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    Febrary PC World

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    5 views155 pages

    PC World Febrary 2008 - PC World

    Uploaded by

    Adam Glassner
    Febrary PC World

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    GPSM PC\ te Tr TODAY'S ne MOST INNOVATIVE See | PRODUCTS Occasionally, your IT problems require someone to go the extra mile. Above and beyond. Far and wide. Even then, we're there. ‘More demands and more pressure. Less time and fewer resources, Business today is full of challenges When it comes to technology, COW will do what it takes to De Ne ee ec ey almost every technology category imaginable. Our dedicated account managers Ser ane eC eee eo ee ane ‘to the complex. We even have a full range of custom configuration services at your disposal. So when you need IT help, think CDW. We're there with whatever you need, winenever you need it eee TM Rein Onesie ee Dy Mola Introducing color laser printing for everyone whose goals are bigger than their budgets. y lt's called Plan b. Plan A called for you te break the bank on color printing, Or settle for fewer features and slow print speeds. I's time for Plan B. The >to 2pm’ coler anddmorchrome cut f 1 Brera suxcoms a Neweas reread Noga , Is running your business PO POUR LTT) SO rs SUPER Ty Ra Ru Le Roce sac CREATE INVOICES: a ees SUE) www.QuickBooks.com Trade-Ups Despite its obvious beauty, an aging UPS is easy to overlook (that’s why it beeps). Upgrade, or juice up, your old UPS today for a happy tomorrow. Abattery warning from your partner When you bought your APC UPS, you chose it, and us, for our legendary relabiity...ecause you wanted the best product avaliable. So as tha Industry leader and your chosen partner, i's ‘aur jab to infor you that en acing UPS battery outs your network feiablity 2nd your peace of mind at risk. if ou sre converging and conscleting your networks, upgrading your equiom or deploying new servers, be watned: an older UPS simply handle the increesed loads and criticality — putting your entre network at risk of costly downtime, unsa‘e shutdowns, and data and equipment loss. reliability Luckily, there is a simple solution for renewed peace ind — APC Tiade UPS. With the Trade-UPS program, you DPS for a new unit and receive a 35% YOU new purchase, plus more runtime end enhanc networked power and cooling, Not only will in performance, you'l also see improvement So if you love your UPS relibilty, make it ast forever. Bort wait for your aging UPS to fall you — Trade UP todoy Upgrade today and save! Visit APC cnline and receive up to 35% off the latest in UPS technology. Visit woru-apecom/prama Key Code aS66w # Cll 888.289, APCC w482B » Fax 401.788.2797 Three easy steps to improved pewer protection. Yovemget to 25% Step sehat you fave neater Sota niber * capattynvotlmge VN ‘umber its Step 2: Choose whar’s Poste for you by Step 3 checiout + aloo oleic olen US twtr eran {etre pga dts >> FEATURES Today's Most Innovative Products. Selected from the hundreds of products we looked at in here ace 25 breakthroughs that are vransforming the Web, the PC, and d The Best Places {and Times) to Buy POW readers tell us where they 0 to find the best deals on PC, monitors, HDTVs, digital cam crag, and other tech gear. Plus: “The hest times of yearto shop for equipment of different types 7 The Wide World of Monitors ‘What should you look for in a display these days? We review 17 moderately priced units—with 19. to 28.inch diagonale—and cout fea keep in mind, DCW FEBRUARY 2008 Volume25 -Number2 www pewerld.com DEPARTMENTS. 3 Techtog PCW Forum Full Disclosure REVIEWS AND RANKINGS FORWARD In-Car GPS Devices First Tests: AMD Phenom As prices fall, the devices are get Impressive CPU tech, but i it fast? ting easier to use. We look at five. Plugged In Amazon Kindle 24 Beta Watch 3 Top 10 Laptops GeekTech Nokia N810 Internet Tablet 2 Gadget Freak Microsoft Office Accounting CONSUMER WATCH ‘Top 5 Monochrome Lasers 7 Vista's Incompatibilities niacin For users, headaches continue Skeptical Shopper On Your Side » BUSINESS CENTER Budget Videoconferencing Thuce good, inexpensive options. Net Work HERE’S HOW SECURITY ALERT Malware Evolving Too Fast and learn new ways to find what ‘Security firms fight to keep pace. you're looking for more quickly Bugs and Fixes Answer Line Privacy Watch Steve Bass's Hassle-Free PC nem i=l ensure to reinvent safety technology? = a ‘Aibiataaeen Sac eter" peeret ny PC thea orate sorT02 IN eHTEF Hany MeCracten Manscts eetraa forte") Bran {AY BIREETOR Barbar Amnon Sasurive eosten Aen Siti ‘eat CENTER BIRECTOR Ulike Debian ‘eden fra ie Botan, ean ‘tle Perea EER Ce Cosy etry Alen Rar an Seen caret. Str oy eee at ote Sa Seentitoes Spiga Era Perrone anast cron rong ‘er camencoaeonn Joe Rese ‘teatany we