• Core i5-600 series pricing revealed - Intel plans to unveil 3 600-series CPUs, the 650, 660, and 670. The Core i5-650 will run at 3.2GHz and sell for $176, while the 660 will be clocked at 3.33GHz and sell for $196. Intel's highest-end dual-core will be the Core i5-670, which runs at 3.46GHz and will be launched at $284. With just two cores and a 32-nm manufacturing process, these chips should be pretty inexpensive for Intel to manufacture assuming they're getting good yields. I'm not really sure how many DIY'ers will want to pick one up though considering Core i5-750 and Core i7-860 Lynnfield CPUs will offer four cores and similar pricing.
• Tilera Announces 100-Core Processor - Tilera today announced new general-purpose CPUs, including a 100-core chip, as it tries to make its way into the server market dominated by Intel and AMD. The two-year-old startup's Tile-GX series of chips are targeted at servers and appliances that execute Web-related functions such as indexing. The chips have the attributes of a general-purpose CPU as they can run the Linux OS and other applications commonly used to serve Web data. The Gx100 100-core chip will draw close to 55 watts of power at maximum performance, Agarwal said. The 16-core chip will draw as little as 5 watts of power.
• ATI Ending DX9 Support for Many Cards - AMD has moved several DX9 only capable video cards into legacy status.
• Intel pulls TRIM firmware after data corruption complaints - Intel has pulled its new TRIM-enabled firmware after some users who installed it complained of data loss
• Upgrade from a Higher-End Vista/XP to a Lower-End Windows 7 - Here's a guide about upgrading from a Higher-End Vista/XP Version to a Lower-End Windows 7 Version.
• Windows 7 Installation & Boot Comparison vs Vista (video) - Here' the installation and comparison video of Windows 7 and how fast it boots in comparison to Windows Vista.
• Apple: Windows 7 is still Windows, complex and expensive - Apple says that consumers may turn to Mac computers because Microsoft's new operating system, Windows 7, is 'complex and expensive'...
• Firefox 3.5.4 and 3.0.15 Security Updates - Firefox 3.5.4 and 3.0.15 security updates are now available.
• Microsoft plans to open up Outlook PST data format - Microsoft said today that it plans to open up the PST data format commonly used within Outlook. In a MSDN blog posting, Paul Lorimer, Group Manager of Microsoft Office Interoperability, confirmed Microsoft want to improve platform-independent access to email, calendar, contacts, and other data generated by Microsoft Outlook. The PST format is used to store data ranging from email to calendar and contacts and allows for users to export and import that data within Microsoft Outlook.
• Ubuntu 9.10 Officially Released - Ubuntu 9.10 is now available for download from a wealth of mirrors all over the world.
• Google Maps Navigation Beta Demo - A demonstration of Google Maps Navigation (Beta), an internet-connected GPS navigation system that provides turn-by-turn voice guidance as a free feature of Google Maps on Android 2.0 phones.
• Google announces Android 2.0 platform - Google has announced the new Android 2.0 platform. Android 2.0 brings new developer APIs for sync, Bluetooth, and some other areas. Developers can now write applications to enable users to sync their devices to various contact sources. With the new Bluetooth API, developers can easily add peer-to-peer connectivity or gaming to their applications
• Sky Player on Xbox 360 off to a shaky start [UK] - British firm BSkyB has joined forces with Microsoft to give Xbox 360 owners the chance to watch live television and on demand content on their consoles. Sky Player for Xbox 360 gives subscribers access to live pay TV channels - including Sky Sports and video on demand content. Microsoft also plans to launch the Sky Player service in Media Center 'soon'.
• How to make virtual reality goggles - This guy made a pair of virtual reality goggles that let you 'immerse yourself in distant locations.'
• Official Trailer for Paul Greengrass' Green Zone - Universal has finally debuted the first official trailer for Green Zone, directed by Paul Greengrass and starring Matt Damon, Jason Isaacs, Greg Kinnear, Brendan Gleeson, and Amy Ryan.
• Great Trailer for John Lennon Biopic Nowhere Boy - The first trailer for Sam Taylor-Wood's Nowhere Boy, the biopic about a young John Lennon, has debuted on YouTube (via The Playlist). This actually looks fantastic, even better than I was expecting. The Weinstein Company is distributing Nowhere Boy in the US, but hasn't set a release date yet.
• Stunning Samurai Sci-Fi Trailer The Cup of Tears - Here's the trailer for Gary Shore's The Cup of Tears, a gorgeous CGI hybrid samurai sci-fi movie being made in Ireland. Word is: "Follows a scorned geisha who creates a magical cup made of tears that causes any man who drinks from it to fall into a permanent sleep. One night the cup is stolen, setting off a chain of events that threatens civil war amongst the clans. Taro, a gifted samurai, sets out to find the cup and one who can break the spell." As far as we know, this doesn't have a distributor yet, so stay tuned for updates. I'll be following this closely since it looks great!
• Star Trek Deleted Scene Online - Here is a deleted scene, via Spike, from the movie showing us a masked ruffle-headed Klingon interrogating Nero played by Eric Bana, trying to get information from him about the future. Nero fights back, lets his right hand man go and says 'The wait is over' the line said in the trailer but was missing from the theatrical cut
• International Avatar Trailer - Fox has finally debuted the epic 3 1/2 minute long trailer for James Cameron's Avatar. This is the trailer we've been waiting for, the one that finally shows that there's more to Avatar than just giant blue Na'vi aliens, that it's a story about love and survival and the importance of life. And it looks absolutely incredible. The aliens do look very real, and the eyes do not have that creepy look to them
• Ares I-X Launch Video - Check it out
• What happens in elevators may not stay in elevators (video) -  What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. What gets filmed by surveillance cameras in Vegas elevators, however, doesn't always stay in Vegas.
• Miranda Kerr for Victoria's Secret Lingerie - If you're a single guy looking for a beautiful woman with a sexy body that brings home killer pay, then model Miranda Kerr could be exactly what you are looking for! :P
• Amazon Deals - U.S. & International Wireless ($259) || Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade Family Pack (3-User) || Save $60 on Office Home and Student || Waterworld [Blu-ray] (1995) (save $12.99) || Battlestar Galactica: The Plan [Blu-ray] (save $17.49)

• EVGA and NVIDIA prepping custom dual GPU PhysX card - This teaser page on EVGA's website cryptically hints at a card that's 'a rocking new graphics card designed by NVIDIA and EVGA to take PhysX to the next level.' In addition, Bright Side of News reports that the card in question fuses a GeForce GTX 275 GPU with a GeForce GTS 250, with the GTX 275 handling graphics duties while the GTS 250 secondary GPU is dedicated for PhysX. BSN believes EVGA takes the GeForece GTX 295 single-PCB reference design and replaces the second GTX 275 chip with the GTS 250's G92 GPU, which is outfitted with 512MB of memory. The secondary graphics chip is used solely for PhysX: so you can't use it to hook up additional displays. To keep power consumption in check it runs in idle mode when not in use.
• Mark Rein on Mobile Core i7 - Epic VP Mark Rein talks about high-end mobile gaming and game development on Intel's mobile Core i7 processors in this slick promotional vid.
• Magnetic-based HDDs still cheapest in 2020 - A new study claims that if magnetic-based hard disk drives (HDDs) continue to progress at their current rate then by 2020 we'll see a 2.5" HDD with a capacity of more than 14TB at a cost of about $US40.
• Microsoft WUDT Easily Creates Bootable USB W7 Install - Microsoft released the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool aka WUDT (download) which allows users to create a bootable USB device containing Windows 7 from an ISO image. Specifically, netbook users can use Microsoft's newly revamped online store to download Windows 7 for Netbooks onto a bootable USB, or burn it onto a DVD. The WUDT will work with PCs already running Windows XP or Vista. However, there are also some caveats for netbook users looking to take the USB route
• 8 Things We Want to See in Windows 8 - TechReviewSource.com posted 8 things they want to see in Windows 8. They mention New Filesystem, More Windows Explorer User Customization and Windows Services Overload.
• Pirated Windows 7 copies already available in China - Japan's Fuji TV reports that the copies have been on sale in China since quite some time. It is due to rampant piracy and the blind eye of the authorities that software vendors lose billions of dollars in the world's fastest growing economy. We certainly hope Windows 7 sales will be better than Vista in China.
• Windows 7 fails on Japanese TV (video) - Blue screen of death, errors, and more errors, yes, you are welcome to the world of Windows. As seen in the video a TV anchor demonstrates Windows 7 on live TV. He tries to zoom in on the Fuji TV studio, but nothing happens. At the end of the failed test, he concludes that Windows 7 is indeed faster than Windows Vista.
• Linux creator Linus Torvalds gives Windows 7 a thumbs up - Linus Torvalds, the father of the Linux Kernel gave Windows 7 the thumbs up in Japan yesterday. Torvalds was in town for the Japan Linux Symposium exhibition and Microsoft reportedly setup a big promotion booth across the street from the conference center. During a conference break an attendee dragged Torvalds across the street to 'make fun of Microsoft. The result? A somewhat sarcastic thumbs up from Linus Torvalds :-)
• Ultima claims Top Gear track record without show's authorization - Ultima reportedly contacted Top Gear to let them know its car could go 'round the track faster than the aforementioned Prancing Horse, but the show apparently never responded. Taking matters into its own hands, then, Ultima borrowed the track for itself and is claiming to have completed a lap in one minute 9.9 seconds – less than one full tick quicker than the Ferrari, but quicker nonetheless. Plus, Ultima says, the GTR720 was both cheaper and fully road legal while the £1 million FXX is a track-only proposition.
• Sony unveils prototype 360deg 3D display (video) - The display offers an impressive image and doesn't require glasses. It's just a prototype now.
• Nokia sues Apple over the iPhone - Nokia is suing Apple for infringing patents on mobile phone technology used in the iPhone. Nokia added that this patent breach applies on all iPhones since its launch in 2007. Nokia said it had not been compensated for its technology, and accused Apple of "trying to get a free ride on the back of Nokia's innovation". The 10 alleged patent infringements involve wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption. Apple, which did not comment on the news, saw its shares dip slightly.
• Stallone is Going to Make Rocky 7 - Damn you Sly Stallone! There's a story making its way around the web right now that features a few new quotes from Sylvester Stallone that say that he just announced that he'll be going back to playing Rocky Balboa yet again in Rocky 7. If all this is to be believed, then he'll follow that up yet with Rocky 7, presumably in late 2010 or early 2011.
• Ana Beatruz Barros is Topless and Bottomless - Victoria's Secret model Ana Beatriz Barros looking absolutely hot topless and bottomless in DT magazine. This hot Brazilian peach is quickly becoming one of my favorite supermodels, and you can clearly see why looking at any one of these pictures. And it's Sunday, so enjoy!
• Amazon Deals - HP Photosmart Plus All-in-One Printer (save $75.05) || Toshiba Satellite T135 (Windows 7 upgrade included) (save $70) || Blu-ray for $9.99

