Mr. Slurpee writes "Virginia Tech's 1100-node dual 2 GHz Apple G5 Terascale Cluster is getting racked up and ready to roar. If you're a penniless geek like me, at least there's some tech pr0n for us to drool over. There's 1100 of them ... think they could part with one?" Update: 09/22 02:55 GMT by T : Matt submits a link to this full mirror of the photos, writing "The page owner's comment on the original mirror being taken down due to bandwidth? 'Bring it on!'"

unassimilatible writes "According to The Inquirer, Intel's new Prescott has 64 bit instructions lurking inside. Could really rain on the parade of those who thought the new Athlon 64's would be supreme - especially when you look at Intel's price roadmap. Don't run out and buy an Athlon 64 just yet..."

bearwayne writes "Former representative Bob Barr (R-GA), a conservative and non-technophile, who has now has teamed up with the ACLU to fight growth of the Federal government's infringements on Civil Liberties ala the Patriot Act, weighs in on the Trusted Computing Group/Alliance in this article at Creative Loafing. Among other things, he expresses concerns about censorship, loss of control over one's PC, and other corporate/government abuses."

aceat64 writes "News.com is carrying a story that suggests magnets could eventually replace Bluetooth as a cheaper and more energy effiect wireless solution. The concept of magnetic induction isn't new, but Aura has managed to shrink the technology onto a single chip. The first device to be made using the technology is a wireless headset that will cost between $60 and $80."

An anonymous reader writes "According to this article at WindowsForDevices, the PCMCIA trade association rolled out version 1.0 of its next-generation standard for modular mobile and desktop computer expansion at this week's Intel Developer Forum in San Jose, CA. Dubbed "ExpressCard", the new standard is "thinner, lighter, faster" than the group's previous PC Card standards, according to PCMCIA chairman Brad Saunders. ExpressCard achieves its space reduction by replacing the legacy parallel buses of the first and second generation PCMCIA card standards with state-of-the-art, high-speed serial connections, following a trend common in current computer system design."

Moggie68 asks: "Always when the big two release new GPU's and graphics cards that reach astounding heights with their benchmark scores, the same heated debate about unfair benchmarking utilities rises again. But what about the flipside of the coin? Would it really be that easy to construct a fair benchmarking utility for GPU's and graphics cards? What facts need to be considered? What problems solved?"

An anonymous reader writes "Sometime this morning (Sept. 19) Telstar 4 had a major onboard failure. I just checked a few minutes ago and there are CW carriers up on 11700 MHz V & 12200 MHz H, so the spacecraft would appear to still be in its orbital slot - just no traffic. The Loral Skynet site has no mention of this yet, but supposedly Telstar 8 was already scheduled to replace T4, so they may just speed the process up. This turn of events will no doubt be of some small concern to Intelsat, who recently agreed to purchase most of Loral's US domestic fleet, including T4."

Noob Jones writes "The Tech Report has an article about a new video card in the works at S3. 'S3 Graphics is back with a new chip, dubbed DeltaChrome, which looks like it might just be strong enough to become a player in the mid-range consumer graphics market.' With a third player back in the graphics market both Nvidia and ATi are going to have things to worry about but this can only spell good news for customers."

venger writes "Anandtech has an article on the new standard of cases and motherboards that is soon to be released. Looks like they are trying to cater for the increase in heat devices are now producing while keeping the noise levels down!" We mentioned BTX earlier.

pcman cuts and pastes: "Amidst the hollowed halls and exhibition floor of the Jacob Javits Center here, one beacon of innovation shone brightly at the TechXNY trade show. At a time when even the show's keynote speakers failed to generate headlines, IBM showed off the might of its design savoir-faire akin to the European assault on the Big Three automakers by German designers and engineer."

FPCat writes "Finally, some one is doing something about one of my pet peeves. It seems a group of people are suing Apple, Dell, Gateway, HP, and others for misleading consumers about hard disk sizes. About time someone spoke up and said '1000 MB != 1 GB'" It's not much of a mystery to anyone who's up on industry practices, but it's similar to the way graphic displays are sized, cereal boxes are filled, and so on. Andy Rooney could have a field day with this one.