mace berber Jerera pO Gon TSF boo ix SCH ber ere rato Emenee (te vee Pe ots Re ond Pmiwore 6 Sr 0 an Seis watidsars noi Benorumber O | www.ecwoRLo.com ressuary 2008 ‘seut08 v9, c20}¢9 Vien Emcee ‘esoryour beri com ‘Bihes py yo vow youre Biota assraet rood sua, Por Sbierbee Series Patbor sie toons ROTTS, Eilean feed your Minamecnd the ates poweineus sz ie max s1saa7-6 ‘Simalltto PC Mer We ranrvethe roves ets #cerpas Siettsestecsrow rt ‘Someta era pean ‘WERLENE nowerOpoadsar, 005 no Faxes bnsrovertm ‘Stine manesarcworidcan Roskteocaonrscar om Fon eri 2pewer dom PusoeeD 2h ee dalpanedden Bsa powocom ‘tng wanton 2000 sok Petia wearin Sreored 0 venga checker mane Sdertsbe het edt BO Boe Si oer. 5000-978 prone bee i erat J ! \ ee oa BURMA UTA Tee) westcoast AWARDS Ayr )/ MAGAZINE EDITORS" CHOICE CERTIFIED ig Webroot AntiVirus i Z with AntiSpyware & Firewall 2 The best protctien agaist uss, spare ata thet and rahe eer Clearly, experts like our technology. We designed Webroot AntiVirus with To top it off, you get free US-based AntiSpyware & Firewall with what our _telephone support, just in case you need webroot customers want — nothing but it So, if you want better security, better award-winning technology. So support, and better peace of mind, cal Gus deel Beau ce is designed to protect you from Webroot at 1.866.865.3302 or visit Wien Unoecized woita™ ruders, without getting in the way. www.webroot.com/way today, And it all works together to deliver Webroot security products are also better security and better protection: available at leading retailers nationvride. © 2007 Webco Sewers re. Maat isoragiteed trader of Woot Softwar In thr res ademas athe igh of tr respecte lee Tin Scones! Webrotenpliye rt an actor or mec Pc Magee Eto Ce Award Loge inaregietiedtademark cf if Dav Pblching Hodge re Used ud conse ILIKE TO think of myselfasa private person—but one whose oaline lifes ruled by common sense, not paranoia On one hand, I'd rather enter my credit card information everytime I visit an online merchant than lec the seller store it on some server permanently. Why sak getting it swiped il don't have to? Bue cher are abo plenty of times when I'l cheerfully ta site mine ‘ny personal information i get some- thing in return (Exhibit Ar The excel lent email client known as Gamal ‘which scans my messages inorder to display relevant text ads.) T've been managing my Internet pri sacy solong that Pd seen everything. Orso I thought, tila mint-fiestorm cxupted over Facebook's new Beacon aeluertising platform last November. As Juan Carlos Perez explains in “Can You ‘Trust Your Social Network” (page 22), Beacon was designed to serve asa viral- ‘marketing pipeline between the wildly popular social network and the sites of ‘ore than 30 commerce-related com- panies, including Blockbuster, eBay, Coca-Cola, Overstock.com, and Sony Techlog 8 The Three Immutable Laws of Online Privacy Online Entertainment. you rented a ‘movie online, for instance, Beacon cabled Blockbuster to transmit that fact co Facebook which could then lay the happy news to all your friends. Trouble was, you might or might not ‘want your Facebook pals to know you planned to kick back with Satan’s C= nibal Helecanst, Even worse, Beacon ‘ight spoil the surprise of» present for a friend or loved one by alerting them that you'd just bought it online. And privacy sticklers might prefer that the companies they do business with not disclose transactional information to Facebook at all, whether or not their buddies ever heard about it “True, you could instruct Beacon not to share a particular transaction, but the ‘option to let you co that was easy to miss. And there was no way to opt out (of Beacon’s “social ads" altogether or to prevent companies from handing over information about you to Facebook. After a flurry of member complaints, T'SBECOME A tradition for our February 'ssue to spotlight the brightest new ideas in herdware, software, and the Web. This year's raurdup “Today's Most Innovative Proce cts" [page $2), is bursting wih geekly wonders. But one of the most impressive ir aimed at gadget freaks at all: Tt's One Laptop Per Chile's XO laptop. the S200 system designed for childrenin developing countries. The X0 isn't just cheap—it sports aclev- cer sereen that doesn't need backlighting when used outdoors, employs wireless mesh netvrork= ing toconnect directly to other X0s, has alithium femo-phosphate battery aood for up to 24 hours fife, nd packs an inventive cpen-source soft ware suite. Evenif you tote a $2000 notebook, you might be left wondering, “Why can't my machine do that?" Small wonder two of ushere at POW took advantage of OLPC's "Give (ne Get One" offer before the holidays ta getX0s of our very ov. Facebook's ad fiasco wasn't your ordinary data leak. Bi social netwark made some mistakes that were all too