• AMD slashes prices; 3.2GHz Core i7-960 in Intel price list - No more Socket AM2+ Phenom IIs. No more processors priced higher than $200, either - you can credit the arrival of Intel's Core i5 and i7-800 processors for that. The low-power 'e' chips might not be too terribly exciting, but the Athlon II X3 435 and 425 are a different story: they have three cores, relatively high clock speeds, and price tags well under $100.
• Patriot Gamer Series 4GB PC3 12800 1600 MHz DDR3 Memory Tested - The Patriot Gamer Series AMD Black Edition Memory is not only low latency, it also requires less volts than other kits.
• Apple attempt to gatecrash Win 7 launch with product updates - Apple on Tuesday refreshed the iMac and Mac Mini in time for the holiday-shopping season, adding a 27-inch screen to the all-in-one desktop and adding Snow Leopard Server as an option for Apple's lowest-priced desktop. In addition, Apple introduced a wireless mouse that uses the same multi-touch technology found in the iPhone, and started offering a redesigned MacBook, the company's lowest-priced notebook. 
• Asustek to launch new 8.9-inch touchscreen netbook - Asustek Computer is expected to launch an 8.9-inch touchscreen netbook Eee PC T91MT around the timeframe of the Microsoft Windows 7 launch. The company also plans to launch the 10-inch Eee PC T10 series netbooks in December, but that will depend on how sales of the Eee PC T91MT go. The December schedule may shift either forward or back, based on sales results of the Eee PC T91MT.
  
• Samsung Flexible OLED Hammered On (video) - While the hammer thing is kinda cool, the size of this and the way this thing bends is really what impressed me. OLED technology is freaking sweet!
• Windows 7 vs Snow Leopard benchmarks - The performance test ran using software available on both operating systems including iTunes 9, QuickTime, Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare and Cinebench R10; testing multimedia multitasking, shutdown time, boot time and iTunes encoding.
• Dual Boot Windows 7 with XP/Vista in three easy steps - TechSpot posted Dual Boot Windows 7 with XP/Vista in three easy steps.
• The 50 Best (and Worst) Moments in Windows History - Maximum PC posted the 50 Best (and Worst) Moments in Windows History
• GPU-Z v0.3.6 Released - For those of you that use the popular GPU-Z program, a new version is out now. The new version adds a lot of features and fixes for the new ATi cards as well as a few fixes for GeForce cards. Grab it if you need it, try it if you haven't.
• Firefox Blocks, Unblocks .Net Framework Assistant - Mozilla's vice president of engineering has updated his blog saying that the company has removed Microsoft's .Net Framework Assistant from the blocklist but there is still more testing to be done.
• Barnes & Noble Nook's first close-up - The Nook has a six-inch 16-level E-ink screen with a color touchscreen underneath for navigation and settings, and -- it's running Android! You can lend a book to a friend, and there's wireless on AT&T's 3G network as well as WiFi. Pre-sales are live now at $259, and it'll be shipping in November. All B&N stores will soon be getting a big crazy display unit that showcases the device and a number of cases from all sorts of designers. And what's more, Nook owners can connect to B&N WiFi and browse complete ebooks in-store for free -- just like a real book. That's pretty great.
• New Android commercial attacks iPhone (video) - Verizon released a new commercial which takes shots at the missing features for the iPhone. The advertisement attacks Apple's oversights on the iPhone like a real keyboard, running simultaneous applications, being customizable, allowing widgets, open source development and interchangeable batteries. The advertisement also takes a stab at the iPhone's camera, saying the Android based phone will have a 5MP camera and will be able to take pictures in the dark. The Android 2.0 phone will release this November on Verizon. The phone hasn't been officially priced from Verizon yet, but will be featured on the Motorola Droid. The Droid phone will feature with a 3.7" screen, have an ARM Cortex 500Mhz CPU with a 5MP camera and will run Android 2.0.
• Virgin America Offers Free In-Flight Wi-Fi - It seems that Virgin America has partnered up with Google so that you can get some free in-flight Wi-Fi when you travel home for the holidays. This way, you can stay up to date with Mobile Magazine, watch some crazy videos on YouTube, and stay connected to the Twitterverse while thousands of feet in the air.
• iRobot's Soft Morphing Blob 'Bot Takes Its First Steps (video) - iRobot's soft, shape-shifting robot blob can roll around and change shape, and it will be able to squeeze through tiny cracks in a wall when the project is finished
• Vette versus Impreza (video) - The in-car camera is mounted to a Subaru Impreza WRX modified by Canadian tuners Lachute Performance.
• U2 to Stream Entire Concert Live on YouTube - I'm not a U2 fan but this is pretty cool of them to do. The show will be streamed live and then a replay will be available after the show on YouTube and on the bands website.
• Jackie Chan's Spy Next Door Trailer Online - A new Trailer for the latest Jackie Chan film has hit the net and I am without words. This looks so terrible. Does Jackie care about the art anymore? That montage of scenes at the beginning worried me beacause it looked like a Tuxedo sequel, but then it only got worse :\
• Crazy bus (video) - Check it out
• Block of Ice Glowing Red Hot? (video) - WTF? Ice in fire?
• Fire stop brazil 2009 by Kimi Räikkönen and Heikki Kovalainen (video) - I watched that and I was like OMG! But I'm glad that nothing serious has happened :D
• How To Change Oil (video - NSFW) - If I win the lotto I'll have one... and a house in the south of France with a garage to park it in, somewhere near an experience SM/DS mechanic :-D
• Tricia Helfer and Grace Park - Wow, how long as it been since we got to see Tricia all tricked out in a men's magazine?
• Abbey Clancy Bikini Pictures Will Sell a Lot of Pepsi - Wanna sell your product? Put a girl in a bikini. Wanna sell a lot of your product? Put Abbey Clancy in a bikini. And that's just what Pepsi did. God ehrmm Good job! :-)
• Doutzen Kroes for Victoria's Secret - We all know that model Doutzen Kroes is freakin' smokin' hot, so it should not come as a surprise that Victoria's Secret hired her to model their latest line of lingerie.
• Drunkest Guy Ever Goes for More Beer (video) - LOL!!!
• Amazon Deals - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade Family Pack (3-User) ($149.95) || Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Two-Disc Special Edition) [Blu-ray] (2009) (save $20) || Samsung UN55B6000 55-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LED HDTV (save $400) (save $840.99) || Canon PIXMA MP560 Wireless Inkjet All-In-One Photo Printer (save $60)

