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 Gameguru Mania News - Dec,14 2002 - tech 
Saturday Tech Madness - tech
(hx) 06:15 PM CET - Dec,14 2002 - Post a comment / read (7)
  • Microsoft set to reveal Windows source code in India  - According to The Inquirer, Microsoft is getting so desperate to convert the Indian sub-continent to Windows it is prepared to share the Windows source code with a select band of government bodies.  A story in the Economic Times of India says the software monopolist has proposed to the Indian ministry of information technology to share the Windows source code with one unspecified government body. A Microsoft spokesman in India contacted by the publication confirmed the company was "evaluating the idea" of sharing the code but wouldn't be drawn further.
  • Hughes shutdown strands DSL users  - The satellite television company says it will close its DirectTV DSL service in the next few months, forcing about 160,000 customers to find access elsewhere (PR)
  • Realistic Retro Ringtones - Made from original audio recordings, rather than synthesized beeps or pre-stored digital samples, the digital ringtones can be downloaded over GPRS to Vodafone MMS-enabled handsets such as the Nokia 7650, upcoming 3650 and to-arrive-any-day-now Sony Ericsson P800. Even the Danger Hiptop supports digital ringtones, however other Beatnik-enabled handsets such as the Nokia 3510, 6610 and 7210 do not.
  • Skate & Slam for the Motorola T720 - Gameloft's latest creation is Skate & Slam for the J2ME-enabled European version of the Motorola T720, pitching players as a freestyle skateboarder who does tricks for a living. Taking on the part of a real-life skateboarder who does tricks for a living by performing on the asphalt of San Francisco or Venice Beach, users start out as novices for then to constantly improve their level of performance to attract sponsors - all while coached by his agent. As a player's most faithful supporter, the female agent will also dole out a good earful if performance isn't up to par - all in the name of increased earnings, of course.
  • Xbox Live Review - The Tom's Hardware team has reviewed the Xbox Live.
  • VIA Epia M9000 Mini-ITX Motherboard  - The VIA EPIA M-Series Mini-ITX Mainboard is a revolutionary, ultra-compact x86 platform optimized for today's killer digital applications. At just 17cm x 17cm, Mini-ITX is the world's smallest native x86 mainboard platform, and is fully compatible with MicrosoftR and Linux Operating Systems. Available with an embedded VIA Edent ESP processor core for fanless systems with ultra low-power requirements, or an embedded VIA C3t E-Series processor for more demanding digital multimedia applications, the EPIA M-Series is the perfect platform for a whole range of small form factor, low-power digital media devices and home entertainment centers.
  • Cool Wallpapers - MSI.com has updated their official website with some cool looking wallpapers.
  • Winamp 3x Beta News - Winamp 3 beta is here and we are going to burst into flames if we can't start taking over the world soon. The good news is that we are finally far enough along that we can start our demoralization campaign against the enemy and bring about the apocalypse.
  • Asus PC Probe 2.19.01
  • TaskInfo2003 5.0.0.80 Beta 3 - TaskInfo2003 (download b3) is a combination of Task Manager and System Information. It shows in real time information about all processes and threads including VxD threads. For each process it shows CPU usage, scheduling, path, open files, memory, DLLs, command line, environment variables, and other. It includes the ability to run and force termination of processes and reboot, restart, or shutdown the system.
  • RegScrubXP 3.25 - RegScrubXP safely cleans junk out of the Windows 2000/XP system registry. All changes made to the registry are fully restorable to it's original condition. You can make an exclusion list of registry entries that RegScrubXP will not display as problems.
  • DrvCareXP 1.4 - Makes the chore of caring for your drives easier. The program uses existing XP system utilities to clean, scan for errors, and defragment your drives.  Written in C#, DrvCareXP requires Microsoft .NET Framework. This can be downloaded via Windows Update, if you do not have it already.
  • DrvImagerXP 2.2 - DrvImagerXP makes backups (image files) of NTFS and FAT32 drive partition structures (as well as floppy disks), for the Windows 2000/XP operating systems, by copying, byte-for-byte, the drive partition sectors.
  • Mozilla 1.3 Alpha  -Mozilla (Win32 ~ Linux ~ release notes)  is an open-source Web browser, designed for standards compliance, performance and portability. Mozilla is a cousin to Netscape Communicator that is being developed by the Free Software Community with the cooperation and support of Netscape.
  • Blindwrite Suite v4.2.6  - Blindwrite Suite is a set of tools to reproduce or clone any CD even protected ones. Blindwrite Suite is the more powerfull tool to create a perfect copy from your original CD for personal backup purpose. Blindwrite Suite can create CD audio from MP3, Ogg Vorbis, WAV, WMA, monkey's audio and be use with an cd-rom emulator like Daemon Tools.
  • WinDVD Platinum 4.5.11.7 - This updated version (mirror) fixed the auto resume can't work when restart.
  • AVI Preview 0.20a - AVI Preview (download) is capable of playing partially downloaded AVI movies. To make it unique, it is capable of playing files which are in the stage of downloading.
  • WinAce 2.3 Beta 4i - A new beta version of WinAce is out .
  • AutoBench3D 2.0 beta  - This program can help you to do automatic common benchmarking or stability tests with your computer, basically 3D hardware. Here is a list of currently supported games and benches: Quake3 (any version), 3DMark2k1SE Pro, UT2003demo, Vulpine GLmark 1.1, SpecViewperf 7.0, SpecViewperf 6.
  • PowerStrip 3.30.362 Final - PowerStrip 3.30 provides advanced, multi-monitor, programmable hardware support to a wide range of graphics cards - from the venerable Matrox Millennium I to the latest SiS Xabre and Radeon 9700.
  • Compaq NVIDIA 31.91 WIN2k/XP Driver - Compaq has released some new NVIDIA drivers (10.3MB) for Win2k/XP - these are dated 5th of December 2002 and its version is 31.91. (mirror)
  • Asus PC Probe 2.19.01 - ASUS has again released a new version of their PCProbe monitoring utility. 
 Gameguru Mania News - Dec,13 2002 - tech
Nightly Tech Reading - tech
(hx) 04:02 AM CET - Dec,13 2002 - Post a comment / read (4)
  • Memory Stick breaks gigabyte barrier - Sony is close to unveiling a new, higher-capacity version of its popular Memory Stick removable flash memory card. But sources say it won't be compatible with some older devices. Expected to be announced at next month's Consumer Electronics Show, the new Memory Stick uses a different architecture to achieve higher capacities than the original card, sources said. Current Memory Stick cards top out at 128MB, but the new cards will come in 256MB, 512MB and 1GB capacities.
  • Microsoft warns of Java VM flaws - Microsoft late Wednesday issued a "critical" security alert for a series of Java Virtual Machine bugs, one of which could allow a hacker to steal information or reformat the hard drives of compromised computers.
  • Denmark Bills Users for Downloads - Earlier this year, AntiPiratGruppen (Anti-Piracy Group) began tracking the activities of Danish users of file-sharing networks, and then contacting the appropriate Internet service providers demanding users' names and addresses. Approximately 150 people received invoices averaging $400, said Morten Wind Lindegaard, an attorney with AntiPiratGruppen, with some users receiving bills for more than $10,000 for their alleged infringement.
  • RIAA Raids Alleged Music Pirates - The Recording Industry Association of America and the U.S. Secret Service raided an alleged music piracy operation in New York on Monday, seizing what they say is the largest quantity of recording equipment used for music piracy in the United States to date, according to a statement released Wednesday. The RIAA worked in conjunction with the Secret Service on a two-month investigation before charging into the operation located in Queens, New York, the RIAA said in the statement. Three suspects were arrested; and 35,000 recordable CDs, 10,000 DVDs, and hundreds of CD copying devices were confiscated.
  • Ancient computer still ticking - A half-century old computer, called CSIRAC, is still operating in Australia. The computer, which was Australia's first, ran at a blistering 300 kilohertz, had 2 KB RAM, and 2.5 KB storage. It operated from 1951 until 1964, and currently resides in the Melbourne museum. CSIRAC may have been the first computer to actually play music. Although modern readers may scoff at the seemingly underpowered machine, the 7000 kilogram, 20 kilowatt computer was used to perform a variety of useful tasks.
  • TiVo System to Offer Home Music, PC Pictures - TiVo Inc. said on Thursday its television recording system will soon be able to play digital music and show pictures stored in personal computers. Data stored in file formats such as MP3 and JPEG will appear on the television that is connected to the TiVo set-top box, company Chief Executive Michael Ramsey told investors at a Credit Suisse First Boston Conference. The company will likely charge an additional fee for the premium service, which will be launched in January at the Consumer Electronics Association's CES conference in Las Vegas, he said.
  • Need Some Relax? -  Insanity (good one - stare at the picture without laughing for 60secs) ~ kung-fu (with some Matrix effects) ~ pacman (classic) ~ doodie olympics  (if you like "sport" <grin> ...)
  • THG's 2002 Holiday Buyers' Guide - The Second Edition - Well, the holiday buying rush is now in full swing. Many of us are already debt-laden from our first rounds of holiday shopping. In this second edition, we review some new products and technology that we wouldn't normally review at THG. We even threw in a few software suggestions based on some of our recent playing experiences.
  • Bravo AutoPrinter - automated disc printing - Primera Technology announces its new Bravo AutoPrinter ($1495 MSRP). Based upon the same robotic mechanism used in Primera's popular Bravo Disc Publisher, the Bravo AutoPrinter automates the process of transporting discs into and out of Bravo's integrated printer.
  • TEAC announces their first DVD-RW writer - The TEAC DV-W50E (PR)burns DVD-Rs at 4x speed and DVD-RWs at 2x speed. CD-Rs are burnt at 16x speed, CD-RWs at 8x speed. In addition to current CD and CD-R/RW formats, the recorder supports DVD-ROM and DVD-Video (single + dual layer) as well as DVD-R and DVD-RW. According to the producers, transfer rates of up to 5.54 MB/s are reached in the DVD-R mode, 2.77 MB/s in DVD-RW mode, 2.4 MB/s in CD-R and 1.2 MB/s in the CD-RW mode. Access times are 140 ms in the DVD-ROM mode and 130 ms with CD-ROMs.
  • Creative chooses ATI for Blaster 5 - It seems that Creative has ditched its affiliation with NVIDIA and has chosen to market its Creative Blaster 5 series of cards under the ATI flag. On offer are RX9700 Pro, RX9000 Pro & RX9000 64MB cards with the RX9000 Pro DDR memory clocked at 550MHz. This is surely a blow to NVIDIA who hoped to steal the ATI (mostly short lived) crown with its new GeForceFX cards. ATI appear to be making leaps and bounds in as far as consumer confidence goes with its new unified drivers improving with every release NVIDIA certainly have their work cut out for them.
  • ATI RADEON 9700 PRO Extreme Overclocking Experience - The goal of our today's experiment is to overclock ATI RADEON 9700 PRO to its maximum. Ideally, we would like to get as much as a 30% performance growth. If we get it, there will be a graphics card (although only one in the world, but now and here) that would be able to "kill" NVIDIA GeForceFX.
  • On the GeForce FX Core and Memory Clock-Speeds - According to our colleagues, NVIDIA GeForce FX 5800-based products will be clocked at 400/900MHz for core/memory, not so much lower compared to the GeForce FX 5800 Ultra powered products with 500/1000MHz speeds respectively.
  • Overclocking the XP 2400 CPU -  OCIA has posted up a quick article on overclocking the XP 2400 CPU.
  • SuSE, Red Hat in Linux shootout - A shoot-out between the two most popular distributions of the open source operating system found that each has its strengths, but that SuSE is the best option for people new to the operating system.
  • Opera 6 for Mac OS 8.6-10.2 - Opera Software ASA today released the final version of Opera 6 for Mac OS 8.6-10.2.2 (download), offering Mac users a faster and better Internet experience. This is the first final Opera released for Mac OS X, and today's released version runs on Mac OS 8.6-10.2.2.
  • PHP 4.3.0RC3 out - PHP 4.3.0RC3 (win32) is out. This will be the last release candidate before the final release. From this point on, only crash and showstopper bugs will be fixed.
  • ATi Multimedia Center 8.0 (leaked) - ATI multimedia v8.0 is the very newest version of the popular and powerful all in one entertainment suite made by ATI for their customers. The newest Version 8 has shipped with the AIW 9700 boards and Techconnect together with Driverheaven is proud to be able to supply this to all their ATI members.
  • NeroMix v1.3.1.5 -  NeroMIX creates or copies anything you throw at it, in the slickest possible way. Just grab any data and burn it! NeroMIX is the Emperor of Style in Multimedia CD creation, combining dynamic CD burning (data, audio, copying) with the newest Internet audio technology all in one customizable interface.
  • Nero CD Speed v1.02  - This utility can be used to perform various benchmarks with, using your CD or DVD-recorder. This new version added an Advanced DAE Error test with support for special test discs and CD Speed DAE test disc, and also added support for TDK 90min CD-R.
  • CopyToCD v1.0.4 - CopyToCD is an easy to use burn program that integrates into the Windows shell. This latest version fixes some problems with MP3 files.
  • UltraISO v5.5 - With UltraISO you can directly edit your ISO-files and you can also use to create new ISO-files of your hard disk and your CD-ROMs.  This new version  features fully bootable CD specification support, support more than 19 CD Image formats,
    support long filename up to 110 characters, directly extract boot file form CD, realizes make floppy image function, realizes CD image convert function, realizes "Extract To" popup menu and more.
  • HighPoint BIOSes and Drivers v3.01 - Download -  HighPoint BIOSes&Drivers v3.01 for RocketRAID 404 ~ HighPoint BIOSes&Drivers v3.01 for HPT374 RAID.
 Gameguru Mania News - Dec,12 2002 - tech
Nightly Tech Reading - tech
(hx) 04:43 AM CET - Dec,12 2002 - Post a comment
  • Honda releases more intelligent ASIMO humanoid robot -  Honda Motor Co revealed to the press Wednesday a more intelligent version of its ASIMO humanoid robot which walks and gestures like a human. The new ASIMO can better understand people's postures and gestures and can move independently in response, according to the company. Honda plans to start rental of the 120 centimeter tall, 52 kilogram robot to companies and public institutions in January for around 20 million yen a year.
  • A Life Vest for Easy Riders? - Even the roughest Hell's Angels biker has a hard time escaping serious life-threatening injuries that typically result from high-speed traffic accidents. And for years, the motorcycle industry has been trying to ramp up better protective gear for bikers - including developing car-like air bags.
  • Free Logitech Cordless Navigator Duo Special Edition - Logitech official website has been update with this news : "For over 20 years Logitech has been making leading PC peripherals. You've made us number one in cordless peripherals, and now we'd like to say "thanks" by giving away 20,000 free Logitech Cordless Navigator Duot Special Edition Mouse & Keyboard combinations. Like all of our products, it delivers superior performance, value and style.  For your chance to win a Logitech Cordless Navigator Duo Special Edition, visit this site on December 20th, 2002 between 12:00 noon and 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. "
  • MadOnion.com Changes Company Name to Futuremark - MadOnion.com, announced today that it has changed its company name to Futuremark Corporation. The goal of the name change is to leverage the strength of the 3DMark and PCMark product lines and to align its corporate and product brand identities.
  • PowerDVD XP DVS  - Cyberlink has released a new version of their PowerDVD software players called PowerDvd XP DVS (download trial version) which incorporates Dolby's new Virtual Speaker technology. Dolby Virtual Speaker technology is a proprietary process that can be included in a wide variety of products (such as DVD players, TV sets, PCs, personal speaker systems, and home theater systems) to provide a true-to-life 5.1 surround-sound experience with just two speakers. Working in conjunction with Dolby Digital and Dolby Pro Logic II decoding, it enhances the playback of any program material, from 5.1-channel DVDs and satellite programming to stereo music CDs and MP3 files. If you don't speak Japanese, use BabelFish :)
  • Free Unix Shell Accounts? - This site is offering free UNIX shell and root accounts... well almost :) They say "We trade banner clicks for free Shell or Root accounts. This is how it works: Bring 100 clicks, get a shell account" .....
  • DVD Region-Free 1.28 - You don't need to flash any firmware which is dangerous or unavailable. DVD Region-Free also disables region check for popular software-based DVD players such as PowerDVD, WinDVD and CinePlayer. Other features include Region-Free for RCE DVDs, Macrovision-Free, Operation-Free and run self at DVD players startup automatically.
  • Visual Boy Advance v1.3 - Visual Boy Advance is a Game Boy Advance and Game Boy emulator that runs with Windows system. You can download both the DirectX version and SDL version of Visual Boy Advance. For some people, the SDL version on Windows may be faster than the DirectX version.
  • UltraISO 5.5 - UltraISO is a CD image file edit tool, it allows you to directly edit the CD image file and extract documents from it. You can also make an ISO file from your CD-RW/ROM drive or hard disk. It also processes ISO bootable information, thus you can create bootable CDs.
  • NVIDIA Linux drivers - NVIDIA has released a new version 1.0-4191 drivers for NVIDIA accelerators running under Linux. The new driver includes support for CineFX, the new graphics chip design powering Nvidia's recently unveiled GeForce FX and subsequent generations of graphics chips. The driver also supports upcoming high-end processors from Advanced Micro Devices
  • Nvidia WDM Driver 1.22 - NVIDIA has released a new WDM driver v1.22 (mirror1 ~ mirror2 ~ mirror3). This file is required for VIVO and Personal Cinema functionality with NVIDIA display adapters.
  • USB 2.0 Driver version 3.1 for Windows - Adaptec's USB 2.0 drivers allow your Adaptec USB2connect, DuoConnect and XHub products to work with USB 2.0 devices at speeds up to 480 megabits per second. These drivers are 100% compatible with all USB 1.1 devices as well.  
Weekly Hardware Reviews - tech
(hx) 03:51 AM CET - Dec,12 2002 - Post a comment / read (2)
  • CPU - AMD Athlon XP 2400+ (1) | AMD Athlon XP 2400+ (2 ~German) | Athlon MP 2400+ (3)  | Intel Celeron 2GHz | Intel Pentium 4 Hyper-Thread Performance | XP 2800+ vs P4 2.8GHz in Photoshop 7.0  | Overclocking Guide

    Motherboard -     Intel i845PE/i845GE roundup | Seven Intel 845PE Based Mainboards | VIA KT400 roundup | VIA Eden M-Series | nVidia nForce2 roundup (1) | nVidia nForce2 roundup (2) | Asus Motherboard roundup | Installing a Motherboard | Abit IT7-Max2 i845E (1) | Abit IT7-Max2 i845E (2) | Abit IT7-Max2 i845E  (3) | Abit IT7-Max2 i845E (4) | Abit KD7-RAID VIA KT400 | Abit BG7E i845GE | Abit BE7-RAID i845PE | Abit NF7-S nForce2 (video) | Albatron PX845E Pro II i845PE | Albatron KX400+ VIA KT333 |  AOpen AX4B-533 i845E | AOpen AK77-8X VIA KT400 | Asus A7N8X Deluxe nVidia nForce2 (1) | Asus A7N8X Deluxe nVidia nForce2 (2) | Asus A7N8X Deluxe nVidia nForce2) (3) | Asus A7N8X nForce2 (4)  | Chaintech Zenith 9EJS1 i845PE | DFI NB78-HL i845PE |  DFI AD77 Infinity VIA KT400 (1) | DFI AD77 Infinity VIA KT400 (2) | DFI NB78-HL i845PE | EPoX 8RDA+ nForce2 (1) | Epox 8RDA+ nForce2 (2) | Gigabyte 8PE667 Pro i845PE (German) | Gigabyte 8PE667-U2 i845PE | Gigabyte 7VAXP VIA KT400 | Gigabyte 8INXP Intel E7205 |  Iwill P4HT-S i845PE | Iwill KK400-RS VIA KT400 | Iwill P4GB Intel E7205 | Leadtek K7NCR18D Pro nForce2 | MSI 648 Max SiS648 | MSI GNB Max Intel E7205 | Shuttle AK37GTR VIA KT400 | Soltek 75FRV VIA KT400 |  Soyo 7VX4B Dragon Ultra Black Edition VIA KT400 | Soyo P4X400 Dragon Ultra VIA P4X400 | Supermico P4SAA Intel E7205 | Supermico X5DA8 Intel E7505 | VIA P4PB400-FL VIA P4X400
     
  • RAM - PC3200/PC3500 roundup | DDR roundup (German) | Kingston HyperX PC3500 Memory | Corsair PC3500/DDR433 CAS2.0 | OCZ PC3500 DDR433
     