typi he cal petition signing, and stinging criticism fiom bloggers—not to mention multi- ple instances of nervous matketers backing out of the program—Facebook rethought Beacon. Now the service no longer spreads the word about any dealings you have ata partner ste, un- less you explicitly give the go-ahead, and you can shut it off altogether. ‘As weied a the Beacon dust-up was, in some ways it was completely typical cof online privacy glitches. Facebook cexzed by ignoring come base principles of Web privaey—namely, these three: ‘Aboveal,beclear. Beacon’s original in camnation was just plain confusing. If reasonably smart people can't under- seand what's happening with their info, something is fundamentally amiss. Erronthesideofdiscration I's 2 big eal when you trust a Web site with your personal data—even something as ‘mundane as your taste in DVDs. Who son's want sites to treat such data ‘gingerly until instructed otherwise? Remember that more contetis always better thantesscontral One ofthe things Hike most about Facebook—and yes, Tm addieted—Is the rich control you exercise over who gets to see what fats about you. ls dozens of options give you the power to be anything from an exhibitionist to azecluse. At first, Bea- con was an exception. Now it’s closer to being...wel, pleasingly Fcebookian. Got any other laws of privacy that are immutable, orat last should be? Drop. rea line at harry_mecrackenaypeworld m with your thoughts. And hey, if find them interesting enough to share, Mask first—that’sa promise. ead Editor in Chief Mery McCracken'sblog attiogspeworldcom/techlos, @ eeeuasy 2008 www.ecwoRio.com |13 New energy for greater mobility. The LifeBook® T4200 Tablet PC: Energize your mobile workforce with Enterprise-class reliability. Tho Fujtsu LifeBook? T4200 Tablet PC with intel? Cantrino® Duo Mobile Technology reflects tho Fujtsu commitment to doivering the most relable products. Is manufactured in-house so we can maintain the highest qualty standards, The Fujitsu LifeBook 4200 Tablet PC alo features the industry's frst bi-drectional LCD hinge and a brant, 12.1" XGA display wth wide viewng angles, 80 is impressive any way you look att. And whether you use its keyboard or powerlU inknig capabilties and pen-driven navigation, you get the best of both words. Go to us.fujitsu.com/computers/reliability for more information, SUPERIOR CONNECTIVITY WF, BUILT-IN MODULAR BAY. DUAL-FUNCTIONALITY o FUJITSU THE POSSIBILITIES ARE INFINITE i Many readers respond- ed to our December article about life with- out desktop software. Some have already gone online-only and are happy, PCW while others say they've encountered too many bugs and reliability issues. Share your opinions and your experiences with Web apps at find.pcworld.com/59432. Using Online-Based Software read Scott Spanbauer’s “Life Without Software” [December] with interest, because I have abandoned my Outlook e-mail for Gmail asa POP client, and 1 love it for the same reasons he does. But he fails to mention one important rea- son (to me, at least) to keep running the Outlook Address Book, Calendar, and Notes apps: the ability to syne with a smart phone. If Google could come Lup witha way to syne my phone (a Nokia 62} with the Google equivalents from any browser, that would be a illes app! Emery DeWitr, Lancaster: Penwgyloanta No thanks. There are, unfortunately, t00 many bugs with Web-based apps. _searight3, from te PC World foranss Tuse Google Docs because I have Gmail and it was there. It has some hassles, Dut for a quick and dicty way to work ona document, it’s not bad. Incdachocny, fromthe PC Word forts Thave been using online apps for a cou- ple of years now, and haven't been hap: pice | switched because I needed a cross: phtform solution for document editing and storage. sneoor97007, frome PC World foram Ul consider trusting Web-based servic- cs for important daily computing when: ‘The Net becomes as reliable asa com: ‘mon analog telephone; ISPs become ‘more responsible for their services and. support; and our goverment makes these two conditions possible by ‘requiring ISPs to obey ourlaws. roe fromthe PC World fora GPS Devices vs. Software Re: Dennis O'Reilly's review “Mapping Software Can't Keep Pace With GPS" [December]. I generally agree with O'Reilly's comments on GPS units However, for once T must defend Microsoft! Town a Garmin GPS V, a Garmin Nuvi 350, and Microsoft Screts & Trips. The Garmin Nuvi ishard to beat. But Streets & Trips lets you see what is over the horizon due to the ‘much larger screen size a laptop offers, as well as geographic details that small cr GPS units can’t display. During rips in Canada and Florida, we could look at ‘our laptop and “sec” where the beach was, idemtfy the beautiful lake offto ——$ Video game mods should not count toward a game's rating. Yert, from the PC