• Intel to release Core i5 on January 3rd - Intel is set to release the first 32nm desktop CPUs on 3rd January 2010. Releasing first are the Clarkdale CPUs - part of the Westmere, or 32nm Nehalem die shrinks. A total of four models are expected, Core i5 650, 660 and 670, clocking in at 3.2, 3.33 and 3.46 GHz respectively. They will be priced at the $176, $196 and $284 respectively. The other Clarkdale CPUs are the Core i3 530 and 540 covering $123-$150. The Core i3 CPUs will not feature Turbo mode. A budget Pentium G6950 is also expected at $84, without turbo, HT and 1MB less L3 cache.
• AMD Or Intel: Which $100 Gaming CPU Should You Buy? - Multitaskers will want to look hard at the Athlon II X4 620, while those looking for consistency will be attracted to the Phenom II X3 710. Of course, overclockers will be drawn to the Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition. There's no right or wrong answer, and variety is the spice of life, so feel free to follow your desire. One thing that is for sure here: AMD is looking at too much inter-family competition, making it more difficult for value-oriented enthusiasts to pick the right part. 
• GeForce GTX 200 boards discontinued? - Fudzilla reports that NVIDIA's board partners have been forced to discontinue their GeForce GTX 285, GTX 275, and GTX 260 cards. Now obviously Fudzilla can't quote which board partners have made this decision, as they'd obviously end up hurting their source's relationship with NVIDIA, but this is something that's been rumored since the GPU shortage stories first started popping up, and really heated up when SemiAccurate reported that NVIDIA was cancelling GTX 200 cards.
• Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 1GB video card tested - If you want the best, and particularly if you're the proud owner of a 30" LCD monitor, then right now that means buying the Radeon HD 5870
• Palit GeForce GT 220 Sonic Edition 40nm 512MB Video Card Tested - The Palit GT 220 is not a gaming powerhouse but it does allow you to play at 1280x1024 with settings that are not the bottom of the barrel but fall into the middle of the road
• New AMD Drivers for HD 5800 and HD 5700 Series - AMD has  released new graphics drivers for both the Radeon HD 5800 series and Radeon HD 5700 series. I recommend all Radeon HD 5000 series users upgrade to these newer drivers, which will work on Vista/Win7 32-bit and 64-bit via this one package. These drivers contain a few bug fixes over initial HD 5800 series driver, and also contain a performance optimization related to the PCI Express bus.
• Pre-order Microsoft Windows 7 - You might be interested to know that you can get Microsoft Windows 7 delivered to your home the day it comes out, October 22.
• Major bug in Snow Leopard deletes all user data - Reports have been cropping up on the Apple Support forums that users have been losing all their data due to a nasty bug in Snow Leopard, Apple's latest Operating System. Many users are reporting that all settings are being reset and most data is gone. The only solution for getting the deleted data back is to restore it from a backup.
• Youth 'cannot live' without the Internet - A survey published by online charity YouthNet, has found that 75 percent of 16-to-24 year-olds feel that they 'couldn't live' without the Internet.
• Inside Gaming: 10/14/2009 (video) - This is Inside Gaming for October 14th, 2009. 
• German Group Plans Killer Game Drive - A German advocacy group is asking people to bring their 'killer games' down to a local event and throw them away. The group is partially made up of parents of the children killed in the school shootings earlier this year.
• Steampunk Toilet (video) - Introducing the Electro-Flush! Technically, TeslaPunk Urinal. Hand-made solid oak tank with battery powered flush pump, laser aiming assist (aim at the laser dot in the bowl at night), lights, antique gauges, flush capacitor, and cup holder. Bowl is a round 1949 Standard.
  
• A 1.1km gun that can shoot you into space! - The gun is based on a smaller device Hunter helped to build in the 1990s while at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California. With a barrel 47 metres long, it used compressed hydrogen gas to fire projectiles weighing a few kilograms at speeds of up to 3 kilometres per second. Now Hunter and two other ex-LLNL scientists have set up a company called Quicklaunch, based in San Diego, California, to create a more powerful version of the gun. At the Space Investment Summit in Boston last week, Hunter described a design for a 1.1-kilometre-long gun that he says could launch 450-kilogram payloads at 6 kilometres per second. A small rocket engine would then boost the projectile into low-Earth orbit.
• Audi A4 configurator on the Microsoft Surface - Imagine the fun in configuring your dream car in immersive 3D using multitouch technology on the Microsoft Surface table. The application allows multiple users to configure an Audi A4 simultaneously by changing the car's paint finishes, rims and by selecting and coloring style package components. The configured A4 is experienced in an immersive 3d environment, in which users can navigate seamlessly by zooming and panning using a multitouch-enabled interface.
• Full Theatrical Trailer for Pixar's Toy Story 3! - Disney has finally debuted the full-length theatrical trailer for Toy Story 3. Disney is bringing Pixar's Toy Story 3 to theaters everywhere in digital 3D starting on June 18th, 2010 next year.
• First Trailer for Lasse Hallstrom's Dear John - Sony has debuted the first trailer for Dear John. This stars Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried, and Richard Jenkins, and is about two young lovers split apart by the Iraq war who keep in touch via letters. Sony is bringing Dear John to theaters everywhere on February 5th, 2010 next year. I usually hate melodramtic MTV dramas like this, but I'm willing to see it for the gorgeous Amanda Seyfried and to see if Tatum can still pull off a decent acting performance.
• The Expendables Trailer Online - The trailer for Stallone's return to the big screen action flick has hit the net and its about damned time! A team of the world's most dangerous and highly-trained mercenaries go on a mission to South America to overthrow and assassinate a powerful, evil dictator and his army, who have been causing devastation, chaos and torture for the last twenty years.
• Intense Trailer for Mel Gibson's Edge of Darkness - Warner Brothers has debuted the official trailer for Martin Campbell's Edge of Darkness starring Mel Gibson and Ray Winstone.
• Doomsday sign or UFO? Strange circle in Moscow sky - People have been left baffled by a circular light, seen hovering high over Moscow on Wednesday evening. Scientists have rejected claims of UFO activity, saying the white cloud was no more than an optical illusion.
• Most Awesome - Couple Pranks (video) - Many couples try new things to keep a relationship spicy, but with this couple it's a miracle they're still together to prank each other another day. You may have seen some of their exploits - here are five of their best.
• Meanest Japanese Prank Ever (video) - In this clip from Japanese TV, a man is led to believe that a sniper is killing the people in the room with him!
  

• DDR2 contract prices surpass DDR3 - Have DDR2 and DDR3 prices finally reached parity? Maybe not in stores just yet, but as DigiTimes reports, the latest numbers from DRAMeXchange show DDR2 has eclipsed DDR3 on the contract pricing scale for both modules and chips.
• Hundreds of thousands HD 5870 cards sold - ATI has shipped tens of thousands of HD 5870 cards at launch, as the whole point was to launch them in last days of Q3. Since the card was launched in September they could simply please their investors by claiming that this was a Q3 launch not a Q4 launch. More importantly, the HD 5870 was available in hundreds of thousands a week after launch, but due to high demand and the fact that Dell got a better piece of the shipment, there were still some shortages. Naturally North America got more cards than Europe and it doesn't look like that you will see many cards available anytime soon.
• Sony VAIO X Windows 7 Notebook - Fist Impressions - The new X Series is incredibly light and slim, weighing just 0.78KG (including battery). It's hard to describe just how elegant and slim this notebook is, the chasis measures no more than 13.9mm in width at any point across its body. It's so light that Sony is claiming the X series is the "world's lightest laptop." The VAIO X series notebook will be available from November 2009 priced at £1,299 for the basic model through to £1,899 for a 256GB SSD and 2GHz Atom Processor powered model.
• ASUS G51Vx 15.6" Gaming Notebook Tested - This notebook supports 3D gaming surround audio in the form of EAX Advanced 4.0 audio technology. The G51Vx is also powered by an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M graphics card that features 1GB GDDR3 VRAM, which is not wasted, as ASUS created the G51Vx with a 15.6" full HD display screen that has a 16:9 ratio and 1920x1080 resolution.
• Windows 8 and 9 may support 128-bit architecture - With Windows 7 still not available for everyone, news has surfaced that Microsoft is already researching and working on some of the architecture for Windows 8/9, which includes '128-bit architecture compatibility with the Windows 8 kernel.'
• Windows 7 can boot more slowly than Vista - ZDNet reports that Iolo Technlogies said its lab unit found that a new machine running Windows 7 takes one minute and 34 seconds to become usable, as compared to one minute and six seconds for Windows Vista.
• Microsoft changes browser ballot screen, testing begins - Microsoft have made changes to the browser ballot screen that will prompt users in Europe to help them make selections on which browser they would like to use. The browser ballot screen will allow users to not only install other browsers, 12 in total, including Internet Explorer, but be able to uninstall Internet Explorer all together.The newly modified browser ballot screen makes choosing what browser consumers want to use easily, ranking the top five browsers in current use in alphabetical order, sorted by vendor, shown on the main view with Safari, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera. Microsoft plans to push the browser ballot screen through Windows Update to Windows 7 PCs, including machines that go on sale on October 22.
• Most Common Hotmail Password - A researcher who examined 10,000 Hotmail, MSN and Live.com passwords that were recently exposed online has published an analysis of the list and found that '123456' was the most commonly used password, appearing 64 times.
• Office 2010 Starter to supplant Microsoft Works - Office Starter 2010 will be a free, ad-supported version of the productivity suite, and you'll find it bundled exclusively on pre-built PCs. The software will include special versions of Word and Excel with the same interfaces and document formats as their full-featured counterparts, but only "basic functionality for creating, viewing and editing documents." Users will be able to upgrade to full-featured editions "directly from within the product."
• New AT&T GoPhone Plan Runs $60 for Unlimited Talk & Text - Today AT&T announced a new GoPhone plan. that provides unlimited talking and unlimited text, video and picture messaging for $60 per month. The plan includes unlimited texting to Canada and Mexico. The new plan will be available starting October 12.
• DOoP Multi Sensory Alarm Knows How Long You've Slept - Strangely enough, this alarm clock will help you sleep better. That's weird, since most alarm clocks are the main cause of waking up. Designer Tan Weihao Rios has created this incredibly cute-looking alarm clock, which will allow you to wake up or catch a bit more sleep. DOoP will help you figure out how many hours you've slept and how much sleep you're getting, and how much you actually need. The red and green dials on the face will remind you where you are at. They will tell you how much sleep you need. There is also a countdown timer and a night light. DOoP will wake you up with sound and light, engaging more of your senses.
• Nissan Land Glider Concept (2009) - Car of the Future! - In creating the Nissan Land Glider concept, planners and designers of Nissan have conceived a totally new form of personal zero emission mobility that combines clever, new driving experiences, all in the one compact, 4-wheeled package.
• Walk around of Toyota FT-86, Honda CR-Z ahead of Tokyo show (video) - Although the Tokyo Motor Show is just a week and half away, Japan's largest automakers have already previewed their biggest debuts (save one) to their hometown media. So until we can lay eyes on the Toyota FT-86 "Concept," Honda CR-Z Hybrid "Concept" and Mitsubishi PX-MiEV 'ute, we'll have to make do with this brief video walk around.
• LCROSS Impact (video) - Here's a little video for those of you that thought NASA crashing a satellite into the moon at more than five thousand miles per hour would be exciting.
• '2012' Trailer Without Special Effects (video) - Here's what happens when you take out all the '2012' special effects and just focus on the movie's quality writing and acting. Is it just me, or does your average crank posting an Arnold Schwarzenegger parody on YouTube do a more credible impression of the California governor than the one in this $200 million movie?
• Second Official Trailer for Lee Daniels' Precious - Lionsgate has debuted a second 'internet only' trailer for Lee Daniels' Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire.
• Hilarious (?) commercial: Powermat wireless charging! - But saying ***** a lot does not make a funny commercial....
• 1 million fps Slow Motion video of bullet impacts - Check it out!
• President Barack Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize - President Obama, who has pledged to place diplomacy ahead of confrontation and reached out to a skeptical world with offers of mutual understanding, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for what the committee called "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."
• Rachel Stevens - Beauty in Cosmopolitan Magazine -  Rachel Stevens - her fashion & beauty rules!
• Scarlett Johansson in Mango Magazine - Super celeb Scarlett Johansson was featured in the latest edition of Mango magazine. And, of course, the 24 year old actress looks good in this very stylish photoshoot!
• Amazon Deals - Star Trek (Three-Disc + Digital Copy) [Blu-ray] (save $14) || Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Two-Disc Special Edition) [Blu-ray] (2009) (save $12) || The Dark Knight (+ Digital Copy and BD Live) [Blu-ray] (2008) (save $18)

