Content and news by Rob Williams

Itching for something to match real pretty with your $1,195 Stealth Computer keyboard? If so, the very same company has recently unveiled a miniature PC that costs just marginally more than the ‘board itself, but the LPC-450 packs some pretty decent specs into a battle-ready 5.7- x 9.9- x 1.65-inch enclosure.

This computer redefines what a small computer is. It looks like it could fit into a CD-Rom bay! Small frame, but rather big price at $1,195.

Source: Engadget

We’ve just received word from Jessica at OCZ that they have just acquired what is arguably the biggest brand in high-quality power supplies, PCP&C.

This acquisition means a lot for them, most notably that they are really focusing on pushing out quality power supplies, not just memory. As it stands, their current PSU line-up will remain unchanged, but rather PCP&C will simply take the highest-end spot in their line-up.

As for PCP&C, nothing will happen with their power supplies, or employees. They will remain individual in the respect that they will keep doing what they are doing. However, with PCP&C in-house, it will benefit OCZ’s future line-up, since the expertise will be available.

Congrats to OCZ for an amazing purchase. The next few months are going to prove mighty interesting!

Source: OCZ Press Release

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and Apple chief Steve Jobs will make a rare joint appearance to wax lyrical about their visions of future technologies at the D: All Things Digital conference, which is to be held in Carlsbad, California. Expect no miraculous joint announcement from the event, which will be a 75-minute joint interview conducted by tech columnists from conference organizers The Wall Street Journal.

I have to admit, this is cool. Hopefully there will be a web broadcast of the interview so that the rest of us can watch as well. Can we expect some thing like this?

Source: CBR Online

Employees can’t seem to resist the temptation to rant about their work frustrations on their blogs, failing to recognize how public they really are. Since blogs are still relatively new, Croner reasons that employees are treating them with the same informality and rash decision-making as e-mail when it was first introduced to the masses in the 90s.

It’s not going to be much longer before we see “Blogging” mentioned in employee handbooks. This should be a lesson to all. Do not whine about your horrible job in your personal blog. Especially if you are Techgage staff ;-)

Source: Ars Technica

Target Technology, a company that manufactures and sells thin film alloys for optical discs, has sued Sony in the US District Court for the Southern District of Indiana for violating a patent it holds on reflective layers used in optical storage media. The patent in question, no. 7,018,696, was filed in April 2004 and issued in March 2006.

Sony is a true lawsuit magnet. Of course, Target Technology doesn’t specify exactly what the patent Sony is infringing on, but claim that every single Blu-ray disc released is guilty.

Source: Ars Technica

Well, at this year’s Microprocessor Forum the company took another small step by announcing that the final release of CUDA, its framework for utilizing high-end NVIDIA GPUs as CPUs, which will be available to developers in the second half of the year.

It will be interesting to see how CUDA takes off. Right now, it will only work with 8600, 8800 and Quadro FX 4600 and 5600. GPUs are known to be extreme data pushers, so we might very well be using them more intensively in the near future, not just for games.

Source: Engadget

It has seen just four updates since inception, one of which was so insignificant in Apple’s own eyes that the company didn’t even bother to draft a press release. Even now, the current minis’ 1.66GHz and 1.83GHz Core Duo processors are a far cry from the silicon offered in the rest of Apple’s PC offerings. And rightfully so, as the company has seen lower margins from the units, which never gained the sales traction of its more fully equipped iMacs and MacBooks.

This should be considered a rumor, but if for some reason you were wanting to purchase a Mac Mini, now might be a good time. Or you could wait until the WDCC hits. That might be the smarter move.

Source: Apple Insider

Ars Technica takes a look at the latest firmware update for the PS3 which opens up a wide range of functionality.

When the PlayStation 3 launched, the reviews could best be described as tepid, as the functionality and many promised features just weren’t there. But we live in an age of online updates and changing firmware; with this week’s 1.80 firmware update, the PlayStation 3 has become a very impressive piece of A/V goodness. The features are finally starting to catch up with the promise of the hardware, which is to say that the PS3 is now coming into its own.

It’s a great update in almost all respects, but the fact that you cannot upscale DVDs while using a component connection hurts.

Source: Ars Technica

A major demographic shift took place on Wednesday, May 23, 2007: For the first time in human history, the earth’s population is more urban than rural. According to scientists from North Carolina State University and the University of Georgia, on that day, a predicted global urban population of 3,303,992,253 exceeded that of 3,303,866,404 rural people.

Impressive! It’s hard to put confidence into such numbers, but it’s likely not too far off. Not so much tech news, but you can brag to your friends that you know this.

Source: Slashdot

Google’s data retention policies are coming under scrutiny by European governments. According to a letter sent to the search giant by the EU’s Article 29 Data Protection Working Party that was seen by the Financial Times, the EU is concerned that Google has failed to fulfill “all the necessary requirements on data protection.”