World forums Forum the eft, what's over the mountain to the right, ete. The passenger/navigacor/ spouise can run the laptop, and you can easly hold the GPS antenna to the dash with Velero—thus negating two of (O'Reily’s objections to Stecets & Trips. Gary Keck Spokane, Washing ‘Author'sresponse: Having a full-time navi ator addresses my concem about the ctf culty of seeing info onthe screen: Veloro ‘may keep the GPS transceiver in place, but you shouldn't need suche workaround: and the price ofthe software remains hich com pared with low-end GPS devices, which are ‘much simpler to use and are usually more accurate aswell, — —DennivO'Reilly — Regarding the story on robots ['A Robot Bride by 20507" find, peworld.com/59467]: How are we going to be allowed to marry machines when many humans can't even marry each other? etruss, from the PC World forums Web, TV Tech: U.S. Lags Tread with interest Harry MeCracken’s, column in the December issue on how the United States fares in matters relate ing to the Internet [Feclag, December] The United States seems to lag be- hind in television technology as well. Analog television broadcasts ended last Augustin Finland. Ifyou watcha for cign film on TV, you hear the sound. track in the original language, and you ‘an choose Finnish or Swedish subti- les (or you can switeh the subtitles off ifyou know the language). Lassi Vabhiainen, Helsinki, Fialand Quibbles With Leopard {See fine poworecom/$8431 for more on the new Mac OS, I don't chink Stacks was intended for large folders. you want to browse yourapplications 2 eeeuaey 2008 www.ecwoRio.com | 15 aa ae é-fficient. eat eased Renee ret tg Peter ay aa See ee craiay ree cai Oe een Oe coer coy Sa corre eet nl pee pee PECL. pee eae ard a UY PCW Forum to be faster. Stacks is ideally suited for common tasks involving small groups, RastaMon, from the PC Wor thac the sidebar in iCal has been re moved and that tabbing bewween mail been removed from Mall Ton Wolk, frome the PC World rants The one gripe that Ihave with Leopard is che new intesface when using the remote. If] am listening to iTunes and switch to the menu interface using my remote, Tunes stops playing. In Tiger it kept pl (che earlier OS| ying, whieh made for a seamless switeh, MEretag ow te PC World foranes My custent com) ar 3.0, Yes, it now autosizes pic tures in the window, and there is a right-click menu option for ‘Save as but hy clo we need to right-click change information about a bookmark? Packers from the PC World forans ‘Who cares about the logo on the front? 4 buy a Dell hing my Mac could do ev an do. and was less expensive, 'm not loyal to Apple, but at the moment they do have a better compute Ameri, fromthe PC World forums Hacker Pleads Guilty to. Spreading Botnets Tes time that these creeps [ | pay for their crimes whenev Remember, every single one of us isa victim of computer crime, even iPour passwords have never beca taken: we ace all vietims because of the added costs in money, time, and energy tha id weand businesses spend to a viruses and other malware bileclck from the PC World forans foreach of the 150, were infected with his malware. Itis 16 |www.eewoate.com reesvany 2008 the same as breaking and entering all of those ho ‘ornmit bur destruction of property. Anyone wh commits computer ecimes should get fined and se HUBY, froma the PC World farunar I wane the list of IP addresses he com promised. If my son's PC was one of them, [lake him to small claims court makean impression). xouan, frente PC World forunns He's a thiefbut a white collar one who's most Likely goin to get the mini rum fine with a vacation in some fed: cral prison, He infected 150, ‘counts, and at $10 from each account, his take is substantial, He gets only a 51.75 million fine, which his accomplic will gather up and pay Jy, fromthe PC World forum IE Drops ActiveX Warning { ] What if dor want to allow a Web page’s ActiveX application this will make IE even less safe than it .o run? It seems tome that sgpseym, fromthe PC World fora I'm ga to see it go. Thate clicking on the ‘yellow bar" fora response or something I have allowed to install Jicking on it to begin with. 0, fiene re BC World wr feedbock. Wer serve the right to eit fr lengthanciclarity Shere your PC Wer wetcornes inthe ndereach stry on our Web site. or vst cur Sende- decom. @ mailto letersGpe Tee Dance con tetenr ys See eet cetera The full-featured scanner you can take ET VCRs aS takes you. aN vs _ x \ a? \ MSS eon ne ae eo Ce ee ee en eer mr a ae eee occ ieee rere Rec mr ee Ren eee et ee ea Cee en eee Neue here) SU ccd or ee eee ey Pea err men nero Se Line ee Fo) Bene AUT ere ha co iat) THE POSSIBILITIES ARE INFINITE wae EMAL nie eee Forward First Tests: AMD's Phenom CPU Won't Scare Intel BY JON L. JACOBT AMD'S NEW PHENOM pro- cessors and Spider platform for desktop systems