• Intel Corei7-820QM Mobile CPU Benchmarks - Quite a noticeable difference with the Core i7 CPU, especially with Gaming
• 10 Low-Budget AMD Motherboards Round-up - ASUS M4N78 PRO is full ATX format motherboard but it offers much more than most other contestants. 
• Thousands of Hotmail users hacked - Microsoft confirmed that the popular web email service, Hotmail, had been targeted by malicious fraudsters in what is commonly referred to as a phishing scam, tricking users into revealing their credentials at fake websites. The phishing attack has spread to Google Mail and Yahoo mail amongst others. BBC News is reporting that Google have confirmed the phishing attack. (thanks Stumpus)
• TDK Develops 320GB Blu-ray Disc - TDK Corp developed a write-once optical disc with a capacity of 320 Gbytes. It has ten layers, and each layer has a storage capacity of 32 Gbytes. The new optical disc has a larger capacity than the Blu-ray disc, which has a capacity of 25 Gbytes per layer. And it is possible to write and read data on and from the disc by using a blue-violet semiconductor laser with an oscillation wavelength of 405nm and an objective lens with a numerical aperture (NA) of 0.85, which are currently used for the Blu-ray disc.
• Hollywood Hunts The Pirate Bay - CNET reports attorneys for the film industry are using the threat of lawsuits to get ISPs to pull the plug on the controversial file-sharing website.
• The Crazies Trailer - Here's the official trailer for the remake of George Romero's film - The Crazies. Inhabitants of a small Pennsylvania town are beset by death and insanity after a plane crash lets loose a secret biological weapon into the water supply.
• First Official Trailer for Oren Moverman's The Messenger - Oscilloscope has just debuted the official trailer for The Messenger, not to be confused with the Joan of Arc movie The Messenger or that horror movie The Messengers. The Messenger will open in limited theaters starting on November 13th this fall.
• Second and Final Saw VI Trailer Has Arrived! - Saw VI is directed by first-time feature filmmaker Kevin Greutert, who edited all five of the previous Saw movies before this and directed a few horror short films. Lionsgate is bringing this latest installment, Saw VI, to theaters everywhere on October 23rd, a year from the last one.
• Preview Five Minutes of 2012 Online - A new clip of the ultimate disaster movie 2012 is online. Ever want to see what it would look like to see all of California slip into the sea?
• PhotoSketch: Internet Image Montage (video) - Those of you that lack Photoshop skills can rest a bit easier knowing that stuff like this is being developed.

Don't expect a lot of DirectX11 titles at first

The launch of Windows 7 also brings the launch of DirectX11, the next version of Microsoft's 3D graphics API. (Vista will also support DirectX11 but so far there's no word on when an update to the OS will happen). You can expect even more realistic looking games with more special effects to come from DirectX11 titles. However, gamers shouldn't expect DirectX11 games to be flooding the market overnight. At the moment there is only one official DirectX11 game out there; the free-to-play RTS game BattleForge (via a recent patch). More games are expected to be released in the coming months including Dirt 2 (due this December) and Aliens vs Predator (due out in the first quarter of 2010). Even if you have Windows 7 and the DirectX11 supported game you still need a DirectX11-supported video card to see the new effects. At the moment, AMD is the only manufacturer of such cards via the ATI Radeon 5800 series. Don't expect a DirectX11-supported card from its main rival Nvidia until sometime in 2010.

• Radeon HD 5870 DX11 - First Benchmarks - When you consider a $379 price point, the Radeon HD 5870 falls between the GeForce GTX 295 and the Radeon HD 4870 X2 (at $500, Nvidia has no choice but to cut the price on its GTX 295).
• New MRAM technology can compete with NOR-Flash and DRAM - Crocus logoCrocus Technology announced the development of a new STT-MRAM technology with a minimum feature size of 50nm that will deliver on the promise of using STT memory in high-density memory applications, that will be competitive with DRAM and NOR-Flash.
• New Microsoft Courier video leaked - A new video of the Microsoft Courier (name not finalized) has been leaked onto the Internet, demonstrating in the video just how users will actually use the device. The video didn't show any keyboard but the tablet device will be used through various swipes, flicks and pinches to navigate pages
• Patch Re-enables PhysX When ATI Card is Present - NGOHQ.com has an experimental beta patch to re-enables PhysX when ATI Card is present. Use this patch at your own risk.
• Windows 7 Retail Boxes Hitting Stores - Engadget posted a pic of the various retail upgrade editions of Windows 7 that came from a Chicago, IL area electronics store.
• Windows 7 party packs begin shipping - Looks like Microsoft has begun shipping Windows 7 house party packs from their house party fulfillment centers. In an email to house party organisers Microsoft confirms that a 4LB package is on its way. Lucky blogger, Ian Cortina, wrote to Microsoft to complain the Caribbean region was not included in the promotion and received a complimentary US pack a little early. 
• Free Windows 7 Upgrades Have Fee - PC World has an interesting article about the crusade of a consumer watchdog group against companies that are charging a fee for their supposed "free upgrade" to Windows 7. The fee, which has been as high as $17, is labeled as shipping, handling, and fulfillment fees.
• Windows 7: How to Upgrade - TechReviewSource.com posted an upgrade guide to Windows 7
• Windows XP Mode final release coming October 22 - Microsoft's Windows XP Mode for Windows 7 Professional or higher has RTM'd (Release to Manufacturing) today and will be available for download from Microsoft Download Center on October 22. OEM manufactures will be able to offer Windows XP Mode on their PC's, based on their shipping schedules to consumers.
• Microsoft Security Essentials Tested -  Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows has posted a review of Microsoft Security Essentials
• 3D Multi-Touch Desktop (video) - What do you guys think of this 3D multi-touch desktop?
• Earn-O-Meter application for the iPhone tracks your worth in - The Earn-O-Meter app is designed to help users endure otherwise insufferable situations in their work lives. It allows one to track income as it is earned in real time, right down to the millionth of a dollar, while sitting through pointless meetings, dull conference calls and inane conversations with nitwits in the workplace.
• Backpack Generates 40 Watts Just By Walking - It works great, apparently. The backpack itself is mounted on rails, so it moves up and down when its wearer moves. The movement generates enough electricity to power your gadgets, and the design actually relieves stress from the user.
• Gyrowheel by Gyrobike interbike 2009 (video) - A company has introduced a product called the 'Gyrowheel' that eliminates the need for training wheels, particularly when showing your kid how to ride a bike.
• Is Dark Energy Creating Infinite Universes? - Scientists at Princeton and Cambridge say that most of the universe is regularly destroyed. It's space-time-twisted into black holes, in fact, which is about as utterly destroyed as you can get without pissing off Zeus. In each destruction cycle only a small seed of habitable space survives, which grows phoenix-like to provide a new universe due to the apparently all-powerful dark matter. The model is based on M-Theory - an expanded limit of string theory with an extra dimension, making it only slightly less esoteric than studying the symbolism of Chopin's work in a universe where the Nazis won the war. I'm not saying that M-theory is poorly understood or developed, but they can't even agree on what the 'M' actually stands for. Seriously.
• Dwayne Johnson in the Tooth Fairy Trailer - Fox has debuted the first official trailer for Tooth Fairy. Wow, this looks bad, bad, bad.
• Star Wars Is Getting Remade (video) - By fans. Chill out. It's getting remade by fans as part of the "Star Wars Uncut" project, which lets 472 aspiring nerds call 15-second section of the movie, film it themselves, and then they'll take all the clips and put it together.<
• Glenn Beck blames godlessness for America's problems - Does he remind anyone else of that guy at the start of V for Vendetta?
• 7 Secrets Only Two Living People Know (For Some Reason) - What do you suppose are the most well-kept secrets in the world? The launch codes for the American nuclear arsenal? The location of Jimmy Hoffa's bones? Not even close. Here are secrets that only two people on planet Earth know. Sometimes they have very good reasons to keep these secrets so fiercely. Other times, not so much.
• Life explained in Chronological order (pic) - Worth checking! ;)
• Eva Herzigova Vogue Magazine Photos - Eva Herzigova always looks fabulous here she is looking stunning in Vogue Paris October Issue.
• Maria Menounos Gives Good Cleavage - check it out
• Kate Beckinsale is the Sexiest Woman Alive - According to Esquire magazine, Kate Beckinsale is the sexiest woman alive. What do you think?
• Amazon Deals - Sennheiser RS 140 Wireless Balanced Headphones (you save $76) || Rocky: The Undisputed Collection on Blu-ray (32% off) || Pre-order X-Men Origins: Wolverine on Blu-ray and DVD (37% off)  

