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ASUS Eee PC 1008HA Seashell Netbook

Written by Rob Williams on June 29, 2009 in Notebooks

With an incredible number of netbooks available on the market, how does one compete? With ASUS and their 1008HA (Seashell), the simple answer is to make not a faster notebook, but a feature-rich netbook with a better design. The 1008HA delivers on both counts, with the best netbook design we've seen to date and other bonuses on the software front.


A Testing Hypothesis

Written by Brett Thomas on June 26, 2009 in Editorials

Should content posted on a website be decided by its readers, or companies? Rather than have typical advertising sustain a site and support its growth, are there other avenues worth exploring? These are the questions on the table, and Senior Editor Brett Thomas has taken a hard look at both, analyzing the pros, and the far more important cons.


GOG.com - Breathing New Life into Old Games

Written by Rob Williams on June 24, 2009 in Software

Are you a classic PC gamer looking for a new place to pick up some games? Enter GOG.com. This service currently offers well over 100 titles spanning nearly twenty years, and all are offered at reasonable prices. To make the deal even sweeter, in addition to included perks for each game, there's absolutely no DRM to be found across any title.


An Open Letter on the State of Video Games

Written by Brett Thomas on June 19, 2009 in Editorials

Senior Editor Brett Thomas has been spending a lot of time analyzing the video games industry recently, and come up with an interesting set of findings. In an open letter to the entire sector, he discusses the challenges facing gaming, the quickly changing landscape and some strategies to keep things growing.


Travel with Techgage: Taiwan for Computex 2009

Written by Rob Williams on June 16, 2009 in Computex

Our Computex 2009 coverage is long done with, but this article isn't about what we saw on the show floor or learned during a meeting. Rather, this article takes a look at things from a different angle: the experience. We'll talk both about what life is like during these trips, and in this particular case, what it's like to spend time in Taiwan for just over a week.



Tech News From Around The Web

Intel's Clarkdale to Launch During Q4?

Posted on June 30, 2009 8:05 AM by Rob Williams

It looks as though we'll be seeing Intel's Clarkdale a lot sooner than we expected, as recent roadmap revisions have indicated it will show up during Q4 2009, a full quarter earlier than originally planned. Will this effect the launch of Lynnfield? It's really hard to say, but probably not. Intel still has much i7 stock, so it'd be unlikely they'd launch Lynnfield sooner than needed.

As a reminder, Clarkdale is the mainstream desktop variant of Intel's 32nm Westmere, and will also be the first to feature an integrated graphics processor. These Dual-Cores will feature four threads, and will hopefully give us some real excitement. Will Westmere rid all other integrated graphics solutions obsolete? Let's hope... we're in bad need of some shake-ups!

Clarkdale isn't going to come and disappear fast. No, Intel expects that during Q4, Clarkdale will account for a staggering 10% of their shipments, so let's just hope demand can keep up! The scary thing? Core i7 shipments are set to account for only 1%, while Lynnfield will hog 2%. It's the older generation that still proves the winner though, with Core 2 Quad processors expected to account for 9%, Core 2 Duo E8/7000 at 35% and Pentium E5/6000 at 31%.

The company's 32nm Clarkdale CPUs will account for 10% of Intel's total OEM desktop CPU shipments in the fourth quarter, while 45nm Core i7 processors will account for 1%, Lynnfield-based processor 2%, Core 2 Quad processors 9%, Core 2 Duo E8000/E7000 series processors 35%, Pentium E5000/E6000 series 31%, Celeron E3000 and Atom series together 8%, and 65nm-based Pentium E2000 and Celeron 400 together 4%.

