The Lakers-Celtics Rivalry or Celtics-Lakers Rivalry is a rivalry between two of the most storied basketball franchises in National Basketball Association history, the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics. The rivalry has been less intense since the retirements of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird in the early 1990s. The Celtics currently lead in total championships with 16 to the Lakers' 14.
Celtics 98, Lakers 88 (F)
1st five for the lakers
Derek Fisher
Kobe Bryant
Radmanovic
Lamar Odom
Pau Gasol
1st five for the celtics
Rajon Rondo
Ray Allen
Paul Pierce
Kevin Garnett
Perkins
Friday, June 06, 2008
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
AMD rolls out new laptop chip package
SAN JOSE, California - Advanced Micro Devices Inc. rolled out a new package of chips for laptops Wednesday, a major overhaul of its mobile lineup the chip maker hopes will help it climb out of a deep financial trough.
The Sunnyvale-based company, saddled with debt and hurt by product delays, is betting consumers will gravitate toward its new Turion brand processor and related chipset — part of a package that chip makers call a "platform" and sell together — because of their focus on high-definition video playback.
This new generation of Turion laptop chips will appear at launch in twice as many different computers — from Hewlett-Packard Co., Acer Inc., Toshiba Corp. and others — as the previous generation, released two years ago, AMD said.
Chip makers AMD, Intel Corp. and Nvidia Corp. are battling harder over high-end graphics as more people watch movies and television programs on their home computers and as operating systems and Web applications require better visuals.
To that end, AMD's new chips, which were unveiled at the Computex computer show in Taiwan, rely heavily on parts from ATI Technologies, a graphics chip supplier that AMD acquired for $5.6 billion in 2006 to help it challenge Nvidia and much larger Intel.
Intel is the world's No. 1 maker of microprocessors, the brains of personal computers. AMD is a distant No. 2, and with the acquisition of ATI now makes standalone graphics chips. Nvidia is the market leader in standalone graphics chips.
AMD hopes that by infusing its general-purpose chips with more advanced graphics capabilities it can boost their appeal and help the company increase its market share.
AMD has racked up more than $4 billion in losses over the last six quarters as Intel snatched away market share with newer parts and AMD struggled to digest the pricey ATI acquisition.
AMD's new Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core mobile processors, which come in clock speeds up to 2.4 gigahertz, are accompanied by powerful new chipsets, a separate set of chips that do most of the graphics work — absent a standalone graphics chip — and control how the processor communicates with the rest of the computer.
AMD says its chipsets deliver three times better 3-D performance and five times better high-definition image quality than competing models because of the strength of its integrated graphics. AMD also says its chips transmit high-definition videos and photos faster over wireless networks.
The company says demand for its new lineup of laptop chips has been strong. - AP
Davao to be a center for outsourcing companies
MANILA, Philippines - Davao City, the Philippines’ largest urban area in Mindanao, is expected to be a viable alternative information technology hub three years from now, a study said.
In a report, research firm XMG said organizations belonging to the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry are expected to lead the development of the area as a robust technology hub.
Citing a study it conducted between January to March 2008, the company said that outsourcing vendors who participated in the survey are very bullish about Davao City, primarily due to the area’s larger population of untapped qualified resources compared to Cebu City in the Visayas.
The study highlighted that competition in Cebu City is nearing saturation as the talent ramp-up continues.
The study also highlighted the population of Davao City as considerably higher than other Tier-2 offshoring cities globally. In the Philippine context, Davao City’s population is 71% higher than Cebu City, 499% larger than Olongapo-Subic City, 333% higher than the Angeles-Clark area, and 340% larger than Baguio City.
“The city’s estimated workforce is twice of Cebu, 9 times of Subic, and 7 times of Clark, and 6 times of Baguio. This has not even taken to account the manpower pool at the nearby cities and provinces of Davao City," the company said.
According to the study, Davao City has various educational institutions annually yielding a higher number of IT and BPO qualified graduates than Subic, Clark, and Baguio by 689%, 278%, and 40% respectively.
Telecom facilities, transportation networks, and public transport systems are already in place in Davao City, the study said. However, XMG indicated there is a need to further improve and modernize these services.
In addition, the existence of a public transport system in Davao City is noteworthy yet still needs improvement in order to expand locators’ recruitment reach and the transportation of people from various points in and out of the city.
The study said the attractiveness of Davao City is greatly affected by the negative perception about the Mindanao region as a whole.
On February 2008, a travel advisory was released by US Consular Affairs warning their citizens on the risk of traveling in Central, Western, and Southern part of Mindanao due to security and safety reasons, which includes terrorism.
