Day: March 13, 2003

CNet:

A new proposal from a group led by IBM and Microsoft could conflict with an earlier plan for reliable Web services messaging.

A few notable Slashdot articles today:

Mozilla 1.3 has shipped.  Grab it here.

Mandrake will release Corporate Server 2.1 (based on Mandrake 9) with x86-64 support.  The press release is here.

Also, Red Hat announced several enterprise-level operating systems, including AS (advanced server), ES (entry level), and WS (workstation).

Long story, but I’m not feeling too well today.  Hopefully things will improve.

Scott announced the official launch of feedster, the RSS search engine formerly known as Roogle.

I miss the voyeur tab, though I’m sure it screamed for abuse.  I’d be really interested in a periodic summary of metadata ala the Google Zeitgeist, as I’m still curious about what people are searching for and how much data from RSS feeds are being indexed.

CNet:

The chipmaker on Thursday announced a new matrix of model numbers for its forthcoming 64-bit chips for workstations and servers. Instead of using a four-digit model number, similar to the scheme for its Athlon XP processor for PCs, the company chose to identify the new chips with a three-digit model number–resulting in models such as the AMD Opteron 140 Series–as a way to depict each particular chip’s capabilities.

Dude, does your box have a Hemi?

Roger got me interested in BitTorrent this evening.  I was curious about the anatomy of a .torrent file, so I dug into bencode.py from the BitTorrent source distro.  It’s all in python (with wxPython for GUI), so I felt pretty comefortable.  I put together a tiny little script that pretty much uses bencode to grab a .torrent file, analyze it, and print it to the screen:

C:/py/torrent>python btinfo.py http://www.turok.info/bt/a.u.s.a.s01e06.walters.first.law.suit-ftv.torrent
Connecting to http://www.turok.info/bt/a.u.s.a.s01e06.walters.first.law.suit-ftv.torrent
Announce: http://tracker.powerpuffgrrlz.com:9696/announce
Name: a.u.s.a.s01e06.walters.first.law.suit-ftv
Piece length: 262144
File Info:
 Path: ['AUSA-1x06_-_get_the_latest_episodes.txt']
 Length: 342
 Path: ['a.u.s.a.s01e06.walters.first.law.suit-ftv.mpg']
 Length: 220427748

Here’s btinfo.py, released under the MIT license, which is the same license as BitTorrent itself.  It requires bencode.py from the source distro to be in the same directory as btinfo.  It’s a few dozen lines of code and is dumb simple to use:

Usage: C:/py/torrentbtinfo.py url.
Example: C:/py/torrent/btinfo.py http://url.com/file.torrent

I’m planning to play around with BitTorrent a little more in the future, stay tuned.

Steve Makofsky:

Could it be? A PC manufacturer designed a cool looking laptop, with all the bells and whistles? A Powerbook-like laptop for PC users!? Check out the new Sony Z1 laptop:

Based on Intel Centrino, 1.3ghz
4.7 lbs, 40gig, 256MB-1024MB RAM
14.1″ screen at 1400×1050!!!
Slim built in CDRW/DVD
Built in 802.11b, 10/100BT Network, Modem
Built in VGA connector
PC Card slot, 1394, USB 2.0
6 hr battery life (12hrs w/ double capacity battery)

The Sony Japan site indicates it has Bluetooth aswell. There’s even a teaser video now available.

Im drooling. I think I just found my next laptop.

I caught some teasage the other day, but it’s nice to see some specs.  It’s also nice to finally see ultralight ultrathin notebooks that don’t run Pentium III 800’s.

Slashdot:

AMD now offers three categories of processor for notebooks grouped under the Athlon XP-M brand. It labels them “desktop replacement,” “standard,” and the new “low-voltage”. AMD plans to make a desktop replacement in the notebook computer market using the Barton Core, a technology designed to double the CPU Cache.