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News Search Results for: Rar AMD Leo DirectX 11 Demo Released @ ngohq.com [Feb-01-12] (0 Comments) The Leo demo showcases a real-time DirectX 11 based lighting pipeline that is designed to allow for rendering scenes made of arbitrarily complex materials (including transparencies), multiple lighting models, and minimal restrictions on the number of lights that can be used - all while supporting hardware MSAA and efficient memory usage. Specifically, this demo uses DirectCompute to cull and manage lights in a scene. The end result is a per-pixel or per-tile list of lights that forward-render based shaders use for lighting each pixel. This technique also allows for adding one bounce global illumination effects by spawning virtual point light sources where light strikes a surface. Belkin Rebranding & In-Win Cases @ benchmarkreviews.com [Jan-12-12] (0 Comments) At CES 2012 there seems to be a common, overarching theme amongst many of the exhibitors; connecting all aspects of your life. There are Thrustmaster Ferrari F430 Force Feedback Racing Wheel @ eteknix.com [Dec-11-11] (0 Comments) There are some products that we receive that just put a smileon our face. These are usually something new like the very latestoverclocked graphics card or something that is a bit different and wejust can’t wait to get testing. Using the Native Video and Picture Library Guide @ missingremote.com [Oct-18-11] (0 Comments) *Recently we created a guide on how to use the Movie Librarywithin Microsoft Windows 7 Media Center (=937MC=94). Today we are going to lookat adding files to the native Video and Pictures Library. This guide willcover:1. How to add files to the library2. What types of files can be added to each library*ARTICLE URL*:http://www.missingremote.com/guide/using-native-video-and-picture-library Antec KÜHLER H₂O 620 @ rbmods.com [Oct-05-11] (0 Comments) There are a ton of various cpu coolers on the market, one choice instead of noisy fans is watercooling kits that both Antec and Corsair offer these days. The good thing about watercooling is that it makes way less noise and you rarely have to clean any fans like with traditional cpu coolers. Question is though how well these perform vs the high end cpu coolers like Noctua and Thermaltake? Targus USB 2.0 Multi-Monitor Adapter @ rbmods.com [Sep-11-11] (0 Comments) When sitting on a laptop for example you might want to run dual or triple screens, however on a laptop you rarely have more than one or two plugins for screens. Targus has a solution for this, by plugging their Multi monitor adapter into a USB port you will be able to plug in another screen to your computer. The question that immedietely comes up in my head is, can I game and use a computer without lag running this device? Lets figure out if it’s possible! Phanteks PH-TC14PE_RD CPU Cooler @ rwlabs.com [Sep-02-11] (0 Comments) Although Phanteks is the latest player in the CPU coolingretail market their long experience in the OEM segment has allowed them notonly to create an great looking CPU Air Cooler available in 4 differentcolors but they have also managed to dethrone both the excellent SilverArrow by Thermalright and the amazing NH-D14 by Noctua. Guide to Using the Native 7MC Movie Library @ missingremote.com [Aug-19-11] (0 Comments) * Out of the box, the 7MC Movie Library will display thedefault file types that it can play. (Link to microsoft article aboutdefault file types) In addition to the files on the this list, the movielibrary will also display movies that are ripped from DVDs and stored invideo_ts and audio_ts folders. In order to have other file types displayed(such as MKV and .iso) which are not natively supported by 7MC, you willneed to enable this file type via a =93hack=94 or workaround. For example, with.mkv files this type is enabled when a splitter such as Haali media splitte ris installed. Head to the forums if you are having issues with a specificfile type being displayed in Media Center. Below is a list of common format sand their native (out of the box) support within 7MC. Coolink SWiF2 Fan Series @ eteknix.com [Jul-14-11] (0 Comments) At eTeknix we like to cover the full range of components for your computer and case fans are one of those things that are essential but rarely discussed for reasons such as; it is much more important to have a good CPU cooler than good case fans. However, that in itself is not quite strictly true as without a CPU cooler your processor will overheat within seconds but without a case fan you will struggle to remove any heat removed from the CPU and of course then no more heat can be removed. More simply put, it is essential to have good airflow through the case to remove the heat build-up else your CPU cooler won’t be able to operate. Thermaltake Level 10 GT Chassis @ techgage.com [Jul-06-11] (0 Comments) If you had the opportunity to work with any carmanufacturer to design a computer component or peripheral, which onewould you choose, and what would the resulting product be? A sleek, deepred Ferrari gaming mouse? A boxy and abrupt K-car chassis? A Porschegraphics card cooler? We want to know! Lowepro LP34711-0AM Black Ridge 10 Camera Case @ rbmods.com [Jun-29-11] (0 Comments) We rarely review something we have bought ourselves, in the last 5 years I think we have gone through maybe 3 products, but once in awhile you find products that might be cheap or expensive but they all got something special. Today we are taking a look at a compact little camera case from Lowepro which retails for 4,99$. So you might wonder what can a little inexpensive case give me? Lets find out! ASUS EAH6870 1GB Video Card @ itshootout.com [Mar-23-11] (0 Comments) The Radeon HD 6870, contrary to its somewhat confusing name, is not the successor to the Radeon 5870. Instead, it acts as an almost direct replacement for the Radeon 5850, both in terms of performance and in price. Today we are looking at the Asus variant which has some exclusive features including the Voltage Tweak functionality we have come to particularly enjoy when overclocking. Windows7 Ultimate Commemorative Giveaway @ missingremote.com [Dec-18-10] (0 Comments) Courtesy of our friends at Microsoft, we have a *very*rare *Commemorativeversion of Windows 7 Ultimate Edition*! This was a very limited edition thatwas given exclusively to people who were special beta testers for Windows 7;including 32 and 64-bit versions. Thermaltake Massive23 LX Notebook Cooler @ aselabs.com [Oct-01-10] (0 Comments) When it comes to notebook coolers, most manufacturers stick to the smaller sizes of notebooks. They rarely expand their range to support notebooks larger than 15.6 inch models. Those with larger laptops are usually left out in the cold. They are forced to either stick with whatever internal cooling system their laptops have or come up with DIY solutions. Thermaltake sees the market for full-size notebook coolers. The Massive23 LX targets this market. Mount and Blade Warband @ alltern8.com [Apr-19-10] (0 Comments) Sincequite a few people were saying that Warband wasn’t much of a changeover the original game, I did my research into the series by playingaround ¾ of a year of Mount & Blade senior, checking out thedifferent features, learning the combat model and just getting a feelfor the franchise. Now I could go completely in depth with this reviewand describe every facet of Mount & Blade Warband and ispredecessor but that would take forever; really it’s a huge game. Soinstead I’ll focus on a few key points of the game, giving some prosand some cons and ultimately conclude it to see whether it’s worth itsprice tag. What OS, Windows 7 or Ubuntu? Why not use both! @ techwarelabs.com [Feb-26-10] (0 Comments) The ability to dual boot systems is nothing new but very rarely done anymore. You more than likely will never find a good enough reason or use for an average PC user to run two Operating Systems (OS). So then you might ask yourself, “Why am I showing you how to?” The answer is easy, to quote Sir Francis Bacon’s much used aphorism “knowledge is power “. I personally wasn’t very familiar with Ubuntu as an OS so I wanted to learn more. The cost of a second PC wasn’t justifiable, just to put a second OS on so that I could learn it for my own gain. So I went and researched how to install both of them on the same machine. Western Digital WD TV Live HD Media Player @ legitreviews.com [Nov-02-09] (0 Comments) Almost everything I have in my video library played with the WD TV Live HD. Ripped and downloaded music and playlists (with album art), pictures from my digital camera stored on USB adaptors and my home network, High Def and Low Def movie rips. The media server even allowed you to toggle between audio tracks that were present in your media file. This thing is amazing! Not every 1080p file played as smooth as the trailers we talked about above, but those were rare occurrences. For instance, when I pointed the WD TV Live to a Blu-ray rip of... Antivirus Suites Block DSEO @ ngohq.com [Sep-09-09] (0 Comments) It has come to our attention that several Antivirussuites have listed our Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider (DSEO) asa dangerous file. We originally created DSEO to solve the seriousdriver signature enforcement problem that appeared after Microsoftremoved the permanent command line switch that disables driversignature enforcement in Windows Vista SP1 and Windows 7. Sadly, theonly way around this is to press F8 upon startup and choose “DisableDriver Signature Enforcement”, which is temporary and unacceptable.Microsoft has left users without an option to disable the featurepermanently.Driver signature enforcement is indeed a good idea, but it is performedbadly. It requires all drivers and system files to be digitally signedwith a certificate or they won’t run. The problem with signing yourfiles is the fact that the certificate costs thousands of dollars. Ofcourse, that money is not a concern for corporations such as Adobe, butfor the majority of developers, which are freeware/open sourcedevelopers that make no profit, this is simply unforgivable. World-Exclusive:MSI N275GTX Lightning GTX 275 1792 MB @ techpowerup.com [Aug-15-09] (0 Comments) MSI's latest addition to their Lightning Series is the N275GTX Lightning with 1792 MB memory and a new Twin Frozr II dual 80 mm fan cooler. Being targeted at overclockers it is overclocked out of the box of course. All this sounds like a noisy card? Nope, on the contrary, the card is actually the quietest card in its performance class, by far. Acer Aspire One D250-1165 Netbook @ tweaktown.com [Aug-09-09] (0 Comments) Netbooks are very hot right now because of the poor economy and the hottest netbook of them all is the Acer Aspire One. Acer has several Aspire One machines and today we are going to toss the Aspire One D250 netbook onto the test bench and see what it is made of. This machine sports a 10.1-inch LED backlit screen and much more, so if you rare in the market for a netbook, you are in luck. If you have wondered what exactly makes the Aspire One line so popular, this will be the review for you. Cyberlink MediaShow Espresso GPGPU Performance @ legitreviews.com [May-29-09] (0 Comments) CyberLink MediaShow Espresso software has been designed to work with both AMD’s Unified Video Decoder (UVD) through its ATI Stream technology and NVIDIA's general purpose parallel computing architecture known as CUDA. By using AMD Stream and NVIDIA CUDA technology consumers can quickly convert digital video files for use on portable devices like the Apple iPhone, Sony PS3, and YouTube. Since CyberLink MediaShow Espresso works on both NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards it gives us a rare chance to benchmark both technologies to see which is better... Asus EAH4770 TOP Videcoard @ rbmods.com [May-25-09] (0 Comments) We are going to take a look at a brand new video card that sells foraround 120$ and should perform similar to a 4850 video card. I=B4m sure youalready figured out that we are going to review the 4770 card from Asus, weare going to compare it vs a few 4850 cards also from Asus in severalbenchmarks. The main features on this card is the price/performance, thismeans you should get ALOT of performance for a small price, so lets have acloser look and see what we can expect from the card. ECS A790GXM-AD3 Motherboard @ legitreviews.com [Apr-06-09] (0 Comments) The ECS A790GXM-AD3 motherboard was a board that was easy to set up and to work with. There was nothing that gave us any issues at all. It was smooth sailing throughout the review, which has been something that rarely happens any more. It seems there is always something that we have to struggle with, but not on this board. It is fast, a great gaming board, and has upgrade options for the end user. Also, overclocking is phenomenal... Fujitsu LifeBook U820 @ reviews.digitaltrends.com [Mar-31-09] (0 Comments) Intel has a lot of work to do with the Atomprocessor before it is ready to powernext-gen mobile devices. Crippled for speed,it has very little useful application foranyone who uses a computer for anything morethan simple e-mail, Web, media, and timemanagement. Of course, if that describes yourneeds on the next flight to Tahiti, or if youfind most laptops to be overkill when youjust need to study at the library, Atom - andthe brand-new Atom powered LifeBook U820Mini-Notebook from Fujitsu - might be justright. The U820 is a fun, eye-catchinggadget, but a major disappointment forserious business users and techies. GMC R-4 Bulldozer Computer Case @ rbmods.com [Mar-07-09] (0 Comments) Most computer cases on the market nowadays come with a fairlystandard set of equipment and have similar layouts. It's rare that you finda case that offers a unique design. GMC, makers of a wide range of computercomponents, has developed a new case, the GMB R-4 Bulldozer Computer Case,which challenges the concepts of traditional case design. Will this casebulldoze the competition? Let's find out in this review. eDimensional Voice Buddy Software for Gaming @ xtremecomputing.co.uk [Feb-23-09] (0 Comments) Strangely, a few days later when I came back to get some screenshots of Voice Buddy, the problem seemed to have magically resolved! Voice Buddy understood every command I threw at it. I think that this could be down to a temporary system fault (or background noise, as it was much quieter in my house on the last time I tried), so I don’t think it should be blamed on Voice Buddy. eDimensional Voice Buddy Software for Gaming @ xtremecomputing.co.uk [Feb-23-09] (0 Comments) Strangely, a few days later when