Dr. Blip's PC-Doctor Blog

Engadget - Here's a little known secret for you to chew on: that triple-core AMD Phenom II X3 you purchased actually has four cores. The last one's just locked down for pricing purposes. A Korean site has disclosed information that enables owners of select motherboards to unlock that fourth core, and apparently, all you need is a Biostar mobo and / or a BIOS that has an option labeled Advanced Clock Calibration. When said selection is flipped to "Auto," the fourth core is loosed from its shackles and able to ever-so-slightly up your frame rates and overall level of excitement. Of course, you're taking a big risk by running a chip in a fashion it was never intended, but what fun is life without a little edge-side living?

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Engadget - Solar chargers are a dime a dozen, but who honestly feels like carrying around rechargeable cells and a recharger? Guru Knut Karlsen has conjured up a far superior idea, and rather than just working up a few drawings and making us all feel dumb for not thinking of this first, he went out and proved that solar-charging batteries are definitely ready for production. In essence, he wrapped four C size NiMH rechargeable batteries with a few samples of flexible solar cells; by using a conductive silver pen and some flat wires from a broken Canon lens, he made a connection solid enough for trickle charging to occur. Moving forward, he'd like to install a capacity gauge as well as a method for faster charging, but we'd say this ain't half bad for a first attempt.

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Engadget - Hot on the heels of Amazon's highly anticipated Kindle 2 launch comes this: news that Hearst Corporation -- which publishes iconic magazines including Cosmopolitan and Esquire along with the San Francisco Chronicle -- will be launching its own wireless e-reader. While many may be quick to label this forthcoming device as a Kindle competitor, the concept behind this is far more elaborate than simply knocking Amazon from its perch. In an effort to "preserve the business model that has sustained newspapers and magazines" while moving forward with technology, Hearst is planning to ship a larger-than-usual reader (around the size of a standard sheet of paper), giving publishers (and advertisers, by extension) about the same amount of space as they're used to when pushing out e-articles. Reports suggest that the device -- which will do the monochrome thing until a color version debuts later -- could land as early as this year, with Hearst & Friends planning to sell them to publishers and "take a cut of the revenue derived from selling magazines and newspapers on these devices." No exaggeration here -- this may be the biggest news we've heard for print media in years, not to mention the promise of an all-new e-reader for gadget nerds to swoon over.

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PCWorld - It appears that the next version of Microsoft Office won’t ship until next year. That’s the word from Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet, who’s reporting that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told Wall Street analysts Tuesday that the upcoming Office 14 is slated for a 2010 release. The announcement likely rules out a dual launch of Office 14 and Windows 7, the latter of which is slated to ship later this year, possibly as early as this summer.

The Office 14 news doesn’t come as a big surprise, as Microsoft has yet to release a public beta of the productivity suite. It has, however, released an alpha version of Office 14’s server-based components to a select group of customers.


So does it matter whether Office 14 ships this year or next? Not really. While irate Vista users are clamoring for Windows 7, which is designed to fix many of Vista’s shortcomings, the same can’t be said for MS Office. In fact, a recent Forrester Research report states that many Word and Office users stick with their productivity apps out of habit. Think of it as an old marriage. You’re comfortable with Office, all of your files are in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint formats, and it’s too much trouble to try something new.

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PCWorld - We break down the key differences between the Amazon Kindle 2 and the company’s original e-book reader.

On the whole, even though the original Kindle (at left) and the Kindle 2 share the same matte white color and have the same-size display (6 inches diagonally), their keyboards and their navigation buttons are clearly different. Here, you can see buttons to the right and left on the original Kindle, and the much smaller buttons of the Kindle 2.
The keyboard for the Kindle 2 (at right) has been completely redesigned, and now it more closely resembles what you'd find on a cell phone with a QWERTY keyboard. The new model's circular keys are easy to press and incredibly handy. In my usage thus far, I’ve much preferred the closer spacing of the Kindle 2 to the angled spacing and more-rectangular keys of the Kindle 1.

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PCWorld - Small, cheap, and surprisingly powerful, netbooks are the new ultraportables. Here's a look at the upcoming crop of netbooks, with advice on what to look for and how to buy wisely.

The term netbook, coined by Intel, conveys little useful information about this category of machines. Sure, they all have wireless networking, but so does every other laptop. Originally what the term helped to identify was a class of small, ultralightweight, cheap-as-dirt mobile PCs. Netbooks are tiny--usually between half and two-thirds the size of a garden-variety laptop--and they typically weigh only about 2 pounds. With their cool, slim designs, they outclass some fancy ultraportables. And best of all, these diminutive laptops start at around $200 (in some cases $100, when purchased as part of a mobile broadband promotional deal).

But as the next generation of mini-notebooks emerges--with some examples illustrating this article--the distinguishing characteristics named above are in flux, spurring debate here at PC World. Is price still a decisive criterion? What about the size of the device, the operating system it runs, or the CPU under its hood? Ultimately all of these things factor into the category; but as new systems with an expanding array of features arrive, our definition of netbook will continue to evolve.

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ubergizmo - Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has just confirmed via a conference call yesterday that we will only be able to see Window Mobile 7 hit the market sometime next year, as the operating system will be sent to manufacturers this November. That translates to a debut on consumer devices sometime in April next year at best. What's the whole point of Windows Mobile 6.5 in the meantime? We wonder what the minimum system specifications for Windows Mobile 7 will be, and will it offer stability and a revolutionary user experience?

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DigiTimes - The impact of the financial crisis will result in the semiconductor industry experiencing near record revenue declines in 2009, according to Gartner. Worldwide semiconductor revenues are forecast to reach US$194.5 billion in 2009, a 24.1% decline from 2008 revenues.