Source: DigiTimes


Tech Roundup - June 30, 2009

Posted on June 30, 2009 1:00 AM by Rob Williams

    Displays & Video Cards
  • Samsung SyncMaster T240 Display - PureOverclock

    Peripherals & Gadgets
  • Acoustibuds Earphone Adapters - Big Bruin
  • Cooler Master SNA 95 Slim Notebook Universal Power Adapter - Tweaknews
  • Logitech G19 Gaming Keyboard - TweakTown

    Competitions, Complete Systems & Et cetera
  • Acer Aspire Timeline 4810T-8480 Notebook - TweakTown
  • HP Pavilion dv2 Ultra Portable Notebook - t-break
  • MSI Wind U100-641US 10-inch Netbook - Legit Reviews


A Look at Adobe Photoshop Through the Years

Posted on June 29, 2009 7:17 AM by Rob Williams

Whether you're a digital artist or the furthest thing from, chances are great that you've at one time found yourself using Adobe Photoshop. Its roots began in 1987 when Thomas Knoll created a monochrome picture viewer called "Display". He soon realized the potential of a full-fledged image manipulation program, and Photoshop was born. Version 1.0 was first released in 1990, and exclusively for the Mac (and who knows, maybe this is one of the reasons Apple's seem to be the choice of many graphics professionals).

With over 20 years under its belt, you could say that the application has changed quite drastically over the years. To help give a visual tour of the application from the past to present, blog Hongkiat has posted an in-depth look at various aspects of the application through the ages, with everything from the application icons, to the start-up screen, to the toolbox and of course the UI itself.

This is one application that continues to get better as the years pass, and that's interesting. I'm no PS guru, but each time a new version comes out, I wonder what the heck could be made better, but Adobe continues to release features we didn't even know we needed. I also can't believe it's already been six years since CS1 came out... I remember it like it was yesterday!

Adobe Photoshop has always been one of the greatest (if not the best) software when it comes to manipulating and editing image. It all started off in 1987 with a Mac application call Display, created by Thomas Knoll. With almost two decades worth of changes and improvements, you almost can’t imagine how the first version of Photoshop would look like by looking at the Photoshop you have on your desktop.

Source: Hongkiat


Tech Roundup - June 29, 2009

Posted on June 29, 2009 2:00 AM by Rob Williams

    Displays & Video Cards
  • ASUS HD 4770 Formula Edition - Bjorn3D
  • Inno3D GeForce GTX 295 Platinum (Single PCB) - techPowerUp

    Memory & Storage
  • Kingston SSDNow V-Series - PureOverclock
  • OCZ Apex & Imation M Series SSD - t-break

    Peripherals & Gadgets
  • Microsoft Sidewinder X5 Gaming Mouse - TweakPC
  • Thrustmaster T.16000M Joystick - Think Computers
  • TRENDnet TV-IP512WN Wireless N Internet Camera Server - PCShopTalk

    Chassis & Power Supplies
  • Synology DS209+II 2-bay SATA NAS Server - TestFreaks
  • Vantec Nexstar CX HDD Enclosure - Hi Tech Legion

    Competitions, Complete Systems & Et cetera
  • Apple iPhone 3GS 16GB Smartphone - TweakTown


Windows 7 Pricing Announced (Plus a Half-Price Sale!)

Posted on June 26, 2009 7:22 AM by Rob Williams

The moment we've all (okay, not ALL) been waiting for... Windows 7 pricing! Some of it's cool, some of it is ridiculous (I'll get into that in a minute). For full versions (non-upgrades), Home Premium is $199.99 ($40 less than Home Premium for Vista), $299.99 for Professional and $319.99 for Ultimate. For upgrades, Home Premium will set you back $119.99, while Professional will sell for $199.99 and Ultimate for $219.99.

My first complaint would have to be for the minor pricing differences between Professional and Ultimate. Seriously, $20? All that's going to do is confuse people, because just how much more could people get for that $20? To be fair, they ARE designed for two different crowds, but you'd still imagine the pricing would scale a wee bit more than this.

Second complaint could be the upgrade price. Yes, it's a revamped OS, but Vista just came out two-and-a-half-years ago, so expecting people to pay between $119.99 and $219.99 seems a little harsh, especially given there doesn't seem to be a family pack option (like Apple have so cleverly implemented).

Still want 7 but find these prices too high? Our good friend madstork91 pointed out something I missed... a half-price sale that begins this Friday. Yes, to help drum up interest for the new OS, and adoption, Microsoft will be selling each version (upgrade and full) for 50% off. THAT makes things quite a bit easier to stomach. This is one of those rare times when it will actually pay off to be an early adopter!