I came back to get some screenshots of Voice Buddy, the problem seemed to have magically resolved! Voice Buddy understood every command I threw at it. I think that this could be down to a temporary system fault (or background noise, as it was much quieter in my house on the last time I tried), so I don’t think it should be blamed on Voice Buddy. TechwareLabs Editorial:What is Memory and How it is Used? Memory Hierarchy Explained. @ techwarelabs.com [Feb-10-09] (0 Comments) Your out buying a processor and RAM, and you keep hearing this word memory being thrown around. Everything from your processor, to your RAM, and even your video card has memory. Why do you need so much and what are the differences in the memory? Join Brad as we take a look at the hierarchy of computer memory. [Affiliates News] Spire Torq Laptop Backpack @ aphnetworks.com [Jan-02-09] (0 Comments) After months of torture in Engineering class, I often find ithard to believe that I am finally done with this term. For the last few days,I 'slept in' until 7:00AM, and tried hard to lose the weird food addictions Ihad during final exams. I spent a lot of time with friends, watched numerousepisodes of The Simpsons, and I even started playing the occasionalCounter-Strike:Source (If you don't know me, I have to tell you that I amnot a gamer -- that's only because I am too leet for it ;) Just kidding haha)-- when the fun stuff is all over, I figured it was about time to get back toreality. That was when I realized that I had been excusing myself so much,that I delayed my review schedule quite a few times already. Here's the dealthough:I gained quite a bit of time for thorough testing in real life. Whenthe Spire Torq arrived at APH Networks, I was so glad that finally there'ssome physical relief from the stress and strains (No pun intended. Or isit!?) of higher education. The Spire Torq is a large laptop backpack that'sdesigned for practicality, combined with lots of room, infinite amounts ofpockets, and comfortable enough for extended periods of usage. I've beendropping my clipboard, occasional textbook, drawing notebook, a couple ofcalculators, pens and pencils, and of course, my Lenovo ThinkPad T400notebook computer around for almost a month already. This classroom to thatlecture hall, one building to another, library to train station, trainstation to car, you get the idea. Here's my impression of Spire's Torq laptopbackpack, and how it works out for me. Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 X2 Dual-GPU Graphics @ benchmarkreviews.com [Nov-08-08] (0 Comments) Sapphire is best know for taking an ATI product, and making better. It's rare that an AMD partner takes engineering into their own Samsung S3 MP3 Player ed @ tweaktown.com [Oct-09-08] (0 Comments) Arriving on my doorstep recently was a sleek and sultry little number from the big S, their new S3 series MP3 player. The version sent to me by post as pictured is the “pretty in pink” model, because as a modern 20something guy, I’m secure in my manliness... The menu system of the player is fairly intuitive and you will rarely find yourself flummoxed or lost in menus, so it’s easy to switch into DSNe 2.0 environments while playing a track. There is a bunch of standard pre-sets offering you EQ boosts and then there are spacial simulators to give the effect of a concert hall or a stadium gig. Silverstone Raven Gaming Mouse @ pureoverclock.com [Oct-07-08] (0 Comments) People rarely like change. But once in awhile you just have to give it ashot and see if something different is worthwhile. Well, today we have a newmouse that is different enough by promising some radical design changes fromwhat we've typically seen around the market. But can the Silverstone RavenGaming Mouse compete with the heavyweights in a market dominated byfamiliarity? [Affiliates News] iStarUSA T5F-SS Internal SATA Hot Swap Bay @ aphnetworks.com [Sep-21-08] (0 Comments) It's quite popular nowadays for consumers and enthusiastsalike to own at least one or two external hard drives and hot swap them fordata logistic purposes. Unfortunately, most of these devices are limited toeither eSATA, USB or Firewire on the external interface. These productscertainly make mass data storage dvices more portable and accessible, but itsnature makes it only a temporary means of physical storage (Placing it onyour desk and using it in a permanent fashion doesn't really cut it). Forthose users that want the convenience of an external drive and performance ofan internal drive, but without the fixed format of an internal drive, aninternal hot swapping bay may be a viable solution -- making it extremelyconvenient to swap hard drives, yet taken into a semi-permanent space. Let'ssay you have five people who wants to use a single computer, but does notwant to mess around with the data on one hard drive, and penta-booting is notan appropriate way of solving this problem. Solution:Have five hard drive,one for each user, and let each user plug in their own hard drive for theirown usage session. That may not be everyone's case, but hey -- we're justgiving a possible scenario. Today, we will be taking a look at the iStarUSAT5F-SS, an internal SATA hard drive hot swap bay. I have to admit I neverheard of iStarUSA before writing this review, but they do seem to be a longstanding maker of OEM and ODM products. Enermax Aurora and Caesar Scissor-switch Keyboards @ benchmarkreviews.com [Sep-08-08] (0 Comments) Keyboards are a very personal piece of pheriferal hardware, and the one-size-fits-all approach rarely satisifies everyone involved. As a Nikon Announces D90 Digital SLR - First Ever With Movie Mode @ thetechlounge.com [Aug-28-08] (0 Comments) Nikon today announced the D90 Digital SLR - successor to the D80. It's slated for availability some time (late?) September, at an ESP (estimated street price) of $999.95. At this point, I should mention that I'm a Canon user. I love my 5D and my treasure chest full of expensive L lenses. Point being, I'm so happy with Canon that it's rare for me to get excited about anything from the Nikon camp. In fact, this is the first time my eyes have wandered. [Forgive me, Canon, 'tis but a fling.] Oh, and we got some exclusive footage of the D90's movie mode in action, courtesy of professional photographer, Chase Jarvis. NEC's MultiSync LCD3090WQXi 30-inch widescreen monitor @ bit-tech.net [Jun-26-08] (0 Comments) The NEC MultiSync LCD3090WQXi is an amazing screen that notonly fitsthe bill for professionals, but will also appeal to those of us thatwant stunning image quality, a whole host of features and acres ofdesktop real estate. Of course, the price will undoubtedly put a lot ofpeople off this screen, but I tell you, if I had £1,500 burning a holein my pocket I know where I'd be spending it. Yes, it's expensive, butthen so is a Ferrari F430 Scuderia – it's all about getting what youpay for.And what you get for your money here is one of the best LCDs I've everhad on my desk. Going back to my Samsung SyncMaster 215TW—even thoughit's incredible—will be very hard indeed. There's nothing that willreplace the sheer size of this display combined with the simplystunning image quality. I'm going to be a very sad man indeed. NVIDIA Responds To GPU PhysX Cheating Allegations @ hothardware.com [Jun-26-08] (0 Comments) During the benchmark install, a runtime library is updated to allow thetest to run on the GPU and then during the test, it addresses the benchmarkDLLs to the GPU instead of the PPU or CPU. Nothing within the benchmark ischanged at all. No software libraries or even a line of code changes in thebenchmark whatsoever. The only thing that changes is that installer, nothingelse. It has been said that the tests results look different on the screenwhen running with PhysX enabled on the GPU. And of course this is true,just as the screen results look different when you test on a dual-core CPUversus a quad-core. This isn't a graphics test; it's a physics test.3DMark Vantage specifically scales more complexity into a scene to takeadvantage of additional physics compute resources, which of course is why itlooks so different/better on a test run with PhysX processing on our GPUs.This is by design in the benchmark and if the folks accusing us took thetime to run it, they would know that. [News] Koolance CPU-340 Water Block @ virtual-hideout.net [Jun-22-08] (0 Comments) If it's a very clean, contemporary looking CPU water block you'relooking for that can easily cool your dual or quad core processor, then theCPU-340 is for you. And if you happen to need that little extra something togo along with it, take a peek at Koolance's arsenal including their newstuff. They have plenty of new pumps, radiators, and cooling blocks foreverybody. Logitech Squeezebox Duet Network Music System ed @ thetechlounge.com [Jun-20-08] (0 Comments) This evolution of the Squeezebox should prove to be a winner for its new parent company. All the makings of a good sequel are there; extra goodies, unexpected surprises, a flashy new look and a slimmer and trimmer appearance. Logitech is unapologetically aiming squarely at Sonos with this one. Are the two systems direct competitors? Not exactly, but Logitech is bound to take a bite and woo away a few dollar conscious, tech savvy buyers. The included options and features are almost overwhelming to the average user. Acclimating oneself to all the various settings and streaming music account configurations takes a bit of time but pays out in a multitude of listening options. Once installed, Duet users will rarely need to fire up a browser for streaming music or launch an application to access their digital music reserve. If you are an obsessive hoarder of digital music files looking for a way to set them free, the Squeezebox Duet is tailor-made for your addiction. Motorola Bluetooth Headset H680 @ bluetomorrow.com [Jun-19-08] (0 Comments) The Motorola Bluetooth Headset H680 combines contemporary style and modern technology to provide users with attractive communication device that performs as good as it looks. The H680 features a sleek, elegant design, premium finish and easy to use functionality. Straight out of the box, this unit looks great and offers a lightweight design that is comfortable to wear, even after extended use. Western Digital Launches Caviar Black - Three Flavors of Caviar @ thetechlounge.com [Jun-11-08] (0 Comments) Welcomed by all, purchased by few:everyone wants a Western Digital VelociRaptor, but the people who have three hundred bucks to spend on three hundred gigs are... rare. Without a doubt, Western Digital has wowed the enthusiasts, but they're not slowing down on the consumer and enterprise fronts. It's come to light that the very fast, very quiet, and very cool SE16s aren't the latest in hard disk tech, but the first with just a few of the new tricks up Western Digital's corporate sleeve. Today they are launching an all new desktop brand, Caviar Black, claimed to be Glacialtech Altair A380 HTPC Case @ techpowerup.com [May-28-08] (0 Comments) The Altair A380 is an affordable slim HTPC case, with a very clean look coupled with a very durable construction. The included power supply is 80 Plus certified and can easily power today's mATX boards with multi core CPUs. Also included is an infrared remote control which is compatible with Windows Vista. Haze (PS3) @ bit-tech.net [May-23-08] (0 Comments) For a game that's had so much hype surrounding it, Haze shouldhave been the perfect game. The problem is that few games rarely liveup to the hype, and Haze falls firmly into that category.Nectar should have been an important part of the game, but instead itcomes across as just another gimmicky power-up. It makes the openingsections of the game far too easy and appears to disappear in the rebelsections of the game, only to be used as an artefact to drive theplotline forward.The storyline itself is hackneyed and feels lazy in its execution. Thetale of the corporate stooge who joins the rebels to bring down thecorporation has been done before and, more importantly, it's been donefar better. There are a few clever twists and turns to the tale laterin the game, but not enough to drag the story out of mediocrity.Taken as a run-of-the-mill FPS, Haze certainly isn't dire, but on theother hand it never really reaches the heights to which it aspires. Ataround six or seven hours to complete, there's not really enough in thesingle player game to keep you coming back after the first playthrough. You might play it again in co-op mode, but even themultiplayer games aren't enough to get you hooked.Haze could have been so much more, but it falls short on so manylevels. The game feels unfinished, as though it has been pushed out ofthe door six months early. Depressingly, it might be that another fewmonths of spit and polish could have produced the game that the hypepromised.Then again, perhaps not. Maybe every game studio is destined to producea game that they're embarrassed about. If that's true, then Haze willbe hiding at the back of Free Radical's closet for a long time to come. Jetway's JNC62K (GeForce 8200 mini-ITX) motherboard @ bit-tech.net [May-20-08] (0 Comments) At under £90 including VAT, the board is certainly good valuefor its size and niche appeal. A good mini-ITX board can easily set youback £150, and usually an Intel mini-ITX board will need to add thecost of a CPU as well. While this doesn't have the grace of a few otherHTPC-orientated mini-ITX boards we've seen (Albatron's AMD 690G withcomponent outputs was especially nice), unless you can find an AMD 780Gbased one we suspect this could make the smallest possible Blu-raycapable machine you can buy (we'd love to see some mods around this).45W or 65W AMD CPU's are exceptionally inexpensive, and literallyanything you buy now will be HD-capable. Yes, the GeForce 8200 did havea fit at VLC and it used nearly 50 percent CPU, however Elephants Dreamis one probably of the most intensive 1080p DivX videos out there sothere's still plenty of overhead before things become a slideshow.If you're unconcerned with size and are interested in IGP performanceinstead, the GeForce 8200 guns ahead into the distance in our realworld general productivity benchmarks compared to the other IGPs—eventhe AMD 780G on the micro-ATX Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H board. However ifyou're buying for video playback performance then the AMD 780G is stillthe one to buy – it's just simply more consistent and quite frankly,AMD still continues to do video acceleration better with more intuitivedrivers and a more consistent UVD-enabled product list.Specifically, is Jetway’s JNC62K