  • Storage - IDE RAID roundup | IDE RAID vs SCSI  | Abit Parallel To Serial ATA Adapter | Maxtor Diamond Max Plus 9 60GB HDD | Samsung Spinpoint SP4002H 40GB HDD | Fujitsu MAP HDD | Seagate Cheetah 10K HDD | Simpletech SimpleDrive USB HDD | Asus CRW-5224A CD-RW (1) | Asus CRW-5224A 52/24/52 CD-RW (2) | Asus 40/12/48 USB 2.0 CD-RW  | MSI MS-8348A DragonWriter 48/16/48 CD-RW | Plextor PlexWriter 48/24/48A CD-RW | Asus External USB 2.0 CD-RW |  Iomega CDRW23042EXT3-C USB 2.0 CD-RW (German) | Universal Smart Drive | Enhance Technology HDD Enclosure
     
  • Video - CPU Scaling - Radeon 9700 Pro vs GeForce4 Ti4600 | nVidia NV18/NV28 and AGP 8X | GeForce4 MX440-8X roundup | Abit Siluro OTES GeForce4 Ti4200 (1) | Abit Siluro OTES GeForce4 Ti4200 64MB (2) | Albatron GeForce4 Ti4200 | Albatron GeForce4 Ti4200-8X | Asus V9180 GeForce4 MX440-8X | Asus V9280 GeForce4 Ti4200-8X (1) | Asus V9280-S GeForce4 Ti4200-8X 128MB (2) | Creative 3D Blaster GeForce4 Ti4200 | Gainward AGP8X Video Card  | Inno3D Tornado GeForce4 MX440-8X | MSI Ti4200-TD8X64 GeForce4 Ti4200-8X |  MSI GeForce4 MX440-8X | Triplex Millennium Silver GeForce4 Ti4600 | Radeon 9700 Pro roundup | ATi Radeon 9500 Pro | Tyan Tachyon Radeon 9700 Pro | HIS Excalibur Radeon 9700 Pro | Gigabyte GV-R9700 Pro Radeon 9700  | ATi FireGL X1 Preview | MSI TVanywhere TV-Tuner | Prolink PixelView PlayTV Box
     
  • Monitor - Hitachi CML174SXW LCD | Iiyama 18.1" LCD | Samsung 171N-Silver 17" LCD
     
  • Cooling - Cooler roundup | CoolerMaster Aluminum Alloy CD-ROM Bezel | AeroCool X-Factor Cooler | Aerocool Glacier Cooler |  Powercooler PCH161S+TSAS Cooler | TThermaltake Hardcano 8 VR  | hermalTake Silent Volcano 9 Cooler  | Cooler Master AFP-U01 Front Bezel | Thermaltake G4-VGA Video Cooler (1) | Thermaltake G4-VGA Copper Cooler (2) | Titan VGA Cooler | Fanner Group Spire Coolcat Cooler | GlobalWin CAK4-88T Cooler | Zalman ZM50-HP / ZM80-HP Cooler (German) | Thermalright SK-7 Cooler | Swiftech MCX4000 Cooler | AeroCool Hercules Cooler | Molex Cooler | Sunbeam Rheobus Easy Fan Controller | Coolermaster Aluminum/Copper MemSinks | Vantec Copper-X CCK-6040H Cooler | CoolerMaster Memory Cooler | Zalman CNPS5700D-Cu Cooler | CoolSonic CS-1662-K Cooler | Fanner CopperKing II Cooler | FrozenCPU 6port Dual-Voltage Fanbus | CoolerMaster X-Dream HAC-V81 Cooler
     
  • WaterCooling - 3R System WCL-02 WaterCooling System | Innovatek WaterCooling Kit (German) | Innovatek Water Cooling Kit | GeForce4 Ti4600 Watercooling Mod
     
  • Case - Self Applied Computer Case Graphics Guide | Case Mod Gallery | Lego Computer Case | Nikao Union Case | MS G-Mono Mid Tower Case (video) | 3RSystems Neon Light Midi Tower Case (German) | CoolerMaster ATC S4000 SX-1 Server Case | Chenming Fileserver Case | SkyHawk Galaxy Case (1) | SkyHawk Galaxy Case (2) | Antec PLUS1080AMG SOHO Case | Ahanix dboX Computer Case | BeanTech BT84 Clear Acrylic ATX Case | Lian Li PC-9300 Aluminum SFFCase | Chilli Pro 1/4 Aluminum Case | Swiftech Quiet Power Barebones Case | KoolCases Imperial Case | Naya Design Classic Case | Xoxide X-40 Modded Case
     
  • PSU/UPS - GSM-International 350W PSU | Vantec Stealth 470w PSU | Nexus NX-3000 300W PSU | Thermaltake Silent PurePower 420W PSU  | Kingwin KWI-450W PSU | SPI FSP300-60ATV-PF PSU
     
  • Sound - Hercules Gamesurround Muse 5.1 Sound Card | Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 (German) | Logitech Z-680 Speakers | DigiTheatre ZXR Silver Edition Speakers (German) | Altec Lansing 5100 5.1 Speaker System (1) | Altec Lansing 251 5.1 Speakers (2) | |VIA Eden Based Hi-Fi System | Digitalis Vision II Home Theater System | Packard Bell WinAmp Remote Control | Logitech Z-560 Speakers
     
  • Peripheral - PC USB Light Gun  | Belkin Nostromo n50 SpeedPad | Litepads roundup | Logitech MX500 Optical Mouse | Logitech MX700 Optical Cordless Mouse (1) | Logitech MX700 Cordless Mouse (2) | Logitech MX 700 Cordless Optical Mouse (3) | Logitech MX700 Cordless Optical Mouse (4) | Speedpad Mousepads | Icemat Mousepad | Saitek P3000 Cordless Gamepad | Nyko Airflo Xbox Controller | Logitech Cordless Elite Duo (1) | Logitech Cordless Elite Duo (2)
     
  • Network -  NexLand Wavebase 802.11b WAP | IOGEAR HomePlug ETHERNET BRIDGE & USB ADAPTER
     
  • Modding - Case Mod Guide | Xoxide Crystal Clear LED Fans | ZXMods Cold Cathode DIY Kit | Thermaltake Fan Grills | Xoxide X-Rack Neon CD Tower | So-TrickComputers Red CCFL | Vantec Nexus NXP-101 Multifunctional Panel (1) | Vantec Nexus NXP-101 Multi-function Panel (2) | Vantec Nexus NXP 101 Multifunction Panel (3) | Vantec Nexus NXP 101 Panel (4) | Vantec Nexus NXP-201 Fan Controller (1)  | Vantec Nexus NXP201 Fan Controller (2) | Vantec Nexus NXP201 Fan Controller (3) | Vantec Nexus NXP201 Fan Controller  (4) | L.I.S. LCD Indicator | CD-Rom Window Mod | ThermalTake Fan Grill / Copper RAMsink | Inverse Blue 204 MO LCD | ColorBreeze LED Fan | Fanner Color Breeze LED Fan | Spire Led Fan | Modding LCD Gallery | Xoxide 4 Port Rheobus Kit | CompUSA Red CCFL | PSU Led Fan Guide | L.I.S. Platinum LCD Kit | Sunbeam Rheobus Kit  | PCMods Blue CCFL / Ultramarine EL Cable | Fanner LED Fans
     
  • Miscelanous -
    •  IOSS RD1 BIOS Savior | Californeon Lightstrip | EL Wire ATA-133 Rounded Cable | TweakMonster CPU Shim | Imak Smart Glove | MicroDesk Essential 200B Desknote
     
