Tech News December 2005

NewsDec 31, 2005June 29, 20140

Looking Ahead to CES, the Show I Love to Hate
Designtechnica :: Saturday, December 31, 2005
“The annual CES, the US Consumer Electronics Show, is a treat beyond compare; it provides a way to see a massive number of cool products (unfortunately for someone like me, who loves to buy this stuff and has no patience, resulting in a massive level of frustration). Every year I miss more than I see, and in my mad rush to see as much as possible I generally find the week to be a time of blisters, muscle pain, and deep longing for things I cannot yet have. My wife has learned a defense mechanism that takes effect as soon as I return; the more excited I am, the more creative she is in hiding my credit cards. This is one incredibly wonderful and expensive show.

In a week or so, I’ll share with you what I saw at the show; for now, let’s talk about what I expect to see. I actually have a relatively good idea in some areas because analysts are pre-briefed under double, super-secret NDAs, which gives me a view few others are lucky enough to get. ”

Customizing Fedora 4 @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Saturday, December 31, 2005
Summary: “With the number of fresh Linux installs we perform on a weekly basis with a variety of hardware, simply using the stock install CDs have become a sizable task due to the number of FOSS updates available on a daily basis. In fact, alone on Red Hat’s servers and mirrors are over 839 updates just for the FC4 i386 architecture! Although the Red Hat Up2date process is relatively easy to perform the process can be quite time consuming even with an Up2date server running on the LAN. To fix the updating issue, as well as to provide a few other Phoronix additions, we have begun to re-master the Fedora Core 4 (Stentz) build. We share a few steps to the re-mastering process today in this guide.”

FCC to Reverse Decision Regarding À la carte Cable Pricing
Designtechnica :: Saturday, December 31, 2005
“As most readers are now aware, the FCC is about to issue (or reissue) a report stating that cable companies should offer à la carte pricing to their customers instead of force-feeding them prepackaged tiers. According to the FCC, consumers should have the ability to select and pay for only the channels they want to watch, versus having to pay for bundles or “tiers” comprised of many channels they never view.

The FCC stated that the agency’s latest research concludes that “…à la carte could be in the best interest of consumers” as well as being “economically feasible.” This runs counter to last year’s FCC report which found that à la carte pricing would result in substantial price increases for consumers and negatively impact the cable TV industry.”

Titan Eagle Universal VGA Cooler @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Saturday, December 31, 2005

Quote: “Titan is a relative newcomer to the cooling business, but from what I have seen they are a rising star. They produce quality products that not only look good but perform good as well. It seems everyone is coming up with aftermarket cooling solutions for today’s high end video cards, and everyone is trying to lure customers with some sort of attractive packaging. Recently I reviewed the Evercool Nighthawk VGA cooler, its cover was in the shape of a Stealth Airplane. Today for review I have the Titan Eagle Universal VGA cooler, as the name suggests it has an eagle theme to it. It might look good but does it perform? Let’s find out…”

Compact Flash Card Round-Up
The Tech Lounge :: Saturday, December 31, 2005
“I’d like to answer one question that I think many amateur and even some professional photographers have. What kind of performance can you expect in a real-world situation from various Compact Flash (CF) cards? The reason this issue is important is that the price varies for CF cards of different brands and speed ratings. I will attempt to find out what benefit higher-speed CF cards actually have under various circumstances, and going a step further, I will find out if there is any bottleneck incurred when transferring data via card readers or directly from cameras. I have rounded up 8 CF cards from various vendors with various speed-ratings, as well as 4 different card readers, and I’m ready to put them through their paces.”

Vantec Vortex2 HDD Cooler Review #632:
3dgameman :: Saturday, December 31, 2005

This Hard Drive Cooling System does actually work! Some hard drive cooling solutions do not really accomplish much in the way of keeping a hard drive cool. Many have small fans that do next to nothing. The reason why this one does work very well is because of the cross-flow blower fan. This fan pushes enough air across the hard drive to prevent overheating. Overheating is very dangerous for a hard drive and can result in system instability, data loss or worse. It’s very important to keep current hard drives cool, especially SCSI hard drives… ~3dGameMan.com

Enermax Liberty 400W PSU review @ DH
Driver Heaven :: Saturday, December 31, 2005

“We’ve looked at numerous supplies here in the past and on the whole they have all been high specification units and those generally come at an equally high price. It goes without saying not everyone has a huge budget to work with; however stability is still an important factor. So today we are going to look at Enermax’s mainstream model which comes in at 400w. Enermax are not a company known for skimping on quality so we should be in for a treat at a very reasonable price.”

Wacom Graphire4 4×5 Tablet Review @ WindowsAtoZ.com
Windows A to Z :: Saturday, December 31, 2005
“Have you ever tried to draw something with your mouse and have it turning out like something totally different? Well that’s because with a mouse, you cannot get coordinated enough to draw something as neat as you would with a normal pen and paper. So companies, like Wacom, have come up with a digital tablet that uses a pen-like stylus to “draw” on a digital surface and it acts like a mouse so you can have more coordination to draw and do things like that.”

WiFi Vs. WiMAX @ The TechZone
The Tech Zone :: Saturday, December 31, 2005
QOS (Quality of Service) is an major issue with WiMax because of the number of people accessing a tower at once. Some would think that a tower could be easily overloaded with a lot of people accessing it at once. Built into the WiMax standard is an algorithm that when the tower/base station is nearing capacity then it automatically will transfer the user to another WiMax tower or cell. Unlike a Wifi clients who have to kind of fight to stay associated with a given access point; WiMax will only have to perform this hand shake at the MAC level the first time they access the network.

[Phoronix] Mobile HDD Cache Comparison
Phoronix :: Saturday, December 31, 2005
Summary: “In an effort to gain a larger mobile penguin presence we have numerous notebook related articles under works and our first to deliver is a mobile cache comparison examining the benefits of an increased ATA-6 cache size, which is one of the ways to seek an increased performance over a HDD speed increase with the downfalls of that being an excessive amount of heat along with being noisy and wearing down the battery life. Just how well does the standard 8MB compare to 16MB on the Pentium M front?”

XSPC X2O Performance PC Water Cooling Kit Review
MODTHEBOX! :: Saturday, December 31, 2005

“With the bolts installed we can test the fit of the water block and mounting plate. With no obstacles in the way, you can easily use the configuration illustrated on the left. If large tall standing capacitors are in the way XSPC includes a mounting ring which elevates the mounting plate an extra 6mm away from the motherboard. This is a very thoughtful innovation and adds to the universal compatibility of this system.”

ECS PF88 Extreme @ techPowerUp!
techPowerUp! :: Saturday, December 31, 2005
The ECS PF88 Extreme is a unique motherboard. Its SIS 656 chipset offers users the possibility to purchase CPU add-in cards, called SIMA cards which allow to run a completely different CPU architecture on the motherboard. At the moment SIMA cards are available for Intel Pentium M Socket 479, AMD Socket 754 and AMD Socket 939. Together with the on-board Socket LGA 775 this means that you can run any mainstream CPU available today. However, there are a few BIOS bugs, one allowed us to get a POST screenshot at 6750 MHz.

GAIM v2.0.0 BETA 1 @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Saturday, December 31, 2005
Summary: “GAIM, the popular open-source multi-protocol multi-platform instant messaging client, has finally released its initial BETA for the upcoming v2.0.0. Since the GAIM v1.5.0 release, the developers have dedicated their time and efforts on version two and their strenuous work is definitely visible in the latest BETA. In GAIM v2.0.0 BETA 1 there are improvements with everything from status drop-down menu to improved plug-ins.”

Tt Kandalf Enhanced Aluminum chassis review @ DH
Driver Heaven :: Saturday, December 31, 2005

“It’s time to look at the Thermaltake Kandalf Enhanced Aluminum Chassis Series, in the form of the VA9000 series aluminum chassis identified as the VA9000 SWA. You’ll never lack for storage space with the Kandalf chassis or complain about cramped quarters. The versatility and cooling options abound with this particular product, which will be discussed in more detail below.”

Enermax Liberty 400w PSU (Modular)
Driver Heaven :: Saturday, December 31, 2005
We’ve looked at numerous supplies here in the past and on the whole they have all been high specification units and those generally come at an equally high price. It goes without saying not everyone has a huge budget to work with, however stability is still an important factor. So today we are going to look at Enermax?s mainstream model which comes in at 400w. Enermax are not a company known for skimping on quality so we should be in for a treat at a very reasonable price.

The Thumb Drive RAID Experiment
Big Bruin :: Saturday, December 31, 2005

Quote: The idea of a thumb drive RAID array might not be practical for every day needs, but it is a novel idea that could be of benefit to some people. For one, owners of mini-ITX systems that boot from a flash drive might be interested in the sizable speed burst a RAID 0 array could provide… In the end, results were achieved that showed great promise for thumb drive RAID arrays.

Valves Editors Day
Driver Heaven :: Saturday, December 31, 2005
“Jason Mitchell spent 8 years working for ATI, where he headed up the 3D Application Research Group. He is now utilizing his 3D graphics hardware wizardry on new projects at Valve. Gabe Newell who is the Founder and Managing Director of Valve, made several poignant points during the presentation. Doug Lombardi, Director of Marketing also made appropriate references and helped bring the whole gathering together with the help of able assistant Ms. Kathy Gehrig.”

Enermax Laureate EB305C 3.5” External HDD Enclosure @ SystemCooling
SystemCooling :: Saturday, December 31, 2005

snip: “Enermax currently offers three different external drive enclosures with USB 2.0 connectivity that provide support for 2.5” HDD’s, 3.5” HDD’s, and 5.25” optical drives. The new Enermax Laureate series EB305C features an attractive aluminum case and mounts one 3.5” HDD with support for both PATA/IDE and SATA interfaces.”

Silverstone SST-LC10B HTPC Case @ Viperlair
ViperLair :: Saturday, December 31, 2005
A beige box simply won’t do if you’re building a HTPC. We look at a solution from Silverstone that certainly has the form, but does it have the function?

“We think the Silverstone Lascala SST-LC10B definitely has the right look to go with the rest of your living room A/V components. Putting everything together is quite easy, but upgrading the PC afterwards is a little more tedious than it needs to be.”

OCZ PC-4000 Gold Gamer eXtreme XTC DDR Memory Kit Pictorial Review!
Tech ARP :: Saturday, December 31, 2005

Quote – “Want a large and fast memory kit for your system? The new OCZ PC-4000 Gold Gamer eXtreme XTC might be just what you are looking for.

Sporting the new XTC heatspreader and double the memory capacity of usual OCZ memory kits, the PC-4000 Gold GX XTC is an interesting new subject for us to investigate.”

[News] Logitech Cordless Desktop MX5000 Review @ Virtual-Hideout
Virtual-Hideout :: Saturday, December 31, 2005

” The many extra features offered, such as the LCD, touch-sensitive controls and rechargeable mouse, complement a comfortable setup, one that not only looks great but performs well too. The keyboard and mouse work as well as any corded counterpart, but have the benefit of freedom of movement.”

PimpRig Review // Vantec Nexstar GX External Hard Drive Enclosure
PimpRig :: Saturday, December 31, 2005
“Although it may look like aluminum the enclosure is made primarily of a sturdy gray plastic. The hard drive cage however is aluminum and acts as a very effective passive heat sink. The fins on the bottom of the cage radiate heat to the outside of the enclosure. When mounted properly, the cage fits snuggly on a hard drive insuring good heat transfer.”

ED#29 : Seagate Speaks About Maxtor Posted!
Tech ARP :: Saturday, December 31, 2005

Quote – ” By the end of 2006, Maxtor becomes part of Seagate. What does this mean to us? More choices? Fewer choices? Higher or lower prices?

What about current Maxtor customers or Maxtor employees? How are they affected? Let’s find out! ”

Coolermaster Centurion 5 Review
PC Mechanic :: Saturday, December 31, 2005
Let’s face it, the days of the plain-jane beige computer case are long gone. Over the last several years, modding has gained immense popularity in the power user community, resulting in a slew of new cases and styles to come into the market. While adding windows and lighting were one of the major additions to ordinary beige cases, colors have changed widely as well.

HEXUS.reviews :: Rockdirect Xtreme 64 4800+ DTR
Hexus :: Saturday, December 31, 2005

The last six months has given Rock the time to engineer an even faster laptop, replete with a dual-core AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ processor and twin 100GB 7,200RPM hard drives. Sounds like just the thing for you? Read on to see if it’s as good as it appears to be on paper.

Thermaltake Swing Midtower Case Review
OCIA :: Saturday, December 31, 2005

“The Swing comes outfitted with this Thermaltake 120mm exhaust fan, held in place by a plastic bracket. The case is also predrilled with mounting holes for 120mm and 92mm fans in case you wanted to change this one out.”

Thermaltake SI-120 Heatsink @ Pro-Clockers
Pro-Clockers :: Saturday, December 31, 2005
Quote: Thermalright have been making quality heatsinks for awhile now and usually lead the pack with new innovations to make the humble PC users’ life easier. Today we test the SI-120 from their latest line of ‘Light ‘n’ Easy’ products. Weighing in at 400g, it certainly is light, but is it easy?

Self Destructive SMS: What’s the Point? @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Saturday, December 31, 2005
“If there were one phenomenon besides e-mail that revolutionized communication, it would have to be SMS (text messaging). The sheer convenience apart, the technology has taught the art of saying what you want in 160 characters to the entire world.”

News Flash – Datacolor SpyderTV Color Calibration Device Review
Futurelooks :: Saturday, December 31, 2005
Now you don’t have to be afraid to change those picture settings for your TV. You might even discover what the TINT setting does! Check out this device for getting those colours JUST right on your TV.

Nero 7 Ultra Edition @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Thursday, December 29, 2005

Quote: “Let’s face it, the majority of people who own a computer also burn CDs or DVDs in some fashion or another. There are many reasons to burn CDs, and there are many programs out there that can help you with that process. One of my all time favorite software suites is Nero, I have used it as long as I have owned a burner. Nero is pretty much world known for their software, and very much established as the leader in utilities for burning or creating CDs and DVDs. If you are like me then you have a few copies of Nero lying around that came packaged with the CD/DVD burners you have purchased, almost every burner bought today comes packaged with a short version of Nero, it works great but just doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of the full featured version. Today for review I have Nero 7 Ultra Edition, the latest version from Nero AG. Honestly I’ve never owned the full version of Nero, I was always satisfied with the ‘bundled’ versions that came with my burners, and I never realized just what I was missing till now.”

[Designtechnica News] Complete Regional Weather Station with MSN Direct Weather Data Service
Designtechnica :: Thursday, December 29, 2005
“Oregon Scientific’s Complete Regional Weather Station draws upon the MSN Direct service, first used to deliver news and information to SPOT watches, to get weather information via FM radio waves. No weather sensors are used by the device, as is common with other weather station style products. Instead, a variety of weather information is delivered every two minutes in the top one hundred U.S. and Canadian metropolitan areas via data from The Weather Channel.

The weather information delivered is extremely comprehensive, covering three day weather forecast and description, temperature and humidity with trend indicator, precipitation chance, wind direction, wind speed, gust wind, wind chill, dew point temperature, heat index, UV index, EPA air-quality reading, rain level with last 24 hours of history, sunrise and sunset times, moon phase and NWS weather warnings, watches and advisories. ”

News: Valve dabbles in cinematic effects
The Tech Report :: Thursday, December 29, 2005
LAST WEEK, VALVE INVITED members of the technology press to its offices in Bellevue in order to show off a collection of cinematic effects that have been added to the Source engine. The effects, which include color correction, film grain, motion blur, and depth of field, are all designed to deepen immersion and imply greater scene complexity while making life easier for game designers, artists, and even mod authors. All the effects are showcased in a recently released Day of Defeat trailer that was created entirely in the Source engine with in-game assets. Some effects will even make their way into Day of Defeat: Source and the Half-Life 2: Aftermath expansion pack. Here’s our take on what these new effects can do, how they’re implemented in the Source engine, and why they may drive the development of the next generation of graphics hardware.

Talk Back: “Played Out”
Designtechnica :: Thursday, December 29, 2005
“Some people claim you can never have too much of a good thing. To these individuals, I humbly offer the following retort: Jason X, Survivor: Season 11, any major software title released for PC or console platforms in the last month…

You see, it’s ironic: January through September, we gamers essentially twiddle our joysticks, patiently waiting for releases of note, generally few and far between. Then October rolls around, and suddenly, after going half the year ignoring one Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh! spin-off after another, it’s open season on blockbusters.

Within the space of 12 weeks, more titles – roughly 1000, if you’re counting handheld, plug-n-play and mobile phone software too – are released than in the entire previous nine months combined.”

Sicuro DEC-900 Cardbus TV Tuner with FM Radio @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Thursday, December 29, 2005

Quote: “Home theater PCs are very popular these days, being able to use your PC to listen to the radio, watch movies, watch TV, record TV etc is something that more and more people are doing. What happens when you are on the road traveling with your laptop computer? Or maybe you only own a laptop. Finally a company has come up with a solution for you the laptop owner, Sicuro has developed a PCMCIA card that plugs into your laptop that allows you to do almost everything you can do on your home theater system, but it is portable. Sound interesting? Read on to find out more…”

Crucial Gizmo! 2GB flash drive review @ DH
Driver Heaven :: Thursday, December 29, 2005

“Their flash disk drive product line-up is dubbed ‘Gizmo!’ and they already are counting their 3rd revision. The 3rd revision is even faster and much smaller than the initial revision, plus features much higher capacities of course, as you can guess. Crucial was nice enough to send us a Gizmo! 2GB drive, the largest currently offered. 2GB worth of storage inside a device that is about the size of your thumb certainly sounds nice, so let us see what this little device is capable of.”

News – Logitech diNovo Media Desktop Laser
Overclockers Online :: Thursday, December 29, 2005
Quote: The Logitech diNovo Media Desktop Laser has certainly become a welcomed addition to my desk. After getting over the learning curve, you’ll be working just as fast, if not faster than with any other setup. This sleek desktop setup does not offer all the bling of other keyboards with flashing LEDs and flip up LCD displays, but if you only want a sleek setup, you can’t go wrong with this puppy. Logitech has also done a fabulous job at making sure if you like the style of the diNovo you’re not left out if you don’t want Bluetooth.

Thermax Tech XtFlux-GA Thermal Grease @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Thursday, December 29, 2005

Quote: “There is a new addition to the world of Thermal Compounds, a company called Thermax Tech. They have developed a new type of thermal compound, that I believe is going to give the competition a run for the crown of the top thermal paste. So is this stuff any good or is just the normal thermal gook that we find everywhere? I think we need to run some tests and check it out. So read on to learn something about Thermax Tech XtFlux-GA Thermal Grease.”

Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek Anime DVD @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Thursday, December 29, 2005

Quote: “Kakurenbo is an interesting movie but may not be to everyone’s liking. I enjoyed watching it a couple times but, unlike other movies it does not have much ‘re-playability’. I have other movies in my collection that I can watch many times and they never seem to get old. That is not to say don’t get it, it is worth adding to anyone’s anime collection. The story is great and the anime is superb, the acting is fairly decent as well.”

CD Ripping Services Compared
Designtechnica :: Thursday, December 29, 2005
“Rip, rip, hooray! Reclaim some valuable wall space in your house and be prepared to take your entire CD collection with you wherever you go. Ripping services are gaining in popularity because they make it so easy to convert (a.k.a. rip) your entire collection into MP3 files for your portable media device. Lucky for you, we’ve outlined some of the top ripping services out there, complete with processes, shipping methods and what they’re charging for something you know you could do yourself, if you only had the time.’

Gigabyte G1-975X and ASUS P5N32-SLI Shootout @ t-break
t-break :: Thursday, December 29, 2005
Today we take a look at two motherboards for the Pentium platform that are being targeted as gaming boards. Yes, we know that sounds a bit of an oxymoron considering that AMD CPUs hold the performance crown in games at the moment, however, that doesn’t stop two of the biggest motherboard manufacturers from releasing and packaging them as gaming boards. With us today, we have the Gigabyte G1-975X based on the Intel 975X chipset and the ASUS P4N32-SLI Deluxe based on the nVidia nForce X16 chipset.

MGE XG Dragon Gaming Case
Big Bruin :: Thursday, December 29, 2005

Quote: The business side of this case is almost as dramatic as the front; a half size window in the upper forward area is framed by part of the cowling that makes up the front of the case. In the lower left corner is a perforated square for more ventilation. Above that, there is another perforated area that leads to the CPU ventilation duct that is becoming more and more prevalent on cases these days.

2005 – The Year Of The Blog @ The TechZone
The Tech Zone :: Thursday, December 29, 2005
Blogging really isn’t new. One of the blog pioneers is Justin Hall who started his personal blog in 1994 before it even had a name. In December 1997 John Barger coined the name weblog. Peter Merholz in early 1999 shortened the phrase to today’s term blog. Few of the blogs are business/product oriented. In fact, the blogs that get the most attention and traffic are daily news and politics oriented. The majority of blogs though are personal, more like an online diary of your day-to-day experiences.

What To Look For About Web Hosting
ASE Labs :: Thursday, December 29, 2005

” Shopping for a web host can be a very difficult task. Although it would seem as if it would only be comprised of the simple task of finding one for a good price, this is far from the truth. Countless factors go in to what makes a quality web host. These factors must be given consideration when searching for a web host in order to find not only the best price but also the premier web hosting choice. ”

OCZ EL DDR PC-3200 Dual Channel Platinum Rev 2 @ Pro-Clockers
Pro-Clockers :: Thursday, December 29, 2005
Quote: OCZ isn’t a newcomer to the overclocking world. Nor were they the first to discover this world either. But sent there move into the enthusiast market, they have been pretty much at the top. OCZ was one of the first ram manufacturers to make the legendary Winbond BH-5 what it was. Then they introduced us to the Samsung TCCD chips. Which gave us tighter timing while climbing to an unbelievable higher frequency. This leads us right to the EL Platinum DDR 3200.

MediainLinux v4.0 RC5 @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Thursday, December 29, 2005
Summary: “MediainLinux, a Linux distribution formed in Italy and based upon the popular Knoppix, is different from other LiveCDs as it aims to offer a wide collection of FOSS audio, video, and graphics software. With this multimedia software MediainLinux Version 4 RC5, which was released on Christmas of this year, shapes up to be a enticing GNOME-optimized distribution.”

Ultra Products 500w X-Finity Power Supply Review @ Virtual-Hideout
Virtual-Hideout :: Thursday, December 29, 2005

Quote: “So with all said and done, I recommend the Ultra 500w X-Finity Power Supply. This power supply is just slick, mean and well designed with special attention paid to not only looks, but also quality and stability.”

Understanding How Spammers Work @ The TechZone
The Tech Zone :: Thursday, December 29, 2005
Spammers trade email addresses for money. This is why the system is out of hand – it is an income producing activity. Every email address has a value to it and no matter how little the value, putting together a list of 100,000 can provide a neat income for a spammer. Most spammers have spam lists many times larger than this.

2006: A Booming Year for Apple @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Thursday, December 29, 2005
“Apple Computer is making an absolute killing with its ultra small iPod Nano. How good is the bounty you ask? Well, Apple is shipping about 100,000 units of the iPod Nano alone. Pretty impressive figure for a year, right? Think again, because Apple is shipping this many units every single day.”

ULi Acquisition: A Killer Deal By NVIDIA @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Thursday, December 29, 2005
“People are apparently finding the ULi acquisition by NVIDIA surprising, but I believe it was long due and somewhat expected. Given that ULi mostly plays the value game, they make excellent southbridges. Their SATA II chips are to die for and of course, they are a major supplier to ATI.”

OCZ Rally Flash Drive Review at CaseModGod.com
Case Mod God :: Thursday, December 29, 2005

Summary: OCZ has taken the flash drive market by storm and has kicked up the speed to “Over Drive”! No more waiting to transfer files to slow and out of date drives or writing a CD to take a file from one PC to another.

Intel EM64T Technology Explained
Hardware Secrets :: Thursday, December 29, 2005
“Intel has released their “64-bit technology” in order to compete with AMD’s 64-bit technology. This technology, officially called EM64T (Extended Memory 64 Technology), is present on Pentium 4 6xx models. In this article we will explain what is this technology and how it works. ”

Hardware Madness in 2005: Looking Back
Madshrimps :: Thursday, December 29, 2005
Quote: “Another year has passed, how time flies! Our Madness continues to search for higher performance PC products at affordable prices. Let’s look back at what has happened in 2005 and what we can look forward to in 2006.”

Website displays photo’s of ATI’s latest: X1900
Madshrimps :: Thursday, December 29, 2005
Quote: “A Chinese website has pictures of ATI’s newest video card, the so called X1900. This card is based on the R580-chip and is expected to be introduced around the 24th next month in January 2006.”

Enermax Liberty ELT620AWT 620W Power Supply Review @ Bjorn3D
Bjorn3D :: Thursday, December 29, 2005
Enermax delivers an attractive, flexible, and powerful PSU with its new Liberty ELT620AWT. If you are looking for a high-end modular power supply, do yourself a favor and check out this review!

Milwaukee 2.4v Cordless Driver for Computers Review @ GruntvillE.com
GruntvillE :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005

“The drill itself will be of most use to modders and system builders alike. I used it to build a system and was able to use it for every screw in the case. The mainboard went in with ease. I had no problem with the small screws for mounting the floppy or the hard drive. The power supply was a breeze and even the video card and other PCI devices were easy. I found that setting the clutch to 3 was just right for every aspect of the build. Also keep in mind that the driver has a pivot joint to allow for it to bend if needed for tight spaces or simply for comfort. ”

OCZ 1024-3200 Gold Edition XTC
Overclockers Online :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Quote: For the suicide-shot overclockers, this is the memory for you because nothing will be able to touch it at 250+ with timings of 2-2-2-5. The gamers out there with higher end CPUs that also have higher multipliers will fall in love with the tight timings at moderate overclocks as well. It is hard to say whether the XTC heatspreaders are any better than the standard ones but the theory behind them is solid and they sure look much better in my opinion. Keeping the temperature of the modules at 40C with no active cooling and high voltages is definitely no luck, these XTC heatspreaders really do their job well.

Beginners Guides: Upgrading A Motherboard Without Reinstalling
PCStats :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005

“You can upgrade a processor or add a new memory module without causing so much as a blip from Windows XP, but a new motherboard can and will cause XP to stop booting altogether. Many have tried, and many have been greeted with the cold gasp of the Blue Screen of Death for their efforts. Fortunately, the procedure for correctly installing a new motherboard is rather easy and straightforward, and more fortunately, we’re here to talk you through it. PCstats never-ending quest to save you from computer store labor charges continues… after all, this is the exact same procedure a Service Center will charge you $80/hr to do.”

Sunbeamtech NUUO 550 Watt modular Power Supply Unit with Fan Controller Review
OCIA :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Current processors, video cards and also strongly overclocked components have larger Requirements of the used PSU. The Sunbeamtech SUNNUO550-EUAP NUUO Series modular power supply unit give us 550 Watts, a special 3.5 inch Fan Controller, cool design and the cable chaos in the PC case will stop thanks to the modular cable technology. All further details to the excellent NUUO 550 Watts power supply from Sunbeamtech are reviewed in the 4 pages long test report.

Denon S-301 Mini-System Review
Designtechnica :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005
“Kudos to Denon for a slick design. With its attractive silver and black finish, the S-301 can stand next to any flat-screen TV on the market. Its curved lines are a welcome departure from the typical black box, too. If you want your electronics to cut some style, this piece won’t disappoint.

The standout feature of the S-301 is the iPod compatibility. An iPod cable comes in the box and plugs into a jack on the front of the unit. The on-screen display shows a graphic of an iPod front panel which you can control from the Denon remote”

Innovatek Water Cooling Review @ MVKTech
MVK Tech :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005
“Innovatek, the Gods of Coolness redefines state-of-the-art manufacturing & high performance thermal dissapation with exceptional products that give the end user a truly unique experience by offering the coolest cooling solutions available. Innovatek the makers of the world famous Cool-Matic series GPU/VPU water cooling blocks, continues the fine tradition of offering ultra low noise-high performance water cooling products for most major computer components. From hard drives to chipset’s Innovatek covers it with style and performance.”

Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 955 & Intel 975X Express Chipset @ Viperlair
ViperLair :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005
“What we will be getting today is a little bump but nothing revolutionary.

For those of you following Intel closely these past 18 months, there has not been all that much for enthusiasts to get terribly excited about. Seems that Intel felt quite the same way as their last few launches have fallen on Sundays. At least it isn’t Sunday today, but it looks like enthusiasts will still need to wait until there’s really something to have them standup and take notice.”

Thermaltake Blue Orb II CPU Cooler
Big Bruin :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Quote: Just like most SUVs, CPU coolers seem to be getting larger. Also like most SUVs, there is a controversy concerning this larger than adequate size. Thermaltake, a well known manufacturer of SUVs, I mean coolers, has come up with a new design that is possibly the largest heatsink I have seen to date. This creation is the called the Blue Orb II, named after its blue color and orb like design.

Thermaltake Blue Orb II Heatsink @ Pro-Clockers
Pro-Clockers :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Quote: Thermaltake is a one of the world leaders when it comes to manufacturing great cases and awesome cooling devices. Only been in the business for about six years, they have grown incredibly fast in these areas. One of Thermaltake latest accomplishments has been the Big Typhoon cooler, which has been the talk of the town. Today, we take a look at another Thermaltake cooler, the Blue Orb II. Will these stir up some gossip of its own? We will see!

OCZ PC-4000 Gold Gamer eXtreme XTC Dual-Channel DDR Memory Kit Review!
Tech ARP :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Quote – “Want a large and fast memory kit for your system? The new OCZ PC-4000 Gold Gamer eXtreme XTC might be just what you are looking for.

Sporting the new XTC heatspreader and double the memory capacity of usual OCZ memory kits, the PC-4000 Gold GX XTC is an interesting new subject for us to investigate.”

Corsair XMS-4000PT DDR500 2GB Memory Kit Review #631:
3dgameman :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005
“While Corsair is a little late implementing their UCCC solution they have done a great job. I was a little disappointed in the overclocking result as I expected a little more. But remember, this memory is at a high default speed as it is. Getting the extra few MHz’s out of it is a bonus…” ~3dGameMan.com

Antec PlusView II SOHO Chassis Review @ Virtual-Hideout
Virtual-Hideout :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Snip: ” Once I had this machine up and running I noticed my SLI cards and overall case airflow was much improved, meaning my overall system temps were way down. This is a very good sign and should allow most of you out there to gain some nice temp reductions.”

Corsair Flash Voyager: The Unbreakable Broke
Hardware Secrets :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005
“Our “unbreakable” flash USB memory from Corsair, Flash Voyager, simply broke, as you can see on the pictures below. How? We hit it by accident with our chair while it was plugged to our desktop. It happened to us, so it can happen to you. In this tutorial we are going to show you how we were able to recover the data stored inside this broken USB flash memory.”

Intel Extreme Edition 955 Processor
Hexus :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Parallel processing is the future for CPUs, and it’s telling that Intel, some seven months later, introduces another premium CPU that carries dual-core goodness with it. Ramping up the clock speed and FSB, together with a die shrink and some nifty new technologies, let’s take a closer look at Intel’s Pentium Extreme Edition 955.

Intel Pentium Processor Extreme Edition 955 @ Legit Reviews
Legit Reviews :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005
“The Intel Pentium Processor Extreme Edition 955, which goes on sale to the public on January 16 for $999, is the second generation of dual-core consumer desktop CPU’s from the chip giant. Intel has made a number of changes to it’s dual core processor series and many will call this Intel’s first true dual core processor. …”

OCZ Rally Flash Drive Review atCaseModGod.com
Case Mod God :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Summary: OCZ has taken the flash drive market by storm and has kicked up the speed to “Over Drive”! No more waiting to transfer files to slow and out of date drives or writing a CD to take a file from one PC to another.

Firefox 1.5
PC Mechanic :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005
I’ll be putting the new Firefox 1.5 under the microscope. I will be primarily looking at the new 1.5 features. My default browser for the past few months has been Avant Browser, a shell for IE 6.0 that adds many features not normally found in Internet Explorer. So I will be using it as a comparison. So let’s have a look.

PimpRig Member Mod Project // World of Warcraft Case Mod by mnpctech
PimpRig :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Well, the amazing Bill Owen from mnpctech.com has done it again. He has completed a new case mod based around the uber popular game, World of Warcraft. This is another case by the mod master that demands your attention so check it out. :)

Thermaltake Mambo @ techPowerUp!
techPowerUp! :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005
The Mambo is another competitively priced case from Thermaltake. It weighs only 6.2kg but still offers all the comfort of a full tower case. Its elegant black design makes it pleasing for the eyes of the more mature computer users.

Antec TrueControl II 550 PSU Review @ Bjorn3D
Bjorn3D :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Check out our review of Antec’s TrueControl II 550. Read the review to see if this 550W PSU could handle a system with three hard drives and two 7800 GTX 512s.

Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 955 Review
Sharky Extreme :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Today on Sharky Extreme, we’ve reviewed Intel’s newest dual core offering, the Pentium Extreme Edition 955 processor:

HEXUS.reviews :: Ultra Portable Disk Enclosures
Hexus :: Monday, December 26, 2005
When the capacity of a flash drive just isn’t enough, you can purchase an external drive enclosure and use a drive with a bog-standard interface within it, all thanks to nifty IDE to USB/Firewire bridging chips, or the not-yet-as-popular eSATA interface. There are numerous flavours of drive enclosure on the market now. Some are NAS wannabes, others cheap as chips 3.5″ disk enclosures, and then some slightly more specialist offerings.

Today we’re taking a look at two enclosures from Ultra. One is a 3.5″ enclosure with USB and Firewire – one which would go up well against the Icy Box, which we reviewed some time ago. The second is a slimmer model for 2.5″ laptop drives with just a USB interface.

Women prefer Kodak digital cameras
DPReview :: Monday, December 26, 2005
When it comes to women and digital cameras, recent research from imaging industry market research company Lyra reveals that Kodak really pushes their buttons. The Digital Photography survey showed that more than 20% of women use Kodak cameras while only 10% of men choose to use the brand. The most popular camera manufacturer among the male of the species is Canon, with 17% of men using that brand, followed by Sony. Lyra’s president and director of the Digital Photography Advisory Service, Charles LeCompte, explains the findings: “The explanation is that women in general are less comfortable with technology and therefore are more attracted to trusted brands.” So ladies, dump your D-SLRs and pick up an EasyShare!

Viruses..Why?..What’s the point? @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Monday, December 26, 2005

Quote: “I want to know what exactly is the point of people making viruses. Do the people that make them have an inferiority complex? Does it make them feel ‘L33T’ to see that their creation has infected so many people? What makes a person sit down and write a program that’s sole purpose is to make the lives of everyone else miserable? Are the creators that miserable in their own lives that they feel the need to share their misery? Misery loves company right? Better yet, are they that pathetic and anti-social that they have nothing better to do than cause trouble?”

More on Kodak’s 18.6 megapixel CCD
DPReview :: Monday, December 26, 2005
Kodak has today issued a press release which reveals a little more information about the sensor used in Pentax’s yet to be fully revealed 645 medium-format digital camera. The sensor is named the KAF-18000CE, it has 18.6 million total pixels producing an 18 million pixel final image. Pixel pitch is 9 x 9 µm, no other specs are currently available but if we assume a 4:3 aspect ratio we can guess the total pixel size to be something like 4992 x 3744 which would make the active sensor area approximately 45 x 34 mm (a 1.3x FOV crop for a 645 medium format camera).