worth buying? Absolutely. While it'snot as inexpensive as a micro-ATX board, it is still great value forits size if you’re looking to build a very small home theatre PC. Allin all, it's a very low power and tiny motherboard with HDMI and DVI(with HDCP) and oodles of other features that vary its application. Iteven has a comprehensive BIOS that really surprised us – you'll rarelyfind this elsewhere on mini-ITX, however you wouldn't really want tooverclock on it because of its 65W limitation.Is it worth it over a VIA C7 EPIA or future Atom mini-ITX boards?Again, yes! Just for the general productivity performance alone,regardless of the fact a premium VIA C7 board like the Jetway J7F5M,which comes complete with a 2.0GHz C7, for £163.33 will be moreexpensive than the JNC62K and an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4850e 45W CPU, andyou won't even get HDMI or HDCP.The JNC62K is the right balance of efficiency – getting your work donein the minimum amount of time, while using a fraction of the power (andphysical size) a full ATX case labours you with. It's a Mod Thing @ modders-inc.com [May-17-08] (0 Comments) It's A Mod Thing!! You see, modders are that rare species that cantake any aspect, well of just about anything, and associate it with a mod oreven make a mod out of it, or build a mod into it. [News] EXCLUSIVE:VH Visits the Intel Hawthorn Farm Campus @ virtual-hideout.net [May-17-08] (0 Comments) Over the last couple years, I've been attending various LANs andtech events looking for that other side we rarely get to see. InfernaLAN isjust one of the many events sponsored by INTEL and wide variety of vendorsand integrators including Patriot Memory, Corsair, BFG, S3 Graphics,IBuyPower, PowerPC, and Alienware. It was here that I met many of Intel's finest incognito. These guys taketheir personal systems as seriously as any enthusiast, cooled with thelatest DangerDen water cooled blocks and assembled in some of the sweetestcases created by man. I thought that if they are this much fun and caredenough about what they do to show off all these demo systems, then I reallyneed to see what it is they do.Well, a couple weeks after, I received a call with an invitation to visitIntel's mysterious Hawthorn Farm Campus where much of the desktopmotherboard and processor magic happens. The dates were picked, testhardware assembled, and the tour schedule set. bit-tech :Crossover Games for Mac @ bit-tech.net [Apr-22-08] (0 Comments) *Of course, since DirectX is exclusively Windows-based, it's left Mac and Linux users out in the cold for quite some time. Releases lag by months if not years before a Mac port is created, and that's if one is ever even seen. Updates are rare and bugs linger for ages. Sure, there are some great games coded natively for OSX or Linux, but most commercial titles are just not there. Thermaltake BlacX HDD Docking Station @ aphnetworks.com [Apr-17-08] (0 Comments) SATA may be an interface that supports hot swap, but in reality, how often is it truly taken advantage of and used for the purpose of hot swapping? More than often, it's no more than just an array of disks residing inside our computers that ends up rarely moved. For an external interface, eSATA is nice and all for its performance, but to an extent that's really an extension of an internal storage medium to external hard drives -- hot swap is necessary as what's that made USB so popular, but it doesn't really solve the problem of having a need to go through a bunch of internal SATA hard drives quickly. For example, some users need it for testing hard drives, while others want to quickly pull some data off a drive without installing it in another computer. As far as I'm concerned, there's one product in the market that has gained immense popularity and tons of internet hype that allows you to quickly swap internal SATA hard drives without ripping anything apart to get the job done. And that's the Thermaltake BlacX, an HDD docking station. Let's see how it gets its job done, and to what extent it has done well. Ultra m998 Computer Case @ rbmods.com [Mar-26-08] (0 Comments) Most ATX cases on the market nowadays come with a fairly standard setof equipment and have similar layouts. It's rare that you find a case thatoffers a variety of unique features. Ultra, makers of a wide range ofcomputer components, has developed a new case, the Ultra m998 Computer Case,which offers a number of unique features. Will the case prove to be awinner? Read on to find out. Arctic Cooling Silentium T2 Eco 80 @ bit-tech.net [Mar-16-08] (0 Comments) In the words of Sam Beckett:“Oh, boy.”Really, it’s hard to know where to begin with a case like the SilentiumT2 ECO 80. On paper, Arctic Cooling’s intentions are cleary for thegood and aiming in all the right directions. The idea of using rubberaround the fans to prevent vibration and using heatsinks instead offans to cool the HDD is fine and we of course love anything that canhelp make computing a more environmentally friendly hobby.The real problem though is that the execution is terrible and thefinished product is really just a mish-mash of ruined ideas. On somelevel it’s actually quite depressing and there’s a distinct feelingthat if the Silentium T2 was a person then it’d be a bright andpromising young student who got tragically mauled by asledgehammer-wielding Rottweiler.The whole case just stinks of good ideas gone wrong and bad ideas leftto run rampant. In the end, with a number of structural problems, poorthermal performance and a generally unappealing look it’s hard torecommend the T2 to anyone. Frankly, this is the type of thing wereally do wish Arnold Schwarzenegger would come back from the future todestroy. A shame. Thermaltake BlacX SATA Hard Drive USB Docking Station @ pcper.com [Feb-25-08] (0 Comments) The usage I have gotten out of this Thermaltake BlacX in just thepast two weeks has made it well worth the meager $35 investment required topurchase one. Any user that finds themselves constantly on the lookout forextra storage, temporary or permanent, or even if you have some extrainternal SATA hard drives sitting around that you'd like to get some use outof, the BlacX makes a perfect fit. E-TEN Glofiish X650 GPS Smartphone @ tweaktown.com [Feb-12-08] (0 Comments) The front of the X650 is home to a 2.8-inch 640x480 LCD display w hich can display 65k colours, and this is the first of the upgrades compa red to the X600. This is definitely a step above most other Windows Mobil e 6 Professional devices and something we hope other manufacturers will f ollow suit on.The integrated GPS sports a SiRF Star III chipset which is one of the mos t popular on the market, and it also supports TMC in those countries wher e it's available. This is thanks to the built in FM radio, yet another feature rarely seen in Windows Mobile devices. Audio FX Pro 5+1 Gaming Headset @ bit-tech.net [Feb-04-08] (0 Comments) The Audio FX Pro 5+1 isn’t the best headset we’ve ever usedand,because Ben Heck himself has pinned his name on it, that comes as a bitof a disappointment. On the other hand though, it isn’t the worstheadset we’ve ever used either – it’s somewhere in between. The Audio FX Pro 5+1 ‘Heckset’ – a joke I’m making again in case you’reone of those annoying people who skips straight to the conclusion andmissed my previous witticisms – seems to tick and skip all the boxesarbitrarily.It has good sound performance, but you often need to push the volumetoo high to make the best of it. It has funky extra features, but theydon’t really add anything new. It’s got a cool oversized designbut…well, actually the overall aesthetic is one thing we can’tbegrudge. The headset may look a little contrived to some, butpersonally we kind of like the whole faux leather, old-school look. Price-wise it treads the line too. You can pick up headsets muchcheaper but, considering the versatility and bragging rights, the pricepoint is also justified. In the end the Audio FX Pro 5+1 isn’t going toblow you away – but it shouldn’t disappoint you either, so it’s a safeenough option for anyone in the market. GECUBE Radeon HD 3870 X2 Graphics Card @ tweaktown.com [Jan-28-08] (0 Comments) It's one of those cards we've heard about quite a bit, but of ten when it comes to these dual GPU models they're nothing more than a bit of a prototype. Sometimes they manage to also hit the media and on th e rare occasion they actually go into mass production for all to get thei r hands on it.The whole card design is loads better than the GX2 we saw from NVIDIA in 2006 which was literally two separate PCBs connected by a little bridge. Ultimately though it doesn't matter what the card looks like, it comes down to how it performs and that's something we're going to be lookin g at in just a moment. Audioengine A5 Bookshelf Speakers ed @ thetechlounge.com [Jan-26-08] (0 Comments) On the floor, with my head between the speakers, I listened to my libraryfor hours. I heard things I=B9d never heard before:spittle hitting the mic,catching on its wires; each of the conductors=B9 deep, concerto-bracingbreaths, the taps of the baton, the misplaced stabs at the high-hats, thetime-keeping footwork too close to the bass=B9 pickup, and heavy pick-scrapesacross steel. I rocked out on my back, staring at the careful brush-strokeson my wooden ceiling, under the new coat covering the old, nicotine-stainedlead paint. I couldn=B9t get enough=8Bthe amp sizzled under its own electricalweight, scalding-hot to the touch, and I was enchanted. Spire Dart Laptop Sleeve @ aphnetworks.com [Jan-25-08] (0 Comments) Things change rapidly in this world -- this is especially apparent in the technology world. The center of attention shifts focus on the latest processors, motherboards, chipsets, video cards, and just recently, form-over-function laptops. ;) Hey, just kidding. Speaking of which, what do you carry your laptop in? The laptop case market is bigger and better than ever, especially with the widespread use of computers in this form. If you are one of those carrying your laptop in those classic business laptop bags that's almost like announcing to the world you have an expensive computer equipment in your bag, and looking for something with a lower profile, or simply searching for something that's more stylish to carry your laptop your laptop in (And of course, less geeky), we've got something interesting today that seems to fall within all categories -- the Spire Dart -- which is like a sleeve, but with a little more. I've been searching high and low for a sleeve that, at least on paper, meets all my requirements -- the Dart being one of the rare ones. How well does this bag step up against the rest in real life? Let's examine this product closely today. Cranium Kabookii @ bit-tech.net [Jan-19-08] (0 Comments) It’s quite hard to know what to make of Cranium Kabookiibecause, while to my mind it is clearly the best third-party party gameavailable for the Wii, it’s not strikingly awesome on its own. The mini games themselves range from inventive and fun to derived anddamningly difficult – though they do mostly edge towards the former,thankfully. Games like Cloodle prove themselves to be fairlyfun and repeatable and Cranium Kabookii is a game with acertain amount of replayability because of that. However,at the same time, the game is full of wasted potential and gameplaythat’s too simple, often seemingly rewarding players arbitrarily.Despite the colourful, vibrant presentation the game also fails toprovide anything that is suitably engaging visually. The developerswould have done a lot better to simply recreate the board from theboard game rather than to feature coloured tokens. All of the above is forgivable for the most part though – what isn’tthough is the extremely limited scope for play. You can only play CraniumKabookiiif you have four people with you and, even then, you can only play themain game mode. There’s nothing to unlock and the options don’t evenlet you alter the difficulty of the game. The result is a game which,while fun, could quickly get old for many and which seems to jumpbetween too hard and too easy a bit too much. If you’ve got a group of people with a wide range of ages and arelooking for a multiplayer game that kids can manage then CraniumKabookii is just what you’d want to look at buying.If you want something a little more flexible and adult-aimed thoughthen you’d be better off keeping your wallet in your pocket. Climbing The Difficulty Curve @ bit-tech.net [Jan-15-08] (0 Comments) There has been a growing trend over the last few years to makegamesthat are easy enough for every player to finish them. In many ways thisis a positive development which reflects the maturity of the industryand the mainstream nature of the audience who regularly play games. Italso reflects publisher desires to create mass market, accessibleproducts which can generate maximum profit for them. However today I’m posing the question “Have singleplayer games becometoo easy?”Early games were far more challenging than they are now and initiallythis was largely due to the lack of a save option. You had to play thething all the way through in one sitting, when you ran out of lives youhad to start again from the start. Now don’t get me wrong I don’t missreplaying the first three levels of a scrolling shooter twenty timesjust to progress past that tricky missile but the sense of achievementand immersion is reduced when you complete a game in half hour chunksover a month. Upon completing modern games I rarely feel the same rushof pride that I did from reaching the end of Double Dragon or IkariWarriors. Technic3D/Razer Diamondback 3G @ technic3d.com [Dec-19-07] (0 Comments) The Razer Diamondback 3G Gaming Mouse arrived Technic3D. 1800d pi 3G Infrared Sensor.Before the enemy sees you, he's been fragged? Seven Programmable Hyp eresponse Buttons and On-The-Fly Sensitivity see you in the following Review on Technic3D. Frontlines:Fuel of War hands-on p @ bit-tech.net [Dec-12-07] (0 Comments) Unless youplay at a higher level, most Unreal Tournament 3 and Team Fortress 2games are actually quite casual and rarely require use of a microphoneor regular communication – unless you suspect there’s a spy in yourmidst.Frontlines, like Quake Wars, isn’t built like that.Instead, it’s constructed so that players need to communicate if theywant to accomplish complex goals. It’s something to which the leveldesign is a heavily contributing factor as, in Frontlines,there is rarely any set path or route to follow. It’s an open world –players are given helicopters and tanks and told to do somethinghowever they want.The result is that everyone tries