  • Notebook, Camera, MP3 players, Phones - Gateway 600XL 2.2GHz P4 Laptop |
    •  Dimension 8250 Desktop PC | Apple Power Mac G4 preview | Targa Visionary XP Notebook (German) | Canon PowerShot G3 Digital Camera | Comotron 3in1 MP3-Player | Delkin eFilm Reader-11  | Ricoh Caplio RR30 Digital Camera | Kyocera 7135 Smartphone.
     Gameguru Mania News - Dec,11 2002 - tech
    Nightly Tech Reading - tech
    (hx) 03:54 AM CET - Dec,11 2002 - Post a comment
    • No Gas in 'Grand Theft' Sequel - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City -- the virtual thug's tale that's inspired record sales, drooling reviews and waves of finger-wagging in the press -- is, in fact, not much more than an uninspired sequel. Sure, you can now drive a motorcycle, as well as a car. And there are those cool '80s tunes playing on the stereo. But the game is pretty much the same as its PlayStation 2 predecessor, the groundbreaking Grand Theft Auto 3.
    • Gibson to appear in new "Mad Max" film - Mel Gibson, who starred in the 1979 cult hit "Mad Max," is returning to the franchise for a fourth time, according to the entertainment trade paper Daily Variety.  He will be paid a salary approaching $25 million to star in "Fury Road" for original "Mad Max" director George Miller, who has been crafting the script for the last three years. Once again, Mad Max will roam the lawless, post-apocalpytic Australian outback. The project is set up at Twentieth Century Fox. Studio insiders say the $104 million project will begin shooting in Australia next May as the targeted start date.
    • Psst! 'Two Towers,' cheap -- from pirates - Wanna catch the new "Lord of the Rings" movie before it opens in cinemas later this month? That's easily done if you live in, or visit, China and some other Asian markets -- and you're not worried about copyright laws, Variety reports. DVDs of "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" were available in Shanghai two weeks ago for about $1 a pop, according to one Western film industry executive who visited that city. The film opens in North America on December 18.
    • Wanted: Successor to flash memory - Current flash technology will likely survive until 2006, when it will be replaced by flash technology manufactured using a 65-nanometer process. The nanometer figure refers to the distance between transistors on a chip. Chipmakers are currently selling so-called 130 nanometer chips and will soon make the move to 90 nanometers. One replacement AMD is exploring is Quantum Well technology, which uses tiny wires, of approximately 5 nanometers, to store data. AMD will discuss this approach in a paper presented at the San Francisco conference, Sander said.
    • DALnet debilitated by DoS attacks - DALnet, one of the world's biggest IRC service providers, has apologized to its users for disruptions caused by an unusually fierce DDoS attack over the weekend, whose effects are continuing to be felt.  "There are several reasons for this, including ongoing attacks and a loss of servers. "This weekend, these problems have increased. DALnet has been under an unusually strong, unusually persistent attack. These attacks are directed at all DALnet client servers, rather than just a few."  DALnet's volunteer administrators is working with service providers and with police to stop these attacks, which are far from easy to block.
    • Enjoy WindowsXP.nu while it lasts -WindowsXP.nu site has been updated with information: "Monday I received a FAX from a Dutch law firm here in Amsterdam representing Microsoft Redmond, USA. Microsoft wants me to handover the domain WindowsXP.nu before December 19th!" .....well, no comment :(
    • GeForce FX and more from AGDC 2002  - Tweak Town has posted some coverage of the Australian Game Developers Conference 2002. There you will find information on Sony's PS2 online gaming plans and videos and pictures of nVidia's GeForce FX in action as well as shots of the graphics card.
    • AMD's multiprocessing chips to support 333MHz system buses  - Sources close to AMD said that the firm will likely soon release multiprocessing "MP" processors that support the faster 333MHz front side buses that the Athlon XP supports. Those faster MP chips could be introduced early next year, and possibly with the release of the MP 2600+. Although the firm will not comment on unannounced products, we understand that the move to a 333MHz system bus is a comparatively trivial matter.
    • PC Hardware Gift Guide 2003  - Whether you're looking for that perfect gift for the "Techie" in the family or just shopping for yourself here are some ideas and suggestions from us to you.
    • PC DVD Writers FAQ - CDFreaks.com has posted a new FAQ about PC DVD recorders. The FAQ gives a little basic information about DVD recording on the PC, but has a lot of information about issues with Pioneer related DVD-RW drives.
    • Part 5 of the Definitive BIOS Optimization Guide Rev. 7 - Adrian's Rojak Pot posted Part 5 of the Definitive BIOS Optimization Guide Rev. 7.
    • Sonic foundry v5.0 -  Sonic Foundry has released its professional CD mastering and burning application, CD Architect. Version 5.0 has been re-engineered as a stand-alone application and provides comprehensive audio CD production tools available for creating Red Book CD pre-masters suitable for professional replication.
    • America's Army Forward Observer v0.3.15 Browser - This add-on is a custom server-browser that will soon replace GameSpy or the All-Seeing Eye or even the in-game browser as your favorite tool for finding games and player and server information. That tool is only meant for America's army game, nothing else.  
    • MetaProducts Download Express 1.3  - MetaProducts Download Express (DE) is a FREE Windows 9x/ME/NT/2000/XP program that allows you to download individual files from Web and FTP sites at the maximum available speed. Multiple downloading channels technology significantly decreases the time necessary to download files. (thanks hoe) * it's quite old program, but really pretty useful :)
    • Official VIA Hyperion 4-in-1 drivers v4.45 - VIA Tech has released an updated set of VIA 4-in-1 set of chipset drivers v4.45. (what's new). / Mirror: TechConnect. + Ghazi has updated his original VIA Driver Guide in TweakTown's forums to come in line with this release.
    • Netscape 7.01 - A new version of the popular browser Netscape - v7.01 (Windows / Linux) has been released.
     Gameguru Mania News - Dec,10 2002 - tech
    Evening Tech Reading - tech
    (hx) 03:12 AM CET - Dec,10 2002 - Post a comment
    • Israel works with FBI and Caught Suspected Credit Card Hacker - Israeli police, aided by the FBI, arrested an Israeli suspected of hacking into computers of a U.S.-based electronics company and stealing personal information, including the credit card numbers of some 80,000 customers, according to court document released Sunday. David Sternberg, 24, of the port city of Haifa, was arrested late Friday while driving in a stolen car, police said. The FBI notified the Israelis he was wanted in 2000 and police began searching for him in 2001, according to the transcript of his detention hearing. Sternberg allegedly broke into the computers of a large U.S. company that sells CD-ROMs and DVDs, but police refused to release the name of the company. The court document also did not mention the company's name.
    • Teen Hacker, Hollywood Nemesis, on Trial - Jon Lech Johansen was only 15 when he wrote and distributed on the Internet for free a program that unlocked copy-protected DVDs, giving Hollywood nightmares and making him a folk hero among hackers. Three years later, he's going on trial in an important test case for Norway's strict laws against computer piracy and hacking.
    • Cool Gifts for a modest budget -  I had a lot of fun coming up with this guide. Hopefully you find something in here that will make your Techie happy on Xmas day. Most are quite affordable and should get you thinking about what to get that special someone on your list. Here we go!
    • Analyst Downgrade Hurts Video Game Stocks - Shares in video game publishers and retailers closed broadly lower on Monday after an industry analyst cut his ratings on several publishers, citing concerns about the important holiday retail season.  
    • Snails to invade Nokia 7650 -  According to information posted on the official Snails website, the game is currently in an early beta stage after having undergone the alpha stage in breakneck speed.  A free beta of the game for Nokia 7650 users is available for download from the website, which can be played on any 7650 provided sufficient memory is available (thanks InfoSync).
    • IBM Announces World's Smallest Working Silicon Transistor - IBM today announced the world's smallest working silicon transistor. With this transistor IBM has been able to push silicon to limits on a molecular scale not previously achieved. At 6 nanometres in length, this new transistor is at least 10 times smaller than the state-of-the-art transistors in production today. The Consortium of International Semiconductor Companies in its 2001 International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors projected that transistors have to be smaller than 9 nanometres by 2016 in order to continue the performance trend. IBM is the first company to make working transistors below that gate length.
    • nForce2 selected for Mach V gaming PCs  - NVIDIA today announced that Falcon Northwest has selected NVIDIA nForce2 processor technology as the recommended platform for its line of award-winning Mach V gaming PCs. Gamers and hard core PC enthusiasts who place a premium on performance and speed can immediately order Mach V desktop PCs that take advantage of the leading performance and advanced features offered by the NVIDIA nForce2-based Leadtek WinFast K7NCR18D-Pro motherboard and the AMD Athlon XP 2800+ processor with 333MHz frontside bus memory technology.
    • AMD Athlon XP 2800+ and Intel Pentium 4 2.8GHz in Adobe Photoshop 7.0 - Well, today we are going to compare the performance of two processors from Intel and AMD, namely Intel Pentium 4 2.8GHz and AMD Athlon XP 2800+. These two top models are now rated similarly, which makes the comparison really interesting.
    • Professional 3D Accelerators in 3ds max 5 - The guys at Digit-Life had a chance to test professional video accelerators on a dual-processor system. The test program is 3ds max from Discreet of the new fifth version.
    • FreeBSD 5.0-RC1 - FreeBSD 5.0-RC1 was just released, download its ISO from an ftp server near you.
    • Microsoft Gets Tough On WindowsXP.nu -  In the latest incident of Microsoft muscling sites which it deems to have unfavourable content in terms of leaks windows site Windows XP.nu is being threatened by legal action by dutch lawyers acting on the behalf of the US software giant. Microsoft is threating a lawsuit under the guise that the site violates international copyright laws and that visitors could potentially confuse the site with the official windows xp site.
    • Microsoft Winter Fun Packs - Get enhancements and tools to help you have fun with your computer and Windows XP this holiday season: Windows Media Player 9 Series Fun Pack | Windows Movie Maker 2 Fun Pack | Photos and Browsing Fun Pack | Winter Fun Screensavers.
    • MSN Messenger tweaking tool - Tweak Msgr is an application that allows you to change hidden settings for MSN/Windows Messenger. Settings commonly used by network/systems administrators in schools, or business's using or want to use Instant Messaging as a communication tool. These settings do not exist with MSN Messenger 5. If MSN Messenger has been disabled at your school or work then this will most probably enable it.
    • myIE2 0.6.750 Beta (free)  - myIE2 can open more web pages in one MyIE instance but occupies very little in the way of resources. The tabbed interface to the windows is nice, and the interface is clean and simple. If your looking for a small, simple frontend to IE, take a look at MyIE
    • Scope 2.0 (free) -  Scope (download) is a multi-tabbed browser which displays web pages using either the IE or Mozilla engine - or both if you want to compare pages side by side. In addition to being extremely fast, Scope is very, very lightweight - only about 250k for the whole program. It seems be be nice browser, however the latest version is from summer and the program still contains some bugs...(thanks MajorGeeks).
    • NetCaptor 7.10 Beta 1 (shareware)  - NetCaptor is the most powerful web browser on the planet! Other browsers only show one page at a time or squish them together in an overlapping mess. NetCaptor gives each web site its own tab.
    • RegionKiller v2.7.0.2 - Elaborate Bytes has released a new version of their DVD RegionKiller software. With this software you'll be able to watch foreign DVDs on your home theatre PC without being hassled by possibly non-working DVDs.
    • Fujitsu Diagnostic (SCSI) 2.0  - SDIAG is a simple and reliable SCSI diagnostic tool developed by Fujitsu verifying the condition of your Fujitsu SCSI Hard Disk Drive. A high percentage of Hard Drives returned to the manufacturer are actually diagnosed as No Trouble Found (NTF).
    • Fujitsu Diagnostic (IDE) 6.01 -  FJDT can diagnose your suspected faulty hard drive by checking the S.M.A.R.T. data and also by scanning the entire surface of the drive, sector by sector, to verify media integrity.
    • Western Digital Data Lifeguard 10.0 - The Data Lifeguard Online Diagnostics service is a free web-based diagnostic utility capable of testing any manufacturer's EIDE hard drive. The purpose of the Data Lifeguard Online Diagnostics service is to provide the user with an easy method to physically test the health of the hard drives installed in his system without the need to create a bootable diskette or to reboot the system.
    • Samsung Diagnostic 1.25 - This program is used to diagnose the disk when the Samsung hard disk is suspected to have failures. It is strongly recommended to back up your data before using this program.
    • VobSub 2.22  - VobSub 2.22 fixes problems in the closed caption extraction routines, has real multiangle processing which makes indexing even more accurate and the playback problems with DVD players using automatic DVD graph builder have been fixed.
    • DVDxCopy 1.2.2  - Version 1.2.2 is now available. It fixes a problem with the installer that could cause problems with other software that makes use of certain registry keys.  Also, a problem with installing on a fresh installation of XP was corrected. If you have had a problem installing DVDXCopy, or installing the DVDXCopy drivers, please download 1.2.2 . Also, there is a patch available that will update v1.2.x to v1.2.2
    • PowerStrip 3.30 Beta Build 359 - PowerStrip (download) provides advanced, multi-monitor, programmable hardware support to a wide range of graphics cards - from the venerable Matrox Millennium I to the latest Radeon 9700DV and Matrox Parhelia.
    • CPUBENCH 4.0.0.6  - CPUBENCH calculates the speed of the CPU by performing 12 tests, a diversity of floating-point and integer calculations: MFLOPS, MIPS, PI, Lorenz, Dhrystone, Whetstone etc.
    • Fraps 1.9B - Fraps is a tool that lets you monitor current framerates in a corner of the screen for programs using DirectX or OpenGL technology. It also allows you to easily take screenshots of games, make movies of gameplay, and manually determine the average framerate between two points.  - <
    • Asus PC Probe 2.19.00 - ASUS has again released a new version of their PCProbe monitoring utility.
    • Official ATi CATALYST 02.5 - ATi has officially released a new non-beta driver set CATALYST 02.5 for their RADEON series of video cards - CATALYST 02.5 Release Notes, ATi RADEON Win2k/XP v6.13.10.6218, ATi RADEON Win98/ME v4.13.01.9072, Control Panel v6.14.10.4000, WDM Capture v6.13.10.6173 v3, Hydravision v3.20.2020.
    • Xabre 3.08 WHQL - SiS has released a new drivers version 3.08 WHQL (WinAll) for the Xabre 80/200/400/600 video chips/cards.
    • DRU-500A and DRX-500UL Firmware - This new firmware will allow your Dual RW drive to record at 4X on 4X compatible DVD+R media as well as improve the DVD-ROM reading performance with DVD recordable/rewritable media.
     Gameguru Mania News - Dec,09 2002 - tech
    Nightly Tech Reading - tech
    (hx) 02:57 AM CET - Dec,09 2002 - Post a comment / read (2)
    • BMX Game XXXcels in Being Lewd, Crude  - Acclaim Entertainment's new $50 bike-riding simulation "BMX XXX" is so crass, juvenile and pornographic, it's as if the developers wanted to see just how far they could go and still sell it as a mass-market game. Here's a product whose creators take pride in having developed one of the few "adult" games on the market. It rewards players with 30-second videos of gyrating strippers and allows them to create their own topless bike riders. It's laced with obscenities. On one level, BMX XXX is destined to be a laughable illustration of the ridiculous amount of effort some males are willing to undertake just to see a bit of flesh. It's a psychology thesis waiting to be written.
    • A $199 PC with No Windows, No Intel Inside - By dropping software from Microsoft and avoiding "Intel inside," retailer Wal-Mart Stores is offering a $199 computer it says is a hot seller on its Web site, attracting novices looking for a way onto the Internet as well as high-end users wanting a second box.
    • Debian Installer alpha available - The Debian Installer project are pleased to announce an alpha version of the new Debian-Installer project which is the actively developed replacement for the much maligned boot-floppies installer. This initial alpha is only available for i386, as although ports to other architectures are progressing well, the team feels they are too immature to be released as alphas at this time. The installer is able to provide a useable Debian system however this is only alpha quality and so the usual disclaimers apply. Special attention would be appreciated on CDROM installations and on IDE hardware.
    • Doom III Monster, Shots and Scans - There are some new shots / scans / video from DOOM III - check it out!
    • Ultima 7 in Windows -  A new and exciting era has dawned for fans of Ultima 7, parts 1 and 2. Anyone who has ever played - or tried to play - these immortal classics will know how frustrating and heartbreaking it can be to get them running, especially on a modern computer with a PCI sound card. Those worries are now over. Thanks to a new and quite brilliant utility, Black Gate and Serpent Isle can be run effortlessly in Windows 95 or 98, with virtually any kind of sound card. With the latest addition (U7.DPMI) it is also compatible with Windows 2000, and possibly even Linux.
    • jv16 PowerTools 1.2 - jv16 PowerTools 1.2 is released! jv16 PowerTools is a full set of tools to keep your computer up and running. The beta testing period of jv16 PowerTools 1.2 has now begun. The new version contains a lot of new features.
    • Leaktest 1.2 - LeakTest is a safe and small (27k bytes), completely benign chameleon utility which can be used to simulate the presence and effect of Trojan horses, viruses, and adware/spyware running in your computer. It simply and quickly tells you whether it has been able to slip out past your firewall's outbound Trojan/Virus/Spyware protections and establish a standard TCP connection with our NanoProbe server.
    • NVRefreshTool 2.1 - A new version of NVRefreshTool 2.1.is out. This new version features 41.xx Detonator support andHorizontal and Vertical spanning mode support, and many other.
    • DVD-Cloner 1.9 - DVD-Cloner supports most DVD-RW drive. The DVD of cloned could be played on any players which support compatible format.
    • RegionKiller v2.7.0.2 - RegionKiller 2 takes care of the proper functioning of your (Region Code free) DVD Drive - from now on you'll be able to watch foreign DVDs on your home theater PC without being hassled by possibly non-working DVDs.
    • NVIDIA Stereo Wrapper -  GiofX wrote a small 15 KB DLL patch under WinXP that enables Det 40.xx compatible with Stereodrivers for your 3D Goggles, it recalls the nvidia stereo config dialog, unfortunately the first screen does not save the settings but other config are ok! This wrapper should works very fine with XP Pro / Det 40.72 / Stereo 30.87
    • Realtek RTL8139(A/B/C/D/8130)/810X) Drivers 4.00.5.05 - Realtek has released some new drivers for the RTL8139(A/B/C/D/8130)/810X series version 4.00.5.05 for WinAll. It's recommended to install the drivers manually.
     Gameguru Mania News - Dec,07 2002 - tech
    Saturday Tech Madness - tech
    (hx) 05:11 PM CET - Dec,07 2002 - Post a comment / read (1)
    • Macworld Expo/Tokyo canceled  - The show's producer, IDG World Expo Japan, has decided to cancel next year's show. In an e-mail, parent company IDG blamed the cancellation on a lack of interest from exhibitors.
    • Viagra May Help Some Infertile Women Get Pregnant - A small percentage of women with infertility due to problems with their uterine lining were able to become pregnant after taking the drug Viagra in a vaginal suppository form, according to a new report. Viagra (or sildenafil, as it is known generically) appears to increase blood flow to the uterus, increasing the thickness of the uterine lining, or endometrium. A relatively small number of women who cannot conceive are infertile because their uterine lining is too thin.
    • Security hole exposes Tower Records - The glitch allowed anyone to peruse Tower Records' Web site to view its database of customer orders dating from 1996 through this week, including home and e-mail addresses, phone numbers and what music or video products were purchased. More than 3 million such records were exposed.
    •  $300,000 for victims of URL scam - Companies that sold web addresses that failed to work have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges and pay $300,000 (L191,000) to customers. The FTC alleged that after 11 September 2001, the domain name sellers launched an aggressive spam campaign to advertise domains ending in '.usa'.
    • Instant photography coming up - If you're the proud owner of a camera phone, you'll most likely be acutely aware of the fact that such devices have very limited memory capabilities. Most carriers offer some sort of online storage solution for users to store their pictures in when the built-in memory runs out - but now there's a way to store pictures in a more tangible manner, thanks to Totalmass' new Longstreet solution. To be deployed in early 2003 by MangoFoto, a subsidiary of San Fransisco based Totalmass, the Longstreet solution has been developed by Totalmass to allow owners of camera phones to wirelessly transmit pictures to have these printed on good, old-fashioned paper.
    • Wireless Electricity Becomes a Reality - During a mid-day press conference in chilly New York City, MobileWise showed off a handful of functioning prototype powerbases and retrofitted mobile devices that all use the company's new MobileWise chipset and enable "Wire-Free" electric power. One chip, the tiny Adapter Controller, goes inside the mobile device and the other, the Contact Controller, gets built into the power base station. These power bases, which were shown in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and colors, are each covered in an array of gold-plated contacts. The retrofitted mobile devices also have a pair of contracts. With properly configured handheld devices, the bases can, according to company CEO Andy Goren, change any flat surface into a charging/power station.
    • Hacker From the 'Hood Tells All - Hacker Cracker: A Journey from the Mean Streets of Brooklyn to the Frontiers of Cyberspace ($24.95, William Morrow & Co.), describes Nuwere's childhood in Brooklyn's rough Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood.  The book isn't focused solely on hacking. Nuwere writes about his mother's battle with drug addiction and her death, his own depression and suicide attempts and life as a street gang member.
    • Lite-On IT to cut back DVD-ROM drive shipments next year -  Lite-On IT, the world's largest DVD-ROM and CD-RW drive manufacturer, will cut back DVD-ROM drive shipments next year due to high technology licensing fees and decreasing profit margins. Licensing fees for DVD-ROM drive technology costs about US$10 per unit, about one-third of a drive's manufacturing contract price. If Taiwan-based companies cannot solve this issue, they will not be able to sustain profitable operations when DVD-ROM drive prices fall further, said Michael Gong, general manager of Lite-On IT's optical disc drive business unit.
    • NVIDIA NV18/NV28 and AGP 8x Investigation - On September 25, NVIDIA introduced its new graphics chips supporting the AGP 3.0 standard and 8x data-transfer speed. When naming the chips, the company didn't exert imagination so we have got "NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti4200 with AGP8x" (unofficially known as NV28) and "NVIDIA GeForce4 MX440 with AGP 8x" (NV18). Actually, NV18 and NV28 only differ from NV17 and NV25 by their AGP 8x support. Besides, they also feature higher working frequencies. In this review we will try to find out the advantages brought about by the increased frequencies and the AGP 3.0 support.
    • IDE RAID vs. SCSI: Who Will Win? - It's clear that every interface has its own advantages and shortcomings. SCSI means reliability and high performance, but also high price. Moreover, it needs a costly controller. IDE means huge capacities and much lower storage cost for 1MB than in SCSI HDDs. But IDE drives are much less reliable and to build a fault-tolerant disk subsystem you need to combine them into mirror RAID arrays (and this requires at least one more drive and a RAID-controller).
    • Easily and Safely Installing a Motherboard  - Building or upgrading your system can be a rewarding and educational experience. However, it's often a painful learning experience. It's been said that good judgment is the result of experience -- and experience is the result of poor judgment. We're going to offer up our own experience, so you can proceed directly to the "good judgment" category. Just because we've broken the heatsink clip off a CPU socket, or crushed the corner of a CPU by incorrectly installing the cooler, doesn't mean you need to learn in quite that manner.
    • Microsoft Office 11 Preview - WinSupersite has posted a preview on Microsoft Office 11.
    • A-Blast - There's nice shooting game written in Macromedia Flash.
    • ICQ Plus v3.5 - ICQ Plus (download) allows you to change the appearance of ICQ. When installed, ICQ Plus integrates with ICQ by adding a menu item to the main menu. Choosing this menu item brings up a dialog which lets you configure ICQ's appearance in several ways. You can apply a predefined skin or create one yourself. ICQ Plus also allows you to change the appearance of individual features as well. This new version added support for ICQ2003a build 3777.
    • DirectX 9.0 RC2 released - Microsoft has released DirectX version 9.0 Release Candidate 2. Remember it's ONLY BETA which will expire on March 19, 2003., so download only on your own risk :P 
    • Phoenix 0.5 (Naples) - Phoenix is (win32 ~ linux) a redesign of the Mozilla browser component, similar to Galeon, K-Meleon and Chimera, but written using the XUL user interface language and designed to be cross-platform.
    • WinOnCD 6 FixPack 1 - The first FixPack for the great CD mastering program WinOnCD 6 has been released.
    • ATI RADEON BIOSes -  Omegacorner.com has been updated with new BIOSes and Flash utilities for ATI's Radeon 8500 and the 9700 graphics cards.
    • Saphire ATI Radeon Drivers v7.80 - I've noticed over at Saphire that they have released a 30MB file that contains new Win9x/ME/2k/XP ATi Radeon 9700/9500/9000/8500/7500/7200/7000 classed video cards.
     Gameguru Mania News - Dec,06 2002 - tech
    Nightly Tech Reading - tech
    (hx) 04:36 AM CET - Dec,06 2002 - Post a comment / read (11)
    • MS CFO vows more resources to make Xbox succeed - Xbox is not going to go away, and Microsoft is ready to pour more resources into the games console, said company CFO John Connors yesterday. Connors, who was apparently being webcast to a closed Credit Suisse First Boston conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, was responding to the question of whether Microsoft had an exit strategy for Xbox.
    • ASIMO Robot - ASIMO is a new model of human robot ..wow :) Try BabelFish to translate this article in Japanese.
    • "Strained silicon" to pump up chips - Researchers and design engineers from IBM and Intel will present papers at the International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) next week that detail their work on "strained silicon," a manufacturing technique that promises to boost processor performance by up to 20 percent.  In strained silicon, the atoms are stretched by inserting germanium atoms into the chip's silicon lattice. Another chipmaking technique involves adding a layer of silicon-germanium into the transistor bed. The two technologies are conceptually related--but different--and can be used in the same chip.
    • America's first WCDMA call - Ericsson and AT&T Wireless have completed what the companies say is the first WCDMA/UMTS call in a live network environment in the Americas. With initial packet data speeds of up to 384 Kbps, the call demonstrates capabilities more than double those of CDMA2000 1xRTT-based networks, capable of transferring data at speeds of up to 144 Kbps.
    • How to convert a DivX / AVI / ASF / MPEG1 to VCD? - CDFreaks.com have posted a new tutorial entitled "How to convert a DivX / AVI / ASF / MPEG1 to VCD?".
    • Overclock your Northwood Pentium at your peril  - Threads have appeared on Ace's Hardware and at the OC-Forums warning of something called the "Sudden Northwood Death Syndrome" - which typically happens when people try and clock their Pentium 4s to frequencies beyond their specifications. The thread at OC Forums is a "database of Northwoods that have died or degredated prematurely", and results from a rash of overclocking fever. Intel only supplies warranties for particular frequencies at particular voltages, but doesn't mind end users killing CPUs worth hundreds of dollars, because, after all, it means it will sell more chips at the end of the day.
    • Intel said to allow overclocking on new own-brand boards - According to sources, to enhance its competitiveness in the clone market, Intel has decided to allow users to adjust voltage and memory module transmission frequency on its own-brand Canterwood and Springdale boards, which are expected to be launched in the second quarter of 2003. The move is regarded as yet another strategy by Intel to expand into the clone sector, a stronghold of rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), motherboard makers noted. Earlier, the chipmaker surprisingly changed its Springdale chipset specifications from the original 677MHz FSB (front-side bus) speed and dual-channel DDR333 memory architecture to an 800MHz FSB and dual-channel DDR400. AMD's forthcoming K8 processors support an 800MHz FSB as well.
    • Windows .NET Server 2003 RC2 Released - This is the official RC2 release from Microsoft, obtainable and downloadable as from about a few hour ago, trough the WindowsBeta website.
    • Microsoft warns of IE, Outlook flaws - The Redmond, Wash., company said a glitch could allow hackers to pilfer information from computers running versions of its Internet Explorer Web browser. The Internet Explorer security hole affects versions 5.5 and 6 for Windows. IE 5.01 is not affected by the glitch. A second problem striking Microsoft's Outlook 2002 e-mail program could let a hacker deny user access to the program. The hacker could do this because a "vulnerability exists in Outlook 2002 in its processing of e-mail header information," according to a MS security bulletin. Outlook 2002, which is included with Office XP, is affected by the flaw, but Outlook 98, 2000 or Outlook Express are not
    • Cumulative Patch For Internet Explorer December 2002 -This is a cumulative patch for Internet Explorer 5.5 and 6.0. In addition to including the functionality of all previously released patches for Internet Explorer 5.5 and 6.0, it also eliminates a newly discovered flaw in Internet Explorer's cross-domain security model. This flaw occurs because the security checks that Internet Explorer carries out when particular object caching techniques are used in web pages are incomplete. This could have the effect of allowing a website in one domain to access information in another, including the user's local system.
    • UT2003 Beta Patch 2153  - UT2003 Beta Patch 2153 (download) is available and includes zillion changes :) Don't forget it's only beta.
    • Project IGI 2: Covert Strike BETA Test - It's probably another leaked beta version, but it's fully working. Mirror: Tiscali Games.
    • TaskInfo 2003 5.0.0.78 Beta 2   - TaskInfo2003 is combination of Task Manager and System Information Utility, It visually monitors different types of System information in Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP.
    • Hmonitor 4.1.2.1 - Hardware Sensors Monitor has been updated to version 4.1.2.1. This new version has these changes: NVIDIA nForce2 SMBus support added; NT4 driver's compatibility restored; help files format changed; Newest Athlon's bus divisor corrected; A7N8X (NVIDIA NForce2/ASB100) support verified.
    • Easy CD-DA Extractor 5.0.6 - Easy CD-DA Extractor is a powerful and easy digital audio extraction utility that makes digital copies from audio CDs and saves as audio files such as MP3, Windows Media Audio and Windows Wave. You may use built-in encoders, get plug-ins for other free encoders, or use any Windows audio compression codec.
    • The Bat! 1.62 Christmas Edition - This popular E-Mail Client has been updated to version 1.62 Christmas Edition.
    • IBM Drive Fitness Test 3.20 - This small program will allow you to test IBM SCSI and IDE hard disk drives.  The Drive Fitness Test analyze function performs read tests without overwriting customer data. (However, Drive Fitness Test is bundled with some restoration utilities that will overwrite data). Version 3.20 includes the support for the latest IBM drives.
    • IBM Feature Tool 1.60 - The IBM Feature Tool allows you to control some of the features in the newer IBM high performance ATA hard disk drives. Version 1.6 adds support for our latest drives (including 48-bit addressing for capacities beyond 128GB).
     Gameguru Mania News - Dec,04 2002 - tech
    Wednesday Tech Madness - tech
    (hx) 11:45 PM CET - Dec,04 2002 - Post a comment
    • China blocks news not porn online - Chinese internet surfers have almost unfettered access to pornography, but news, health and education sites are routinely blocked, US researchers have found.  The team from the Harvard Law School tested more than 200,000 websites to find out what content was banned in China.They found that nearly 20,000 sites were inaccessible, showing that China had an effective system of blocking sensitive material.
    • Bush signs child Net safety law - President George W. Bush on Tuesday signed into law legislation to create a new kids-safe "dot-kids" domain on the Internet.
    • Revolutionary New Theory For Origins Of Life On Earth  - A totally new and highly controversial theory on the origin of life on earth, is set to cause a storm in the science world and has implications for the existence of life on other planets. Research by Professor William Martin of the University of Dusseldorf and Dr Michael Russell of the Scottish Environmental Research Centre in Glasgow, claims that living systems originated from inorganic incubators - small compartments in iron sulphide rocks. The new theory radically departs from existing perceptions of how life developed and it will be published in Philosophical Transactions B, a learned journal produced by the Royal Society.
    • Novel fridge cools with sound - Some of the coolest sounds in the world are coming out of a laboratory in Pennsylvania.  At the lab, two US researchers are working on ways to use sound to chill food.  They have produced a sonic fridge that converts very loud sounds to directly cool a fridge containing ice cream. The researchers hope that their work will end reliance on gases that can contribute to global warming. 
    • ABIT AMD 333 Contest - ABIT is proud to announce the ABIT AMD 333 Contest! From December 2nd to December 22, 2002, we're giving away 3 ABIT AMD motherboards, 3 Siluro VGA cards, and 3 AMD Athlon XP 2700+ CPUs with 333FSB support every week for (3) three weeks!
    • ATI Announces New ALL-IN-WONDER VE -  ATI announced the new ALL-IN-WONDER VE, now shipping to retail outlets across North America. ATI's newest value multimedia video card, ALL-IN-WONDER VE, is available for USD$129.00 and complements the ALL-IN-WONDER 9700 PRO at USD$449.00, the ALL-IN-WONDERR RADEONt 8500DV at USD$199 and the value-priced ALL-IN-WONDERR RADEONt 7500 at USD$149.
    • The Flip-Pad Voyager  - The Flip-Pad Voyager is the next step in the evolution of the computer. The revolutionary quad - fold design is the ultimate convergence of the latopand desktop. The Flip-Paf's unique dual portrait displays and vast workspace combine in a portable folding form factor. This architecture allows for faster, easier multitasking, exchange information better ( rotating screen for interactive presentations), and actually enjoy our work (comfortable, stylish design).  Specifications:  AMD Mobile Athlon 1.2-1.6GHz, 512MB SDRAM, 40GB Disk, Video Dual 13.3" TFT, 1536 x 1024 total resolution, 16 MB video memory etc etc... If I had $5,000 to blow I would buy it :P (thanks Madville.com)
    • Ultra miniature Kanguru Micro MP3 USB player  - Interactive Media Corporation today announced its ultra miniature Kanguru Micro MP3 USB player with built-in flash memory. The device supports USB1.1, weighs just 46 g and has 92x30.4x26 mm dimensions. It also features the built-in NAND memory and the 500 mA rechargeable battery (up to 6 hours of operation). Capable of resisting 1000G shock, the player can have 64Mb, 128Mb, and 256Mb capacities. It's interesting that it doesn't require drivers for Windows 2000/ME/XP, Mac OS 8.6+, Linux 2.4.0, they are necessary for Windows 98/98SE only. Besides storing and playing music, Kanguru Micro MP3 can also be used as a usual flash trinket. 64Mb Kanguru Micro MP3 costs $99.95, 128Mb and 256Mb versions - $139.95 and $199.95, respectively.
    • SEGA ~ PS2 Party Coverage - Japanese gaming website Watch-Impress has posted coverage from two events that were held in Japan by Sony and SEGA with details of the latest games to be released for the PS2.  The website is entirely in Janapese, so use BabelFish and check many screenshots.
    • Understanding the Microprocessor - Nice article, check it out...
    • VIA AGP 4.40 Driver Preview  - The test system for this article consisted of the KT400 powered Abit AT7-MAX2, 2 x 256 MB of Corsair XMS3500 memory, an ATI Radeon 9700 Pro graphics card and all the other usually odds and ends. The only difference between the two system setups is version of the AGP drivers used. In our first run, we used the VIA 4-in-1 drivers version 4.43, which includes AGP driver version 4.30a. The new driver that I received was the AGP driver version 4.40. That means, for our benchmark graphs, the AGP 4.40 is the new, updated driver and the 4in-1 4.43 version is the older one, despite the names and numbers used.
    • PGP 8.0 Final -  PGP Freeware is a single-user product that includes the same core PGP Mail software that can be found in our PGP Personal, Desktop, and Enterprise packages. PGP Freeware allows you to encrypt files as well as the contents of the clipboard, and also provides the ability to create and manage PGP keys. PGP Freeware does not include any plug-ins for integration with electronic mail or instant messaging clients, nor does it include PGP Disk.
    • Experience Visual Studio .NET Free Online - Visual Studio .NET can help you with (nearly) every part of your job. But, don't take our word for it. Try Visual Studio .NET for free* online and find out how it can help you solve the most difficult development challenges you face today. With the Visual Studio .NET Hosted Experience, for three hours, you will have unlimited access to Visual Studio .NET Enterprise Architect edition, as well as a library of other valuable tools, resources, and code samples.
    • Outlook 2002 Dec4 Update - The Outlook 2002 Update: December 4, 2002 offers the highest levels of stability and security available for Microsoft OutlookR 2002. This update fixes an instability problem introduced in Office XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) that affects Outlook POP3 / SMTP clients. This update also fixes a vulnerability that could allow an attacker to send a malformed message which would make the user's Outlook session unresponsive. 
    • Defrag for Windows 1.0  - Defrag for Windows (download_trial ~ screenshots) is an easy-to-use complete defragmenting utility to make your Windows run faster by defragmenting the fragmented files. Defrag for Windows is fully automatic and as user-friendly as a one-button-click. Just click a button and go to launch or bed. Defrag for Windows will do all the neccesary operations and depending on you choice restart or shut down your PC.
    • VCool v1.8 Beta 10a - This little utility will cool your Athlon/Duron processor on Via KT133 or KX133(A) (VT8363, VT8361, VT82C691/693A/694 or VT8371 +VT82C686x) chipsets during idle.
    • Overnet Win GUI 0.41 - A public test version of the new GUI is up now. It no longer uses .Net and it is much prettier! There is also now a Mac version on the download page.
    • Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 6.1 Update - Dreamweaver MX version 6.1 (download 15.5MB ~ release_notes)  includes performance improvements and enables collaboration with Macromedia Contribute. In addition, several outstanding issues discovered since the release of Dreamweaver MX have been addressed in this version.
    • RockNES v2.10 - This piece of software is a Nintendo Entertainment System 8-bit (NES) videogame emulator for PC machines. RockNES is a full rewrite of original RockNES (old xNes). It was designed to be very compatible and as fast as possible.
    • Creative PlayCenter NOMAD MuVo Plugin - This is a plug-in for NOMAD MuVo to be used for on all languages of PlayCenter 3.02.58 and above.
    • Powerstrip3.30 beta - PowerStrip (download) provides advanced, multi-monitor, programmable hardware support to a wide range of graphics cards - from the venerable Matrox Millennium I to the latest SiS Xabre. It's the only program of its type to support multiple graphics cards from multiple chipset vendors, simultaneously, under every Windows operating system from Windows 95 to XP.
    • Clone CD 4.2.0.2  - CloneCD 4 by Elaborate Bytes is the ideal CD copy program to make backups of your Music and Data CDs. It writes in RAW mode, allowing full control of the written data. CloneCD 4 produces real 1:1 copies of your CDs. CloneCD 4 works with almost all CD Writers, is rock-solid and very fast. CloneCD 4 does not need an ASPI driver.
    • AVG Free Edition 6.0 Build 426 - Grisoft.com has released a new version of AVG 6.0 Free Edition.
    • DVDXCopy v1.2.1 - There's a new update for Registered Customers Only. No words on what's new or fixed.
    • Lite-On CD-RW Firmware  - LiteOn have released a new CD-RW firmware updates for Lite-On LTR-52246S ( 52X/24X/52X ) and Lite-On LTR-48246S ( 48X/24X/48X).
    Weekly Hardware Reviews - tech
    (hx) 04:28 AM CET - Dec,04 2002 - Post a comment