Market conditions have worsened since Gartner's previous semiconductor outlook in mid-December of 2008. At that time, Gartner had forecast 2009 revenues to decline 16%.

The industry is expected to return to positive growth in 2010, growing 7.5%, followed by additional growth through 2012. Even with three years of increased revenues, the semiconductor industry will fail to return to 2008 revenue totals. In 2012, the worldwide semiconductor revenue is projected to reach US$253.4 billion, still below 2008 revenue of US$256.4 billion.

"We believe that the financial crisis has reset the semiconductor market," said Bryan Lewis, research vice president at Gartner. "After the 2001 recession, in which semiconductor sales plummeted by a record 32.5%, semiconductor sales took about four years to get back to 2000 levels."

"The rebound after this recession will be similar to that in 2001 because there will be three years of modest growth after the worst year. However, we see a difference in year four, where we expect another overcapacity situation for the industry, especially in DRAM, because of significant manufacturing investments made in the second and third years of the recovery," Mr. Lewis said.

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DigiTimes - Intel plans to launch two new ultra low voltage (ULV) CPUs by the end of March this year mainly targeting the company's consumer ultra low voltage (CULV) platform for ultra-thin notebook products, according to sources at notebook makers.

The two CPUs are the Core 2 Duo SU9600 with a core frequency of 1.6GHz and priced at US$289 in thousand-unit tray quantities, and Core 2 Solo SU3500 at 1.4GHz and US$262.

The two CPUs join the previously launched SU9400, SU9300, SU3300 and Celeron 723 under the CULV product line. All can be pared with the GS45 IGP chipset.

In addition the sources detailed that Intel plans to separate the CULV platform into three levels – single-core entry-level which consists of Intel's ULV Celeron processor; single-core performance consisting of ULV Core 2 Solo processors; and dual-core performance with ULV Core 2 Duo processors.

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A significant advancement of the industry’s leading top hardware diagnostics tool kit is available today! PC-Doctor Service Center 7 is now available. Service Center has been used for years by service organizations, independent repair professionals, small manufacturers and others.

The latest kit delivers new and faster diagnostics, more advanced test scripting, a significantly improved POST card for systems that won’t boot, a drive-erase tool, and the ability to take detailed snapshots of the system under test to clearly show all changes made. Additionally, companies using Service Center 7 can present a professional image to their customers by providing customized test reports that include the company’s logo, contact information, and technician name.

Technicians who choose PC-Doctor Service Center 7 are able to take advantage of the same up-to-date professional diagnostics that four of the world’s top five manufacturers pre-install on their PCs to reduce warranty and service delivery costs. Through our relationships with these major manufacturers, PC-Doctor routinely develops tests for new hardware well before those technologies are released to the general public. Those advances are rolled into PC-Doctor Service Center 7, which continues to support legacy systems.

Service Center 7 comes complete with more than 300 diagnostics, including high-level diagnostics for testing hardware and advanced drivers within the Windows operating system, and bootable diagnostics for low-level, direct testing of hardware, and for use when Windows will not boot. The new Windows tests support the latest components introduced by the world’s leading manufacturers, including newly introduced video cards, Bluetooth network devices, CPUs and Blu-ray optical drives. Additionally, the bootable diagnostics include new, faster protected-mode memory tests that are based on PC-Doctor patents and capable of testing up to 64 gigabytes of memory.

Also included is a newly designed POST card for troubleshooting systems that cannot boot. Designed to make troubleshooting easier, the POST card has a new daughterboard on a flexible connector, making it easier to read error codes, bus speeds and system voltages on a remote display.
Other highlights of the new PC-Doctor Service Center 7 include:

• Customizable reports: The computer repair tech has unprecedented control over both the content and the appearance of the reports generated by Service Center 7. These reports can be branded to include the company name, technician name, and the company logo, and can include system information, test information, and comparisons between system snapshots, showing hardware and driver changes that occurred during repair.

• System snapshots: Techs can take a snapshot of the system before they start repair, run diagnostics and replace hardware or make driver changes, then take another snapshot. All differences in the two sets of system information will be listed, including detailed hardware and driver information. The tech can include this information in the report given to the customer, allowing the customer to clearly see exactly what was done on their system. This establishes credibility and boosts customer confidence.

• Drive-erase capability: Our new tool wipes a hard drive to U.S. Defense Department specifications.

• SMART attributes log view: Shows all of the details from the drive SMART function.

• Support for CD/DVD checksum test: New test media supports this test while maintaining compatibility with older-version media.

• Test automation: Five predefined, broad-coverage test scripts are available directly from the home screen, as are up to five user-defined scripts.

• Redesigned user interface: The completely redesigned user interface provides much faster, cleaner access to all Service Center 7 features.

• Customizable links: A nearly unlimited number of links to user-defined test scripts, favorite Web addresses, and local files can be added to Service Center 7 for quick access when running on multiple systems. The top five links are also available directly from the home screen.

• Periodic updates: Customers may subscribe to receive updates to the diagnostics.

• Advanced user guide: Complete test descriptions for both Windows and DOS

Priced at $399, PC-Doctor Service Center 7 is available today directly from the company, either by visiting www.pcdservicecenter.com or by calling (866) 289-7237. It also is available from Amazon.com. The kit includes:

• a diagnostic CD containing both Windows and offline diagnostics,
• optical media for testing CD and DVD capabilities,
• a multipurpose USB device with LED indicators and bootable, low-level diagnostics to test systems without a hard drive, optical drive or display,
• parallel, serial, USB and Ethernet loopback adaptors,
• the newly designed PCI POST card,
• a power supply tester,
• documentation for both basic and advanced options, and
• a professional canvas case for carrying the kit onsite.


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