By Alice Hill

My recent experience with the spectacular and downright HUGE 24-inch flat panel LCD monitor from Samsung had me worried about the non-technical just when the tech world was finally offering up some products that were approaching plug-and-play. After all, what could be more plug and play than a monitor?

Not so with the SyncMaster 243T and my IBM ThinkPad. When the monitor arrived in a massive box that literally drew a small crowd, I set it up and attached it to my laptop’s docking station with more anticipation than I’ve had for a tech product in along time. But when I fired up the laptop and I also had deep and instant buyer’s remorse. Wailing remorse. After all for nearly 2,000, shouldn’t the text be as sharp and appealing as my previous Sony 17-inch display or the amazing Samsung 213T I use happily at home? How can three more inches of screen real estate result in such a blurry and washed out output?

For the next hour I tinkered. I changed resolutions, I used the various color matching utilities that came with the unit. I even went in desperation to IBM’s website and looked for a new ThinkPad driver wading through obscure OS/2 drivers and others with little luck. And then I started worrying. Could this really be what a big screen looked like up close? Did I order something not meant to be used as a monitor? Should I position it across the room? Would I even want to work that way? The questions were relentless and unpleasant.

Finally as an afterthought I used Windows itself to search for a new graphics driver, did a quick install after it downloaded, and restarted my machine – all I can say is, what an incredible moment. The text was razor sharp , the screen bright and colorful, and I was literally in awe. Silent awe. Read Complete Review Here

More Real Tech Reviews

A few days ago we posted a story on the rising popularity of illegal cell phone jammers in the US. One of the main risks to tampering with cell phone connections is that jammers can theoretically mess with pacemakers, as well as block 911 emergency calls.

Today we just found out that pacemakers themselves may be suseptible to hackers. According to the Portsmouth Herald, “With breakthroughs in defibrillator technology come security concerns. The remote relaying system - which allows patients to hold a wand above their chest and transmit information through an answering machine-sized contraption - is encrypted. But like any telecommunications, there is the small risk of a hacker obtaining sensitive information, Jacobs said.

He added that, while the FDA has not approved it, technology now exists to allow physicians to program ICDs through the phone lines. Currently, heart disease patients have regular checkups to fine tune their defibrillators. “The devices aren’t perfect. As people change medication, their defibrillators need to be adjusted, or a battery can start to be depleted,” Jacobs said.

“If it’s approved that we are able to re-program the device over the phone, it’s theoretically possible that someone could intercept that call and reprogram someone’s device in an adverse fashion.” Source: Portsmouth Herald

Personally, the piece sounds needlessly alarmist, but then again, the whole nature of hacking is to find a way in to any closed system no matter what. Now if someone could come up with a way to remotely hack the hackers…..

Here’s an interesting utility called Migo from Powerhouse Technologies Group that lets you take your browser bookmarks, Outlook settings, and more via a USB keychain drive or even your iPod (Windows users only) and then activate those settings down to your wallpaper on any other PC. The software takes up only 5MB of space, or roughly the size of one song, and you can try it out free here.

More about Migo: “Migo keeps your personal information and settings at your fingertips. Send and receive Outlook email from almost anywhere. Migo captures your desktop wallpaper and Internet favorites as well, so you will always have your personal look-and-feel wherever you go. Access your email, contacts, files, MP3 files, presentations and more — all on Migo.

“Migo is secure. Password protected to ensure security, Migo is yours alone, even if lost or stolen. Migo leaves no files behind, keeping your information secure, regardless of the system you’re using. And in the event that your system should ever crash, or your laptop is ever stolen, you always have your most critical information on Migo, wherever you go.”

With Google Desktop capable of reading info on public computers, I have to wonder if Migo can truly erase its tracks, but for $39.00 and perhaps going between your own office and home PC, this is a pretty interesting product. Only complaint: you have to buy their USB drive if you don’t want to use an iPod. Why not free it up to run on any portable device?

I found this interesting piece on news.com pondering what actually defined a dual-core CPU. One version is more integrated and shares resoucres, while the other is more standalone by nature. Which got me thinking: maybe the next battle will move finally from CISC vs. RISC to what type of dual-core architechure is better. What do you think?