I-Star Storm Series D-300 Black 3U Rackmount Case Review @ MODTHEBOX.COM
MODTHEBOX! :: Monday, December 26, 2005
“Out of the box the case is very well constructed and built solid than most server cases of the same size. I-Star has emphasized that the design of the Storm Series D-300 Black 3U Rackmount Case encompasses good EMI Protective Shielding as well as a focus on tool-less key entry using latches. The case measures approximately 19.0″ (W) x 5.2″ (H) x 20.8″ (D) and supports all full size ATX motherboards. The entire exterior has been painted jet black with the main focus on the front bezel. As an add-on feature, I-Star provides interchangeable front bezels offered in different colours that include red, blue, silver and gold.”

[Phoronix] NVIDIA 1.0-8178 Linux Drivers
Phoronix :: Monday, December 26, 2005

Summary: “A mere seventeen days after the launch of NVIDIA’s 1.0-8174 display drivers that finally delivered Scalable Link Interface support to Linux, the green guys have delivered yet another driver for the penguin users on the heels of the holidays. Coincidently, the driver release comes on the same day as the Xorg X11R6.9 and X11R7.0 launch after a decade of no major releases. As the 1.0-8178 version implies, there is not much in the way of significant advances but there is enough to call for a new performance article, which we will be sharing with you today.”

Second alert for Nikon EN-EL3 batteries
DPReview :: Monday, December 26, 2005
Nikon has announced that further batch numbers of the rechargeable lithium ion EN-EL3 batteries used in the D50, D70, D70s and D100 are being recalled. Some batteries may be defective and can overheat while being charged. All owners of Nikon cameras that use this battery are asked to carefully recheck their batteries with the new batch numbers which are listed on the next page. Faulty batteries will be replaced free of charge.

Batch numbers added to previous list: 51AA, 51AB, 51AC, 51AD, 51AE, 51AF, 51AG, 51AH, 53AA, 53AB, 54AE, 54AF, 54AH check it out

Sigma confirm issue with Nikon D200
DPReview :: Monday, December 26, 2005
Sigma has confirmed that there is an incompatibility issue between its HSM equipped lenses and the new Nikon D200. Specifically the HSM lenses do not operate when the ‘AF-ON’ button is pressed on the rear of the camera. This does not affect auto-focus carried out using the shutter release button (half-press). Sigma has stated that this is due to a firmware bug in the lens itself and will soon be introducing a free of charge firmware update for affected lenses.

Just posted! Sony DSC-R1 review
DPReview :: Monday, December 26, 2005
Our in-depth review of the groundbreaking Sony Cyber-shot DSC-R1. The R1 is the first all-in-one (fixed lens) digital camera to feature a large APS-C size sensor, in this case a ten megapixel CMOS unit. Obviously if you can’t remove the lens then you’d expect it to be good, and in this case it is, a bright and sharp 24 – 120 mm equiv. with a maximum aperture of F2.8 to F4.8. See how the DSC-R1 performed in our tests and how it compares to the competition, read our review in full!

Crucial Gizmo! Hi-Speed USB2 Flash Drive Review #630
3dgameman :: Monday, December 26, 2005

“This product looks great, is lightweight and super tiny. It’s so tiny you may forget to remove it from your pocket and send it through a wash. I know I’ve done that in the past. I find these products invaluable because they are so convenient. In a minute you can easily transfer lots of data. I primarily use mine for backup of my contacts, emails and other important data…” ~3dGameMan.com

Sigma 170-500mm F5-6.3 APO DG
DPReview :: Monday, December 26, 2005

Sigma has announced a new telephoto lens in the shape of the 170-500mm F5-6.3 APO DG. The lens features multi-layer coating, aspherical lenses, SLD glass and rear focus system. It is compatible with a number of digital SLRs with AF mounts, including Sigma, Canon, Nikon, Pentax and Konica Minolta. It will retail for £629.99 and includes a lens hood and removable tripod collar.

How FB-DIMM Memories Work
Hardware Secrets :: Monday, December 26, 2005
Everything you need to know about the new FB-DIMM memory standard, created to increase the capacity and speed of the memory system.

Here is a snippet: “FB-DIMM (Fully Buffered DIMM) is a memory module technology targeted to servers developed recently created in order to increase the memory speed and the maximum memory capacity of a server. In this tutorial we will explain what are the main features of FB-DIMM modules and the difference between DIMM and FB-DIMM modules.”

Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro
techPowerUp! :: Monday, December 26, 2005
Artic Cooling is famous for their video card coolers, but they offer more. The Freezer 64 Pro is the latest addition to their CPU coolers. Clever routing of airflow cools the motherboard voltage circuitry. Another good idea is that the fan is mounted on rubber posts which absorb any vibration caused by the fan. During our testing we learn that the Freezer 64 Pro can not only deliver solid cooling performance but does so without creating a lot of noise.

Just posted! Kodak Easyshare Z740 review
DPReview :: Monday, December 26, 2005
The Easyshare Z740 is one of three new big zoom digital cameras introduced at the beginning of the year. It provides ten times optical zoom, a five megapixel sensor and a range of manual control. From a price point of view the Z740 slots in at the more ‘affordable’ end of the increasingly crowded compact super zoom digital camera sector. Read our review to see how the Z740 performed and how it compared.

SanSun Arctic 500W Modular PSU @ Techniz
Techniz.co.uk :: Monday, December 26, 2005

“The SanSun Arctic 500W Modular PSU is a powerful PSU with the white pearl and stylish housing and the the dual cooling fan. With the dual 12V rails of power, it will support many peripheral devices without any problems. The overall performance of the Arctic PSU is very stable and able to support the SLI setup without any problems…..”

Sigma 10-20mm for Pentax and KM
DPReview :: Monday, December 26, 2005
Sigma has announced a 10-20mm DC lens is now available for Konica Minolta and Pentax mounts. The super wide angle F4-5.6 EX DC lens is designed exclusively for digital SLR cameras and is suited to cameras with APS-C-sized image sensors. Special features include a new multi-layer lens coating, three pieces of Special Low Dispersion glass and three aspherical lens elements. It also has a minimum focusing distance of 24cm at all focal lengths.

Corsair 2048MB XMS PC3500LL PRO Dual Channel DDR
Big Bruin :: Monday, December 26, 2005
Quote: In recent reviews at Bigbruin.com we have taken a look at Corsair DDR rated at PC4000 and PC4400 speeds, but this time we’re going to take things down a little and look at some PC3500. The Corsair 2048MB XMS PC3500LL Pro Dual Channel DDR Kit provides a nice, big 2GB of dual channel DDR rated to run at 438 MHz DDR with timings of 2-3-2-6 1T.

ABIT AN8 SLI Motherboard Review @ MVKTech
MVK Tech :: Monday, December 26, 2005
“Since 1989 ABIT Computer Corporation established itself as a definitive leader in manufacturing computer hardware components and peripherals such as VGA and motherboard technologies, ultimately designing some of the most popular hardware solutions the world over. Today some 16 years later we have the nForce 4 chipset featuring Scalable Link Interface (SLI) technology, which has proliferated it’s way around the world with amazing success.”

Title List for Nintendo Revolution Launch @ DataFuse.net
DataFuse :: Monday, December 26, 2005
“The Nintendo Revolution, probably the little engine that could, is developing quite some anxiety with gamers around the globe. The little next-gen console from Nintendo manages to keep most information in the dark. Except for a Revolution Commercial we haven’t seen any screenshots of games let alone trailers. A Nintendo Revolution Release date is pretty much out of the question. But what about the Title List at introduction? ”

Scratch-Less Disc CD-R @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Monday, December 26, 2005
Summary: “With the pictures we take this holiday season, for anyone it would be a tragedy to lose the photographs they had backed up to a CD or DVD. Often data on these discs are simply lost due to carelessness when one simply sets down the CD/DVD and it turns out to be scratched. For this holiday exclusive, we have a few photos and a write-up on how a new company is attempting to make scratched discs a thing of the past.”

Zalman CNPS9500 LED Heatsink @ Pro-Clockers
Pro-Clockers :: Monday, December 26, 2005
Quote: Zalman has stamped their name in our community a long time ago. Developing unique products that make alot of us want. A couple these things that come to mind are the Reserator water-cooling kit and the TNN line of cases. Our review sample today is one of those unique products, the CNPS9500 LED Heatsink. So, let’s see if the 9500 can continue Zalman’s legacy have as being a great cooling company.

Overclocking and WindowsXP x64 Edition
PCStats :: Monday, December 26, 2005
“We never know if the people actually buying the hardware care about its overclocking potential, but as computer journalists and enthusiasts, we know we have to test it out. This got us thinking though; what about under-clocking? Most modern processors and motherboards can just as easily run under a rated speed as it can run over… but is there a point to this? Well possibly.”

The Underclocking Experiment
PCStats :: Monday, December 26, 2005
“We never know if the people actually buying the hardware care about its overclocking potential, but as computer journalists and enthusiasts, we know we have to test it out. This got us thinking though; what about under-clocking? Most modern processors and motherboards can just as easily run under a rated speed as it can run over… but is there a point to this? Well possibly.”

[Phoronix] ASRock 939Dual-SATA2
Phoronix :: Monday, December 26, 2005
Summary: “ASRock’s latest Socket 939 offering, the 939Dual-SATA2, not only offers support for AMD’s future M2 socket but it also incorporates some overclocking abilities that enthusiasts would have only dreamed about appearing on a budget motherboard. But just how well does it fair in the penguin trials?”

Mega of Hardware origin – China @ Madshrimps
Madshrimps :: Monday, December 26, 2005
Quote: “The Mega of Personal Computer hardware center, China makes more hardware for PC than any other places in the world while some of the sales and marketing functions are being handled by Taiwan for now. There is no better place than Guangzhou, China in terms of weather; gourmet food; access to sea port; the city has more than 2,800 years of history.”

Introduction To Hosted Applications @ The TechZone
The Tech Zone :: Monday, December 26, 2005
A hosted application, also known as Internet-based application, web-based application, online application and Application Service Providers (ASPs) are software applications where the software resides on servers that are accessed through the Internet instead of the more traditional software that is installed on either a local server or on individual PC’s.

Coolermaster R80 vs. R120 Liquid Cooling Kits Compared @ Virtual-Hideout
Virtual-Hideout :: Monday, December 26, 2005

Quote: “These 2 units perform well, and they are perfect for the first timer who is just getting into liquid cooling. The all-in-one self contained units provide a quick introduction to water cooling, as well as a quick and easy installation. ”

Compression Comparison Guide Rev. 2.0 Part 1 Posted!
Tech ARP :: Monday, December 26, 2005

Quote – “Data compression are now part of everyday life. We compress everything from pictures and video clips to documents and more. But just which data compressor is suitable? There are so many of them!

“GSKILL Extreme Series (HZ) DDR I PC4000 Dual Channel Review”
Madshrimps :: Monday, December 26, 2005
Quote: “GSKILL’s foray into the Western overclocking community was explosive. While their early modules were ergonomically challenged; without heatspreader and barren, they packed quite a performance punch. Today we test GSKIL the Extreme Performance PC4000 in 2048MB Dual Channel kit form”

Sharkoon Red Shock Heatsink @ Pro-Clockers
Pro-Clockers :: Monday, December 26, 2005
Quote: Today, we are looking at Sharkoon’s newest cooler, the Red Shock. The Red Shock gives the person using it several mounting possibilities and pledges to be one of the best coolers on the market. We tacked this cooler on an AMD Fx55 and a DFI motherboard and let’s see what happens.

Are we too Paranoid about Privacy? @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Monday, December 26, 2005

“I can understand someone not wanting to give their employer’s name, address and phone number for obvious reasons, and I would never condone something like this myself, but what’s wrong with disclosing the industry you work in and your job function?”

Microsoft Buys Out Opera @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Monday, December 26, 2005
“At the moment, the deal is almost through with Microsoft and Opera planning on locations for the browser’s research and development centers throughout the world. One of such locations includes India; other locations at this time are unknown.”

“Heatsinks Roundup Q4 2005 Holiday Edition”
Madshrimps :: Monday, December 26, 2005
Quote: “We are proud to present you with our last heatsink roundup of 2005. Featuring the latest offerings from Arctic, Scythe, Silverstone, Sharkoon and newcomer Noctua. We compare them to the best out there in 3 different test configurations.”

PimpRig Review // Corsair XMS Pro Series PC3500LL 2GB TwinX DDR RAM
PimpRig :: Monday, December 26, 2005
“Yep, it’s time once more to skip a few meals, bite the bullet, and upgrade to 2GB of RAM. However, many people are firm believers in low latency RAM and that isn’t something you find in 2GB RAM kits. That is, until now.”

Verizon Motorola RAZR V3c
Designtechnica :: Thursday, December 22, 2005
“Unless you’ve been living in Antarctica, you know and probably crave a Motorola RAZR. No other cell phone looks more at home in our futuristic view of the 21st century as the art-techno RAZR, which has made it the world’s most popular cell phone. According to Motorola, around 13 million RAZRs have been sold worldwide. Amazingly, that total was achieved without the phone being available from the U.S.’s second largest carrier, Verizon. That oversight has been corrected with the RAZR V3c. Desirous Verizon customers will find their RAZR is superior to their friends proudly showing off their Cingular version, primarily because it is compatible with Verizon’s broadband EV-DO network and Verizon’s V CAST multimedia service. Unfortunately, while currently cool, the VC3, priced at $199.99 with a two-year contract, may face a quick obsolescence. Verizon is due to launch a music service early in 2006, and the RAZR lacks both an external memory slot to easily import your MP3s and a stereo headset option. But if you’re more concerned with impressing your co-workers than listening to music on your cell phone, the RAZR in any version is likely to remain the coolest phone around.”

Antec P180 Mid-Tower Case
The Tech Lounge :: Thursday, December 22, 2005
“Antec has seemingly spared no expense with the P180. It was made very clear to us during our meeting that the primary goal for all of Antec’s new cases was to be as quiet as possible. A number of things were done to help achieve this; from specially designed side panels, large diameter low-speed fans, anti-vibration measures, and more… One rather interesting design decision was to have a separate compartment on the bottom of the case dedicated to the power supply and hard drives, while the motherboard was left on top in its standard orientation. What’s unusual is that they didn’t reverse the motherboard or turn it upside-down, like you typically see in this sort of configuration. It will be interesting to see what sort of implications this has on cable management.”

HEXUS.beans :: ITX form factor mainboard with integrated ATI graphics
Hexus :: Thursday, December 22, 2005
HEXUS.beans :: ITX form factor mainboard with integrated ATI graphics Eagle-Eyed HEXUS readers may have noticed that the web site of PC Partner, one of the few official ATI beta mainboard R&D and testing centres, is listing an ITX form factor, LGA-775 mainboard for Intel Pentium 4 processors based on ATI RADEON XPRESS 200 core logic (ATI RC410 plus SB450).

However, up ’till now, as far as we know, it seems that no image showing the layout of this interesting mainboard seems to have surfaced, but here for your delectation is something we found in one of our (many) Christmas e-Cards…

mCubed miniNG 2 Channel Fan Controller @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Thursday, December 22, 2005

Quote: “mCubed? Who the heck is mCubed you ask? mCubed is a company that is based in Europe that makes many great products including the one I am reviewing today. I’m not going to list the products, just click the link above to go there and check them out. Today for review I have something that I thought was rather cool, it is a powerful, yet tiny fan controller. It is not the type you think of when you think of fan controllers, the miniNG sits inside your computer and does the controlling for you with its own microprocessor. Let’s check it out.”

X-Ray Thunder 8 Mouse Pad @ Techniz
Techniz.co.uk :: Thursday, December 22, 2005

“The Thunder 8 double sided mouse pad is another great products produce by X-RayPad. The Thunder 8 itself is comes with two different type of surface for multi function and also for ball and optical mice usage. The packaging is one of the uniqueness of this mouse pad where it is a Tin box that is very luxurious. The double sided surface of the Thunder 8 is able to provide the satisfaction of the user while using it. Not only that, the package is also included with the cord clip to mount on the pad for gripping the mouse cord…..”

Universal Virus Database @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Thursday, December 22, 2005

Quote: “In response to the recent article on viruses and after a long time spent fighting the various beasties as they have popped up over the course of the past decade or so, I have come up with a few ideas which I believe might help battle the problem and should be implemented and regulated nationally, if not globally. I call it the “Universal Virus Database” but really, it should include more than just viruses. The idea should cover all forms of malware, including spyware, adware, trojans and rootkit hacks.”

Intel Digital Home Capabilities Assessment Tool
Hexus :: Thursday, December 22, 2005
our congratulations must go to Intel for having had the foresight to create a suite to do this job. However, doubts will remain about Intel’s impartiality and whether this will put systems based on competitors’ CPUs at a disadvantage.

A more urgent concern for reviewers and system builders based outside of the USA is that Intel Digital Home Capabilities Assessment Tool is deeply flawed, simply because it fails to take account of differences between in hardware sold in the USA and in other markets.

EPoX EP-5LDA+ GLi
Overclockers Online :: Thursday, December 22, 2005
Quote: I have to say that this outing with EPoX was nice. The board really sets itself apart from EPoX’s typical green PCB styling and offers those concerned with aesthetics an attractive product. The performance is all EPoX though, and their reputation for great reputation hasn’t failed them in this product. While we weren’t able to push the chipset (it officially supports a 1066 FSB), the stability this board was able to offer over previous boards I’ve used from MSI and Albatron using the same processor was excellent and allowed a much higher CPU frequency to be achieved.

EKL V8 AMD Athlon64 Heatsink Review
Frosty Tech :: Thursday, December 22, 2005
“The 108mm fan on the EKL V8 heatsink utilizes and Intel-style 4-pin PWM fan power connector. Three separate sets of blue LED strips that illuminate the heatsinks clear plastic casing are powered via an additional Molex connector. The plastic casing wraps around the entire heatsink rather loosely, and ducts airflow over the V8’s three independent sets of stacked aluminum fins. The fins are connected to a hefty copper base via four heatpipes. Virtually every surface of the cooler is nickel plated, so oxidation shouldn’t be an issue between all the aluminum and copper portions.”

HEXUS.reviews :: Gigabyte GV-RX18L256V-B Radeon X1800 XL 256MB
Hexus :: Thursday, December 22, 2005

Gigabyte, purveyor of high-quality motherboards and recognised partner for both ATI and NVIDIA graphics cards, was keen to jump on the X1800 XL bandwagon. Without further ado, then, let’s take a look at the company’s GV-RX18L256V-B graphics card. Better known to you as an ATI Radeon X1800 XL 256MB, does it have what it takes to be a consideration for purchase?, and, more importantly, is it the must-have PCI-Express graphics accelerator this side of £300? Let’s find out.

Abit AW8 BIOS v15 @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Thursday, December 22, 2005

Summary: “A new BIOS for the AW8 series has hit the Internet from the folks over at Abit and implemented in this latest revision is support for Intel’s Presler and Cedar Mill processors among other notable improvements, while one of the major advancements is the belated support for DDR2-800. This DDR2-800 (1:2 CPU:DRAM) ability comes after some enthusiasts have accused Abit of blatant advertising attempts with its memory.”

Sharkoon Rainbow TC @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Thursday, December 22, 2005

Summary: “When it comes to computer case fans we generally avoid doing any articles on the subject matter due to general lack of innovation that comes by traditional case fans. Today, however, we are going to be looking at a fan that is unlike any of its competition thanks to a unique feature that allows the case temperature to be projected onto the fan blades as they spin. This fan is the 80mm Sharkoon Rainbow TC.”

Mapower MAP-H31SS 3.5″ eSATA External Enclosure
Big Bruin :: Thursday, December 22, 2005
Quote: Calling this external enclosure ‘portable’ might be a bit of a stretch right now. I am pretty sure that one would not be able to take this unit to work and just plug it into any PC they find. However, if what you need is the fastest external solution available then the Mapower MAP-H31SS is the way to go, offering full hard drive speeds with a semi-portable enclosure.

Intel LaGrande Technology Explained
Hardware Secrets :: Thursday, December 22, 2005
Everything you need to know about the new LaGrande Technology from Intel, which improves computer security and will be shipped on next generation Intel CPUs (Merom, Conroe and Woodcrest).

Here is a snippet: “LaGrande Technology (LT) is a new security technology that will be available on Intel’s next generation CPUs (Merom, Conroe and Woodcrest) to be released in 2006. In this tutorial we will explain its main features and how they work.”

Intel ‘Black Creek’ 955X Motherboard @ Viperlair
ViperLair :: Thursday, December 22, 2005
“Should you get this if you already have a 925X or 925XE board? Probably not, unless Dual Core support is important to you. If you don’t already have a 925X or 925XE board then you may as well start at the top with a 955X. However think carefully, as while this is a good board, you will likely find more features and accessories with a slightly more expensive, or even cheaper third party manufacturer 955X boards.”

The Future of Computer Memory: 2GB+ @ Legit Reviews
Legit Reviews :: Thursday, December 22, 2005
“The old 32-bit processors that we all loved such as the Intel Pentium 4 and the AMD Athlon XP, could not address more than 4GB of memory. While this was an issue the move to 64-Bit computing did away with those concerns. Did you know that the current Intel Pentium 4 (EM64T) and AMD Athlon 64 (AMD64) desktop computer processors can handle 1024GB (1 Terabyte) of memory…”

News Flash – The Amazing Samsung SPP-2020 Digital Photo Printer Reviewed
Futurelooks :: Thursday, December 22, 2005
Surprisingly for a printer this small and so economically priced the 4×6 pictures that spit out of the unit are unbelievable. Obviously if you use a crappy camera then you will get a crappy picture. Remember, garbage in garbage out. I printed some photos taken with my Nikon DSLR and the pictures that came out were amazing! You really couldn’t tell it was digital!

Corsair Flash Voyager 4GB @ Viperlair
ViperLair :: Thursday, December 22, 2005
“Be it slipping on to a shampoo bottle while taking a bath (I didn’t see it, honest!), or dropping something while stepping out of the car, let’s face it, accidents happen. If you’re accident prone, the Flash Voyager is for you. In the case of the Corsair Flash Voyager 4GB, it has plenty of capacity and speed for both the clumsy and cautious folks.”

PCMech: Kudos and Calamities: The Death of NetBurst
PC Mechanic :: Thursday, December 22, 2005
The cause of Intel’s troubles can be traced back to two events in the past two and a half years. The first occurred in September 2003, when the AMD Athlon 64 came onto the scene. The Athlon 64 wasn’t perfect, and chipset support was spotty at first, but it offered performance on par with Northwood P4s in many applications, most notable games.

Gigabyte GA-K8N51PVMT-9 @ InsaneTek
InsaneTek :: Thursday, December 22, 2005

“Nvidia has introduced a new chipset called the C51 and sports a low end Geforce 6150 graphics solution with HDTV support. Gigabyte’s has done a good job with their offering, providing a TV-out connector on the motherboard iteself.”

CoolJag JFK-1 Heatsink @ Pro-Clockers
Pro-Clockers :: Thursday, December 22, 2005
Quote: CoolJag is known around the industry as a popular replacement for OEM heatsinks as well as providing for excellent 1U and 2U cooling solutions. But today they have sent us a sample product aimed at performance cooling. One that is in hot pursuit of the enthusiast market. The JFK-1.

Highpoint RocketRAID 2220 PCI-X SATA-II Controller
TweakTown :: Thursday, December 22, 2005
“Today we are looking at what could be the last of the PCI-X based SATA-II controllers to see the light of day. Here we have on our test bed the Highpoint RocketRAID 2220 PCI-X SATA-II controller card for the server environment. Let’s find out what it has to offer.”

Centon Advanced A2X512S26400LL 1GB Dual Channel Kit @ InsaneTek
InsaneTek :: Thursday, December 22, 2005
“Centon is back with another Advanced memory. This time it caters to the needs of Intel users. Using the great Micron fatbody D9s, the Advanced PC2-6400 looks to be a sexy winner.”

ATV Offroad Fury: Blazin’ Trails @ Bytesector
Bytesector :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005
“The ATV Offroad series comes to PSP and makes an extremely good first impression with both realistic graphics, and a full load of tracks and challenges to keep anyone who is a fan of offroad racing on their toes for hours. This game is quite effective in using the sheer power that the PSP packs in its hardware. The bikes, tracks, and riders are all animated to be equal or better then what it would look on PS2 in its both sharpness and fluidity. At first glance, this game may look like a regular racing game, but as you start off on the first course, you will find that it is completely unrelenting for inexperienced racers. The game does not really give you any margin for error; you will be punished for any jumps that are taken too fast or slow because you will land in a bad position. The game really pushes for realistic physics, making it quite difficult to play on the go. While riding on the bus, I had a lot of problems with minute steering adjustments to avoid crashes and going off the track. Overall, this is a fun game to play, but like all PSP games at this point, it is plagued with long load times. It takes about 30 to 40 seconds to load a map, giving you extended periods of downtime, which really isn’t a good thing for a handheld system.”

Silverstone Zeus ST56ZF 560W
Overclockers Online :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Quote: When it is all said and done, the SilverStone Zeus ST56ZF is a very solid offering. The package is top notch with very little chance of damage being done to the unit during any amount of transport and the power supply inside is just as good. In addition, the quality of the cables is excellent, with clean heatshrinking and artistic cable tying. Another nice feature of this power supply is that the length of the cables should allow this power supply to be used inside of any case no matter how big. If you noticed in the testing photo I have the power supply a good 6 inches lower than the desk that the motherboard is sitting on and the cables reach to all connections on it quite easily. The cables are also quite easy to maneuver, twist, and bend in order to go where you want.

Thermaltake Shark Case Review @ GruntvillE.com
GruntvillE :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005

“The big PSU went in with ease, as Thermaltake leaves plenty of headroom to allow for large PSU ‘s. This additional headroom provides the space for a water cooling setup. Installation of the motherboard with processor, HSF and memory was simple, thanks to the removable tray. The video and sound card were secured easily with the included case screws. My previous Thermaltake case used plastic brackets to hold the cards in place, but I ended up removing them in lieu of case screws. You don’t want some of your most precious/expensive items coming loose in transport to a LAN. The hard drives were screwed into the rail kits and went in smoothly.”

VIZO Master Panel @ Techniz
Techniz.co.uk :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005

“The VIZO Master Panel is design to provide the conveniences to the user that always have to open the chassis and install the hard drives. Now with the Master Panel, you can do it immediately. Just simply plug in the hard disk data cables and power, then you can get the data you need in a short time. Beside, the data transfer speed of the Master Panel is very fast too just like the hard drive is directly plug into the motherboard. The VIZO Master Panel is available in few colors such as the black, grey and white. You can get the right color to match with your chassis…”

Intel Centrino DDR2 Investigation @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Summary: “In our previous piece yesterday, we had covered the performance benefits of using a 16MB cache on 2.5-inch mobile devices compared to the traditional 8MB capacity and overall we were pleasantly surprised by our penguin findings. Today we are going to be looking again at mobile memory performance under Linux but rather than the form of permanent storage, we are examining various memory configurations and its effect on the Pentium M performance. In this article we will be testing the system in 512MB, 1GB, and 2GB DDR2 PC2-4200 configurations.”

GT Legends review @ DH
Driver Heaven :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005
“The game is modeled after FIA-GTC racing, a popular vintage racing series in Europe. Although the cars are old, the settings are not, and you night feel like you are in a bit of a time warp sitting in your 1965 Shelby GT350, while the LCD screen of the lap timer ticks away on the dash. The courses are modern as well, and you will drive on many dedicated road courses that were not in existence in the 60’s, and others, such as the Nurburgring, which have been entirely reconfigured since these cars had their heyday.”

(Motherboards) Foxconn 6150K8MA-8EKRS – OEM monster takes on channel
TweakTown :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005

QUOTE: “We have with us here today one of the latest motherboards from Foxconn with the very tongue twisting name of the Foxconn 6150K8MA-8EKRS. Not the easiest motherboard model to remember off the top of your head but does let us know straight away that it utilizes the nVidia C51 chipset utilizing the onboard 6150 graphics controller along with it being for the K8 or Athlon 64/FX/X2 line up. Foxconn might want to re-think their naming convention as it’s not really a practical naming scheme – can you imagine going into a computer store and trying to memorize the model number? No, we didn’t think so.”

D`zign DV-5 3.2MP Digital Video Camera @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Quote: “Digital video cameras, they’ve been out for a while now. The thing that stops most people from buying them is their price. They run anywhere from $600 to $2000 which is a lot to spend on any camera. Well today I have a product that does not cost much at all and acts as a digital camera, and digital video camera in one. It is not a digital camera with a video option, this camera’s main function is video so let’s take a look at the D`zign DV-5 Digital Video Camera.”

Planex Communication Bluetooth Stereo Headset BT-01HSS
Hardware Zoom :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Quote – Bluetooth is becoming a standard feature in many mobile phones. It is the quick and easy way to transfer data, images, ringtones, schedules, notes and sms to and from your PC. By pairing with a bluetooth headset, you can even make or answer calls wirelessly, without even reaching for your phone. With the enhanced Bluetooth ver 1.2, people is expecting more than just an earpiece, and here comes another Stereo Headset, the Planex BT-01HSS.

PimpRig Review // Coollaboratory Liquid Metal – Thermal Interface Material
PimpRig :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005
“I was shocked when I pulled the cap off the syringe and saw that the needle was still there. I had no idea how the thermal interface material could get through an opening that small until I pressed the plunger slightly over the CPU. A drop of the material came out with no problem and sat there like a ball on the CPU. It was at that point that I got a little nervous since it looks just like Mercury. But then I had to think, “What company, whether in their right mind or not, would sell Mercury on eBay?””

Beginners Guides: Dual OS Installation of WindowsXP 32-bit/64-bit
PCStats :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005
“To most people, the logical answer is to install Windows XP x64 Edition while still keeping XP 32-bit intact on the system. This allows you to mix and match the two operating systems, avoiding software failure and discovering which is best for each application and game. While this is a bit of a drain on hard drive space, it’s more than worth it in terms of frustration avoided. It’s also easy to do, and in this short guide, PCSTATS is going to show you how to go about creating your 64-bit/32-bit XP dual installation.”

GT Legends Review (PC)
Driver Heaven :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005
The game is modeled after FIA-GTC racing, a popular vintage racing series in Europe. Although the cars are old, the settings are not, and you night feel like you are in a bit of a time warp sitting in your 1965 Shelby GT350, while the LCD screen of the lap timer ticks away on the dash. The courses are modern as well, and you will drive on many dedicated road courses that were not in existence in the 60?s, and others, such as the Nurburgring, which have been entirely reconfigured since these cars had their heyday.

Vantec Mach 1 MP4-7015-FC Athlon64 Heatsink Review
Frosty Tech :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005
“There are heatsinks made for low noise computing, for overclocking, and then there are those built at an affordable price point which try to do both. The Vantec Mach 1 heatsink is such a heatsink; it’s inexpensive and includes a sliding fan speed controller which adjusts the fan from 2800-to-3800RPM. The Vantec Mach 1 heatsink is compatible with sockets 478/754/939/940 thanks to a retention frame that accomodates both AMD Athlon64 and Intel Pentium 4 heatsink mounting spaces.”

NHJ MPM-201 30GB MPEG4 Personal Video Recorder
Big Bruin :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Quote: The video playback is one of the biggest reasons to get the MPM-201. If you select the “My Movies” icon from the main menu, you will be provided a list of the videos you have on the unit. These are all done by filename, and you can have them in sub-folders if you’d like. You can easily move any DivX 5 or MP4 video to the unit, simply by dragging it to a folder under “My Movies”.

Editorial: Game Copy Protection – Part 2: The UbiForce
Virtual-Hideout :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Quote: “Since we learned that StarForce puts a new layer of drivers onto a computer, which controls all your IDE drives (hence some people not being able to see their drives when StarForce is installed), I decided to run the uninstaller on my own system and see if that made any sort of difference. Well, the difference was night and day.”

News – HEC Win Power 480W PSU
Techniz.co.uk :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005

“The HEC Win Power 480W PSU is a powerful PSU with the black and stylish housing and the 120mm blue LED cooling fan. With the dual 12V rails of power, it will support many peripheral devices without any problems. Furthermore, this PSU is ready with dual PCI-E connector to be use for the Nvidia SLI or ATI CrossFire technology….”

Thermaltake Big Typhoon @ Pro-Clockers
Pro-Clockers :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Quote: Our next review product has been the talk of the forums and enthusiast community since its release a few months back. The Thermaltake Big Typhoon has been talked about in many ways. First, it has been named by many has the best cooler on the market today. Some even say it outperform alot of the mid range water cooling setups. With words like this been thrown around how could I pass up a chance to review it.

Bigbruin.com Review: Corsair XMS TWINX2048-4000PT 2GB Dual Channel DDR
Big Bruin :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Quote: Corsair produces some of the finest memory in the world; this time around they have prepared us for the future by releasing a matched set of RAM modules totaling 2GB. This is some nice stuff… The XMS TWINX2048-4000PT ran smoothly at its rated speed and managed to gain a little overclock without much effort.

PCMech: SmoothWall Express 2.0
PC Mechanic :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Day by day, the threat to your personal online security increases as spyware, malware, and viruses are distributed to hijack your computer, steal your identity and destroy your data. For many, a common firewall and anti virus software just doesn’t cut it, and instead, you load your system up with a million spyware and virus scanners and removing tools which eat away system resources and burn a hole in your wallet.

Thermaltake Muse A2293 @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Summary: “When it comes to Thermaltake, their portfolio is spread across nearly every computer area imaginable for enthusiasts from Mozart HTPC cases to Gamma Pad mouse surfaces. In this article, we will be looking at one of their recent ventures that have been in the area of drive enclosures and it is the Muse 5.25-inch.”

Title: Zalman 9500 CPU Cooler @ Techgage
Techgage :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Quote: If you have been looking for a new CPU cooler that not only does it’s job well, but looks great in the process, then the 9500 may be exactly what you need. Made of pure copper, the 9500 utilizes 3 heatpipes which effectively does the work of 6! Let’s see how it compares to other heatsinks we have tested.

OCZ PC2-5400 Gold Edition Memory Reivew
Overclocker Café :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005
While there is DDR2 out there that is rated faster, such as DDR800 and above, you’re going to pay for that speed. With a price tag of only $120, OCZ’s memory will give you plenty of headroom for overclocking. And backed by a lifetime warranty, even with increased voltage, this stuff should be at the top of your list when shopping around.

OCZ PC2-6400 EB Platinum Edition @ Viperlair
ViperLair :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005
“A lot of people, and manufacturers (AMD) have steered clear of DDR2 due to the high latency, regardless of speeds the latency canceled out any performance gain so it just wasn’t worth it to switch to DDR2. That is all starting to change with much higher speeds and latency dropping with each new product DDR2 is finally coming into it’s own.”