XMG researcher Camille Lumbang said that although these travel warnings are empirically grounded from actual hostile incidents in Mindanao, it should be emphasized that these are only isolated incidents from specific areas.
“There is a challenge then to substantiate and prove that such occurrences do not pose a general security threat for Davao City," she said.
Lumbang admitted, however, “there is a crying need for both the government and private sector to act together in improving the overall image of Davao City to attract ICT locators."
Citing a previous study, XMG said Davao City has been upgraded to a level C2 rating from its previous level D standing as the city emerges as a viable site for captive and outsourcing services.
“While there are still a number of geopolitical, geophysical and infrastructure challenges, the large untapped manpower base in Davao City will give its allure and ‘staying power’ as a viable site in the years to come," Lumbang said
The report continues added: “Potential locators in Davao City must have a heightened awareness and should conduct their own formal and internal risks analysis rather than reacting to headlines about specific regions under consideration such as the problems happening in other parts of Mindanao."
Among the emerging alternative offshoring cities cited in the study were Montevideo in Uruguay, Jakarta in Indonesia, and Casablanca in Morocco. It focused on forecasting the global demand for offshoring and outsourcing services and the site optimization of emerging cities. - GMANews.TV
In a report, research firm XMG said organizations belonging to the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry are expected to lead the development of the area as a robust technology hub.
Citing a study it conducted between January to March 2008, the company said that outsourcing vendors who participated in the survey are very bullish about Davao City, primarily due to the area’s larger population of untapped qualified resources compared to Cebu City in the Visayas.
The study highlighted that competition in Cebu City is nearing saturation as the talent ramp-up continues.
The study also highlighted the population of Davao City as considerably higher than other Tier-2 offshoring cities globally. In the Philippine context, Davao City’s population is 71% higher than Cebu City, 499% larger than Olongapo-Subic City, 333% higher than the Angeles-Clark area, and 340% larger than Baguio City.
“The city’s estimated workforce is twice of Cebu, 9 times of Subic, and 7 times of Clark, and 6 times of Baguio. This has not even taken to account the manpower pool at the nearby cities and provinces of Davao City," the company said.
According to the study, Davao City has various educational institutions annually yielding a higher number of IT and BPO qualified graduates than Subic, Clark, and Baguio by 689%, 278%, and 40% respectively.
Telecom facilities, transportation networks, and public transport systems are already in place in Davao City, the study said. However, XMG indicated there is a need to further improve and modernize these services.
In addition, the existence of a public transport system in Davao City is noteworthy yet still needs improvement in order to expand locators’ recruitment reach and the transportation of people from various points in and out of the city.
The study said the attractiveness of Davao City is greatly affected by the negative perception about the Mindanao region as a whole.
On February 2008, a travel advisory was released by US Consular Affairs warning their citizens on the risk of traveling in Central, Western, and Southern part of Mindanao due to security and safety reasons, which includes terrorism.
XMG researcher Camille Lumbang said that although these travel warnings are empirically grounded from actual hostile incidents in Mindanao, it should be emphasized that these are only isolated incidents from specific areas.
“There is a challenge then to substantiate and prove that such occurrences do not pose a general security threat for Davao City," she said.
Lumbang admitted, however, “there is a crying need for both the government and private sector to act together in improving the overall image of Davao City to attract ICT locators."
Citing a previous study, XMG said Davao City has been upgraded to a level C2 rating from its previous level D standing as the city emerges as a viable site for captive and outsourcing services.
“While there are still a number of geopolitical, geophysical and infrastructure challenges, the large untapped manpower base in Davao City will give its allure and ‘staying power’ as a viable site in the years to come," Lumbang said
The report continues added: “Potential locators in Davao City must have a heightened awareness and should conduct their own formal and internal risks analysis rather than reacting to headlines about specific regions under consideration such as the problems happening in other parts of Mindanao."
Among the emerging alternative offshoring cities cited in the study were Montevideo in Uruguay, Jakarta in Indonesia, and Casablanca in Morocco. It focused on forecasting the global demand for offshoring and outsourcing services and the site optimization of emerging cities. - GMANews.TV
Software company warns against dangerous domains
SAN JOSE, Calif. - When surfing the Internet for safe Web sites, not all domains are equal.
Companies that assign addresses for Web sites appear to be cutting corners on security more when they assign names in certain domains than in others, according to a report to be released Wednesday by antivirus software vendor McAfee Inc.
McAfee found the most dangerous domains to navigate to are “.hk" (Hong Kong), “.cn" (China) and “.info" (information).
Of all “.hk" sites McAfee tested, it flagged 19.2 percent as dangerous or potentially dangerous to visitors; it flagged 11.8 percent of “.cn" sites and 11.7 percent of “.info" sites that way.