incor- porate some impressive steps forward for the chip maker. The chips, which are sade using a 65-nanometer manulfactuting process, fea ture both anative quad-core design and enhanced power management technology. But when we ran a Phenom- and Spider-based computer through our lab, the results revealed that AMD still has a lot of work todo. isn’t much faster than a Problems Already? AMD sent unlocked versions of ts 2.6-GHe Phenom 9900 chip to reviewers, but that ‘model likely won't be avail able on the market until well dato the fist quarter of 2008, ac an expected cost below S350. Unulthen,theface: = ea Phenom chips that you'll be ¢YSESEOES2 Siero AMD's new CPU has impressive technology but turns in disappointing performance. Can AMD. remain competitive if its high-end pro sor year-old Intel CPU? able to fine are the 2.2-GH12 Phengen 6600 CPU and an ATI Radeon MD 3670 graphics board. Phenom 9500 (5251 to OFMs) and the 2.3-GHz ‘Though both the 9500 and Phenom 9600 ($283). the 9600 appear to be widely A sub-$300 24-GHlz 9700 available now, AMD recently chipis scheduled to ship in owned! up coa bug in the the first quarter as well, and first generation ofits Phe- an unlocked, overelockable nom and Barcelona chips Black Edition 2.3-GHz Phe- that can cause systems to nom should be available by lock up when cunning cer the time you read this. tain rare sofiware workloads ax lock speeds greater than 2.4 Gz. A BIOS upgrade is availble as a workaround, but according to enthusiast Web site"The Tech Report, the workaround slows per~ formance by up to 10 per- cent. The faster Phenom processors that the company is preparing for release in the first quarter of 2008 should have this ervor corrected. Discouraging Results Now that we havea Phenom CPU in our labs, we can make better comparisons with test systems built around Intel based processors (sec the chart “Pentyn vs, Phenom: Two Different Worlds on page 20). Our Phenom test setup used the same sup- porting components—an Vidi GeForce 8820GTS- based graphhies board with 320MB of RAM, two West een Digital WD2500AAJS hard drives in a striped DDR2-800 RAM—as our eae- lier Penryn tests dic. We tested our unlocked Phenom acboth 26GHa and 2.3 GHz onan Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe mothesboard with an AMD TOOFX chip set. ‘When running the Phe- ‘nom 9900 at 2.6 GHz, our reo est system posted as 107 on WorldBench 6 Beta 2, not all that faster than the average mark of 96 wwmed in by the systems we've seen based on the last-generation Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 CPU. The £6600, an okler chip, goes for $230 from stores such as Newegg.com, 18 | mwwecwoRLo.com FeeeuaRy 2008 See if any Phenom-based systems have made our top-PCs charts at find.pcworld.com/55713. And if you're curious about the competi- tion, check out our coverage of Penryn at find.pcworld.com/S9197, compared with the project- ¢ $350 price for the 9900, Of course, the fastest Phe- nom chip out now isa 2.3- GHz model, and at chat speed our test PC's score dropped 10 99—not much of an advantage a all fora CPU that costs about $50 more than its aging competition, And there's no comp to the ultrashighend Penryn chip we evaluated on the same test bed: That $1000 CPU clocked in at a Worle: Bench 6 Beta 2 score of By the time AMD's faster Phenom processors are ready to ship, Intel will likely have mainstream Penryn chips ready to compete. The first Phenom-based PC we could test—a $999 CyberPower Gamer Ulta CF 3870, featuring a 2.3-GHe Phenom 9600 and an ATI Radeon HD 3870 graphics card—didn’ fare much bet ter with its score of 95. AMD currently has no answer to Intel's SSE4 in steuctions faraccelerating specific multimedia opera tions, which may widen the performance gap furtherin selected applications. On 1, unlike tnel’s the other quad-core models, which are basically two dual-core CPUs usinga shared bus interface, Phenom has four distinct cores, which should offer benefits. The perk comparison may evolve as more applications begin tak- sdvantage of mukimedia instructions suchas SSE and leveraging more than two CPU cores, but given the size of Intel's head stat, it’s cnlikely that AMD will be able to truly close the gap. At AMD's Phenom launch ATI, that company sid well tec ins ton plore Sa face with iia The requ aw Siion git AMD expertise man in GPUs and chipsets, plus ae independence from nVidia Tonge ally that had stared supporting intel the year before—but it added co the perception of AMD as Femly occupying second ANO'S OVERDRIVE UTILITY has an imoressieerayof options let- pce, Losing money for sev~ ting you change multipler and voltage settings ona per-corebasls. —cral st event in November, we also tested a 2.6-GHz Phenom 19990-based system featur ing two of ATI's recently re leased Radeon HD 3859 graphics cards, an