We bring you the Sony PlayStation 3 @ DataFuse.net
DataFuse :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005
“Even on this Sunday, where a troubled insomniac wishes for some rest and to be left alone, I can’t avoid keeping everybody up to date regarding the console wars that we find ourselves in. The Sony PS3 is what we’re all eagerly waiting for, the Xbox 360 (if all goes according to plan) is just a preview of what Sony has in store for us. ”

NEW CONTENT (Visual) Galaxy GeForce 7800GTX 512MB – An Affordable Option
TweakTown :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005

QUOTE: “The Galaxy graphics card is a fantastic buy for people who just find that they cannot bring themselves to spend over $1000 AUD on a graphics card. There is no doubt that the 7800GTX 512MB is an expensive card and its all good and well ATI saying that the 512MB 7800GTX shouldn’t be compared against their 512MB X1800XT but their TBA card.”

Gigabyte GA-K8N51GMF-9 Motherboard Review @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005
“NVIDIA’s nForce series of chipsets have been a runaway success. Quite frankly, if top performance is what you are looking for, there is no substitute for an nForce 4 SLI board. The chipset has given us many legends including DFI’s NF4 Ultra and more recently, the maddeningly remarkable ASUS A8N32-SLI.”

G.SKILL F1-3200USU2-2GBHS PC3200 @ techPowerUp!
techPowerUp! :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005
G.SKILL is known for their well performing memory, which doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. We have their latest 2GB kit on the testbench and were surprised by the good results. For $200 you get a 2 GB kit which performs very close to Samsung TCCD. Our best result was 272 MHz at only 2.8V. Impressive for a 2GB kit.

Futurelooks 2005 Holiday Gift Guides: Just Toying Around with Techie Toys
Futurelooks :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Toys for techies don’t always have to be PDA’s, cellphones, and Notebooks. They can actually be REAL toys. Toys these days have gone techie too and we get to check out some toys that are sure to please the kids or kids at heart this Holiday Season.

Last Minute Techie Holiday Gift Guide @ The TechZone
The Tech Zone :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Christmas is now less than a week away and you still haven’t done all your gift buying yet? Well, you’re in luck because we have a list of last minute techie holiday gifts ideas to help find that perfect stocking stuffer. Happy shopping.

Corsair 2GB TwinX2048-4000PT Memory Kit Review
Madshrimps :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Quote: “Having 1024MB of system RAM is still sweet, but 2048MB attests even sweeter to the forward looking PC-Enthusiast. Enter Corsair’s new Twinx2048-4000PT Memory kit for DDR1 platforms which we test extensively today”

Kingston HyperX PC7200 DDR900 1GB Kit Review @ PC Modding Malaysia
PC Modding Malaysia :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Content: “Being (yet again) the fasted DDR2 modules we have tested up to date, I have to admit that these HyperX DDR2 900MHz modules proved that they are the fast. Although the latencies were a bit higher than its competitor, Kingston puts their main focus on higher speeds rather than lower latencies. Besides that, the modules responded well with the voltage but we were a bit dissatisfied to have the voltage increased to 2.1V to do DDR900. Before we wrap things up, we would like to suggest that the HyperX PC7200 DDR900 modules were designed for overclockers, as our results shows. If you plan to buy this kit and run it at default speeds, you may want to look else where because you have to overclock your system to get it to perform. Priced at USD199 / RM760, these HyperX DDR2 modules looks impressive and a quick search shows that these modules are being sold at the same price, if not cheaper than most DDR800 modules! Overall, the HyperX PC7200 DDR900 modules offer high overclockability and best bang for buck!”

Evercool Sharks Heatpipe CPU Cooler @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Quote: “Today for review I have something that really surprised me in its performance. I have an Athlon X2 and it requires a very competent cooling solution to keep it cool. The stock solution is fine but just does not cut it for overclocking and I do a bit of that when I do reviews. When I got it, I knew the stock solution was not going to work for me, so with it I ordered an after market cooler as well. It was fine for a while but not great, so of course the next logical step would be water cooling. Being a reviewer means that I get new stuff all the time and things don’t stay in my system for long, and water-cooling is nice but a pain to keep uninstalling and reinstalling. For review today I have the Evercool Sharks CPU cooler, this is going back to basics for me really. It is a heat pipe based system with some great results in what it can achieve in the way of cooling.”

XGI Volari 8300 128 MB 64-bit Review
Hardware Secrets :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005
“Volari 8300 is the newest entry-level graphics chip from XGI. It is always good to see another company besides ATI and nVidia doing something. The reference board we’ve got from XGI had 128 MB on-board memory and a 64-bit memory interface, competing with Radeon X300 SE HyperMemory and with the 64-bit 64 MB version of GeForce 6200 TurboCache. XGI’s chip, however, has a built-in MPEG-2 decoder and video enhancer, i.e. with this video card DVD decoding is done by the video card and not by the system CPU, which can be a tremendous feature for entry-level multimedia PCs. GeForce 6200 has also this feature, but you need to buy a decoder software from nVidia that costs between USD 19.95 and USD 49.95, depending on the version (you can use it for free during the first 30 days). Radeon X300 doesn’t have this feature at all, while the new Radeon X1300 series has it.”

Vantec Nexstar 3 Review @ DH
DPReview :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005
“Form and functionality collide with style in the Nexstar 3 External SATA Hard Drive Enclosure from Vantec. With its mirror finish, sleek curves and bold colors, the Vantec Nexstar 3 stands out from the crowd. The sturdy drive cage protects your hard drive while the aluminum case effectively draws away the heat, protecting your drive from overheating. The Nexstar 3 features eSATA (external Serial ATA) and USB 2.0 interfaces offering speeds up to 3Gbps or 480Mbps respectively. This flexibility allows you to use your hard drive at its full performance where eSATA is available and still have the option of using USB where it’s not. The Nexstar 3 is an ideal way to store and transfer large amounts of data in an enclosure that matches your style!”

Black Jack: Biohazard Anime DVD Review @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Quote: “Anime, one of my favorite pastimes. I have been watching Anime for about 20 years now, I used to trade VHS tapes with people all over the world before Anime was really known here in the United States. I used to get movies that were all in Japanese, fun to watch, not much of a choice as there weren’t many companies that were importing and dubbing or subtitling them yet. Today, Anime has become mainstream, Saturday morning cartoons, after school cartoons, and I read an article that a newspaper is going to be picking up a Manga comic strip. You might be wondering why a computer hardware review site might be interested in reviewing Anime, but if you think about it, Anime and computers go hand in hand.”

DH Review: Vantec Nexstar 3
Driver Heaven :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Form and functionality collide with style in the Nexstar 3 External SATA Hard Drive Enclosure from Vantec. With its mirror finish, sleek curves and bold colors, the Vantec Nexstar 3 stands out from the crowd. The sturdy drive cage protects your hard drive while the aluminum case effectively draws away the heat, protecting your drive from overheating. The Nexstar 3 features eSATA (external Serial ATA) and USB 2.0 interfaces offering speeds up to 3Gbps or 480Mbps respectively. This flexibility allows you to use your hard drive at its full performance where eSATA is available and still have the option of using USB where it’s not. The Nexstar 3 is an ideal way to store and transfer large amounts of data in an enclosure that matches your style!?

Leadtek 7800 GTX MyVIVO Extreme Review @ Bjorn3D
Bjorn3D :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Leadtek consistently releases unique cooling solutions for its NVIDIA-based video cards. Leadtek also jumped on the factory overclock bandwagon and offers several overclocked versions of its cards. Today’s review focuses on the Leadtek WinFast PX7800 GTX TDH MyVIVO Extreme, which happens to feature both a custom cooling solution and a factory overclock.

If you have seen the massive, heatpipe-based cooler on the 7800 GTX 512 cards, then the cooling solution on the WinFast PX7800 GTX TDH MyVIVO Extreme is nothing new to you. Leadtek’s WinFast PX7800 GTX Extreme was actually the first non-Quadro card to use this cooler, as this card was out weeks before the GTX 512s hit the shelves. The cooler was first seen on NVIDIA’s Quadro FX.

Mid-Range Buyer’s Guide (Q4’05) @ TheTechLounge
The Tech Lounge :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005

The goal of this guide is to outline an entire mid-range computer system for around $1,500. This includes the internal hardware, input devices, monitor and speakers (everything but an OS). The components we have chosen for this system are what we consider to be good all-around products with the best bang for the buck. Depending on your individual needs, you may prefer to swap out different components in order to focus more on gaming, multimedia or multitasking. While we will recommend specific components throughout the article, we will also point out some options that you may want to consider as well.”

Slim Devices v3 Network Media Player @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005

“Media, over the past few years all different types have been flooding our lives, from music to video we see it everyday. There are services to download music and video now. We have MP3 players and media players. This past year we have seen the introduction of network media players. These players are very big and most of them do not support wireless networks. Well today we are going to take a look at a network music player that is extremely small, and works perfectly with your wireless network. So without further ado let’s check out the Slim Devices Squeezebox Network Media Player.”

Thermalright SI-97 GPU Cooler Mod Guide Rev. 2.1 Posted!
Tech ARP :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Quote – “The stock coolers on most graphic cards barely do the job. If you are into overclocking, you would most certainly opt for a third-party cooler from the likes of Zalman or Arctic Cooling.

But for a select group of extreme overclockers who enjoy voltage-modding their cards for the extra edge, even third-party coolers just won’t hack it.

Today, Max_87 shows us just how easy it is to mod a Thermalright SI-97 CPU cooler into an awesome GPU cooler capable of handling even voltage-modded cards!

NZXT Lexa Midtower Case Review
OCIA :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005

“Here we have a close-up of the front bezel. The bezel appears to be constructed of brushed aluminum with a glossy finish, but in reality, the material is plastic with a painted brushed aluminum look. Just by looking at the photos, you cannot tell that the bezel is plastic. NZXT did an excellent job of bringing the look to life with paint. In the center of the bezel you can see the power LED and the hard drive LED indicators. As you will see later in the review, both of these are blue in color when in use.”

AOpen i945Ga-PHS Mainboard Review
Overclocker Café :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005

The AOpen i945Ga-PHS is a very good all round board. The problems with it all center around the PCI-E 16x slot and use of a video card. Using the onboard video takes the layout and jumper issue out of the equation making the board have very few flaws. The reality of the issue is that most folks do use add in cards, especially on HTPCs or gaming PCs which brings these issues to the front of the line for an Excedrin headache.

Digital Addiction & The MMORPG phenomenon @ The TechZone
The Tech Zone :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005
For the uninitiated, MMORPG stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. The basic premise of these epic online games is that players from around the world converge on servers to do battle against computer driven opponents and often each other. Each server can hold on average up to 5,000 players at a time. It is then no wonder that these servers become home to a unique subculture of players who eat, sleep and breathe these fantasy worlds – sometimes to the detriment of everything else in their life.

Cooler Master Aquagate Mini R120 CPU Cooler at 3DXtreme
3dXtreme :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Recently 3DXtreme has been taking a look at high end air coolers. Products like Thermaltakes’ Big Typhoon, Blue Orb II and the Artic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro have all been reviewed within the last few months. Air cooling with products like these allow for some great overclocks – however would a high end air cooler ever be able to keep pace with an entry level water cooling setup? How about a one piece unit from the likes of Cooler Master? Today that’s just what we are going to set out to see.

News: Seagate’s Barracuda 7200.9 hard drives
The Tech Report :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Seagate’s new Barracuda 7200.9 family of Serial ATA hard drives packs storage capacity on both fronts, with one model weighing in at a hefty half-terabyte and another packing a single 160GB platter whose areal density is 25% higher than its closest competitor. We’ve rounded up both models and run them through a brutal gauntlet of storage tests against earlier Barracudas and drives from Hitachi, Maxtor, and Western Digital. Read on to see how the 7200.9s compare.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 ‘IE7’ Preview
PCStats :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005
“PCSTATS looks at the new features which Microsoft plans to bring to the table With Internet Explorer 7, and examine how the underlying functionality of the browser has changed to better protect your computer. Internet Explorer has the distinction of being the browser most targeted by all forms of spyware, malware, and other nasties, so more security is always good news. Essential features like tabbed browsing are just the tip of what Internet Explorer 7 has to offer.”

Corsair TwinX2048-4000PT PC4000 DDR500 Memory Review
PCStats :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005
“Officially, the Corsair TwinX1024-4000PT is designed to run mainly on highly overclocked systems and is rated for up to 250 MHz with 3-4-4-8 timings (at a voltage of 2.8V). If you are running with lower latencies, we can tell you that the TwinX2048-4000PT will only run as tight as 2.5-3-3-6. The 2GB TwinX2048-4000PT DDR500 RAM kit is rated to run at speeds of up to 250 MHz, who says you had to sacrifice speed for higher capacity? ”

Bigbruin.com Review: Raidmax Sagitta ATX Gaming Case
Big Bruin :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Quote: This case offered one of the easiest installations I have ever completed. The unique design of the tool free setup holds drives in place better than any I have seen. The hard drive bay is turned 90 degrees to ease installation, and as seen previously, the motherboard tray comes out of the case to simplify that step.

OCZ Technology Rally 2GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive @ Viperlair
ViperLair :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005
“I have owned a USB drive for years, but never put it to much use, when the Rally arrived I started looking in to what it could be used for and now I don’t think I could live without it. If you are a computer tech there are many many tools that can be run from a USB drive like Everest, CPUID, memtest etc. If your motherboard supports booting from a USB device you can even run Linux from the device.”

DHzer0point 0.8195 Released!
Driver Heaven :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005

What’s new? Dual core/Hyperthreading optimizations from Nvidia Rewritten tweak base, Improving high end pixel shading performance UT2004 and older early DX9/8 improvements Compatibility tweaks still included Fixed Resolutions bug All SLI options, rendering AA/AF, Overclocking options should be available Full Mobility support Hardcoded PCI Latency to BIOS defaults VMR option available and enabled by default

NEW CONTENT (Software) ATI Catalyst 5.12 Performance Analysis (X1K Edition)
TweakTown :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005

QUOTE: “It seems like this is an early Christmas present to those Radeon X1800 users. While we thought the performance from the X850XT was good with the new drivers, we can see that the X1800XT gets more performance and almost across all our benchmarks. Quake 4 again gave us some weird results with the performance being slightly decreased at 1024 x 768 but apart from that the drivers get two big thumbs up from us.”

PimpRig Review // NZXT Lexa Classic Series ATX Case
PimpRig :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005
The Lexa is a pretty sleek aluminum case which seems aimed directly at lanparty goers. “Enter a new case design from NZXT called the Lexa. Many of you may have seen cases by NZXT before, and I know what you are thinking…. another anime or robot inspired case, right? Wrong! This case actually looks classy enough to be used on an executive’s desk at some unnamed law firm.”

The Sapphire RADEON X1300 256MB at CaseModGod.com
Case Mod God :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Summary: The Sapphire RADEON X1300 256MB is a great entry level video card that has all the features of more expensive higher end video cards without the prohibitive price tag. With a street price of about $100 USD it is a true “bang for the buck” video card worth looking into.

ECS KA1 MVP Extreme Motherboard @ t-break
t-break :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005
For some strange reason, the four SATA ports powered by the Southbridge sit right below the two PCI-E x16 slots and putting in a long card such as the 7800GTX or the x1800 blocks access to them. Right next to these connectors is a silver plate with the ECS Extreme logo and we think that ECS should’ve swapped places of these SATA connectors with the plate.

PCMech: ZoneAlarm
PC Mechanic :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Quote: For this week’s Freeware Frenzy, I will be examining ZoneAlarm Firewall version 6.1.737. I recently had some issues with spyware which proved to me that no matter how many programs you have to get rid of it, preventing it is step one. Since Windows Firewall clearly failed me, I chose to look elsewhere for protection. So I found Zone Labs.

Raidmax Ninja @ InsaneTek
InsaneTek :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005

“Raidmax is back with another case designed with gamers in mind. The case looks cool and does not use excessive plastic parts. Armed with a very affordable price, gaming enthusiasts can finally bring a good looking case to LAN parties.”

Title: Vantec 701A HDD Cooler @ Techgage
Techgage :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Quote: Hard drive a little hot around the collar? We are looking at a great looking cooler from Vantec. It’s not an enclosure, but rather straps to the side of your drive. Let’s take it for a test drive.

Video Game Gift Guide
Designtechnica :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005
“A recent brief issued by market analysts DFC Intelligence sums up the situation in gaming industry circles this holiday season nicely, stating simply: “There really is no single standout must-have product.”

We concur… Instead, you’ll simply have to settle for a glut of top-notch titles in diverse genres. But while few individual items are likely to move huge numbers – at least, not in a sector where, like the recording business, 500,000 copies sold means breaking even – it’s largely irrelevant.

Although there will surely be massive confusion at the register this year (you try making sense of the dozens of equally intriguing, yet under-the-radar titles which ship each week), gamers are the clear-cut winners. Think of it this way: Choosing the right piece of software won’t be easy. However, the upside is that across the board, quality is improving, and no matter one’s interests, there’s a perfect match just waiting to be discovered.

Rather than bother comparing apples and oranges, we’ve taken the liberty of assembling a shopping list full of smash hits for children and grown-ups alike. So no matter who you’re shopping for, nobody has to come home empty-handed (or disappointed) as Christmas carols and Chanukah hymns start a-ringing.”

Sparco Racing Cockpit Pro for PS2 @ DH
Driver Heaven :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005

“The PS2 has seen some extremely remarkable racing titles, including the painstakingly realistic Gran Turismo 4 to the fast paced action found in Burnout Revenge, but games as captivating as the aforementioned deserve to be played with something more fitting than a measly controller. The Driving Force Pro wheel from Logitech allowed gamers to be immersed into the whole racing experience, but it still possessed a few problems. While the Driving Force Pro is undoubtedly the best wheel available for the PS2, finding a place to properly set it down can be quite a challenge. Luckily, the Sparco Racing Cockpit Pro was created for the truly hardcore driving fanatics.”

The Future Of Wireless Technology @ The TechZone
The Tech Zone :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005
If you are a part of the modern information age today, you would have noticed that everything these days is moving at a blistering pace. It wasn’t that many years ago that we were tethered to our walls if we wanted to talk to someone that wasn’t within earshot. These days you are hard-pressed to find a place that average everyday users like you or I would go where a mobile phone will not get coverage. If we indeed do happen to find such a place, we are outraged at the inconvenience. It is surreal to think that something that sounded like science-fiction such a short time ago is now so ingrained in our society today that we seemingly cannot live without it. Well brace yourself for Round Two, because Internet connectivity is about to come of age as well.

Thermaltake Purepower 520W Power Station PSU @ Techniz
Techniz.co.uk :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005

“The Thermaltake Purepower 520W Power Station is a totally silent and powerful PSU. With the black and stylish housing and the unique P.S.T and modular design will really attract a lot of enthusiast. With the dual 12V rails of power, it will support many peripheral devices without any problems. It also equips with 120mm blue LED fan in the PSU and the rear side of the 5.25″ P.S.T is also having the blue LED light that will really decorate the interior of the chassis. Furthermore, this PSU is ready with dual PCI-E connector to be use for the Nvidia SLI or ATI CrossFire technology…”

Zalman ZM460-APS 460W Power Supply @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Quote: “When someone mentions the name Zalman most people think of great performing and cool looking heatsinks. I know quite a few people that have Zalman HSF’s in their computers and I am one of them. A lot of people swear by them, and easily recommend them to everyone, I personally have use Zalman HSF’s in computers that I have built for others. Did you know that Zalman also makes power supplies? Today for review I have one from Zalman that is touted as “Noiseless”, is it? How will it perform in my power hungry system? Read on to find out the answers to these and other thought provoking questions!”
<>BR check it out

Corsair TwinX 2048-3500LLPRO @ Pro-Clockers
Pro-Clockers :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Quote: Corsair has been around the computing world for a very long time. There is not one person that would not recognize the name when it comes up in a conversation about anything computer related. From the COOL water cooling kit to digital memory for your camera, they are in the middle of it all. And with the gaming community needing alot of ram to run these graphic intense memory hogging video games, Corsair has once again met the needs of our community. By providing us two gigs of high performance memory with excellent timings in the 3500LLPro.

Gigabyte GV-RX18L256V-B X1800 XL Videocard Review
PCStats :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005

“Gigabyte’s GV-RX18L256V-B Radeon X1800 XL videocard is a pretty nice single-slot PCI Express x16 videocard! The Radeon X1800 XL GPU is clocked at 500 MHz, and backed by 256MB of Samsung GDDR3 memory that hums away at 1 GHz. The videocard supports video In/Video Out (VIVO) and High Definition Television (HDTV) output. Other goodies included with the package are a DVI-to-analog converter, an S-Video cable, a VIVO cable, a Component output cable and for some reason, a molex splitter cable. The software bundle consists of Xpand Rally, Counter Strike Condition Zero, Power Director and PowerDVD.”

SilverStone Strider ST60F Modular Power Supply @ SystemCooling
SubZeroTech :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005

“The new SilverStone Strider ST60F is a fully modular power supply unit (PSU) rated for 600 watts continuous load that offers power and flexibility in one package. The ST60F is SilverStone’s new flagship product in their Strider family of switching power supplies, which includes seven models ranging from 360W to 600W. The Strider ST60F PSU combines the core circuitry from the powerful SilverStone Zeus ST65ZF with a quieter running 120mm cooling fan and modular cables”

MGE XGBOX Dragon Elite Aluminum ATX Computer Case Review @ Tweaknews.net
Tweaknews :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005

“I have to applaud XG for their Dragon chassis. It is always a gamble to market a product with styling as over-the-top as this. While I’ve seen other manufacturers wrap an outdated, mediocre chassis in some superficial bling to milk some more dollars out of it, MGE has used a new chassis design with nice features and aluminum construction to bring a quality product to the marketplace. The overall fit and finish is excellent and its distinctive styling really grabs your attention.”

How To Crack Passwords @ The TechZone
The Tech Zone :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005
One of the key components in performing a security assessment is the acquisition of user account information and cracking of the account password. There are many methods and tools that can be used to crack passwords; however, you must first retrieve the information to crack. And once again, there are many ways of acquiring the account information. This article will illustrate one method of acquiring user account information using a combination of social engineering and open source tools. We will then briefly go over a particular cracking method and tool.

News – Akasa AllInOne Multi-Function Panel
Techniz.co.uk :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005

“The multi-functional panel from Akasa which is known as the AllInOne is equip with all the function that you need. It can control up to 2 fan and have 2 temperature sensors to detect the temperature for the various devices inside the computer case. With the LCD back lighted Display is the most unique part of this AllInOne that able to monitor the current fan speed and temperature….”

Enermax SLI/CrossFire Liberty 400W Power Supply Review #626
3dgameman :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005

“This product is only 400W but performs exceptionally well, and this particular model is also available in 500W & 620W if additional power is needed. It has lots of features & technologies. The modular design, along with all the leads being sleeved, cuts down the cable mess and increases air flow. Also, it’s SLI & CrossFire ready which hardcore gamers require. Watch the Video to find out more…” ~3dGameMan.com

ThermalTake Swing @ Bytesector
Bytesector :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005
“Yet another case has been released by Thermaltake, and it goes by the name of Swing. Moving away from the recent trend of strong aluminum cases, Thermaltake created the Swing with a plastic face plate which is reflective enough to be a backup mirror. The case may look nice on the outside, but does it live up to the typical Thermaltake standards on the inside? Is it tool-less? What types of features are loaded into the case? How does it compare to other cases? Read on and find out!”

AOpen i945Ga-PHS Motherboard Review
PCStats :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005
“At first glance, the AOpen i945Ga-PHS socket 775 Intel Pentium 4 motherboard is a pretty well rounded platform, it even supports HDTV component output (Y, Pb, Pr) by default! Based on the Intel’s i945G Northbridge, the AOpen i945Ga-PHS motherboard supports Socket 775 Pentium 4/D/XE and Celeron processors running with a 533/800/1066 MHz FSB. The four DDR2 memory slots can accommodate up to 4GB of PC2-6400 unbuffered DDR-2 RAM, while running in a dual channel configuration.”

Corsair 2GB XMS PC4000-PT Dual Channel DDR Kit Review
OCIA :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005

“In order to find the maximum stable overclock, I first set the HT multiplier to 3x and increased the CPU voltage to 1.7v (to factor out the processor as a limiting factor). I used the maximum multiplier for my CPU, which happens to be 9x. Starting at 250 MHz 1:1 and worked my way up from there, increasing memory voltage as needed.”

Headline: Samsung Spinpoint 250GB PATA (SP2514N) HDD @ TechTastic.ca
TechTastic :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Quote: It seems now days that the need for more hard drive space is in higher demand. Software and games have increased significantly in size, as well as the need to store multimedia files such a video, music and pictures. Today we take a look at what Samsung has to offer with there Spinpoint 250GB PATA (SP2514N) Hard drive.

Vantec Nexstar3 USB/eSATA Hard Drive Enclosure
Big Bruin :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Z Quote: The aluminum enclosure has a sleek and classic look to it, with a black mirror finish and chrome colored accents. On the one side it shows the logo and the connection labels. The reverse side is blank except for four little rubber feet, if you decide to lay it flat. Once you turn the unit on, the Vantec logo on the front

Antec ATX 12V Power Supply Tester Review @ Legit Reviews
Legit Reviews :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005
“The Antec ATX12V Power Supply Tester is a simple tool for testing ATX12V (v 1.3 and v 2.0) power supplies without the use of voltmeters and probes. Simply plug the power supply outputs into the 24-pin (or 20-pin) connector to verify voltage of each ATX12V rail. The Antec ATX 12V PSU Tester is perfect for those of us that are constantly tinkering with systems or helping friends and family diagnose problems…”

AC Ryan UV Acryl Panel at CaseModGod.com
Case Mod God :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Summary: Straight from the box the first thing I could notice was that in a room with standard lighting the edges really picked up the UV in the light… it was starting to glow under a normal light bulb! I can’t wait to see the Acrylpanel under UV lights in the dark.

Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro
Pure Overclock :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Quote: “The results clearly show the Freezer 64 Pro to be one of the best coolers on the market for noise/performance. It’s impressive to see it handle the overclock without dipping into unsafe temperatures. I’ll also add here that this is the quietest cooler I’ve ever used.”

Func sUrface1030 Archetype Mouse Pad Review Posted!
Tech ARP :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Quote – “Wanna get two Func mouse pads for the price of one? Then check out the new Func sUrface1030 Archetype!
R Today, we will be taking a look at this enhanced version of the famous sUrface1030 and see what’s new and what’s great about this mouse pad! ”

Ultra Products Fan Commander Review @ Virtual-Hideout
Virtual-Hideout :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Snip: ” I really like just about everything about the Ultra Fan Commander as a whole. It’s a refreshingly high quality product that works well, and looks better, particularly in combination with the Ultra Titanium fans.”

Shure E2g Gaming Earphones @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005
“It was only a matter of time before Shure entered the world of gaming earphones. After all, gaming is a rapidly growing market segment and it only makes sense to cater to such enthusiasts. Has Shure done anything extraordinary to differentiate itself from the rest of the crowd? Let’s find out…”

Futurelooks Holiday 2005: Mobile Techie Gift Guide
Furioustech :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005
The mobile techie is a very difficult target for the holiday shopper. Things that you think are thoughtful may not always please the minimalist and functional desires of our portaging friends. This guide includes some thoughtful, tried and tested gifts that should garner a second look from your mobile techie this season.

PCMech: Spybot Search & Destroy
PC Mechanic :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005
This is another handy spyware program that it is a definite addition to any arsenal. I’ve been using it along with Ad-Aware for my spyware catching needs, and the combined power of the two does a great job in keeping my system clean. So today, let’s take a look at Spybot and see how it stacks up.

The Pros and Cons of Broadband Internet Phone Service @ BonaFideReviews
Bona Fide Reviews :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005
“VOIP is quickly becoming more reliable and receiving wider acceptance. In fact, phone companies are already taking advantage of the technology to provide cheaper long distance rates. Like any emerging technology, however, there are kinks in the system that are still being worked out.”

[GeekExtreme] Steelpad Steel Sound 5H-USB headset @ Geekextreme.com
Geek Extreme :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005
“One application where I could see these headphones being almost essential is gaming laptops. Anyone who owns a beastly Alienware or Dell XPS gaming laptop should put a pair of these Steel Sound’s on the top of their holiday wishlist. Seriously. Do it. Now.”

3dGameMan Giveaway/Contest 24: Cooler Master Cavalier 1 Case and more
3dgameman :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Cooler Master and 3dGameMan team up to bring you Giveaway/Contest 24: Cooler Master Cavalier 1 Case and more

Shuttle XPC SD11G5 Small Formfactor PC Review
PCStats :: Sunday, December 11, 2005

“In this review, PCSTATS will be testing a bare bones small form factor PC that Shuttle Inc. has produced. As you’ll see, low noise operation is a priority, but not at the expense of computing performance. To reach this happy equilibrium, the Shuttle XPC SD11G5 is powered by a mobile Intel Pentium M processor (not included). Technically speaking, the Shuttle XPC SD11G5 SFF PC is based around the Intel 915GM and Intel ICH6M chipsets, and it supports socket 479 Intel Celeron M and Pentium M processors that operate with a 400MHz or 533MHz Front Side Bus (FSB). Owing to the small size of small form factor PCs, there just two DDR-2 memory slots within the Shuttle XPC SD11G5, so it can support a maximum of 2GB of unbuffered 240-pin DDR2-667 memory.”

CompactFlash Card Roundup: 1GB Models
PCStats :: Sunday, December 11, 2005
“Buying the right CF card for your digital camera can be difficult, well mostly confusing since there are size, type and speed considerations to wrap your head around first. Size and type are pretty straightforward. Most consumers should buy the largest capacity CompactFlash memory card within their means so they do not have to swap memory cards out constantly. There are two types of CompactFlash memory cards: Type I and Type II. The only difference between them is the height of the card. Type I CF cards are 3.3mm thick while Type II stands 5mm high. Some cameras are not compatible with Type II CF media, so this question comes down to knowing what your camera supports.”

Helix v1.7 @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Sunday, December 11, 2005
Summary: “Helix, a Linux distribution made by e-Fense and designed for incident response and computer forensics analysis has released their version 1.7. Bundled in this latest Knoppix-based distribution is a revamped GUI, as addition to its bootable capabilities it offers a few utilities that can be accessed when already in side of Microsoft Windows, while the Linux portion of the distribution itself has been updates to the 2.6.14 kernel with numerous other enhancements. Some of the mother miscellaneous packages include Autopsy v2.06, Sleuthkith v2.03, ClamAV v0.87.1-1, and EnCase Linen.”

X-Micro DisGo
Overclockers Online :: Sunday, December 11, 2005
Quote: The X-Micro DisGo has certainly taken advantage of the Toshiba 1.8″ hard drives by creating a truly portable hard drive solution. It opens the door to large amounts data in a relatively package. While the options for devices like 4 GB thumb drives do exist and are another popular option, 4 GB is not enough to transfer a full DVD’s worth or data, let alone a dual layer one. Top that off with performance generally exceeding that of USB thumb drives and equivalent to external hard drive solutions, the X-Micro is a great solution for those who just want to be on the cutting edge of technology.

Evercool Nighthawk Universal VGA Cooler @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Sunday, December 11, 2005

Quote: “Evercool, great name for a company that makes cooling products huh? Most likely you have heard of them, and there is a chance that you own something of theirs or someone who does. Evercool is sort of known for making interesting looking products. A lot of their products are made to resemble something other than what it actually is intended for, like their Neon Crab memory cooler for instance. Well today I have another of Evercool’s themed products, The VC-F117 Nighthawk Universal VGA Cooler.”

My space is your space: Myspace.com @ The TechZone
The Tech Zone :: Sunday, December 11, 2005
You know, I’ve been writing articles on the Internet for over 2 years now and it never seems to amaze me how slow I am to pick up on new phenomena that keep springing up on the World Wide Web. Just as I hear about some really cool website/web concept, I am then told about a new one that everyone else already knows about. Well, this time I feel like a total recluse. I’ve been walking around in my own head-space not realizing that one of the most popular sites in the world, Myspace.com is where much of the human community is getting together to share ‘space’, or if you want to look at it another way, to share life.

NeuNeo HVD2085 High Definition DVD Player @ Bytesector
Bytesector :: Sunday, December 11, 2005
“In the past, we’ve had the opportunity to review two HD DVD players from NeuNeo, and today, we get to play with another, the NeuNeo HVD2085. This new HD DVD player has been completely redesigned and the remote has been improved on as well. Better yet, the player provides the same great visual quality and support for various resolutions and playback formats. This HD DVD player also accommodates up scaling to 1080p just like its previous HVD208 model. In this review, we will revisit some of the interesting and unique features NeuNeo has delivered on and discuss what is new with this latest model.”

NeuNeo HVD2085 High Definition DVD Player @ Bytesector
Bytesector :: Sunday, December 11, 2005
In the past, we’ve had the opportunity to review two HD DVD players from NeuNeo, and today, we get to play with another, the NeuNeo HVD2085. This new HD DVD player has been completely redesigned and the remote has been improved on as well. Better yet, the player provides the same great visual quality and support for various resolutions and playback formats. This HD DVD player also accommodates up scaling to 1080p just like its previous HVD208 model. In this review, we will revisit some of the interesting and unique features NeuNeo has delivered on and discuss what is new with this latest model.”

Artic Silver ArtiClean review @ DH
Driver Heaven :: Sunday, December 11, 2005
“So you’ve bought yourself some Arctic Silver 5, and you want to replace the current thermal paste you’re using. But how do you clean it off? There are several methods around, from using methylated spirits to rubbing alcohol, but the Arctic Silver company has created a two-part solution, ArctiClean, designed to completely remove all traces of thermal pads and transfer compounds from the CPU and heatsink. This product is the subject of my review today.”

Razer Diamondback (Salamander Red) at CaseModGod.com
Case Mod God :: Sunday, December 11, 2005

Summary: Razer has lately been garnering a lot of attention in the world of gaming. Their promotions have included encouraging their consumers to get tattooed with their logo, an impressive booth at this year’s QuakeCon, and they’ve collected a number of sparkling reviews from many of the foremost sources of gaming information. Do their products live up to the hype, though? We’ll find out if the Razer Diamondback does, at least, in our review.

Multi-tasking Concepts: A Tale of Two Threads
PC Mechanic :: Sunday, December 11, 2005
Chances are, you’ve probably heard about the new dual core processors. The corporate giants, Intel and AMD, have shifted their emphasis on multitasking using dual core as the primary driving force. However, the concept of computer multi-tasking has been with us for quite a while and it is not limited to dual-core. Multi-processor systems in servers and high-end workstations as well as Intel’s coveted Hyper Threading Technology have been with us for many years. Three technologies, one concept/goal. You may wonder, what’s the difference?

OCZ EL DDR PC-3200 Gold GX XTC Dual Channel Memory Kit Review
OCIA :: Sunday, December 11, 2005

” After opening the package, the first thing you notice about the memory is the fit and finish of the heat spreaders. It is flawless and almost looks too good to stick inside a closed computer case. The heat spreaders have a polished gold mirrored finish on the outside edges with a large OCZ “Z” logo in the middle. The centers of the heat spreaders have a round honeycomb perforation finished in polished silver.”

Making Personal Family Video Guide @ The TechZone
The Tech Zone :: Sunday, December 11, 2005
Low-cost, easy-to-use video hardware/software production tools like the ADS Tech Instant DVD family are becoming mainstream products. People are finding personal satisfaction in being able to quickly edit out unwanted scenes, and add titles, effects and background music to their videos. But what really drives them back to the video production solution night after night are the oohhs, aahhs, laughter and tears of the friends and family who watch their movies again and again. Let’s look at some real examples.