• AMD Athlon II X4 620 Review - There's no doubt mainstream users will find the X4 620 attractive in terms of price and performance, enthusiasts on a budget may be salivating at the overclocking headroom here to boost the speeds by a gigahertz or more.
• New Nvidia Geforce beta drivers v191.03 have performance - Nvidia's latest driver release for its GeForce series of graphics chips is now available in beta form and this release happens to have some performance improvements for a number of games. The 191.03 drivers improves the performance of Batman: Arkham Asylum eight percent when PhysX support is enabled, adds whopping 50 percent performance increase in Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood with SLI set-ups, a 34 percent improvement in Prototype with anti-aliasing enabled and a 14 percent improvement in Fallout 3's indoor scenes with anti-aliasing enabled.
• Batman: Arkham Asylum Enables AA Only on NVIDIA Hardware on PCs - With no in-game AA available to ATI Radeon users, although the features do technically work on ATI Radeon hardware, the only way AA can be used is by forcing it in Catalyst Control Center.
• Microsoft Security Essentials final version released - Microsoft's Security Essentials is now available and totally free. If you try it out, let me (and other readers) know what you think. I'm downloading it now!
• Microsoft confirms no Windows 7 restrictions on netbooks - Microsoft announced that they have removed the netbook restrictions that previously prevented OEM and ODM from installing any version of Windows 7 on their netbook. The lifted restriction means OEM and ODM can install Windows 7 starter on a netbook, and that the three application restriction has been removed as per consumer's request.
• Google Wave spreading to 100,000 more users tomorrow - Google will be sending out more than 100,000 invitations to preview Google Wave. The invites will be going out tomorrow, September 30.
• Intel invests in effort to bring PC gaming to TVs - TransGaming already created software to allow a number of PC games to run natively on Macs and Linux boxes. Now they are working on this new effort which will use a set-top box (powered by Intel's CE Media Processor) to allow PC games to be downloaded and played on demand for a person's TV. Specific financial details on Intel's investment in GameTree.TV were not disclosed.
• U.S. May Need $350B To Extend Broadband - In a mid-course status report, an FCC task force said preliminary estimates indicate that investments in the range of $20 billion to $350 billion may be needed for wireless and landline infrastructure, depending on the speed of service. The range indicates the slowest speeds to premium fast speeds.
• Smoke and Laser to help create a new kind of microphone - Currently microphones use a series of vibrating membranes and magnets, capacitors, or other electrical components to detect the nuances of sound. David Schwartz is the inventor of a new kind of microphone that uses smoke and lasers to detect sound
• IBM Celebrates 20th Anniversary of Moving Atoms - On September 28, 1989, Don Eigler became the first person in history to move and control an individual atom. Shortly thereafter, with the help of a custom-built microscope, he and his team spelled out the letters I-B-M using individual atoms, signaling a quantum leap forward in the field of nanotechnology.
• TomTom iPhone car kit price announced - TomTom announced pricing for their iPhone in car kit, which will be sold separately from the application, for a retail price for $119.95 US, available in October. Last month, TomTom released their GPS applications, pricing their U.S. & Canada application at $99.99 U.S. The iPhone car kit mounts to windshields for hands free communication, including a mounting to hold the iPhone 2G, 3G and 3GS, also including a charging plug. 
• TimeLapse Typhoon 'Nangka' over Hong Kong (video) - This is a timelapse from 7am until 9pm of Typhoon Nangka hitting Hong Kong. Check out the rain walls at 0:50, 1:10, 1:45, 4:10, lights going up at 4:30. Its interesting how the clouds change direction while the typhoon moves from the south to the north-east (camera looking north).
• Teaser Trailer for A Nightmare on Elm Street! - check it out!
• 100 greatest Youtube hits in a 4 minute video - Here is a video montage of 100 of Youtube's greatest hits in a mere 3.24 minute long video.
• Megan Fox in Nylon Magazine - Actress Megan Fox is featured on the cover and in the pages of Nylon magazine.
• Monica Cruz's Smokin' Cleavage In Elle - Here's Monica Cruz flashing some deep Spanish cleavage!
• Amazon Deals - Wii Price Drop ($199.99) | Over 200 Blue-ray titles with prices as low as $12.99. (ends September 29th) | QuickBooks Pro 2009 ($69.99 ~ 65% off)

• All Core i7 Models - A quick reference table showing the main specs of all Core i7 models released to date. Updated to include socket 1156 and socket 988 (laptop) models.
• AMD's ATI Radeon HD 5870 vs. HD 4890 GPU Comparison - TweakTown posted a comparison between AMD's ATI Radeon HD 5870 vs. HD 4890 GPU. While the HD 5870 might be replacing the HD 4890 when it comes to the red team's fastest single GPU card, the older HD 4890 continues to be available with many companies having added their own flair to the model recently.
• Batman nVidia PhysX Analysis - DH analyses multiple setups to suit all ranges of investment, from a wallet busting dual 295 GTX quad sli configuration to a much more affordable 250 GTS with 9400 GT.
• Rumor: Nvidia GT300 on track for December launch - Following several (often contradictory) rumours about the GT300, some claiming sub-10% yields, Fudzilla have been informed by an unnamed Senior Manager at Nvidia that such rumours are "baseless" and "Our 40nm yields are fine". What is interesting, though, is that the Senior Manager talks about 40nm in general (which could easily mean the GT21x shrinks), and not GT300 in particular.
• How to Create a System Image in Windows 7 - The new backup utilities in Windows 7 are actually pretty impressive and creating an image will be possible in all versions. HowTo-Geek.com takes a look at creating a backup image of your machine without the need for a third party utility like Ghost or True Image.
• Microsoft believes Google Chrome Frame lowers security of IE - In short, Microsoft believes that the Chrome Frame doubles the risk to a user when browsing the Internet
• Microsoft Interactive Installation By MODE Studios (video) - MODE Studios made a video of their recently completed four permanent 35 foot interactive screens for Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices Division. Cool stuff.
• The EU wants to monitor everything online - George Orwell would be most amused to hear about the latest development in the EU. Ten countries of the European Union have agreed to help develop computer programs that monitor the internet and CCTV images, according to Telegraph.co.uk. Just like in the novel,1984, the EU's project aim is to detect any abnormal behavior on forums, peer-to-peer networks and even individual computers. The ultimate goal is to try to presage possible conflicts or acts of terror. Philip K. Dick, the author of Minority Report, would also be very amused.
• Nokia E72 Optical Navikey - Hands-On Video - The successor to the E71 is on its way and while the majority of its functionality and appearance remain the same, there is one very important change. I like the new camera, but it's all about swapping out the standard five-way navigator for the new optical navikey.
• Google's Project 10^100 Wants Your Vote - Head on over to the Google Project 10^100 page and cast your vote for the idea you think should win.
• Kylie's Conversations - Windows 7 Commercial - The happy words just keep on coming as Kylie creates another slideshow to share even more good news about Windows 7 with her friends.
• Windows 7 Launch Party - Unnecessary Censorship - It looks like someone had a little fun with the original Windows 7 launch party video by adding totally unnecessary censorship. The result is rather entertaining :-)
• Trent Reznor Interview - Joystiq has an interesting interview with Trent Reznor that is definitely worth the click to go check out
• New Official Trailer for Denzel Washington's The Book of Eli - Warner Brothers has just debuted a second full-length trailer for The Book of Eli. It should be pretty damn fun and I can't wait to kick of 2010 with a great movie like this.
• ET's Iron Man 2 Coverage Online - Scarlett looking sassy, Paltrow looking classy, Cheadle looking downright serious, and of course RDJ living the dream, loving this as much as we love seeing him in it.
• Girlfriend Scared by Fake Head in Bed (video) - Definitely not the kind of head in bed that one would prefer, but still pretty entertaining nonetheless.
• Hardcore Bloody Fights! (video) - Dave becomes obsessed with finding out what his colleagues at "The Station" are up to... which may end up causing his own fate.
• Rush Limbaugh Runs Over Al Gore (video) - Rush Limbaugh participated in the Green Car Challenge on the Jay Leno Show. Rush drove an electric model of the Ford Focus. Jay instructed Rush that he would be penalized if he ran over Al Gore, so Rush decided to run over Al Gore, back up, and run him over again.
• F-18 Hornet Ultra Low High Speed Fly By (video) -  Wow!
• Unique Star Wars Tattoo - Welcome to this (assuredly lovely) woman's crotch, where you'll find this geeky Star Wars tattoo depicting two X-Wing fighters flying towards the Death Star.. Just had to post this because...well I coudln't NOT post this :P
• Alina Vacariu - HQ Pictures - Alina Vacariu is a Romanian actress and model. Among other work, she was Romania's Model of the Year in 1998 (at age of 14), which later resulted in signing a contract with Elite Model Management.
• Amanda Seyfried Busts Out in GQ - Amanda Seyfried in the October issue of GQ magazine.
• Amazon Deals  - HP Pavilion DV6-1230US 15.6-Inch Entertainment Laptop (save $338) || Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 (save $48.96) || The New World (The Extended Cut) [Blu-ray] (2005) (save $16) 