  • CPU - Pentium 4 Northwood Overclocking Database | Intel Pentium 4 3.06GHz


  • Motherboard - VIA KT400 Motherboard roundup (1) | VIA KT400 Motherboard roundup (2) | Intel i845PE Motherboard roundup |  nForce2 roundup | ATi IGP340 Integrated Chipset review |  Abit SR7-8X SiS648 | Abit AT7-Max2 VIA KT400 | Abit BE7-Raid i845PE | Abit IT7 i845E | Abit BG7E i845GE | ABIT NF7-S nForce2  | Albatron PX845PE Pro II i845PE (1) | Albatron PX845PE Pro IIS i845PE (2) | Albatron PX845E Silver i845PE | Albatron KX400-8X VIA KT400 (1) | Albatron KX400-8X VIA KT400 (2) | Albatron KX400 VIA KT333 (3) | Asus A7V8X VIA KT400 (1) | Asus A7V8X VIA KT400 (2)  | Asus A7V8X VIA KT400 (3) | Asus A7N8X nForce2 | Asus P4PE i845PE | Asus P4G8X Intel E7205 | DFI NS80-EA SiS648 | DFI AD77 Infinity VIA KT400 | DFI NB80-EA Intel E7205 | EPoX 8K9A2+ VIA KT400 (1) | EPoX 8K9A2+ VIA KT400 (2) | Epox 8RDA+ nForce2 / 8K9A2+ VIA KT400 (3) | FIC AN19E VIA KT400 | FIC AN19E VIA KT400 (video) | Gigabyte 8INXP Intel E7205 (1) | Gigabyte 8INXP Intel E7205 (2) | Leadtek K7NCR18D Pro nForce2 | Soltek 85DR3 i845PE | Soyo KT400 Dragon Ultra Platinum VIA KT400 (1) | Soyo KT400 Dragon Ultra Platinum VIA KT400 (2) | Soyo KT400 Dragon Ultra Platinum VIA KT400 (3) | VIA P4PA VIA P4X266A


  • RAM - TwinMOS DDR400 256MB | Mushkin PC2100/DDR266 CAS2.0 | Mushkin 512mb PC2100 CL2 | Corsair PC3500/DDR433 CAS2.0 | OCZ PC2700/DDR333 CAS2.0 | Crucial PC2700 Memory | Corsair XMS3500 C2 DDR


  • Storage - Maxtor Atlas 10k IV HDD | Maxtor Fireball 3 HDD | Seagate Barracuda ST3120023A 120GB HDD | IBM Deskstar 180GXP HDD (1) | IBM DeskStar 180GXP HDD (2) | Seagate Serial ATA Barracuda ATA V HDD | USB Drive roundup | ASUS CRW5224 CD-RW (1) | Asus CRW-5224A 52/24/52 CD-RW (2) | Asus CRW-4012A CD-RW | Iomega External USB 2.0 48/24/48 CD-RW  | OptoRite CW-4802 48X CD-RW | TDK External USB 2.0 CyClone 48/16/48 CD-RW | Philips JackRabbit32 External DVD/CD-RW | Aspire Digital AD-8000 DVD/CD-RW  | INcoder TS24C-C1 DVD/CD-RW | Plextor PX-W4824TA CD-RW | MSI MS-8152 CD-ROM  | CR-R and DVD Writing Quality


  • Video - Mayflash PSX/PS2 VGA Adapter | TV Card roundup | GeForce4 MX440-8X roundup | GeForce4 Ti4200 roundup | Video Card roundup | Abit Siluro GeForce4 Ti4200 | Albatron Medusa GeForce4 Ti4200 | Asus V9280S GeForce4 Ti4200-8X (1) | Asus V9280S-TVD GeForce4 Ti4200-8X (2) | Asus V9280 GeForce4 Ti4200-8X / MX440-8X (3) | Asus V9280-S (GF4 Ti4200-8X) (4) | Leadtek WinFast A180 GeForce4 MX440-8X | Leadtek Winfast A180 MyVIVO GeForce4 MX440-8X | Chaintech A-G442 GeForce4 MX440 | Gainward GeForce4 Ti4200-8X | Gainward's AGP8X NVIDIA Powered "Golden Samples" | ATi Radeon 9700 Pro (1) | ATi Radeon 9700 (2) | Crucial Radeon 9700 Pro | Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9500 128MB | ATi Radeon 9500 Pro (1) | ATi Radeon 9500 Pro (2) | Gigabyte Radeon 9700 Pro / Radeon 9000 | SiS Xabre 600 (1) | SiS Xabre 600 (2) | SiS Xabre 600 (3) | SiS Xabre 600 (4) | SiS Xabre 600 (5) | SiS Xabre 600 (6) | Matrox Parhelia | nVidia GeForce FX preview (1) | nVidia GeForce FX preview (2)


  • Monitor - AOC LM800 18" TFT LCD | DIY Cheap Projector Guide  | Daewoo L700C & L520B: Value Oriented 17'' and 15'' LCD's | Samsung 15.3" Wide-Screen HDTV LCD | Samsung SyncMaster 191T LCD | Hansol 920 Monitor | NPS N600S-XP 15.1" TFT LCD


  • Cooling - Thermal Grease | Lap a Heatsink Guide | TweakMonster Shim | CPU Fan roundup | Titan Graphics Card Cooler | Zalman ZM80-HP Heatpipe GPU Cooler (1) | Zalman ZM80-HP Heatpipe GPU Cooler (2) | Akasa Silver Mountain 2Q Copper Cooler | Antec HDD Cooling System  | Titan Copper VGA Cooler | Arctic Cooling Super Silent 4 Cooler | AVC Avalanche Cooler | Titan Aluminium Cooler | Xoxide 16 Case Fan roundup | GlacialTech Igloo 4300 Cooler | Zalman CNPS5700D-CU (1) | Zalman CNPS5700D-Cu (2) | Zalman CNPS 6000B-Cu Cooler | Thermaltake HardCano 8 VR | Thermaltake Volcano 9 Cooler |  Thermaltake GF4 CoolMOD | Thermaltake Fan Speed RPM Switch | Thermaltake vs. GlobalWin  | Thermalright SK-7 Cooler | Thermalright SLK800 Copper Cooler | Vantec Nexus Fan Controller | Vantec Nexus Fan Controller (video) | Vantec Thermaflow 92 Case Fan (video) | Vantec Aeroflow VP4-C7040 Cooler | Vantec VA4-C7040 AeroFlow | PowerLeap PL-P4-N Cooler | CoolerMaster Aluminum / Copper RAMsinks | CoolerMaster HAC-V81 XDream Cooler | maltake P4 Spark 7 Pentium 4 Heatsink | Swiftech MCW478-UHT Cooler | Coolink TwinBreeze H2TB Cooler  | Tocools S1 Pentium 4 Cooler | Coolink U2L Cooler | PowerCooler PCH610T Cooler | Speeze EasyStream II Socket 478 Cooler | AeroCool AB7080H CPU Cooler | Novasonic CPU Cooler | SmartCooler FSM 1170H Cooler


  • WaterCooling - Swiftech MCP300 Inline Watercooling Pump | Innovatek Reservoir | Swiftech MCW50-T GPU WaterBlock | Evergreen TherMagic WaterCooler | SharkaCorp Innovatek Set5 WaterCooling Kit | Innovatek Watercooling | ATi Radeon 9700 Liquid Cooling | TherMagic WaterCooling CCS | Iceberg 1 Watercooler | BeCooling Micro Stealth Water Cooling Kit


  • Case - Kool Cases Panther Full Tower Case | Xoxide X-40 Modded Case | Xoxide X450 Case | Xoxide LL12 Stealth Case | AMS gTower Modded Case | Lian-Li PC-6289 Server Case | Lian Li Pc65B Case | Lian Li PC-6099B Aluminium Case | Jab-Tech Chieftech Dragon Aluminum Modded Case | Sky Hawk Galaxy PSR4616 Case | Vapochill Premium Edition | Aspire ATXA2ESW Aluminum Case | SamCheer Crystal Dream Case | Skyhawk Jupiter Case

  • PSU/UPS - PCToys 520W Power Maxx Aluminum PSU |  Vertiglow Modified PSU | Enlight EN8900 Server Case + 420Watt PSU | FSB ATX FSP300-60ATV PSU | CoolMax Taurus CT-470 PSU  | Zalman ZM300A-APF 300W PSU | Performance-PCs Custom Sleeved PSU


  • Sound - Creative Audigy 2 Sound Card (1) | Creative Audigy 2 Sound Card (2) | Hercules Fortissimo 7.1 Sound Card | Speaker Buyer Guide | Logitech Z-640 Speakers | iRock 300W Wireless Music Adapter | EVSonic XS Speakers | Creative Inspire 6.1 6700 Speakers (1) | Creative Inspire 6.1 6700 Speakers (2) | Creative Inspire 5100 Speakers | Altec Lansing AVS300W Speakers


  • Peripheral - CH F-16 CombatStick 568 USB | After Dark Black Icemat | eDimensional 3D Glasses (1) | eDimensional 3D Glasses (2) | Logitech MX300 Optical Mouse | Logitech MX700 Cordless Optical Mouse | Wacom Graphire2 Graphics Tablet | ACT-Labs USB PC Light Gun | Wireless Optical Mouse | Belkin N30 Mouse / N50 Keyboard | Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop | Nyko AirFlo Xbox Controller | Logitech MX700 Cordless Optical Mouse | Microsoft Sidewinder 2 Red Hot Edition | Belkin Nostromo N30 Mouse


  • Network -  SMC EZ6516TX 16 Port Fast Ethernet Switch | Belkin 5 And 8-Port Network Switch | Linksys USB100M USB NIC | Belkin Bluetooth USB Adaptor | Belkin Cable/DSL Gateway Router | Living With Wireless


  • Modding - LED Fan roundup | CrazyPC Dragon Fan Grill | Antec 80mm TriLight LED Fan | Mouse Led Replacement Mod | Sunbeam Tech Dual Color CCFL (1) | Sunbeam Dual CCFL Case Light (2) | SunBeam Sound activated Cold Cathodes | Sunbeams Sound Activated CCFL | SunbeamTech Rheobus Kit | Stealth Drivebay Guide | EL Cable PC Modding Kit | Xoxide Multi CCFL Kits | XoXide Tri-Led Fans | Lamps Electronics CCFL | PCToys Dual CCFL Kit  | Xoxide Acrylic Laser Cut 80mm Fan Grills | VLSystem L.I.S Blue Platinum Kit | JabTech Quad LED Fans (1) | Jab-Tech Crystal Clear 4 LED Fan (2) | ModRainbow Light Kit


  • Miscelanous - Scorpio Neon Rounded ATA 133 Cable | CoolMax Neon Wire EL ATA133 IDE Round Cable (1) | EL Wire ATA133 IDE Round Cable (2) | Vantec Nexus NXP-101 Multi-Function Panel (1) | Vantec Nexus Multifunction Panel (2) | HighSpeedPC LCD Kit | GearGrip LCD Shield Harness | Belkin Omniview SOHO 4 Port KVM |  Lian LI I/O Adapter | Belkin 8-in-1 Media Reader | Amazing Magnets Superball Kit