From the article:

“The definition of “dual-core processor,” however, is broad and ranges from a single chip in which the two integrated cores share resources to something that consists of two functionally and physically separate pieces of silicon that happen to be in the same package. Packaging, which protects the silicon and contains the metal bumps for carrying signals from the chip to the rest of the computer, is an integral part of a processor.

“Intel processors will span the spectrum. In Montecito, a dual-core Itanium chip, the two cores under the same roof will each have a dedicated memory cache for rapid data access. The two cores, however, will share a bus for shuttling data to the outside world, as well as other resources, such as an integrated component, code-named Foxton, for saving energy.

“By contrast, the Smithfield chip for desktops is more like a condominium. The two cores will come on the same piece of silicon but will largely function independently, according to sources familiar with the company’s plans. Until somewhat recently, Intel debated making Smithfield out of two separate pieces of silicon in one package, sources said. It is expected to run around 3GHz to 3.2GHz.

“This expected lack of intimacy between the cores in Smithfield is probably beneficial to Intel, according to analysts. It is likely one of the reasons the company was able to advance the commercial release of dual-core desktop chips from 2006 to the second quarter of 2005, several months ahead of the first desktop dual core from rival Advanced Micro Devices.

Consumers won’t experience a difference in performance between a highly integrated dual-core processor and two chips that simply share the same package. Nonetheless, a comparative lack of integration will reinvigorate the debate over whether Intel or AMD is further along in dual-core development.” Source: news.com

Push all the titillation over the Fred Durst video aside for a moment and let’s get down to what we have learned from all this T-Mobile Sidekick hacking going on:

1) Apparently celebrities really do use these devices and are not just shills paid to carry them on a red carpet.

2) T-Mobile better get its act together and lock its system down if it wants to cater to business professional.

3) Gross!

More details here, if you must…..

> How to Protect Your T-Mobile Account

By David Johnston
Firefox 1.0.1 was released today. The main changes to the updated browser have to do with security bugs. The Mozilla Foundation also claims to have improved stability, though I personally haven’t noticed much instability in Firefox 1.0 anyway. One slight headache with the new release is that it breaks some extensions that may not have updates yet. So, if you have some extension you cannot live without it’s best to check to see if it’s compatible with 1.0.1 before upgrading.

Also, as always, make sure to uninstall the previous version before installing the new one. Your homepage, bookmarks, themes, etc. will be saved.

–Find Out More Here.
–Download it Here.

The dual-core race is heating up thanks to a recent surprise demo from the folks at AMD. According to ARSTechnica, “Toledo is expected to ship sometime during the second half of 2005, and will be a Socket 939 part, meaning it can utilized in current motherboards that support the Athlon 64 with a BIOS update. AMD claims no additional cooling will be necessary for the dual-core parts.

“AMD and Intel are both racing to get their dual-core products out. Intel looks to be first on the desktop, with the dual-core Smithfield (based on the HyperThreading-enabled Pentium 4) slated to ship during the second quarter of this year. When it comes to 64-bit x86 server chips, AMD will have dual-core Opterons out by mid-2005, while dual-core Xeons likely won’t see the light of day until 2006. Intel will ship a dual-core Itanium 2 later this year.”

More on The “Toledo” Demo
More on Dual-Core Pentium 4s

Gizmodo has a great story on hacking into your T-Mobil account. Or as the everyone on Internet likes to call it, the Hilton Hack for what happened to you-know-who. For those more interested in the solution, read on:

Protecting Your T-Mobile Account Step-By-Step
“Dial your T-Mobile voicemail from your mobile phone. If you don’t know your PIN number, you can set a new one by doing the following: Access your ‘personal options’ by pressing 4. ‘Modify your personal preferences’ by pressing 4, again. Then ‘modify your password’ by pressing 1. Set a new PIN and write it down somewhere secure, if necessary.

“After you reset your pin, press the * key to go back to the ‘personal options’ menu (or press 4 from the main menu if you already knew your PIN). Once you have accessed the ‘personal options’ menu you will then press 8 which will enable password authentication when calling from your own mobile phone. Although entering your password every single time you call your voicemail can be a bit of a nuisance, a few seconds of your time is a small price to pay for the security of your voicemail system.” Source:Gizmodo