Overclock Software and Tools roundup
OCIA :: Sunday, December 11, 2005
check it out

On ocinside.de is a new roundup with dozens of small Tools and programs to tune the PC hardware. Beside important current programs to change the CPU multiplier or FSB there’re also some selected older Shareware and Freeware Tools, which will help to overclock the PC hardware. The overview contains direct Downloads or links to the developers, a small description and the size of the respective software.

Vantec AVOX Jukebox Multimedia Player
Big Bruin :: Sunday, December 11, 2005

Quote: Vantec has been around for over 10 years; most would be familiar with their extensive line of cooling products, but they have much more than that in their stable. A quick browse of their site will reveal a multitude of peripherals, PSUs, accessories and storage solutions. In this case we have the AVOX Jukebox Model AVX-100TX that is touted as a storage device, but also as a portable audio/video player.

Mozilla Firefox 1.5 tweak guide
Tech Spot :: Sunday, December 11, 2005
Mozilla Firefox is a great Internet browser, applauded by users and critics alike for its features, performance, usability, customisation and security. Firefox 1.5 builds on Firefox 1.x by adding an integrated auto-update system, improved pop-up blocker and improved standards support, not to mention thousands of bug fixes.

This updated guide will take you through all that Firefox 1.5 has to offer covering the options menu, about:config preferences, CSS, extensions and more.

OCZ PC-3200 Gold Voltage eXtreme Dual Channel DDR Memory Review Posted
Tech ARP :: Sunday, December 11, 2005

Quote – ” Overclockers love playing with voltages, clock speeds and timings to get the maximum out of their memory modules. The OCZ PC-3200 Gold Voltage eXtreme modules allow them to do just that with its incredible overclockability and affinity for high voltages. Check out our review of these incredible DDR memory modules! ”

HEXUS.reviews :: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GS Preview
Hexus :: Sunday, December 11, 2005

While it’d be nice to see NVIDIA filling out the performance range with 7-series GeForce products, since the GPU at the basis of those will be that bit better performance and carry slightly better IQ features, the 6800 GS is a fine last-gasp for the NV4x GPU range that’ll keep many a gamer happy in front of the PC this holiday season.

[Phoronix] Swiftech H20-220 APEX Ultra
Phoronix :: Sunday, December 11, 2005

Summary: “Swiftech has come out with a new revision to their H20-APEX water cooling kit and is named the APEX Ultra with its Apogee waterblock and new MCRES-Micro reservoir. For today’s review, we are experimenting with the new H20-220 kit that is designed for high-end usage and had no problems pushing the CPU past the 4GHz marker.”

Gigabyte GV-3D1-68GT Dual-GPU Videocard Review
PCStats :: Sunday, December 11, 2005

“The Gigabyte GV-3D1-68GT videocard comes packing 512MB of GDDR3 memory (256MB exclusively for each core), and conforms to the PCI Express x16 formfactor. With two GPUs the card is able to support up to four monitors simultaneously; two DVI and two analog! Make no mistake, the Gigabyte GV-3D1-68GT is aimed directly at the hardcore gamer – both in terms of its performance goals and price.”

Intel Yonah Launch Date Confirmed @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Sunday, December 11, 2005
“The launch venue is expected to be India. However, we are not able to confirm if there are going to be more simultaneous launches or if this is going to be an exclusive launch. Knowing that the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2006) will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada around the same timeframe, it makes sense for Intel to do a simultaneous launch in the U.S. as well.”

Corsair PC4000 DDR500 TWINX2048-4000PT 2Gig Dual Channel Memory Kit Review @ Tweaknews.net
Tweaknews :: Sunday, December 11, 2005

“This two gigabyte kit from Corsair again is just a perfect example of a quality product. It is relatively inexpensive, performs well and is rock solid stable. As for the 3-8-4-4 timings, if you overclocking at all, don’t even bother considering it a disadvantage.”

X-Micro Video MP3 400 – Convenient Movie and Audio Playback
TweakTown :: Sunday, December 11, 2005
QUOTE: “The Video MP3 400 is exactly what its name implies. It is a portable MP3 player that is nice and small in size and also has the ability to handle video files. With so many of this type product flooding the market, we’re going to look at some of the features and try to help you decide whether it would be worthy of your hard-earned cash.”

UT2007 Will Spin on PlayStation 3 @ DataFuse.net
DataFuse :: Sunday, December 11, 2005
“Everybody who has gamed in their life and played multiplayer games on LAN parties should know two games: Counter-Strike and Unreal Tournament. UT has always been the loved fast-pace game and many versions have followed each other. But it’s been a while since a new release has struck us down like a Redeemer on a powertrip. ”
R

CeBIT Goes to India @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Sunday, December 11, 2005
Infocom, the largest IT expo in India is currently under progress in Kolkata, India. While there, we spoke to some of the key personnel involved and learned that if all goes well, Infocom might either merge or get re-branded as CeBIT India.”

Cooler Master Aquagate Mini 80 Giveaway @ Systemcooling.com
SystemCooling :: Sunday, December 11, 2005
Systemcooling has teamed up with Cooler Master for a cool Christmas giveaway. One lucky winner will be the recipient of an Aqugate Mini 80 water cooling system, and we have other cool prizes for the runners-up. Check out the forum thread for details!

Pinnacle PCTV 110i Review @ AMD Review
AMD Review :: Sunday, December 11, 2005
AMDReview takes a good look at one of Pinnacles PCTV tuners, the 110i. If you have been shopping for a TV tuner or thinking about getting one, this article will give you

How Many Units will Xbox 360 Sell>
Team Xbox :: Sunday, December 11, 2005
High demand for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 produced long lines at retail outlets and multiple hits at BetUS.com’s betting site where oddsmakers predicted how many Xbox units would sell this holiday season.

December Value Buyer’s Guide
Sharky Extreme :: Sunday, December 11, 2005
Today on Sharky Extreme, we’ve posted the December edition of our Value Gaming PC Buyer’s Guide, where we take $1K in search of the hottest AMD and Intel gaming systems:

Abit AN8 SLI Review @ PC Modding Malaysia
PC Modding Malaysia :: Thursday, December 08, 2005

Content: “Abit has done a pretty good job with their AN8 SLI. Offering an impressive overclocker’s friendly µGuru BIOS, the AN8 SLI boast up to 3.4VDIMM for power hungry BH5 or UTT memory chips. The package is also neat and comes with everything you need to get started. The AN8 SLI also features AudioMAX 7.1 soundcard which gives the AN8 SLI a unique look yet improving audio quality. The motherboard also comes with onboard LEDs that light up the MOSFET and AudioMAX area thus making this motherboard standout from the crowd, even without additional case lighting. Utilizing a unique and effective Q-OTES cooling system, the nForce 4 SLI chipset is kept cool even under heavy overclocking. The AN8 SLI served us well for the past month and we ran the system at 290MHz HTT for at least 3 weeks without any crashes or reboots. We also had no cold boot issues with this motherboard and the board boots up perfectly fine.”

Infrant ReadyNAS X6 X-RAID Network Storage
The Tech Lounge :: Thursday, December 08, 2005
“One of the players in this NAS market is a company by the name of Infrant Technologies. Founded in 2001, they have set out to create a usage-specific processor which they call an NSP (Network Storage Processor); their goal being a dedicated box for the sole purpose of serving out storage to the network. To this end they have created the software which is aptly named RAIDiator. The software is now in its second incarnation as the RAIDiator 2. To see if all these bad plays on words are worth the effort, Infrant has been gracious enough to send me their latest NAS offering, the X6. The X6 is the successor to their ReadyNAS600 which utilized standard RAID architecture to serve out storage to the masses. The new X6 utilizes Infrant’s proprietary X-RAID technology to allow the user to expand the array on the fly. How well this works is precisely what I intend to find out, so let’s roll up our sleeves and dig in!”

News: Chipset Serial ATA and RAID performance compared
The Tech Report :: Thursday, December 08, 2005
If RAID’s speed and redundancy aren’t enough to pique your interest, maybe its price will. Serial ATA RAID support is included in most of today’s core logic chipsets, so it’s essentially free. Chipset RAID has been around for a while, of course, but only the most recent core-logic chipsets from Intel and NVIDIA support arrays of up to four drives and the highly coveted RAID 5.

We’ve spent a couple of months running Intel’s ICH7R and NVIDIA’s nForce4 Serial ATA RAID controllers through our exhaustive suite of storage tests, and the results are something to behold. We started with a single drive and worked our way up through RAID levels 0, 1, 10, 0+1, and 5 with two, three, and even four hard drives. Read on to see which RAID controller reigns supreme and how the different RAID levels compare in performance.

Keynesis Lockngo and Lockngo Professional Software @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Thursday, December 08, 2005

Quote: “Well I for one am very happy I got to review this software, as I now have a license for both of the Lockngo versions, and will be using them all the time. I take my laptop many places with me, and I like to transfer data to my drives from my desktop before I leave and then when I get to where I am going I transfer the data to my laptop. I haven’t lost one yet, but if I do, I now know my data will be secure. ThinkComputers owner recently lost his USB drive and mentioned it would have been nice to have had this software on it, even if the party who found it didn’t return it, at least they couldn’t use it either. I couldn’t find anything wrong with either of these programs, they work exactly as advertised.”

Razer Copperhead @ Pro-Clockers
Pro-Clockers :: Thursday, December 08, 2005

Quote: PC owners the world over have used these little guys for years. For gaming, navigating windows, websites and many other applications. However recently more and more companies are beginning to tailor make their mice for gaming. Boasting increased DPI recognition and slick bases to give those gamers that little bit extra to help them win. However, no company has quite reached the iconic status that Razer has over the last few years. Taking the gaming world by storm with their Diamondback range last year, they have caused another huge stir with their latest offering, the Razer Copperhead.

The TechZone reviews the EVGA e-GeForce 7800 GTX 512MB Video Card.
The Tech Zone :: Thursday, December 08, 2005

The EVGA video card is equipped with the same 24 pipelines and 8 vertex shaders found on the standard 7800 GTX, but comes with a significantly faster core/memory clock speed of 550MHz/1700MHz respectively and 512MB of GDDR3 memory. Thus, the 7800 GTX 512MB is basically an insanely faster EVGA GeForce 7800 GTX 256MB with double the memory capacity. The EVGA card’s core is clocked 100 MHz higher than stock and the memory went up by whopping 500 MHz DDR. However specification wise, the N545 memory might have a +200 MHz edge over ATI’s X1800 XT, but the core is at a -75 MHz disadvantage.

Enermax Laureate Series Enclosures 3.5HDD and 5.25 CD/DVD @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Thursday, December 08, 2005

Quote: “A lot of companies are making portable drive enclosures these days, they make it possible to take an internal CD/DVD or HDD and use it without actually installing it into a full computer system. This can be great for people who travel, or who want to add another drive to their system when they run out of space. Enermax is known for quality products and their Laureate Series of enclosures keeps up with that tradition. The Enermax enclosures I have today are very nice looking and very functional. The packaging they came in even screams quality.”

[News]Vantec MP4-7015-CF Mach 1 CPU cooler review @ Xtreme Resources
Xtreme Resources :: Thursday, December 08, 2005

“Vantec is a very well known company amongst the computer enthusiast crowd. They design many computer accessories, although they perhaps are known mostly for their air coolers. Vantec has been silent for some time lately, but they recently released a new line of air coolers for all of the new CPU sockets. one of their top rank coolers, the Mach 1 (or MP4-7015-FC for those that prefer the technical name) is in our hands today for evaluation. Let us see what Vantec offers to the mid-stream enthusiast of today.”

[Designtechnica News] Holiday Gaming Gear Guide
Designtechnica :: Thursday, December 08, 2005
“Anxious to get out there and spend that Christmas bonus or let friends know what you’re craving each of those eight crazy nights? No sweat – have we got some great gift ideas for you.

Bear in mind, eye-popping new games (seriously – have you seen some of the HD-compatible stuff coming down the pike?) are a given… and available by the truckload on a weekly basis at this point. But we’re going to focus strictly on hardware for the moment. After all, what’s the point of grabbing that hot new title if you’ve got nothing to play it on – or can’t experience the action as its creators intended.”

Dream’eo Enza 20GB Portable Media Center Review
Designtechnica :: Thursday, December 08, 2005
“The much heralded Microsoft Portable Media Center has seen little action since its debut at the 2004 Consumer Electronics Show. As portable video player manufacturers go several large names, including Creative, iriver and Samsung, put their PMCs out to the market where they have languished despite ok reviews. Into the now quiet PMC world comes the American debut of overseas multimedia devices company Dream’eo. Can their Enza PMC product gain traction, especially in light of the recent iPod with video release? Read on to find out.”

Cooler Master CM Media BTX-B260 Case Video Review #623:
3dgameman :: Thursday, December 08, 2005

“If you’re looking for a micro-BTX Home Theatre Case then you don’t have much to choose from. This is certainly an option; however, there isn’t much that stands out about this product. While it looks great, it isn’t all aluminum, nor does it have decent air flow. It doesn’t include a multi-media package either, which many HTPC cases now do. Watch the Video to find out more…” ~3dGameMan.com

DFI LANParty UT NF4 SLI-DR Expert Motherboard Review
PCStats :: Thursday, December 08, 2005

“Like the previous model, the DFI LANPartyUT NF4 SLI-DR Expert motherboard is based on the nvidia nForce4 SLI chipset. It supports all Socket 939 AMD Athlon64/FX/X2 processors on the market, and is geared for gaming performance. The four DIMM slots can be equipped with up to 4GB of the fastest dual channel DDR memory available, just as you might expect. In terms of onboard goodies, DFI is known to throw in everything but the kitchen sink in with its boards, the LANPartyUT NF4 SLI-DR Expert is no exception.”

Guide: Home Made Air Pencil Soldering Iron @ GideonTech.com
GideonTech :: Thursday, December 08, 2005
“One of my previous guides here was on modifying the CVS camcorder to allow users to download movies made with it to their home computers. During the early stages of this project, it was necessary to remove the memory chip from the camcorder and then surface-mount it on a different PCB to read the chip without killing it. Luckily, a way was developed to access the memory chip via USB, but I decided that it was time for me to take a closer look at ways to improve my soldering.”

Gigabyte G-Power Pro Heatsink
Frosty Tech :: Thursday, December 08, 2005
“The Gigabyte G-Power Pro has the appearance of a low noise heatsink, but that isn’t entirely the situation. Noise levels from the 1700-3200RPM fan vary from 50-72 dBA according to our sound measurements. When compared to Gigabyte’s past entries into the heatsink field (ie. 3D-Cooler, 3D-Rocket, and NeonCooler), the G-Power Pro is among the best performing K8 heatsinks at its slowest fan speed. However, it is also the loudest with the fan at full RPM.”

Xbox 360, only 13GB Available Diskspace @ DataFuse.net
DataFuse :: Thursday, December 08, 2005
“Word is spreading like a wild fire on the internet: Microsoft only gives 13GB of diskspace with the Xbox 360 instead of the 20GB. Most of you would think I would start bashing at Microsoft for ripping off their customers. Not this time…

While the Xbox 360 does come with a 20GB hard drive, users aren’t able to fully use every offered MB. They are in fact only able to use two third of the full disksize”

Gigabyte G-Power Lite CPU Cooler
PimpRig :: Thursday, December 08, 2005
“The fan on the G-Power is pretty close to Baby Blue in color, but that is a hell of a lot better than the obnoxious Orange that Thermaltake insists on using on their fans. The G-Power fan is an unusual 110 x 110 x 25mm and is of the sleeve type instead of bearing. The fan pushes 48.5 CFM at 2450 RPM while staying at a peaceful 27.5 dBA, pretty nice statistics. ”

Thermalright V1 Ultra
techPowerUp! :: Thursday, December 08, 2005
Thermalright is well known for making world-class CPU coolers. Now they have entered the VGA cooling business. The Thermalright V1 Ultra is an improved version of the V1 and features a third heatpipe. Not only does it cool well, it does this without creating a lot of fan noise. During our testing the cooler could easily beat a low-cost watercooling solution.

How To Connect Your PC to Your Home Stereo or Home Theater
Hardware Secrets :: Thursday, December 08, 2005
“How about connecting your PC to your home stereo or even to your home theater in order to get a better audio for your games, videos and audio files? In this tutorial we will show you how to make this connection using regular analog connection and also digital connection (both coaxial and optical, also known as SPDIF).”

Asetek WaterChill KT03AT-12VX @ InsaneTek
InsaneTek :: Thursday, December 08, 2005

“Asetek’s latest WaterChill watercooling kit features their Antarctica waterblock, a large dual 120mm fan radiator, and a new quiet pump. The fan and pump can be controlled via software!”

DFI Ultra LANParty UT nF4 Ultra-D @ Viperlair
ViperLair :: Thursday, December 08, 2005
“An enthusiast’s enthusiast motherboard. Tweaks, tweaks and more tweaks make this a must choice outside of an SLI solution for the overclocker extraordinaire. Sexy looks and performance to match it, DFI hits the mark, again.”

Battle for Technology – Part 2
PC Mechanic :: Thursday, December 08, 2005
Well, recently, countries have decided to remove this “problem” from the system by moving such control to a completely international (read: political) community. This sounds all fine and good – but honestly, what’s wrong with the current system?

“Asus P5ND2-SLI Deluxe Overclocking Review”
Madshrimps :: Thursday, December 08, 2005
Quote: “Today we explore Asus nVidia SLI solution for Intel, we’ll take full advantage of Proactive AI and determine just how smart the board is. Read on for Madshrimps first IQ test designed for a motherboard.”

Silverstone SUGO SG01 SFF Case @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Quote: “Small form factor (SFF) cases are becoming more and more popular these days, especially as LANS and home theater PC’s are becoming the ‘IN’ thing. Only a few companies have really pursued the making of a quality SFF case. I recently reviewed one by Antec, today I have one from Silverstone, both companies are known for their quality products. Silverstone has ventured into the HTPC market with lots of quality entries, the SFF PC case I have today can be one of those entries or it can be a nice LAN gaming rig as well. For review I have the Silverstone SG01 or SUGO series, it utilizes a Micro ATX motherboard, but features space for a full sized ATX power supply and full sized PCI cards.”

PQI Cool Drive U339 Pro @ Bytesector
Bytesector :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005
“Last week, I took a look at PQI’s Intelligent Stick Pro 170, which is the world’s smallest USB flash memory device and offered storage capacities up to 2GBs. Today, I am taking a look at another PQI USB flash memory device; this time, it’s their Cool Drive U339 Pro. The Cool Drive U339 Pro comes with a wonderful-sounding software package called USB Notebook that is a personal file management software package. PQI’s Intelligent Stick amazed me with its size-to-performance ratio, and now I sit here wondering if the U339 Pro will hold true to its performance and functionality claims. Let’s take a look at what comes with the Cool Drive U339 Pro, and then we will see if it lives up the claimed performance of an average 25MB/s read speed and 17MB/s write speed.”

Microsoft plays ‘Big Brother’ with Xbox LIVE
Hexus :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005
It seems that XBox Live on the XBox 360 gives away a lot of information about what your doing, and it’s not just your friends that can see what you’re up to…

When we first realised the extent and detail of information that was being shared with other Xbox LIVE users, we did a bit of investigating. With the boss on the other end of the phone, I skipped about through my Xbox 360’s functions, each time challenging the boss to tell me what I was doing. Using Media Connect, he told me just a few seconds after I had started that I was viewing pictures… then playing music… then on the Xbox 360 Dashboard and then that I was in Xbox LIVE Marketplace looking for something to download. The sad thing is, he was right every time!

Swiftech H20-APEX Liquid Cooling System Review
MODTHEBOX! :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005

“Swiftech provides a graph for the output flow rate at the 5 different pump speed settings. When the pump was set to its lowest speed setting, it was silent and I noticed no increase in system temperatures at idle or light loads such as surfing or playing music. While running the SiSoft Sandra burn in wizard with CPU usage set to 100%, I observed the following readings of 35 degrees under load at P1 (lowest) setting, and 33 under load at P5 (highest) setting. We can see by these readings that for normal and under a light load, the pump at its lowest speed setting is plenty good.”

Swiftech Storm G4 CPU Water Block Review @ PC Modding Malaysia
PC Modding Malaysia :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Content: “Swiftech latest product; the Storm G4 is a beautiful, high performing water block. With the pure jet impingement design, it not only breaks from the custom water block design but also able to increases the water block performance. Besides that, it is universal which is another great feature. However its price is not cheap; as one costs around 80USD. If you are one of those who are into extreme water cooling, the Swiftech Storm G4 is the best commercial water block to date; at least until a newer Storm is mass produced commercially.”

LFS LiveCD x86-6.1.1 @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Summary: “Linux From Scratch, a Linux distribution that lives by the quote “Your Distro. Your Rules.” through allowing its users to create their very own custom Linux system based upon their LFS builds and using their step-by-step instructions in their numerous books. Released recently from the LFS community has been version 6.1.1, which largely consists of fixes since the v6.1 release. Part of this release is the new x86-6.1.1 LiveCD with some of the new features being the XFce Terminal improvements, jhalfs 0.2, rsync, sudo, and wireless_tools.”

Thermaltake Pure Power PST 520W (Power Station)
Overclockers Online :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Spire GigaPod III External Drive Enclosure Review @ MVKTech
MVK Tech :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005
“One of Spire’s latest products on the market to expand a computer storage capacity need is the GigaPod III 3.5″ External Drive Enclosure, also known as GigaPod III SP110-NEB. The GigaPod III SP110-NEB is part of a growing family of external storage solutions that take advantage of USB 2.0’s fast 480Mbps bandwidth. And for anyone who has a hard disk hanging around and regularly needs to move large chunks of data around from PC to PC, this is a relatively inexpensive way of doing it.”

Enigma5’s 2005 Christmas Wish List @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005

I don’t even want to know what Santa is doing with that little boy…Quote: “Tis the holiday season, yet again. This is my Christmas wish list. Many of these items might be on your list as well. These items, in my opinion are the most wanted items of the 2005 holiday season. Everyone loves getting Christmas presents, so why not get what you wanted this year?”

Abit Fatal1ty AN8 SLI Motherboard @ Pro-Clockers
Pro-Clockers :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Quote: Over the last few years, the name Johnathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel has become synonymous with gaming prowess. In the same way ABIT’s line of motherboards under the same name have themselves become synonymous with being the powerhouses of gamers computers the world over. Today I have managed to get my mitts on the Abit Fatal1ty AN8 SLI, lets see how well it lives up to its reputation.

[GeekExtreme] Building a change management lab for a MicrosoftServer environment @ Geekextreme.com
Geek Extreme :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005
“This is starting to seem like a big headache, right? It is key to remember that the lab does not need to be massive, and that its purpose is to assist you in the administration of the production environment. The headache you are eliminating with the lab is the uncertainty of how the big firewall replacement will go on Saturday, finding out that the server you are planning to run NTop on is not powerful enough to also run BASE before you go live with it.”

OCZ EL DDR PC-3200 2GB Gold GX XTC
techPowerUp! :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Modern games require more and more memory. One gigabyte of system memory has pretty much become today’s standard. Once you turn up the eye candy you are much better off having 2 GB. OCZ is using their new XTC honey-comb heatspreaders on these modules which offer much better thermal properties than the traditional solid heatspreaders. For 1024 MB modules the overclocking works quite well too, we reached up to 240 MHz without any voltage increase.

ABS Stealth ATX Chassis @ Viperlair
ViperLair :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005
“All in all the Stealth is an awesome case, it looks awesome and is very well built. ABS did their homework and for the most part came up with a perfect case. The two cons I listed are minor and shouldn’t be a major problem for most users. It’s simple elegant design is a sight for sore eyes when so many cases these days look like robots, demons, cars etc. The Stealth goes to the top of my VERY short list of sexy, classy, elegant cases.”

Swiftech Apogee – Universal CPU Waterblock @ SystemCooling.com
SystemCooling :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005
snip: “SystemCooling.com is proud to bring you our exclusive review of Swiftech’s latest universal CPU waterblock – the Apogee. Along with the Apogee release, Swiftech has also reconfigured their entire lineup of CPU liquid cooling kits. The H2O-80 Micro, H2O-120 Premium, and H20-220 Apex Ultra liquid cooling kits all now come with the Apogee CPU waterblock.”

The Woes of Laser Technology in Gaming Mice @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005
“In a brief commentary, Razer confirmed that the current variant of laser technology does indeed work best with smooth surfaces, but similar to Logitech, it’s working on supporting as many tracking surfaces as possible. Instead of altering various settings in the software to remedy the tracking issue, Razer has issued a firmware to distribute more power to the laser, which does improve compatibility.”

Transcend 40GB StoreJet 2.5 Portable HDD Review @ Bjorn3D
Bjorn3D :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005
decided a couple of months back that I needed to find a good portable solution to backup data files for when traveling or rebuilding one of my many computer systems. After looking around, I found Transcend’s StoreJet 2.5. The StoreJet is actually an aluminum USB 2.0 case for 2.5′ hard drives, but Transcend also offers it with a 40GB or 80GB HDD already installed. In this review, I’m going to be looking at the 40GB StoreJet.

Corsair Voyager 4GB Thumb Drive @ Techgage
Techgage :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Quote: Thumb drive not providing you enough space for your needs? Corsair’s Voyager thumb drives are very well respected because they are fast and very durable. This one is no exception, except that it offers you a full 4GB of space! Let’s take a look at this spacious drive, and see how it stacks up to the competition.

HP Business Inkjet 1000 Printer Review @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005

“HP, via independent lab tests (though they were HP commissioned) claims the printer will give a running cost of roughly $0.02 per page (in monochrome mode) and is thus at least as affordable to run as a laser in its class. Since we don’t really trust company claims, we decided to test the Inkjet 1000 through our fairly rigorous tests to determine if what HP claims is true.”

Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 HDD – 9th generation emerges
TweakTown :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005
QUOTE: “The 7200.9 series has models with the following specifications, 40, 80, 120, 160, 200, 250, 300, 400 and 500GB models respectively. This is truly the first drive to support all the HDD requirements from base system all the way to high end storage capacity of the lechers like me out there. What makes this line up unique are the different specifications that accompany each drive.”

Letters, Letters, Letters: How Dare You @ DataFuse.net
DataFuse :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005
“Ever since we wrote the Xbox 360: 6 reasons why NOT to buy story which is here. People are just sending their lists, it’s quite funny.

So, everybody knows we keep no secrets and we just write whatever comes along, here are some of our readers lists regarding why you should or should not buy the Xbox 360. Enjoy and jump in I’d say. ”

500GB Hard Drive Review: Hitachi vs. Seagate
hardCOREware :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005
500GB Hard Drive Review: Hitachi vs. Seagate

We’re halfway there! All of the drive manufacturers have come out with SATA2 versions of their respective 500GB hard drives.

Join us, as we look into which performs better in our wide array of tests; is is Seagate and their 5 year warranty 7200.9? Or Hitachi with the 7K500?

Supplemental Storage vs. Backup Devices @ Virtual-Hideout
Virtual-Hideout :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Snip: “If you’ve been saving copies of all of your critical data to an external hard disk, I strongly urge you to think about copying that data to CD-R or DVD-R, and keeping the disks away from the computer”

Samsung SPH-A900 Cell Phone @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005

“Good-bye Motorola, welcome Samsung! That appears to be the bold statement Samsung is making with its newly released, Motorola RAZR competitor, A900. Samsung’s A900, also codenamed Blade, is a direct hit at Motorola’s year old RAZR, still a hot seller and the world’s thinnest RAZR in the market.”

SCOTTeVEST SeV Fleece 4.0 Mobile Techno Junkie Winter Jacket Review
Futurelooks :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005
SCOTTeVEST’s are some of the most sought after tech accessories on the market. After all the gadgets are bought, their jackets provide a home for all these gadgets and keep them safe and accessible. Since it’s cold in Canada, we decided to see if the SCOTTeVEST concept could be translated to our favouite material: Polar Fleece.

HEXUS.reviews :: Gigabyte GA-G1975X motherboard
Hexus :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Gigabyte has decided that overclocking should play a large part in the GA-G1975X’s makeup, and a couple of plastic ducts are designed and implemented to cool the hot-running components in and around the CPU socket area.

PCMech: Battle for Technology – Part 1
PC Mechanic :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005
We have Tyler authoring this week’s Kudos & Calamities column titled Battle For Technology. This is going to be a two-part series, with this week’s topic covering China and the technology market. Quite an interesting glance at the topic if you’re not familiar with all of the buzz going around about that.

Crucial Gizmo 2GB Flash Drive Review @ techniz.co.uk
Techniz.co.uk :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Quote: “Whilst the transfer rate might be on par with some memory sticks, the fact is that this has a 2gb capactiy! It’s a tool any geek would be proud of, I know I am”

[Designtechnica News] Evaluation: Fuji FinePix E900 Digital Camera
Designtechnica :: Monday, December 05, 2005

“Seven- and 8-megapixel cameras are so last year! A new wave of 9- and 10MP digicams are now in stores and more will arrive shortly. They range from the fairly straightforward Fujifilm FinePix E900 to *uber* models like the $999 10.3MP Sony DSC-R1 and the 10.2MP Nikon D200 S-SLR for $1,700. And not to leave the E900 by itself, Fujifilm also introduced the more expensive 9MP FinePix S9000 ($699) with a 10.7x optical zoom.

Given all these announcements have we reached a point of diminishing returns where the megapixel horsepower race has become meaningless? Is 9MP overkill for the average picture taker and is a $199 4MP model like the Canon A520 with a 4x optical zoom good enough? Nah; boys will be boys and we love our toys. What red-blooded American would buy a 4-cylinder car when a supercharged 8 is rumbling next to it? It’s in our DNA…”

What’s Behind the Microsoft/CableLabs CableCARD Agreement?
Designtechnica :: Monday, December 05, 2005
“The Politics Behind the Agreement: The reason that it has taken so long for Microsoft and CableLabs to come to agreement is that the cable industry simply did not believe that Media Center PC’s were trustworthy when it came to protecting video content. The PC is a relatively open system, one which is easily “accessorized” by new peripherals and software. Once DVD’s Content Scrambling System was cracked, the entire cable industry became very nervous about opening up their content to manipulation by PCs.

Microsoft was told to come up with a software and hardware solution that would sufficiently protect video content against piracy and unauthorized duplication. But Microsoft was concerned that such a solution would make the consumer video viewing experience rather cumbersome and unfriendly, thus being antithetical to its larger goal of pushing consumers to view video on their PCs. ”

Fluence’s AMD Opteron 170 DualCore Overclocking Adventure @ HardwareXL.com
HardExtreme.org :: Monday, December 05, 2005

The AMD Opteron fever has hit The Netherlands as well, Fluence from HardwareXL.com managed to get a AMD Opteron 144 and overclocked it to 2800Mhz. It achieved a overclock of 1000Mhz! Still Fluence wasn’t satisfied and got a AMD Opteron 170 DualCore and and dumped his girlfriend and began a week of burning and testing…

Quote: “…So I decided to burn in core1 for a few days. So am running cpuburnK7 every night for about 6-7 hours now. Then turn it off for the day and try again in the evening. I’m now at the point I only need 1,45 vcore for both cores to let Prime run for hours on 2600Mhz…so I hope I can run 2700Mhz at vcore 1,520-1,540 So the temperature stays well beneath 50 degrees. I am really happy with this CPU, my aquamark was already 107.000 at 2500Mhz… ”

Tt PurePower Power Station 520W PSU review @ DH
Driver Heaven :: Monday, December 05, 2005

“In 2005 another of Thermaltake’s innovative products entered the retail scene, in the form of a well thought out modular power supply. The Thermaltake PurePower PST 520W series was introduced, and is totally compliant with published ATX 12v 2.0 version standards. The Power Station 520W PSU consists of the 5.25 inch P.S.T. (Power Station) that fits into an available 5 1/4 inch drive bay, and includes a mini-P.S.T. for connection of low power accessories such as case lights, fans, etc. The only connections that are made to the parent power supply are an 8-pin power connector which reaches from the power supply to the 5 1/4 inch Power Station, and dual connections are inherent for the 6-pin PCI Express power connectors on the back of the PSU itself.”

Talk Back: When Will Analog TVs Go Dark?
Designtechnica :: Monday, December 05, 2005
“The first commentary I ever wrote for this website was on what I called ‘the DTV heist.’ That was my characterization of the broadcast television industry holding onto its analog spectrum while occupying a fat new slice of the digital spectrum. Well, the end may finally be in sight for analog broadcasting. Maybe.

Because the planned analog-spectrum auction would bring in big bucks, the analog cutoff is moving through Congress as part of the budget package. The Senate recently voted 52-47 to approve legislation that would set a deadline of April 7, 2009 for the final transition from analog to digital TV broadcasting. One comic sidelight is that the senators were so worried about basketball fans missing the March Madness that they moved the analog cutoff from the year-end dates usually bandied about to just after the end of the college hoops tournament.”

Unreal Tournament 2004 v3369 @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Monday, December 05, 2005

Summary: “The alternative gaming OS patron Ryan C. Gordon, or better known as Icculus, has recently finished up work on the v3369 patch for Unreal Tournament 2004 on Linux; and the Mac OS X and Windows 64-bit builds will be pumped out shortly. Beyond the few critical fixes in the Linux build, the retail version of Unreal Tournament 2004 v3369 now include render-to-texture support for implementing such visual effects as detailed shadows for the players as well as vehicles, motion blurs, vehicle headlights, Hellbender license plate, and DM-Morpehus3 scoreboard. These latest implementations in this patch have been much awaited by Linux users with the UT2k4 engine, and these latest render-to-texture objects are the focus of our interest today.”

How To Avoid Identity Theft @ The TechZone
The Tech Zone :: Monday, December 05, 2005
Although you can recover from having your identity stolen, it is far better to prevent it from happening in the first place. Knowing what criminals can do with your identity is the first best step to protecting your identity. It doesn’t do much good to try and protect your identity from some unknown threat. A criminal that can assume your identity can open and access credit accounts, bank and investment accounts, and generally pretend to be you in many ways. Most identity theft actions result in costing you money, but not all. Identity thieves can use your medical background as well to disclose personal information or just to get fraudulent medical services or drugs. The list of what crooks can do with your identity is nearly endless. That’s why you need to do all you can to protect your identity.

Steel Sound 5H USB Professional Gaming Headset @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Monday, December 05, 2005

Quote: “Professional gaming products, there are only a few companies that come to mind. One of which is Steelpad. Steelpad has been making professional gaming mouse pads for a while now. We have reviewed a couple of their pads and they were great. Today we have something different from a mouse pad, a gaming headset. The Steel Sound 5H USB gaming headset. Usually when you see a company change from one type of product to another their quality in that product usually is not that of the previous product. That is not true with Steelpad; the Steel Sound 5H is a great professional headset. There are so many features so let’s get into the review!”

Arctic Cooling Silencer 64 Ultra TC Athlon64 Heatsink
Frosty Tech :: Monday, December 05, 2005

“The Arctic Cooling Silencer 64 Ultra TC heatsink is a mid-level extruded aluminum cooler, and it features the companies signature suspended lower noise fan. The fan design minimizes turbulence and the noise created by air moving over the edges of a traditional fan frame, by removing as much of the fans’ frame as possible. The heatsink is constructed from a simple aluminum extrusion, and aside from the rather odd-looking low noise fan is pretty straightforward. The fan is controlled by an embedded thermistor to control its noise output. The Arctic Cooling Silencer 64 Ultra TC works with all existing socket 754/939/940 AMD Athlon64 processors, and because it lacks any copper components, is a light 448 grams.”

