct PC vendor has engaged in false, misleading and deceptive conduct. The Commission alleges that Dell -- in...

Banking on Benq.
February 1, 2002... If you have gone shopping for a digital camera or plasma screen recently and been greeted by a new brand called Benq, don't be too taken aback. After over a decade of running with the Acer brand name, Acer Group has decided to change the name...

Fake epson cartridges. (News Analysis).
February 1, 2002... If you thought it strange that your recently purchased Epson inkjet printer cartridge ran out of ink soon after installion, or was of poor ink quality, the probable reason is that it was a fake. Epson has announced the seizures of over 6000...

Pay music service debuts. (News Analysis).
February 1, 2002... Music file swappers may not be too enthused, but Listen.com managed to squeeze out other anticipated music subscription services in December by launching its Rhapsody digital music streaming service -- the first paid-for music subscription...

Windows XP arouses ire.
February 1, 2002... Former Italian president Francesco Cossiga, a technology buff, has publicly criticised Microsoft over its Windows XP operating system. "Advised by the experts of the [Italian] Senate, of which I am a life member, I had your new program...

Sharp develops 16GB flash memory.
February 1, 2002... Sharp, in association with Japan's Tohoku University, has developed technology that enables flash memory to hold more than 16GB of memory, 250 times more than the current 64MB flash memory on the market. Sharp expects greater demand in the...

Memory cost to drop. (News Analysis).
February 1, 2002... A US-based startup says it will introduce a single-use memory chip that will be up to 10 times cheaper to produce than existing memory types. Officials at Matrix Semiconductor said the company's Matrix 3D Memory is a single-use chip -- it...

Corel's new roadmap. (News Analysis).
February 1, 2002... It may be down, but Corel reckons it is not out. After failing with its pursuit of Linux, Corel has now outlined a new initiative that it hopes will bring the company to profitability by 2003. Life for Corel is now a long way from...

SF delivers bill for IBM's Linux love notes.
February 1, 2002... The city of San Francisco quashed some of the warm, fuzzy feelings associated with the Linux operating system when it reached a settlement with IBM that will have the vendor pay $US120,000 to compensate the city for damages caused by a...

Sun goes to Mars.
February 1, 2002... Sun Microsystems has taken a break from Microsoft bashing. This time it is doing something science buffs may appreciate: the company is sponsoring a new exhibition detailing life on Mars, called "To Mars and Beyond: Search for the Origins of...

ACCC watches Telstra. (broadband).
February 1, 2002... Astern warning by way of a Competition Notice issued to Telstra late last year by the ACCC has had an effect on the carrier's provision of wholesale ADSL pricing, resulting in reductions of more than 30 per cent for some Telstra wholesale...

Lack of integration hits ADSL. (broadband).
February 1, 2002... Although Telstra suffered constant criticism last year for its pricing and the performance of its ADSL network, it is not entirely fair to blame the carrier for all the nation's ADSL woes. According to Shara Evans, managing director of...

Airborne web surfing on hold.
February 1, 2002... Connexion, a project by Boeing to put high-speed Internet connections in its planes, looks unlikely to take off on time, as its three airline partners in the joint venture -- American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines -- have...

NZ DSL download dispute settled.
February 1, 2002... A New Zealand IT consultant has settled a dispute with Telecom NZ, which has agreed to compensate him for JetStream DSL charges incurred by his children on an Internet file-swapping service. Part of the agreement was that there be no public...

But is it art? (fan art).
February 1, 2002... The Internet is littered with sites dedicated to celebrities, film, music and games. In parallel to these sites, fans have devised more creative ways to express their obsessions. This can range from remixes of songs to the creation of erotic...

Cops swoop in childporn net. (online news).
February 1, 2002... The UK National Crime Squad recently arrested 130 people worldwide, including one from Australia, who are believed to be regular participants in an online paedophile newsgroup. Recent amendments to the UK Data Protection Act, following the...

WWF goes for CRM body slam. (online news).
February 1, 2002... Facing sliding revenue and a major restructuring, World Wrestling Federation Entertainment (WWFE) has rolled out software that it hopes will unite its various customer relationship management (CRM) efforts and let it recapture lost revenue. ...

