Writers and Reviewers: Techgage Wants You!

You think you can do what we do? Here's your invitation! We're planning some serious growth in the near future, but we need people that can help make it happen.

All positions for Techgage are voluntary, but can be rewarding. In addition to being a great way to get your fix of the 'shiny-shiny', you get to build your reputation as a knowledgeable authority in the world of PC technology, and you get a cool Techgage.com email address. You'll also join a spirited team of dynamic individuals who care deeply about providing our visitors with the best experience possible.

To be the best candidate for a position at Techgage, we suggest that you:

• Are passionate about PC technology (being opinionated is a plus!)
• Are a "self-starter" who is willing to work independently on projects
• Be able to write with proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation
• Are generally knowledgable in most areas of PC hardware (CPUs, motherboards, graphics, storage, peripherals, accessories), software (gaming, productivity, operating systems), or consumer electronics (home theater, audio, video, 'connected home' products)
• Have an entertaining writing style

Applicants must submit a writing sample of no less than 1200 words (we can help with this if necessary), or an example of previous work at a similar site. We'd also like to know what area of PC technology you're most interested in. To apply, send an email to Rob (rob.williams@) or Rory (rory.buszka@) for consideration.

Hitachi Has Plans for 5TB HDD by 2010

The Japanese company announced plans to have a 5TB hard drive by 2010. The technology used, which they call "current perpendicular-to-the-plane giant magnetoresistance" will allow 3.5" drives to push their data density over 1TB per square inch.

It's not clear whether or not these drives will be a simple proof of concept, or be available to consumers for purchase, but we'll no doubt be able to purchase a similar capacity drive sometime in the future. Even if a technology like SSD may be the future, NAND chips will have a hard time catching up.

Solid-state disks may be eating into the territory of traditional hard drives, particularly in laptops, but that doesn't mean spinning platters are on their last legs – particularly not at Hitachi.

The Japan-based company has stated that it plans to have a commercial 3.5-inch hard drive on the market that can hold 5TB by 2010. It aims to achieve this with write heads that use something called current perpendicular-to-the-plane giant magnetoresistance (CPP-GMR).

Source: TechRadar, Via: Neowin

YouTube Forced to Hand Over User History to Viacom

A New York judge on Wednesday supported Viacom's request for Google to hand over data on their users, including their names and their viewing history on YouTube. Initially, their request demanded Google give up the source code for the popular video sharing site, but that particular clause was denied.

The information will be used as evidence against Google to prove that copyrighted content on the web is more popular than original material, which would lead to Viacom to ask for a settlement fee. Google's argued against the ruling, saying that revealing the data would "invade its users' privacy," but the judge responded by saying any concerns were purely "speculative."

As one might expect, the judge's decision has been taken under fire by the Internet community on the whole, who have no say whether or not their data can be used by a third party. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has already taken a stance to support Google and fight the stance because it violates the Video Privacy Protection Act, and word has recently come out that the personal data will not be viewable by Viacom, but by "outside ad visors."

My major problem with Viacom's request is the fact that the very data they're searching for, anonymous video views, are already available on YouTube's own site. It's really a painful process to determine what the most popular videos on the site are, so forcing Google to give away users' names and IP addresses is a blatant attempt to garner evidence to attack their users.

It's hard to disagree that the judge's comment about privacy concerns being "speculative," and not tangible, can only serve to highlight his incompetence. Clearly, if anyone in the equation had any regard for privacy, the whole deal would have been swiftly rejected.

Google will have to turn over every record of every video watched by YouTube users, including users' names and IP addresses, to Viacom, which is suing Google for allowing clips of its copyright videos to appear on YouTube, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Source: Wired Blog

Apple Cuts Price of SSD MacBook Air

As SSD prices continue to fall, we start seeing the drop in price from more and more OEMs. Apple's long been notorious for keeping their price points on their Mac line until a product refresh, but competition no doubt forced their hand.

The top of the line MacBook Air dropped in price from $3,098.00 to $2598.00, a $500 discount. As our source points out, an Air with an SSD drive can be configured for as little as $2,398.00 without any external (refurbished or educational) discount. With OZC's introduction of their more affordable solid-state drives, hopefully we'll see prices drop even further for other products as well.

 With the price of NAND flash memory continuing its steady sequential decline, Apple Inc. this month cut the price of its Solid State Drive (SSD)-equipped MacBook Air by half a grand, AppleInsider has discovered.

Source: AppleInsider

July 3rd Tech Roundup

• DFI Lanparty UT X48 T3R - Ninjalane
• ECS P45T-A Black Edition - t-break
• ASRock K10N780SLIX3-WiFi nForce 780a SLI - ThinkComputers

• Sapphire Radeon HD3850 1024MB - Bigbruin

• Symphonic Designs Tube Amplifier - TechwareLabs
• PowerColor AMD TV Wonder 600 - techPowerUp
• Easy Touch ET-656 Wireless Keyboard & Mouse - Technic3D
• Razer Piranha Headphones - Modders-Inc

• Intel Core 2 Extreme CPU Cooler - Madshrimps
• Sunbeamtech Core Contact - Pro-Clockers
• Nexus HOC-9000 CPU Cooler - Tech-Reviews
• ThermalTake ProWater 850i Liquid Cooling System - Virtual-Hideout

• ASUS Eee PC 901 - Digital Trends
• Gateway P-6831FX - HotHardware
• Dell Vostro 1500 - SpicyGadget
• Lubix UBHS-NC1 Stereo Bluetooth Headset - ASE Labs
• Motorola H680 Bluetooth Headset - Legit Reviews
• iMetal iP-HS2 Isolation Headset - I4U