  • Notebook, Camera, MP3 players - Dell Inspiron 8200 Notebook | Alienware Area-51 M Laptop | Sony VAIO PCV-W10 | Sigma SD9 Digital Camera
    Detonator 41.09 Drivers - tech
    (hx) 04:06 AM CET - Dec,04 2002 - Post a comment / read (6)
    Nvidia has released yet another set of drivers, this time its Detonator version 41.09 WHQL - Download 41.09 Win2k/XP (16.3MB) ~ 41.09 Win9x/Me (13.4MB) ~ 41.09 WinNT4 (15.4MB).
    Release Highlights:
    • Compatibility and performance enhancements for Windows XP Media Center Edition
    • Up to a 25% increase in performance
    • nView 2.0 multi-display technology increases productivity and provides the necessary tools to control the way users access and view applications.
    • NVRotate enabling image rotation on today’s advanced flat panel displays.
    • NVKeystone allows for real-time image correction on portable projectors and heads-up displays.
    • Digital Vibrance Control allows users to adjust color controls to achieve accurate, bright colors under all conditions.
    • New control panel streamlines user interface and enables faster and easier access to all video settings
    • Robust Channels enables higher faster performance and better stability for all applications through fail-safe paths in the drivers
    • CineFX Simulator allows developers to use Cg—“C for graphics”—to write complex shaders in a high level language faster and more easily than before.
    • NVIDIA’s patented Unified Driver Architecture (UDA) – supports all products in a single driver binary
     Gameguru Mania News - Dec,03 2002 - tech
    Nightly Tech Reading - tech
    (hx) 04:18 AM CET - Dec,03 2002 - Post a comment
    • Egghead making "rain machine" - A professor at Scotland's Edinburgh University has been awarded a government grant to develop the world's first rainmaking machine, the Times reported. Professor Stephen Salter will create a 60-metre high turbine to suck water out of the sea and turn it into water vapour through nozzles, spraying it out into the atmosphere, the newspaper said.
    • Does your local pub have WiFi? It's free... - This report was written in Barneys in St Albans. It's a pub/wine bar/restaurant, and all I had to do was walk in, sit down, and open up my laptop. Instantly, I had free Internet. Who pays?  Well, the simple answer, according to Brian Parker, marketing director of Wialess, is - I do. I bought a meal and a drink which Barneys wouldn't otherwise have sold.
    • AMD Places Chips on 64 - Like just about every other company in IT, AMD is burdened with the challenges of an economic slowdown and drop in IT spending. But unlike anyone else, to turn itself around, the Sunnyvale, Calif., semiconductor manufacturer must win over end users and computer makers thoroughly aligned with chief rival Intel Corp. But AMD has a plan. And as it licks the wounds from its third consecutive quarterly loss for the third quarter, the tenacious chip maker is focusing on the future--the first half of 2003, to be exact. That's when the company releases its first 64-bit processors based on the Hammer architecture. The chips, which will be priced comparable to 32-bit chips and backward compatible with 32-bit apps, are the keys to AMD's turnaround and future, according to President and CEO Hector de Ruiz. (interview)
    • GeForce FX to the World's Top Gamers At the CPL Winter Event  - NVIDIA and PNY Technologies, today announced that they have teamed up as key sponsors of the Cyberathlete Professional League's (CPL) P4 Processor Winter Event. The annual competition pits the world's greatest professional computer gamers against each other for the chance to win $140,000 in cash prizes. The event will be held from December 18-22 at the Hyatt Regency hotel in downtown Dallas, Texas.
    • AGP errata found in new Intel workstation chipsets  - Two new chipsets which have just been released in motherboards for the workstation market have AGP 3.0 errata in them which Intel appears to have no intention fixing. The first of the chipsets is the long awaited "Placer" (7505) chipset. In a note on the Intel website, the firm describes two errata for the chipset - the first is that AGP signals do not meet the AGP 3.0 specification, while the second is that the AGP Prefetch Cache has to be disabled.
    • Creative Introduces New 2.1 Speaker System - The system is called I-Trigue 2.1 3300. This unique subwoofer speaker system features two premium speakers, each with three Titanium drivers to deliver better sonic accuracy and clarity than other speakers designed with Aluminum drivers. Its powerful wood subwoofer incorporates a 6.5" long-throw driver with a dual flared port tube for clean and natural sound. What's more, its wired remote control comes with an output jack for personal listening with your headphones.
    • Linux: Benchmarking 2.4 vs 2.5, UP vs SMP  - The good doctor Con Kolivas recently posted some interesting kernel benchmarks generated with his contest benchmarking tool. Using resources provided by the OSDL, Con compared 2.4.19, 2.4.20, 2.5.49 and 2.5.50, each with a single processor enabled and with dual processors enabled.
    • System Optimization Guide for Gamers - If you're already thinking "Why should I bother going through this guide, I just want my game to run faster man!" then you've missed the point. A lot of gaming problems are actually nothing to do with the game itself. In most cases it's a general system optimization issue of some sort. Do yourself a favour, take a few minutes of your life and read the following and I promise you'll find something of use which should have you gaming at full speed ASAP.
    • CD Covers and Labels for Longhorn - There are some really nice-looking CD Covers and Labels for Longhorn.
    • phpMyAdmin 2.3.3 - phpMyAdmin can manage a whole MySQL-server (needs a super-user) but also a single database. This new version allows Upload of compressed dumps, iInform the user who does not have privileges to create a db and many more.
    • Zoom Player 3.0 Beta 2 - Zoom Player (changelog / mirror1 ~ mirror2)  is a robust Media and DVD Front-End Player. It was designed to be simple at first glance while being remarkably dynamic and flexible when used to its full potential. Zoom Player works in two modes. A Media mode which can play any file supported by DirectShow (any file which plays in MediaPlayer) and a DVD mode which uses pre-installed DirectShow DVD filters to play DVD content.
    • DVD2SVCD 1.1.0 Build 1c- Freeware DVD2SVCD is a completely automated frontend for converting DVD, PVA and AVI files to SVCD..
    • CloneCD v4.2.0.1 - CloneCD 4 (download) by Elaborate Bytes is the ideal CD copy program to make backups of your Music and Data CDs. It writes in RAW mode, allowing full control of the written data. CloneCD 4 produces real 1:1 copies of your CDs. CloneCD 4 works with almost all CD Writers, is rock-solid and very fast. CloneCD 4 does not need an ASPI driver. This new version added tons of new features.
    • DVDXCopy v1.2 (for registered users only) - Now you can backup your favorite DVD movies with nothing more than a DVD burner and your home computer with DVDXCOPY software. Within minutes, using the easy One-Click technology, you can COPY and BURN your own DVD Movies using nothing more than the software, a DVD-ROM and any DVD Burner including DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R or DVD+RW. If you are registered user - download this new update.
    • PlexTools v1.17 - Plextor Europe is proud to announce a new release of the PlexTools software. You can use PlexTools for instance to get more information on your drive, tweak its settings and besides that you can use it to play audio discs (with support for CD-Text) and of course you can use PlexTools to copy CD's or to make your own audio compilations with.
    • ATV2000 v2.0.17.0 - Freeware ATV2000 is new generation of TV viewing and capture application based on old ATV, but with reworked core. All is build around new control panel, witch provides tuning video and audio controls.
    • Intel 845G/830M Integrated VGA Drivers - Intel released new drivers v11.4 .1 build 3317 for their Pentium4 i845G / i830M integrated VGA.
    • EpoX USDM 1.06v -  This nice program from EPOX tells you the temperature of your case, CPU and how fast your fans are going.  
     Gameguru Mania News - Dec,02 2002 - tech
    Evening Tech Reading - tech
    (hx) 12:49 AM CET - Dec,02 2002 - Post a comment
    • Microsoft to buy Sega? Rumors fly - Two news services yesterday reported that Tokyo-based videogame maker Sega Corp. may be acquired by Microsoft Corp. Neither company, including San Francisco-based subsidiary SEGA of America Inc., could be reached for comment.
    • Speaking to XP with SoundMax Cadenza - Tom's Hardware taking a look at what speech recognition technologies are available in Windows XP. In addition, we also review some interesting hardware from Analog Devices and Andrea Electronics that shows what the future might hold for integration of speech recognition on your mobo.
    • Rojak's BIOS Guide Revision 7 - It's definitely the best BIOS optimization guide around, this new revision adds: Auto Detect DIMM PCI Clk
      ATA100RAID IDE Controller, Assign IRQ For VGA, Assign IRQ For USB, APIC Function .
    • GeForce FX Games Movies - NVIDIA has added two new movies (Rallisport Challenge and Sea Dogs II) to the GeForce FX Launch Games section.
    • Mail Monitor v1.7 Plugin For True Launch Bar - Mail Monitor for True Lauch Bar allows you to monitor your POP3 mail boxes. The great feature of Mail Monitor is filters. You can setup filters for messages to delete SPAM or unneeded emails. Mail Monitor already has some rules to filter spam. But you can add your own rules. Filter rules are based on logic expressions allow you to catch up to 90% of spam. The great feature of Mail Monitor is filters. You can setup filters for messages to delete SPAM or unneeded emails. Mail Monitor already has some rules to filter spam. But you can add your own rules. Filter rules are based on logic expressions allow you to catch up to 90% of spam.
    • ZoneAlarm Pro 3.5 - ZoneAlarm (download trial) Pro is the award-winning PC firewall that keeps your personal data and privacy safe from Internet hackers and data thieves.
    • WinDVD 4.0.11.215 - WinDVD combines great picture and sound with advanced features only possible on a PC: time stretching lets you watch movies faster with natural audio, thumbnail bookmarks to instantly find your favorite scenes, fully-adjustable zoom and pan, and much more.
    • Lame MP3 Encoder 3.93.1 - Lame 3.93.1 is out. Following the great history of GNU naming, LAME originally stood for LAME Ain't an Mp3 Encoder. LAME started life as a GPL'd patch against the dist10 ISO demonstration source, and thus was incapable of producing an mp3 stream or even being compiled by itself. But in May 2000, the last remnants of the ISO source code were replaced, and now LAME is the source code for a fully LGPL'd MP3 encoder, with speed and quality to rival all commercial competitors.
    • Creative PlayCenter NOMAD MuVo Plugin  - This is a plug-in for NOMAD MuVo to be used for on all languages of PlayCenter 3.02.58 and above. This plug-in can be used on Windows 98/98SE, Windows 2000 and Windows XP.
    • PS2Reality Divx MedialPlayer - All PS2 owners will now be able to enjoy movie not only in DVD but also Divx format without anything extra, just a download. You can get it now from Geeknewz. (572kb) Your PS2 must have a mod chip or cogswap for this software to work and please read the readme file fully for burning process and iso creating. Features PS2Reality mediaplayer: supported video codec: divx3.11,4,5.02,xvid,opendivx, supported audio codec: mp3, recommended resolution: less than 640x384,  recommended video bitrate: equal or less than 1000, other features: zoom,pause,etc.
    • DH XP-TraySysInfo 2.1.2.6 - There is another new version of this app available. I have added a bunch of new things to the app (to many to list) and now it has even more functionality. Download it now to check it out.
    • Xabre BIOS Updated - XabreGamers has posted a new version 1.04 BIOS for the Xabre 400.
    • ATI Linux Driver Version 2.5.1 - ATI have released a new set of Linux Drivers version 2.5.1. These new drivers fixes: "Powered By ATI" products install properly; OpenGL Render reports product name accurately; fglrxconfig program lists Radeon 9000 Pro and 9500 Pro; updated config program for improved multi-monitor setup.
     Gameguru Mania News - Nov,30 2002 - tech
    Saturday Tech Madness - tech
    (hx) 05:21 PM CET - Nov,30 2002 - Post a comment / read (2)
    • Next Microsoft operating system will be radical change from XP - The next version of the world's most popular desktop operating system, code-named "Longhorn," is due out in test form next year and in final form in 2004. It will have a new look and feel, very different from Windows XP's. Its guts will also be radically different from Windows XP's, because they're based on XML -- extensible markup language, the emerging lingua franca of the Internet. And it will be the first version that won't function fully without new hardware.
    • Face transplants not just science fiction - Although it sounds like a plot from a science-fiction movie, surgeons in Britain say they will be able to carry out the first full facial transplant within a year. New microsurgical devices and better anti-rejection drugs have made possible the transplanting of skin, muscle and bone from a dead person to another -- in particular, those who suffer facial deformities.
    • RIAA forces CDCovers.cc to take down its audio section - The money hungry people at the RIAA / IFPI have made it very clear that they don't want us to host audio covers anymore. It's all about money folks and although we are a profit free organization that runs on voluntary basis those scumbags don't give up and want to shut us down through threatening our host. It's been a great adventure but we cannot afford this anymore. Therefore we have decided to take the audio section offline for good. Thank you all for your support for the past 3 years.
    • You Cannot Create a Network Connection After You Restore WinXP - If you install SP1 for WinXP and then use the System Restore feature to restore Windows to a state before the installation of the service pack, you may experience the following symptoms: 1) You cannot create a remote access or Dial-Up Networking connection. All items on the "Network Connection" page of the New Connection Wizard are unavailable (dimmed); 2) The Network Connections folder is empty; 3) The Internet Connection Sharing and Internet Connection Firewall services do not start because of a dependency failure...download patch.
    • PHP 4.3.0RC2 - PHP 4.3.0 (Linux / Windows) incorporates a very large number of changes, new features, and bugfixes and thus requires extensive testing. This preliminary release is meant to kick-start this testing while the fixes are still being performed. Please join in and help us make this a high-quality release.
    • IsoBuster v1.2 - With IsoBuster it's possible to extract several image files and besides that you can use it to explore a CD's or DVD's File System while by-passing Windows and thus achieve better error handling. This latest version has a couple of new features Full Surface scanning function to find missing and/or deleted files on UDF written CD-R, CD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R and DVD-RW, and more.
    • Linux Kernel 2.4.20 - The latest stable version of the Linux kernel is: 2.4.20 (changelog), the latest prepatch (beta) version appears to be: 2.5.8-pre3 (changelog) and the latest -ac patch to the stable Linux kernel series is: 2.4.20-rc4-ac1 (changelog).
    • Fraps 1.9A - Fraps is a tool that lets you monitor current framerates in a corner of the screen for programs using DirectX or OpenGL technology. It also allows you to easily take screenshots of games, make movies of gameplay, and manually determine the average framerate between two points.
    • DX 9.0 uninstaller - This little application lets you uninstall DX 9 or any bogus Directx installations .. what it does is ask you for your winXP cd and restores DX 8.1 files from the disc it worked great for me so hope its usefull for you.
    • Avant Browser 7.0.1.2  - Never surf with a MDI browser? Try Avant Browser, an upgrade for your Internet Explorer. Avant Browser is a fast, stable, user-friendly, versatile multi-window browser.
    • VirtualDub 1.4.13 (Build 14328) - VirtualDub (download / downloadP4version) is a video capture and processing program. It features fast capturing, process files larger than the 2 gigabyte limit, optimized for linear editing, support for Motion-JPEG, MPEG-1 video and layer 3 audio, real-time and near-realtime video processing, video job queues, and much more.
    • ClonyXXL v2.0.1.0  - ClonyXXL v2.0.1.0 (mirror) now also available in English. In addition, here is CloneCD Profiler English (mirror). Thanks CDFreaks.
    • DVD2SVCD 1.1.0 Build 1b - Freeware DVD2SVCD is a completely automated frontend for converting DVD, PVA and AVI files to SVCD.
    • nVHardPage NVIDIA Tweaker v1.10.6b - Do you seek an easy way to en/disable overclocking options or vsync option in your detonator drivers without the burden of importing registry entries or the need to go in that registry yourself ? Basically CoolBits and more within your fingertips. This program serves on enabling/disabling hidden features in NVIDIA control panel and tweaking NVIDIA Direct3D & OpenGL settings.
    • Detonator 41.04 WHQL Win2K/XP - Seems that NVIDIA has released a new detonators, this one, time stamped from October 25th, for Windows 2000 and XP is WHQL certified and comes in a multilanguage flavor.
    • Matrox Parhelia Drivers v1.01.02.090 - Matrox have released new official WHQL certified drivers for the Matrox Parhelia version 1.01.02.090 for Windows 2000 and XP.
    • nVidia Detonator Driver Database  - Are you looking for some old or maybe the newest Detonator drivers for all Windows versions? Well, over at Techconnect we have been building up a nice database of Detonator drivers and it is almost complete.
     Gameguru Mania News - Nov,29 2002 - tech
    Friday Tech Reading - tech
    (hx) 05:49 PM CET - Nov,29 2002 - Post a comment
    • GeForce4 Ti 4200 Shootout - With the new GeForce FX anchoring the high-end aspect of NVIDIA's products, vendors were now given the liberty to match nearly any component to the GeForce4 Ti 4200 chipset. As such, companies began introducing models with faster memory, higher-quality PCB boards, and unique heatsink assemblies. In doing so, the overclocking potential of the GeForce4 Ti 4200 was dramatically increased. Given that nearly all GPU's used were of the same A3 stepping found on the GeForce4 Ti 4600, overclocking to a core frequency of 300MHz was not at all uncommon.
    • Speed up your old PC - A simple guide to overclocking - This is a relatively concise guide to overclocking your PC, and getting extra speed out of it for nothing at little extra hassle. It is intended for Intel PCs based on Slot 1, PPGA, and FC-PGA processors (Intel PCs from Slot 1 to FC-PGA), if you are unsure about your processor read on to find out. As many details about overclocking are essentially the same for all processor types, some procedures are applicable for newer PCs.
    • Xmas 2002 Holiday Buyers Guide -  Tom's Hardware Guide has posted their Xmas 2002 Holiday Buyers Guide
    • ICQ 2003a banner killer - It's pretty simple, 1) install the ICQ, 2) run and close ICQ, 3) delete the folder "'2003a" and file "ICQHttp.dll"  3) run ICQ. (thanks PegaSoft.cz)
    • DirectX Media 6.0 SDK.  - Microsoft has released DirectX Media 6.0 SDK.
    • Netstat-nat - Netstat-nat is a small program written in C. It displays NAT connections, managed by netfilter/iptables which comes with the > 2.4.x linux kernels. The program reads its information from '/proc/net/ip_conntrack', which is the temporary conntrack-storage of netfilter. (thanks Aznoh).
    • WinDriversBackup 1.06  - WinDriversBackup is a free utility provided by JerMar Software Corp. specifically for backing up your Windows system driver files. WinDriversBackup can identify all of your Windows driver files and save them to a secure location in two simple mouse clicks.
    • WinDVD Tweaker 4.1 - WinDVD Tweaker is designed to allow users of the WinDVD playback software to enable some hidden settings and allow for maximum playback pleasure.
    • A-Tuner 1.2.4.4 - A-tuner is a small tool for changing Anti-Aliasing (including all unofficial modes), Anisotropic Filtering, Vsync, and MipMap LOD Bias on your Nvidia card and should work with Nvidia Detonators 23.11 - 41.03 and Windows 98/ME/2000/XP.
    • Blindwrite Suite 4.2.5  - Blindwrite Suite a direct competitor to CloneCD provides a set of tools to reproduce or clone any CD, even protected ones. Blindwrite Suite is the most powerfull tool to create a perfect copy from your original CD for personal backup use
    • Sonique2 Alpha 2.1.11.27 - An updated build of the second alpha of Sonique2 has been released.
    • Fire GL 8800 Drivers - A new Windows XP drivers for the ATI Fire GL 8800 (6.4MB) has been released. Release date -: 11/27/02.
    • ELSA Nvidia drivers based on 40.72 -  ELSA has released some new W9x/W2k/XP 40.72 drivers for NVidia based Graphics cards - Professional line Gloria/Synergy and consumer line Gladiac/Erazor.
    • VIA AGP Driver 4.40 - VIA Tech has released a new version of their AGP Drivers - v4.40.
    • Logitech MouseWare v9.75 - Logitech has just released new drivers for its mouse, trackball, etc. products. You can check their FTP folder for more languages.
    • Logitech iTouch Drivers v2.15 build 264 - Logitech has released iTouch Drivers v2.15 build 264 for WinALL. This new version adds support for the F-lock functions on the Elitet keyboard, Cordless Navigator Duot, Accesst keyboard, Cordless Access Duot and Cordless Elite Duot, and includes an updated user interface that is easier and friendlier to use than previous versions.
    • Adaptec Ultra 320 SCSI Drivers - Adaptec has released some new Ultra 320 SCSI drivers for Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, and Windows XP.
    • Adaptec ASPI Driver for Windows v4.71.2 - Updated ASPI drivers version 4.71.2 for Windows 98, NT 4, Me, 2000 and XP. Includes ASPICHK version checking utility. To be exact, this is the exact same build of 4.71.2 that came out a couple of months ago, only with updated readme and documentation.
    • Creative MediaSource Go! Update - This update resolves the Applications Fail-to-Launch issue in Creative MediaSource Go!
    • Creative Soundblaster Live, Live! 5.1 and Audigy2 Drivers  - Creative has released new drivers for the following products: Creative PlayCenter NOMAD MuVo Module PMVO-WEB-1-US, Creative MediaSource CMS-HFDBC-1-LB, Creative MediaSource Go! CMS-HFLCH-1-LB, Creative Network Blaster Wireless LAN USB LAN CNWB-USB98-1-US, Creative Network Blaster Wireless LAN PCMCIA CNWB-PCMWB-1-US, Creative Network Blaster Wireless LAN PCMCIA CNWB-PCM98-1-US, Creative Network Blaster Wireless LAN PCMCIA CNWB-PCMME-1-US, Creative Network Blaster Wireless USB Adapter CNWB-USBWB-1-US, Creative Network Blaster Wireless LAN USB CNWB-USB2K-1-US. + Mydrivers.com (direct link1 ~ direct link2) has posted some new Creative Sound Blaster Live / Live! 5.1 & Audigy 2 drivers for Windows 98/ME/2000/XP, dated 27th of November 2002.
    Alienware Area-51 M Laptop - tech
    (hx) 12:15 PM CET - Nov,29 2002 - Post a comment
    HomeLAN has written a review of  the Alienware Area-51 M, their gaming laptop computers that's has a regular Pentium IV processor, a ATI Mobile Radeon 9000 and more high-powered features. Here is a snip:
    Performance is, of course, the biggest thing for any gaming computer and the Area-51 M can pretty much give all but the most powerful desktop computers a run for their money. We put in a number of games in the Area-51 M, including UT 2003, Quake III Arena, Jedi Knight II, Serious Sam: The Second Encounter and more and all ran extremely well at the 1024x768 resolution though things slowed down a little when we went any higher than that. The 15 inch UltraXGA LCD screen was excellent in terms of its image properties as well.
     Gameguru Mania News - Nov,28 2002 - tech
    Darth Vader PC - tech
    (hx) 02:25 AM CET - Nov,28 2002 - Post a comment / read (3)
    I've noticed over at BournoutPC.com that some guy has decided to take Darth Vader's helmet and made the Darth Vader PC which is based on the Via EPIA Mini-ITX motherboard. This is coolest mod I have seen for a while :)
    Equipment used: EPIA 800 Mini-ITX Mainboard, Don Post Studios Darth Vader helmet, Micro ATX PSU 75wt (no name), Fujitsu 20gig 5400rpm HDD, 80 pin IDE cable, 1x256 generic SDRam, 1 x Power switch, Lucite 3/32" Acrylic sheet (plexiglass), nylon screws and nuts, Loctite Quicktite super glue, cable ties.