• AMD confirms six-core desktop CPU - Get ready for six-core Phenom IIs! Maximum claims it has received word from 'AMD officials' that the company will indeed release six-core desktop processors next year – but it will be backwards compatible with existing AM3 and AM2+ motherboards.
• Intel Core i7 Mobile Processor (Clarksfield) Tested -  It will probably take a while for Core i7-based notebooks to completely push Core 2 notebooks out of the marketplace--especially as the inventory of Core i7 notebooks ramps up and subsequently pushes down the price of Core 2 notebooks. For those looking for premium mobile performance, the Core i7-920XM will undoubtedly provide the fastest mobile performance available today; but gamers be forewarned: Even with the respectable 3D graphics performance that a Core i7-920XM-based notebook can provide in concert with a top-end mobile GPU, you're not going to see true desktop-like gaming performance. For those looking for a better balance of performance and price, Core i7-820QM and Core i7-720QM-based notebooks stand to offer the best bang-for-the-buck, while still delivering unprecedented performance in a notebook. 
• BFG's GTX 295 H2OC: Water-Cooled Graphics - BFG's GTX 295 H2OC with ThermoIntelligence Advanced Cooling Solution is a bit faster than a standard GTX 295.
• Larrabee Doing Real-Time Ray Tracing - Intel sent me a link to this video from IDF 2009 showing Bill Mark demonstrating real-time ray tracing on the Larrabee.
• The Hydra May Change PC Gaming Forever - Anandtech has a pretty interesting article for PC gamers up right now. Basically, Lucid has developed a way to add multiple GPUs to your system without having to worry about matching manufacturer/model. Got a new nVidia board and an older ATI? Throw them both in and you'll get a performance boost.
• Seagate release their first 2TB SATA 3.0 hard disk - Seagate have introduced their first hard drive which supports the new SATA 3.0 specification. The Barracuda XT is the Seagate's first drive to use the new interface, which has a theoretical bandwidth of 6GB/s - double that of the SATA 2.0 (3GB/s) specification. The drive offers 2TB of storage space, using four platters, according to Seagate (via Techspot). The 7200RPM drive has a sustained data rate of 138MB/s – the fastest speed achieved by a 7200RPM drive, Seagate claims. The 64MB cache provides "screaming burst rate speeds and improve[s] overall performance," according to their website. The drive is backward compatible with both the SATA 3GB/s interface and the SATA 1.5GB/s interface, although if you don't have a motherboard compatible with SATA 3.0 you're probably better off buying a slower, but cheaper 2TB hard drive if you don't plan on upgrading the motherboard anytime soon.
• First Details of Microsoft's Secret Tablet - Courier is a real device! It's not a tablet, it's a booklet. The dual 7-inch (or so) screens are multitouch, and designed for writing, flicking and drawing with a stylus, in addition to fingers. They're connected by a hinge that holds a single iPhone-esque home button. Statuses, like wireless signal and battery life, are displayed along the rim of one of the screens. On the back cover is a camera, and it might charge through an inductive pad, like the Palm Touchstone charging dock for Pre.
• Security Essentials final edition in coming weeks - Microsoft's Security Essentials team has confirmed the final version of Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) will be made available in the coming weeks. MSE is Microsoft's free anti-virus and anti-spyware product that is set to replace Microsoft's paid Windows Live OneCare subscription service which was withdrawn earlier this year. In an email to beta testers the team thanked testers for their participation and encouraged them to upgrade to version 1.0.1500.0 of the beta to ensure a "smooth experience".
• World's First LS9-Powered 2010 Camaro SS Dyno Pull (video) - Here is the baseline chassis dyno test of the 2010 HPE700 Camaro from Hennessey Performance Engineering. 645 rw hp & 653 rw torque from its supercharged LS9 at 14.5 psi boost and 93 octane pump fuel.
• Mystery Creature Found Dead (video) - Zoologists in Panama aren't sure what it is, but say an unknown creature found by four teens appears to be a dead fetus.
• 1993 AT&T Ads About the Future Scary Accurate - Narrated by Tom Selleck, and directed by Fight Club's David Fincher, the ads began in 1993 and were (mostly) remarkably accurate, predicting: E-Books, in-car GPS, tablet PCs, E-ZPass, video conferencing, and video on demand.
• PSA: Hollywood Speaks Out to Help Health Insurance Companies (video) - Will Ferrell, Jon Hamm, Olivia Wilde and friends speak out to protect insurance companies.
• The Obama Plan in 4 Minutes (video) - Learn the basic principles of President Obama's health insurance reform plan as presented to Congress on September 9, 2009. Makes Sense to me as well, but what do I know, I'm Czech. Cheers.
• Did You Know 4.0 (video) - This completely new Fall 2009 version includes facts and stats focusing on the changing media landscape, including convergence and technology, and was developed in partnership with The Economist
• He Puts It in the Wrong Hole (video) - Every time a guy makes a mistake in bed, Scott Baio is there to make everything right again.
• Amazon Deals - Fall Blu-ray Sale: Movies as Low as $12.99

• Western Digital 2TB Caviar Green and Black Hard Drives Tested -  When it comes to performance the WD Caviar Black 2 TB is very fast. While benchmarking the drives we caught ourselves looking at the label and something clicked. The model number on this drive is WD2001FASS, which should stand for Fast AS Shiz! The Caviar Black 2 TB drive was on average 40% faster than the WD Caviar Green in all six of our benchmarks, which was amazing.
• Samsung SyncMaster 2233RZ 120Hz Gaming LCD Monitor Tested - With the 3ms gray to gray response time and the 120hz refresh rate, the gaming experience was as smooth as butter. 
• Students to get Windows 7 for $30 - Students in the UK and US with a valid email address (an email address given by the college or university, e.g. [email protected]) will be able to purchase Windows 7 Home Premium or Windows 7 Professional (upgrade  versions) for £30 and $30 respectively. The offer will run until 3 January 2010 when the prices will revert to normal.
• Microsoft previews Office Web Apps - Microsoft made available today to a select group of beta testers the Community Technology Preview (CTP) test build of its online version of Office. The online version of the applications will allow for basic editing and manipulating but will not offer a full fledge replacement for the Office software. This video demonstrates some of the key functionality available in the Office Tech Preview.
• Hacker: Snow Leopard less secure than Windows - Techworld reports that Snow Leopard, Apple's highly anticipated new operating system, lacks basic security features that are found in Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 says Charlie Miller, a noted security researcher. Address Space Layout Randomization, commonly referred to as ASLR, randomly assigns data to the memory to make it more difficult for hackers to locate the of critical operating system functions. Charlie Miller of Baltimore-based Independent Security Evaluators who many people may remember from when he successfully hacked a fully patched Macbook in seconds, was disappointed upon hearing that Apple did little to improve ASLR from Leopard to Snow Leopard.
• Google releases Chrome 3 - Google has released its third major revision of Chrome. The updated browser boasts a 150% (25% over its most recent stable release) increase in javascript performance since the launch of version 1. Other new features include a redesigned "new tab" page, an improved omnibox, themes capability, and HTML5 features.
• Is Twitter Worth $1 Billion? - Is Twitter worth $1 billion? Technology blogs TechCrunch and AllThingsD reported that the San Francisco microblogging upstart has raised at least $50 million in a new round of venture capital that values the company at $1 billion... Oh well, if you think it is worth a billion dollars…who do you think would buy it?
• Half-Life2: All sounds replaced with my voice (video) - Whoa ;-) (download mod) Word is: "Replaces almost all the sounds in the game with my voice (i did not edit any of them, its fresh from the microphone)"
• 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air Vs. 2009 Chevrolet Malibu IIHS Offset (video) - The dummy in the Malibu suffered only minor leg injuries while the dummy in the Bel Air would have dies instantly, this really shows how auto safety has progressed!
• Badass Trailer for Michael Caine's Harry Brown! - Whoa! You thought John Travolta looked like a badass in From Paris with Love? Just wait until you see Michael Caine kicking some thug ass in this trailer for Harry Brown!
• Worst or Best Commercial We've Ever Made? (video) - I dunno you decide!
• Amazon Deals - HP Pavilion DV6-1230US 15.6-Inch Entertainment Laptop (save $288) | Up to 60% Off over 100 Blu-ray Movies |
• Keeley Hazell Bikini Calendar Photos - No doubt these are some of the hottest Keeley Hazell pictures ever (in which she keeps her clothes on).

