Top Eight Firefox 3 Tweaks

Top lists are a dime a dozen, but once in a while one will catch my eye and actually shows me something I didn't know before. In the latest from PC Magazine, we learn of eight tweaks that can be made to Firefox 3 to improve the overall experience... and some are actually quite helpful.

Two that I can personally appreciate is the duplicate a tab feature. All it takes is a simple click of the CTRL button while dragging a tab... easy, but hard to figure out by accident. The other is smart bookmarks hacking, which allows you to customize a string of code in order to display relevant links specified to your liking. As an example, you could have the bookmarks list show all recent URLs you've visited with a certain keyword.

Some of the tips are of things more noticeable, but if you aren't one who likes to dig under the covers, then the article will be even more worthwhile to check out.

Smart bookmarks are live bookmarks that don't just refer to particular sites but actually generate live lists of sites according to parameters you define. For example, you might have a smart bookmark that lists the 10 sites you visit most often, or the last 20 sites you've visited with a particular keyword in their title.

Source: PC Magazine

Super Talent Releases More Affordable SSDs

It seems not even two weeks can pass without seeing a new SSD launch from Super Talent, but with each one that hits our inboxes, the prices seem to go lower and the speeds higher. Well in this particular case, the speeds go lower, but so do the prices. Two weeks ago, the company announced two new sets of models, one super-fast, one moderately-fast - this one being modestly-fast.

These new model, MasterDrive LX, is the "low-end" variant of their SSD line-up, although neither the speed or price fit the "low-end" descriptor. The new drives at 100MB/s Read and 40MB/s Write, which actually puts it more on par with some of the highest-end hard drives out there. The VelociRaptor, for example, can sustain over 100MB/s Read, but has a far more exceptional Write than 40MB/s.

So with that in mind, the main benefit of these SSDs isn't so much for speed as they are for size and sound, although I could be wrong. If they are capable of handling multiple writes and reads at the same time (something that a few recent JMicron-based MLC SSDs have suffered for), it still could be worthy of a look. I'm still waiting to see the prices even lower, though. They're good now, but it's obvious that they will continue to plummet, and even three months from now, we should be seeing some stark differences.

The MasterDrive LX has also undergone Super Talent's rigorous battery of validation tests, ensuring the highest levels of compatibility and reliability. What's unique about the MasterDrive LX is its incredibly low price point; the 64GB model will retail for about $179, while the 128GB unit is expected to retail for under $300. Both models will begin shipping this week.

Source: Super Talent Press Release

Tech Roundup - September 30, 2008

Motherboards & Processors
• AMD's 790GX: I'm Down with ACC - PC Perspective
• eVGA 790i SLI FTW - Overclockers Club
• Foxconn Digital Life EFA - Pro-Clockers

Displays & Video Cards
• AMD ATI Radeon HD 4550 Entry-Level GPU - HotHardware
• MSI GeForce 9800 GT 512MB - TweakTown
• Palit Radeon 4850 Sonic - Pure Overclock
• Soyo Pearl Series 24-inch Widescreen - Think Computers

Memory & Storage
• HighPoint RocketRAID 3120 PCI-E SATA RAID Controller - TweakTown
• IcyDock MB454SPF-B SATA 4-Bay Hot-Swap 3.5-inch Drive Bay - PC Stats
• Patriot Viper DDR3 2000MHz 2x2GB - Overclockers Club
• Sans Digital MobileSTOR MS2UT+B - Virtual-Hideout
• Thecus N3200 NAS System - Hardware Logic
• Western Digital RE3 - Tech Report

Peripherals & Gadgets
• OCZ Alchemy Elixir Gaming Keyboard - Hardware Canucks
• SilverStone Raven Mouse - Phoronix
• Ultimate Ears Super.Fi 4 Sound Isolating Earphones - TheTechLounge

Cooling
• Coolermaster V8 Heatsink - FrostyTech
• Gelid Solutions Silent 12 TC and PWM Cooling Fan - Elite Bastards

Chassis & Power Supplies
• Antec Mini P180 mATX - Benchmark Reviews
• Lian-Li XB-01 Xbox 360 Case - techPowerUp!
• Thermaltake Spedo Case - Bjorn3D

Competitions, Complete Systems & Et cetera
• Asus Eee PC 1000H Netbook - HotHardware
• Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-Ray Player - Overclockers Online