to pull in different directions,meaning that communication is essential. This doesn’t mean that Frontlines is a bad game, because I hadfun whilst playing it and, if nothing else that’s a great scale tomeasure a game by. It does mean that the experience (as opposed to thegameplay) isn’t as accessible as some games though – it targets itselfmuch more at someone who wants to really invest themselves in a game,creating clans and organising matches.If that’s the type of thing you find yourself doing often thenFrontlines could be right up your street. However, even then Frontlinesmay not be anything that is especially worth picking up as the game isreally quite generic and derivative. Again, it’s not that it’s thatbad; just that it doesn’t really take great strides forwards or haveanything that really sets it out from the crowd. If the competitionmanages to make even a small step beyond in terms of either technologyor game design then Frontlines could get left behind quite easily. A solid team-based shooter at its core, Frontlines suffersfrom a lack of accessibility and inspiration, but there is still plentyof time to go until release and the open beta is due to start soon.Shove those two ideas together and you realise that there’s still a lotof time for Frontlines to change and become something else – somethingworth shouting about. Yidsun SP-788 Bluetooth Stereo Headset @ tweaktown.com [Nov-23-07] (0 Comments) Our first impression was somewhat mixed; the design is ok, but we 're not keen on the Yidsun logos on the side of the headphones as it' s not like having Shure or Sony or some other famous brand showing. None the less, they're not ugly and the design is up to date, which is rarely the case with Bluetooth headsets from lesser known brands. The hea dset is amazingly light and although it weighs 30g with the ear pieces it 's anything but heavy when worn. Wacom Bamboo Fun Tablet @ techgage.com [Nov-21-07] (0 Comments) Wacom rarely release new products, however last month sawthe launch of the Bamboo and Bamboo Fun tablets. We are taking a lookat the latter, which is designed not for professional artists, butcasual users who want to get more out of their PC. Have Wacom impressedus once again? [News] VIZO Master Panel II @ virtual-hideout.net [Nov-21-07] (0 Comments) Let's face it - people hate connecting things to the back of theircomputer, especially if it's only for temporary use. Having to poke aroundthe back of your case (where there is already a jumble of cables) just toconnect a camera to download photos off of it is a pain. Thankfully, mostcases nowadays come with front USB ports. But what about other connectorsand outputs? There have been many products providing a solution to thisproblem. Most of them fit in a 5.25 Geeks Wireless Infrared Color Cameras and Receiver @ rbmods.com [Nov-08-07] (0 Comments) Recently, we had a chance to peek into the world of home surveillancewith our review of a stand-alone digital video recorder (DVR). But what goodis a DVR without a decent wireless security camera system? Geeks.com, popular online retailer, offersa wide range of surveillance cameras that can provide the all-importantvideo feed for your security system. Today we'll take a look at one of thecamera systems they offer, a Wireless Infrared Color Camera system +Receiver combo. Will this basic system provide all you need to beginmonitoring your home or office? Let's find out. Mushkin XP2-6400 (DDR2-800) 2x1GB Memory Kit ed @ thetechlounge.com [Nov-01-07] (0 Comments) Mushkin has been on the enthusiast scene for over a decade, andconsistently produces memory at better timings and higher clockspeeds thanthe majority of competing memory manufacturers. Their devotion has neverbeen widely heralded; they're predictable in a market that champions flashand innovation, even when that same stuff is, more often than not,ridiculous and temporary. Does Mushkin's consistency ensure anotherabove-average kit? Razer Diamondback 3G Gaming Mouse ed @ thetechlounge.com [Oct-23-07] (0 Comments) People who have used Razer products rarely have ambiguous opinions aboutthem. Nobody ever picked up a Diamondback in 2004 and said, bit-tech P:Call of Duty 4:Modern Warfare hands on @ bit-tech.net [Oct-20-07] (0 Comments) The singleplayer is something we can talk about though and fromwhatwe’ve seen it’s shaping up rather excellently. The graphics areincredibly detailed and good-looking, though the smoke effects don’tlook nearly as impressive as they did when Call of Duty 2 came out andthe RPG smoke trails are a little suspect.The action itself is as frantic as ever too, with grenades andtracerscutting through the sky and sending up plumes of dirt whilst your teammates scream and run around taking down the bad guys. There are a fewareas where we think the gameplay could be tightened up but theoverwhelming majority of the game feels crisp and cleanly put together.The key difference between Call of Duty 4 and the other games in the series is, on reflection,not the largely cosmetic differences between World War 2 and ModernWarfare, but the vastly improved cinematic feel. The past Callof Dutygames have often felt grand and beautifully epic, but rarely were theytruly cinematic. They felt distinctly like playing a game rather thanbeing in a movie. This isn’t true of Modern Warfare which, witha new story and more contemporarily gritty feel, manages to feel moreimmersive and polished forever – possibly putting it forward as thebest Call of Duty game yet if the development continues likethis. ASUS Eee PC goes on sale (we have pics!) @ tweaktown.com [Oct-19-07] (0 Comments) After hunting through many Taipei backstreets, we managed to find one for $13,900 NTD - more expense than usual, since these things are almost as rare as gold at the moment. After contacting a company official at ASUS, the Taiwanese company expects shortage issues as the device is so popular.The model we picked up was the 701 version which includes a 4GB solid state hard drive and 512MB DDR2 memory with Intel CPU and chipsets. It also comes with a built-in camera, 4 cell 5200 mAh battery which provides up to 3.5 hours of life but there is no optical drive. bit-tech :Lian-Li V350 micro ATX chassis @ bit-tech.net [Oct-17-07] (0 Comments) The V350 is a tough case to adopt a final position on andit's not madeany easier by the fact that there isn't any pricing info availableuntil the case launches in the next month or so. The V350 is a goodlooker which is both inoffensive and stylish, something which is a bitof a rarity for fashion nowadays. At the same time though it’s not easyto install a system in and could be described as a headache in a box.The performance isn’t great either and the limitations imposed by thedesign cause further problems by restricting what hardware can be used.However, at the same time those limitations aren’t really a fault andthe less-than-optimal performance is to be expected from a case whichis designed to be small. Someone building a rig in a case like thisisn’t likely to stress their GPU with hardcore gaming or to push theirCPU to combustion point. A case like this is much more likely to beused in an office for simpler tasks, with gaming and the like as anaside. So, when scoring the V350 we have to keep that in mind and recognisethat the person likely to be buying a V350 is going to be looking forsmall size and a good design over anything else. In this respect, theV350 performs quite well and has an excellent, high quality finishwhich is sure to impress anyone. It’s not the best looking case, nor isit the best performer or the most easy to use – but if you can copewith the hardware limitations and the fiddly innards then the V350won’t let you down. Just don’t push it too hard. bit-tech :John Woo's Stranglehold (PC) @ bit-tech.net [Oct-07-07] (0 Comments) Stranglehold is a remarkable, enjoyable and appealing game toplay, but there are a few problems. Although the gameplay is very immersive, mission objectives appear veryarbitrary and pointless and once you’ve played around with all thespecial moves, which will take a good few hours, the situations youfind yourself in become rather repetitive. This was especially true forme at the end of the third level. Instead of being sat on the edge ofmy seat in awe of how much I was owning; I noticed my body language hadbeen reduced to slumping in the chair as I mowed down yet another waveof Triads. bit-tech P:Team Fortress 2 beta impressions @ bit-tech.net [Oct-04-07] (0 Comments) Graphically, as well, the game is just on another level to itscontemporaries. As already mentioned, the game isn't designed to berealistic, but rather uses a mix of cel-shadingand various engine tweaks created by Valve’s dev team to createenvironments and models that are incredibly polished. Even effects likemotion blur are implemented exquisitely, giving the sensation of speedand movement, but without inducing nausea after five minutes of playlike we’ve found with some games recently.Let's not forget though that this is a Beta we're talking about andthat the dev team still has time to iron out the few wrinkles that docrop up from time to time (namely the occasional crash to desktop).TF2 will also be coming down the tubes through Valve’s infamouscontent delivery system, so updates should be quick and seamless.I could continue writing about the marvels of TF2 for days, oreven weeks (perhaps you should start a bit-tech fan club? – Ed.).Instead though, I will confine myself to stating that while Crysismay have left us speechless with its graphical prowess, TF2 seems, tome at least, a refreshing break from the norm of multiplayerfirst-person shooters.I simply can’t wait for the full release and the influx of thousandsmore noobs ready to succumb to my baseball bat of doom. Muwhahaha!! World-Exclusive:Razer Diamondback 3G @ techpowerup.com [Sep-27-07] (0 Comments) After a long wait the Razer Diamondback Mouse is back on the market. The new version is dubbed Diamondback 3G and features Razer's famous 3G infrared sensor for bargain price of $49.99. Other than the sensor there are only a few changes to the design, so can it live up to the expectations? bit-tech :BFGTech GeForce 8600 GTS OC2 ThermoIntelligence @ bit-tech.net [Sep-14-07] (0 Comments) BFGTech'sGeForce 8600 GTS OC ThermoIntelligence is a great example ofa GeForce 8600 GTS and it delivers good performance for a gamer runninga 17” or 19” LCD monitor in current titles. In isolation, it’s a goodcard with a cooler that does exactly what it the manufacturer claims itwill do, and then some based on our results.Unfortunately though, BFGTech’s ThermoIntelligence cards come with aprice premium and the 8600 GTS OC2 is no exception to this rule at over£145 (inc. VAT). You can pick up a stock clocked GeForce 8600 GTS foraround £110 (inc. VAT), which isn’t too far behind in the performancestakes. Probably more of a concern is the fact that Nvidia’s GeForce 8800 GTS320MB starts at just over £180 (inc. VAT), with BFGTech’s own “OC”model starting at around £186.From the results obtained during this evaluation, both of these optionslook to be significantly better value for money for not that much more.One thing we've not mentioned is the previous generation mid-rangecards that are often perform better than the new generation ofmid-range hardware and are available at more attractive price points.Of course, you won't be able to enable DX10 features on these cards,which we've proven can be enabled on the new mid-range cards in nativeDX10 games like BioShock, but the benefitsat the moment are small. Apple iPod Classic @ cooltechzone.com [Sep-11-07] (0 Comments) Yesterday, we had the opportunity to review Apple's 3rd generation iPodNano, and needless to say, we came away impressed with the latestcarnation of the iPod family. Apple is too good at what it does, and itshows. Today, we have the iPod Classic in our lab, and unfortunately, wedon't know what to write about. Yes, it's a rarity with us, consideringhow we love to publish our opinions, but there's nothing differentiatingbetween the 3rd generation iPod Nano and iPod Classic. Other than thelarger display, higher storage capacity and an overall increase in size,both devices are identical to one another. Of course, that's a good thing,for the most part. Logitech MX Air @ insidehw.com [Sep-03-07] (0 Comments) Day after day, more and more computers move to living rooms, withmore and more users using their computers from the comfort of theirarmchairs and couches. Logitech always had something to offer to such users,mainly products like universal remote controllers and wirelesskeyboards/mice. The MX Air model is a kind of a convergence of the mentionedproducts, offering the functionality of an RC and properties of a wirelesslaser mouse. Western Digital WD7500AAKS 750GB Hard Drive @ pcper.com [Aug-31-07] (0 Comments) The new Western Digital WD7500AAKS Caviar SE16 750GB hard drive isone of those rare times when I can clearly say recommending this product isright thing to do. The performance of the new perpendicular-based 188GBplatters makes this model almost as fast as WD's own Raptor 150GB harddrive, a feat we once thought unthinkable during its initial launch. Andyou don't lose the capacity of modern hard drive to get this speed -- 750GBshould enough for the most demanding of users. Lexar JumpDrive Secure II 4GB - XSs @ xsreviews.co.uk [Aug-30-07] (0 Comments) USBdrives are so prolific that they are now beginning to be givenaway free promotionally. There are literally thousands of differentmakes, models and capacities; all of which operate at different speeds.Of recent, the focus has been moving away from sheer storage to thespeed at which you can fill the provided space, with people becomingever more impatient.With the 4GB barrier broken a longtime ago, there have been more and more devices falling into thisbracket of size. They are mostly the same and rarely havedifferentiating features, and most come with an encryption program tostop an opportunistic thief running off with your important documents.Today I have the Lexar JD Secure II 4GB which has a nifty littlefeature that separates it from its other 4GB cousins. In Win F430 Red Mid Tower ATX Gamers Case @ legitreviews.com [Aug-23-07] (0 Comments) If you spend a little time at any local LAN you will notice gamer s like to trick out their PC case like gearheads trick out a car. In Win has designed a case to combine the two worlds, and we now have the F430. The design of the case takes styling queues from the Ferrari F430 sports car and when you power up the system instead of the standard beep you get the sound of a Ferrari starting