[News]NZXT Lexa case review @ Xtreme Resources
Xtreme Resources :: Monday, December 05, 2005

“NZXT always had us used to cases that are innovative, practical and different from most of the competition. Ttheir cases always were made with care, good quality components and were very promising to the users. They only recently expanded their products line with a new case, promising excellent performance and attractive design at the same time. This case is very elegant and aesthetically appealing by being completely symmetric, rather than featuring a complex design. Let us have a close look at this new, very promising case from NZXT, the Lexa”

Matrox DualHead2Go Analog Edition Review @ PCstats.com
PCStats :: Monday, December 05, 2005
“The Matrox DualHead2Go Analog Edition is a device that enables multi-display functionality from mainstream laptops or desktop PCs. It works with a computers’ analog monitor output, and splits the display signal between two external monitors by pretending to be one extra-wide display. The host PCs graphics solution does all the processing, so the device (which looks like a little black box) is pretty compact, lightweight, and quick to set up. The pocket book sized DualHead2Go is compatible with a collection of recent Intel, nVidia and ATI mobile graphics chipsets, at desktop spanning resolutions of exactly 2048×768 (60, 75, 85 Hz) or 2560×1024 (60Hz).”

Tyan Tomcat K8E-SLI S2866 @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Monday, December 05, 2005

Summary: “Based upon the K8E S2865, the K8E-SLI S2866 is Tyan’s initial offering when it comes to NVIDIA Socket 939 SLI on the nForce PRO 2200 Chipset. Yes, that is right an nForce Professional 2200 Chipset implementation on a Socket 939 Athlon 64 system and not the nForce4. Presently Tyan has the K8WE (S2895), which is nForce Professional based, and is capable of running in SLI with the Opteron 200 series, but the K8E-SLI is their first time venturing into this new arena. With us today we have the K8E-SLI and we shall see just how well it fares in the world of Scalable Link Interface.”

Is Microsoft Open XML Really Open? @ The TechZone
The Tech Zone :: Monday, December 05, 2005
Microsoft is trying to allay fears about its strong control over document formats by sharing some new technology called Open XML. But how open is it really?

Microsoft is only doing this because they are facing competition from the likes of Adobe and the emerging OpenDocument standard. Microsoft would certainly prefer for the world to use their proprietary file formats, such as .doc (Word for Windows), .xls (Excel) and .ppt (PowerPoint). As long as most people are using these closed formats, it becomes much more difficult for alternatives, such as OpenOffice.org and StarOffice, and in the broader sense, Linux, to gain traction.

Antec ATX 12v Power Supply Tester @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Monday, December 05, 2005

Quote: “Ah yes, another product from one of the top makers of PC cases and Power Supplies. Antec would be who I am referring to. It would make sense that Antec would also have a cool power supply tester to go along with all the other cool products that they have in their line up. The Antec power supply tester is a basic one that allows you to test and see if the suspect power supply is dead or not. It does have one unique feature that I have not seen on any power supplies, you’ll have to read on to find out what I am referring to.”

Facing The Evil Twin @ The Tech Zone
The Tech Zone :: Monday, December 05, 2005
What Is An Evil Twin? They are fake Internet gateways posing as legitimate Wi-Fi hotspots. Supposing you visit the local Internet cafe who has a paid hotspot. You boot up your notebook computer, your Wi-Fi connection software seeks out available networks and gives you an option of two (maybe more) networks you can get online with. One of them is from the Internet cafe, but wait. You see one that says “Free Wi-Fi courtesy of Wi-Fi Hotspots Nation” or whatever. Everyone loves a deal, who do you get on with? If you chose the one from Wi-Fi Hotspots Nation, then you may have connected to the Internet on the Evil Twin’s network.

News – X-Micro Video MP3 400 Player
Techniz.co.uk :: Monday, December 05, 2005

“The X-Micro Video MP3 400 Players is a very simple and easy to use MP3 Player. This MP3 Player is doing what most people want a portable player to do, pretty simply and quite stylish even able to play video. Although the player itself does not support any extra SD/MMC card slot in. But it was available with the size from 256MB, 512MB and 1GB. It should be more than enough for storing the video and MP3 files. The most important is the great function of the Video MP3 400 Players….”

Nikao Dragonfire Case Evaluation
Hi-Techreviews :: Monday, December 05, 2005

Take a case and give it chrome accents that highlight dragons and swords and you already have a case that’s an enjoyment to look at and your friends to uh and ah at. The Nikao Dragonfire case may not be the lightest case around but is is roomy enough to work in and the tool-free drive assemby makes building your system go a whole lot faster. Cooling is handled by two 120mm fans with room for one more fan to added. So come on along as we check out the Dragonfire case from Nikao.

Title : CoolMax CXI Series 600W 120mm Silent Fan PSU @ Techniz
Techniz.co.uk :: Monday, December 05, 2005

“The CoolMax CXI Series 600W 120mm Silent Fan PSU is a very good looking and powerful PSU. The performance of this PSU is very good and stable as you can refer back to the testing and performance section. The operation noise level was very silent as well. There are two SATA power connectors included as well for supporting the SATA hard disk and dual PCI-Express connector to support the SLI technology VGA card…”

Enermax Liberty 400W Modular Power Supply Review @ Tweaknews.net
Tweaknews :: Monday, December 05, 2005
“Where PSUs have failed me in the past, the Enermax Liberty 400W PSU was a much needed solution. It looks fantastic, works fantastic, and best of all – its modular. Seeing as this is a development still being developed, the Liberty definitely took a step up even from my expectations. Seeing as many people, myself included, consider the power supply as the lifesource of the computer, its important to feel confident in the power supply you purchase.”

Evercool Ice Man & Sharks Cooler Review @ PC Modding Malaysia
PC Modding Malaysia :: Monday, December 05, 2005

Content: “Both of these Evercool heat pipe CPU coolers are quite good especially Ice Man; HPC-925. They have same retail price; 35USD. With the low price to get such good performance cooler is considered a great deal since most of the heat pipe coolers would set you back around 50USD. Both of them have advantages and disadvantages so it will be dependent on the user to find out which cooler is more suitable for you.”

Activision’s Call of Duty 2 @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Monday, December 05, 2005

Quote: “The Best of E3, Editors Choice, People’s Choice and sequel to the Game of the Year, those are some mighty high accolades for any game. Call of Duty 2 takes you back into the trenches, cities and beachheads of Activision’s top selling World War II First Person Shooter game for another tour of duty as a member of American, British, Russian or German soldiers in a classic shooter that has some big shoes to fill.”

News – Gun – Game Reviewed.
TekBunker :: Monday, December 05, 2005
Quote – Have you ever imagined what it would be like in the old west? I know I have, along with millions of little boys playing cowboys and indians as children. So the first time I had seen a trailer for GUN, I told myself, “that game is gonna rule”. Well I played and I killed countless bad guys, head shot after head shot they fell by my gun. My trusted steed and I were quite the ass whooping duo. Then 1 hour went by, and boy I tell you the old frontier hopefully wasn’t’t as dull as this frontier.

Bigbruin.com Review: Thermaltake Swing ATX Mid Tower Case
Big Bruin :: Monday, December 05, 2005

Quote: The cooling performance of the Swing case was quite respectable, and the fact that it allowed the processor to run cooler than a case with many more fans and a perceived better cooling design was a surprise. The Swing ships with one 120mm fan, which did the job, but I would recommend getting a second fan for better airflow, and to keep drives in the drive cage nice and cool.

Title: Thermaltake Swing (VB6000SNS) at CaseModGod.com
Case Mod God :: Monday, December 05, 2005
Summary: Time for another case review and today we are going to take a look at the Swing case from Thermaltake. This case resembles the look of the Tsunami and Soprano mid tower cases. The Swing has a stylish front panel design which leaves some room for the modders out there. In the time spent writing the review I have already had several ideas that a modder could do to the case to make it their own.

AeroCool CoolPanel 2 Evaluation @ hi-techreviews.com
Hi-Techreviews :: Monday, December 05, 2005
Take an accessory panel an add to it a 20 in 1 removable card reader, connections for USB 2.0, IEEE 1394, Line In, Line Out, Microphone, SATA and Power SATA. You would say you have a pretty good accessory, but were not done, add in an LCD display with alarms that has the ability to monitor four-fans and monitor four separate temperature probes. Neat stuff huh?

6 Reasons why NOT to buy the Xbox 360
DataFuse :: Monday, December 05, 2005

“During these last couple of weeks we’ve seen nothing but articles about the Xbox 360 from Microsoft. And every news/tech site around the world has joined this huge fest, where all are full of grace for Microsoft’s latest and greatest. We also stumbled across quite some: 10 reasons to buy the Xbox. … Here’s our top 6 list why not to by the Xbox 360. ”

Razer Copperhead High Precision Gaming Mouse Review @ Virtual-Hideout
Virtual-Hideout :: Monday, December 05, 2005

Snip: “…perfect 10 out of 10. I didn’t think I’d ever give something a 10 out of 10, but considering my reaction to the mouse (as well as the reaction of a few friends), and after using it for a few weeks constantly without finding a flaw in it’s operation, I feel justified in giving that score.”

X-Micro Video MP3 400
Hardware Secrets :: Monday, December 05, 2005
“When you stand in the shoulder of a giant – in that case, the almighty iPod – you have to show some talent of you own to be noticed. Every MP3 player in the market keeps on adding features over features to win over some iPod devotees. The X-Micro Video MP3 400 comes fully loaded: it plays MP3/WMA sound files, videos and slideshows, and also functions as a voice recorder and a FM radio turner.”

Ideazon Zboard & COD2 or AOE III keyset Giveaway – Last Week!
3dXtreme :: Monday, December 05, 2005
The contest rules are as usual, one posted reply to this thread is allowed per day, multiple posts in one day will disqualify. You dont need any other forum posts and is open to contestants worldwide! This contest will run until December 10th 2005 at 12:00am.

The winner gets a ZBoard and a keyset (COD2 of Age Of Empires III) – we have 4 sets to giveaway! LAST WEEK!!

Paradise|OC checks out the Cooljag JAC68YC Heatsink
Paradise|OC :: Monday, December 05, 2005

“It doesn’t resemble a jet turbine, or a tower… just the stock AMD heatsink. They have taken the stock AMD heatsink and tweaked it a bit. Will a few tweaks grant this heatsink better cooling powers than the stock AMD? That’s what we are here to find out.”

Explanatory Guide: How To Record & Play Music From A DVD
Designtechnica :: Monday, December 05, 2005
‘Say you’re having a party and you want to have enough music ready for the whole night. Sure, you might have an iPod or digital audio player that you could hook to your stereo, but do you really want all of your friends’ grubby hands all over it? If you have a DVD player and a DVD burner in your computer there’s a simple solution – create an Audio DVD.’

Holographic Storage: The Uncertain Future @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Monday, December 05, 2005
“It wasn’t too long ago when Holographic storage was the stuff legends were made off. It discussed how a single DVD sized disc would be able to hold over 1TB of data. Well, we were apparently all wrong. Holographic display is scheduled to debut sometime in 2006 and this poses a host of interesting questions.”

TechSpot’s Holiday Gift Guide 2005
Tech Spot :: Monday, December 05, 2005
TechSpot’s Holiday Gift Guide 2005 consists of a list of choices that any tech-head will appreciate, complete with stores, prices and little extra info to help your holiday shopping go smoothly. From the obligatory iPod, and gaming videocards, to sleek storage devices, and handheld PCs. Read on for more details.

Build Your Own PC
PC Mechanic :: Monday, December 05, 2005
People from all walks of life today build their own PCs. Executives, engineers, students, housewives, they all do it today. But, at the same time, pre-built PCs have come down in price quite a bit. Today, one is left to wonder whether it is best to build a PC yourself or to simply buy one off the shelf. I’ll address that here.

Razer Green Copperhead Gaming Mouse
techPowerUp! :: Monday, December 05, 2005

When we hear Razer, we think of high-performance mice made for gamers. The latest Razer product is the Razer Copperhead Gaming Mouse, it has an amazing 2000 DPI laser engine with a response time of 1 ms. Unlike other mice the laser never powers down during game play, so you are ready to frag at any time.

Full NFS: Most Wanted Tweak Guide @ TweakGuides.com
Tweaknews :: Monday, December 05, 2005
I bought the retail version of NFS:MW today and finally got the chance to update my Need for Speed: Most Wanted Tweak Guide. If you haven’t read it yet, I definitely think you should give it a try. If you have read it, check pages 4 and 10 again in particular for new tips and info which you should find useful.

PCMech: Ad-Aware SE Personal
PC Mechanic :: Monday, December 05, 2005
Alaron takes a look at the IT world renowned spyware removal utility, Ad-Aware SE Personal. Anyone who calls themself a techie these days almost has to have this utility, among others, to combat spyware.

Interference Detection Tools Analyzed
Network Computing :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
Network Computing turns in a long feature looking at tools that help troubleshoot and monitor Wi-Fi networks’ health by examining the radio frequency space they operate in: The monitoring space is very hot; I’m asked all the time to be briefed on the latest product or product revision. I’ve demurred because Wi-Fi Networking News lacks an RF testing environment. The folks at Network Computing show how to examine the field. They look at a dozen products from several manufacturers, only some of which directly overlap by function.

The reviews sort products into spectrum analyzers, calibration tools (just a single entry), wireless protocol analyzers, site surveying tools, and performance and security evaluators. Spectrum analyzers look at the RF patterns and are typically intended for more sophisticated users and uses; protocol analyzers deconstruct data into known patterns to see how the airspace is being used by data devices. A spectrum tool can show if a microwave oven is disrupting your network or an errant cordless phone, while a protocol tool will let you see how 15 networks on the same channel in a small space are producing throughput degradation.

Future of American graphic design industry looking good
Design Talk Board :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

A report, into the United States graphic design industry, provides food for thought for all creatives. The report, from Strategies for Management, looks at the state of the current graphic design industry and also into the future, to predict trends that will affect the creative industry. Particularly interesting, is the prediction of an increase in revenues for both graphic design agencies and freelancers by the end of the decade – with freelance designers, in particular, looking to benefit. The report predicts that freelancers gross revenues will increase from over $3.4 billion in 2004 to over $3.8 billion in 2009. Additionally, the number of graphic design freelancers is expected to grow from the current figure of 74,000, to well over 86,000 by the end of the decade.

Denon AVR-5805 A/V Receiver
Home Theater Magazine :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

It will do everything but cook you dinner.

Unless you’ve been in a cave for the last decade, you already know that audio is rapidly steamrolling toward multichannel forms. Evidence is abundant on both the software and hardware fronts. These days, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a modern movie in stereo on any medium outside of television. Music probably has years to go before its stereo form becomes esoteric, but the writing may be on the wall. As for hardware, try finding any electronics that don’t support some multichannel form or another—if not several—anywhere but the smallest specialty shelves. Whether stereophiles like it or not, multichannel is as embedded in audio’s future as digital coding itself.

When Good Color Goes Bad
DT & G Magazine :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

Your photographer dropped off the digital camera shots you selected. No scanning needed — they’re RGB tiffs. His accompanying guide prints look pretty sweet. He mentioned that the “raw files” were also on the disk if needed and that they’re like “digital negatives”.

All you have to do is place the tiffs in your layout and send it all off to XYZ Printers, with a reminder on the RGB status. They’re the experts when it comes to doing color separations, and of course, you want your color to be the best it can be. Your new client expects it as well. The prepress department down at XYZ Printers has been doing color for a long time, so they really know their stuff, right?

Take Spectacular Nighttime Photos
DT & G Magazine :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
Night photos can take on a somewhat magical quality you may find lacking in normal daytime photography. Amazing night pictures certainly can attract attention. As the sun goes down, however, it becomes harder to capture images without the proper equipment and techniques. Thus, as was mentioned in Part I of this series*, taking incredible nighttime photographs requires a lot of planning

When your digital camera receives less light, it cannot absorb the surroundings as well in the resulting photographs. Some pictures may turn out too dark. Others can be too blurry. Your camera requires more time to absorb enough light to create an effective picture, so any shaking of the device will result in photographs lacking sharpness.

Alien Skin’s Eye Candy 5
DT & G Magazine :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

Alien Skin’s new Eye Candy 5: Impact is a way-cool set of 10 plug-in filters for Adobe Photoshop and other compatible host programs. Impact creates chrome, bevels, glass buttons, extruded objects, Zoomed & Backlit objects, perspective shadows and more. (Click these links to see pictures in a pop-up!

The third of three upgrades to Eye Candy 4000, Impact features three all-new filters and seven rewritten Eye Candy classics. Graphic designers, digital photographers, and Web content creators will appreciate Impact’s versatile and beautifully rendered effects.

Famous graphic designers, typographers and creatives
Design Talk Board :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
Whilst most designers slave away with little recognition, other than our clients cheque or the occasional award, there are some designers that have gained international fame for their work. Are we bitter and twisted? Well… possibly. But to show that we harbour no hard feelings, we focus on some of them here.

In all seriousness, few of these designers are celebrities, in the normal sense of the word – certainly outside of the design community (with the possible exception of Jonathan Ives – Apple’s designer of the iPod and the recent iMacs). And most of these designers have become famous for the influence of their work, rather than as the result of any kind of personality cult.

How to get un-banned from Google
DT & G Magazine :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
I am banned from Google…Help! What did you do to get banned? Can you get un-banned? Yes! But first you need to know what you did to get banned. Google will not tell you.

A sure sign you have been banned is that your web site is missing a page rank. By, that I mean the PR bar is Gray. That is usually the first indication. To double check that, enter site:www.yoursite.com into Google. Replace “yoursite.com” with your URL. If it there are no pages indexed, that is a good sign your site has been removed from Google (if your pages were indexed beforehand). Also try link:www.yoursite.com to see if your back links are still listed on Google. If your site is banned they will be removed as well.

Mosquito-Fi
Wi-Fi Net News :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

Mosquito catching over Wi-Fi: The story is a little bit more excited than the reality behind it. The leading manufacturing of automated mosquito-catching devices plans to build a smart network that communicates with 802.11b with a central server that can report changing wind conditions, hardware failures, and conditions unfavorable to mosquito sucking. It’s a vacuum cleaner that omits odors attractive to mosquitos. A note of sanity is cast in the last paragraphs of the story against the $15 million funding the company developing the technology received: better to kill mosquitoes before they breed!

Triad InRoom Silver Speaker System
Home Theater Magazine :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

There’s beauty in these boxes.

When you live with something or somebody long enough (no matter how good the body—or how great the personality), it’s all too easy to become complacent about how well off you are. That thought came to mind the other night when I was watching, of all things, The Blues Brothers. I had forgotten how great the music is in that movie. But then I noticed that part of what had made me rediscover my appreciation for the movie was the truly nice Triad Silver speaker system I had been living with for a little while but had stopped noticing.

Adobe Creative Suite 2!
Design Talk Board :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
CS2 is kinda old news, but whut da hey…

The graphics software giant, Adobe, releases version 2 of its web and graphic design software packages, including Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat and GoLive.

Adobe has released version 2 of its graphics tools bundle, Creative Suite (CS). Included in the bundles are updates to all it’s major product line. From the print design aspect, this includes brand new versions of photographic image editor, Photoshop; vector drawing program Illustrator; and desktop publishing layout application, InDesign.

Broadband Over Powerline To Light Up Utilities
Network Computing :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
LONDON — Though still a niche market, broadband networking over power lines — whether in the home or in the wider area — could turn out to be a major revenue earner for power utilities, according to a just published report form ABI Research. The researchers say BPL has the general blessing of governments and a reservoir of underdeveloped markets in eastern Europe, China, India and other regions lacking a well-developed communications infrastructure. But, according to Vamsi Sistla, ABI Research’s director of broadband, digital home and media, BPL could also benefit legacy businesses such as power utilities in the industrialized world.

Graphic design glossary, definitions and dictionary of terms.
Design Talk Board :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

glossaries aim to cut through the jargon to bring you accurate definitions, explanations and examples of common design terms and concepts. To help you find the best definitions, we have divided these resources up into several industry related dictionaries and glossaries.

However, graphic design, pre-press and web design terminology are all relative terms to some degree, with a huge amount of overlap. Some terms are as much at home in the fonts and typography section as they are in the creative concepts glossary, or in the design software glossary.

Pioneer Elite VSX-72TXV A/V Receiver and Jamo A 7 Speaker System
Home Theater Magazine :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

Jamo is one of a few Danish speaker brands that have made headway on these shores. Unique styling and unmistakable aesthetic appeal have gained attention for the company, and their new A 7 speaker system will definitely add to that reputation. The second you lay eyes on it, you’ll know why Jamo touts the speakers as plasma-TV friendly. But, considering that almost all current TVs are capitalizing on the silver-and-black motif, it’s clear that this system will look outstanding arrayed around practically any recently made set.

Stock Layouts for CorelDRAW
DT & G Magazine :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
StockLayouts LLC has rolled out a CorelDRAW version of its library of agency-quality graphic design templates for creating high impact print marketing materials. Created for users of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite versions 9 through 12, this release delivers an outstanding graphic design template resource for CorelDRAW users.

Intended for graphic designers and business publishers in search of design ideas and fast solutions, the templates provide a time- and money-saving answer for producing professional-looking brochures, newsletters, flyers, postcards, ads, business cards, letterheads and more.

Designing the Holidays
DT & G Magazine :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

Over the years we’ve looked at many, many examples of both greetings and promotional ideas where folding the paper meant the difference between a typical mailing and a WOW mailing. This year I’ve pulled out some of my favorites to share with you.

From extravagant to simple, the next series of cards all share several things:
1. They’re unusual and memorable
2. They “feel good” to the reader
3. They deliver a clear, singular message
4. They’re unique enough to keep

More than 120 Million Wi-Fi(R) Chipsets Shipped in 2005
Wi-Fi Net News :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 28 /PRNewswire/ — Wi-Fi technology has seen its annual unit sales grow to more than 100 million chipsets in six years, according to new data released by In-Stat and the Wi-Fi Alliance, and it’s now a staple of computer networking and a powerful presence in millions of homes and businesses. The 100 million chipset milestone was quickly passed and the explosive 64% average yearly growth rate reflects the transforming nature of Wi-Fi and the value of interoperable, standards-based technology.

New features for QuarkXpress 7
Design Talk Board :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

The most dramatic new feature is the ability for several members of a team to work on the same QuarkXpress project document. This new feature in QuarkXpress 7, is utilised by dividing the document into composition zones. A layout designer could be working on one composition zone, whilst a sub-editor could be editing another zone. Updates to zones within a QuarkXPress page appear in the layout designer’s QuarkXPress project as soon as they are saved.

Tiger unleashed. Mac OS X 10.4 in the shops
Design Talk Board :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

Apple have released Macintosh OS X 10.4 – codenamed Tiger. The new OS X upgrade promises a host of new features including Spotlight, a new search technology that can search every document and application – including e-mails, digital images and calendars – on your hard disk and display detailed information about them including the kind of content, the author, edit history, format, size ad so on. Very handy for us more disorganised designers.

Adobe CS2: Sharing Palettes
DT & G Magazine :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

How can I use colors in a stock photo as a shared palette across Adobe Creative Suite 2 applications?

Creating a swatch library from a stock photo has traditionally been tedious task, requiring you to repetitively drag the Eyedropper tool across the image to collect all the colors you may want to use. But the new Adobe Illustrator S2 five Trace tool can make this process simple, fun, and fast.

Philips 32PF9996 LCD HD Monitor
Home Theater Magazine :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

It dares to be different.

In the crowded world of flat panels, a manufacturer that can make their product distinctive certainly has a leg up on the competition. Philips clearly understands this, equipping their line of LCD and plasma displays with some unique features that help these displays stand out from the pack. Of course, when you veer away from the tried-and-true approach, you also risk alienating some consumers.

Consumer Beware: ‘Unlimited’ 3G Service Has Strict Limits
Network Computing :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

If you’re tempted by what some cellular operators are calling “unlimited” 3G cellular data service, read the fine print. Three U.S. cellular operators that currently offer fixed-price 3G service — Verizon Wireless, Cingular and Sprint — typically use terms like “unlimited” in their marketing material to describe the nature of your access. However, a close look at the fine print makes it clear that the cellular operators are putting significant limits on their so-called unlimited service.

JVC LT-32X776 LCD HDTV
Home Theater Magazine :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

The CEA recently conducted a study to figure out how many people will be affected when analog broadcasts are no more. (We’re still taking bets as to whether or not that day will ever truly arrive.) Their research determined that about 12 percent of the 285 million TVs in the U.S. receive programming via an over-the-air signal, while 94.4 million TVs are connected to a cable box, satellite receiver, or both.

Microsoft to enter the professional design market?
Design Talk Board :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

Microsoft has announced the release of a beta version of a professional level digital image = and vector illustration application called Acrylic.

The name Acrylic is actually the project codeword. The graphics application itself is based on a product called Expression, which Microsoft gained when they bought out software development company Creature House, in 2003.

Master of the Tablet : Cher Threinen-Pendarvis Interview
DT & G Magazine :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
If you’re into Corel Painter, then you’ve no doubt heard of Cher Therinen-Pendarvis… DT & G Magazine has posted an interview…

When we first received the Photoshop and Painter Artist Tablet Book we knew you’d like to hear from Cher and share some insights about painting with the tablet! Ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to welcome Cher Threinen-Pendarvis to DT&G today.

Recent releases of design software tools and graphics applications plugins.
Design Talk Board :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

Flightcheck Workflow is one of the prepress and print industry standards when it comes to checking the print worthiness of digital files. Already available in the Macintosh version, the new Windows version of Flight check Workflow brings a number of new features, including support for the latest version of QuarkXpress 6.5 and Adobe CS products.

Orlando Offers Free Wi-Fi at Airport
Wi-Fi Net News :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
The Orlando International Airport turns on an Alcatel-built Wi-Fi network with no-cost service: The system was designed for public access and operational uses. The airport authority’s IT director misspeaks, however, when he says such a capability is rare in a ground-up airport Wi-Fi network: “It is uncommon for a network to be designed from the ground up to service both public and private needs.”

NuVision NVX32HDU LCD HD Monitor
Home Theater Magazine :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

Out with the old, in with the Nu.

This is an interesting time for display manufacturers. On the one hand, the HD and flat-panel revolutions have energized the market. People are truly excited to buy TVs again. On the other hand, competition is fierce. It seems like a new TV manufacturer pops up every day to capitalize on the flat-panel frenzy.

VoIP Growth Vastly Outpacing Traditional Voice
Network Computing :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
News from the “well, duh…” department…

VoIP system sales dwarfed those of traditional voice systems for the year ended in June 2005, according to a new research report issued this week by investment firm Merrill Lynch. As of June, VoIP system sales grew 31 percent year-over-year, while sales of legacy voice systems declined by 20 percent during the same period, according to the report.

Vonage Markets on Despite FCC E911 Order
Internet News :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
Vonage plans to continue offering service to new customers despite failing to meet the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) mandate to provide full E911 by Nov. 28 or cease marketing Voice over IP (define).

In a compliance report submitted to the FCC Monday, Vonage said it is capable of providing a callback number and a fixed location to 911 operators for 100 percent of its customers.

Selling through Auction Marketplaces
DT & G Magazine :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
Consumers are increasingly feeling more comfortable in buying products through the Internet.

According to a report released recently by the Department of Commerce first-quarter retail sales rose 23.8 percent to US$ 19.8 billion in the United States from US$ 16 billion a year ago. E-commerce sales during the first quarter of 2005 rose 6.4 percent from the fourth quarter of last year.

Cingular, Orange Pact ‘Eases Pain’
Internet News :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
With an eye toward keeping corporate customers with international operations happy, Cingular Wireless today announced that Orange SA has joined its WorldView partner program.

The pact allows customers with operations in the United States, Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium or Switzerland to manage their Cingular and Orange wireless accounts through a secure online portal.

BitTorrent Cleans Up
Internet News :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
The creator of the BitTorrent protocol along with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) have agreed to help protect against illegal downloading of copyrighted material.

Under the terms of the publicly announced deal, BitTorrent creator and founder of BitTorrent Inc. Bram Cohen has pledged to remove links in his BitTorrent.com search engine that lead to pirated MPAA content.

The Five Security ‘Musts’ You Can’t Ignore
Network Computing :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
Last month I told you about some myths that have grown up around security, but that are not necessarily things you should believe. This month it’s time for things you really do need to believe in and act upon if you’re to stay out of trouble. Instead of myths, they’re the “musts”: security actions you must take regardless of the size of your enterprise or your network.

VZ Wireless Sues Alleged Spammer
Internet News :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
Verizon Wireless today said it is suing a Florida vacation outlet for allegedly sending nearly 100,000 unsolicited text messages to the carrier’s customers.

The suit charges that Ormond Beach, Fla.-based Passport Holidays violated the Federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act by using auto-dialing equipment to send bursts of text messages to sequential phone numbers.

The Rewards And Perils Of Meshing With Wi-Fi
Network Computing :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
Wireless mesh networks have been a popular idea for years. Visionaries talk about “smart dust”–tiny radios that organize themselves into networks as needed, bypassing service providers and eliminating the need for wires of any kind. New technologies such as ZigBee aim to extend the range of very-low-power networks by making every network node act as a router.

Indesign plugins for layout designers
Design Talk Board :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

Design software such as QuarkXpress, Photoshop and InDesign are great, as far as they go. But there is always something that is lacking, or that could enhance or change the way that designers and graphic artists work with a graphics application. That’s where plugins come in.

Confused about graphic design job descriptions?
Design Talk Board :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
Are you new to design? A graphic design student looking for jobs or career advice? Or a professional graphic designer trying to further your prospects? Perhaps you are confused about the various job descriptions and design career specifications in the creative industry? On the other hand, maybe you are just trying to work out what to put on your business card?

How to run a successful link exchange program
DT & G Magazine :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
Link Exchanges are a very time consuming project. The time it takes to find the sites to exchange with, contact them and place a link on your page can seem like an eternity, but the hardest part about link exchanges isn’t the research, it’s the waiting. This article will give you some tips to help speed response time to your requests.

Adobe and Macromedia shareholders approve deal?
Design Talk Board :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

Design software publisher Adobe has announced that its stockholders have approved the recent acquisition, by Adobe, of web graphics company Macromedia. According to Adobe, the stockholders of both companies have voted in favour of the merger.

AOL Search Service Gone Mobile
Internet News :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
America Online (Quote, Chart) today launched AOL Mobile Search Services, which brings search capabilities and local information to mobile users.

The service, which has been in beta since July, allows mobile users to perform Web searches just as they would on a desktop computer, as well as access any Web site.

‘Google Murder’ Trial Nearing Conclusion
Network Computing :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
Update: Jurors late Tuesday found former computer consultant Robert Petrick guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of his wife. Prosecutors have found more computer evidence in the trial of a computer consultant accused of killing his wife and dumping her body into a lake.

Skype 2.0 Beta in The Air
Internet News :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
A public beta of Skype 2.0 was released Thursday morning with a full-screen video VoIP feature, as well as other bells and whistles, such as being able to group your contacts, customize mood settings, a new user interface and one-click calling to Microsoft Outlook contacts through a toolbar.

Good financial news for designers.
Design Talk Board :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

The survey, which took responses from more than 3,600 design professionals, has proved to be interesting reading, with reports of a clear rise in salaries for the first time in several years.

Macromedia Studio 8 – is it the end for Freehand?
Design Talk Board :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

Macromedia has announced Studio 8, its bundle of web design programs. Included in the suite of graphics tools includes Dreamweaver 8, Flash 8, Fireworks 8, Contribute 3 and Flashpaper 2.

Skype Partners With Logitech, Creative For Webcam Sales
Network Computing :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
Logitech and Creative, which together own about three-quarters of the Webcam market, joined Skype on Thursday to co-market the Luxembourg-based VoIP developer’s newest software with their cameras and headsets

Making your BlackBerry more secure
DT & G Magazine :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
Your BlackBerry device allows access to your email account, so you must take steps to secure it against misuse by others. The following instructions will help you do so:

Focusing after the shot, the plenoptic camera
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Ren Ng, graduate student at Stanford University has developed a hand-held plenoptic camera which takes a shot first and allows you to make the decision about focus point in software after the event. The prototype camera is actually a Contax 645 with a modified Megavision FB4040 back (sixteen megapixel). The back has had an array of 90,000 microlenses mounted in front of the sensor (with a gap between the array and the sensor). These microlenses create a unique image on the sensor surface which includes not only the amount of light deposited at that location, but how much light arrives along each ray. The image is then reconstructed in software and a focus point can be chosen. Note that the final resolution is the same as the number of microlenses.

OCZ Rally Drives
Overclockers Online :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
Quote: I’ve now had these two units for about a month, the ability to drop half a DVD’s worth of content on to the drive in a few minutes is great. The Rally drive’s small form makes carrying the unit a breeze. While it’s certainly possible to find smaller thumb drives, going any smaller brings the risk of breaking the unit or simply losing it. I find the Rally drive to be the perfect size for me to clip onto my carabineer and keys without adding too much weight. The only thing I’ve noticed after a month of use is that the black paint on the Rally drive eventually does scratch off. While it doesn’t affect performance, those who care about aesthetics will want to be a bit more careful and avoid leaving the drive in a pocketful of keys and coins; eventually you’d be left with a logo-less aluminum casing.

Asys Freedom Tower Series (CK-1022-5) Eiffel Tower @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Quote: “Today for review I have something I think is very cool, and has now become my favorite case of all time. Asys is a new sponsor to ThinkComputers, this is our first review for them. I received from them what they consider a Super Tower or Entry Level Server PC Case from their Freedom Tower series called the Eiffel Tower. This case has so many features, and is just so well built I was amazed by it, truly amazed at the fact that they are not more popular. The quality of this case can easily be considered the best of every case that I have reviewed and owned thus far. Let’s get into the review and you can see why I am so excited about it.”

HEXUS.reviews :: Alienware Area-51 m5700 laptop
Hexus :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Where the Alienware Area-51 falls foul of the competition is with respect to 3D graphics. NVIDIA’s GeForce 6800 Go 256MB PCIe graphics adapter is no slouch, but the Ultra model, as specified by Dell, is significantly faster. The comparison Rock’s Mobility Radeon X800 XT 256MB is faster still, so Alienware, pricing this particular sample at around £1800, really needed to out-specify the established hierarchy for DTR laptops. Matters would have been fine if one had the option of upgrading the video to the ‘6800 Ultra model, or even the more-impressive GeForce 7800 GTX Go, but that isn’t the case.

AVC Z7UB301 ‘AMD Reference’ Athlon64 Heatsink Review
Frosty Tech :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
“The AVC Z7UB301 heatsink is one of the first stock Socket 754 heatsinks AMD shiped with its processors, and it is currently used with most Socket 939 Athlon64 CPU models too. While its name lacks any mention of ‘extreme,’ ‘whisper,’ ‘ultimate,’ or some other such stereotypical marketing sloganry… it is a damn fine heatsink. That, in spite of its complex alpha-numeric ‘Z7UB301001’ nomenclature. Asia Vital Corporation (AVC) itself is one the largest heatsink manufacturers in the industry, but primarily so in an OEM capacity. The company produces several models of stock Intel and AMD heatsinks, in addition to a variety of after market models.”