    Tools: Measuring Tape, Acrylic sheet cutter, Sand paper, Butane soldering iron with torch nozzle, cordless drill
    Evening Tech Reading - tech
    (hx) 02:16 AM CET - Nov,28 2002 - Post a comment / read (1)
    • "Korean" Worm getting faster in spreading - Kaspersky Labs is warning all users against the new Internet worm "Winevar" (also known as "Korean Worm"). When the worm gets into a potential victim's e-mail box, it tries to penetrate the computer unnoticed, using the following vulnerabilities in the MS Internet Explorer security system: Microsoft VM ActiveX Component, IFRAME Vulnerability. Thus allowing an infection of the computer immediately upon reading the message. Having penetrated a system, the worm modifies Windows booting files to activate upon system restart and to initiate its spread. Therefore it scans all HTM and DBX files found on the computer and extracts e-mail addresses. To these addresses the worm sends its copies using a direct connection to the default SMTP e-mail server.
    • Danish anti pirates continue to target copyright theft  - The Danish Anti Pirat Gruppen (Anti Piracy Group) is to continue targeting Net users who swap copyright material illegally. Confirmation that the APG is to continue its hard line comes after it issued invoices totalling 1m Danish Crowns (L86,200) to around 150 users of KaZaA and eDonkey for allegedly illegally swapping copyright material. The biggest offenders face bills of around 100,000 Crowns (L8,600). According to Morten Lindegaard, a lawyer for APG, around 80 per cent of those who received the invoices have already agreed to pay up. Those that don't face being sued.
    •  AT&T Wireless Phones to Feature Sony Content  -  AT&T Wireless Services said on Wednesday that it would team up with a unit of Sony to deliver screensavers, ring tones, games and news to mobile phones. Sony Pictures Digital, run by Sony Pictures Entertainment, will offer its content on AT&T Wireless' mMode service that delivers multimedia content to mobile phones on screens no bigger than a business card. Sony Pictures Digital said it would offer content based on the movies "XXX" and "Stuart Little 2" as well as game shows such as "Wheel of Fortune" and "JEOPARDY!"
    • Future cell phones to see the light  - The University of California at Davis announced this week it has received a grant from the Defense Department to build a new generation of cell phones that transmit and receive optical signals. The researchers hope to build chip-sized devices that use a technology standard already in some cell phones. That technology, called Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), transmits and receives optical signals. CDMA, which runs about 20 percent of the world's wireless networks, is a proprietary standard. Qualcomm owns the patents.
    • "Hammer" to hold 100 million transistors - A chip with that many transistors is currently considered unusual. But when Hammer chips emerge in the first half of 2003, processors of that complexity will become increasingly common. That's because designers are increasing the size of caches, which are reservoirs of memory located on the processor for rapid data access, and adding other features. Details of AMD's forthcoming chip have been leaking out. The largest version of Hammer, for instance, will have 1MB of secondary cache, as well as an integrated memory controller for connecting the processor to a PC's memory, according to the company. Currently, memory controllers mostly sit on their own piece of silicon.
    • Intel: Next Itanium to run at 1.5GHz - The new chip, code-named Madison, is similar to its Itanium 2 "McKinley" predecessor but is built with smaller circuitry that permits faster processing and more built-in high-speed "cache" memory. Intel disclosed the 1.5GHz speed in an agenda for a February processor show, the International Solid-State Circuits Conference.
    • Lik-Sang changes hands, preps mod-chip court case - Lik-Sang, the Hong Kong based online retailer of videogames "accessories", is to hand over the running of its business to a company called Pacific Game Technology Limited, in a move designed to allow the current management of the company to focus on fighting its forthcoming court case against Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. The move comes as something of a surprise, as most people had expected the company to capitulate to demands from the platform holders, who have won an injunction preventing the retailer from selling mod chips, flash linkers or any other devices which can be used to circumvent game copy protection.
    • First hackers sighted in high speed mobile phone arena  - T-Mobile has installed a firewall on its GPRS network in the States after a small number of users complained of receiving hacker probes when using its high-speed mobile service. The issue came to light after Mike Palmer, the technology director for the broadcast division of AP, spotted numerous probes against his PC while using T-Mobile's GPRS network, Computerworld reports. T-Mobile admitted to Computerworld that around 100 users were affected by the issue, prior to the recent introduction of a firewall on open segments of its GPRS network. Palmer told reporters that he's not spotted probes since then.
    • Visual & Game Programming Degree - The San Francisco chapter of the The Art Institute of California is now accepting applications for its new Bachelor of Science program in Visual & Game Programming. This course of study teaches the foundations of art and design, then moves on to more technical areas of programming for 3D animation. (thanks GameSpy)
    • ATI claims 174.6GB/s for Radeon 9700 Pro  - The Inquirer learned from ATI executive, that the firm claims it trounces Nvidia's up-and-coming Geforce FX (NV30) on bandwidth.  As far as we know, Nvidia uses either the 3 to 1, or 4 to 1 compression method which gives 48GB/s in the best case. So: 500MHz x 2 (DDR) x 128bit (16bytes) x 3X compression = 48 GB/s. ATI said it is using 8.8 to 1 compression method on the Radeon 9700 PRO cards that can deliver an astonishing 174.2GB per second in the best case. A rare bird in practice, we'd suggest. As in: 310MHz x 2 (DDR) x 256bit (32 bytes) x 8.8 compression rate = 174.2 GB per second.
    • Philips JackRabbit32  - Now that Firewire and USB 2.0 are frequently found on computers, external CD burners work almost as well as their internal brethren. Philips has found a way to improve on the external CD burner, with the JackRabbit32. This external drive lets you burn CDs, watch DVDs, and much more. When connected to your computer, the JackRabbit32 can act as either a CD Burner or a DVD Player. In the former, you can burn CD-Rs at 32x and CD-RWs at 10x, or read at 40x. Any software you might need is provided, including Roxio Easy CD Creator 5 (or Toast 5 for Mac OS X) and PowerDVD. Connection is via a USB 2.0/1.1 port.
    • USB Christmas Lights - My original plan was to run them from the power supply, but then I thought that wouldn't be practical at all. Why not USB?! I went to the save-a-lot and picked up a $5 USB cable and headed home. If you can find a $2 USB mouse or any piece of junk with a USB connecter on it then good, the cheaper the better.
    • Mozilla 1.2 - Mozilla 1.2 has just been released. New to this version are features like Type Ahead Find, basic toolbar customization (text/icons/both), support for GTK themes on Linux, multiple tabs as startpage, Link Prefetching, "filter after the fact" and filter logging in Mail, Palm sync for Mozilla addressbook on MS Windows, and more.
    • TVTool 6.8.4 - TVTool  (download) was developed to replace the poor support video card manufacturers had for TV_OUT. TVTool works with most NVIDIA based cards such as TNT, TNT2, TNT2 Ultra, GeForce cards with BT86x (e.g. Viper 550, Erazor 3, Xentor 32, 3D Prophet, etc.). The main problem is the black borders around the picture on the TV screen. These can be very annoying for most applications like DVD-playback or decoding. TVTool is a completely software based solution to this problem. TVTool has many features, such as dualview, which makes simultaneous output to the TV and monitor possible.
    • Speed 1.1.0.27  - Measures both sustained and burst data transfer rates of your hard disks, cd/dvd-roms and floppy. Realtime graphical display. (download / homepage).
    • Hardware Sensors Monitor 4.1.1.2 - This software is quite possibly the best hardware sensor monitoring program out there. It will allow you to check the temperature of any component on your computer with a sensor. It is fully customizable with alarms that can be set when the temperature goes too high, a CPU throttle, and it even has built in software cooling that kicks in when your CPU is idle.
    • Nvidia 41.09 BETA Leaked - DriverHeaven has posted a new set of Beta drivers (German mirror) which are dated November 18 and are labeled as version 41.09.
     Gameguru Mania News - Nov,27 2002 - tech
    Evening Tech Reading - tech
    (hx) 02:26 AM CET - Nov,27 2002 - Post a comment / read (3)
    • Anti-pirates hit Danish P2P users with huge bills - The Danish Anti Pirat Gruppen (Anti Piracy Group) has issued invoices of up to $14,000 apiece to approximately 150 users of KaZaA and eDonkey for illegally downloading copyright material.  APG monitored the file sharing networks for available files with Danish IP addresses - and went to court to get the users' personal details from their ISPs, armed with screen shots of, for example, the KaZaA window showing the files on the user's hard-drive. The users are charged about $16 per CD and about $60 per full length movie. If they pay now - and delete the illegal content from their hard drives - then the amount is cut in half and they avoid going to court. Those who don't pay up are to be sued.
    • eVGA Goodies - eVGA.com sent us an email that they have posted new content at their web site: GeForce FX Preview ~ NVDVD 2.0 Review ~ Win a GeForce4 Ti 4600! ~  Win a GeForce4 Ti 4200 or MX 460! and America's Army: Tournament 2002, enjoy :)
    • Longhorn keygen is trojan - We were a bit disappointed to find that it was a lame VB program, but good enough as long as it spits unique keys out. Its quick! spits out keys like crazy! We were more interested in it because LH keys are .NET keys.
    • ICQ Pro 2003a Beta Build 3777 - Oh yeah, a new version of ICQ is out.
    • Lycoris Desktop/LX Build 64 Beta - Lycoris and Ericom Software team up to release Desktop/LX InterConnect, a simple corporate desktop with full office suite and outstanding host connectivity tools. Desktop/LX InterConnect features Ericom Software's native Linux PowerTerm InterConnect software, the Lycoris ProductivityPak office suite, and the Lycoris Remote Desktop Client
    • VirtualDub v1.4.12 P4 optimized  - VirtualDub is a program designed for fast, powerful AVI/ASF/MPEG-to-AVI processing. This version is optimized for processors supporting SSE2 (Pentium 4). This is an exe only, install this version over the original version.  Then weird things began to happen, a strange app called syscfg32 began trying to access the internet on IRC ports.
    • WinACE 2.3 Beta 4 - Shortly after beta 3, there is beta 4 of WinAce 2.3. Don't be confused by German installator, the whole program is in English.
    • nForce Linux Drivers - nVidia has just released a new Linux drivers for their nForce motherboard chipset line. These new drivers have built-in support for the nForce2.
    • nVidia Detonator 31.80 WHQL Drivers - The guys at DriverHeaven got hold of some older drivers last night, 31.80's to be exact (mirror). Since the latest set from 31.xx available to download prior to this was 31.50 - I guess this makes this driver "new". These 31.80 drivers come in 2 flavours - Windows 2000/XP set as well as Windows 95/98/ME set and they're dated 21/09/02. This is a generic non-multilanguage release supporting all nvidia cards to date.
     Gameguru Mania News - Nov,26 2002 - tech
    Nightly Tech Mania - tech
    (hx) 03:24 AM CET - Nov,26 2002 - Post a comment
    • Intel gives leg-up to UK pro gaming  - The gig takes place at the Science Museum in London on Saturday 21 December, and the winners are in for a nice Christmas treat - there's a prize pot of L25,000 at stake, a record for a UK gaming event, Intel says. Twenty-four clans have been invited, and to ensure an even playing field, all will play on 3.06GHz P4 QTech rigs, supplied by UK PC builder Quantum Microponents (sic). And the games? Counter Strike, Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Warcraft 3.
    • Intel to Up Flash-Memory Chip Prices - Intel said on Monday it was raising prices 20 percent to 40 percent on flash memory semiconductors based on stronger demand for next-generation cellular phones, which use the chips.
    • U.S. Navy Seizes Cadet Computers in Internet Probe  - Officials at the U.S. Naval Academy have seized the computers of nearly 100 students in a search for bootlegged music and movies, an Academy official confirmed on Monday. Cadets could face court martial or expulsion if investigators find digital songs or other copyrighted material on their hard drives. Naval Academy administrators seized the desktop computers last Thursday while students were in class, newspapers in Baltimore and Annapolis, Maryland, reported. An academy spokeswoman confirmed that the reports were accurate but declined further comment.
    • Laser Used to Move Brain Cells in Lab Experiment - In an advance that sounds like science fiction, scientists have used a laser beam to guide and control the growth of brain cells in the laboratory. This is not the first time that scientists have used lasers to manipulate human cells, but the new method has an important advantage, according to the lead investigator, Dr. Allen Ehrlicher, of the University of Leipzig in Germany. Unlike another laser technique called "optical tweezers," the approach used in the study, Ehrlicher told Reuters Health, moves cells without actually touching them. Moving cells often damages them, but the researchers found that cells manipulated using the new technique appeared to grow at a faster-than-normal pace while being stimulated to make up to 90-degree directional turns.
    • Interesting new AA modes for GF3s and GF4s - Using the D3D tubes AA demo, I tested 4XS AA to see if there was an improvement in current 40.72 WHQL drivers.  No change really at all in that mode, but being the daring guy I am, I used Rivatuner to set the AA mode to 7, (5 = 4xs) and look what happened...(pics)
    • Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 Tweaking Guide - That's not to say the game hasn't given a few people problems in the performance department, but perhaps a bit of tweaking and a few links to the right tools might help you enjoy this game a little more. In this guide I go through all the in-game performance settings, and the main tweaks and tips I've uncovered so far, so follow along and let's see if we can't get NFSHP2 performing at maximum speed.
    • Windows .NET Server 2003 Build 3716 Leaked - Apparently, build 3716 of Microsoft's .Net Server 2003, which was available to testers a few days ago has been leaked and running around wildly on the internet.
    • The IntelR C++ Compiler 7.0 for Windows  - The Intel C++ Compiler 7.0 for Windows makes it easy to get outstanding performance from Intel 32 bit processors, including the Pentium 4 and Intel Xeon processors, and the 64 bit Intel Itanium and Itanium 2 processors. The Intel Compiler provides optimization technology, threaded application support, features to take advantage of Hyper-Threading technology, and compatibility with leading tools and standards to produce optimal performance for your applications.
    • Office Build 643C - There is a brand new build (Windows ~ Linux) of Suns OpenSource office suite. OpenOffice.org is the open source project through which Sun Microsystems is releasing the technology for the popular StarOffice productivity suite. It is an international office suite that will run on all major platforms and provide access to all functionality and data through open-component based APIs and an XML-based file format.
    • Jester2K Detonator 30.xx To 40.xx Fix v1.1.1 - Tool for removing the elements of the Detonator 30.xx drivers that conflict with the 40.xx drivers.
    • WinRAR 3.10 Beta 4 - WinRAR has been updated to version 3.10 Beta 4. This new beta fixes: 1) Combination of "-as -u -ver" switches did not work correctly; 2) "Convert" command did not process archives contained only.
    • Alcohol 120% 1.3.5.1125 - Alcohol 120% is a CD/DVD emulation and recording software that allows users to copy a visible and invisible discs. It enables users to create 31 virtual CD/DVD-ROMs to play discs without needing a physical disc.
    • VirtualDub 1.4.12  - VirtualDub (download) is a video capture and processing program. It features fast capturing, process files larger than the 2 gigabyte limit, optimized for linear editing, support for Motion-JPEG, MPEG-1 video and layer 3 audio, real-time and near-realtime video processing, video job queues, and much more.
    • n.player v1.0.01  - Freeware n.player is a versatile media player that plays DVD, audio CDs, MP3, WMA, AVI, DiVX, or any media with the preisntalled DirectShow decoder.
    • BSPlayer Strikes Back - Yeah, BSPlayer is back with new version 0.85 Build 492  (20.11.2002).
    • XBox Media Player 2.0 - If you can't afford the new Windows XP Media Center edition, why not grab yourself a modded XBox, and check out the XBox Media Player 2.0. The official site has some screen shots and previews. I am sure Gates will be real upset about this one. Somehow $300 for an XBox setup is cheaper than the $2000 XP boxes.
    • Blindwrite Suite 4.2.4 Final - Blindwrite Suite is a set of tools to reproduce or clone any CD even protected ones. Blindwrite Suite is the most powerfull tool to create a perfect copy from your original CD for personal backup use. Blindwrite Suite can create CD audio from MP3, Ogg Vorbis, WAV, WMA, monkey's audio and be use with an cd-rom emulator like Daemon Tools.
    • AVM FRITZ!Card DSL Drivers - AVM Berlin has released a new drivers&firmware (win2k/xp ~ win9x/me) for PCI DSL modem card FRITZ!Card DSL.
    • NTFS Reader For DOS - NTFS Reader for DOS is a freeware tool that provides read access to NTFS partitions within the MS-DOS environment.
    • ISO Buster 1.2 Beta 6 - IsoBuster lets you explore a CD's File System while by-passing Windows. This way you get better Error handling and several retry-mechanisms to aid you in getting the data anyway (or at least partially). Starting with version 1.2, the program has some PRO features for which you must pay. The classic functions can still be used for free, though.
    • LinuxBIOS booting Windows 2000 free software BIOS - As a result, we now have a completely free software replacement for the BIOS that supports (without modification) either LILO or GRUB as bootloaders, and Linux, OpenBSD, and Windows 2000 as operating systems (NOTE: We're still working on supporting FreeBSD and Windows XP. We expect that improving ATA support will permit Win98 and WinXP to boot, and finishing PIRQ support will permit FreeBSD to boot.
    • Epox BIOS - Epox has released some new BIOS updates for EP-8K5A2, EP-8K5A2+ , EP-8K5A3+, 8K3A, 8K3A+, 8K3AP, 8KHA+ 11 06 02 
    • Abit BIOSes - Abit has released a new BIOS for Abit Bios BW TH7II  and Abit Bios BW TH7II-RAID board.
    • ASUS VGA drivers & tools - RivaStation.com is reporting that ASUS released new VGA drivers & tools: VGART_Drv.zip (55MB), WDMCapDrv1190.zip, Win2KXP_3140e.zip,  Win2KXP_3140F.zip, Win9xME_3140e.zip, Win9XME_3140F.zip, and more.
    • aTuner 1.2.3.4 - Two new FSAA-Modes intended for NV30 just for your GeForce3 and 4 are enabled in this release. These are 6xS and 8x, enabled in Detonator 40.72. This aTuner-Update brings also a better default-profile managment. aTuner's Layout was adapted for the new default-management.
     Gameguru Mania News - Nov,25 2002 - tech
    Hardware Reviews - tech
    (hx) 03:01 AM CET - Nov,25 2002 - Post a comment / read (4)
  • CPU -
    • Intel Xeon DP 2.8GHz / Xeon MP 2.0GHz | AMD Athlon XP 2400+ | Athlon XP 2400+ OC

  • Motherboard - nVidia nForce2 vs VIA KT400 | Abit AT7-Max2 VIA KT400  | Abit IT7-Max2 i845E (1) | Abit IT7-Max2 i845PE (2) | Albatron PX845PEV Pro i845PE | Albatron PX845E Silver i845E | AMD-760MPX Motherboard roundup | Asus P4G8X Intel E7205 | Asus P4S8X SiS648 | Asus A7N8X nForce2 | | Asus P4G8X Intel E7205 | Asus A7N8X Deluxe nVidia nForce2 | Chaintech 7NJS nForce2 | EPoX 8K5A3+ VIA KT333 | EPoX KT400 8K9A2+ | FIC AT009 Radeon 9000 | FIC AN19E VIA KT400  | Gigabyte 7VAXP VIA KT400 | Gigabyte 8INXP Intel E7205| Intel E7205 / Granite Bay roundup | Iwill P4HT i845PE (1) | Iwill P4HT-S i845PE (2) | Iwill P4HT-S i845PE (3) | Leadtek K7NCR18D Pro nForce2 | MSI GNB Max Intel E7205 (1) | MSI GNB Max Intel E7205 (2) | MSI KT4 Ultra-FISR VIA KT400 | MSI E7505 Master-LS2 Intel E7505 | MSI 845PE Max2-FIR i845PE | Shuttle AS45GTR SiS648  | Shuttle SB51G XPC | ATI IGP 340 Integrated Chipset


  • RAM - DDR Memory roundup | Corsair DDR433 CAS2.0 | Corsair XMS 3500 Platinum 256MB | Corsair DDR XMS3500  | GeIL DDR433 | OCZ DDR400 | XtremeDDR DDR400  | OCZ PC3500 DDR-433 SDRAM | TwinMOS 256MB PC3200 DDR400 RAM


  • Storage - 120GB HDD roundup | Phillips 40/12/48 IDE Internal CD-RW | Lite-On CD-RW roundup | Vantec EZ MRK-102FD Swap Rack | ADS USB Instant DVD | CenDyne Lightning V 52/24/52 CD-RW | TX Venus II 48/24/48 CD-RW | Plextor 48/24/48A CD-RW


  • Video - Albatron GeForce4 Ti4200 128MB | Radeon 9700 Pro vs GeForce4 Ti4600 | Abit Siluro GeForce4 MX440-8X | Asus V9280S GeForce4 Ti4200 | PNY Verto GeForce4 Ti4200 64MB | SiS Xabre 600 | Triplex TX-680 GeForce4 MX440-8X | Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9500 | PowerColor Radeon 9000 Pro 128MB | GeForce4 Voltage Mod Guide  (1) | GeForce4 Voltage Mod Guide (2) | ELSA Gladiac 9700 Pro