Opera upgrades windows browser after beta success. (online news).
February 1, 2002... Web browser company Opera Software ASA has launched Version 6.0 of its desktop browser for Microsoft's Windows operating systems. The new browser runs on all versions of Windows, including the recently released XP. Among the improvements...

AOL joins Liberty Alliance. (online news).
February 1, 2002... America Online has agreed to join the Liberty Alliance Project, giving a boost to this initiative to build a user-authentication system for the Internet and provide an alternative to Microsoft's competing Passport authentication technology. ...

Athlon slayer arrives. (tech.files).
February 1, 2002... The new year introduced the new Pentium 4 processor and new Intel chipset supporting DDR memory. You may remember in 2001 that the last 0.18-micron P4 chip sprouted extra pins and went from using a PGA423 Socket to an mPGA478 Socket. This means...

Chip circuits shrinking. (tech.news).
February 1, 2002... The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) is calling for a more aggressive push to smaller circuit sizes than previously planned. The majority of today's PCs use processors with a circuit size of either 180 nanometres (0.18 microns) or 130...

Motorola launches hybrid chip family. (tech.news).
February 1, 2002... A range of devices including MP3 audio players and IP (Internet Protocol) phones will cost less and take less time to build following the unveiling of a family of hybrid chips from Motorola. The new family of processors, the 56800E series,...

Mandrake linux gaming edition: Operating system. (first looks).
February 1, 2002... An often-requested feature of Linux has been the ability to run Windows games natively. Mandrake Linux has teamed up with TransGaming Technologies to make this viable. Mandrake Linux Gaming Edition combines the popular Mandrake 8.1 Linux...

Quark XPress 5.0 beta: desktop publishing software. (First Looks).
February 1, 2002... If PageMaker started the DTP (desktop publishing) revolution back in the 1980s, it was Quark XPress that turned it mainstream for professionals. Quark has never been a company to churn out regular product upgrades just for the sake of it: the...

EasyOffice premium 3 and StarOffice 6 beta: office suites. (First Looks).
February 1, 2002... Microsoft Office is the big gun of office suites, but its high price (Office XP Professional, purchased new, costs $1288) and its aggressive copy controls may encourage consumers to seek alternatives. I looked at two low-priced suites...

Canon MultiPass L60: multifunction device. (First Looks).
February 1, 2002... MFDs (multifunction devices) should be an ideal solution for reducing desktop clutter, combining scanning and printing into one device. However, their reputation for poor quality and performance has so far prevented them from becoming essential...

Apple iPod: personal MP3 player. (First Looks).
February 1, 2002... The stylish stainless steel and white Apple iPod houses a 5GB hard drive capable of storing about 1000 MP3s at 160Kbps. The iPod weighs 183g and is about the size of a deck of cards (102x62x20mm). Able to synchronise automatically with Apple's...

NEC multisync LCD1830: flat-panel display. (First Looks).
February 1, 2002... Not only is the fall in 15in flat-panel prices great news for anyone looking to throw out their old CRT (cathode ray tube) monitor in favour of a slimline LCD (liquid crystal display) panel, it's also had a positive effect on the top end of the...

3Com 10Mbps LAN CF+ card: network connection card. (First Looks).
February 1, 2002... Exchanging personal information used to be simple: you gave out your business card and got one in return. How things have changed. Recently, we were at a press event and watched the bizarre ritual of a product manager and journalist updating...

Pinnacle studio version 7: consumer DV editing application. (First Look).
February 1, 2002... Studio Version 7, the latest consumer video-editing package from Pinnacle, now supports virtually any OHCI-compatible 1394/FireWire card on the market. All you need is a PC capable of taking in digital video (DV) through a standard FireWire...

Sony DCRIP7E: digital video camcorder. (First Looks).
February 1, 2002... Measuring just 47x103x80mm and weighing 370g, Sony's DCRIP7E is a seriously small camcorder. It uses brand-new MicroMV tapes, 70 per cent smaller than conventional MiniDV but with the same cost and 60-minute capacity. MicroMV tapes use the more...

Forgot your site password? Just Yodlee: stop logging to multiple sites and start viewing your Web life in one place. (Opinions Web Wise).
February 1, 2002... The most infuriating words in Web surfing are "Invalid I user ID or password. Please try again". So you try again, and again. Was it the ID you remembered incorrectly, or was it the password? Finally the Web site locks you out because it thinks...