MSI ‘motherboard using AMD's ‘OCEX chip set, and 2GB of DDR2-1066 RAM. On World Bench 6 Beta 2, AMD's test system received a score of 105, significantly faster chan. the 93 posted by a Polywell S8CCF-2900 with AMD's Iastgeneration GHz Ath- Ton 64 X2 6000s, though not nearly the 32 percent gain that AMD touts. While rep- resenting an impressive boost over AMD's previous CPUs, it's nowhere near enough to make Intel sweat. Tough Times All things considered, 2007 probably hasn't been AMD's favorite yea. In fact, things haven't been sunshine and roses for the company since the middle of 2006, when Intel introduced its Cove 2 Duo CPUs. Aer thice years asthe performance champ, AMD was suddenly getting its clock cleaned, o to speak: When running at the same clock speed, Core 2 Duo chips were anywhere fom 10 to neatly 20 percent jt quacters hasn't hhelped, ciches faster than comparable Ath- In 2007 AMD also fell in lon 64 X2 processors creasingly behind in the Nor only that, but almost competition for better pro: immediately after AMD's _cess technology. Intel manu: $5.4 billionacquisition of _factures its Pearya chips GPUand chip set vendor usinga 4S-nanometer. > PLUGGED IN eric om ‘MICROSOFT TWEAKS WGA: Calling it ‘an “advantage” stil an insutt, but this feature you never wanted on your PC ie naw somewhat lass teribie WSJ SITE GOES FREE: And so passes one ofthe last bastions of subscription based Web content, If we oul just erate ESPN Insider Tbe all set. WHITHER AMD? Wait, no! Stoo wither ing! Seriously, the industry reeds the ‘competition, andit’s beens tong time singe we all were Athlon fanboys, Feeeussy 2908 wuw pewoata.com | 18 Forward process, which allows the company to pack in more wansistors pee squate mill: rmecer than in the 65nm pro- cess AMD is introducing with its Phenom chips. That can translate to more chips per slab of silicon for cheap- ex production, giving Incel yet another advantage AMD's latest G5nm Opter- cons, with thei parsimoni- ous power usage, are com- peting well inthe server market, but that does noch: ing for mainstecam users Platform News: With no way to regain the CPU performance crown, AMD has tied to focus the smedia’s attention on its graphics board and chip set technologies. This isn't all misdirection, though, since performance in games often relies more heavily ona sys- tem’s GPU than its CPU. The new Spicer T90FX sites as Anandltech indicate that these 3802-series graph- fies cards match up well with all but nVidia's fastest mod els in performance, and that they have very good power With no way to regain the CPU performance crown, AMD has tried to PUs and chip sets. This ame performance oft Y chip set plays right into that with support for AMD's HyperTransport 3.0/0 bus, which has 29 percent more bandwidth than its prede cessor. The T9OFX ean also combine four ATI 3890 PCle 2.0 graphies eards on one motherboard—a technology that AMD calls CrossFireX. Preliminary tests on such focus attention on n't all misdirection mn relies More on GPUs. consumption numbers Speaking of power con: sumption, AMD is offering users the ability to weak consumption (as well as the speed of Phenom chips) toa startling degree, using a new Utility called OverDrive. No mere overclocking util ity, OverDrive lets users adjust voltage settings and Penryn vs. Phenom: Two Different Worlds ETRE AMO'S PHENOM CPU's worids ahead ofthe company’s Athlon processors, butt c can't hold a candle to Intl’ festest chips. Of course Inte’ frst Penryn CPUs are ‘aimed atthe high end: They go for $1000 a piece. Still the frst Phenom systems we've tested compare best to PCs based on Intel's Core 2 Duo ESGOO CPU~e chip that's mace than a year ol. '2MD Phenom 9900 eeapreron) 16, = (teforence system) 3000 ’aMD Phenom 3600 G32 Prenom (tetorence system) ‘600 = ES ‘OjperPower Gamer aaa venom (os « Utra cr 3370 600 reel Core 2 Extreme re? “Ponrye(atrence systom)|ecrome axasso| 127 | 307 fverage ot tourcore2 Y 25-GHe Core? Buc 6600 systoms oeeeco | a Sort ations PatyweltPoty socr-ze00 | Cl! An 83 ae | oe | oe oa) m7 | oe ae | as | ss ser | as | sw os | wo | «7 CHART NOTES. We ene al torn ater wh 208 o OG EOD arr pal of 2008 Segre STREZOORAS hard desi {stip rand on NCA Ga ne 3800TS yap crk We nes Panomtasedaptens ng on Aus MOAZ-MY/P tee ‘sero AMD TOO nist The any sytem saan As Maxis arta vote Tae S138 ES Tess occ re Vr Wst cantor rao ow wa 1 20|wwwecworie.com Feseuaey 2008 Dever S26 AL MONS clock multipliers on a per core basis. For example, if you have a game that takes adh of only two CPU cores, you can build an Over: Drive profile that overclocks ‘ovo of the Phenom’s four cores and ratchers down the speed on the other two, con- serving power and lowering Ihcat to create more head= 00m for the tivo cores that you'll be using heavily. Ifyou would prefer not to ‘weak every bit of