cougar

How long is the wait for new PCs and Macs packing fixed versions of Intel's latest and greatest silicon? That question has PC makers, not to mention performance junkies, on tenterhooks.

Update: Note that Intel updated the shipment status on Monday after this article was posted.

Intel announced on January 31 that it had stopped shipments of the "Cougar Point" chipset that accompanies its second-generation Intel Core ("Sandy Bridge") processor owing to a flaw that can affect access to a hard-disk drive, optical drive, or other device that connects to a computer using SATA technology. … Read more

If you want to creep past this new security bot, you'd better be good at holding your breath.

TiaLinx's new Cougar20-H is a lightweight, remote-controlled surveillance robot that can detect human breathing and scan through concrete walls with its ultra-wideband radio frequency sensor array.

The Cougar20-H moves around on tracks and can roll up to a building, extend its arm, and start scanning through the wall with its RF array, developed with funding from the U.S. Army.

Operated from a laptop that can be more than 300 feet away, the robot can scan through reinforced concrete by detecting reflected radio waves. It can find people who are moving or even keeping still, so the operator can see them in real time. … Read more

Hewlett-Packard announced today that customers can return products that use Intel's faulty Sandy Bridge chipset, following a similar announcement yesterday from Dell.

Intel said Monday that it had stopped shipments of the chipset that accompanies its Second-Generation Intel Core ("Sandy Bridge") processor due to a flaw that can affect access to a hard-disk drive, optical drive, or other device that connects to a computer using SATA technology.

Customers can "return their affected product and choose a comparable product or receive a refund," HP said today in a statement. The world's largest PC maker repeated … Read more

The flaw Intel disclosed today in its Sandy Bridge chipset was caught early in the rollout of the company's new processor, so there aren't large numbers of systems in customers' hands. But the buyer beware caveat applies, as always.

Officially launched at this year's CES, Sandy Bridge--or "Second Generation Intel Core Processor"--is the first mainstream Intel chip to integrate graphics silicon directly onto the processor. It is also the first chip line based fully on Intel's leading-edge 32-nanometer manufacturing process. These two features allow Intel to offer a power-efficient processor with improved multimedia … Read more

Pucker up! The 404 Podcast cordially invites you to help us celebrate Kiss An Asian Day! Wilson and I are clearly delighted with this extremely made-up holiday, whereas Jeff couldn't be stuck in a more compromising position. Yesterday also happened to be International Talk Like William Shatner Day, so the first story in today's rundown is about his new social network that is aimed at sci-fi nerds. Myouterspace.com is still in beta (Shatner's Twitter is apparently taking suggestions), but the site promises to be "a sci-fi social network for those with a passion for the arts." In my best Shatner voice: that...sounds...very...lame.

Today, Nintendo announced the next generation of its popular DS portable gaming platform, and, of course, it's in 3D. The Nintendo 3DS will officially see a release at this year's E3 conference in June, but so far we know that the device will be backward compatible with DS and DSi games and won't require you wear special goggles for 3D gameplay. Here's hoping that the 3DS will be a little more fun than Nintendo's first foray into 3D gaming.

CNET audio expert Steve Guttenberg stops by on the second half to pimp his ongoing contest, "The Audiophillie Music Awards for Excellence in Recorded Sound." Keep in mind that this is not "American Idol," so entries won't be judged by musical talent, but rather on the quality of the recording itself. This is your chance to prove your recording skills and promote your favorite unsigned band, so submit your entry on a CD and you'll be entered to win one of six pairs of Monster Turbine Copper or Monster Turbine Gold in-ear headphones!

Click here for official rules and an entry form (must complete and send along with CD). The contest ends on April 17, so good luck, everyone!

For the second time in two days, there are reports that a cougar has been on the prowl near Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond.

The sightings were enough to prompt Microsoft to send out a note on Friday letting its employees know what they should do if they encounter one of the cats, which are also known as mountain lions.

"Never approach a cougar," Microsoft said in the memo, which was earlier posted on Seattle-area Web site TechFlash. "Although cougars will normally avoid a confrontation, all cougars are unpredictable. Cougars feeding on a kill may be dangerous.&… Read more

Alison Rosen is back on the program today, and no, she's not really shrinking. That said, she is mystified by Craigslist missed connections, so we debate about what sort of scenario would lend itself to the use of the site's bizarre feature.

Next stop, Cougarville--better known as San Fransisco--where we investigate a disturbing new expo: The National Single Cougars Convention. Should cougars be given their own convention or should they be hunted in public, the natural way?

Finally, it seems we're just never going to get rid of Autotune. Especially now that the new T-Pain Autotune iPhone app makes robot voice manipulation so easy--as if it wasn't to begin with.

We've got all this and more on today's 404. Enjoy the weekend! (No show on Monday).

Check out Alison's blog or The Daily Alison.

Don't take my word for it that the major labels and the system that propped them up for so many years are dead. John Mellencamp, who sang a string of rock hits back in the 1980s and '90s, thinks the business is dead as well. In an articulate and passionate essay on the Huffington Post, he argues that the long slide started well before the rise of file sharing, back to when the business started relying on SoundScan and Broadcast Data Systems (BDS).

With SoundScan, instead of relying on surveys from record stores, the labels could see exactly how … Read more

There wasn't a ton of news out of day 2 of Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference, but the company did announce a few product milestones.

Its small and midsize business server products have both hit the near-final "release candidate" stage. Windows Essential Business Server 2008 (formerly code-named Centro) and Small Business Server 2008 (nee Cougar) are scheduled to launch and be fully available on November 12.

Microsoft also said its recently completed Hyper-V virtualization hypervisor is now available via Windows Update, as expected. The product had been available since late last month, but only as a manual … Read more