CarlBenda writes "MacWorld/UK has some interesting quotes from Jon Rubinstein, senior vice president of Hardware Engineering at Apple concerning the possibility of a G5 powerbook. He's said that a G5 powerbook is "an issue of good, solid engineering" and that "a few years ago, nobody thought it would be possible to get a G4 processor in a PowerBook". Start saving your money."

Bill Koslosky writes "Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal just posted his review of the new Treo. His initial review of the Treo 300 inspired many, including myself, to purchase this PDA/phone device. 'I prefer it to any RIM BlackBerry model I have tested, and it blows away any of the PDA/phones based on Microsoft's Pocket PC operating system.' The Sprint CDMA version should be available in the beginning of October."

Ethelthefrog asks: "My office keyboard recently failed and I am attempting to choose a replacement. Unfortunately, Logitech, who make keyboards with an action I really like, seem to have gone crazy. They have trademarked their worst features: Zero Degree Tilt(tm) means I have to reach uncomfortably far for the number keys and their horrific 'Enhanced Function Keys' means I now need to engage a shift-lock type function just to get at F1-F12. Are there any geek-friendly keyboards out there that combine decent action with just the keys I need to hack and no more?"

TaxSlave writes "Amateur Radio operators in North Carolina and elsewhere in the projected track of Hurricane Isabel are getting ready for action. ARES has been activated in many areas, and hams are recommended to be ready. NC ARES has an information page for the storm and Hurricane Watch Net has a good info page as well. Even outside the major storm area, hams are posted at shelters which are filling up with storm refugees."

CHaN_316 writes "Yahoo is running an article talking about how cell phones from health workers are helping spread dangerous infections in hospitals. 'They found that 12 percent of healthcare providers' cell phones were contaminated with [Acinetobacter baumannii]. The results are disturbing because [it] has the propensity to develop resistance to almost all available antibiotics ... Cell phones provide a large dry surface that allows survival of A. baumannii--it requires no nutrients ... [it] is found in intensive care units, and the mortality rate among infected patients is very high -- between 50 and 60 percent.' The hospital that conducted this research no longer allows the use of cell phones, and are switching to devices that don't require hand contact like pagers." So how long before someone develops a cell phone that can be dunked in alcohol or run through the autoclave to sterilize it?

Thanks to BusinessWire for hosting the press release announcing pre-order availability and new software for the Tapwave Zodiac handheld, following advance news of the Palm-compatible's specs a couple of weeks back. But newly announced as "...coming in January 2004 is 'Duke Nukem Mobile,' which will open a new chapter of Duke's Universe for the mobile-minded gamer", and Tapwave have also hooked up with Sega, so that "several classic Sega Genesis titles will also be available for the Zodiac console in the months ahead." Forbes has an enthusiastic preview of the Zodiac, noting "Bluetooth wireless connectivity" and "its gorgeous screen display" as positives, although quibbling with the "convoluted interface" for Palm software.

cwinterb asks: "A friend of mine and his wife are expecting their first born. My friend is a commercial airline pilot flying all over Europe and frequently spends two or three nights away from home. He already has ADSL (256Kbps up/512 down) and 802.11b in the house, via a Draytek Vigor 2600We (draytek.co.uk). What he wants is a wireless webcam, with a built in server, so that as long as he can get web access he can see his wife and child. Streaming video would be nice but bandwidth and cost rule it out. A good quality static image that updates a few times a minute would be ideal. Audio is not required. A camera that works well in fairly low light conditions would also be a bonus."

xyote writes "A new motherboard form factor was announced at IDF today. See Google News for various press stories on it (how's that for up to date links?). Also, go here for the actual BTX specs."

soliaus writes "Seeing as how Microsoft recently lost the anti-trust lawsuit in California, Lindows has taken charge and is offering people free Lindows-related goodies. Basically, Lindows files a claim on your behalf, they keep the money, and you can get a copy of Lindows; a Click-N-Run subscription; a free PC; or other Lindows goods. More information about filing a claim on your own can be found here." (Note that this only applies if you purchased a computer for use in California.) Other companies will probably come out with their own approach to trading settlement money for goods, too, so if Lindows isn't your choice, waiting is a good idea.