your hard ware manually, OverDrive includes a one-lick perfor- ‘mance tuning option that ‘benchmarks your system and ratchets up speeds to a sale level automatically AMD's 65nm manufac: curing process manages to produce Phenoms with overclocking headroom, (gamers could find value ia the ualocked, 2.3-GHz Black Edition Phenom chip. According to AMD, moth- cexboards based on its 790FX chip set should be inexpen- sive in comparison with the latest motherboards built for Inte’s Pencyn proces- sors, Consequently Spider- based systems could present an interesting choice for ‘mainstream gamers—that i, you could well spe ess on the CPU, motherboard, and ‘memory, yet combine them with up to four fast bu rea sonably priced 3800-series graphics boards. Although the CPU will not beable to compete with sinilasly priced offerings from Intel— especially with the main stream Penryn processors expected to lneh exc in the year—a quad-CrossFice system could be an allord- able gaming powerhouse. @ y that helps you thought possible. Aajstane opto Crt Fesytentints Forward Can You Trust Your Social Network? FACEBOOK AND MySpace know alot about you, such as where you live, where you work, who your friends ae, and what music and movies youlike. But would you want your social necwouk— and your row what you're doing at other sites, such as those of Blockbuster, Coca-Cola, and the NBA? Maybe rnot—and that's why Facebook caused such a Faroe when it turned on its Beacon ad service in November with ttle nds on ito The privacy concerns raised by Facebook's Beacon service are just the beginning: Broader {tracking is coming to social networks. have a very diferent opinion Beacon twice, making its of the new generation of /—_—_workings more explicit and socialads. The complaints giving people more control started soon afier Beacon’s over it including the ability launch, aserities charged to opt out of participating that the program was diff: inicentirely, At press time notice to its members. Tae Beacon debacle is just the beginning, The same deep connections that make online social networks valuable tool for connecting with friends and colleagues also make them great targets for advertisers. As the net- works open themselves up to new, highly targeted ad campaigns, members will need to look carefully a the services’ privacy policies. ABad Example The privacy controversy ver Facebook's Beacon exemplifies both the op- portunities and the pit falls of social neworking axis Beacon tracks eer ‘Travis added NCAA Narch Madness 08 to his ‘queue on GameFly. Learn More | This isn't me No Thanks partner sits, such as Blockbuster and Fanda 0, and reposts those ations back to the user's Facebook friends. Facebook considers these “social ads” an inno sative and ultimately more effective form of advertising because it leverages the con- nections between its users. Many users of Facebook 22 | ww MAKE A TRANSACTION on partner ste, and that site willinform Facebook about your purchase or other intorestin a product, cult tounderstand and opt however, privacy concerns out of, One user discovered remained. Independent re thathis contacts had been search by Computer Associ notified that he had bought ates shows that Beacon an engagement ring before tracks all users on partner he had even proposed. sites, not just Facebok Programs like Beacon do members who are logged in. offer better ways to target Facebook apparently has potential customers. Forex- no plans to narrow Beacon’s ample, ifsomeone has been broad user tracking, saying looking for Toyota ears on- that it deletes the daca it re- line, and in their social net- _eeives about the actions of ‘Gh Meagan Marks gave a4star rating to the movie Top Gun. Blockbuster Total Access Online Do you feel the need? The need for speed. Rent online, exchange in-store today! USING ITS BEACON ad system, Facebook canreport your actlltyon various partner sites to our contacts on the social network. working profile they have in- _loggedt-off Facebook users, dicated where they live, the former Faccbook members, site could deliver an ad in- and nonmembers. forming the person about the “With Beacon, Facebook nearest Toyota dealership _has given acase study as to and the most current deals. how not to do” advertising Facebook has tweaked in social networks, asserts IDC analyst Karsten Weide ‘Whatever ends up happen ing with Beacon, experts agree that advertisers will cevtinly want to use Beacon Like systems to hamess word- cof mouth marketing oppor Canities on social networks Tue public is likely to see ‘any similar programs ia the coming years. Financial Failures Despite their deeply ea- gaged audiences, broad reach, and heavy traffic, Facebook, MySpace, and other social networks have not come close to fulfiling their potential as advertising vehiles. Cur rently, many ads oa social