up... [News] Four Low-Light 1/4'' Color CCD Cameras @ virtual-hideout.net [Aug-17-07] (0 Comments) Not too long ago I did a review on the IP Video 9100A Plus NetworkVideo Server, which allows a device with a video out connection to be usedover a computer network. Well, what good is a video server without videocameras? Here I have four 1/4'' Color CCTV Video Cameras w/Sony CCD fromGeeks.com. These cameras have infrared LED's that will help illuminate anarea up to 15-20 meters. The metal housing and protective cap protects thecamera from the elements. Thermaltake Mozart IP @ techpowerup.com [Aug-11-07] (0 Comments) Today, more and more consumers are adding PCs to their home theater systems. With the goal of using it to watch DVDs, listen to music and surf the Internet, these consumers want something that functions well and looks great. The Thermaltake Mozart IP helps bring all those features to the home theater, with the added bonus of an iPod dock that works with or without the PC powered on. Using the included Media Lab display and iMedian software, many functions are at the user's fingertips with an infrared remote control. [News] Danger Den Torture Rack @ virtual-hideout.net [Jul-17-07] (0 Comments) Aside from the very cool blocks, radiators, and components, DangerDen also realized that they needed some kind of enclosure or case that wouldprovide a better presentation. Since, most water cooling users like to showoff their systems, it seemed only fit to create a clear, acrylic line ofenclosures would be developed that had an original look over thecontemporary square tower cases. Among their current cases are the WaterBox, Water Box Plus, Danger Den Air Box, and Torture Rack. Being that I lovea good, useful computer case, Danger Den has been gracious in sending VH theTorture Rack to better show you some of its great benefits and features. Super Talent DH series 4GB Pen Drive @ tweaktown.com [Jul-01-07] (0 Comments) Super Talent might not be the first memory brand that springs to mind; although they have a wide range of competitive products and we' re taking a quick look here at what they're claiming is the world's f astest USB 2.0 memory key. It's always amusing when you get sent a prod uct for review that claims world's fastest, since they rarely are. The Super Talent DH series of USB memory keys are =93Ultra-fast 200x=94 and t hey have a claimed read speed of 30MB/s. We tested out the 4GB version bu t the DH series comes in sizes ranging from 512MB to 8GB. Cooler Master Real Power Pro 550W Power Supply @ pro-clockers.com [Jun-14-07] (0 Comments) Modern power supplies come in a variety of flavors, sizes, andfeatures. Some are designed for raw power, while others target more specificaudiences like gamers and modders. Today, we have Cooler Master's Real PowerPro 550w power supply on our test bench. This power supply combines a rareblend of efficient power and stylish looks. This beast hasn't even beenreleased to the public yet, but Pro-Clockers have been given a uniqueopportunity to review it before anyone else. Tagan A+ Black Pearl Full Tower Case @ techgage.com [Jun-08-07] (0 Comments) The chassis market is full of common names, but it's notoften a newplayer comes along that really impresses. Tagan is one of those rarecompanies who delivers a full-size case that is well worth yourconsideration. 3RSYSTEM iCEAGE CPU Cooler @ thinkcomputers.org [May-26-07] (0 Comments) Rarely do we see a huge innovation in CPU cooler design. I thinkthat last big thing was heatpipes and those are in tons of CPU coolers now.Today we will be looking at the iCEAGE CPU cooler from 3RSYSTEM. It may looklike your standard CPU cooler, but it features Direct Touch Heatpipe (DTH)technology. Instead of having heatpipes go into a heatsink base theheatpipes make up the base of the cooler. We will see how well thistechnology works and if it will make CPU coolers lighter in the future. QuickTime plays havoc with RAID in Vista! @ tweaktown.com [May-22-07] (0 Comments) System is Vista Ultimate 32-bit with RAID 10 on Intel ICH8R chipset. A couple of weeks ago I tried running a .mov file using Apple QuickTime software (latest version) and that is when things started to go downhill. The file seemed very slow to load and eventually QuickTime crashed after a lot of persuasion. Once QuickTime was closed, I was notified of a RAID error through the Intel Matrix Storage Console but the same thing will happen if you reboot during the lockup as well.Thinking the worst, I promptly went about getting the affected drive replaced, naturally thinking it was dead. I got the drive replaced without any issues from the friendly chaps at Seagate, plugged it in and rebuilt the array without any issues and with everything back to normal. Just recently the exact same event occurred and I knew the chances of that exact same set of occurrences happening was extremely rare. Foxconn N68S7AA nForce 680i SLI mobo @ bit-tech.net [May-03-07] (0 Comments) Since the nForce 680i LT SLI release, you have to havesomething prettydamn special from a full fat nForce 680i SLI motherboard to justify thecost and Foxconn just doesn't quite have it here. It does havea very stable motherboard which is a somewhat rare commodity thesedays, but from an enthusiast chipset, Foxconn is only half way theresupplying enthusiast performance but not enthusiast overclocking. A look at Penryn, Nehalem and Intel's Future @ bit-tech.net [Mar-29-07] (0 Comments) Say goodbye to the northbridge, because Nehalem will integratethe memory controller into the CPU core.Intel is finally ready to do what AMD has been doing for years with theK8 architecture - incorporate an on-die memory controller, to lowermemory access latencies, reduce power consumption of the whole platformand make designing future motherboards far easier.This could be be a marketing nightmare for Intel’s PR and the greencamp is going to be rolling around the floor in fits of glee at thisnews, but respect to Intel for ultimately biting the bullet and makingthe right choice. That said, Intel was in a similar situation when itcreated the Pentium M and had to convince the market the MHz wasn’t theonly performance rating that mattered after years of preaching thecontrary – and that turned out to be one of the most successful movesfor Intel in recent history. Razer DeathAdder Gaming Mouse @ xyzcomputing.com [Mar-05-07] (0 Comments) Initially, the DeathAdder, aside from having a great name, does not appear too much different from Razer's other mice. Looking at it we can see a matte finish with a great looking one-piece exterior along with Razer's signature LED-lit mouse wheel and palm rest. The main difference between it and the other mice is the use of Razer's 3G infrared sensor, a technology that they claim is far superior to other optical mice. Razer's designed did not opt for a laser mouse, like on the Copperhead or Logitech popular G5, but rather went to an infrared sensor, which is a form of optical sensor. In Win F430 Xtreme Series ATX Gaming Case @ bigbruin.com [Feb-19-07] (0 Comments) So you're dying to own a Ferrari F430 but that $168,000 price tag is putting just a bit of a hitch in your plans. Well In Win has the answer and it will only set you back about $95 (US). OK, this may be a huge and outrageous stretch, but the styling cues, Ferrari red paint job, and even the name of the new In Win F430 Xtreme Series ATX Gaming Case leave little doubt where the inspiration for this case came from. In Win F430 PC Case @ thinkcomputers.org [Feb-19-07] (0 Comments) When I hear F430 I instantly think of one of my favorite exotic cars, the Ferrari F430. So when In Win named a case the F430you would assume it would take on some of the characteristics of the real F430 and it does. The In Win F430 has an amazing car-likepaint job, Ferrari-like stylish features, and even something that makes you feel like you are inside of a real F430! ThermoHawk 200 Touchless Thermometer @ dvhardware.net [Feb-12-07] (0 Comments) The ThermoHAWK series are touchless infrared thermometers which allow you to check the temperature of almost any object. They are manufactured by Q3 Innovations, a company specialised in personal safety & monitoring devices. They seem to be pretty keen on the Antec Nine Hundred Mid-Tower Case @ thetechlounge.com [Feb-11-07] (0 Comments) Antec has built their reputation and great following by making conservative cases with outstanding build quality and a mind foracoustics. Even their portable, LAN-centric designs are utile and relatively subtle. The gamer case market is flooded with lessernames and less expensive, if garish, enclosures. What Antec doesn't do often, is change. When some people say timeless, others saydated. Their innovations rarely permeate through to the outsides of their cases, and it's safe to say they're not likely to fixwhat ain't broke. The Nine Hundred is a gamer's case; it's a surprise to see them drive with the body kit, phat pipe and groundlights guys. Will it deliver on the good construction by which Antec has made their name? Is it at all possible for it to managethe kind of silence that they're renowned for? [News] Kingston 2x1GB PC2-9200 & PC2-9600 DDR2 Memory @ virtual-hideout.net [Feb-05-07] (0 Comments) Well I really don't know what else to say. This review would compareto taking a Ferrari for a spin and going DFI LANParty UT ICFX3200 T2R/G ed @ bit-tech.net [Jan-19-07] (0 Comments) DFI's LANParty UT ICFX3200 T2R/G is mostly a motherboard forenthusiasts that want to get serious about overclocking. It's for thoseof you that took stuff apart as a child, then played with those bitsforlonger than they had when the toy / remote / Dad's new phone was in onepiece. For around £180 including VAT,the ICFX3200 T2R/G requires some serious investment, especially giventhat the heavily overclockable P965 boards top out at around the £140mark and the promising nForce 650i boards are even cheaper. However,it's still cheaper than most of the problem-free nForce 680i SLI mobosthat are £200+. In that respect, the board falls into a bit of niche, where it's stillan expensive motherboard (even more so considering it's the UT versionthat comes with a meagre bundle), but it's still not as serious of aninvestment as some boards on the market. So yeah, it's just like aFerrari. [News] Ratpadz XT Premium Mousing Surface @ virtual-hideout.net [Dec-19-06] (0 Comments) Is the Ratpadz any different?. If you want a good comparison tosomething you might already have, think indestructible cutting board, orarmor plating, and you'll get a good idea on how sturdy it feels (that's aplus btw) Logisys Blue Acrylic/Clear Yin Yang Case @ modders-inc.com [Dec-09-06] (0 Comments) The clear Yin Yang Case combines the beauty of colors with thecontemporary sense of clarity in the form of ancient Chinese Yin Yang curve.With a clear front door, it adds more protection for your valuable drivesand more elegance and style. The light transparent color gives the case afresh look in the beige dominated PC world. You have to see it to appreciateits beauty. Auzentech X-Meridian 7.1 Sound Card @ nvnews.net [Nov-21-06] (0 Comments) The sound that came out of my headphones with Dolby Headphone enabled was awe inspiring. I have never heard anything like it. From ratty old mp3s to high definition audio, this card delivers amazing quality of sound. My wife even agrees. I made her listen to some mp3s normally, then with Dolby Headphone turned on. Then, I turned on the Virtual 7.1 speakers, and she became giddy...a very rare occurrence. For those of us who cannot crank up the audio without disturbing our significant others, the Dolby Headphone feature is the perfect solution. Hidden gems of the interweb @ bit-tech.net [Nov-07-06] (0 Comments) Whilst the world is still trying to get their heads round the scale of Google Maps and its desktop client counterpart, Google Earth, the company has expanded its satellite photography fieldtrip into outer space and come up with Google Mars and Google Moon. These apps, you guessed it, use the Google Maps interface to allow users to view the two stellar bodies in all their mapped photographic glory. In addition to the usual features such as zooming, panning and permalinking (creating hyperlinks to current map views), the spaced out versions also include Elevation, Visible and Infrared views, which show the maps shaded and colour-coded by altitude, as a mosaic of standard visible images and from a perspective of the infrared group in the spectrum. AMD Technology on Ferrari Formula 1 Cars @ hardwaresecrets.com [Oct-20-06] (0 Comments) We visited Ferrari boxes today during the preparation for the last race of the 2006 F1 World Championship that will happen next weekend, to check out all the electronics involved, which is sponsored by AMD. Check it out! LG P1 Express Dual notebook @ aoaforums.com [Oct-10-06] (0 Comments) At first glance this unit appears to be a very good deal at $2499 AUD. Similarly priced HP only features a nVidia GO7400 and a Centrino Duo 1.73 GHz. And identically priced LG comes in with the bigger brother processor, a Centrino Duo 2.0 GHz but only features a GO7300.It is a very lightweight unit, easily able to be carried around in ones briefcase of backpack. I think perhaps the nicest feature, is the inclusion of the numpad, a rare find on laptops with screen sizes of only 15.4=94 (only is used loosely in this case), it is usually reserved for the larger units with 17=94 screens. News@Technic3D / Revoltec Alubook 2 RubyRed @ technic3d.com [Oct-08-06] (0 Comments) The eSATA USB Case Revoltec Alubook 2 RubyRed arrived Technic3 D. The red external HDD Case faster than a Ferrari? You can see that i n the following Review. MSI NX7950GX2-T2D1GE @ hothardware.com [Sep-22-06] (0 Comments) Usually, good price / performance ratios are reserved for moreaffordable mid-range cards. Flagship cards rarely offer a lot of value,however. That's just not the case with the 7950 GX2, though. It offersperformance that somewhat justifies its $550+ price tag. The GX2 performsroughly on par with a pair of GeForce 7900 GT cards, and its price isin-line with the cost of two GTs. And MSI's version of this card proved tobe an excellent representative of NVIDIA's flagship. Logitech Harmony 895 @ ukgamer.com [Sep-14-06] (0 Comments) Logitech's Harmony 895 is one of those rare breeds, combining high-end functionality with a price that won't leave you gasping for breath. As a universal remote control it needs to have a cool factor and the designers at Logitech have come up with something that looks sleek, does the basics very well and has a few tricks up its sleeve as well. Hardware3D