SANSUN SN-C001 BAT Enclosure Review
TweakTown :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
QUOTE: “Whether you’ve heard the character referred to as the Dark Night, the Caped Crusader, or even something entirely off the wall, the concept behind this design is more than a little obvious. Coming out just after the release of the latest movie, the BAT enclosure is based on the popular DC Comics here, Batman. The masked face is currently available in three color choices of red, blue and white. The eyes are LED lighted and have a semi-bright glow in the dark. The black area at the base of the front bezel, where you would imagine is the mouth, is actually a plastic covering over a vented area to allow for air circulation inside the case.”

Dates announced for Matsushita and Olympus D-SLR
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
Matsushita and Olympus are expected to exhibit new digital SLRs at the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) show in February 2006. The interchangeable lens D-SLRs will comply with the FourThirds standard in 2006. The Japanese companies are working jointly in developing products and key components, but will market products under their own brands, which for Matsushita includes Panasonic. A joint statement says that Olympus and Matsushita are responding to what they see as a soaring global demand for digital SLRs, with shipments expected to reach 5.5m units in the year to 2007, from 2.7m in the current year to March 2005.

PimpRig Review // Thermaltake Big Typhoon (CL-P0114) CPU Cooler
PimpRig :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
The Thermaltake Big Typhoon has managed to usurp the Zalman 9500 from it’s relatively short reign as performance king. Here is a snip from the review: “I couldn’t decide if the Big Typhoon looked more like an insect or a work of art. The copper heatsink fins and 120mm fan are elevated and rest on top of 6 heatpipes that are in turn attached to a copper block at the bottom. The fan has a shroud around the base so that all the air is forced through the fins to cool the heatpipes. The look isn’t as striking as the Zalman CNPS9500, but will still cause a double-take just due to the size alone.”

Scythe Samurai Z heatsink @ Pro-Clockers
Pro-Clockers :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Quote: As you all know Scythe is no stranger to us here at Pro-Clockers, so when they ask us to review their latest yet to be released product I was happy to say yes. Scythe is known around the world for making some of the best cooling products. They really hit it big with the Ninja cooler. A ultra performing heatsink that made all the big comapnies, great overclockers and well known gamers take notice. Well they are at it again with another cooler aimed at quietness but yielding great performance. The Scythe Samurai Z.

Konica Minolta updates for A1 and A2
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Konica Minolta has announced firmware updates for the five megapixel Dimage A1 and the eight megapixel A2. Version 1.1.3 (A1) and 1.1.4 increases the writing speed of the memory card and USB transfer speed. The A1 was first announced in August 2003, making it over two years old and its predecessor, the A2, was launched in February the year after. Both cameras feature an Anti-Shake CCD, whereby the CCD is stabilized, rather than the lens element, which is designed to counteract camera shake

Nonux v2.0 @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Summary: “Nonux, a Slackware-based distribution basically keeping its residence to the Netherlands and other Dutch communities, has released their v2.0 release that includes the 2.6.14.2 kernel, GNOME 2.12.1, and a good deal of other package updates. This distribution is designed primarily for Dutch office use and bundled into a single ISO are both the LiveCD and install variants. For reference, the system failed to operate properly on two of the three systems we had tested with Nonux v2.0.”

PimpRig Review // Innovatek Custom Water Cooling Setup
PimpRig :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
“This leads us to the next big advantage of aluminum for water cooling…the passive radiator. Meet the Konvekt-O-Matic MAXI, can you believe this is Innovatek’s mid-size passive radiator? In addition to the standard Konvekt-O-Matic, there is also a HUGE Ultra version. The MAXI measures 45x33x5cm (h x l x w) and weighs in at a whopping 10.5 pounds. And like all of Innovatek’s aluminum gear, it is anodized, this one in a vibrant red color. According to Innovatek’s testing the MAXI radiates more heat than an active dual 120 mm radiator.”

NeuNeo HVD2085 DVD Player Review
Designtechnica :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
“No sooner had our Oppo Digital OPDV971H DVD player review been posted that we had Neo Digits knocking on our door wanting to send us an evaluation unit. This time around Neo Digits is trying to make a mark with their new NeuNeo HVD2085 DVD player. Capable of up-converting DVD video output to HDTV resolutions including 1080p, this is another player you may want to consider when shopping this holiday season. The NeuNeo HVD2085 DVD player has an MSRP of $249 and can be found for purchase directly from the company’s website.”

NeuNeo HVD2084 DVD Player Review

Zalman CNPS9500 LED @ Techniz
Techniz.co.uk :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

“This Zalman CNPS9500 LED is an extreme performance CPU cooler. This CPU cooler is an ideal choice for those users who wish to overclock their CPU and also decorate the interior of the chassis with the fancy Blue LED fan. The entire cooler is really looks different compare with others. Not only that, the performance of the Zalman CNPS9500 LED CPU Cooler from is very good as you can see in the performance section, it really gives what you want…”

Corsair DDR1 2GB Memory Roundup @ Legit Reviews
Legit Reviews :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
“Starting with the TWINX2048-3200C2 and its tight timings of 2-3-3-6 at DDR 400, then on to the TWINX2048-3500LLPRO and its 2-3-2-6 timings at DDR438, and finally onto Corsair’s newest kit, the TWINX2048-4000PT that promises DDR500 at 3-4-4-8. We’ll look at each kit individually, making sure to explain the benefits and drawbacks of each as well as explain what type of user and system they might fit best. Then we’ll benchmark each kit at its rated speed and timings, and finally overclock them to squeeze every last bit of performance from them….”

DALSA chips power Leaf backs
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Semiconductor and electronics company DALSA has announced two new 33 and 28 megapixel CCD chips that will be used to power Leaf’s digital camera backs. The 33 megapixel FTF5066 will be used in the Leaf Aptus 75 back and produce files of around 200MB in size, while the FTF6146 28 megapixel DALSA chip will be used in the Aptus 65 back. The 33 megapixel chip is available now and the 28 megapixel chip will ship in early 2006.

Cooler Master Stacker 830 Full Tower Case Video Review #623
3dgameman :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

It’s easy to see that Cooler Master put a heck of a lot of time & effort into building this product. It looks great & has all kinds of features! The overall build quality is superb, & being made from aluminum keeps the weight down. There are a ton of drive bays (9×5.25″) & loads of places to install fans for extreme air flow. This case is the bomb! Watch the Video to find out more…” ~3dGameMan.com

Impact Acoustics RapidRun Cable Solution First Look
AVS Forum :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
We were absolutely stunned by the very innovative and practical new cable product Impact Acoustics announced at CEDIA this year – the RapidRun. So much so in fact that they recently received our 2005 Product of the Year Award for the most innovative cable product. In order to learn more about this product in preparation for our formal review, we conducted a detailed interview with Joe Cornwall the Business Development Manager for Impact Acoustics.

asetek WaterChill Extreme Watercooling Kit @ Viperlair
ViperLair :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
“Performance is great; be it silence or low temperatures you are after, the asetek WaterChill Extreme kit will provide you with both options. Even when the system is running at it’s quietest, the performance is very good, and at full speed (loud, but not overly so; I’ve heard louder air cooling solutions that didn’t perform half as well) the temperatures are simply the lowest I’ve seen, and the lowest I’m likely to see short of chilling the water.”

Velodyne’s SMS-1 Extends Digital Drive Bass Management Capability to any Subwoofer
AVS Forum :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
Morgan Hill, CA (December 1, 2005) Leveraging their patent-pending bass management system previously found only in the Digital Drive® line of subwoofers, Velodyne Acoustics, Inc., the world’s leading manufacturer of powered subwoofers for home-theater and consumer audio, has recently introduced the Subwoofer Management System (SMS™-1) as a stand-alone unit for use with any subwoofer.

Sigma 135 – 400mm DG lens
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
Sigma has announced a new telephoto lens to add to its DG range with the 135 – 400mm F4.5-5.6 optic. The multi-layered-coated lens, designed to reduce flare and ghosting, has SLD (Special Low Dispersion) glass elements that provide correction for all types of aberration throughout the entire zoom range. Its rear focus system ensures high performance stability and ease of use. The price will be £479.99.

Optimize Your SLI Rig
PC Mechanic :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
You just spent hundreds of dollars to build your own SLI computer for some serious gaming. But, you are having problems trying to configure your system to work at its full capability. Playing around with your nVidia 3D Graphic Settings, you come across two options called Antialiasing (AA) and Anisotropic filtering (AF), yet you’re not sure what these settings are used for and how they affect you.

Title: Coolmax CXI600W PSU @ Techgage
Techgage :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Quote: As time goes by, we quickly realize how much power our computer really needs. You don’t want a PSU that provides ‘just enough’, you want one that will help provide clean power and worry about it dieing. Today we are taking a look at the Coolmax CXI 600W, which will easily power most systems today.

[Phoronix] Corsair Flash Voyager 4GB
Phoronix :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Summary: “Two months back we had looked at the OCZ Rally 2GB, which offered blazing fast speeds with its dual channel technology. At hand today we have Corsair’s recently released 4GB Flash Voyager but just how is this new model able to compete with the OCZ Rally as well as other popular flash media devices?”

OCZ EL DDR PC-3200 Gold GX XTC 2048MB Memory Review at 3DXtreme
3dXtreme :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
once again OCZ is pushing the possibilities and doing it in style. This latest product may fall into the Gamer line of products but it definitely meets my expectation of any kit in the Platinum line. The new XTC heatspreaders effectively kept the modules cool throughout our testing as we pushed this kit past the PC-4000 (DDR500) rating without an increase in voltage.

Portable video beset by cost, lack of content, technical complexity
AVS Forum :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
At his Wauconda IL home, Rich Wacaser uses two ReplayTV digital video recorders to capture his favorite shows for later viewing.

Because they’re connected to his home’s computer network, he often watches the shows on his laptop, catching up on the latest “Grey’s Anatomy” at 30,000 feet during a business trip.

SinTek 600SLI 600W PSU @ Viperlair
ViperLair :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
“It all comes down to performance, if you have gone out and spent a boatload of cash on your mobo, CPU, ram and video card you are obviously looking for performance so why would you put a budget PSU in a performance rig? If you’re a performance enthusiast and only the best will do, you should definitely take a look at SinTek”

Sky Hawk GM670SC Power One Power Supply Review @ Madshrimps
Madshrimps :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
Quote: “Sky Hawk aka Eagle Technologies, has upped the ante on their GM-SC power supply series. The most powerful model in that series, the GM620SC specified Peak Power from 640W ~ 680W. Extrapolating from Sky Hawk’s Peak Power formula in theory the GM670SC will offer Peak Power between 690W ~ 730W. Let’s find out how it performs.”

Thermaltake Blue Orb II CPU Cooler Review at 3DXtreme
3dXtreme :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
The Blue Orb II is silent and cooling performance is very good however for the overclockers out there this cooler was unable to challenge the Big Typhoon and the Freezer 64 Pro when Prime stability was factored in. Priced around $40 this would be a great replacement cooler to the stock AMD64 unit.

Beginners Guides: Basic Home Networking and File Sharing
PCStats :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
“The purpose of this article is two-fold. First, to enable you to set up your own home network and share files between your computers, and second to make you comfortable with basic computer networking terminology and practice. Internet sharing deserves its own article, and so is not part of this one.”

Sigma 170-500mm F5-6.3 APO DG
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Sigma has announced a new telephoto lens in the shape of the 170-500mm F5-6.3 APO DG. The lens features multi-layer coating, aspherical lenses, SLD glass and rear focus

Dream’eo Enza @ Bytesector
Bytesector :: Thursday, December 01, 2005
“Despite the massive speculation and interest, the market for Portable Media Centres is somewhat limited. With selection limited to 4 or 5 choices, it’s a fairly big deal when a new one is released. Today we will be looking at a unit from a smaller manufacturer-Dream’eo. They also produce a GPS tracker, and another PMC, but oddly enough, no MP3 players. Let’s see how their product stacks up in a field dominated by the biggest names in the industry. Dream’eo’s latest release is the Enza, and despite its exotic name, it’s got all the same basic features that the rest of the market has. A great screen, large hard drive, built in speakers, and Windows Mobile Software for Portable Media Centres. It does have a few tricks that set it apart from the rest of the field; the Enza can output to a TV, and comes with a handy little remote. It’s also marginally smaller and lighter than the Samsung YH-999, but I hardly think you’ll notice the 10039mm^2 and 0.5 ounce difference.”

DFI’s LANParty UT RDX200 CD-DR motherboard
The Tech Report :: Thursday, December 01, 2005
THE MARKET FOR HIGH-END, enthusiast-oriented motherboards is presently dominated by NVIDIA chipsets. With few exceptions, the nForce4 has run the table for nearly a year, but that might be about to change. The recently announced Radeon Xpress 200 CrossFire chipset is finally poised to offer an alternative to SLI, and several mobo makers are lining up with boards based on the ATI’s new core logic.

The first CrossFire board to become available in North America is DFI’s LANParty UT RDX200 CD-DR. Designed by Oskar Wu, creator of the legendary Abit BP6, the RDX200 pairs ATI’s CrossFire chipset with a myriad of extra peripherals, enough BIOS options to satiate even the most demanding overclocker, and DFI’s usual dose of LANParty flair. The RDX200 is also the only Socket 939 CrossFire motherboard that’s certified by ATI. Can its features and performance compare with the high-end nForce4 boards already available on the market? Read on to find out.

How To Take Control Of Your Inbox & Reduce Spam @ The TechZone
The Tech Zone :: Thursday, December 01, 2005
Everybody hates spam! I am sure spammers hate getting spam too, but they still continue to dish it out. Why? Because it is still effective. Believe it or not, many of us still click on the links or follow-up with the spam message. As long as we continue to do this, spam will exist. If everybody understood this and paid no attention to spam, the spammers will eventually give up because it costs them real money to send out emails. It is hard to quantify what the cost of sending out one, two or fifty emails is, but 1 million or 5 million emails certainly has a cost that is not negligible. When the payback starts to get so small that the spammers cannot make a decent living, they will find something else to do. This day will come and I cannot wait for it to arrive.

Thermalright V1 Ultra Video Card Cooler
SystemCooling :: Thursday, December 01, 2005

snip: “Back in June, we introduced users to Thermalright’s maiden voyage in the world of video card cooling, the Thermalright V1. It performed admirably in our initial testing, but as time went on, deficiencies were uncovered that made the cooler unsuitable for certain applications. The folks at Thermalright went back to the drawing board, and the result of their efforts is the cooler we’re looking at today, dubbed the V1 Ultra. We’ll find out if the changes Thermalright made allow this cooler to do to the GPU cooling world what their CPU heatsinks have done in their category – dominate.”

PimpRig Review // Jackson Armor Card
PimpRig :: Thursday, December 01, 2005
“With all this experience it’s no wonder why they have created what I would like to call the ultimate hardware tool for a secure PC. They stand behind their name and even put a rock solid GUARANTEE on their services. This sounds very promising for a review of just a little PCI card. That’s not just any PCI card though, this little card records changes made to the primary drive/partition and if you wish all you have to do is reboot and all the changes that were made are gone! Install a virus… Gone. Install a bad driver… Gone. Install spyware… Gone.”

Seagate Momentus 7200.1 100GB @ Viperlair
ViperLair :: Thursday, December 01, 2005
“Performance is the main focus of this drive, that’s what you are paying the extra $140 for after all. So how does it do? Is amazing, excellent, jaw dropping enough for you? The Seagate ST910021A will blast the covers off of the hard drive currently located in your laptop. Laptop drives are known for their speed, or lack their off, but no longer. As shown in the tests, the Seagate drive came very close to desktop drive performance, which is a huge hurdle. This drive will now allow you to have a full desktop replacement laptop.”

Nu Tech Dark Shadow 256MB MP3 Sunglasses
Big Bruin :: Thursday, December 01, 2005

Quote: Nu Tech has combined one of the most popular technology items of today, an MP3 player, with something many of us use every day, a pair of sunglasses. I am the first to admit I am a sucker for any tool or gadget that tries to combine more than one use or function into a single item, but I also have learned from experience that many times such items fail to perform well at any of the tasks they were designed to do.

Zalman Fatal1ty FS-C77 CPU Cooler
Big Bruin :: Thursday, December 01, 2005

Quote: Very few coolers offer a perfect blend between appearance, operation, and cooling ability. The Zalman Fatal1ty comes close, but has a few minor problems. The first issue is the need to use the custom motherboard back plate on an AMD A64 system. Having to remove your motherboard to install a CPU cooler isn’t always fun, but does give you a good opportunity to clean the cobwebs out of your case!

e-GeForce 7800 GTX BlackPearl 512MB – Full Review
Hexus :: Thursday, December 01, 2005

The EVGA e-GeForce 7800 GTX BlackPearl 512MB is faster out of the box than the XFX, overclocks further and does it all quieter, cooled by a decent and easy-to-fit watercooling kit. The choice of fittings and tubing diameters means that it should be an easy integration into an existing watercooling setup, too. So what’s not to like, from what’s current the fastest retail consumer graphics card on the planet?

Superpower XP01F PC Gaming Case
Hi-Techreviews :: Thursday, December 01, 2005

With an exterior that’s somewhere between an Apple G5 and Star Wars transport case the Superpower XP01F PC Gaming case is all business. With and snatch handles the case has its own distinctive look. One other feature of note is the side-panel and the ease with which they are removed. The time from start to finish to get a side-panel off is about 20-seconds. So come on along as we check this case out.

Article Name: Zalman ZM460-APS Ultra Quiet 460Watt Power Supply Review @ Tweaknews.net
Tweaknews :: Thursday, December 01, 2005

“The Zalman ZM460 is not the prettiest PSU I’ve ever seen. It has no fancy gizmos or modular design. What it does have, however, is performance. I’ve had a wide variety of power supplies come through here and I can’t honestly say that any of them have performed better than the ZM460. I know for a fact that I’ve never had a PSU that was this quiet.”

The Cheapest Computer is Enough
PC Mechanic :: Thursday, December 01, 2005
Quote: Remember back in the day, when you had to spend $3000 to get a mediocre computer that could just barely do what you wanted it to and was overtaxed after a year? I certainly do. When my family got a brand-new Gateway 2000 in 1995, it came with a huge 17” monitor and an even larger case. We opted for the 124-key AnyKey keyboard, and bought an HP LaserJet 5P. The total price, including the $800 printer, was just about $3000.

Mountain Mods Bob Slay Clear Acrylic Case @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Thursday, December 01, 2005

Quote: “Hello everyone today I’ve got a custom acrylic case from Mountain Mods for your pleasure. The “Bob Slay” is a sleek, cube-style case, made entirely from laser cut ¼ inch cast acrylic. The Bob Slay’s cube design make it unique in the field of acrylic cases which normally are only available in the usual tower design.”

MGE XG Vortec 500W
techPowerUp! :: Thursday, December 01, 2005

MGE targets the extreme gamer/modder niche and the build-your-own mainstream market of PC enthusiasts with this power supply. It features a unique blue anodized design with side windows in the PSU case. A PCI-Express video card connector is available, all cables are sleeved. During our testing we found that the PSU can supply stable clean voltage. Another plus is that the retail price of $60 is quite competitive.

[Phoronix] Enermax Laureate (EB205U-S)
Phoronix :: Thursday, December 01, 2005

Summary: “The Laureate 2.5″ from Enermax Maxpoint is made of high quality aluminum to maximize the heat dissipation as well as keeping to a diminutive weight. Not only is this enclosure made of the quality we have come to expect from Enermax but also the device is also water-resistant and shockproof with its neoprene travel bag.”

Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro Athlon64 Heatsink
Frosty Tech :: Thursday, December 01, 2005
“The Freezer 64 Pro suspends its 2200RPM fan on four dualaxial rubber vibration absorbing posts. The general idea of which is to prevent any motor vibrations from transferring to other areas of the chassis which might create noise. The 92mm fan itself is pretty unique in that the design minimizes turbulence and noise created by air moving over the edges of the frame. ”

Reason Why Vendors Don’t Sell AMD Products @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Thursday, December 01, 2005
“AMD went to court with an antitrust/unfair business practice lawsuit against Intel Corp. earlier this year. AMD also claimed that Intel was strong-arming and/or giving indirect incentives (joint marketing efforts) to vendors such as Dell to ensure that they don’t retail AMD products.”

DFI nForce4 Infinity SLI Motherboard Review
Futurelooks :: Thursday, December 01, 2005
In the market for something that just works, and you don’t care about a gajillion useless extra gizmos? Well, DFI’s Infinity series should take care of that, and today we have a look at their Infinity nForce 4 SLI, a low-cost solution for those interested in SLI. So, come and check out what we thought of it!

Firefox Tweak Guide Updated @ TweakGuides.com
Tweaknews :: Thursday, December 01, 2005
To coincide with the release of Firefox 1.5, I’ve fully updated my Firefox Tweak Guide to cover the features of this latest version. If you’ve read the guide before, give it a quick run-through to see what’s new, and if you’re new to the guide, I think you’ll find it very handy.

Seagate 500GB Barracuda 7200.9 Hard Drive Review Rev. 2.0 Posted!
Tech ARP :: Thursday, December 01, 2005

Quote – “We are moving closer to the terabyte era. The new Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 hard drive pushes us closer to the goal of a terabyte of storage space in a single drive.

ASUSTeK A7G with ATI RADEON Mobility X1600 – First Hands-On Look!
Hexus :: Thursday, December 01, 2005
HEXUS.eXclusives :: ASUSTeK A7G with ATI RADEON Mobility X1600 – First Hands-On Look! Been wondering what to expect from ATi’s up-coming Mobility RADEON X1600? We’ve exclusively done some testing on an ASUS laptop running the Mobility X1600.

Keynesis Portable Sweeper @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Saturday, December 31, 2005

Quote: “Not long ago, I took a look at security software from Keynesis called Lockngo. Keynesis also has a program to compliment Lockngo called Portable Sweeper. The two programs together provide a great set of tools for anyone wishing to have their portable devices secure and safe. Portable Sweeper is a bit different in that it cleans your system or your hosts system of all traces that you were on it and what you were doing on it. Let’s take a closer look and you can get a better idea of what I am talking about.”

DH Review: Crucial Gizmo! 2 GIG USB flash drive
Driver Heaven :: Saturday, December 31, 2005
“Their flash disk drive product line-up is dubbed ?Gizmo!? and they already are counting their 3rd revision. The 3rd revision is even faster and much smaller than the initial revision, plus features much higher capacities of course, as you can guess. Crucial was nice enough to send us a Gizmo! 2GB drive, the largest currently offered. 2GB worth of storage inside a device that is about the size of your thumb certainly sounds nice, so let us see what this little device is capable of.”
R

Creative Zen Micro Photo Review @ WindowsAtoZ.com
Windows A to Z :: Thursday, December 29, 2005

“It’s been quite awhile since Creative announced that they would come out with a color Zen Micro handheld, but now the wait is over. The new Creative Zen Micro Photo is an excellent portable audio and photo viewer and that makes it a definite Apple iPod alternative. Our review of the Creative Zen Micro Photo tells you everything you need to know.”

Logitech diNovo Bluetooth Laser Media Desktop Review @ Tweaknews.net
Tweaknews :: Thursday, December 29, 2005

“With the new diNovo, Logitech has taken an already great product and made it even better. Whether on an executive desk or the coffee table, the diNovo’s classic looks and outstanding feature set make it a good choice for the demanding user who wants wireless operation and uncompromising performance.”

Apple iPod Video
Big Bruin :: Thursday, December 29, 2005
Quote: Apple’s latest offering, the iPod Video, includes everything found in previous iPods, but also includes video playback! While this technology is not new, Apple stepping into this medium will hopefully help the video market grow as the MP3 market did when Apple released the original iPod.

Kingston 15-In-1 Hi-Speed Reader Pictorial Review Posted!
Tech ARP :: Thursday, December 29, 2005

Quote – “Today, we will take a look at the new Kingston 15-In-1 Hi-Speed Reader. As its name suggests, it supports 15 different flash formats! It also boasts a really compact form factor as well as really fast read and write speeds. Let’s check it out! ”

Logitech G7 Laser Cordless Mouse @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Quote: “Well, I have to admit, I am a Logitech ‘Fanboy’, and why shouldn’t I be? They make excellent products and they are at the top of the input peripheral market. The quality of Logitech’s products is legendary and what other companies strive for. I own quite a few Logitech products myself, that I have purchased and received for review. Their products never fail to impress me, they seem to be on the leading edge of what we want or need in a mouse, keyboard or other hardware device. Recently I reviewed the Logitech G5 corded laser gaming mouse, today I have the G7, which could be considered the bigger brother to the G5. Let’s take a look at it.”

Logitech G5 Corded Laser Mouse
The Tech Lounge :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005
“I’m back at it again, testing laser mice. Previously I’ve taken a look at Razer’s Copperhead laser mouse as well as Logitech’s wireless G7 laser powered entry. Today I’ll be putting Logitech’s G5, the wired brother of the G7, through its paces.

I was quite impressed with the performance of the G7. Several innovations adorned the smooth and precise wireless mouse and I expect to see similar features on the G5. The G5 shares the same on-the-fly DPI switching and customizable SetPoint software.”

USB Security Key UK-01 @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Quote: “Not long ago I reviewed software for security of your files on portable devices. What about actually securing your laptop or desktop computer? Today I have something for review courtesy of Geeks.com that answers that question simply and easily. It is a USB Security Key, sort of like a ‘dongle’. It is coded to your computer or computers via software and hardware inside the USB Key itself. It look just like a USB Thumbdrive, but isn’t. Let’s take a closer look at it.”

Digital Media 2005 Year In Review @ The TechZone
The Tech Zone :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005
With DVRs with big hard drives widely used in Japan, folks in the Americas and Europe are finally understanding that they don’t have to live their lives by the TV schedule and personalize their viewing. They’ve also found out that they can cut a half-hour show to 23 minutes just by cutting out all the ads. That wasn’t what broadcasters and advertisers had in mind when they first saw the units so now they’ve decided its time to embed products into the shows so you have to look at them!

Gennum nXZEN Plus Bluetooth Headset Review @ Legit Reviews
Legit Reviews :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005
“The nXZEN (pronounced “nex-zen”) uses a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) and a two microphone array setup to help improve noise reduction. Gennum ships the headset with two flavors: the nXZEN and the nXZEN Plus, which allows users to plug the headset into an MP3 or CD player for stereo sound and have the ability to answer incoming calls with the push of a single button…”

Nikon Capture software version 4.4.0 and 4.4.1
DPReview :: Monday, December 26, 2005
Nikon’s image management software, Nikon Capture version 4.4.0 (Windows) and 4.4.1 (Mac) is now available for download. The Windows update adds support for D200 RAW images. A new black and white option in Advanced RAW tool palette has been added to Color Modes. And finally, there have been improvements to the way tones are reproduced in highlight areas to prevent a loss of detail when the exposure compensation is set to less than 0. The Mac update addresses a problem that caused a type 3 error to occur and the program to unexpectedly quit when attempting to print.

download the software

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T9
DPReview :: Monday, December 26, 2005

Sony has today announced the newest addition to its slimline T range in the shape of the six million pixel Cyber-shot T9. As well as offering one million more pixels than the T7, the previous incarnation, it also offers a better macro mode of 1cm. The T9 maintains the large 2.5-inch LCD in favor of a viewfinder, has the same sliding up/down lens, but all the controls have been shifted on to the right hand side of the back plate, including the zoom rocker lever which was previously found on the top of the camera. The Sony Cyber-shot T9 comes in silver or black. Apologies but we have no further information as we have not received full specifications or a press release from Sony.

Holiday Gift Guide ’05
The Tech Lounge :: Monday, December 26, 2005

“The year is just about over, and the Holidays are upon us. Normally we like to post these Holiday Gift Guide articles well ahead of Christmas to help people choose gifts for their techie friends and family, but not this year. So what’s different in this year’s guide? Well, for starters, it’s probably a little late to go buy presents now if you haven’t already done it – it’s possible, but it’s certainly not a great idea. Instead of taking the usual approach of telling people what to buy their loved ones for Christmas, we are instead going to tell YOU, receiver of crappy gifts from the likes of Aunt Edna and Uncle Joe, what to buy after returning those gifts.”

Kodak takes number one sales spot in US
DPReview :: Monday, December 26, 2005
After all the bad news that has beset Kodak in the last year, things appear to be on the up as the company took the number one slot for sales in US in the first quarter of this year. It shipped 900,000 point and shoot digital cameras, a 41% increase on sales this time last year, according to a market research company. Kodak is followed by second-placed Canon (850,000 units), which recorded a whopping 72% increase, and perennial front-runner Sony was ranked third with sales of 800,000 units. UPDATE: Chief executive Dan Carp will step down as president in June, although he will remain in the post until he retires in January 2006. He will be succeeded by Kodak president Antonio Perez, who joined Kodak in April 2003 after 25 years at HP.

Olympus E-500 firmware version 1.1
DPReview :: Monday, December 26, 2005

Olympus has just announced the latest firmware upgrade for its 4/3 digital SLR the E-500. Version 1.1 adds three new features. The first increases the time between when the button is pressed and when the camera reverts back to the current mode to eight seconds. Once the new firmware is installed users will also be allowed to select a WB OFF option. And finally, a new security step now warns users that when erasing RAW and JPG files of the same picture both images will be deleted. To download the new firmware follow the instructions at the end of the press release.

Nikon View software version 6.2.7
DPReview :: Monday, December 26, 2005
Nikon has announced update version 6.2.7 for its software Nikon View. It addresses a number of problems for users on the Mac platform and just two things for Windows users. Both updates, however, add support for RAW images capture with the D200 and there are changes to the Color Aberration Control feature in Nikon Capture 4. Additionally, version 6.2.7 now supports Mac OS X version 10.4 and the structure of the Color Management tab in the Preferences dialog has been changed. The Open ColorSync button has been removed which leaves just two profiles provided; Default RGB Color Space and CMYK separation.

Kodak launches high resolution CCDs
DPReview :: Monday, December 26, 2005
Kodak has announced the world’s highest resolution sensors for medium format cameras with the KAF-39000, 39 megapixels, and the KAF-31600 (pictured), which offers 31.6 megapixels. The CCD sensors will be used in Phase One’s upcoming P45 and P30 digital backs.The KAF-3900 covers an area of 36x48mm, while the KAF-31600 offers high performance in a 33x44mm imaging area. These two new sensors join three other CCDs in Kodak’s line up, including the KAF-22000, which used to be the company’s highest resolution CCD at 22MP.

Kodak to cut 10,000 more jobs
DPReview :: Monday, December 26, 2005
Kodak is to cut up to 10,000 more jobs, while the company makes the tough transition from film to digital, reports the Altus Times. The announcement coincided with reports of a second quarter loss and shares dropped by more than 2%. The new cuts are expected to affect around 7,000 manufacturing jobs, many in Kodak’s home town. Eighteen months ago Kodak announced that it would cut around 15,000 jobs over the next three years. Despite the fact that Kodak will add around 8,000 employees, the workforce will eventually number under 50,000 compared to 86,000 people it employed in 1998.

Kodak launches ImageLink website
DPReview :: Monday, December 26, 2005
Kodak has announced a new website for the ImageLink Print system, which is designed to simplify at-home printing. The system is supported by Kodak, Konica Minolta, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, Ricoh and Sanyo and will mean that images taken with these manufacturers’ cameras can be printed just by pressing one button when the devices are docked in compatible ‘snapshot’ printers. www.imagelinkprintsystem.com, which will go live in March, will have links to compatible cameras and printers, a frequently asked questions section and news related to the specification.

Kodak EasyShare P850 Review
DPReview :: Monday, December 26, 2005
The EasyShare P850, which has an image-stabilized 12x zoom Schneider-Kreuznach, is a direct competitor to the likes of Canon’s S2 IS, Sony’s H1 and Panasonic’s FZ20 and is the first in a new class of ‘advanced digital cameras’, which Kodak hopes will provide an alternative to entry-level DSLRs.. As well as the new image stabilizing feature the P850 boasts RAW file capture and a flash hot shoe, plus a real wealth of photographic controls. Find out how it fared in our concise review, after the link.

Canon EOS 5D and 1D Mark II N firmware updates
DPReview :: Monday, December 26, 2005
Canon has today posted firmware updates for the EOS-1D Mark II N and EOS 5D. Both updates improve the brightness of the LCD monitor and fix mistakes in the language menus. Version 1.02 for the EOS-1D Mark II N also fixes a file numbering error that occurred during bulb shooting. The 5D had a problem with the creation of large files (1.7GB) and operational abnormality in AEB shooting, which has now been fixed by firmware version 1.03.

Carl Zeiss lenses for Nikon-F mount?
DPReview :: Monday, December 26, 2005
Carl Zeiss have gone all mysterious in their placement of a message on their home page, it reads “Millions of SLR Photographers Will Soon Discover a New Dimension in Photography.” At the moment we have no idea what this means, speculation on our forums and elsewhere ranges from a new Zeiss digital system (Sony?) to Zeiss lenses for Canon / Nikon mounts (a leaked image shows Nikon F-Mount Zeiss lenses). As predicted it looks as though this will be Carl Zeiss lenses for Nikon F-Mount, the latest reveal names ‘ZF’.

Motorola RAZRWIRE Eyeware Headset @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Monday, December 26, 2005
“We’ve all seen wireless Bluetooth headsets for cell phones, but have you ever seen a pair of eyeglasses and a headset? That’s the idea behind Motorola’s RAZRWIRE eyewear and headset hybrid. Every other product category is moving into the hybridization of two dissimilar concepts, so why not headsets? After all, we all want to look technically stylish…”

Sony DSC-R1 firmware update
DPReview :: Monday, December 26, 2005
Sony has today announced a firmware update for the recently introduced DSC-R1 digital camera. This update appears to correct for hot pixel artifacts in certain exposures. This update is intended for application to a range of cameras as designated by their serial number (details inside). There is no other information about any other fixes included in this update.

Creative Zen MicroPhoto @ t-break
t-break :: Monday, December 26, 2005
Feature-wise, the Zen MicroPhoto is loaded. Creative packs a whopping 8GB drive which is excellent for its size and can store roughly 4000 songs while an FM player is also included in case you’re up for something different. You also have a voice recorder which could come in handy. Although the unit can display pictures, the 1.5” screen is a bit small for that purpose.

Logitech G7 Cordless Laser Mouse Review
OCIA :: Monday, December 26, 2005

“The USB dongle is similar in size and shape to a USB flash drive. The G7 communicates with the computer via this USB dongle, which uses a 2.4 GHz wireless frequency to send 500 reports per second to the computer. This should allow for a lag-free experience.”

Bluetake BT450Rx I-PHONO Mini Review
Hardware-Pacers :: Thursday, December 22, 2005

“I-PHONO mini headphone set is a marvelous product. One can see that extensive time has gone into the product design and the production. Everything about this product screams high performance and solid craftsmanship. The headphones are compact enough to be tucked away in a pocket (safely tucked away in a pouch). When using these headphones for the cell phone conversations, the sound comes out of both earpieces and the microphone is sensitive enough to pick up whispers. Compared to some other Bluetooth headsets, this one doesn’t cut off in the middle of the conversation and it also retains good sound quality throughout battery life. This is a product with minimum flaws that delivers brilliant performance.”

