cooltech.iafrica.com | tech news IBM makes chip breakthrough

IBM researchers have come up with a process that has allowed them to create silicon chips at 30nm. This is quite impressive as the theoretical limit on optical microlithography was 32nm. Chipmakers can keep prices low for the near future as they won’t have to make major investments in new process technology as quickly as once thought. So what does this mean for you and me? It means computers, videogame consoles and multimedia devices can continue to get faster, cheaper, require less power and produce less heat. Sounds good to me.

OS X Ate My Files! at Binary Bonsai

One of my close friends recently had the above happen to him as well. The irony is that he was making a backup CD at the time! There was too much data to fit, so he had to remove some folders. When he dragged them back to the desktop he was warned about overwriting, but since the files were the same he didn’t feel that there was any danger. The problem is that in Apple’s attempts to make everything work in a consistent manner, what really happens is that your real files are destroyed. Technically, the original folder (and all the files it contained) is replaced with an alias to the original folder. (which can’t be opened because the target, destroyed in the act creating the alias, no longer exists) It’s not something that most people would think of, but it’s been standard in operating systems for as long as I can remember. The difference here is that the warning OS X gives the user isn’t enough to make them think, hey.. maybe I shouldn’t do this. (and thanks to the efficiency of the filesystem, those files are truly unrecoverable.) Way to go Apple!

Microsoft set for June OneCare security launch – vnunet.com
OneCare marks Microsoft’s entry into the security services market. I can’t help but wonder if MS will use the same anticompetitive tactics they used to push their Office suite so long ago. A look around the retail software shelves shows the only remaining competitor in that market is Corel’s WordPerfect Office suite, but when was the last time you saw anyone use it? In another 10 years we may see Symantec facing the same fate Corel is now.