A little more than 5 percent of the sites under the “.com" domain—the world’s most popular—were identified as dangerous.
More spammers, malicious code writers and other cybercriminals can establish an online presence when domain name registry businesses cut requirements for registering a site in order to boost their profit and profile. The report does not identify domain name registration companies McAfee believes are responsible for those lapses.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of companies are in the business of registering domain names; some are large and well known, while others are small and less reputable, offering their services on the cheap and with flimsy or no background checks to lure in more customers.
The fact that Internet scam artists gravitate to domain name services with lower fees and fewer requirements isn’t new.
What McAfee’s “Mapping the Mal Web" report, now in its second year, tries to do is identify the domains that are populated with the highest concentration of risky sites.
The servers for “.hk" and “.cn" Web sites don’t have to be in China; Web site operators can register sites from anywhere to target different geographies.
Other risky domains include “.ro" (Romania), with 6.8 percent, and “.ru" (Russia), with 6 percent of sites flagged as dangerous.
Shane Keats, research analyst for McAfee and lead author of the report, said the increase in dangerous sites registered under the “.hk" and “.cn" domains over last year’s report was caused in part by better data collection on McAfee’s part on those domains and by apparent security lapses in some registrar companies’ processes for registering addresses.
“My advice about surfing behavior is that if you’re really desperate for cheap Prozac and the pharmacy ends in ‘.cn,’ don’t do it. Just don’t do it," Keats said. “Find another place to get your Prozac."
Many Internet frauds involve fake sites for pharmaceuticals.
The McAfee report is based on results from 9.9 million Web sites that were tested in 265 domains for serving malicious code, excessive pop-up ads or forms to fill out that actually are tools for harvesting e-mail addresses for sending spam.
Keats said domain name registrars that are strict about authenticating that Web site owners are operating a legitimate business see far fewer malicious Web sites using their services.
Where McAfee found some of the least-risky domain names: “.gov" (government use), with 0.05 percent flagged; “.jp" (Japan), with 0.1 percent flagged and “.au" (Australia), with 0.3 percent flagged. - AP
Companies that assign addresses for Web sites appear to be cutting corners on security more when they assign names in certain domains than in others, according to a report to be released Wednesday by antivirus software vendor McAfee Inc.
McAfee found the most dangerous domains to navigate to are “.hk" (Hong Kong), “.cn" (China) and “.info" (information).
Of all “.hk" sites McAfee tested, it flagged 19.2 percent as dangerous or potentially dangerous to visitors; it flagged 11.8 percent of “.cn" sites and 11.7 percent of “.info" sites that way.
A little more than 5 percent of the sites under the “.com" domain—the world’s most popular—were identified as dangerous.
More spammers, malicious code writers and other cybercriminals can establish an online presence when domain name registry businesses cut requirements for registering a site in order to boost their profit and profile. The report does not identify domain name registration companies McAfee believes are responsible for those lapses.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of companies are in the business of registering domain names; some are large and well known, while others are small and less reputable, offering their services on the cheap and with flimsy or no background checks to lure in more customers.
The fact that Internet scam artists gravitate to domain name services with lower fees and fewer requirements isn’t new.
What McAfee’s “Mapping the Mal Web" report, now in its second year, tries to do is identify the domains that are populated with the highest concentration of risky sites.
The servers for “.hk" and “.cn" Web sites don’t have to be in China; Web site operators can register sites from anywhere to target different geographies.
Other risky domains include “.ro" (Romania), with 6.8 percent, and “.ru" (Russia), with 6 percent of sites flagged as dangerous.
Shane Keats, research analyst for McAfee and lead author of the report, said the increase in dangerous sites registered under the “.hk" and “.cn" domains over last year’s report was caused in part by better data collection on McAfee’s part on those domains and by apparent security lapses in some registrar companies’ processes for registering addresses.
“My advice about surfing behavior is that if you’re really desperate for cheap Prozac and the pharmacy ends in ‘.cn,’ don’t do it. Just don’t do it," Keats said. “Find another place to get your Prozac."
Many Internet frauds involve fake sites for pharmaceuticals.
The McAfee report is based on results from 9.9 million Web sites that were tested in 265 domains for serving malicious code, excessive pop-up ads or forms to fill out that actually are tools for harvesting e-mail addresses for sending spam.
Keats said domain name registrars that are strict about authenticating that Web site owners are operating a legitimate business see far fewer malicious Web sites using their services.
Where McAfee found some of the least-risky domain names: “.gov" (government use), with 0.05 percent flagged; “.jp" (Japan), with 0.1 percent flagged and “.au" (Australia), with 0.3 percent flagged. - AP
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