  • GeForce FX Mania - nVidia GeForce FX SCANS | nVidia GeForce FX (1) | nVidia GeForce FX (2) | nVidia GeForce FX (3) | nVidia GeForce FX (4) | nVidia GeForce FX (5) | nVidia GeForce FX (6) | nVidia GeForce FX (7) | nVidia GeForce FX (8) | nVidia GeForce FX (9) | nVidia GeForce FX (10) | nVidia GeForce FX (11) | nVidia GeForce FX (12) | nVidia GeForce FX (13) | nVidia GeForce FX (14) | nVidia GeForce FX (15) | nVidia GeForce FX (16) | nVidia GeForce FX (17) | nVidia GeForce FX | (18) | nVidia GeForce FX (19) | nVidia GeForce FX (20) | nVidia GeForce FX (21) | nVidia GeForce FX (22) | nVidia GeForce FX (23) | nVidia GeForce FX (24) | nVidia GeForce FX (25) | nVidia GeForce FX (26) | nVidia GeForce FX (27)


  • Monitor - Samsung Syncmaster 181T LCD


  • Cooling - AeroCool Fan roundup | Thermaltakes Copper RAM Cooling Kit | Antec HDD Cooler | HDD Cooler | OCZ Technology Coolers roundup  | Cooler Master IHC-H71 | Cooler Master HHC-L61 Silent Cooler | AVC Tundra 2 Socket-A | Titan TTC-005 | Titan Aluminium Cooler | Swiftech MCX-462+ Cooler (1) | Swiftech MCX462+ Cooler (2) | GlobalWin FSP 82 Cooler | Vantec AeroFlow VA4-C7040 Coolers (video) | Vantec ThermaFlow Case Fans | Spire 5F271B1L3 | Fan Storm Fan Controller | Thermaltake Volcano 9 Cooler | Thermaltake Volcano 9 CoolMod | Thermalright SLK800 | Smartcooler FSM 1170H | AVC Avalanche / Tundra 2 Coolers | Nanotherm Thermal Compound | Tocools NovaSonic Cooler | Zalman ZM80-HP VGA Heatpipe Cooler


  • WaterCooling - Dual Athlon Watercooling Mod | Wbhouse F-ipn AMD Watercooling Kit | Koolance EXOS External Watercooling System | CPUfx Z4 Watercooling | Innovatek innovaSet1 Water Cooling Kit (1) | Innovatek Innovaset 2 Water Cooling Kit (2) | Swiftech MCW50 Video WaterBlock


  • Case - Xoxide X450 Aluminum Case | KoolCases Imperial Case | KoolCases Obsession Case | ThermalTake Xaser II 5000 Plus | Thermaltake Xaser II 6000A Case | Lian Li PC-9300 | Enermax CSX305ILS Case | Skyhawk Galaxy Aluminum ATX Case | Asetek Vapochill PE Titanium Case | FannerGroup CopperKing II Cooler | PowerCooler PCW182H-H CPU Cooler | Zalman CNPS6000-Cu Cooler | Zalman CNPS5700D-Cu Quiet Cooler | Antec SX1040B Case


  • PSU/UPS - 520 Watt Power Maxx Power Supply | Zalman ZM300A PSU | Belkin Universal 800VA UPS


  • Sound - SoundBlaster SBS250 | Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 (1)| Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 (2)| Hercules Gamesurround Fortissimo III 7.1 | Hercules 3D Prophet 9000 Pro 128MB | Sennheiser HD497 Headphones | Logitech Z540 Speaker | Philips MMS306 5.1 Speakers | Ultron Octavus 850W 5.1 Speakers (German) | Trust 3000P 5.1 Soundwave Speakers | Cyber Acoustics CA-5001 Speakers | Telex EVSonic XS 2.1 Speakers


  • Peripheral  - Logitech MX Series Mouse roundup | Logitech MX Mice | Logitech MX500 Mouse | Microsoft Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer (1) | Microsoft Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer (2)| Microsoft Office Keyboard | Razer Boomslang 1000 Mouse | Razer Boomslang 2000 Mouse | Transparent Icemat Mauspad | Compad Speed-Pads | Everglide Giganta Mousepad


  • Printer - Samsung SF-531P Laser Printer


  • Network - Actiontec 54Mbps WAP / PC Card | Nexland Pro800 8-port Broadband Router | Building the Home Media Network


  • Modding - Sunbeam CCFL | Sunbeam Sound Sensitive CCFL Kit | Dual Volt 6 Port Baybus | EPowerHouse Crystal LED Fans | Computuning Dual 120mm Fan | Fanner Color Breeze LED Fans | FrozenCPU 6port Dual-Voltage Fanbus | Dynatron Ultra Violet Fan | Xoxide Sound Activated El-Wire | Vantec Nexus NXP-101 Multi-Function Panel (1) | Vantec Nexus Multifunction Panel (2) | Matrix Orbital LK202-25-GW-Y LCD Panel | Vantec Nexus Multi-Function Panel | Akasa PaxMate Acoustic Absorption Mats | Xoxide Variable 4 Port Baybus | Four Port Neon RheoBus | Matrix Orbital LK202-25-GW-Y LCD


  • Miscelanous - eDimensional wired 3D Glasses (video) | Sandisk Card Reader Roundup | Shuttle SK41g XPC System | GearGrip LANBag | Inside Sony PlayStation | DivineO PSX-PS2 Joypad Adapter roundup | Abit Media XP | MobiVoice MV-R1 | Tablet PCs - Stealing Comdex 2002 | MobileAction MA-620 IR USB Adapter
    •
     Gameguru Mania News - Nov,23 2002 - tech
    Saturday Tech Reading - tech
    (hx) 07:12 PM CET - Nov,23 2002 - Post a comment
    • Bond's Q: DVD will self-destruct in 36 hours - "It fits the theme of James Bond very well," said Alan Blaustein, head of Flexplay, a two-year-old start-up in New York City that has patented the technology. Blaustein said the self-destructing discs are a good way to give customers a quick taste of music, movies or television shows. The discs, which are copy-protected, entice buyers to plop down money for the non-disappearing versions of the content, he said. The technology also could be used by software companies trying to dissuade computer owners from illegally sharing the same version of an install disc. Flexplay discs are so new that they've been used for only one other promotion. In October, a music CD was handed out to MTV Latin America fans. Where the company will go from here is top secret, Blaustein said. He's working on a number of deals. "Nothing I can talk about right now," he said.
    • L.A. Woman Gets Prison in Counterfeit Software Ring - A Los Angeles woman was sentenced on Friday to nine years in prison and ordered to pay $11 million in restitution for her role in one of the largest counterfeit software cases in U.S. history. The sentence imposed on 52-year-old Lisa Chen by Superior Court Judge Ronni MacLaren was the longest prison term for a first-time conviction on software piracy, prosecutors said. Chen was one of four people arrested in November of 2001 as part of a ring that prosecutors said imported nearly $98 million in counterfeit computer products and software from Asia, including knockoffs of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows XP, Windows 2000 NT and Microsoft Office 2000 Pro software, along with manuals, user license agreements and other materials.
    • Man burns penis with laptop - LOL! And now for proof that some laptops run hotter than a badger. A 50-year old scientist, previously healthy, burned his penis after placing his laptop on his, err lap, for an hour. Oh, he was fully dressed in trousers and underpants, according to this letter printed in the Lancet, the UK's best-known medical journal.
    • Gamers shut out in Asheron's Call 2 billing mess - Today's launch of Microsoft's new multiplayer game - Asheron's Call 2 Fallen Kings - in the US and Canada has been mired in controversy after the giant software company admitted that the game is only available to subscribers in nine countries.
    • On the Microsoft FTP server leak - Microsoft made customer details - along with numerous confidential internal documents - freely available from a deeply insecure FTP server earlier this month.  A well as numerous PowerPoint slides, such as Linux Vs Windows comparisons and .NET strategy papers, Microsoft "published" files an estimated 11 million customer email addresses and seven million snail mail address on the server.
    • Nokia 3585i does GPS, 1xRTT - Nokia's newest CDMA handset takes a slightly unusual approach to the formula of making mobile phones; albeit most of the features in the handset can be classified as low-end, it also incorporates high-end capabilities with its support for CDMA2000 1xRTT and GPS. Nokia says the model combines the features most desired by consumers, and throws in CDMA 800/1900MHz/AMPS for good measure.
    • Controller pushes Ethernet into everyday equipment - In a move that could spread Ethernet into a new range of industrial and commercial applications, Motorola Inc. has introduced a 32-bit microcontroller with an Ethernet interface. Fast-food restaurants could monitor dishwashers, ovens and refrigerators featuring the chip, experts said.
    • OCZ releases EL DDR IC in speeds up to DDR500 (4ns) - OCZ Technology Group would like to announce the availability of 466Mhz and 500Mhz OCZ EL DDR ICs. OCZ Technology EL DDR ICs are intended for use in system memory for bandwidth intensive applications that can take advantage of the increased memory speeds. OCZ technology plans to use these ICs in our PC-3700 and PC-4000 EL DDR modules, as we gain motherboard support for enhanced latency DDR.
    • NVIDIA GeForce FX graphics card facts summary - A1 Electronics take a look at the new NVIDIA GeForce FX graphics card. How it works and its performance. NVIDIA GeForce FX the next generation GeForce. NVIDIA GeForce FX.
    • Sexy Video Shows Off GeForceFX Power  - The rendering, created by one of the Final Fantasy designers, is both beautiful and slightly unsettling. According to an nVidia representative, a version of this demo does exist with the leaves removed. "We're bringing porno to graphics", chortled the exec, who wished to remain nameless. You can find more GeForceFX goodies here.
    • New Age Computer Gaming - Mobile vs. Desktop - After receiving a Dell Inspiron 8200 notebook with ATI Mobility 9000 graphics earlier this week, I thought it might be interesting to do a little investigation comparing the notebook, in terms of gaming performance, to my desktop computer system installed with nVidia GeForce4 Ti4200 graphics card.
    • Windows Longhorn Alpha Preview - One caveat, of course: This is an early alpha build and the final Longhorn product will bear little resemblance to what you see here. If you think back to the early Whistler builds, which featured the "Watercolor" visual style, you'll get the right idea: Longhorn is a work in progress, mostly current generation technology, and much of what's in there is just the same old stuff from XP. Major UI work, a database-based file system, integrated DVD burning, and other cool features are still to come. OK, enough talk. Here's what's new in the Longhorn alpha.
    • New AmigaOS4 Screenshots - Eight new preview AmigaOS4 screenshots have been released, demonstrating some of the default GUI customizability. The official mainstream launch of these new AmigaOS4/AmigaOne computers will be at CeBit in Germany, to be held March 2003.
    • Installing MySQL and PHPMyAdmin - EliteGuild has posted a guide about installing MySQL and PHPMyAdmin.
    • XP Patch: Game Stops Responding Or Quits Unexpectedly During Intro Video - If you try to start and play certain games on a Windows Home Edition Service Pack 1 (SP1)-based computer, the game may stop responding (hang) or it may quit unexpectedly when the introductory video clip starts. This behavior occurs if the following conditions are true: The game that you want to play contains video that is compressed with the Indeo video codec and the Indeo codec is not installed on the computer. The Indeo codec is not included in Windows XP Home Edition SP1. Download patch.
    • Antivirus Updates - Kaspersky Antivirus (Nov22) ~ McAfee VirusScan 4.x / 5.x DAT file v4234 ~ McAfee VirusScan SuperDAT File v4234 (engine v4160) ~ Norton Antivirus 4.0/5.0/2000-2002 Definition Update (Nov22) ~ AVG (Nov21)
    • Feurio! v1.66 Beta - Feurio! is an integrated program for creating audio-CDs (especially samplers).
    • WinDVD Tweaker Pro 4.07 - WinDVD Tweaker is designed to allow users of the WinDVD playback software to enable some hidden settings and allow for maximum playback pleasure.
    • Fresh UI 4.70 - Fresh UI - your FREE Windows tweaking tool - just got better with the release of version 4.7. What's new: CD (Hardware) and Outlook Express hidden settings.
    • NVDVD 2.22 Trial - NVDVD (mirror) is a full media player with play-list support, enabling users to create custom playlists of MP3 music, photo slideshows with background music, or any mixed audio and video presentation.
    • Zoom Player 3.00 Beta 1 - Zoom Player is a robust Media and DVD Front-End Player. This new version features new Video Orbiting System which allows you to specify a video position movement range in order to prevent screen burns on widescreen movies, new Scene Cut feature allowing you to "End" Playback (and proceed to the next file on the Play List) and many more.
    • APK Windows 2000 Tools 7.0  - APK Windows XP/2000 Tools 2000++ is a utilities package for Windows XP/2000 users. It provides a number of useful system tools and gives.
    • AI RoboForm 4.9.8  - AI RoboForm (download) is a one-click web form filler and password manager with some serious Artificial Intelligence inside. It's free for personal use.
    • Opera 7.0 Beta 1b - An updated beta of Opera 7.0 is available (with Java / w/o Java).
    • CPUCooL 7.1.6 - CPUCooL version 7.1.6 (download) has been released. What is CPUCool? CPUCooL is a program that monitors temperature, fan speed, and voltages for many motherboards.
    • CPUFSB v2.2.9 -  It is for changing the FrontSideBus only. So you have a small tool only one of the the most important freatures of CPUCooL. Changing the FrontSideBus enables you to set the frequency of your CPU up to the limits.
    • Matrox Drivers v5.86.032 WHQL - Matrox released new WHQL certified Windows 2000 / XP drivers for Millennium G200, Mystique G200, Millennium G400, Millennium G450, Millennium G550, Matrox G200 MMS and Matrox G450 MMS boards.
    • LiteOn CDRW BIOS - LiteOn has released a new firmware ZS0P for their 40x speed writer LTR-40125S.  As usually, handling of protected audio CDs has been improved - the drive can now read Key2Audio V3 and Cactus DataShield 200 protected discs.
     Gameguru Mania News - Nov,22 2002 - tech
    Nightly Tech Reading - tech
    (hx) 03:37 AM CET - Nov,22 2002 - Post a comment
    • Microsoft plans "back-up" brains for humans - "Back-up brains" on digital file and computer-generated beings called 'avataars' were revealed on Thursday as the brave new frontier of software technology, as Britain's leading science magazine catalogued Microsoft corporation's plans to literally put our lives on disk. According to the latest issue of the New Scientist magazine,"engineers are working on software to load every photo you take, every letter you write, in fact your every memory and experience - into a surrogate brain that never forgets anything.
    • Scientists to synthesize new life form  - A biotech company said Thursday it has been given a grant by the federal government to genetically engineer an organism, with the aim of creating a bacteria-like life form that could be used to produce alternative fuel sources.
    • Physicist: Programs run the universe - Wolfram believes the universe is composed not of particles and waves, but of simple tiny programs. He believes these myriad programs, or algorithms, give rise to physical phenomena as fundamental as space and as complicated as human beings. "There's a broader range of (computing) things, and they don't all have to be based on CMOS and gates," the technology that underlies today's microprocessors, he said. "Systems out there in nature are already doing computations as complex as the ones that correspond to human intelligence."
    • Conexant chip integrates ADSL and .11b capabilities -  Conexant Systems Inc. has integrated its internally-developed asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) router and Intersil Corp.'s 802.11b wireless LAN baseband/media-access controller on a single chip, the CX82340. The announcement preempts efforts by Broadcom Corp. and other competitors seeking to integrate .11 WLAN and cable-modem router capabilities on a single chip.
    • Star Trek: Nemesis Preview - Check out this new clip.
    • Star Wars Starts To Live Online - The computer game - which will be released in the US in December - contains locations familiar from the films but reveals them in more detail than ever before. "It will allow people to live out their lives in the Star Wars universe and so many people have wanted to do that," said Tom Sarris, spokesman for Lucas Arts. "We're allowing people to create their own destiny."
    • Intel juices Celerons for budget PCs - The chipmaker introduced two new Celeron processors running at 2.1GHz and 2.2GHz, the fastest Celeron chips to date. Intel is aiming the new Celerons at PC manufacturers that build and sell inexpensive home desktops priced at $600 or below.
    • How to Volt-mod your GeForce 4 videocard - Although with significant differences, one could say that GeForce4 Ti4200 cards are based on very similar hardware than most Ti4600 cards (our overclocking target).
    • NVIDIA CEO Huang Jen-hsun Interview - DigiTimes has posted an interview with NVIDIA's president and CEO Huang Jen-hsun as he talks about  his satisfaction and high hopes for the new product.
    • MSPATCH ~Critical Update For Windows XP Media Center Edition - This update provides contains the CGMS-A enhancement as well as stability and performance enhancements. Release Date - 20 Nov 2002.
    • MSPATCH ~ Certificate Validation Flaw Could Enable Identity Spoofing (Q329115) - Certificate Validation Flaw Could Enable Identity Spoofing (Q329115)The original version of this bulletin was released on 05 September 2002. On 09 September 2002, we updated the bulletin to advise customers that a Microsoft-issued digital certificate, used to sign device drivers, did not meet the stricter validation standards established by the patch. As a result, customers who installed the patch could see unexpected error messages when installing new hardware, or in some cases might be unable to install new hardware altogether. On 20 November 2002, we released an updated version of the patch that not only eliminates this problem, but also eliminates a newly discovered variant of the original vulnerability.
    • MSPATCH ~ Buffer Overrun In Microsoft Data Access Components Could Lead To Code Execution (Q329414) - An identified security vulnerability could allow an attacker to compromise MicrosoftR WindowsR-based systems and then take any of a variety of actions, such as changing Web pages or reformatting your hard disk. You can help eliminate this issue by installing this update from Microsoft. Anyone using Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows 98 SE, Windows 98, or Windows NTR 4.0 needs the update. Windows XP is not affected by this issue.
    • Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility 4.20.1007 - The Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility installs specific Windows INF files. The INF files inform the operating system how to properly configure the chipset for specific functionality, such as AGP, USB, Core PCI, and ISA PnP services.
    • Intel Application Accelerator 2.3 -  Intel officially released the new Application Accelerator 2.3 for Win98 and higher The IAA replaces the IDE/UDMA driver and has some other performance enhancements.
    • NeroVision Express -  NeroVision Express guides you through the whole process of creating DVDs, VCDs and SVCDs in an easy and innovative way.  It's free for Nero 5.5 users.
    • KaZaA Lite 2.0.2 Ad Free - Leech it!
    • DAEMON Tools 3.26 - DAEMON Tools is an application for multiprotection emulation. It is further development of Generic Safedisc emulator and incorporates all its features. This program allows running backup copies of SafeDisc, Securom or Laserlock protected games. Also included is a Virtual DVDROM drive enabling you to use your CD images as if they were already burned to CD. DAEMON Tools works with all types of CD/DVDROM drives and supports nearly any CD protection.
    • ATi Unified Linux Driver v2.4.3 - ATI today released their Unified Linux Driver Version 2.4.3. This new version supports RADEON 8500/LE/DV, RADEON 9000/9500/9700 PRO, and FIRE GL family of workstation products, and adds support for Mandrake 9.0 and Red Hat 8.0, Improves Read/Draw pixel performance, Chipset detection and also adds support for AGP 8X.
     Gameguru Mania News - Nov,21 2002 - tech
    ATI’s take on GeForce FX - tech
    (hx) 10:02 PM CET - Nov,21 2002 - Post a comment
    The guys over at FiringSquad have really great coverage of COMDEX 2002. And here is what ATI says on GeForce FX hype:
    The focus of our conversation with ATI was dealing with the misconceptions brought about by NVIDIA during the GeForce FX launch. ATI essentially feels that the RADEON 9700 is a more balanced solution than GeForce FX, which doesn’t have the bandwidth to perform many of the operations it’s boasting at an acceptable frame rate.

    For instance, NVIDIA is proud to claim that GeForce FX boasts pixel and vertex shaders that go beyond DirectX 9.0’s specs, yet a 400-500MHz chip with 8 pixel pipelines running very long shaders would spend all of its time in geometry, bringing frame rate to a crawl. ATI feels that with RADEON 9700’s multi-pass capability, having native support for thousands of shaders is useless, as the RADEON 9700 can loopback to perform those operations. ATI ran a demonstration of a space fighter that was rendered using this technique.