• Radeon 5700 GPUs priced from $149-$199? - Bright Side of News reports that ATI could be unleashing a slew of new GPUs in the coming weeks. The site says ATI plans to introduce Radeon 5770 and 5750 GPUs right around the Windows 7 launch in October. The cards will supposedly be priced from $149-$199, with $5-$15 mail-in rebates also possible. With the debut of the 5700 series GPUs, BSN says the 4800 series will hit EOL (end of life) status. The 5750 will officially replace the 4870 at $149, while the 5770 will replace the 4890 at $199. Obviously it remains to be seen how the 5700-series cards will perform in comparison to 4800 series.
• Latest Mac Tablet Rumors Point Toward 9.6-inch Touchscreen - It looks like the Apple iPad won't get a conventional keyboard like the Eee PC or MSI Wind, instead relying on a large touchscreen just like the iPhone and the iPod touch. 
• ATI Catalyst 9.9 Vista Driver Analysis - better to don't upgrade - This is a pretty bad driver release from ATI and one of the worst I've ever tested.
• Windows 7 on a Netbook 1 gig vs 2gig - iGadget Life compared the performance of Windows 7 on a Netbook with 1 gig and 2gig: "A couple weeks ago I compared Windows Xp that comes on the Acer Aspire One D250 to the new Windows 7 to basically find out how they compared to each other in terms of performance. The D250 I have comes with 1gig of ram, so As sort of a part two to that article I thought I'd toss in 2 gigs of ram and re-run all of my tests to see what, if any difference there might be between running 1 gig or 2 gigs. The results of the testing very much surprised me in that 2gigs doesn't seem to be better at all really, and I'm not sure why that is. Maybe someone else can shed some light on this for me…"
• Windows 7 touch: Dead on arrival - The chaps over at Network World are complaining about the state of touchscreen technology in both both Windows 7 and Mac OS X Snow Leopard.
• Bing launches Visual Search, powered by Silverlight - The new Visual Search, powered by Silverlight, lets users scroll through galleries of images using specific keywords
• Bing Grabs 10 Percent of Search Market - It looks like Microsoft might have cause for celebration. The company's new search engine now has 10% of the market and is currently the fastest growing search engine among the top ten. Wow, not bad!
• Voice Chat Coming to Facebook - According to CNET, Facebook is planning on rolling out a voice chat feature in the next few weeks using the Vivox integrated voice service. I'm not sure how I feel about this one, do you guys like the idea?
• Windows Mobile Gets Capactive Multitouch with HTC Leo (video) - There are many reasons to get excited about the pending launch of the HTC Leo smartphone. It's going to get a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, Windows Mobile 6.5, and a huge 4.3-inch touchscreen. To make matters even more interesting, that giant display is going to be a capacitive multitouch to boot!
• New software controls PC games via iPhone - Basically the software uses the product's accelomenter to control the movement of PC games via WiFi. There must be special software downloaded for the PC as well as the iPod/iPod Touch app for the system to work. We are not sure if this will replace the mouse/keyboard combo or a regular joystick or gamepad anytime soon.
• Get Tabbed Browsing and More with Opera Mini 5 (video) - The tabbed browsing is fantastic for multitasking, assuming that your smartphone can handle that kind of added load. Other updates over the current 4.2 version of Opera include Speed Dial startup links (like the Chrome homepage), password management, and a “Turbo” pre-cached mode for slower connections. Opera Mini will work on most Java-enabled phones, so that includes the vast majority of Nokia and BlackBerry devices in the audience, at the very least. If you're running Windows Mobile or something similar, Opera Mini 5 should be good to go. To get it, point your mobile browser to m.opera.com/next.
• Skype Founders Sue Skype - In the court filing, Joltid, a company owned by the Skype founders, alleges that eBay violated their copyright by altering and sharing the peer-to-peer source code behind the free Internet calling service. The Skype founders maintained ownership of that source code after selling Skype to eBay in 2005 and licensed it to eBay. Joltid seeks an injunction on the infringement and statutory damages, which it alleges could total more than $75 million a day. The lawsuit also names as defendants Silver Lake Partners and its partners in the buyout, Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
• Bugatti offers up promotional video on Galibier concept sedan (video) - Bugatti says the Galibier's unique dark carbon fiber skin shines blue when illuminated, and you can see that effect much better on video than with static images. Pay special attention to the hood, which features twin side-by-side portals to access the front-mounted, ethanol-burning W16 engine. We could do without the breathless narrator, but as promotional material, we've come to expect nothing less.
• Official Trailer for Disney's A Christmas Carol - Disney has finally debuted the official trailer for Robert Zemeckis' A Christmas Carol. Jim Carrey stars as at least four different characters in the film, alongside of Gary Oldman, Robin Wright Penn, Colin Firth, Cary Elwes, and Bob Hoskins.
• First How to Train Your Dragon Teaser - How to Train Your Dragon is the story of Hiccup, heir of Viking chiefdom and the most lovable, unlikely hero, and his quest to hunt down the fiercest dragon, bring it into submission, and pass his initiation. 
• New Moon Full Trailer Online - Here is the final trailer for New Moon: Twilight Saga, the sequel to last year's breakout hit movie. This trailer seems to be packed more with action than the romance angle, which I'm guessing that since they have the young female demo covered, so they are now trying to get the men or boyfriends of female Twihards to become more interested in the movie?
• An Unbelievable Display Of Racism, Extremism Against Obama - Socialist, Nazi, Muslim, Anti-Christ, Non-Christian, Hitler, Baby Killer. Those are just some of the choice descriptions the far-right extremists interviewed on camera Saturday (many who are clearly uneducated) uttered when discussing President Barack Obama. This nine minute documentary is unreal.
• Serena Williams Disqualified Foot Fault 2009 Us Open Vs Kim - Serena Williams' U.S. Open title defense ended in bizarre, ugly fashion Saturday night, when she was penalized a point on match point after yelling and shaking her racket in the direction of an official who called a foot fault. Hah, she is really scary ;-)
• Sophie Monk in bikini - Celebrity Sophie Monk was spotted a few days ago in a yellow bikini on Manhattan Beach, which is located in southern California. The Australian model and actress still looks pretty good.
• Audrina Patridge Maxim Photos - Audrina Patridge is back in the pages of Maxim magazine!
• Megan Fox's Rolling Stone Magazine Pictures - Megan Fox is in the latest issue of Rolling Stone magazine looking like the cover says: America's Sexiest Bad Girl.