Kingston 2GB DataTraveler Elite AES-128 Encrypted
PCStats :: Thursday, December 22, 2005
“Kingston Technology has developed a novel product to address USB flash drive data security issues, while maintaining the quick data transfer speeds that USB2.0 affords. It has done this by embedding a hardware-based 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) co-processor to handle all algorithm processing within its flagship DataTraveler Elite series USB flash drives. The hardware encryption co-processor works in conjunction with Kingston’s TravelerSafe+ software to encrypt/decrypt files stored on a specified portion of the USB flash drive that is created by the owner. The entire AES-128 encryption process is transparent to the owner, and does not diminish transfer speeds nor draw CPU cycles away from the host PC. ”

Holiday Gift Guide for Geek’s @ GruntvillE.com
GruntvillE :: Thursday, December 22, 2005

Today we have last minute Holiday wish list for geek’s. This list includes a geek version of “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” by our own Brian “Boddaker” Carter.

Then out from my case there came such a clatter, I threw off the cover to see what was the matter. Exiting out of windows, the BIOS I did flash, But the motherboard was dead, and the hard drive had crashed.

Being hopeful and cheery I was not long to despair, For I knew that St. Nick would come through with my ‘ware. I had written up my list with no ounce of shame, There was to be no mistake so I spelled out each name:”

Samsung YP-U1Z 1 GB MP3 Player @ TechTastic.ca
TechTastic :: Thursday, December 22, 2005

Quote: It seems if you wanted a large capacity solid state MP3 player in the past, you had to settle for a larger player size. Today we take a look at the YP-U1Z 1 GB MP3 player from Samsung that has best of both worlds; small size and a large storage capacity.

Disney Stick Mix MP3 Player Preview @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Thursday, December 22, 2005

“If there’s any company that can make children-friendly gadgets, it has to be Disney. Disney has undoubtedly built its brand by ensuring friendly programming and products that are unadulterated.”

Logitech G7 Laser Gaming Mouse @ Bytesector
Bytesector :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005
“Today, I will be taking a look at another mouse from Logitech that looks almost identical to the MX700 and MX900. The Logitech G7 Gaming mouse has many of the same lines as the MX700, but there are also some button differences that make it much nicer. The first major difference between these mice is the G7 puts optical tracking behind and moves up the ladder to laser tracking. This new sensor technology allows the sensor to have an effective resolution of up to 2000 dpi, but is fully adjustable from 400-2000 dpi. A new hot swappable battery pack system, gaming grade polytetrafluoroethylene feet and battery level indicator make this mouse unique in every way.”

Creative Zen Vision:M 30GB Review
Everything USB :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005
“Probably the first question people ask when reading this review is whether the Creative Zen Vision:M has a better screen than the video iPod. After all, Mr. Hoo should have already dissected the Apple’s, and came up with countermeasures before hitting back. Putting the video iPod next the Zen, the Creative seems to take the lead with the colors on the 2.5â€ QVGA screen being very vivid and vibrant. The LCD’s contrast is excellent. There’s just a bit too much color saturation than necessary, causing some finer details to wash away.”

Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard Review @ The TechZone
The Tech Zone :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005

The G15 keyboard is the result of extensive research that Logitech has conducted within the gaming community. At first glance, the G15 may appear as just another fancy backlit keyboard. However, you will quickly discover the wealth of functionality that it provides. The more games you play with this keyboard, the more you’ll come to love it.

Casio Exilim EX-S500 5.0 Mega Pixel Digital Camera @ BonaFideReviews
Bona Fide Reviews :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005

“Casio has developed a name for itself through its pocket-sized Exilim line of high-performance digital cameras and the EX-S500 serves as no exception. Slim, sleek, and sexy are the adjectives that come to mind, and this little Casio drew many looks when I carried it around.”

Olympus SP-500 Digicam
Designtechnica :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005
“Olympus is struggling mightily to keep with the digicam leaders (Kodak, Canon and Sony). Sometimes they win with models like Stylus 800 and E-500 D-SLR while in other instances they fail miserably with IR-500 and M:Robe. Yet you can’t blame them for trying; they can’t just quit the game or they’ll end up in the trash heap of CE companies. Where Olympus really shines is with its Ultra Zoom digicams like the new 6-megapixel SP-500UZ, the company’s latest 10x optical zoom digicam (the ancient 2MP C-700 Ultra Zoom was one of the first in the industry). This equals 38-380mm in 35mm terms, a very nice range. At $379 it’s more expensive than the $299 10x Kodak Z740 with slightly less resolution (5MP). It’s also a bit cheaper than its other ultra zoom competitors, the $499 5MP Sony DSC-H1 and Canon PowerShot S2 IS with 12x optical zooms and image stabilization. Kodak’s new P850 is a non-image stabilized 5MP digicam with a 12x zoom that costs $449 while Konica Minolta’s 6MP DiMage Z6 with a 12x optical zoom is $399. Looking at these prices, you can see the SP-500UZ has a ballpark price battling it out with some tough competitors. Now does it swing and miss or hit it out of the park? (As you can probably tell, I can’t wait for baseball to start again!) Check it out… ”

Motorola RAZR V3 Review @ DataFuse.net
DataFuse :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005

While the RAZR V3 from Motorola has been available for some time now. Motorola is now running a full new campaign to get their popular “slim design” phone everywhere possible. Adding colours to the mix should up their popularity with the younger audience. Swinging at an MSRP of 750€’s during introduction the phone was too expensive. At this time you’ll be able to get the RAZR V3 for 250€, but is it worthy of that price? ”

Logitech QuickCam for Notebooks Pro (2005) Review
Everything USB :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Not content with the way things were, Logitech took another jab at creating a high-end webcam for laptops and ultimately deciding on replacing the QuickCam for Notebooks Pro with the QuickCam for Notebooks Pro – 2005 edition. No, it doesn’t make sense to us either, but since it’s boasting new Video Effects features to play around with and a 1.3MP sensor with RightLight all crammed into a smaller enclosure, we just had to put this new revision to the test. Read on to see how it fared.

USB Pocket Flash Drive Roundup @ PureOverclock.com
Pure Overclock :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Quote: “In this round-up I’ll be looking at six USB flash drives, some no frills but with a price worthy of consideration and others with all the bells and whistles some out there may find essential. On test are the following drives: Corsair Flash Voyager; Crucial Gizmo; Geil David; Kingston DataTraveler II + Migo; Kingston DataTraveler Elite, and the OCZ Rally”

Disney Stick Mix MP3 Player @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005
“If there’s any company that can make children-friendly gadgets, it has to be Disney. Disney has undoubtedly built its brand by ensuring friendly programming and products that are unadulterated. Therefore, it wasn’t much of a surprise when Disney announced its Stick Mix series of MP3 players that feature popular Disney characters in a cute exterior – a perfect gift for the budding gadgeteers.”

News Flash – M7 Action – The Perfect Active Sports Accessory – Reviewed
Futurelooks :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Do you like to play outside with your tech toys? Well, the question is, how are you going to carry them without breaking them? Be it snowboarding, mountain biking, or zip lining, M7 Action thinks they have the answer. Check this ultimate pack-that-gear accessory out!

Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard Review @ ASEville
ASE Labs :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005
” Logitech has recognized that keyboard technology has really been pretty stagnant over the lifespan of computer technology, with the exception of adding a few buttons and media functionality. They have attempted to appeal to the PC gaming market with their G Series of gaming peripherals. Their first attempt at a keyboard revolution really does have some serious potential, but the execution is a little lacking. ”

Logitech G15 Keyboard
Designtechnica :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005
“The Logitech G15 keyboard is squarely aimed at gamers, but everyday users will like some of the design touches that have been incorporated. The soft blue backlighting and integrated flip-up LCD screen are features we wonder how we lived without, and the layout shows obvious signs of responding to customer feedback. The gaming macro keys round out this all-around king of keyboards. While the key pressing was slightly soft for our tastes, regular typing tasks were not a problem.”

Creative Zen Vision:M 30GB preview
OCModshop :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005

“Creative said it would release a fierce competitor to Apple’s video iPod and today it has finally arrived.

It’s the Creative Zen Vision:M. This device has 30GB storage capacity and unlike the original Zen Vision it looks a bit more like the very popular Zen Micro, which is now also available with a colour LCD display (the Zen MicroPhoto).”

Logitech G5 Laser Mouse @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Sunday, December 11, 2005

Quote: “Mice, we all need them. A lot of people don’t give much consideration to mice when making a PC purchase. I still know a few people that are happy with the old ball mice. Ever since I got my first optical mouse for $10, which lasted all of 2 months, I can’t go back to using a ball mouse. When my cheapie mouse died I decided I had to have an optical mouse. So off I went and got my first Logitech mouse, I was so impressed by it, and so happy with it. Every mouse that I have bought subsequently was a Logitech brand mouse. My current mouse is the MX 1000, but for review today I have the Logitech G5 Laser Mouse. The G5 is targeted specifically at gamers, with adjustable resolutions for various gaming situations, and a series of weights that can be added or removed depending on the user’s preference. Well let’s take a look at it shall we?”

Logitech G5 Laser mouse review @ DH
Driver Heaven :: Thursday, December 08, 2005
“The adjustable weight is one of the prime features of the mouse, and very likely a world’s first. By opening the metallic box, you will find eight 4.5gr weights and eight 1.7gr weights. Given that the weight cartridge can take up to eight weights as well, the weight is adjustable from 1.7gr up to 36gr, in 1.7gr steps. Talk about precision! This way, you can adjust the weight of the mouse to your liking and muscular strength. A lighter mouse will be easier to use, especially for long periods of time. A heavier mouse will be more precise and give a better feeling, but it will tire you much quicker. You can adjust the weight to achieve the perfect balance between those two for your own hand.”

DH Review: Logitech G5 laser mouse
Driver Heaven :: Thursday, December 08, 2005
The adjustable weight is one of the prime features of the mouse, and very likely a world?s first. By opening the metallic box, you will find eight 4.5gr weights and eight 1.7gr weights. Given that the weight cartridge can take up to eight weights as well, the weight is adjustable from 1.7gr up to 36gr, in 1.7gr steps. Talk about precision! This way, you can adjust the weight of the mouse to your liking and muscular strength. A lighter mouse will be easier to use, especially for long periods of time. A heavier mouse will be more precise and give a better feeling, but it will tire you much quicker. You can adjust the weight to achieve the perfect balance between those two for your own hand.

Digital Camera Buyer’s Guide – 7 Insider Tips @ The TechZone
The Tech Zone :: Thursday, December 08, 2005
So, you’re ready to buy a digital camera, huh? Maybe it’s your first, maybe it’s your fourth. It can still be an overwhelming and confusing venture. With so many digital cameras on the market today ranging in price from under $100 to over $7,000, it may feel like there are TOO MANY CHOICES! Many people begin the buying process by investigating all the features and functions of 10 – 20 cameras in “their price range,” however that is determined. Some people find that process too frustrating and buy the first digital camera that “looks” right.

News: Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard Reviewed @ MetkuMods
OCModshop :: Thursday, December 08, 2005

“When typing the G15 doesn’t feel that much different from older keyboard models but that is not a bad thing. Every time that you go out and buy a new keyboard it takes time to get used to. As the feel of the keys does not differ that much from other models of keyboards and the key layout is regular qwerty style, user feels right at home from the start.”

IceMat 2nd Edition Black Mousepad @ Techgage
Techgage :: Thursday, December 08, 2005

Quote: If you are on the lookout for a new mousepad, look no further! We are taking a look at the 2nd edition of the popular IceMat, which is made of pure glass for an ultra smooth glide. It may be pricey, but it a hard mousepad to compete with.

Sharp M4000 Laptop Review
Designtechnica :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005
“Aesthetically, the M4000 is a beauty. The brushed aluminum motif is used on all surfaces of the case, and gives users a glimpse of what an Apple Intel Powerbook might look like. Mouse, power and wireless buttons have a faux chrome coating, which historically has not stood up to the test of time/usage. The shiny coating also looks slightly gaudy rather than the ostensibly intended classy. The full-size keyboard feels nice and snappy and continues with the metallic theme using a gray, reflective coating or plastic. The screen is covered by a highly reflective coating, similar to that of other manufacturers. This helps increase the contrast ration and make the screen more readable in daylight (as long as the angle of the screen isn’t in a glare prone orientation). What we did notice, and it took away from the beauty of the M4000, was a lack of port coverings. More specifically, all ports are black and left open to the damaging elements. At 3.8 pounds, the unit is incredibly light, and will fit comfortably in any laptop bag. ”

iRiver U10 1GB Media Player Review
Everything USB :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005
“The iRiver U10’s design is very modern and sleek, with an all white body topped off with a black faceplate surrounding a 320×240 QVGA color screen. Unlike other MP3 players, no room on the face was reserved for navigation controls, making the sole point of interest the screen itself. Instead, navigation is accomplished by grasping the bordered edges of the screen and literally clicking it in one of four directions, as if it were a directional pad on a video game console. iriver calls this the D-Click system, and it’s very smart.”

boynq Designer USB Gadgets 2.0
Everything USB :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Well, we found out boynq has debuted more than half a dozen of designer gadgets. This round, they are bringing us more VoIP USB gadgets. You ought to see this to believe the names they came up with, ranging from Bogy (USB highlighter?) to Toastit (a toaster-like card reader).

Kingston 15-in-1 Flash Memory Reader Review @ Legit Reviews
Legit Reviews :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005
“The Kingston FCR-HS215/1 is the fastest flash media reader that we have seen to date and it comes at an MSRP of under $19. If you don’t have a high speed memory reader give your old one away like we did and order the Kingston 15-in-1 Flash memory reader, it won’t disappoint…”

Samsung SPP-2040 Photo Printer
Overclockers Online :: Monday, December 05, 2005
Quote: Printing at home does have its advantages over printing from a lab, but those advantages come with a cost, the SPP-2040 itself retails for around 200 Canadian Dollars, while less than other printers on the market it’s not exactly budget friendly – and even more so when the consumables are added. In comparison to lab prints, the SPP-2040 put up quite a fight; easily crushing Kinkos, but slightly behind Blacks. Ever since the existence of photo printers, it was widely known that printing from home would cost significantly more per print than printing from a store, but for some the convenience is well worth the cost. Like the printer, the included software was packed with features, had a clean layout, easy to install and was very easy to use.

Wireless USB Vs. Bluetooth @ The TechZone
The Tech Zone :: Monday, December 05, 2005
Wireless USB offers the convenience of Bluetooth with the security and seamless integration of current USB technology. In addition, the first release of Wireless USB (aka WUSB) will allow you to use legacy USB devices wirelessly. Here’s how it will work – you will plug a Wireless USB dongle into your desktop or laptop and then plug the Wireless USB hub into an external power supply – this could range from a few feet to several meters away. Then you could plug your USB devices into the Wireless USB hub and use them as if they were attached directly to your computer. This would be especially useful for a printer, scanner or any other device you might want to share with local computers but not necessarily over a network.

How to Build a Small Network Using a Broadband Router
Hardware Secrets :: Monday, December 05, 2005
Learn how to build your own network using a broadband router, allowing you to share Internet access, files and printers among your computers.

Here is a snippet: “Broadband routers are the easiest way for you to build your own network. Using them, you can automatically share your broadband Internet connection among all computers on your network, as well as files and printers. Since they also work as a hardware firewall, it is also the safest way to be connected to the Internet nowadays. The installation is really fast and you can literally build your own network in just a few minutes. In this tutorial we will show you how to build your own network using a broadband router.”

Ipod Nano review @ DH
Driver Heaven :: Monday, December 05, 2005

“We’ve gone from large bulky vinyls, to the smaller more portable CDs, to the digital age and current dominant music format, MP3s. Combine all of the above, and carrying around your favorite music has never been easier. Unfortunately, with the amount of different music players available right now, making the correct choice is extremely tedious and difficult. Should you buy a Zen Micro from Creative? An iRiver player? Just step into a local electronics shop and you’ll see that there are so many choices the average user will most certainly get confused.”

IPod Nano Vs. Motorola: Brand Vs. Product @ The TechZone
The Tech Zone :: Monday, December 05, 2005

Motorola Chairman/CEO, Ed Zander had some harsh words for Apple regarding the simultaneous release of the iPod nano with the Motorola ROKR, but, more importantly, he had admonition for his own brand as well. Having a lot of previous success with the RAZR, the ultra sleek and stylish flip phone, Motorola believed it had permission to take the next step in production: phone + music. What Motorola failed to recognize is that brand permission relies upon the perspective of the customer, not product offering.

Logitech G5 Laser Mouse @ Pro-Clockers
Pro-Clockers :: Monday, December 05, 2005

Quote: Logitech sits right at the head of the class when it comes to producing all kinds of input devices. From web cams to keyboards there is no denying their dominance in this market. Chances are in your computer experiences you have used a product or two from them. Myself, I am a huge Logitech fan, currently having three mice MX300, MX518 and a MX700. Today Logitech was nice enough to send me one of their newest mouse, the G5 Laser mouse. Will it live up to my trusty MX518? We will see.

Guide: Building a Light Box @ GideonTech.com
GideonTech :: Monday, December 05, 2005
“Just about everyone has a digital camera in their possession, or has access to one. Most of these cameras are point and shoot, which offer good pictures for every day affairs. However, what happens if you need something a bit more on the professional side? For example, an image for a presentation or slide show. To get that quality feel without spending a fortune on professional photography equipment, you’ll need some quality light settings. We’re going to show you how to make yourself a homemade light box to get that look you need.”

Sharkoon Xurface Gaming Pad Review
OCIA :: Monday, December 05, 2005

“I used an Xraypad Thunder 8 with dual surfaces for comparison against the Xurface — although the Xurface’s surface was in between the ‘smooth’ and ‘rough’ sides of the Thunder 8, I have to say that I like the Xurface better. The other pad’s surfaces were either too smooth or too rough; the Xurface is a nice medium.”

Exclusive: Motorola SLVR L6 Cell Phone Review @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Monday, December 05, 2005
“The Motorola RAZR was perhaps one of the most successful flip phones ever and it sold more than all the PDAs in the world put together. If you wanted to show off, this was the phone of choice and having it perhaps increased your “coolness” quotient by a factor of 10. With the L6, however, Motorola is trying to do the same, but for the candy bar phone market.”

Bluetake Bluetooth Mini Mouse
GideonTech :: Monday, December 05, 2005
“Wired mice are always getting tangled and just in the way of everything. Not so much of a pain for a PC, but on a laptop, it just doesn’t make the laptop all that portable and convenient.

Today we have a wireless offering from Bluetake in the form of a mini mouse. Let’s see how simple it is to set up our wireless bluetooth device. ”

Nokia 9300i Smartphone @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Monday, December 05, 2005
“Nokia’s 9xxx series has been one of the best smartphone product lines in the market. It’s truly a smartphone and not just one of the regular Java based phones with an IQ lower than their battery life. Even though it might be a tad bulky, the functionality is more or less adequate.”

Shooting Color for Purpose
DT & G Magazine :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

What do you do with so many products and such a low budget? You gang products together, of course — and call upon a professional — in this case, my good friend Hubert Gentry of Gentry Photography. In all the shoots, most of the lighting came from a single Paul Buff softbox strobe. We didn’t have time to futz around with lighting. There was also house lighting for ambient fill. The session was about 2.5 hours and cost a total of just under $400, including a dozen rolls of 2.25 color transparency film. I set up the shots, and Hubert came along behind me to shoot them while I set up the next shot.

Linksys courts Linux hackers with WRT54G”L”
Linux Devices :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

The Linux flavor of the WRT54G is still in production, despite newer VxWorks-based version: Good news for the community of hackers, developers, and experimenters who rely on the Linksys WRT54G to power their projects: while the product sold under this model number will no longer use the Linux operating system as its basis, Linksys has created an offshoot model that will continue down the Linux path under the name WRT54GL.

http://www.designtalkboard.com/design-reviews.php
Design Talk Board :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

Adobe Photoshop has become the image editor of choice for graphics professionals. Few designers would argue that its position as the primary bitmap editing tool is rightly at the top of the pile. But this does not mean that there are no other choices for designers who can’t, or don’t want to, use Photoshop.

http://www.designtalkboard.com/design-news/apple-mouse.php
Design Talk Board :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

After years of sticking with the one button mouse, Apple has finally announced the release of its own branded multi-button mouse. Apple claim that the mouse was designed specifically to work with their new operating system, OS X 10.4 Tiger.

Olympus Stylus 800/mju Digital 800
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Olympus has today announced the first 8 million pixel camera in the Stylus range (mju Digital). The Stylus 800, which is available in silver or dark blue, remains weatherproof like its predecessors and now offers new Bright Capture technology, which optimises the camera’s setting in certain scene modes and brightens the image in the 2.5-inch LCD in low light for easier composition. It also boasts a built-in Guide Function, which shows the recommended use of various functions on the LCD. Other features include 19 scene modes, a 3x optical zoom, 3cm macro mode and 4 fps continuous shooting. It will be available in July for an estimated street price of £350.

Olympus E-500 EVOLT Review
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Our full in-depth review of the new Olympus E-500 EVOLT digital SLR. Announced just three weeks ago the E-500 is Olympus’s latest Four Thirds system digital SLR, unlike the E-300 it has a more traditional top mounted pentaprism viewfinder and body design. The E-500 is the lightest digital SLR on the market yet has a robust feel and comfortable grip, it also offers a wide range of manual controls and custom features. The E-500’s eight megapixel Kodak CCD is essentially the same as that found in the E-300 but Olympus has made some improvements to noise reduction. Come in to see how the E-500 performed and how it compares to the competition.

Olympus FE-100 and FE-110
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

check it outIf you’re looking for something simple and easy to use then consider Olympus’s new additions to the FE range. The five megapixel FE-110 and the four megapixel FE-100 are ‘ideal starter cameras’ and each button delivers one function and doesn’t open up a whole host of menu options to confuse the uninitiated. They also feature the obligatory movie mode, macro function and have a 1.5-inch LCD screen. The Olympus FE-100 is priced around $149.99 (£120) and will be available in September and the FE-110 is priced around $199.99 (£150) and will be available in October.

Olympus E-500 (EVOLT)
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
Olympus has today announced a new Four Thirds System digital SLR, the E-500 (to be know in North America as the ‘Olympus EVOLT E-500’). The E-500 has a much more traditional SLR appearance than the E-300, it features the same eight megapixel 4/3 size CCD but has a range of improvements and new features including a new metering sensor, new high ISO noise filter, a 2.5″ LCD monitor and better control system. From a features and flexibility point of view the E-500 is clearly a step above the competition. Better news still is that the E-500 appears to breaks new ground in terms of value, the E-500 + 14-45 mm lens kit has an estimated street price of just US$799.

Pentax DA Fish-Eye 10-17mm lens
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Pentax has announced its first DA Fish-Eye ED IF lens. The optic has a focal length of 10-17mm and aperture of F3.5-4.5. The lens is designed exclusively for use with the Pentax *ist D series and will capture fish-eye imagery with a 180 degree angle of view. The image circle of the lens will match the image recording area (23.5mm x 15.7mm) of the *ist D series to ensure precise optical performance ideally suited to the camera’s digital imaging characteristics. The lens will ship in January 2006 for around $579.95

Olympus Zuiko Digital Fish Eye lens
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Olympus has announced a new 8mm F 3.5 Zuiko Digital fisheye lens for its E-system digital SLRs offering a 180 degree angle of view. The lens has a special multi-layer coating designed to reduce susceptibility to ghosting and flaring and its ED element will help keep chromatic aberration to a minimum. It also offers 2 cm macro mode. The optional PPO-EO4 underwater lens port will allow you to take ultra-wideangle pictures 40 meters under the water’s surface. It will be available in January 2006 at a price yet to be set.

Olympus Stylus 600
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
Olympus has today announced the six megapixel Stylus 600 with BrightCapture technology, which enables photographers to frame live pictures more easily in low light conditions as the monitor offers three times the contrast of normal LCDs. The Stylus 600 is one of Olympus’s weatherproof models and is available in range of colors to match your outfit – navy blue, ruby red or arctic silver. It also boasts a real time histogram plus special editing functions such as red-eye-fix, adjust brightness and insert frame and/or title. The Stylus 600 will be available from late September at a price around $299.99 (£220).

Olympus Camedia D-435 / C-180
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Olympus has today announced the five megapixel Camedia D-435 (C-180). Aimed at first time digital camera users, the fixed lens D-435 has a built-in Help Guide that provides a brief description of each function and shooting mode. Despite only having a 1.5-inch LCD, Olympus has decided against the inclusion of an optical viewfinder and has, rather bizarrely, positioned the on/off switch on the front of the camera. It will be available in August priced US$169.99 (approx. €135.52).

Olympus to cut camera production costs
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
Olympus is to cut production for digital camera costs by 30% due to fierce competition, reports Bloomberg. The news follows earlier announcements that Olympus, the world’s fourth largest camera manufacturer, is to cut 4,000 jobs, 13% of its global workforce. The long term aim is to recover some profit after Olympus reported its first ever annual loss last month. The job cuts will save the company around ¥3 bn. Bloomberg says Olympus expects shipments of digital cameras to rise from 8.9m to 9.5m this year with the release of two SLRs aimed at pros and serious amateurs.

Olympus SP-350 & SP-310
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
Olympus has added two more cameras to go with the SP-500 ultra-zoom model; the SP-350 and SP-310. The near identical cameras offer 8.0 and 7.1 million pixels respectively, full manual control, 2.5-inch LCD (and viewfinder) plus RAW image capture. The black-bodied SP-350 offers slightly different sensitivity to the SP-310 and additionally has a hotshoe for attaching an external flash. A histogram is available in shooting and playback modes on both models. The SP-350 and SP-310 will be available in October priced $399.99 (£310) (SP-350) and $349.99 (£270).

Pentax *istDS firmware v2.00
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Pentax has announced a firmware update for its DSLR, the *istDS. Version 2.00 incorporates many new changes including AF mode which has been added to Rec. mode, and auto sensitivity is now available in the ISO menu. There is now also an AE-L button on M in the custom menu. The firmware allows you to select the strength of the digital filters and adds Dutch and Swedish to the language options. For a full list of changes see the next page.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0508/05082908oly_sp500uz.asp
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
Olympus has today announced a new range in its lineup with the six megapixel, 10x zoom SP-500 Ultra-Zoom. The solid looking camera offers full manual control as well as RAW capture, an electronic viewfinder, 21 scene modes and 143-area AF. It also borrows the predictive AF function found on the C-7070 WZ, which predicts the location of a moving subject at the moment the shutter closes. It also boasts a 2.5-inch LCD and 3cm macro mode. The SP-500 Ultra-Zoom will be available from October priced $399.99 (£300).

Olympus profit falls 62%
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
Olympus has reported a 62% drop in profits in the first quarter compared to the same period last year, reports the PMA daily news. In the period April-June 2004, the Japanese company made a net profit of ¥1.06 billion ($9.5 m) compared to ¥403 million ($3.6 m) in the fiscal first quarter of this year. Despite disappointing figures the company still hopes to make a net profit of ¥23 billion ($206 m) in the year to March following its first ever consolidated net loss of ¥11.8 billion ($105 m) in 2004-2005.

Olympus Evolt E-300 underwater housing
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Olympus has announced an underwater housing for the Evolt E-300. The PT-E01 Underwater Case will protect the eight megapixel D-SLR down to a depth of 60 meters. There are also three underwater lens ports available which are compatible with four Zuiko Digital lenses as well as the PFL-E01, an underwater case for use with the FL-36 external flash unit. All underwater housings will be available in June.

Olympus service advisory
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
Olympus has now announced that the C-5050 Zoom and the C-730 Ultra Zoom are affected by defective CCDs, which have been plaguing several other manufacturers. The press release, from Olympus’s Japanese website, says that pictures may have a purple and gray color and that Olympus will repair the cameras affected from 13 October (C-5050 Zoom) and the middle of November (C-730 Ultra Zoom). For information regarding repairs outside of Japan, please contact Olympus support in your country.

Olympus C-315 Zoom
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Olympus has announced the successor to the TIPA-winning C-310, which was only announced at PMA in February. The Olympus C-315 Zoom boasts a higher resolution at 5.1 megapixel but a slightly shorter 2.8x zoom. Looks-wise the C-315 is practically the same; 1.8-inch LCD and basic controls. Like its predecessor it’s aimed at the ‘ambitious’ beginners. It will be available at the end of July.

Olympus ME-1 Eyecup Magnifier
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Olympus has announced a new accessory for the Four Thirds digital SLR, the E-500, in the shape of the ME-1 Eyecup Magnifier. The device increases the performance of the camera’s viewfinder by 1.2 times and is said to enable easier focusing and framing. The eyecup has two lenses and measures 40x30x12mm. It is available next month at a price yet to be confirmed and will also fit the E-300.

Olympus SP-700
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
Olympus has today announced a 6.0 megapixel addition to its new SP series of cameras. The SP-700 squeezes all the controls on the back of the camera to one side to make way for a huge 3-inch LCD, the biggest yet on an Olympus camera. The company is hoping the ‘design-led’ SP-700 will be the camera to be seen with. The SP-700 has a special guide function for beginners, which explains the different menu options and scene modes and will be available in time for Christmas 2005.

Olympus FE-120
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Olympus has announced a third camera into the FE range. The FE-120 is a six megapixel beginner camera that is easy to use and offer 16 scene modes, a 1.8-inch LCD screen, 2 cm macro mode for super close ups and movie function. Images are recorded on to Olympus’s proprietary xD-Picure Card and powered by two AA batteries. The Olympus FE-120 will be priced $249.99 (€203).

Olympus to reduce digital compact production
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
Olympus plans to reduce production of compact digital cameras in favor of digital SLRs in a bid to boost profitability, reports Reuters. The Tokyo-based company is simply responding to a fast-growing DSLR market which offers higher profit margins. Sales of compact cameras currently account for around 72% (2004), and the company aims to cut this to 40% in five years’ time. Olympus hope that DSLRs will make up 30% of its sales in five years, up from 3% last year.

Canon PowerShot A620 Review
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
Just posted! The seven megapixel Canon PowerShot A620 (along with the 5MP A610, launched simultaneously) replaces the popular A95, and joins the A520 as an affordable, well-specified compact for the enthusiast user on a budget. The A620 certainly looks promising on paper; newly kitted out with the fast DIGIC II processor and a 2.0-inch LCD, it has a wealth of shooting options and 4x optical zoom. Read the concise review after the link to find out what we thought

Sony DSC-R1 firmware update
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Sony has today announced a firmware update for the recently introduced DSC-R1 digital camera. This update appears to correct for hot pixel artifacts at certain exposures. This update is intended for application to a range of cameras as designated by their serial number (details inside). There is no other information about any other fixes included in this update

Olympus SP-310 review
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

At the end of August 2005 Olympus added the 7 megapixel SP-310 to its ‘SP’ range of ‘creative compacts’. The SP-310 – on paper at least – offers a compelling mix of point-and-shoot ease of use and advanced photographic features – including RAW capture – at a very competitive price point. But is it any good? Read the concise review after the link to find out.

Three new Olympus Four Thirds System lenses
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

In addition to its announcement of the new E-500 digital SLR Olympus has also today revealed three new lenses. The ED 17.5 – 45 mm F3.5 – F5.6 (35 – 90 mm equiv. FOV, 2.6x) and 18 – 180 mm F3.5 – F6.3 (36 – 360 mm equiv. FOV, 10x) will be included in the two different E-500 kits. Also announced today is the 35 mm F3.5 Macro lense (70 mm equiv. FOV).

Olympus posts E-300 firmware v1.3
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

check it outOlympus has today posted firmware version 1.3 for the FourThirds DSLR the E-300. The update provideds enhanced exposure metering stability, adds a button timer, two new underwater scene programmes and changes the start-up process for future lenses.

Olympus Stylus Verve review
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
The Olympus Stylus Verve Digital (also known as the Mju mini) is an affordable compact 2x zoom, four megaxpixel camera with unique styling and a ‘weatherproof’ exterior that’s available in six colors. Find out how it did in our concise review.

logitech G7 Laser gaming mouse review
Driver Heaven :: Thursday, December 01, 2005
It’s one thing to build a mouse and keyboard meant for browsing the Internet or sending e-mail back and forth; it?s quite another to build peripherals that can withstand the rigors of competitive PC gaming. At the QuakeCon 2005 show, Logitech unveiled the first of its much-anticipated G-series family of extreme-performance peripherals for PC gamers: the Logitech® G7 Laser Cordless Mouse, the Logitech® G5 Laser Mouse and the Logitech® G15 keyboard. Logitech worked closely with the professional gaming community to identify key product features and technologies that allow gamers to administer performance tuning based on their individual preferences, and deliver unprecedented levels of pixel precision and blazing speed. The cordless G7 and corded G5 mice each feature precision laser tracking, resolution up to 2000 dpi, full-speed USB data transfer, and fast 6.4 megapixels of image processing per second

Logitech G7 Laser Mouse review @ DH
Driver Heaven :: Thursday, December 01, 2005

“It’s one thing to build a mouse and keyboard meant for browsing the Internet or sending e-mail back and forth; it’s quite another to build peripherals that can withstand the rigors of competitive PC gaming. At the QuakeCon 2005 show, Logitech unveiled the first of its much-anticipated G-series family of extreme-performance peripherals for PC gamers: the Logitech? G7 Laser Cordless Mouse…”

PowerColor Radeon X800 GTO 16
SystemCooling :: Saturday, December 31, 2005
snip: The world of video cards has become crowded indeed. In days past, a user looking at a given brand of video card would have three, perhaps four models to choose from, each clearly delineated in terms of price and performance. In case you hadn’t noticed, those days are over. For example, ATI now has at least two dozen separate model numbers to choose from, and by the time you factor in all the possible permutations of each model, such as amount of memory, all-in wonder or not, etc., it’s easy for a user to get horribly confused. The situation is worst in the mid-to-high end market, where there can be literally dozens of choices that fall within a few dollars of each other. The card we’re looking at today is from Powercolor, and is designated the X800 GTO 16. The X800 GTO is based on the X800XL, with the main difference being that four of the chip’s 16 pixel pipelines have been disabled. However, the 16 in the Powercolor card’s name is an indicator that this is not an ordinary GTO. We’re going to find out exactly what this card has going for it, and if it appears to be destined for success.

ATI Radeon X1800 Crossfire
Hexus :: Saturday, December 31, 2005

If you’ve held off buying anything up to just to wait and see how it pans out just before Christmas, or you’ve already splashed out on an ATI Radeon X1800 XT or XL (I’ll come back to that later), or you simply have that car crash curiosity about high-end 3D graphics right now, today’s article will have your interest.

The reason is the release of ATI Radeon X1800 XT Crossfire master boards to market. Radeon X1800 XT Crossfire was always on the cards, bringing the SuperAA and performance acceleration enhancements to that product, but the big question is have the downsides of the first generation of Crossfire been eliminated? Doth It Suck™ as much as it did with X850?

NVIDIA AYiR 2005 @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Saturday, December 31, 2005
Summary: “In continuation of our previous piece entitled ATI AYiR 2005 (A Year in Review), where we looked at ATI’s features implemented this year into their drivers as well as thoroughly examining the frame-rate performance, today we have turned the tables yet again and today are taking another look at NVIDIA’s gains this year…”

Dolby Digital on the Fly from your PC with the X-Mystique 7.1 Gold @ HTPCnews.com
HTPCnews :: Saturday, December 31, 2005
“For those of you who have been hiding under a rock the X-Mystique was the first add-in sound card to have Dolby Digital Live (DDL) technology. This is exciting for HTPC users as it allows any system with an open PCI slot to gain what was previously only possible with the aging NVIDIA nForce 2 chipset or as an optional feature on select Intel chipset based motherboards.”