    As far as NVIDIA’s bandwidth claims of GeForce FX’s 48GB/sec memory bandwidth, ATI states that the color compression in their HYPERZ III technology performs the same thing today, and with all of the techniques they use in RADEON 9700, they could claim bandwidth of nearly100GB/sec, but if they did so no one would believe them, hence they’ve stood with offering just shy of 20GB/sec of bandwidth.
    Evening Tech Reading - tech
    (hx) 01:10 AM CET - Nov,21 2002 - Post a comment / read (1)
    • Comdex : Day 2 Coverage - Toms's Hardware, AnandTech, Comdex 2002: Cooling Part I
    • AMD ATHLON 64 - At Comdex, AMD today announced it has selected "AMD Athlon 64" as the brand name for its next-generation processor for desktop and mobile PCs, formerly code named "Clawhammer." The upcoming AMD Athlont 64 processor is expected to be the industry's first and only 64-bit, x86 PC processor for desktop and mobile computing. Desktop and mobile PCs built on the AMD Athlon 64 processor will be able to run 64-bit applications at full performance and simultaneously run 32-bit software applications with no performance penalty. It will enable the benefits desktop and mobile PC users want such as quicker loading of applications and better multi-tasking. Users will enjoy vivid realism and richer sound on digital entertainment such as games, streaming video and audio, DVDs and music.
    • MS bug exposes millions to attack -  The vulnerability, found by security company Foundstone and confirmed by Microsoft, could allow an Internet attacker to take over a Web server, spread an e-mail virus or create a fast-spreading network worm.  The flaw affects IIS Web servers using the Microsoft Data Access Component (MDAC) to talk to a database. Servers running the latest software, MDAC 2.7, are free from the security hole, as are servers on which an administrator has run the IIS Lockdown Tool, an application that helps secure systems. Windows computers, except those running Windows XP, are also vulnerable if Internet Explorer 5.01, 5.5 and 6 are present, as they also use the data access component. However, attacks on such systems are harder to accomplish, Terwoerds said. Microsoft has posted information (patch for win9x/ME/2k/NT) about the flaw and how to secure Windows PCs and Web servers in an advisory on its TechNet site.
    • Flashier cell phone games duke it out - Video games are the guilty pleasure of having a cell phone. Even a ridiculously simple game like Snake can be powerfully addictive. Before you know it, you've been staring at your phone's screen and hammering at its little keypad for half an hour.
    • Jumping from satellite to cellular and back - London-based Inmarsat's Regional BGAN service, announced Tuesday, is the second to merge satellite and cellular phone networks. Globalstar Telecommunications has been selling hybrid cellular-satellite phones and services for some time. But Inmarsat's service can deliver data at 176kbps, about twice as fast as Globalstar's, according to both companies. Unlike Globalstar's service, however, Inmarsat's modem-based Regional BGAN is limited to data-specific tasks such as Web surfing and getting behind a corporate firewall; it does not handle voice calls.
    • Merger could warp universe - Two black holes drifting towards each other will merge in millions of years with a burst of gravitational waves that could warp the very fabric of space. Scientists said yesterday the Chandra X-ray Observatory has found the first evidence that two immense black holes can co-exist in the same galaxy and that they are moving towards each other for an eventual merger.  The double black holes were found in a bright, highly active galaxy known as NGC6240, about 400 million light years from the Earth.
    •  IBM Releases Self-Fixing Computer Software  - International Business Machines Corp. IBM on Wednesday said it will begin selling new versions of two software products based on autonomic computing, advancing the industry's goal of creating technology that can take care of itself. On Thursday IBM will begin selling a new version of its database software, DB2 Version 8. On Nov. 26 the company will release its WebSphere Version 5, middleware software that forms the foundation on which programmers build and run their applications. Both products incorporate the goals of Autonomic Computing, which aims to create computer systems that need less human intervention.
    • XFX Supports 64-Bit AMD - XFX has just announced its full compatibility with the upcoming 64-bit processors from AMD.
    • Unreal GeForce FX Tech Movie - Monday's NVIDIA GeForce FX press conference at Las Vegas's Comdex can now been seen through a streaming media format.
    • Windows Media Encoder 9 RC - Windows Media Encoder 9 RC is a powerful tool for content producers who want to take advantage of the many innovations in Windows Media 9 Series-including high-quality multichannel sound, high-definition video quality, new support for mixed-mode voice and music content, and more.
    • DVD-Cloner 1.83 - DVD-Cloner supports most DVD-RW drive . The DVD of cloned could be played on any players which support compatible format.
    • ClonyXXL v2.0.1.0 - ClonyXXL is a copyprotection detection scanner, which can show what kind of protection is used on a disc.
    • Hard Disk Indicator 1.2 - Add your hard-disk's led at your system tray with this cool free program ! Now you can choose between 5 led colors and also the program can monitor 5 partitions on the same time. if you have a laptop or your computer is in an inaccessible location this could be very useful.
    • PlexTools v1.17 Upgrade - Plextor Europe has released a new version of the PlexTools software.
    • nForce 1/2 Drivers - NVidia has released some new drivers for their nForce 1 and nForce 2 motherboard chipsets, for Win2k, WinXP and Win98SE/ME. The new release adds ASIO and OpenAL driver support and fixes some bugs.
    • Detonator Destroyer v1.2 - Detonator Destroyer is the only tool that completely removes detonator drivers from your Windows 95 (All versions),Windows98,Windows 98SE,Windows ME system. It removes all versions of detonators from 6.XX up! - Support for 2000 and XP coming! Oh yeah I need that, but for my WinXP :))
     Gameguru Mania News - Nov,20 2002 - tech
    64-bit version of UT 20023 Demonstrated - tech
    (hx) 05:56 PM CET - Nov,20 2002 - Post a comment / read (2)
    At Comdex, AMD demonstrated a 64-bit developmental version of Unreal Tournament 2003 from Epic Games on a system based on the upcoming AMD Athlon 64 processor. The technology demonstration illustrates AMD's commitment to bringing next-generation, 64-bit computing to the desktop and consumer applications.
    We're extremely excited about the upcoming AMD Athlon 64 processor. It's designed to run today's 32-bit games and applications and will actually, clock-for-clock, boost their performance relative to 32-bit AMD Athlon processors. But when you add 64-bits to the picture you can get additional capabilities and other performance boosts," said Mark Rein, vice president, Epic Games Inc. "We're planning to ship a 64-bit update for Unreal Tournament 2003 at the same time the AMD Athlon 64 processors show up on retail shelves."
    Nightly Tech Reading - tech
    (hx) 02:07 AM CET - Nov,20 2002 - Post a comment
    • Comdex Fall 2002 Coverage Day 1 - AmdDB, AnandTech, Rage3D, Sudhian.com
    • MS accused of banning mod chip Xbox from Live service - Microsoft's campaign against Xbox mod chips has ratcheted up a notch with the launch of the Xbox Live online gaming service. According to a posting at Got Mod?, (there's a site that's going to be pretty concerned about the issue) the company is attempting to detect mod chips when users connect, then placing them on a banned list - forever. CNews has posted a similar article called "Xbox Live not for everyone" - Mod chip" fans, AOL subscribers, and some owners of older game machines are having problems with the new online service for Microsoft's Xbox video game console.
    • IBM starts work on computer to rival the human brain - The first supercomputers to approach and even surpass the processing power of the human brain are to be built by IBM, under a L184 million contract announced by the US Government yesterday. ASCI Purple and Blue Gene/L will be the fastest and most powerful machines built, with a combined capacity equal to the 500 best of today's computers. ASCI Purple, which will be built first and used to simulate nuclear tests, will be able to complete 100 thousand billion calculations per second - a speed known as 100 teraflops that some scientists say is comparable to the human brain. Blue Gene/L, which has a broader range of functions and will be used by US Department of Energy's three main laboratories, will be more powerful still, with a maximum speed of 360 teraflops.
    • Could Your Cell Phone Watch Over Your Home? - Nokia and Matsushita Electric Industrial have reached an agreement to jointly develop technologies for data exchange between mobile phones and home appliances, they announced Tuesday. This tie-up aims to make it possible to offer services like monitoring inside the house, checking the contents of a refrigerator, or recording a TV program, while on the move.
    • Nokia Tout Fast Downloads at Comdex  - Nokia is previewing a new phone that doubles download speeds and integrates features once found only in PCs and personal digital assistants. The Nokia 6200, touted as the industry's first EDGE (Enhanced Data-Rates for GSM Evolution) handset, is being showcased at this week's Comdex trade show in Las Vegas. Aimed at business users, the device is in testing and will be available early next year, reportedly selling for $250 to $350, depending on the retailer.
    • How Much Hack Info Is Too Much? - Researchers counter that without full disclosure, companies often fail to swiftly patch security holes. Full disclosure, in theory, also alerts computer users to problems that are already known to malicious hackers, who often exploit holes before patches become available. But a recent post on security news mailing list BugTraq has infuriated some who normally favor full disclosure. The post details how a bit of programming code embedded in a Web page can reformat site visitors' hard drives, deleting all files stored on the affected drive. The exploit affects users running Microsoft Internet Explorer browser versions 5.5 or 6.0. Flynn has posted a Web page documenting the problem and offering possible workarounds.
    • Armageddon Can Wait: Stopping Killer Asteroids - Sooner or later, scientists who study Earth-crossing asteroids say, astronomers will find one that has a significant chance of striking the planet. A nuclear detonation, some scientists say, could break the asteroid into several large pieces, increasing, rather than eliminating, the threat. And a blast some distance from an asteroid, designed to shove it into a slightly different orbit, might not work either; the asteroid might soak up the energy like a sponge. "I'd say forget that," said Dr. Keith A. Holsapple, a professor at the University of Washington who studies the effects of simulated nuclear explosions.
    • Big Mac Attacked by Sims - In the soon-to-be blockbuster The Sims Online, players could find it difficult to avoid getting their fingers soiled on virtual McDonald's hamburgers. A deal struck between Sims publisher Electronic Arts and the fastfood mega-corporation allows Sims players to open up their own McDonald's kiosk and improve their game stats by consuming McD's greasy goodies. While news of this groundbreaking sponsorship deal fades quickly from memory, failure to address this latest barrage in the war on ad-free gaming could result in a super-sized sandwich of misery. Based on the success of previous Sims offerings, The Sims Online is an ideal high-profile backdrop in the war against "advergaming." The McDonald's kiosks that dot the imaginary battlefield are mere burger bunkers to be ad-busted in an anti-advergaming mission that could go down in the annals of gaming history.
    • Simputer Review - The Simputer was conceived by a team of computer scientists at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. To make the machine cheap enough to sell in poor regions, the developers kept the hardware requirements to a minimum. The Simputer's microprocessor is an Intel Strong-ARM chip, which is known for its low power consumption. The device will have as much as 64 megabytes of random-access memory and 32 megabytes of flash memory, as well as a modem that can connect to a telephone line. And the computer runs on the Linux operating system, which is available free of charge.
    • Memory prices falling again - Memory Watch site DRAM Exchange reports that the spot prices of memory, both DDR and SDRAM flavours, are beginning to show a decline. The site says that the prices on the spot market are falling to join the prices of contract memory, the prices PC manufacturers pay. The reason is, the site reckons, that the peak of the manufacturing season has been and gone, and there's no particularly bright news, whether from Comdex 2002 or from the industry itself to boost the prices. In fact, and as we reported earlier today, Comdex 2002 is looking decidedly underattended.
    • Hyperthreaded P4s hit Audigy snagette - A posting on the Ace's Hardware forum by a character called Sander Sassen claims that Audigy and Audigy 2 cards, rather than getting a welcome chime when entering XP with hyperthreading enabled, just ends up stuttering badly. Hyperthreading was revealed to an expectant world last week to cheers of acclamation from a bunch of hacks in a club near Leicester Square last week. Sassen, who runs the Hardware Analysis site, said that every effort to make the Creative babies work has met with failure. Creative Labs has not yet answered Sassen's emails about the problem, he said.
    • Exchange 5.5 Information Store Service Provider Patch 2656.96 - This patch resolves problems that were found in the Exchange 5.5 Information Store Service Provider since SP4 was released.
    • Windows Longhorn Alpha Leaks to the Web - An internal alpha build of Microsoft's next version of Windows, code-named Longhorn, made its way onto Internet sites early Tuesday. The leaked build, which is numbered 3683, appears to be from late September and sports quite a few new feature concepts - although many are not yet functional.
    • Actual Transparent Windows 1.3  - Actual Transparent Windows lets you apply a transparency effect to any window in Windows 2000/XP. The transparency effect looks very impressive and may be useful with such objects as Windows Taskbar, WinAmp, drop-down menus and other windows.
    • Nvidia Geforce FX Benchmarks - 3DCenter.org (DOOM3 alpha benchmarks) | UKGamer (DOOM3 alpha, 3DMark, UT2003, Q3A...).
    • Kerio Personal Firewall 3.0.0 beta 4 - Kerio Personal Firewall (KPF) is a software agent that builds a barrier between your personal computer and the Internet. KPF is designed to protect your PC against attacks from both the Internet, and other computers in the local network.
    • Klient 2.0.11 Beta - Klient (download) is an IRC application for WinALL. Klient features a fully customizable interface, multiple server support, highly robust scripting, external .dll support, and much more.
    • RadEdit 1.102 Beta - This is the first universal BIOS editor for Radeon-based videocards. This program let you modify clock speeds and BIOS fonts for any videocard based on R100, RV100, RV200, R200, R300, RV300 chips.  
    • OnBoard Audio Drivers - Realtek ALC AC97 Driver | Cmedia 8738 driver 6.42 for Win98SE ~ WinME ~ Win2K ~ WinXP.
     Gameguru Mania News - Nov,19 2002 - tech
    GeForce FX Interview - tech
    (hx) 05:52 PM CET - Nov,19 2002 - Post a comment
    Beyond3D has conducted an interview with NVIDIA's Geoff Ballew as he answers a few questions regarding to  the GeForce FX. The topics include the 128-bit bus, texture mapping units, floating point speed, vertex peformance, FSAA, Anisotropic filtering, and more. Here is a slice:
    Beyond3D:The numbers in the press documentation are consistent with GeForce FX utilising a 128-bit memory bus, is that the case?

    Geoff Ballew: It is still a 128-bit bus.

    So, other people on the market have a 256-bit bus, right, some are fast and some are slow -- just having 256-bit doesn't mean you are fast. What's does mean you are fast is a good balance architecturally between your core and your memory, combined with the fact of using very fast memory. We have the worlds fastest memory, 500MHz, which on data rate is 1GHz. So, in rough comparisons, ATI is wider, but we're a hell of a lot faster. And making sure that you're tuned with the pipeline is even more important.
    Evening Tech Reading - tech
    (hx) 02:33 AM CET - Nov,19 2002 - Post a comment / read (2)
    • Last Great Meteor Show for Decades Tonight - Tuesday morning may be the last chance until 2099 to see a truly spectacular meteor shower, scientists say. You'll have to be up and outside by 4:30 a.m. CST (around 5:30 a.m. EST or 10:30 UT) to see it though.  In ordinary years, sky gazers watching a meteor shower might see about ten meteors per hour. This year, however, scientists expect a full-fledged meteor storm. Astronomers at the European Space Agency (ESA) are predicting that Europeans might see 3,000 per hour. Night owls in North America can expect to see a few hundred an hour, estimate. Visit NASA's web site for estimates of best viewing time by location, http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/estimator.html
    • Pirated Harry Potter DVD debuts in Malaysia at $3 - Available on the street at just $3, pirated DVD versions of "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" went on sale in Malaysia the weekend the movie made its worldwide debut.
    • Microsoft loses 120 $ per sold Xbox - Among Microsoft's other businesses, the home and entertainment division, which includes the Xbox games console, lost $177m in the quarter on revenues of $505m. Salomon Smith Barney estimates it loses about $120 on each console it sells.
    • Nvidia GeForceFX(NV30) Coverage - Tom's Hardware | AnandTech | TheRegister | Beyond3D | NVNews | HardOCP | FiringSquad | Guru3D | Bjorn3D | Hexus. In addition,  NVIDIA has also released four Demos and two Videos for the GeForce FX launch.
    • Nextel juices up BlackBerry device  - The $500 BlackBerry 6510 is the first pager of its kind that can use cellular telephone networks powered by the Integrated Dispatch Enhanced Network (IDEN) standard, which Nextel uses in its cell phone network. BlackBerry already makes pagers that use the world's most popular cell phone standard, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) as well as a proprietary network run by Cingular Wireless. The 6510 is the first BlackBerry pager to feature "Direct Connect," which turns phones into walkie-talkies that can communicate instantly over long distances. The pager will be available in select areas starting Dec. 2 and nationally beginning January, according to Greg Santoro, a Nextel Communications vice president.
    • Files reveal how FBI hounded chess king - He was the ultimate cold warrior, humbling the mighty Soviet chess establishment through his own genius and a pounding ambition to be the greatest player in the world. Now 59, Bobby Fischer has become a reclusive, anti-Semitic expatriate. Efforts to interview him for this article were unsuccessful. He has been seen in Japan, Hungary and the Philippines. In a Philippine radio interview on Sept. 11, 2001, he applauded the terrorists' attacks and said America should be "wiped out." Chess experts have analyzed Fischer's games in astonishing depth. Even the offhand games he played blindfolded have been exhumed and published like lost works of literature.
    • Wrist PDA with PALM OS - Ever since the comic book hero Dick Tracy first strapped on his amazing wrist radio six decades ago, science fiction fans have eagerly anticipated the day when such fantastic gadgetry might become reality. Now, thanks to the Wrist PDA with PALM OSR, their wait is finally over.
    • HP iPaq h1910 Preview - Old-timers in the Pocket PC game aren't giving up the value market to newcomers Dell and ViewSonic without a fight. The h1910, the first PDA from now-merged HP and Compaq to depart from the traditional iPaq exterior, comes at a nonthreatening $300. The smallest Pocket PC PDA we've seen, the h1910 measures a mere 4.5 inches by 2.8 inches by 0.5 inches and weighs only 4.2 ounces. But it was the display that really won us over. On the preproduction unit we played with, the 16-bit (65,000-plus colors), 240x320 backlit display produced vibrant colors and crisp images.
    • Ricoh Announces 4x DVD+RW/+R Drives and Media - The new internal 4x speed DVD/CD drive boasts the highest DVD recording speed and allows 4.7GB of data to be burned onto a 4x DVD+R disc and a 4x DVD+RW disc in less than 15-minutes. Ricoh also announced its entry into the notebook computer market with an industry first low-powered, slim-line drive. Ricoh has scheduled to ship drives and media during 1Q of 2003.
    • AMD runs 64-bit MS Windows OS on K8 - AMD is showing off a prototype 64-bit Windows OS running on its upcoming 64-bit Opteron processors. OK, so it's jam tomorrow, but the fact that AMD is showing this in public means that tomorrow is not too far away.  The demo units can be seen in action at Comdex Fall, Las Vegas which opens for business today, and at Supercomputing 2002, which also kicks off in Baltimore today.
    • Over 70 million wireless gamers in the US by 2007  - According to a new study from IDC, the number of total American unique wireless gamers will climb from nearly 7 million in 2002 to 71.2 million in 2007.
    • Agere demos 162Mbps wireless LAN chip - Wireless LAN specialist Agere picked opening day at Comdex to announce prototype wireless LAN chips capable of transmitting data at 162Mbps in the 5GHz band occupied by emerging 802.11a kit. That's three times faster than the theoretical maximum throughput of current 802.11a equipment (54Mbps) or almost 15 times the theoretical top speed of existing 802.11b kit (11Mbps).
    • Who Needs a 2 Sheep Burner?!  - CD Freaks' Future Proof made pretty interesting post on their Clone CD forum
    • NeroROBO - NeroROBO is designed for duplicators and NeroNET is a network-capable extension of Nero burning ROM, which can be used in an IP-capable Intranet. The Nero AAC codec is fully compliant with MPEG-2 AAC and MPEG-4 AAC, and features 16-448 Kbits/s bit rate, constant and variable.
    • LAME v3.93 - LAME 3.93 is out! This new version features: Bit allocation for pre-echo control improved for single channel encodings; Substep noise shaping; Optimizations by changing data structure; Noise shaping model 2 fix; Nspsytune FIR filter clean up; Fix small psymodel bugs; Portability fixes for Tru64 UNIX; some fixes in the DLL; Fixes for channel scaling in mono mode; Some optimizations and a faster log10 function; Some tag related fixes in the direct show filter and in the ACM codec; Fixed a mono encoding bug found by Justin Schoeman; Update to autoconf 2.53, rewrite some configure tests; Determine gcc version even with gcc 3.1; Compile shared libs on BeOS (and perhaps other arches); Ultrasparc switches for gcc 3.1; Portability fixes for SunOS 4.x.;Some fixes for VBR.
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