• Intel DP55KG Motherboard Tested - The most obvious advantage is the support for SLI, the presence of three x16 PCI Express 2.0 slots (although they run at lower speeds when more than one video card is used) support for RAID, use of only solid capacitors and a high-end voltage regulator. It also brings the unique memory compatibility test (MemOK!) and way more overclocking options than other boards on the same price range, plus the interesting idea of adding a physical switch for limiting memory overvoltage and thus preventing users from frying their CPUs.
• ASRock P55 Lynnfield Motherboard Video Preview  - Watch the video to find out if either of these boards is for you and to seat your new Socket 1156 Lynnfield Core i5 or Core i7 processor.
• ASUS P6T SE X58 i7 Motherboard Tested - In all the tests the Asus P6T SE performed very well to standards expected from much higher end X58 motherboards. But that's hardly surprising, as the P6T SE is pretty much a P6T with a few minor features and SLI removed.
• AMD Shows off 24 Panel Eyefinity on DirectX 11 Graphics Cards - MD obviously spent a lot of time on the Eyefinity drivers and they seem to be fairly solid even though the graphics cards won't be launched for a number of weeks. AMD had a system up and playing the upcoming DX11 racing game, Dirt 2, at 7680 x 3200 with solid performance from the looks of it. Playing games at this resolution will tax the system, but obviously the new Evergreen DirectX 11 graphics card has the muscle to run the game just fine. We got our hands dirty this morning and tried out gaming across three 30" displays in a 3 x 1 configuration and we must say it's very different as there is just so much screen to look at. It's a game changer for sure, as the gaming experience is a lot different.
• Microsoft unveils its thinnest Bluetooth-powered Keyboard - Microsoft announced today its thinnest keyboard dubbed 'Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 6000', which if you didn't notice in the name is designed exclusively for Bluetooth enabled PC's. The keyboard itself is just a few millimeters thicker than an AAA battery, with Microsoft's Comfort Curve design for a more natural wrist posture when typing. The keyboard will be available in October of this year with an estimated retail price of $89.96 for both the keyboard and number pad, and $44.95 for the number pad itself. Both are backed by a worldwide three year limited hardware warranty from Microsoft.
• Firefox 3.5.3 Released - For all you Firefox users that haven't updated already - automatically, Firefox 3.5.3 is out. Aside from a handful of stability issues, version 3.5.3 also address a number of security problems as well. The download weighs in at just under 8MB.
• Microsoft releases first Windows 7 ad (video) - With Windows 7 set for release in a little over a month, Microsoft will be airing the following Windows 7 commercial, titled 'Good News'.
• Camera-Equipped Apple iPod nano 5G Tested - Dan Nosowitz of Gizmodo couldn't help himself after the It's Only Rock and Roll Event hosted by Apple earlier this week. During that event, Steve Jobs officially unveiled the iPod nano 5G, saying that the new MP3 player is on sale right away. Going through Gizmodo's review, we learn that the screen goes from the 2.0-inches on the 4G nano to the 2.2-inches on the 5G nano. The resolution, as a result, gets a bump from 240×320 to 240×375. The embedded VGA camera will only do video (no stills), but it does come with a series of built-in effects and filters, including heat vision, tunnel vision, and security cam vision.
• Apple releases 3.1 iPhone & iPod touch firmware; iTunes 9 - Apple has announced the release of iPhone and iPod Touch firmware 3.1, available for download. The free download, for both iPhone and iPod Touch 3.0 users, is said to improve battery life. The 3.1 firmware will improve video editing on the iPhone 3GS, that won't overwrite the original clip when editing videos, preventing the loss of the original film. The new developer API's allows third-party applications access to the videos and edit them, without having to use Apple's editing tools for the iPhone 3GS. The update is said to increase the boot time of devices. The device will now vibrate when moving icons around to different locations. AT&T users will get an update to profile 4.2, but many users will still need to wait till September 25 before using their MMS feature. Apple also updated their modem firmware to 5.08.01. The update also has improvements to OpenGL and Quartz. The 3.1 iPhone and iPod Touch firmware is available for download with iTunes 9.
• New Blu-ray Laser Could Enable 100GB Media - Sharp announced that they have developed a new Blu-ray laser that can read triple- and even quadruple-layer media, which could me 75GB or 100GB recordable discs. This light is extremely strong at 500mW and is made possible thanks to an aluminum oxynitride layer that is located between the laser's crystal and the standard dielectric film which is meant to protect the laser. Among the benefits include the ability to read a drive twice as deep as current dual-layer Blu-ray drives as well as writing at 8X speed across all four layers. This could potentially mean 75GB or 100GB recordable discs. However, ther's no word on pricing or maturity of the technology.
• BlackBerry 9700 Bold (Onyx) Comparison Video - The new BlackBerry Bold 9700 is smaller and sleeker than the original Bold 9000 in just about every way. The backside is much more conventional in appearance, departing from the all-leather back of the 9000 for a two-parter back like most other phones. The Bold 9700 has a smaller footprint, a thinner profile, and an overall better-looking appearance. The trackpad, speaker quality, and keyboard build are all taken into consideration.
• Huge Multi-Touch Wall at Hard Rock Cafe - The multi-touch wall in the Las Vegas Hard Rock Cafe is a great example of the tech in action in a consumer setting.
• Mexican Ford Focus commercial (video) - The commercial appears to be some sort of Skip-Barber-meets-Tim-Burton driving school, with a Bourne Supremacy-style pursuit and an ass-kicking parallel parking job. At the end of the video, members of the Mexico viewing audience gets a quick glimpse of a lime green 2010 Focus RS in all its 300 horsepower glory. Hit the jump to view the video - and if you can't remember where you've heard that soundtrack before, watch the second video as well.
• Final Trailer for Mike Dougherty's Trick 'r Treat - Warner Brothers has debuted one final trailer for Mike Dougherty's new cult classic horror film Trick 'r Treat, which will sadly go straight-to-DVD in early October.
• Jason Reitman's Up in the Air Teaser Trailer! - Paramount has launched the teaser trailer for Jason Reitman's Up in the Air. While this is a full 2-minute trailer, it's much more of a teaser, featuring a great voiceover from George Clooney (rather, a speech) and a clips of scenes and great moments from the film. It's a brilliant first-look at this and it should definitely have you hooked.
• First Full Trailer for Solomon Kane with James Purefoy - An official full-length trailer for Michael Bassett's Solomon Kane that stars James Purefoy has finally debuted online today. What do you think. Are you digging it?
• Official Black Dynamite Trailer - Apparition has debuted the official theatrical trailer for Black Dynamite, the blaxploitation throwback starring Michael Jai White. This film is so badass that I can't even use the word badass to describe it because it would be way too tame of a term! Black Dynamite will arrive in limited theaters starting on October 16th this fall.
• Short TV Spot for James McTeigue's Ninja Assassin - A badass short 30-second TV spot for James McTeigue's Ninja Assassin has appeared online in high def recently and it's a definite must watch.

- Anti-Aliasing support for Ghostbusters
- ATI CrossFireXâ„¢ support for Resident Evil 5
- Graphics corruption fix for Sims 3
- Catalyst Control Center - Basic now responds properly after exiting Quick Adjust Video Settings
- Edge enhancement and de-noise sliders in Catalyst Control Center no longer lags or appears out of sync with mouse movement
- Launching Hotkeys Manager in Catalyst Control Center no longer causes an unhandled exception error
- The "Desktop Rotation" page in Catalyst Control Center no longer shows additional information for the second display when the secondary adapter is connected
- HDMI is now detected properly as DTV (HDMI) instead of DTV (DVI) when the HDMI display is hotplugged for the first time
- Catalyst Control Center no longer displays error message when specific HDMI displays are hot unplugged and hotplugged back
- Intermittent failures no longer occur with MediaShow Espresso once a transcoding process has been completed

• AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition CPU Review - Every time AMD releases a new processor, one question is on the tip of the tongues of enthusiasts everywhere: Is this the product to finally take the performance crown from Intel? I have to say that the AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition CPU isn't that product. This latest CPU from the green machine is simply a revision to the previous Phenom II X4 955 CPU. As we know this line of processors is still only able to compete with Intel's Core 2 Quad line of CPUs, rather than take on Intel's Core i7 beast.
  
• Next Firefox Update to Auto-Update Flash Player - PCWorld reports that Mozilla's next update for Firefox, slated to ship Tuesday, will check for outdated versions of Flash Player, a frequent target of hackers, the company said on Friday. The move is the open-source browser maker's opening salvo against out-of-date, open-to-attack plug-ins from vendors like Apple, Adobe, Microsoft and Sun.
• WordPress Blogs Falling Prey to Worm - ZDNet warns of a worm that is circulating that can post malware and spam to some WordPress blogs using older versions of the software. If you use WordPress, make sure you update to the latest version.
• Google's Mystery UFO Doodle Finally Explained - You know you are a dork when you actually care enough to find out why Google put a UFO on its logo
• AT&T to release iPhone MMS on September 25 - AT&T recently announced it will be launching Multimedia Messaging Service or MMS to the iPhone on September 25, 2009. The long awaited update to the iPhone, since its announcement of the 3.0 firmware back in May, was to bring MMS to the iPhone. AT&T said it planned to launch the service by the end of summer. AT&T said the reason for not launching the MMS service in June was to see if their network could handle the increase in traffic. The last couple of months, AT&T has been upgrading their network to handle the increase in traffic once MMS goes live, saying there will be an "exponentially increase traffic."
• Sci-Fi Plot Revealed for Stallone's Rambo V: The Savage Hunt -  Just a few days ago news broke confirming that the fifth installment of Sylvester Stallone's Rambo series had been greenlit by Nu Image / Millennium Films and was already in the works (and even hard a storyline about human trafficking across the Mexico border). Now AICN's Harry Knowles just had a conversation with Mr. Stallone himself in which he reveals the shadows of what will become Rambo 5.
• First Clash of the Titans On-Set Footage! -  MTV debuted the first bit of footage from Clash of the Titans last night, but it's a behind-the-scenes set visit video, so there's no finished footage. It features on-set interviews with Sam Worthington, Liam Cunningham, Mads Mikkelsen, and Gemma Arterton. There is a lot of awesome action, though, and it looks pretty badass.
• Apple store robbed in 31 seconds - Apple stores are known for their clean, modern, and user friendly layouts. What is also now known is that these stores can be picked clean by robbers in under 31 seconds. At the Sagemore, New Jersey Apple Store, a brick, 5 people and 31 seconds later 23 MacBook Pros, 14 iPhones, and 9 iPods were stolen while the security guard was away.
• Man driving 75 mph while reading novel (video) - Man reads novel while driving 75 mph on Highway 10 near Palm Springs, CA
• Insane Woman Hates Skateboarders (video) - A group of rollerblading enthusiasts are confronted by an angry woman. And that's saying it nicely. You gotta love the fourth thing she says they did wrong: "You've been yelled at!"
• Adrianne Curry Topless on Twitter - If you haven't gotten into Twitter, or don't understand what it's good for, that's actually a good thing, because here's the thing about the people who love Twitter at first sight: They are narcissists :-)
• Jennifer Love Hewitt FHM Photos - Jennifer Love Hewitt is on the cover and in the pages of the September issue of FHM Germany. Jen looks good as usual.
• Shakira Hot In Vanity Fair - Now, I know the photoshoot is pretty safe and not racy at all but I think she is hot as hell so they definitely deserve to be posted.