Expectations for the Efficeon are certainly high, and that means there could be some very long-batterylife notebooks just in time for the holidays - but we still have to wait and see. If you'd like a little more information about this new processor, please check out my TechWatch column in the Newsletter today.

Up next, PCstats has put together a very important Guide to Encryption and Online Privacy that I'm recommending you read this week. If you'd like to see other PCStats Guides, a quick listing is on the Articles and Reviews page.

Elsewhere in the Newsletter we have a look at some fast PC4300 DDR from a company called Buffalo Technology, and a review of Gigabyte's i875P "Canterwood" 8KNXP motherboard for the performance users in the crowd. This motherboard really impressed us, so I'm sure you'll find the review an interesting read. Now, on the topic of videocard newcomer XGI Volari. If you haven't yet heard of them, then pay close attention. Chris has a few rather interesting things to say about XGI's dual-GPU videocards in the face of nVidia's NV40, and ATI's newest RV420 GPU's. Check it out in this weeks BRAND NEW Industry Insights column over to the right. Before I sign off for this week... scroll down to Colin's Weekly Tech Tip, it's a really good one!

TechWatch Remember Transmeta? The little chip manufacturer which made a lot of noise a year or so back, producing a series of mobile processors under the Crusoe brand name? Well if you're an early adopter, or like me and have been watching DVD's on those long intercontinental flights with a Crusoe TM5800-based notebook, you've been looking forward to Transmeta's next generation CPU, code-named "Astro." On October 14th, Transmeta unveiled the TM8000 "Astro" processor under the new name of Efficeon - alluding to the companies focus on power efficiency. The Efficeon processor is a vastly different chip from the old Crusoe family which were power efficient, but not very powerful against comparably paced Intel processors. The Transmeta Efficeon processor boasts three new on-chip bus interfaces that make it easy to draw some parallels with the Athlon64 processor. Namely - HyperTransport, a DDR-400 memory controller and most uniquely, a built-in AGP-4X graphics interface. The TM8600 Efficeon contains 1MB of L2 cache, and will initially be built on 0.13micron silicon before migrating to 0.09micron in Q2 of 2004. Initial clock speeds are set for 1.0-1.3GHz, with 2.0GHz expected in the next 6 months. While the Crusoe was a 128bit VLIW CPU, the new Efficeon is based on a 256-bit VLIW instruction set, which basically means it crunches 8 32-bit instructions per clock instead of 4. The chip also comes with a full compliment of instructions such as MMX, SSE and SSE2 thanks to the new Efficeon Code Morphing Software (CMS). Long Run power management will be packaged along with the processor at this time, but in the coming months, we can expect to see Long Run2 introduced. Transmeta's new LongRun2 is a major advancement because it is able to control transistor leakage through software, while the CPU is running. Transistor leakage is a fairly complicated topic that we won't go into, but ultimately, controlling it makes the CPU even more power efficient. Cool technology indeed, and all for around $100 in volume quantities. Expect Efficeon-based notebook announcements from the likes of HP, Sharp and Fujitsu in the coming weeks, or see www.efficeon.com for more info.

Beginners Guides: Encryption and Online Privacy

As on-line shopping becomes more and more an accepted part of our economy, it seems obvious that their would be a concurrent increase in the frequency of computer related crimes such as fraudulent on-line marketing sites and identity theft, and, to a certain degree there has been. While the comparison of online shopping to regular business works well enough on some levels, the fact is that computers, for all their advantages, add several new security and privacy concerns that everyone who uses them should be aware of. This article aims to cover the basics of online security, including a description of the methods online stores use to protect themselves and their customers. Continue -- Click Here>>

Gigabyte GA-8KNXP i875P Motherboard Review

Aside from Microsoft, Intel is the only other company that can dictate market trends and the direction and pace at which the industry moves. When Intel first released the Pentium 4 processor two years ago, it said right from the beginning that the processor had to ramp up to high speeds before its true potential could be realized. Today we're going to be testing Gigabyte's flagship Intel motherboard, the GA-8KNXP. The GA-8KNXP is based on the i875P chipset and the board has native support for Serial ATA/Serial ATA RAID, Ultra/133 RAID, IEEE 1394, CSA Intel Gigabit LAN, and 5.1 audio. For extra measure, and to improve reliability the board uses something called DPS2 (Dual Power System) which clips into the board in a special slot adjacent to the IO panel. Continue -- Click Here>>

Buffalo Technology PC4300 DDR533 Memory Review

With the release of Intel's 800 MHz FSB processors, and accompanying motherboards, the enthusiast market has boomed as consumers have rushed out to buy newer, faster components. For enthusiasts, the name of the game is change, and if they don't adopt new technology they could be missing out on the full potential of their existing hardware. Buffalo Technology is not as familiar a memory brand as say Corsair, or Crucial, yet the company has been quietly creating a following for itself. That following amongst enthusiasts has largely been driven by Buffalo's high speed memory. Buffalo Technology have produced some very versatile and fast memory DIMMs with the one thing that every consumer is looking for; competitive prices. Continue -- Click Here>>