We will offer people in select markets the opportunity to pre-order Windows 7 at a more than 50% discount. In the US, this will mean you can pre-order Windows 7 Home Premium for USD $49.99 or Windows 7 Professional for USD $99.99. You can take advantage of this special offer online via select retail partners such as Best Buy or Amazon, or the online Microsoft Store (in participating markets).

Source: Windows Team Blog


Tech Roundup - June 26, 2009

Posted on June 26, 2009 1:00 AM by Rob Williams

    Displays & Video Cards
  • Sapphire Radeon HD 4650 512MB - TheTechLounge

    Peripherals & Gadgets
  • Enermax Aurora Micro Aluminum Keyboard - OCModShop

    Competitions, Complete Systems & Et cetera
  • Home Theatre PC and Ripping Station Guide - TweakTown
  • Lenovo IdeaCentre A600 All-in-One Desktop PC - HotHardware
  • Summer 2009 System Guide - Tech Report


Conan O'Brien Visits the Intel HQ

Posted on June 25, 2009 8:26 AM by Rob Williams

When I received a press release from Intel titled, "Intel Teams Up Again with Conan O'Brien", I had to check it out right away. In just what way could Intel have anything to do with the new Tonight Show host? Well, the company is sponsoring the show throughout the season, and plans to inject some creative marketing into some episodes, which at this point will be in the form of periodic segments (and in the future, games and other things on the site).

The first segment aired the other night, and it's been posted on the website, simply titled "A Visit to Intel". It follows Conan as he takes a brief tour through the company to see how chips are made and what the environments are like that house them, while making time to take a walk through Intel's own museum of technology (sign me up for that!).

The video is well worth a watch, especially if you're a fan of Conan's comedy and skits. I just wish it was a wee bit longer than three minutes! Oh well... there should be more en route...

Intel is inside The Tonight Show is a dedicated space for you to enjoy and interact with Intel and The Tonight Show. In the coming weeks we'll be posting videos of featured Intel Tonight Show Moments, launching games featuring Tonight Show talent and much more! Below, Conan takes you behind the walls at Intel where 41,000 engineers are bent on turning science fiction into science fact in some of our favorite Intel Late Night Moments. Check back regularly for more intelligent comedy from Intel and The Tonight Show.

Source: Intel is Inside... The Tonight Show


Tech Roundup - June 25, 2009

Posted on June 25, 2009 12:15 AM by Rob Williams

    Memory & Storage
  • Kingston 4GB DataTraveler 101 USB Flash Drive - Legit Reviews
  • Kingston Value PC3-10600 DDR3 1333MHz - Overclock3D
  • Solidata K5-64 SLC Indilinx Solid State Drive - TweakTown
  • Western Digital My Book World Edition II External 2TB NAS Drive - Legit Reviews

    Peripherals & Gadgets
  • Altec Lansing VS2421 Compact Speaker System - Red and Blackness
  • Microsoft Wireless Desktop 3000 - Digital Trends
  • Rosewill RKM-800RF Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Combo - Bigbruin

    Chassis & Power Supplies
  • NZXT Panzerbox ATX Gaming Chassis - Think Computers

    Competitions, Complete Systems & Et cetera
  • Asus Eee PC 1005HA Seashell - HotHardware
  • Best Software for Netbooks - Digital Trends


The Joys of Updating Our Test Suites... Part Deux

Posted on June 24, 2009 7:10 AM by Rob Williams

Last week, I posted a news item regarding the various methodologies around the site that we're currently in the process of updating, and since then, a lot has happened. We're still a little ways off from being finished, but hey, progress is progress. That news item in particular tackled our GPU test suite, and I'm happy to report that we've since solidified our choices for what we'll use going forward.

The six games include Call of Duty: World at War, Crysis Warhead, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, Grand Theft Auto IV, GRID and also World in Conflict. These games were chosen for various reasons, but mostly because they're all quite popular in today's scheme of things, and for the most part, none of them favor either ATI or NVIDIA too heavily, so we should be good for a little while... hopefully at least until Windows 7 launches and is well underway.

So with that out of the way, next up is another important test suite... our processors! Admittedly, despite our current test suite being almost two-years-old, our selection has held up well, and I see very little reason for making drastic changes. What I'd rather do is add to the pile, to give an even more robust look at the performance between processors. Of the applications we plan to drop, however, SYSmark 2007 and ProShow Gold have a reason to shake in their boots.

