Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. this week will introduce an advanced "super-cooling heat pipe" in its latest mobile offering, the Portege 3440CT laptop computer. The cooling system, which is a device that attaches directly to the processor, uses low-pressure water vapor to displace heat throughout the chassis of the computer. This is the first water-cooled technology to be introduced into laptop computers, which industry analysts expect to generate more heat as wattage requirement rise to 20 watts by the end of the year.
With the booming economy bringing in record tax revenue, a federal government career looks like a safe bet. Still, government IT workers make less money than their private-sector counterparts, but on average, they work fewer hours.
America Online Inc. and Netscape Communications Corp. unveiled a beta version of the Netscape 6 browser, built on Netscape's Gecko engine, that is intended to be faster, easier-to-use, and a lighter download than previous versions. Netscape 6 includes support for multiple World Wide Web Consortium standards, including XML and JavaScript. It runs on Windows, Macintosh, and Linux platforms. Netscape 6 is being ported to OSes such as Solaris and Unix through Netscape's Mozilla.org. Features include My Sidebar, a minibrowser to keep track of information while surfing other sites; an integrated e-mail and instant messaging suite; and the capability of searching from the Web address field.
Microsoft Corp. has found a memory leak in the DNS Service of Windows 2000 Server and Advanced Server. The size of the leak depends on the number of queries per hour the server receives. They are testing a fix for the next Service Pack, but if you want the fix earlier, contact Microsoft Technical Support and ask for this file: 03/27/2000 11:38a 298,028 Q258282_w2k_sp1_x86_en.exe
AT&T Corp. announced late last week that it plans to lead a group of companies in acquiring a 39 percent stake in Net2Phone, a provider of Internet telephony and Web-based communications services. AT&T plans to invest $725 million for a 51 percent interest in the consortium. Other partners, including Liberty Media and British Telecommunications, are expected to purchase the remaining partnership interest, AT&T officials said. The terms of the agreement include an option to let the consortium increase its stake in Net2Phone, AT&T officials added. AT&T claims the investment will help it develop voice-enhanced, Web-based communications services, with the goal of making computers, telephones, Web pages, and fax machines extensions of each other. AT&T and Net2Phone plan to jointly develop new Internet voice applications for cable telephony and the business communications market.
Microsoft Corp.: A C2 update for Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 6a is needed if you want a C2-compliant system. It fixes the problem in which NetBT disallows unprivileged user-mode applications from sharing TCP and UDP (User Datagram Protocol) ports opened by NetBT. For Intel systems, get the update at download.microsoft.com/download/winntsp/Patch/SP6a_C2/NT4/EN-US/Q244599i.exe. For Alpha, go to download.microsoft.com/download /winntsp/Patch/SP6a_C2/ALPHA/EN-US/Q244599a.exe.
IBM Corp. is expected to outline a new plan intended to move its IBM Global Services division more into the dot-com arena. Believed to be much like a program offered by competitor Hewlett-Packard, the new strategy will target companies that are focused explicitly on the digital network economy for partnership deals, company officials said. The partnerships are intended to boost IBM's presence in the dot-com market and provide services that have typically been unavailable for start-ups, according to an IBM representative.
As the timetable shortens for U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's decision in the government's antitrust case against Microsoft, both sides were in a flurry of negotiation activity last week.
Microsoft Corp.: To tighten up security on Windows NT 4.0, Microsoft has issued a utility that will increase security on three different Registry values. If these Registry entries are left at their default values, someone may be able to surreptitiously gain additional privileges on a computer that they can log on to. To get the patch for Intel computers, go to www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?ReleaseID=19172. For Alpha computers, go to www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?ReleaseID=19173. If you are running Windows 2000, don't go anywhere -- you are not affected.
A new worm discovered to be "in the wild" last week can shut down a Microsoft Corp. Windows operating system and rename files in such a way as to render the OS completely unusable, according to Computer Associates International Inc., which discovered the worm. Deployed through Microsoft Outlook running on Windows 95/98/2000 or Windows NT, the Win32/Melting.worm creates a copy of itself as MeltingScreen.exe into a Windows directory, renaming .exe files to .bin files when activated. The renaming process could adversely affect files used in the operations of Windows. The worm also e-mails itself to the victim's Outlook address book, randomly executing .exe files along the way.
iPlanet: The iPlanet Web Server Enterprise Edition 4 Service Pack 4 fixes the bug that was preventing it from sending a certificate request during an initial SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) handshake in cases where the server requires this no matter the authentication status.
CREDENTIALS: Technical master's; Although it's not a route that many IT professionals choose, some earn a master's degree in computer science or another technical field.
FCC approves US West-Qwest merger
Microsoft Corp.: In Windows 2000 Ser-ver, Professional, Advanced Server, and Datacenter Server, if you pick a locale other than English from the Control Panel Regional Settings, a.m. or p.m. will not show on the Task Bar clock. There is no fix.
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