Lowered Xpectations: I may be thinking of upgrading to XP for gameplay, but forget about using the operating system for real work. (Opinions The Open Source).
February 1, 2002... I've been looking into Windows XP, and I may purchase a copy. No, I haven't sold out. My integrity is unassailable unless the Microsoft PR people discover my one weakness and offer me a date with Shania Twain. I am considering Windows XP...

Help at hand, when you need it! (Readers' forum).
February 1, 2002... I hope addressing this to you is not an abuse of privilege. I took the opportunity of using HelpScreen.com.au and did receive advice, which led me to solving my computer problem. I would like to send my thanks but feel offering it through the...

Excellent service. (Readers' forum).
February 1, 2002... Just a quick note to thank you for an excellent service, HelpScreen.com.au. Your magazine isn't half-bad either! Keep up the good work.

More than a magazine. (Readers' forum).
February 1, 2002... I get eight computer magazines each month and yours is the only one to get the integration between Web service and magazine even remotely right. And you do much better than this. I look forward to your regular updates and consider them an...

Microsoft responds to WPA worries. (Readers' forum).
February 1, 2002... This month Paul Roworth, Windows Product Manager, Microsoft Australia responds to the issues raised by Wally Mayski's letter in Readers' Forum December 2001 page 52. There seems to be some confusion about Product Activation technologies in...

Missive of the month. (Readers' forum).
February 1, 2002... Congratulations Keith McKenzie! You are this month's winner of a year's subscription to PC World worth $66. We are pleased to receive your letters, but please keep them to less than 300 words. We reserve the right to edit letters for...

Telstra addresses ADSL issues. (Readers' forum).
February 1, 2002... This month Stuart Gray, Manager, Corporate Relations Telstra Retail responds to the issues raised by Chris Russell's letter in Readers' Forum January 2002 page 52. In last month's Australian PC World, Mr Chris Russell made a number of...

School's in -- online: it's that time of year again -- time for kids to go back to school. While parents breathe a sign of relief, school students have a brand new year to look forward to. (Feature Sites For School Students).
February 1, 2002... Although it seems like much of the education content on the Net now comes with a price tag -- as sites struggle to make money -- a great deal of Web material for students is still available for free. To help you prepare for the new school year...

20/20 foresight: 20 products, trends, and technologies that will change PCs in 2002 -- and beyond. (Feature Top Technology Trends).
February 1, 2002... Hot economies cool down and Net empires collapse, but technology continues to move at light speed. Digital tools are not only getting smaller, faster, and cheaper, they're also insinuating themselves into every corner of life. And these days,...

Gaming's all-stars: look to the Net this summer for free gaming action: we round up the best online games as well as the biggest new releases to help kickstart your gaming action this summer. First, take a break with the Web's most addictive puzzles, sports simulations and other diversions -- no CD required. Then, turn to page 70 for 10 of the hottest new games to hit the market. (Feature Summer Games Special).
February 1, 2002... Pictures worth a couple of words [FREE] Sketch ****1/2 Remember Pictionary, the popular board and TV game in which one player sketches clues to a mystery word or phrase that other players try to identify? It's alive and well on the Net...

Game on for summer! Here are 10 of the best new games on the market. (Feature Summer Games Special).
February 1, 2002... Battlegrounds This game lets you indulge in a little Star Wars magic as you take control of one of six popular groups from the movies. You can lead the Rebels, Imperials and even weirder groups like the Gungans and Wookies, in a fight for...

The big pixel: high-end digital cameras are finally starting to come down in price. To help you find the best deal, we review the latest crop -- from new compact 4-megapixel models to good choices for home and business use. (Feature Digital Cameras).
February 1, 2002... It's a great time for digital cameras. With 4-megapixel models hitting store shelves, photography buffs are getting more for their money than ever before. These new high-end cameras take digital photography to new heights, producing images that...

Home, sub-$2000 & business PCs: best buys. (Best Buys PCS).
February 1, 2002... HOME 1 Acer Aspire EL This machine ships with DVD-ROM and CD-RW drives as well as a vast 60GB of hard disk space, and the regular floppy drive has been superseded by an LS-240 drive. These drives consume four of the mini-tower's five...