networks are merely ince: vant or annoying, but this could change ifthe ads are more targeted and sel “Consumers hate adverts- ing because there's alot of stout there and most of ic doesn’t rehte to our needs co begin with,” Weide says. “Leveraging social relations is avery elegant way todo online advertsing..28 long as you give users the ability to contro] what other people see about their actions.” People should expect social networking sites to use what they know about their members and their online actions, includ ing demographic data and browsing history in ad pro- grams. As such programs develop, users will need to Jook out for ways to decline to participate, orto limit the lata they’ee giving away. Juan Cartos Pees #1 recommended display brand #1 display brand sold #1 recommended projector brand Your #1 trusted source for display technology. ViewSonic 44 See the difference* =iilaimtaima Forward HDTV Prices Will ‘$3000 U.S. LCD TV Street Price Forecast Drop Most Quickly in Late 2008 HIGH-DEFINITION TV TOOK some giant steps forward last year. New technologies debuted, 1080p went mainstream, and 40- inch LCD TVs became the new sweet spot. What will 2008 bring? Continued price cuts, mostly toward the second half of the year. And according to DisplaySearch’s Paul Gagnon, you can expect to pay a 10 per cent premium for sets featuring a 120-Hz refresh rate, which helps improve the pic- ture during fast-moving sports programs and movies. Models with LED backlighting may command a 20 percent price premium. —Eric Dahl $2500 $2000 BETA WATCH eownnow. acero $2861 $1465 seed Sn 40 inches, 1080p pleat OS, 36 $796 qi 2008 ‘S2 inches, 1080p $2269 48 inches, 1080p 37 inches, 720p 32 inches, 720p $634 ME) PE Ce ‘Source: DisplaySearch Q4'07 TV Cost and Price Forecast Report Spokeo: Providing the 411 on Your Friends With the explosion of social networks, fracturing is inevitable Some of your friends are on MySpace, other buddies use Linked- In, and still others are addicted to Twitter. Spokeo helps you keep track of everybody from one spot. The free service scans your address book, and finds your friends’ accounts on any of 30 networks and services, including old-school Friendster, photo spot Flickr, and even Amazon's Wish List. When your friends post new musings or pictures, Spokeo lets you know. Spokeo has one big hole—it doesn't monitor Facebook—but otherwise, it's scarily complete. The site displays only information you're authorized to view, but I still find it a little creepy that I am now fully informed about what kind of sheets a casual business acquaintance wants for his birthday. spokeo.com RescueTime: Charting What You Do Ever get to quitting time and wonder where your workday went? If you spent much of your day on your computer, RescueTime will tell you exactly what you were doing. After you download Rescue- Time's free monitoring software, the pragram keeps track of how long you worked in a specific application or browsed ata particular Web site. The software is smart about recognizing when you're actively working and when you ve merely left the system on during your lunch break, Afterward you log in to your account on the ser- vice's site to see detailed graphs illustrating what you've been up to. The site combines data from any PC you use that has the moni- toring software running. In addition, you can apply such tags as ‘work’ or ‘gaming’ to applications, to categorize haw you spend your time. You may find the answer disturbing. rescuetiime.com 24|www.pcworLp.com FEARUARY 2008 RESCUETIME KEEPS TRACK of exactly how long you spend working in various applications and visiting specific Web sites. Zoho Show 2: Improved Online Presentations The secand generation of Zoho's free, Web-based PowerPoint replacement gets closer to Microsoft's program, with some coal collaborative features. This version of Show brings new themes, the ability to add shapes and clip art, and more options for format ting text and arranging images. Show is certainly more capable than Google's bare-bones equivalent. The developers promise an improved import function, but I still encountered problems when I pulled a PowerPoint presentation into a prerelease version of the application; graphic elements on the pages displayed improperly. You can deliver your presentation remotely from within Zoho Show, and you can chat with participants and even allow them to take over the presentation. find.geworld.com/59501 Alternative Thinking About Reliability: KEEP DOWNTIME WHERE SLT IT BELONGS: OUTSIDE THE OFFICE. The HP Proliant DL380 G5 server comes with Systems Insight Manager (SIM) software. HP SIM has shown an average reduction in server downtime! of 77%, by monitoring your system and alerting you of potential server problems before they occur. 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