News:How To Properly Clean Your DVD Collection @ hardware3d.com [Sep-03-06] (0 Comments) Properly cleaning the data side of DVDs is one of the most disregarded hardware longetivity precautions. Often times, individuals wipe off grease and/or dust by simply rubbing the non-label side of a disc in a circular fashion, using harsh abrasives, such the underside of a t-shirt, or worse, a towel. Truth be told, that's not the way to do it! Yes, you may have temporarily fixed the read issue, but you have also permanently scarred the disc, which could cause many more read issues in the future. Why not take a few extra precautions and do it the right way, and make your data last longer? Philips S900 Touchscreen LCD Cell Phone @ dailyce.com [Jun-20-06] (0 Comments) Philips has released a Korean version of the S900 cell phonewith touchscreen capability to make it easier for users to entercharacters in languages other than English (Korean to name one). Theexterior of the unit is very sleek and stylish and comes bundled withlatest technologies and features, such as integrated MP3 player, storagecard support, a 2-megapixel camera, an infrared port and Bluetoothwireless technology. Sytrin KuFormula VF1 Plus GFX cooler @ xtremecomputing.co.uk [Jun-13-06] (0 Comments) One of the biggest things that impressed me is the stability of thetemperatures it is similar to water-cooling in a sense as that too keepstemperatures very stable and rarely will the Celsius jump dramaticallybetween idle and load temperatures. Another big selling point is theuniversal brackets allowing you to use any GFX card on the planet withouthaving to change coolers. Biomech 550 Giger case @ bit-tech.net [Jun-13-06] (0 Comments) Now the work of turning the side into a part of a biomechanical machinery. As there are no biomech kits to buy out there(!), I had to use my imagination. After raiding a pile of old toys I found a lot of stuff that could work. Here you can see some of the parts glued on to the side. There are pieces from a tank, a truck, a Ferrari F40 and a motorcycle on there. It doesn't look biomechanical yet, but that is about to change. SoundGraph iMON 2.4G LT & DT @ techpowerup.com [Jun-05-06] (0 Comments) Soundgraph was established in 2000 as a spinoff from Samsung. Their latest product is the SoundGraph iMON 2.4G series of remote controls. Unlike traditional infrared remotes they use 2.4 GHz wireless. The advantage of this is that it will work through walls and you don't have to point the remote at the receiver. Even though the 2.4 GHz band is used there were no problems running with an active wireless LAN nearby. Soundgraph iMON VFD @ techpowerup.com [May-19-06] (0 Comments) The Soundgraph iMON VFD is the perfect accessory to turn your normal PC into a HTPC. The set is made of a bright and responsive VFD with an integrated volume control and large infrared remote control. Soundgraph has produced a solid gadget and has thought out an ingenious installation system. The software is incredibly easy to set up and use. The remote enables total control over the PC, while the VFD displays much more than just song titles and PC information. ThermoHawk 400 Touchless Thermometer @ metku.net [May-11-06] (0 Comments) Sensor in ThermoHawks operates by detecting the infrared radiation emitted by the object/surface being measured. This technique brings a lot of benefits. Being touchless is one of the most crucial. This allows you to take measurements from very hot, sterile or hazardous material that would be impossible with many thermometers that are operated via a physical contact. Building an Infrared Transmitter for Your PC @ hardwaresecrets.com [May-09-06] (0 Comments) Learn how to build an infrared transmitter/receiver for your PC, in order to connect IR devices to it, like cell phones. ELF File Format in Linux @ osweekly.com [Apr-11-06] (0 Comments) ELF (Executable and Linkable Format) is a standard file formatfor most executables, shared libraries and object codes. This format wasoriginally developed and published by USL (Unix System Laboratory) aspart of ABI (Application Binary Interface) and now it’s a widelyaccepted format in most UNIX variants. Extending the Operating System @ osweekly.com [Mar-28-06] (0 Comments) As we all know, operating system is an essential part of anycomputer system, but what most of us don’t understand are theintricacies of how OS environments operate. This article discusses theways of extending the operating system by various ways including, butnot limited to, recompiling the kernel and managing libraries.Extensibility is the need of time. It gives the user more Saitek ST90 Joystick @ thinkgaming.org [Mar-15-06] (0 Comments) Saitek makes some great products, not long ago I reviewed the Cyborg Evo Force joystick. The Cyborg would be consideredhigh-end. Today I have what some would consider low end, not cheap but lower priced. I have the Saitek ST90, billed as:'Therevolutionary foldable stick for professional gamers', I'll admit I am not a professional gamer by any means, but I do love to playgames when I get time, which is rare these days. The Saitek ST90 is a cool looking joystick that anyone can afford. Gigabyte Video Card Giveaway @ xyzcomputing.com [Mar-09-06] (0 Comments) The prize this time around is a Gigabyte X600 XT PCI Express Video Card. We reviewed this card a few months ago but it has a lot of life left in i t. Though this model is a generation old it is great for gaming and gene ral use. If you don't want the video card please specify one prize from this list:Intel Centrino hat, AMD x64 Limited Edition Hat, AMD Ferrari ha t, Arctic Cooling Silencer 64 Ultra, Crucial Ballistic t-shirt, Sunbeam Wa ter Pump power relay, Spire Kestrel King skt 939 CPU cooler, Nexxos skt 47 8 waterblock from AlphaCool, Corepad mousepad, or Evil Dead II UMD movie ( for PSP). The contest is easy to enter and easy to win! Stop by and join the community- you can't lose! A conversation with Cory Doctorow @ bit-tech.net [Feb-27-06] (0 Comments) DRM systems are usually broken in minutes, sometimes days. Rarely months. It's not because the people who think them up are stupid. It's not because the people who break them are smart. It's not because there's a flaw in the algorithms. At the end of the day, all DRM systems share a common vulnerability:they provide their attackers with ciphertext, the cipher and the key. At this point, the secret isn't a secret any more. PCI Express Video Card Giveaway @ xyzcomputing.com [Feb-27-06] (0 Comments) The prize this time around is a Gigabyte X600 XT PCI Express Video Card. We reviewed this card a few months ago but it has a lot of life left in i t. Though this model is a generation old it is great for gaming and any general use. Check out the review to learn more about it. If you don't want the video card please specify one prize from this list:Intel Centri no hat, AMD x64 Limited Edition Hat, AMD Ferrari hat, Arctic Cooling Silen cer 64 Ultra, Crucial Ballistic t-shirt, Sunbeam Water Pump power relay, S pire Kestrel King skt 939 CPU cooler, Nexxos skt 478 waterblock from Alpha Cool, Corepad mousepad, or Evil Dead II UMD movie (for PSP). The contest is easy to enter and easy to win! Stop by and join the community. Sennheiser HD415 Headphones @ bonafidereviews.com [Feb-20-06] (0 Comments) At the 2006 Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Sennheiser debuted a trio of mid-level headphones. The new series is meant to filter down some of the design improvements from its high priced models to more moderate consumers. Two of these, the HD 415 and HD 435 are technically very similar, differing only cosmetically in design and accessories. Both feature 40mm drivers, an open air design, and clean contemporary styling. ThermoHawk 200 Infrared Thermometer @ thinkcomputers.org [Feb-11-06] (0 Comments) Today I have for review something that every reviewer should have in their 'kit', but not just us reviewers, a lot of peoplecan benefit from this tool. I saw these being debuted at CES and I just had to stop by and check them out, well we got to talkingand they agreed to a review of one. It is the ThermoHawk infrared thermometer from Q3I. One of the things that intrigued me was theuse of new patent-pending technology that is the base of the ThermoHawk. Is it any good? Let's find out... a look back on bit-tech.net @ bit-tech.net [Feb-09-06] (0 Comments) Even if a show is being broadcast live, you'll be able to use your infrared remote control to start, stop, or go to any previous part of the program, at any time. If someone comes to your door, you'll be able to pause the program for as long as you like. You'll be in absolute control. Except, of course, you won't be able to forward past part of a live show as it's taking place. Hardware Giveaway:Pick-Your-Own-Prize! @ xyzcomputing.com [Feb-01-06] (0 Comments) Stop by the forums, join up, and you could be the big winner! You choose t he prize you want so you know you want be disappointed. Entering takes j ust a seconds. The prizes:Intel Centrino hat, AMD x64 Limited Edition H at, AMD Ferrari hat, Arctic Cooling Silencer 64 Ultra, Xtrac Hybrid mouse pad, Crucial Ballistic t-shirt, Sunbeam Water Pump power relay, Spire Kest rel King skt 939 CPU cooler, Nexxos skt 478 waterblock from AlphaCool, Cor epad mousepad, or Evil Dead II UMD movie (for PSP). AMD's Ferrari collaboration @ bit-tech.net [Jan-28-06] (0 Comments) First up, we quizzed Michael Schumacher. Ferrari has been able to get its car ready for testing comparatively early compared to previous years. How important has the simulation and telemetry data processing been to you and team? Acer Ferrari 20" widescreen monitor @ bit-tech.net [Jan-16-06] (0 Comments) widescreen monitor review at bit-tech--Apple-Mail-26-208210169Content-Transfer-Encoding:7bitContent-Type:text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowedAcer has expanded their successful partnership with Ferrari and have launched a range of high-performance LCD monitors. We look at the flagship F20 widescreen. It's red, so does it go any faster?Linkhttp://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2006/01/13/ acer_ferrari_f20_lcd_monitor/1.htmlPichttp://www.bit-tech.net/content_images/acer_ferrari_f20_lcd_monitor/ fp_img.jpgQuote AMD Athlon FX60 @ bit-tech.net [Jan-10-06] (0 Comments) With that said, with the exception of one multi-tasking scenario, the Athlon 64 FX-60 is the fastest all-round processor on the planet. The Pentium Extreme Edition 955 may be attractive to someone who often finds themselves wanting to do more than two things at the same time, but that market is limited to a few die hard power users. However, it's worth noting that there are rare occasions where I find myself running out of processor power with my current Athlon 64 X2. How Manufacturers Test Heatsinks & Thermal Compound @ frostytech.com [Jan-06-06] (0 Comments) Have you ever wondered how a heatsink manufacturer tests its new heatsinks to ensure what you buy will do the job? AMD and Intel each do it a little bit differently, and the methods of each respective microprocessor manufacturer change with each successive CPU class. It's rare for any heatsink manufacturer to show off the test platform used for validating prototype heatsinks, but at a recent trade show in Taipei, FrostyTech was shown one such platform for Intel Pentium 4 LGA775 heatsinks. Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard @ aseville.com [Dec-12-05] (0 Comments) 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. Samsung SPP-2040 Photo Printer @ overclockersonline.com [Dec-05-05] (0 Comments) Printing at home does have its advantages over printing from a lab,but those advantages come with a cost, the SPP-2040 itself retails foraround 200 Canadian Dollars, while less than other printers on the marketit's not exactly budget friendly - and even more so when the consumables areadded. In comparison to lab prints, the SPP-2040 put up quite a fight;easily crushing Kinkos, but slightly behind Blacks. Ever since the existenceof photo printers, it was widely known that printing from home would costsignificantly more per print than printing from a store, but for some theconvenience is well worth the cost. Like the printer, the included softwarewas packed with features, had a clean layout, easy to install and was veryeasy to use. :Alienware Area-51 m5700 laptop @ hexus.net [Dec-02-05] (0 Comments) Where theAlienware Area-51 falls foul of the competition is with respect to 3Dgraphics. NVIDIA's GeForce 6800 Go 256MB PCIe graphics adapter is noslouch, but the Ultra model, as specified by Dell, is significantlyfaster. The comparison Rock's Mobility Radeon X800 XT 256MB is fasterstill, so Alienware, pricing this particular sample at around Ł1800,really needed to out-specify the established hierarchy for DTRlaptops. Matters would have been fine if one had the option ofupgrading the video to the '6800 Ultra model, or even themore-impressive GeForce 7800 GTX Go, but that isn't the case. Saitek ST90 Joystick @ thinkcomputers.org [Nov-29-05] (0 Comments) Saitek makes some great products, not long ago I reviewed the Cyborg Evo Force joystick. The Cyborg would be consideredhigh-end. Today I have what some would consider low end, not cheap but lower priced. I have the Saitek ST90, billed as:'Therevolutionary foldable stick for professional gamers', I'll admit I am not a professional gamer by no means, but I do love to playgames when I get time, which is rare these days. The Saitek ST90 is a cool looking joystick that anyone can afford and might want toadd to their holiday gift list. Corsair TWINX 2048-4000 @ overclockersonline.com [Nov-23-05] (0 Comments) The Corsair TwinX 2048-4000 did not disappoint when it came tooverclocking or performance. Rated to run at DDR500 3-4-4-8 and actuallyrunning at DDR560 with those timings was a nice surprise. The benchmarkresults were right were they should be with the frequencies the system wasrunning at. Having 2GB of memory is no longer the rarity it was a few shortmonths ago and with the price tag that the TwinX 2048-4000 is sporting, alot more people will be making the jump. Corsair will be putting smiles on alot of overclockers faces with this kit and rightfully so. Amazingperformance backed up with great overclocking should put this kit at the topof the budget build list for someone looking to go with 2GB. Corsair TWINX 2048-4000 @ overclockersonline.com [Nov-23-05] (0 Comments) The Corsair TwinX 2048-4000 did not disappoint when it came tooverclocking or performance. Rated to run at DDR500 3-4-4-8 and actuallyrunning at DDR560 with those timings was a nice surprise. The benchmarkresults were right were they should be with the frequencies the system wasrunning at. Having 2GB of memory is no longer the rarity it was a few shortmonths ago and with the price tag that the TwinX 2048-4000 is sporting, alot more people will be making the jump. Corsair will be putting smiles on alot of overclockers faces with this kit and rightfully so. Amazingperformance backed up with great overclocking should put this kit at the topof the budget build list for someone looking to go with 2GB. Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250 GB Hard Drive @ xyzcomputing.com [Nov-23-05] (0 Comments) Despite the fact that advances in storage techology are rarely as excitin g as those in other fields of electronics, hard drive manufacturers have b e able to produce steady and even impressive gains in recent months. The dominance of SATA, increasing cache sizes, increasing capacities, and dro pping prices have kept consumers watching the hard drive industry. The r esults of these changes have been very positive and have put the hard driv e market on a firm footing for future advancement... This review goi ng to be taking a look at the Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250 GB hard drive. The name is a mouthful and it does not reveal much at this d rive, but the product does have some great features in store for users. In addition to a 300 MB/sec transfer rate the drive has a 16 MB cache, bot h of which should make it one of the best performing 7200 RPM drives on th e market. WD categorizes this drive in the GeIL ONE Winbond BH5 1GB Dual Channel Kit @ ngohq.com [Nov-21-05] (0 Comments) GeIL is a modest manufacturer that was founded in 1997. They have made other memory manufacturers stand up and take notice, and have gained a lot of fame in a very short time. Those that may want to know, GeIL stands for Golden Emperor International Ltd. Today we have the chance to review some GeIL CAS 1.5 DDR memory. Memory that runs at this latency is rare and is not easy to find. This DDR can run at 250MHz at CAS 2 with nice tight 2-2-5 timings. Creative X-Fi and NF4 Compatibility Issue @ pcper.com [Nov-11-05] (0 Comments) We understand that, in rare instances, some users have experiencedPC system incompatibility issues when installing Sound Blaster X-Fi soundcards with 2MB of cache (Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic and Sound BlasterX-Fi Platinum) on nForce4 chipset motherboards. We've determined that thecause of this incompatibility is an issue in the motherboard's BIOS,relating to its PCI enumeration of devices with 2MB or less of cachememory. New @ moditory.com [Nov-06-05] (0 Comments) Func Industries has been known to release great gaming pads withtheir signature dual-sided surfaces. Going at it again with the releaseof their new Archetype, Func has combined their dual sided surface with amore affordable base component (aluminum is available however) and someextra room to make their newest gaming pad, the sUrface 1030 Archetype.Can it stand up to some serious gaming and universal application use? orare you better off using a coffee coaster? Lets find out. Silverstone LC17 @ overclockersonline.com [Nov-01-05] (0 Comments) The SilverStone SST-LC17 is an attractive case. For an HTPC/desktopsolution, it offers very competitive cooling and does this well right out ofthe box. What it could stand to improve on though is the interiorarrangement by either going to a micro ATX only design (and then rearrangingthe layout) or increasing the length one or two inches. Anyone who tries totake advantage of the full expansion capabilities of this case are likely torun into some frustration along the way. Sure things will fit, but it isn'texactly easy sometimes. TechConnect's X-Micro Video MP3 400 Player @ tcmagazine.info [Oct-20-05] (0 Comments) X-Micro’s Video MP3 400 is a rarity in this age of conflicting standards and custom devices:it operates on easily replaceable and cheap AA batteries, it features a fully-specced USB interface that’s faster than a speeding bullet fired from a moving train, and it plugs into just about any USB-mini plug, with no need for expensive and exclusive cabling or special drivers. Antec P180 Advanced Super Mid Tower @ thinkcomputers.org [Oct-13-05] (0 Comments) BMW, Mercedes, Ferrari, etc these are all considered luxury cars. In the computer case industry we have the same luxuryproducts Lian-Li, Cooler Master, Silverstone. Now Antec is not quite up to that point yet. What I consider luxury is something thathas quality, and added features that you do not see on other cases. Antec is known for quality, and all the cases we have reviewedwere quality. The cases were well made and really had no problems with them, it was just they were lacking the added features. Welltoday we are going to look at a case that will bring Antec up into the luxury category. So without further ado I present to you theAntec P180 Mid-Tower Case. Corsair Flash Media:40X CF & 60X SD @ overclockersonline.com [Oct-05-05] (0 Comments) Corsair has certainly done an excellent job in entering the FlashMemory market by offering an abundance of choice. Both products live up totheir expectations and even exceed them. The 40X CF certainly impressed mewith the full 1006 MB capacity, a rare find in most storage products, but itdoes come at a cost slightly more than your typical 40X card. What you doend up buying is a brand many enthusiasts trust. The 60X SD is pricedslightly higher than some other brands, but still well below the brand nameslike Lexar or SanDisk. You could even get a 1 GB 133X SD and a free 128 MBFlash Voyager for less than the cost of comparable Lexar and SanDiskproducts! Ulti-Mat Add 'n Slide @ xyzcomputing.com [Sep-29-05] (0 Comments) This is going to be a quick and dirty review of Ulti-Mat's Add 'n Slide m ouse feet. This product is attached to the bottom of your mouse to repla ce the stock feet, which companies rarely put enough effort into. Though this is a very simple product, the proper mouse feet can finely tune how your mouse moves on the pad, from effortless and quick to high friction an d slow. Logitech Cordless Mini Optical Mouse @ thinkcomputers.org [Sep-28-05] (0 Comments) Laptops, most of them do not come with a separate mouse. If it is your first laptop then it is really hard to get used tothose touch-pads or pointers. The purpose of a laptop for most people is travel and portability, so larger mice are rarely used forlaptops. People want something that is easy to travel with, and does not take up much space. Today we will be looking at a productthat solves both of those issues, along with some added features. HEXUS.snapshots::Xingtone ringtone creator @ hexus.net [Sep-26-05] (0 Comments) Xingtone's software allows you to load an audio file fromyour computer or CD, chop it up to get your favourite bit, edit it alittle and then send it to your phone via the Internet. You're notdownloading something pre-made, you're not composing your own music,you're creating a tone from your own personal media library. Acer Ferrari 4005 WLMi Turion64 Notebook @ pcstats.com [Aug-20-05] (0 Comments) The Acer Ferrari 4005 WLMi notebook is powered by an AMD Turion64 ML-37 processor running at 2.0GHz, 1GB of DDR-333 system memory, an integrated ATI Mobility Radeon X700 video card with 128MB of dedicated video memory and a large 15.4 Gigabyte Aurora chassis and watercooling kit @ bit-tech.net [Aug-05-05] (0 Comments) Some people don’t like doors (it can be removed if you don’tmindlosing the security of locking it up tight) and some may not like blue.These are all subjective. Setting personal preferences aside, the 3DAurora is damn impressive. It is rare that I have come across acomputer case with this quality of build. The fit and finish of everysingle part is really amazing, it’s built like tank. Do-It-Yourself Guide:Building a Home Theatre PC @ pcstats.com [Jul-27-05] (0 Comments) Computers are a perfect fit for the entertainment room, and building your own home theatre PC is not more difficult than assembling a standard system - as long as you have the right components for the task. In this Do-It-Yourself Guide, PCSTATS are going to walk you step-by-step through the process of assembling your own home theatre PC out of contemporary components. We'll also explore the various things you can do with an HTPC after it's built. New at The Moditory:WinTasks 5.0 Pro and Process Library @ moditory.com [Jul-23-05] (0 Comments) On your computer there's all sorts of applications running andyou're not always able to see them. In fact, there are many base processesthat run in the background to keep your operating system,well...operating. Anyways, with viruses, worms, trojans, and othermalicious forms of destruction, you can have processes running on yourcomputer that you don't know about, using your PC for unsavory purposes.Illicit processes beware, UniBlue has created a duo that not only helpsusers combat undesired programs, but also provides information aboutnearly any process along with a ton of other features. UniBlue presentsProcessLibrary.com and WinTasks 5 Pro. Scan Cool Chameleon - A First Look @ hexus.net [Jul-01-05] (0 Comments) Getting a sneak peak at a new, unreleased SKU in the midst ofproduction completion, especially one like the Chameleon where it'smore than just performance that defines it, is a rare privilege. Thechance to see something take shape and not only that, but to offersuggestions and opinions that might even shape the final product Scanbring to market, was a treat. I hope you can appreciate the work thatgoes into production of products like that. Various News Items [May-15-05] (0 Comments) Mutant Mods UV EL IDE Cable @ ThinkComputers.org Logitech MediaPlay Cordless Mouse Review @ XYZ Computing World Premiere! ACER FERRARI 4000 AMD Turion 64 Notebook @ amdboard.com Nextherm ICS 8200 Intelligent MIDI Tower @ A True Review A.C.Ryan Xneon Lighted SATA cables @ techniz.co.uk asetek VapoChill LightSpeed [AC] Review @ octools.com [May-06-05] (0 Comments) For those who can afford it, the asetek VapoChill LightSpeed is the ultimate choice! It is the Ferraris of all modern day processor cooler. With the VapoChill LightSpeed comes guaranteed subzero cooling and extreme overclocking. Hands down this is the best PC cooler money can buy. DFI LanParty UT nF4 SLI-DR Socket 939 Motherboard @ pimprig.com [Apr-30-05] (0 Comments) Here are a couple of features that are targeted directly towards folks like us. If you are like me, my main rig is rarely completely put together and often runs on my Senfu bench outside the case. DFI included a power and reset switch directly on the board so tweakers don't have to use their modded adapters to power up or reset the board. SilverStone Lascala SST-LC13 HTPC Case Review @ modthebox.com [Apr-16-05] (0 Comments) SilverStone has taken a very simplistic contemporary approach to designing the SST-LC13 while maintaining the same high level of detail and craftsmanship seen on most Lascala HTPC cases. The SST-LC13 carries a large footprint measuring 430mm (W) x 163mm (H) x 430mm (D) with a weight of 9kg. The entire composition of the case has been designed using a custom aluminum front panel with a 0.8mm SECC body. The main focus for the SST-LC13 is the single piece front bezel design and support for mATX, ATX and Extended ATX motherboard formats. Do We Take The Internet For Granted? @ The Tech Zone [Apr-13-05] (0 Comments) However when Zardinia walked into the office on this particular Monday she could sense something was wrong. It was like an anxious buzzing cloud of confusion was raining weirdness in the air. As she sat down her supervisor walked up and gave her the news. The company’s Internet connection was temporarily ‘out of order’ and would be fixed at an indeterminate time. Well, life sure is unpredictable. Altec Lansing InMotion IM3 Portable Audio Review @ Tech-Mods.net [Mar-30-05] (0 Comments) Personal music players have been around for some time now; we have seen many different sizes and styles over the years. From the once great cassette tape, right down to the MP3 players we are used to today. As portable and personal these units have been designed, there are times we would like to share the music we carry with us. Today we will be looking at a portable audio station; designed mainly for the well known I-Pod but yet flexible to be used with near any other portable device you may have. Let’s see if this paperback sized unit can fill a small library when you’re in the sharing mood? Club 3D GeForce 6800GT @ 3DVelocity [Mar-24-05] (0 Comments) Club3D are a bit of a rare bird in that its product portfolio includes graphics products not only from NVIDIA, but also from ATi, XGI and S3 too. This may optimise their marketing possibilities but I wondered how it would impact on their relationship with the individual companies. The answer I got from the UK's Gary Jones was a very simple one...."it doesn't! Fujifilm MP-70 Portable Printer Preview @ CoolTechZone [Mar-21-05] (0 Comments) Fujifilm is the first manufacturer to bring a portable printer that prints credit card sized images directly from a certain group of cell phones via infrared technology (wirelessly). According to Fujifilm, the printer weighs in at mere seven ounces (without batteries). The MP-70 requires two CRT2 lithium batteries to operate and prints about 130 images with fully charged batteries. In addition, Fujifilm’s Image Intelligence technology allows the portable MP-70 to print images at 256dpi resolution. The Image Intelligence technology auto exposures the image in low-light conditions to enhance the overall quality. The peripheral supports images only in JPEG format no larger than three megapixels (or 900K). Arctic Cooling Silentium T2 Case Review @ modthebox.com [Mar-17-05] (0 Comments) Arctic Cooling has taken a simplistic approach towards the overall design of the Silentium T2 by focusing a good portion of detail on the front bezel. The look is very modern and contemporary accented by an attractive silver and black colour combination. The Silentium T2 Case supports both mATX and Full ATX motherboard formats and includes a 350w Seasonic PSU. The Future of Entertainment @ thetechzone.com [Mar-14-05] (0 Comments) Ive heard this argument before. My grade ten IT teacher assured us that within five years (and this was four years ago) we would no longer be purchasing CDs. With the advent of broadband we were going to see purchases of music and movies online, streamed to the computer or another device. Ive always thought this was relatively unlikely. I may be in the minority, but I really like