I'm also in the beginning stages of something really cool I hope to add to our future CPU content, but it's far too early to mention it, because at this point, it might not happen (it's a wee bit complex). I hope it works out, though, because it'd give us an interesting spin on things. Once again though, and as always, we're looking for comments, suggestions and whatever else you want to say towards our plans, so don't hesitate to voice your opinion in our related thread (linked below). After all, we're writing this content for you guys, not ourselves! Let's work together to make the content the best it can be!

The first thing I want to drop is SYSmark 2007, because I find it rather useless. The results it delivers don't scale as they really should, so it's a bit misleading. I think it's obvious that a Q9650 is far more powerful than an E8600, but SYSmark doesn't tell us that. Plus, running the suite is a very patience-testing process. Not to mention, it requires a completely fresh install of Windows. That all on top of the fact that running it twice in a row, even with two iterations, could give differing results, and when we're dealing with results that range between 1 - 250-ish, any variance can screw up the true scaling.


Tech Roundup - June 24, 2009

Posted on June 24, 2009 1:00 AM by Rob Williams

    Displays & Video Cards
  • Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4770 - GeekInvaders

    Memory & Storage
  • OCZ Rally 2 USB Thumb Drive - TheTechLounge
  • Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1.0TB - PCSTATS

    Chassis & Power Supplies
  • Cooler Master Sileo 500 Mid-Tower Chassis - Tweaknews
  • PC Power & Cooling Pro-Source 1500 Power Supply - Bjorn3D
  • QNAP TS-809 Pro Turbo NAS - CCE Reviews
  • Synology Disk Station DS-409+ NAS - TechSpot

    Competitions, Complete Systems & Et cetera
  • Lenovo ThinkPad T400s Notebook - HotHardware
  • MSI X-Slim X340 Ultraportable Notebook - Tech Report


Intel and Nokia Expand Partnership to Develop Future Mobile Standard

Posted on June 23, 2009 11:22 AM by Rob Williams

Psst... guess what? Did you realize that mobile computing is ultra-popular? Of course you do. In fact, it might be  impossible to not realize the fact. Ten years ago, cell phones were beginning to catch on, but they were far from being so popular that everyone owned one. That's exactly how things are today, and between cell phones, smart phones, PDAs and other MIDs, many people own more than one product at a given time, so we're definitely in the midst of a mobile revelation, which seems to be lasting a while.

To help continue delivering amazing mobile devices, Intel and Nokia have today announced an expanded relationship and cooperation that promises to help "shape the next era of mobile computing innovation". To do this, the resulting partnership plans to create a completely new standard, which will of course involve Intel Architecture and select Nokia technologies. The release states that Intel is acquiring a license to Nokia's HSPA/3G modem, although whether that's supposed to become a part of the standard or not, I'm unsure.

The release also furthers the companies' emphasis on open source software, and such operating systems as Moblin and Maemo, both Linux-based, are likely to become the base of these future devices. This is a good thing, and it might even enable developers to alter the OS to their own liking. After all, that's the point of open source. As long as Windows compatibility is top-rate, I can't see anyone being upset at having one of these at the base of their next MID or cell phone.

It might take a while before the fruits of these companies' labor are made known, but with Intel's developer forum taking place in just under three months, we may very well be hearing from Anand Chandrasekher, Intel's Senior VP and GM of the Ultra Mobility Group, on all that's being worked on between the two companies.

"This Intel and Nokia collaboration unites and focuses many of the brightest computing and communications minds in the world, and will ultimately deliver open and standards-based technologies, which history shows drive rapid innovation, adoption and consumer choice," said Anand Chandrasekher, Intel Corporation senior vice president and general manager, Ultra Mobility Group. "With the convergence of the Internet and mobility as the team's only barrier, I can only imagine the innovation that will come out of our unique relationship with Nokia. The possibilities are endless."

