T
he Intelliscanner Mini lets you scan the bar
codes on just about anything in your home andthen upload that information to a database program.
While keeping an up-to-date spice list on your rig
is of little value, media hounds will fi nd the device
provides an easy way to track book, CD, and DVD
purchases—the device even automatically logs cover
art and a variety of release information in the data-
base. $300, http://www.intelliscanner.com
Bookin’ to
the Future
Like the record companies
before them, book publish-
ers are now finally embrac-
ing the Internet as a neces-
sary component of doing
business in the digital age.
Random House is clearly
taking its cues from the music
labels with its new single-
chapter download model,
currently in use with only one
title. For $2.99 per chapter, you
can download just the parts
of the book you’re interested
in—a model that’s obviously
suited for only certain types of
nonfi ction.
HarperCollins, on the
other hand, is offering entire
books online for free—
although, they must be read
from within the HarperCollins
website. At the time of this
writing, several titles were
available as part of the Full
Access program, including
New York Times bestsellers
The Witch of Portobello by
Paulo Coelho and American
Gods by Neil Gaiman. The
latter came about after fans
of the author’s blog (www.
neilgaiman.com) voted that
book the one they would most
like to give to a friend who
was unfamiliar with Gaiman’s
work. For all of Harper’s other
titles, website visitors can
peruse up to 20 percent of a
book’s contents.
Harper’s enticement
model is one that was forged
several years ago by Boing
Boing editor and sci-fi author
Cory Doctorow, who has
made electronic copies of his
books available for free under
Creative Commons licenses,
knowing that a percentage of
downloaders will be tempted
to buy the print edition. The
model has proven success-
ful enough that Doctorow’s
publisher, Tor Books, is now
offering free digital down-
loads of some of its other
authors’ work.Intelliscanner Mini
Wikileaks Back Online
Judge reverses prior order to shut down
whistleblower siteU.S. District Judge Jeffrey White recently reversed his
own decision that forced domain registrar Dynadot to take
Wikileaks.org, a website for whistleblowers, offl ine. The site
contains more than 1 million documents posted by indi-
viduals wishing to call out unethical behavior by both busi-
nesses and governments.
Attorneys representing Swiss bank Julius Baer and Co.
argued that the site had posted fraudulent documents
that described the bank as engaging in money launder-
ing and tax fraud; however, free-speech groups countered
that taking down the site constituted prior restraint, and
this seemed to sway the judge to reverse course. The
short-lived shutdown notice, in reality, did little more than
increase traffi c to Wikileaks, which remained accessible via
mirror sites as well as its IP address.
Have you become privy to corporate malfeasance?
Anonymously spill the beans at Wikileaks.http://www.maximumpc.com | MAYMAYMAY 08 08 | MAMAMAXIMXIMXIMXIMUUUUMMPPPCC 09
T
hese are exciting times for mobile PCs. A new
category of sub-$500 subnotebook computers
is emerging, inspired by last year’s Asus Eee PC
(see March column) and the Everex Cloudbook. By
the end of this year, you’ll find a dozen or more dif-
ferent models of teeny-weeny PCs in stores. Some
prices will fall below $300.
As I wrote last month, Intel and VIA Technologies
are introducing new low-power x86 processors for
these systems. In affluent markets, Intel and VIA
hope their OEM customers will sell these new PCs
to people who already own a regular desktop PC
and perhaps a regular notebook as well. In develop-
ing markets, the targets are first-time buyers. Intel
nicknamed the subnotebook computers “netbooks,”
emphasizing their built-in wireless Internet connec-
tivity. Even smaller are handheld computers called
MIDs (mobile Internet devices).
VIA’s Isaiah processor is definitely a contender
in this game. It’s a completely new x86 design
from VIA’s Texas-based Centaur subsidiary. To
some degree—although VIA doesn’t welcome the
comparison—Isaiah will compete with Intel’s new
Silverthorne processor, recently named Atom, which
I’ll talk about next month.
In recent weeks, I have carefully analyzed
Isaiah. Unlike VIA’s Centaur C7 series, Isaiah is a
full-featured 64-bit x86 processor with three-way
superscalar pipelines, out-of-order instruction
processing, speculative execution, the latest virtual-
ization extensions, strong multimedia performance,
and a fast FPU. Isaiah can deliver two to four times
more throughput than the C7-M when running at
the same clock frequency.
Although Isaiah still isn’t as fast as Intel’s
Core 2 processors, it consumes much less power.
Remarkably, Isaiah holds the line on power, relative
to the C7-M. Initially, Isaiah will draw only about
3.5W at 1GHz or 6W at 1.5GHz. Those specs are
worst-case thermal design power (TDP)—typical
power consumption is lower. The initial version of
Isaiah can reach 2GHz, but power rises to 16W.
Ultralow-voltage versions will consume only about
5W TDP at 1.2GHz.
Isaiah is more power-hungry than Intel’s Atom,
but early benchmarks suggest it’s faster. Both chips
should thrive in subnotebooks. Soon we’ll have our
choice of affordable PCs small and light enough
to fit comfortably in a backpack or airline carry-on
bag without displacing other stuff—and with longer
battery life, too.Tom Halfhill was formerly a senior editor for Byte magazine
and is now an analyst for Microprocessor Report.VIA’s New
Isaiah
Processor
FAST FORWARD
TOM
HALFHILL&