the CD and DVD cases. Theres something a bit more tangible to them, more of a feeling of value for money. Plus they look kind of good lined up on a shelf like some new-age library. The Open Source Project Files @ hi-techreviews.com [Mar-08-05] (0 Comments) If I told you I could give you access to software that did nearly the same thing as Photoshop, 3DStudioMax, Dreamweaver MX, MS Office, WS_FTP, WinZip, WinRar, Notepad Professional and a free Anti-Virus software program would you be interested? Would it interest you more if I told you that this was not shareware but software released under the Open Source Initiative and it was free for you to use as long as you like? We have put together a list of eight Open Source programs we think the average computer user cant live without. Thermaltake Purepower 680 Watt ATX Computer Power Supply Review @ Tweaknews [Jan-05-05] (0 Comments) It's a rare product indeed that I can't find some fault with. The Thermaltake PurePower 680W is one of those products. Stability, power, features, finish and quality are all first rate. Hell, I'm even using the box it came in, with its nifty plastic carry handle, to store spares. I've always considered the PSU to be the most important part of a system, feeding and protecting all the other components. With a retail price of around $170 US, it's not the cheapest PSU out there, but it's not the most expensive either and factoring in what you get for your money, it's a good value. Review: mCubed T-Balancer Fan Controller @ BigBruin.Com [Dec-31-04] (0 Comments) Rarely does a product emerge that is truly new and different. The T-Balancer from mCubed is exactly that. There are many ways to control the speed of fans on a computer. The most common involves some sort of a fanbus or rheostat with knobs on the front. Turn the knob up and the fan goes faster, down and it goes slower, pretty simple. The T-Balancer is nothing even remotely close to a fanbus. Home Networking: A Visual Do-It-Yourself Guide @ pcstats.com [Nov-10-04] (0 Comments) Home networking can be a daunting topic for computer users who are unfamiliar with the intricacies of network technology, even if Windows XP's new features make the process vastly easier than it used to be. To help home users out with this essential subject, Cisco Press recently released a new book entitled "Home Networking: A Visual Do-It-Yourself Guide," this 175-page softcover book falls into the lower-priced category of computer guidebooks, which certainly makes it an easy addition to your tech library. 110 Halo 2 Screenshots @ gameconnect.info [Oct-29-04] (0 Comments) We received a (rar) file with lots of in-game Halo 2 footage. On the screenshots you can see several single-player levels played with both the Masterchief and the Elite. There are not only single-player screens, but also multiplayer screenshots. You can see ghosts, warthogs and bangee’s. You can see how someone gets a familiar “Running Riot”, which is always a good thing if you’re the one getting it. More familiar things like sticky grenades and the rocket launcher, which is know homing can be seen on the screens we received. Halo 2 looks great and it looks like Bungie did a great job in keeping the real Halo feeling in it. You’ll probably recognize the multi-player level, because it’s the new version of the most played multi-player level of the original Halo…. guess which level it that is ... Startup Library launched! @ I Am Not A Geek [Oct-15-04] (0 Comments) We've rolled out a startup library which is based upon Pacman's startup list. We were given permission to use what they've done as the basis of ours. To start things off we've added a couple of major features like an individual page for every listing of both the startup name and the process name which will be great for search engine lookup. Currently we only offer a simple search but will be adding more refined searching abilities in the future. This new guide will be going along side our File Help DB and we will be working on them both simultaneously. Currently we are sitting at 4883 items in this DB and we do expect it to grow quite a bit in the coming weeks. World Premiere! AMD Athlon 64 Acer Aspire 1520 notebook Specifications and Photos @ amdboard.com [Sep-25-04] (0 Comments) With Acer Ferrari 3400 we had a chance to realize how strong was Acer commitment to offer an attractive AMD notebook lineup with some of the most exquisite designs. Today AMDboard.com, the AMD specialist site°°°, is first again to release the specification and photos of the newest AMD Athlon 64 Acer notebook. Relying on VIA chipsets to provide some unprecedented features like Gigabit LAN or FireWire IEEE1394, the Acer 1520 offers no less than 3 types of graphic chip (NVIDIA GeForce4 448 Go, NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200, NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5700) and a choice of 2 screen sizes (15" and 15.4"). Most interestingly, the Acer 1520 shares the same base than the Acer Sempron notebook version known at Acer 1360 which can already be found in 2 flavors, AS1362WLMi-XPP and AS1362LCi-XPP with both using AMD Mobile Sempron 2800+. World Premiere! Acer Ferrari 3400 notebook with Athlon 64 3000+ 90nm Specifications and Photos @ amdboard.com [Sep-21-04] (0 Comments) Athlon 64 is a growing success and, thanks to lower prices, newer socket 939 and 90nm manufacturing process, AMD is expecting to enjoy record shipment in coming quarters. First AMD processor to be engraved in 90nm, the Athlon 64 low-power mobile 3000+ has been announced on the 20th of September with mention of Acer Ferrari 3400 notebook being first to sport the shrinked baby. AMDboard has the full specifications and the first pictures ever released of this 15' screen SXGA Acer prodigal notebook. Socket 754 Shootout - Moterboards for the Sempron @ hardcoreware.net [Aug-23-04] (0 Comments) If you are considering the awesome value of the 64 bit Sempron processor, you are going to have a great time looking for boards. You aren't confined at all to use the latest, rarest, most expensive motherboards to use it. Instead, you are actually bound to get a board that is more capable that the CPU itself, due to limitations of the budget CPU! Today we're looking at a trio of Socket 754 boards worthy of your consideration for the Sempron. All are based on VIA's K8T800 chipset, and all can be had for just around $100 or less today. Find out who offers the best solution! Abit, Albatron, or Asus! Now 137 pictures in the graphics card gallery @ 3DChip [Aug-03-04] (0 Comments) After a longer recess, I thinned down again once all readers letters to the subject of graphic cards gallery and so some cards newly into the gallery on care. Under that two water-cooled Radeon 98er's are graphic cards many new older exemplares as well as a rare ZyVGA 16 POACH 51 of Zymos and a nice fake with name GF Unlimited. This graphic card shows unambiguously into the future of the 3D hardware! :) Through that built in is CPU and the storage outlets and the additional ATX current connector one always at the graphics enthusiasts limit. What graphic card too slowly? Then simply arm maximally 1 GB RAM + P4 GPU/CPU on the far side of the 4 GHz and fast goes the postal service. And many further graphic cards pictures 137 pieces can see here meanwhile in the graphic cards gallery. Much joke in the regarding wishes you the 3DChip-Team. Madman's Guide to Linux: Volume One - Introduction @ gurureview.co.uk [Aug-02-04] (0 Comments) Contrary to what Microsoft would have you believe, you don't have to use one over the other, as Linux will run happily alongside Windows, even allowing you to access your files created in Windows from within Linux (unfortunately, Windows won't allow you to access your Linux files, though you can install something to fix this). This allows you to learn Linux while still having a familiar system to fall back on. AMD get HEXUS on the red line - Interview with Luca Badoer of Ferrari @ Hexus [Jul-08-04] (0 Comments) In a blaze of high octane and gleaming carbon fibre, Tuesday night saw Formula 1 come to London, but just before the huge horsepower engines got fired for a maiden spin around the streets of the England's capital, HEXUS were top of the invite list to get up close and personal with Ms. Jane Parisi of Ferrari's Press Office for the first ever interview of Ferrari's seasoned Test Driver - Luca Badoer. Razer Viper 1000DPI Optical Mouse Review @ Ascully.com [Jun-14-04] (0 Comments) Both sides of the mouse have a special grip rail that stops your hand from sliding off the mouse. The mouse is actually ambidextrous so south paws will be happy, which is pretty rare in mice these days. The wire that comes from the mouse is very long so you will have no problem using the mouse on even the largest desk or if your PC is on the floor (shame on you). Free MP3 ripper! Using Windows Media Player @ IANAG [Jun-05-04] (0 Comments) Anybody who's been to this site before will know how big a fan I am of free stuff and tweaking software. Today I'm going to show you what I use for ripping my audio CDs to the MP3 format. Since I'm showing you how to do it you know it won't cost ya anything Maybe it's cause I'm cheap.... Maybe it's cause I'm BROKE! This is one of those rare times that we can get away with something without paying and without having to do additional work! Ahanix iMon Universal IR Remote Control Review @ bigbruin [May-26-04] (0 Comments) Having one controller be able to control Windows, Internet Explorer, DVDs, MP3s, and almost any multimedia program and do all these flawlessly is almost as rare as pure Unobtanium… Trying to integrate a PC into your home theater system can be a very tough thing to do. Controlling everything with one remote control is even tougher. The iMon comes as close as any device I have ever seen. The Relationship Between Overclocking and Cooling @ pcstats.com [May-13-04] (0 Comments) This is an article for overclockers which explores the age old question; "How does cooling affect Overclocking?" In an enthusiasts attempt to reach higher clock speeds, there will eventually come a time when the temperature of the processor, memory, or some other electrical component becomes the limiting factor. This is commonly known, of course, and is the prime reason why enthusiasts rarely if ever overclock with the stock heatsink AMD or Intel provide - it's simply not designed to handle the extra thermal load. Logitech Z3 Speakers @ Envy News [May-12-04] (0 Comments) Gone are the days of five-foot tall and ten driver cone speakers the size of small fridges. Replaced by Neodymium rare-earth magnets, zero-vibration materials, metal drivers, and smart resonance chambers, the new-generation bookshelf speakers have stepped in to eradicate the need of yester-decade's offerings. It's apparent from the low-end to the bleeding-edge high-end; small, compact, and sexy are the way to go. Today's young industrial and acoustic designers are employing over a century of audio engineering and combining these principles with present-day mass-manufacturing. The end result - top tier audio fidelity for the masses. It seems to be the trend for 2004; clean and smart designs combined with quality and excellence. Mouse Grips Review @ Ascully.com [Apr-19-04] (0 Comments) We have looked at so many different mousing products that after a while they all seem alike. After a while innovation becomes a rarity. We have seen a flood of products like feet that stick under your mouse to make them slippy, numerous mouse pads that claim to give you the edge over the competition, and even fancy holders that make sure your mouse wire does not get tangled in the heat of battle. Much to our surprise one afternoon something arrived on the desk that actually fits the innovation category, but it's such a simple idea I'm wondering why it actually hasn't been thought of before http://onlyscripts.com/nephp/?m=show&id=4 @ OnlyScripts.com [Apr-07-04] (0 Comments) Some of the newest buzzwords in the web industry today are SOAP, (Simple Object Access Protocol) and Web Services. There is much mystery and confusion around these two technologies. Many web developers do not know what they do, the point of having them, how to build them and use them once built. “Programming .NET Web Services” by Alex Ferrara and Matthew MacDonald, answers all of these questions and more. Thermaltake V8000A Gaming Case @ COC [Mar-19-04] (0 Comments) After spending some time with this new offering from Thermaltake I'll be the first to say I have never seen a case you can buy with this much stuff. Its simply remarkable to see a company like Thermaltake pay so much attention to what we want, and not what we need. The V8000A case is the Ferrari of cases. You get overclocking, functionality, and good looks in one nice and affordable package. Lets take a look... Ferrari Licensing: New Jackpot for AMD? @ AMDboard [Mar-17-04] (0 Comments) As genuine AMD fans, we have collected some of the most emblematic icons of this sudden and unexpected glory. From Lego to scale models, it's surely today the most unusual showcase seen on a computer-related site for a long time... AMD deserves it and, above all, going back to infancy is a rare pleasure that can't be refused... Forsa Geforce FX 5600 Review @ Techware Labs [Feb-17-04] (0 Comments) At the time of this article the big two manufacturers in the Video card market are Nvidia and ATI. Both compete for market share in a neverending production of video cards. A consumer is easily lost in this battle for which card to buy, where a card produced two months ago is no longer at the high end. In truth the consumer rarely needs a high end video card to still see appreciable gains in performance and have access to features available on high end cards. Creative Labs PC-DVD Multimedia Infrared Remote Control Review @ Tweak News [Feb-08-04] (0 Comments) For those looking for an inexpensive solution, you cannot get much better than the Creative (PC-DVD) Remote Control. The remote worked great right out of the box without much tinkering. For those who want more out of it, programmable functions abound in the Remote Selector application. Plus, the ability to expand the software bundle via other open source applications means that you can customize the remote, and make it do what you want it to do. The distance was excellent, although as always, IR is limited by line of sight. The ability to use keyboard emulation and mouse functions is also a great addition, however a little more speed is needed for the mouse movement. 181 results. New search. |
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