Notebooks: best buys. (Best Buys Notebooks).
February 1, 2002... OVER $6000 1 IBM ThinkPad A30p NEW The A series of ThinkPad notebooks has been designed as desktop PC replacements. This is IBM's attempt to provide an affordable alternative to the desktop and at the time of testing the three...

Great games, great price (free!). (using Linux).
February 1, 2002... In keeping with this month's games round-up, we are reviewing a selection of free games for Linux that is sure to provide you with hours of entertainment. As is the case with most Linux software, many games are developed by the open source...

Installing a new hard drive: part I. (Here's How Upgrader).
February 1, 2002... Adding and replacing hard drives is perhaps one of the most popular upgrade projects there is -- because, let's face it, you can never have too much disk space. Large operating systems, applications, games and Internet downloads can leave your...

Transfer outlook express settings. (windows 9x).
February 1, 2002... Moving your Outlook Express settings to a new machine is not an easy task. Your Outlook Express setup has four different pieces that you may want to move. I suggest that you transfer them in the order listed below. ACCOUNTS On your old...

Scripting solutions. (windows 2000).
February 1, 2002... When it comes to scripting, Windows 2000 offers plenty of choices. Scripting is, in simple terms, the use of an interpreted programming language to automate repetitive tasks, and even build small applications. CMD SHELL The CMD shell in...

Toolbar tips. (windows me).
February 1, 2002... The Toolbars in Windows Explorer are aligned with shortcuts and functions to boost your productivity when managing or browsing your files. A standard window can have up to three toolbars on display: Standard Buttons, Address Bar and the...

Compress those files. (windows xp).
February 1, 2002... Like Windows Me before it, Windows XP provides services for compressing your files so you don't have to go to the trouble of installing a third-party utility such as WinZip. In fact, Windows XP provides a couple of methods for this disk space...

Utilising USB modems. (linux).
February 1, 2002... Universal Serial Bus, or USB, is fast becoming the standard in external device interfacing and, as a result, a range of USB modems is now available on the market. A key benefit of external USB modems is that they are bus powered and hence don't...

Using iTunes 2. (mac OS).
February 1, 2002... Late last year Apple updated its popular' iTunes jukebox software to version 2 and made the update available as a free download from www.apple.com.au. New features in iTunes 2 include a 10 band equaliser, MP3 burning capability, built-in...

EZ-Mixer 1.0 SE. (audio).
February 1, 2002... IK Multimedia (www.ikmultimedia .com), the people behind the excellent T-Racks 24 mastering software and the very fun-to-use GrooveMaker, has provided Australian PC World with a free cut-down version of its MP3 mixing software, EZ-Mixer...

Scanning and resolution. (graphics).
February 1, 2002... Despite the rise of digital cameras, people are still needing to scan images onto their PCs. Scanning the image will enable it to be sent to other people, digitally restored or preserved to prevent further degradation. If you can get the...

Troubleshooting. (html).
February 1, 2002... An important part of coding is error checking. This month, we examine browser-related problems and also introduce HTML Validator Lite, which is a troubleshooting program that can identify syntax errors. NETSCAPE VS INTERNET EXPLORER You may...

Dealing with databases. (php).
February 1, 2002... Over the last few months this column has looked at building a basic address book database system. Address Book 1 stored its data in a flat file format -- that is, plain text. The problem with storing data like this is that it is inefficient to...

Operating systems. (help screen).
February 1, 2002... WINDOWS (all versions) Perform tasks on shutdown You can use Windows' Start-Programs-StartUp folder and Task Scheduler to launch applications or perform tasks automatically at specified times -- except when it's time to shut down your...

Office applications. (Here's How).
February 1, 2002... OFFICE XP Shortcuts for Word and Outlook I recently found myself editing a really messy document. You know the kind: not only was it loaded with spelling and grammatical errors, but I also had to contend with extraneous formatting...

Internet. (help screen).
February 1, 2002... Quick and simple searches with Explorer It's easy to get complacent about searching the Internet. After all, you can almost always find what you're looking for simply by heading over to Google (www.google.com) and typing in a few words....