ATI Avivo Winter 2005 Update
Hexus :: Saturday, December 31, 2005

ATI recently released a range of top-to-bottom graphics products with what they call Avivo technology. Avivo is responsible for making 3D and video pixels look good on your display. Trouble is, some of it wasn’t working.

NMediaPC HTPC 200B Case Review @ MODTHEBOX.COM
MODTHEBOX! :: Thursday, December 29, 2005

“This case is remarkably accomplished when it comes to front panel connections since the lower flip down door conceals 2 USB ports, MIC/Headphone ports, 1 x Firewire IEEE1394 port, a 9n1 multi-card reader which includes most modern formats enabling easy access to digital camera pics, and the reset button. If desired, your video card outputs can be re-routed to the front panel as well, using an included circuit board and beefy cable.”

NVIDIA 6800GS 256MB
techPowerUp! :: Thursday, December 29, 2005
NVIDIA is successfully filling all the gaps on today’s market, offering solutions for both the masses as well as the few “exclusive” people. The 6800GS is NVIDIA’s latest product and is aimed at people looking for a compromise between performance and money. Unlike the 6800 Ultra, which is no longer manufactured, the card has only 12 pipelines, but the GPU clock has been bumped up by 25 MHz.

What is High Definition Audio
Hardware Secrets :: Thursday, December 29, 2005
Everything you need to know about High Definition Audio, a high-quality audio standard present on Intel PCI Express chipsets.

“High Definition Audio, also known as HD Audio or by its codename, Azalia, is an audio standard created by Intel to be used on their chipsets, i.e. it is a standard for high-quality on-board audio. In this tutorial we will explain more about this feature.”

ATI: Say Bye-Bye to Paper Launches, Hopefully @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Thursday, December 29, 2005

“Ah, back to the seemingly age old topic. If it wasn’t for ATI, I doubt we would be talking about this stagnant, yet important, topic anymore. The fact of the matter is people, including the editors and readers, are tired of repeating ourselves and demanding (our requests clearly did nothing) products right when they are launched.”

ATI All in Wonder Radeon X1800XL Multimedia PCI Express Videocard Review @ Tweaknews.net
Tweaknews :: Thursday, December 29, 2005
“This card like all its older predecessors is just another notch in the corner post in the multimedia videocard market where ATI is still dominating with a product that gives any weak competition the “who’s your daddy” as soon as they enter the room.”

How to Connect 5.1 Speakers to Your PC
Hardware Secrets :: Thursday, December 29, 2005
“So you want to enjoy all audio experience your PC can provide? Installing a 6-channel surround speakers system is the way to go: playing games and watching videos will never be the same again. In this tutorial we will show you a step-by-step guide on how to connect analog 5.1 speakers to your PC.”

Icemat Siberia Multi Headset Review
PC Mechanic :: Thursday, December 29, 2005
Icemat also has a Black Siberia USB Soundcard, which can be used in place of onboard sound or a PCI soundcard. My ears are very tough to please, so through the course of the review, we’ll see how the sound quality of all these components compares and holds up.

ATI AYiR 2005
Phoronix :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Summary: “As 2005 comes to an end, both NVIDIA and ATI have both fought a competitive battle not only when it comes to their hardware lineup but also display drivers for alternative operating systems. When discussing this subject matter, GNU/Linux users have been quick to criticize ATI Technologies whether it is due to poor installation support, distribution compatibility, rudimentary control panel, or simply the performance level of its drivers. On the contrary, even though NVIDIA had unveiled its GeForce 7 series, 2005 has not been the best year for the green developers…”

Chaintech GeForce 6800GS 256MB DDR3 SLI @ Techniz
Techniz.co.uk :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005

“The Chaintech GeForce 6800GS 256MB DDR3 PCI-Express graphic card is great mid range graphic card. The performance of this Chaintech GeForce 6800 256MB PCI-Express graphic card is very good during our testing in various benchmark and games. For the overclocking results from this Chaintech GeForce 6800GS 256MB DDR3 PCI-Express graphic card is very good as well. There was an increment of 93MHz for the core and 300MHz for the memory that brings up from the default at 425/1000MHz to 518/1300MHz…”

Sapphire Theatrix 550 Pro TV Tuner Review @ AMD Review
AMD Review :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Today’s Review is on Sapphire’s popular Theatrix 550 Pro TV tuner. Sapphire Technologies is a well known ATI partner and today we will be looking at Sapphire’s Theatrix 550 Pro TV Tuner. Like the product name begins to explain, this TV tuner employs ATI’s Theater 550 Pro chipset. Read the review to see how this TV tuner performed.

GeCube Radeon X1800XT Graphics Card
TweakTown :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005
“We haven’t seen anything from GeCube around the labs in a while but now that a new card has made its way to our door step, we are glad to find that it’s a brand spanking new X1800XT. As we’re in the holiday season, we have to say… “Hang on, I deserve something for myself…” We don’t doubt that the X1800XT is going to make its way on to a lot of wish lists and the question is which one is right for you.”

ASUS Extreme N7800GT Dual Graphics Card Review @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005

“NVIDIA’s SLI is “passé”, as we are now moving towards quad-GPUs with the future looking dramatically exciting. What ASUS and others have been trying to do is integrate two GPUs on a single card, and thus far, ASUS seems to be the king of the hill with this concept.”

Blu-Ray and HD DVD Standards are Doomed? @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Wednesday, December 28, 2005
“The debate over HD DVD and Blu-Ray has stretched on for so long that people have almost given up on it and tend to ignore any updated news, since the standards war has become a political campaign than a rationally selected process by supporting partners.”

ATI All-In-Wonder 2006 PCI Express @ Viperlair
ViperLair :: Monday, December 26, 2005
“The All-In-Wonder 2006 PCI Express won’t break any records in gaming benchmarks, but it’s a much stronger performer than its previous generation brother. It does have an edge in several ways though, mainly with the much improved multimedia features. As far as the competition goes, nobody offers a similar product, so if you’re looking for a do-it-all product without breaking the bank, it’s hard to go wrong with the All-In-Wonder 2006 PCI Express.”

ATI X1800XL Video Card Overclocking Guide @ Legit Reviews
Legit Reviews :: Monday, December 26, 2005
“So, with a little bit of time we’ve been able to extract equal performance from our less expensive card. Our 624/700 settings were stable for all of the gaming sessions we put it through and no artifacts were present. If after gaming you want to return your card to normal you can simply go back to stock settings by…”

Bluetake BT400 G5 Bluetooth Headset Review
Futurelooks :: Monday, December 26, 2005
When you see people walking around the grocery store with no wires coming out of their ears, chances are, they are using a Bluetooth headset with their wireless phone. We made DJ Jaspa go talk to himself to see how the BLUETAKE BT400 G5 Bluetooth Headset worked in the real world.

ATI Radeon X1800 Crossfire @ Beyond3D
Beyond3D :: Thursday, December 22, 2005
ATI’s first attempt at the Crossfire platform was a somewhat abortive. The dual graphics solution was beset with delays which, upon its eventual testing, only lent to further highlight it shortcomings, such as being based on a Shader Model 2 platform (when their Shader Model 3.0 solution where expected to be just around the corner) and having a resolution limit of 1600×1200 @ 60Hz. The reality of the launch of the initial Crossfire solution, although it was missed by many, was not really about the graphics solutions, but the platform. However, despite the issues one thing did come out of it – the performance gains for Crossfire were tangible.

Now that ATI have fully released the X1000 series they are taking a second stab at the dual graphics Crossfire solution, with the aim to resolving some of the previous implementation’s issues. With the X1000 series ATI are taking a dual pronged approach; at the high end they are maintaining the specialised “master card” solution that can be mated with an existing board, while at the lower segments they are relying on two standard boards with inter-board communication occurring via the PCI Express interface with the host platform.”

SilverStone PP02 Acoustic Cover
Phoronix :: Thursday, December 22, 2005
Summary: “When one seeks to quiet their computer system while retaining from eliminating any of their cooling components they often turn to noise dampening products for their fans as well as turning down the fan speed. One of the areas often overlooked by enthusiasts is the noise emitted from the power supply. With us for this review, we have the SilverStone PP02 Power Supply Acoustic Cover, which is a simple yet unconventional product for silencing your system.”

Samsung A900 Cell Phone @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Thursday, December 22, 2005
“Good-bye Motorola, welcome Samsung! That appears to be the bold statement Samsung is making with its newly released, Motorola RAZR competitor, A900. Samsung’s A900, also codenamed Blade, is a direct hit at Motorola’s year old RAZR, still a hot seller and the world’s thinnest phone in the market.”

Show us your HTPC Mod!
TweakTown :: Thursday, December 22, 2005
QUOTE: “The theme of the giveaway is Home Theater PC’s (HTPC). We want to see some of the wildest and most crazy mods that you yourself have done to HTPC’s. We’re talking old VCR machines turned into a complete entertainment PC, a sub woofer transformed into a PC or something else totally bizarre that we’ve never seen before.”

PowerColor X800 GTO 16 @ Bjorn3D
Bjorn3D :: Thursday, December 22, 2005
The card I’m displaying off today is last years generation based on ATi’s RADEON X800 XL (R430) — both core and design wise. The price you have to pay however is not $599. It’s not even $399, $299 or $199. You can get a rebranded X800 XL for as low as $179. So you’re scratching your head and thinking where is the catch?

What is Blu-ray Disc? @ Bona Fide Reviews
Bona Fide Reviews :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005

“Blu-ray, also known as Blu-ray Disc (BD), is the name of a next-generation optical disc format designed to enable recording, rewriting and playback of high-definition video (HD). High-definition video is the industry’s next highly sought after technology which brings much better picture resolution and clarity into the homes of consumers. However, with the advent of HD video there is a need for bigger and better optical storage solutions due to the fact that today’s DVD simply doesn’t have enough space for HD video. It might be hard for one to imagine that 4.7GB (the amount a single-layer DVD can hold) wouldn’t be more than enough for any purpose but Moore’s law has once again reared its head.”

Sapphire Radeon X800 CrossFire Edition with Pure CrossFire Advantage
Hardware Zoom :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Quote – Sapphire Technologies, being ATI’s largest and best performing partner, has the most complete range of ATI based VGA card distributed worldwide. Recently, Sapphire produces mainboards based on ATI newest IGP chipset technology, the flag-ship model is also CrossFire ready for pairing up with Sapphire’s X800 CrossFire Edition and any CrossFire ready VGA cards. Taking Advantage of Dual VPU Power with the Sapphire CrossFire Advantage, read on to find out more!

ATI X1000 (X1K) Series Video Card Roundup @ Legit Reviews
Legit Reviews :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005
“The entry level X1300 Pro proved itself to be a very good videocard for less than $150. When you consider the hardware requirements for Microsoft’s upcoming Windows Vista operating system going with a non-integrated graphics solution is mandatory in my book. It is also nice of ATI to allow the X1300’s be run in Crossfire mode (two cards at once) without a master card. This gives entry level consumers the option of adding in another card and having plug-in-play Crossfire performance without the need of dongles…..”

Sapphire X1800XT Performance Edition Review at CaseModGod.com
Case Mod God :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005
check it out Summary: Sapphire burst into the high end graphics arena with both barrells blazing with their X1800XT “Performance Edition”. This card delivers 512mb of GDDR3 Memory running at 1.5Ghz, and the powerful R520 core clocked at 700Mhz. This 2 slot high end PCI-E graphics card utilizes Shader Model3.0, HDR, and adaptive AA, allowing you to have unparralled Image Quality along side High Performance.

Gigabyte Geforce 6600 AGP GV-N66256DP
HTPCnews :: Tuesday, December 20, 2005
NVIDIA’s GeForce 6600 graphics cards have become an instant hit with HTPC users everywhere, their output options are second to none: offering DVI (compatible with HDTV sets), VGA, Component (Y/Pb/Pr), S-video, and composite video. NVIDIA was the first to offer robust overscan compensation support when using DVI. The output options combined with the excellent PureVideo video processing capabilities makes a GeForce 6600 a perfect option for an HTPC.

Blu-ray Disc considered “The New Higher Definition Format”
Designtechnica :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005
“At Twentieth Century Fox Studios on November 29, the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) gave an update on their blue laser technology. BDA felt that it was time to highlight its progress in bringing “the new high definition format” to market. Andy Parson, Senior Vice President of Advanced Product Development for Pioneer Electronics, opened the meeting by giving an overview of the state of Blu-ray development.

Mr. Parsons noted, “There’s no format war looming because it’s not Blu-ray vs. HD DVD.”

Apparently, 90 percent of the CE industry and seven movie studios now back Blu-ray Disc. And most of the IT industry (except Microsoft) also supports Blu-ray Disc.

Samsung SyncMaster 910MP Multifunction LCD Monitor Review @ The TechZone
The Tech Zone :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005

The Samsung SyncMaster 910MP is a multifunction 19″ LCD panel. This display combines such features as a TV Tuner, IR Remote, Secondary Inputs, and HDTV compatibility. All these features are crammed into a monitor that has a 8ms pixel response time, providing for excellent desktop PC and gaming performance. This is a great added bonus, as many multifunction LCD panels are still living in the days of 25 – 30 ms pixel response times.

NVIDIA Product Roadmap Update @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Wednesday, December 14, 2005
“Late last week, we had two exclusive insider reports in regards to NVIDIA’s upcoming product strategies. These included the company’s decision to phase out its 7800GTX 512MB early next year and launching the 7800GS in AGP flavor to cover the missing market.”

News: ATI’s Radeon X1800 CrossFire Edition graphics card
The Tech Report :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005
If you’re longing to see a $1200 Radeon graphics subsystem under the Christmas three this year, you will need a Radeon X1800 CrossFire Edition graphics card. This magical device will allow you to sync up with a regular Radeon X1800 XT or XL graphics card for nearly double the rendering power of a single card. This new CrossFire card also sweeps away some of the limitations of the first-generation CrossFire hardware introduced just a couple of months ago, allowing mega-high-res gaming, among other things.

Now, we know the Radeon X1800 XT isn’t quite as bone-jarringly fast as NVIDIA’s new GeForce 7800 GTX 512, but it’s still a fire-breathing monster. Running two X1800 XTs together in CrossFire is a good way to strain your neck, singe your hair, or at least develop a very serious addiction to F.E.A.R.—but we’re willing to take that chance for you, our loyal readers. Keep reading to see how ATI puts on a Christmas light show, Radeon style.

SilverStone SG01 Sugo SFF Case Review
MODTHEBOX! :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005

“For comparison, I placed the SG01 Sugo SFF Case next to Antec’s popular Aria mATX Cube Case. Immediately you can see the size difference between two models where the SG01 is much taller and longer length wise. While the size difference may shock a few people and form a few opinions that the SG01 cannot be considered a true SFF, SilverStone has done this for a specific reason. The SG01 is considered a true DIY case where the consumer can design and implement computer parts of their own choosing. While most SFF cases are restricted to PSU units rated under 300 watts, the SG01 allows you to use a full size ATX power supply to meet the demands of power hungry components.”

eVGA e-GeForce 7800GT CO 256MB @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Summary: “Two months ago we took a look at eVGA’s e-GeForce 6800GT 256MB PCI Express part, and now with last week’s release of the NVIDIA 1.0-8174 display drivers, our focus of attention today is on their new 7800GT CO 256MB part. Battling up against the eVGA 7800GT in this review is the 7800GTX, GeForce 6 SLI, and the previously reviewed 6800GT. In this article, we even managed to run the 7800GT at 470/1260MHz speeds before falling prey to a handicap!”

ATI All-in-Wonder X1800XL 256MB PCIE Video Card Review #625
3dgameman :: Sunday, December 11, 2005

“With the ATI R520 core this is clearly a gamer’s card. Performance in the latest games is fantastic; however, this card has more capabilities. It also has a TV/FM tuner, & much more. It’s a complete multimedia weapon & perfectly suited for a HD HTPC setup. No other Video Card on the market can do what this product can. It’s wish list material! Watch the Video to find out more…” ~3dGameMan.com

NVIDIA 7800GS AGP Might Launch Soon @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Sunday, December 11, 2005
“Recent leak of a 7800GS card was covered up by saying these were engineering samples for internal circulation. Now think about this for just one second. Does it make sense for a company to go around making redundant products just for the heck of it? Just to help developers test on it? Developers won’t want to test on anything that will never see the light of the day.”

NVIDIA to Phase out 7800GTX 512MB in February @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Sunday, December 11, 2005
“Well, we’ve been hearing rumors about this for a while, but we finally heard it from the horse’s mouth not too long ago. Recent conversations with insiders at NVIDIA have led us to believe that their top of the line card, the 7800GTX 512MB will be out of production sometime in Q1 next year, most likely somewhere around February ‘06.”

NVIDIA 6800GS Graphics Card @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Sunday, December 11, 2005
“With the 6800s dwindling away in the market, there was a huge gap in NVIDIA’s product portfolio, which catered to the enthusiasts. ATI, however, had the X1600XT catering to the very market that NVIDIA was nowhere close to; therefore, NVIDIA could not leave the hole unplugged for long.”

Gigabyte Geforce 6600 GT Silent-Pipe II GV-NX66T256DE @ InsaneTek
InsaneTek :: Sunday, December 11, 2005
“Although applied to only a mid-ranged video card, Gigabyte’s implementation of their new Silent-Pipe II is excellent. The overclocking results do not seem to be held back in any way!”

LG LRM-519 Digital Media Recorder Preview
Designtechnica :: Thursday, December 08, 2005
“Tivo, the most well known name in digital video recorders (DVR), has some new competition from computer giant Microsoft and consumer electronics company LG Electronics. The two recently teamed to announce the LG LRM-519 Digital Media Recorder, a DVR/DVD-recorder hybrid product which gets its television guide information from a special pay-for Microsoft service.

The LRM-519 looks much like any other consumer electronics product designed to fit into your home entertainment setup, measuring 16.9″ x 2.3″ x 11.8″, weighing 11.2 pounds and sporting a blue fluorescent display. It has a variety of outputs and inputs on the back panel, including RF, digital audio, composite video, component video, standard audio, s-video, telephone, Ethernet, USB, IR controller and serial controller. It comes with a universal remote control and various cables.”

Mobile GPU Comparison Guide Rev. 4.3 Posted!
Tech ARP :: Thursday, December 08, 2005

Quote – “These days, there are so many mobile GPU models that it has become quite impossible to keep up with the different configurations. Therefore, we decided to compile this guide to provide an easy reference for those who are interested in comparing the specifications of the various mobile GPUs in the market as well as those already obsolescent or obsolete.

Currently covering over 40 mobile GPUs, this comprehensive comparison will allow you to easily compare 14 different specifications for each and every GPU! We hope it will prove to be a useful reference. We will keep this guide updated regularly so do check back for the latest updates!

MSI NX7800GTX-VT2D512E 512MB-version 7800GTX Videocard Review
PCStats :: Thursday, December 08, 2005

“The GeForce 7800GTX 512MB versions are here, and you’d better believe that 35 FPS from a single videocard in FEAR with 4x AA and 16x AF enabled, at 1600×1200, is a breeze with one of these bad boys! All this performance packed into a videocard that takes up an extra PCI slot, but is also quieter than the original GeForce 7800GTX’s. Shocking performance capabilities, and shockingly quiet at that. MSI Computer is once such vendor with a 512MB version Geforce 7800GTX videocard out in time for X-mas, and it has put together a good package that includes a full copy of the game “Colin Mcrae Rally 2005.” Luckily for you, PCSTATS has managed to bring this monster 512MB card into the labs so you can see first hand what to expect!”

Samsung HP-R4252 42 Inch Plasma TV Review @ Tweaknews.net
Tweaknews :: Thursday, December 08, 2005

Article Snippet:

“Take it from me, there is nothing like watching a guest come into your living room and dropping their jaw on the floor when their eyes first rest on a huge 42 inch TV. The usual words are “Wow! Nice TV!” or “Where did that come from?!”. Plasma TVs are a thing of beauty and if you are in the market for a new TV soon and considering a large plasma for your next purchase, you owe yourself the time to stick around and allow me to give you a quick walk-through of the HP-R4252 and what it has to offer.”

Albatron K8SLI Motherboard Review
MODTHEBOX! :: Thursday, December 08, 2005

“Based upon the NVIDIA nForce4 chipset, the Albatron K8SLI Motherboard supports all flavours of Socket 939 AMD processors including AMD Athlon 64 FX, Athlon 64 and Sempron. The feature set for the K8SLI is good and includes support for Dual Channel DDR 400 Memory, Serial ATA RAID, 6-channel audio with S/PDIF, Gigabit LAN and USB 2.0 support. Surprisingly, no support for Firewire IEEE1394 is included with this package.”

ASUS EAX1800XL 256MB & HIS Excalibur X1800 XL 256MB PCIe graphics cards
Hexus :: Thursday, December 08, 2005
ATI’s Radeon X1800 XL GPU has enough going for it to be worthy of recommendation in the <£300 pricing bracket. ASUS and HIS take reference cards and dress them up in retail packages in their own way, with ASUS preferring a larger bundle and higher asking price, whilst HIS opts for a basic software selection and lower outlay. You pays your money and makes your choice. Here, though, there isn’t a bad one to be made.

HP F2105 21-inch LCD Monitor
Designtechnica :: Thursday, December 08, 2005
“HP breaks the mold with their new F2105 21-in. widescreen LCD monitor. This unique LCD looks like it belongs in outer space with its curved base and metallic design. While it looks like the F2105 should belong in your family room, don’t let its appearances fool you; this is strictly a PC monitor. Priced at around $700, the F2105 has quickly earned its way to one of our favorite monitors.”

NVIDIA 6800GS Graphics Card @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Thursday, December 08, 2005
“With the 6800s dwindling away in the market, there was a huge gap in NVIDIA’s product portfolio, which catered to the enthusiasts. ATI, however, had the X1600XT catering to the very market that NVIDIA was nowhere close to; therefore, NVIDIA could not leave the hole unplugged for long.”

Leadtek GeForce 6200 TurboCache 16 MB 32-bit Review
Hardware Secrets :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005
“GeForce 6200 TurboCache is the latest entry-level graphics chip family from nVidia for the PCI Express bus, competing directly with Radeon X300 SE HyperMemory and the new Radeon X1300 families from ATI. The big problem with GeForce 6200 series is that manufacturers can use different configurations for clock, memory bus and memory size. Thus you can find on the market GeForce 6200 models with very different technical specs, but all being sold as “GeForce 6200”. This model we reviewed from Leadtek – PX6200TC TDH supporting 128 MB –, for example, uses only 16 MB of video memory and 32-bit memory bus, being by far the simplest (and cheapest) GeForce 6200 model available on the market today. Since it is labeled as GeForce 6200, many people may think that its performance is the same of a “real” GeForce 6200, which is not the case.”

NVIDIA Linux SLI @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Summary: “Thanks to the public release of the 1.0-8174 drivers earlier today, so far we have previously covered the hardware and software aspects of Linux SLI as well as an in-depth examination of the Rel80 driver performance under Linux using a GeForce 7800GTX and our standard set of gaming benchmarks. At hand now, however, is what many of you have been dieing to hear and that is the NVIDIA SLI results under Linux using the official 1.0-8174 drivers. Although there are a few buggy areas with the drivers, the SLI benefits reached as high as a 294% improvement over a single-card configuration!”

BFG Technologies GeForce 7800 GTX OC 256MB PCI Express Video Card @ BonaFideReviews
Bona Fide Reviews :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005

“With the holiday’s fast approaching and gamer’s trying to find the graphic card that is just right for them we wanted to help you out by reviewing one of the most recommended 7800GTX’s on the market. The BFG 7800GTX comes overclocked right out of the box with a core speed 30MHz and memory speed 100MHz higher than the standard speeds. The card also comes packaged in a unique bundle which includes a BFG t-shirt and teflon mouse feet to help the mouse move smoother. Backed by a lifetime warranty and 24/7 tech support, this card is definitely worth a look.”

Holiday HTPC Hardware Buyers Guide
HTPCnews :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005
“The goal of the article is to provide our readers with solid choices to get the best bang for your buck. The same basic philosophy that ALWAYS applies to building a HTPC will not be ignored either. Pleasing the wife (WAF) See Above Its really all about making a computer a seamless part of your living area. You must be able to sit down, enjoy it, and make the dang thing work with a touch of a remote without being disgusted at the site of beige box and loud fans.”

Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Guide Rev. 9.6 Posted!
Tech ARP :: Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Quote – “Covering over 240 desktop graphics cards, this comprehensive comparison allows you to easily compare 15 different specifications for each and every card! If you need to find out about the specification of any card, just come over and check out our Desktop Graphics Comparison Guide!

HDTV Buyer’s Guide @ The TechZone
The Tech Zone :: Monday, December 05, 2005
The big question last season when shopping for a new TV was whether or not to invest in a HDTV ready set. That is no longer the question for this holiday season. Prices today are comparable between standard TVs and HDTV compatible ones that it’s a no-brainer to go with a HDTV ready set. HDTV ready televisions feature many more lines of resolutions than what older TVs display can do. This results in a much sharper and more life-like picture for the viewers. HDTV’s also feature a wilder screen that promotes a more natural viewing experience. Lastly, many HDTV programs also offer multi-channel surround sound.

Leadtek GeForce 6200 128 MB 128-bit Review
Hardware Secrets :: Monday, December 05, 2005
“GeForce 6200 is the entry-level graphics chip family from nVidia for the PCI Express bus, competing directly with Radeon X300 and the new Radeon X1300 families from ATI. In this review we will compare the performance of a standard GeForce 6200 from Leadtek (model WinFast PX6200TD) with 128 MB and 128-bit memory interface with GeForce 6200 TurboCache models, competing chips from ATI and also with some mid-range chips (GeForce 6600 and GeForce 6600 GT).”

High End Audio Cable Design – Part 3 @ The TechZone
The Tech Zone :: Monday, December 05, 2005
The more commonly considered forms of noise are electric, magnetic, or the combination of both. When electric or magnetic fields are formed close to a potential receiver (i.e. the cables) they are generally considered independently. If, however, the noise is being generated far away, the two are considered together and called electromagnetic noise. The source of this type of noise is usually other electronic components or electrical devices or wiring.

Turtle Beach Montego DDL Sound Card @ Techgage
Techgage :: Monday, December 05, 2005

Quote: We all have the desire to have the cleanest sound on our computers, but like everything else, there are far too many sound cards to choose from. Turtle Beach has been known for their high quality audio products, so we are taking a look at their top of the line Montego sound card. It looks good, but how does it perform for your audio junkie?

NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT Review Posted!
Tech ARP :: Monday, December 05, 2005

Quote – “While everyone’s clamouring for the GeForce 7800 GTX and paying top dollar for it, why not consider the GeForce 7800 GT? It has all the features of the more expensive card, albeit with lower performance.

Take a look at our review of the NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT and decide if this is the card for you! ”

DivX Makes Contribution to Independent High-Definition Filmmaking
Futurelooks :: Monday, December 05, 2005
So who said High-Definition is all about Television Broadcasts? High-Defnition technology is enabling filmmakers to express themselves in more detail than ever before. We check out the impact in this mini article.check it out

MSI NX6800GT @ t-break
t-break :: Monday, December 05, 2005
“Although nVidia has cut the number of pixel pipelines from 16 to 12 and Vertex Shaders from 6 to 5, the increased efficiency in the architecture allowed them to increase the clock speed from 350MHz to 425MHz”

Hitachi PJ-TX100 LCD Projector
Home Theater Magazine :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

My, what a big eye you have.

In 2001: A Space Odyssey, we were introduced to HAL 9000—a plucky computer that likes long walks at night, organization, and things not named Dave. In 2010, we found out that we were going to need a bigger boat and that HAL had a sibling: Bob. Or it may have been Phil. It certainly wasn’t Knight Industries Two Thousand. It turns out that four years after and five years before, a middle sibling has been discovered: PJ. (Lame, I know. I’m sorry.)

InFocus 777 DLP Projector
Home Theater Magazine :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

Triple 7, triple good.

If you ask the average home theater enthusiast to sum up, in one word, the projectors from InFocus, invariably that word would be “bright.” Consistently, every InFocus projector we’ve reviewed has been “the brightest ever,” enough so that we don’t even bother to say it anymore. So, while the 777 is in fact “the brightest ever,” it also possesses something that historically hasn’t been an InFocus trait: accuracy. Intrigued? You should be.

What is graphic design?
Design Talk Board :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
Well, we’re all designers, so we should know shouldn’t we? If only life were that simple. Remember that essay, dissertation or thesis where you had pull a definition of design from somewhere? Design Talkboard has decided to see how many different definitions of the term we can find. We have chosen 5 quotes that we feel sum up what graphic design is all about. Tell us what you think about our suggestions, by voting or joining in the discussions, such as What is Graphic Design? in the design talk forums.

TiVo Merges The Internet With TV
OCModshop :: Sunday, December 04, 2005
TiVo Inc. on Thursday said it has partnered with Yahoo and others in rolling out a host of online services for subscribers of its digital video recorder, joining other companies in merging the Internet with TV. Customers with a TiVo Series 2 DVR connected to the Internet over broadband will have access to services provided by partners Fandango, a movie ticket service; Web radio network Live365, and entertainment portal Yahoo.

Altec Lansing XT1 Portable Speakers @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Quote: “With Laptops becoming cheaper, more portable, and more powerful, there have been a lot of portable products coming out. These products are becoming very popular and many major manufacturers have been coming out with great portable items. Today we are going to be taking a look at a set of portable speakers from Altec Lansing. These are no cheap portable speakers that you might find for $20 at your local PC shop. These speakers retail for $99.95 and sure pack a punch. Street price on them is a bit lower if you can find them. So let’s check out the Altec Lansing XT1 Portable Speakers!”

PowerColor X1800 XT @ Bjorn3D
Bjorn3D :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
What we have in our lab this week is a PowerColor X1800 XT video card. Starting from R300, Tul (the owner of PowerColor brand) has been ATi’s very active partner. They make top to bottom cards at a competitive price. It’s been around two-three weeks since first X1800 boards appeared on the market. Due to the lack of components, Tul got in a bit late into the game with their X1K series (especially XL which we haven’t received at the time of the launch). If you look around however, you’ll find quite a few PowerColor X1800 cards — either XT (256/512 version) or XL

PowerColor Radeon X300 SE HyperMemory 128 MB Review
Hardware Secrets :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
“Radeon X300 SE HyperMemory is an entry-level graphics chip from ATI for the PCI Express bus, competing directly with GeForce 6200 TurboCache from nVidia, even though a new model has just enterered the market, Radeon X1300 series, which should heat the battle in the entry-level VGA arena. In this review we will compare the performance of Radeon X300 SE HyperMemory with 128 MB (“256 MB”) from PowerColor with the standard Radeon X300 (not “SE” and not “HyperMemory”) and GeForce 6200 models, and also with some mid-range chips (GeForce 6600 and GeForce 6600 GT).”

Guide To Saving Videotape Memories @ The TechZone
The Tech Zone :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
The problem is consumer VHS tape isn’t be best format to use for long-term storage. Every time you play one of those tapes you wear away part of the image, you scratch the video, you destroy small portions of the memories. If you haven’t played those family celebration tapes for years you may even be in for a rude awakening. The magnetic film may have aged and the images have disappeared. The coating may mysteriously peel away or flake off when the tape is played. The memory images are suddenly…simply memories.

Has your TV room gone upscale yet?
AVS Forum :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
Erik Cleage’s home theater is a classic.

The former semiconductor industry executive modeled the $200,000 theater in his home in Silicon Valley, Calif., on the classic cinemas he attended as a student at Stanford University.

The cloth-covered walls in the 16-by-26-foot room are acoustically sharp, and the black carpet bears golden star-like flecks. On each side of the room are a pair of…

XFX GeForce 6200 TurboCache 64 MB 64-bit Review
Hardware Secrets :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
“GeForce 6200 TurboCache is the latest entry-level graphics chip from nVidia for the PCI Express bus, competing directly with Radeon X300 SE HyperMemory from ATI. In this review we will compare the performance of GeForce 6200 TurboCache with 64 MB (“256 MB”) and 64-bit interface from XFX with other GeForce 6200 models with different memory configurations and competing chips from ATI, and also with some mid-range chips (GeForce 6600 and GeForce 6600 GT).”

EVGA e-GeForce 6800 GS Review @ The TechZone
The Tech Zone :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

The main focus of today’s review is EVGA’s e-GeForce 6800 GS (P/N: 256-P2-N386-AX), based on NVIDIA’s NV42 chipset. The NV42 chipset has 12 pipelines, 5 vertex shaders, and a core/memory clock speed of 425MHz/1000MHz respectively. Thus, this essentially makes the 6800 GS an overclocked GeForce 6800 with a 30% boost in core speed and memory clock 43% higher.

HD DVD (Seems To Be) Getting Closer
AVS Forum :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
LOS ANGELES – The Blu-ray DVD group said on Tuesday it still planned to roll out a high-definition disc format in spring 2006, though members of the consortium led by Sony Corp. said they would unveil specific launch plans at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January.

“We‘re sticking with the spring time frame,” said Andy Parsons, a spokesman for Blu-ray, at a…

Logitech Z-5450 Digital 5.1 Speaker System Review @ The TechZone
The Tech Zone :: Thursday, December 01, 2005

Leave it to Logitech to once again raise the bar for computer speaker systems. The Logitech Z-5450 provides high performance sound with the innovation of wireless rear surround satellite speakers. The introduction of dual wireless rear speakers finally solves the common headache of having to run those long unsightly wires that run to your rear surround speakers. I’ve run into this problem myself and in the past it has caused me to either string cables all over the place or sacrifice a true surround experience by placing the rear surrounds closer to the front speakers.

Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music
Overclockers Online :: Thursday, December 01, 2005
Quote: While some have stated that the PC sound business has been hampered by the lack of competition, and to some extent this is likely true, Creative has raised its own bar with the launch of the X-Fi line of cards. In every area, the X-Fi Extreme Music has improved on the Audigy 2. If sound is important to you, by all means, invest in the X-Fi line. If you don’t hear the difference between an AM radio and a live performance, stick to the on-board solutions. In the end, for people like me, who use their PC for everything, I can’t really imagine a better jack-of-all-trades soundcard than the X-Fi Extreme Music.

ATI Radeon X1300 Pro Review
Hardware Secrets :: Thursday, December 01, 2005
“Radeon X1300 Pro is the fastest graphics chip inside the new low-end graphics chip family from ATI. We’ve got a reference sample for this model from ATI, so in this review we will compare its performance to other low-end graphic chips, especially Radeon X300 and GeForce 6200, and also with some mid-range chips (GeForce 6600 and GeForce 6600 GT) to see how is the performance of this new release by ATI.”

Klipsch iFi iPod Speaker System
Techwarelabs :: Thursday, December 01, 2005
The Klipsch iFi iPod music system it’s the best iPod speaker system we have ever heard. It is also the most expensive iPod speaker system we have ever heard. Does the sound quality justify the $400 price?

previous post

Gaming News December 2005

next post

OCMS News December 2005