Source: Intel Press Release


OCZ Launches Sabre OLED Gaming Keyboard

Posted on June 23, 2009 10:45 AM by Rob Williams

Back at CES, OCZ showed off a rather unique gaming peripheral... the Sabre OLED keyboard. The concept of putting OLED on a keyboard isn't new, and it was pretty much the Optimus Maximus that put the technology on the map, but with OCZ's Sabre, the board is designed in such a way that it's actually going to be affordable by gamers (as opposed to the ~$1,500 USD Maximus).

The Sabre hasn't been drowned in OLED, but rather only nine large buttons feature the crisp (amber) displays. These are situated on the left side of the board, and can be used for a variety of tasks, including program launching and also macros. Scared of a limit to such macros? Don't be. According to the product page, each of the keys "holds the power to store limitless lays of shortcuts and macros". Sounds good to me. Now if I can only get a macro to write out content for me...

Other features include a full 103-key layout, and as you'd expect, each are back-lit with blue LEDs - perfect for night time gaming. Each one of the sides also emits a blue glow, which might make the Sabre one of the blingiest keyboards around. As for price? I'm awaiting hearing back about that, but according to the press release the company sent just yesterday, the keyboards are "immediately available", so hopefully we'll begin seeing it creep up on some popular e-tailers soon.

Update: The official pricing is $199 USD.

The nine dynamic OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) user-programmable hotkeys help manage time and efficiency while surfing the web, gaming, emailing, and CAD applications or any avenue the user sees fit. The unique OLED keys can convert any digital image or text into distinctive icons, reminding the user of the personalized shortcut. Additionally, the remaining keys are backlit with glowing amber LEDs and blue side lighting, perfect for users that prefer darkened rooms or gamers frequenting LAN parties.

Source: OCZ Sabre OLED Gaming Keyboard


Tech Roundup - June 23, 2009

Posted on June 23, 2009 3:00 AM by Rob Williams

    Competitions, Complete Systems & Et cetera
  • How to Run Linux in a Virtual Desktop - Bjorn3D


Kingston HyperX Contest for Canucks

Posted on June 22, 2009 11:00 AM by Rob Williams

You know what Canadians don't get enough of? The right to enter contests! It's true... growing up, I recall that most contests that remotely interested me, were inaccessible due to me living in Canada. "Bah", I said, and I simply gave up on contests entirely after some point. Well, Kingston's not about to shun Canucks, and proves it with their latest HyperX contest, exclusive to Canadians.

Entering the contest couldn't be any easier. All you have to do is head over to the Canadian version of Kingston's homepage and click on the contest link, or you can use the shortcut URL we've included below. After you fill out a quick form, with information such as your name, address, digits, age, bra size (alright, maybe this one isn't there) and other quick questions, you can be entered.

The grand prize includes a gaming system without specs, but we're assured it's valued at $3,000 USD. Other prizes include a Kingston SSDNow 80GB, a triple-channel DDR3-2000 6GB kit and a DataTraveler HyperX 16GB thumb drive, to be awarded to five people. Given Canada is so much smaller than the US, you'd be insane to not enter this one! The chances are what? 10x better for peeps up here?

Oh, and in case you're worried about post-marketing: "The Contest Sponsor is collecting personal data about entrants for the sole purpose of administering this Contest. No further informational or marketing communications will be received by entrants unless entrants provide explicit permission to do so."

"Kingston is proud to hold this contest as a thank you to all of our supporters and fans of the HyperX line of enthusiast memory in Canada," said Jennifer Shih, marketing coordinator, Kingston Canada. "The HyperX name has become a trusted brand worldwide and continues to gain popularity with the recently released T1 heatspreaders, 12GB triple-channel kits and the new HyperX Fan which looks cool while keeping the memory cool."

Source: Kingston HyperX Contest


Tech Roundup - June 22, 2009

Posted on June 22, 2009 2:00 AM by Rob Williams

    Memory & Storage
  • Kingston 6GB PC3-12800 - Bjorn3D

    Peripherals & Gadgets
  • Enermax Aurora Premium & Aurora Micro Keyboards - Overclockers Online
  • Grace Digital Audio Pico GDI-VW00 Compact USB Turntable/Vinyl Archiver - TestFreaks
  • Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 6000 - i4u
  • Sanus Low-Profile ELM203 Surge Protector - Legit Reviews


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