Hardware. (Here's How).
February 1, 2002... Get the most from your display and graphics card When it comes to your PC's monitor, looks aren't everything -- they're the only thing. Staring at fuzzy images and a flickering screen can lead to eyestrain, headaches, and general...

Training needed for call centre career. (skills).
February 1, 2002... Call centres and help desks are essential functions of most businesses and are often located in regional areas around Australia, including Ballarat, Bendigo, Newcastle and Deniliquin. Some call centres are outsourced and come in many guises to...

Buying and selling online. (on the shelf).
February 1, 2002... Dorling Kindersley's Essential Computers books are slim, concise and well-diagrammed guides to basic computing tasks. The latest member of the family, Buying and Selling Online, is no exception. If you are new to the Web, Buying and Selling...

How to do everything with your scanner. (books).
February 1, 2002... This book should, perhaps more appropriately, be called "How to Do Everything with Your Scanner and Image Editing Software". Fully one-third of the content is devoted to manipulating the image after it's left the scanner. The book seems to...

Hacker's challenge. (books).
February 1, 2002... If you've read tonnes of security textbooks and are looking for a way to test them out (without actually living through a hack attack), consider Hacker's Challenge. Designed to "test your incident response skills", Hacker's Challenge...

Surprise.com: www.surprise.com. (web).
February 1, 2002... Christmas may have come and gone, but the need to find the right gift persists throughout the year. Find help for birthdays, weddings and anniversaries at Surprise.com -- a site that suggests gifts based on the recommendations of users. The...

Australian privacy commissioner: www.privacy.gov.au. (web).
February 1, 2002... This year, make a resolution to ensure you protect your privacy when surfing the Net and dealing with companies. New privacy laws came into force last December that are designed to help you mind your own business. Only time will tell if the...

Captain Haddock's curses: www.interlog.com/~tbaikie/ homepage/haddock.htm. (web).
February 1, 2002... Stuck for the right witty retort? Looking for a fabulous putdown? Well, you won't find it using Captain Haddock for inspiration. Tintin is well known for his investigative skills (not to mention his hairdo and fashion sense), and his fellow...

Fast forward: http://zonezero.com/exposiciones/ fotografos/lauren2/portada.html. (web).
February 1, 2002... Even those who think today's kids are growing up way too quickly will be shocked by Lauren Greenfield's Fast Forward exhibition. The photos show a world in which 13-year-olds have exotic dancers at their parties and three-year-olds attend VIP...

100 years of the Nobel prizes. (editor's choice).
February 1, 2002... With the announcement of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize last December, the august institution celebrated 100 years of existence, and the awards of this highly publicised prize provide an interesting insight into the last century. The...

Segway human transporter. (gadgets).
February 1, 2002... Most closely resembling a scooter, the Segway is a two-wheeled personal transportation system that is "driven" by the body's movements. Cruising speed is around 20km/h. Although the prototype is out, the HT won't be available for (US) consumers...

Airboard. (gadgets).
February 1, 2002... Sony has endowed its Airboard personal IT television with a new look, improving the screen, giving it more functions and vastly improving the base station. First announced a year ago, the Airboard marries the functions of a television and...

DataPlay digital media. (gadgets).
February 1, 2002... Not really a gadget itself, but designed for gadgets -- thus qualifying for this page. It is pretty colourful and funky for being, well, memory. This postage-stamp-sized disc is a new type of storage for digital media players and recorders....

Parachute backpack. (gadgets).
February 1, 2002... Designed for the sporty geeks, the STM Parachute range has two main compartments. The back section is subdivided to include a padded, suspended notebook pouch. The pouch fits notebooks with 15in screens, securing them with both drawstring and...

SimCycle. (gizmos).
February 1, 2002... This is more than just a weird-looking exercise bike -- the Eloton SimCycle connects to your PC and includes a built-in MP3 player. When you load the Eloton Theatre Software (free) you can travel through motivational photo-realistic...

Sony digital TV. (gizmos).
February 1, 2002... Prior to the release of the KD-32DX40AS, Sony said consumers had to purchase a separate set-top box in order to view digital telecasts. Well, now you don't -- though this privilege isn't cheap. This digital TV comes in the wide screen 16:9...