It’s hard to disagree here, and it’s good to see some governments are actually agreeing with most people. Two years to keep search data is needless.

Source: Ars Technica

Visceral, fast-paced and full of action, first-person shooters – or FPS games – have long been the choice for video gaming’s elite. Forget mainstream multi-million sellers like The Sims or Super Mario Brothers; FPS titles are the most talked-about and highly anticipated releases on gamers’ radars.

True that! This is a cool article that takes a trip through the FPS timeline, starting off with Wolfenstein 3D and finishing off with Crysis. I appreciate the fact that they included Shogo in their line-up. That game was great!

Source: YouGamers

Under a licensing agreement in its final stages, consumers may get the right to make several legal copies of HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc movies they’ve purchased, a concession by the movie industry that may quell criticism that DRM (digital rights management) technologies are too restrictive.

I think it’s foolish that it took this long for it to become legal. As always, the only people that this inconveniences is the legal consumer. Whenever I pick up a new piece of software, regardless of whether it’s an application or a game, I back it up right away and use the backed up copy instead.

It’s not fun to purchase expensive software only to have it get scratched and ruined. When next-gen movies can cost upwards of $40 a piece, it -should- be completely legal to back them up. Now if only the actual burners and blank media would go down in price…

Source: Mac World

Lifehacker has an ongoing poll that asks that exact question. Now that you can purchase a Dell system with pre-installed Ubuntu… are you going to? It would be disappointing if the demand from months past turned out to be non-existent now.

The three models are the E520n desktop and the E1505n notebook, both with a starting price of $599, and the XPS 410n, with a starting price of $899. The move will fulfill a schedule the company committed to earlier this month.

As of this post, 34% claim to already use Linux while 16% say they do have plans to purchase a system.

Source: Lifehacker

Shouldn’t all this software already be at their latest latest versions? Do we really need to download something that downloads something that downloads something just to check if it has to download something? Who manages this software, and what did they do with our dear friend, sensibility?

I agree with what’s said here. I have always found it odd that to download Adobe Acrobat, you first need to download a small file which acts as the downloader. Add to the fact that once installed, all Adobe products will nag you about requiring updates. Not a fun experience.

Source: Download Squad

That’s the word from USA Today’s Leslie Cauley, who appears to have confirmed that AT&T has exclusive U.S. distribution rights on the Apple handset for five years. As part of the deal, Apple is reportedly barred for that time from developing a version of the iPhone for CDMA wireless networks, such those operated by Verizon Wireless and Sprint.

This is one of the reasons I am losing interest in the iPhone. Being forced to a specific provider is unfair to the consumer, especially those who dislike AT&T but want an iPhone. It’s the same thing here in Canada. Rogers is the only provider, but I have never heard good things about their cell phone service in my town. It’s a lose/lose all around.

I don’t claim to be a businessman, but wouldn’t offering a CDMA/GSM phone cause more iPhones to be sold?

Source: Apple Insider

Valve today announced that Steam, the Bellevue, WA based company’s pioneering PC platform for digital content, has surpassed 13 million active accounts. With over 150 games in a broad selection of genres and dozens of other PC applications, movies, and demos available, Steam has become a leading destination for millions of gamers around the world.

Me and Valve are on a love/hate relationship. I love the fact that many of my games are consolidated into a single application, but it can prove a clunky experience as well at times. Either way, 13 million members is a huge accomplishment!

Source: Valve Software

Its taken a while, but NeroLinux has finally reached version 3.0. New features include HD-DVD and Blu-ray media support, a revamped GUI to mimic Nero Burning ROM 7 and more expert features than you can shake a stick at.

Rumors about Google acquiring RSS management company Feedburner from last week, started by ex-TechCrunch UK editor Sam Sethi, are accurate and are now confirmed according to a source close to the deal. Feedburner is in the closing stages of being acquired by Google for around $100 million.

$100 million for such a large site almost seems like a steal. Of course Feedburner is not filled to the brim with ads, but it might be now that Google has a hold of it. As far as RSS goes, this acquisition might help out content publishers a lot more with AdSense feed optimizations.

The big question is… when will Google be satisfied?

Source: Tech Crunch

Here’s the deal, Mr. Gates: Either Microsoft undertakes dramatic, real steps, through its marketing, wholesale, and retail operations to assure that Halo 3 is not sold, via the Internet and in stores, directly to anyone under 17, or I shall proceed to make sure that Microsoft is held to that standard by appropriate legal means.

How is it that someone so insane is able to keep pushing legal matters on companies? As far as games go, Halo 3 is violent, but nowhere near other games. He should choose his targets more sensibly.

Source: Slashdot

Picture it: one minute you’re standing on your 12th story patio enjoying the fresh air, and the next you’re falling from said balcony. Your first thought is that you’re probably a goner. Then, as the ground approaches, you realize that the car below you may break your fall. Your next (and presumably last) thought would probably go something like “Oh great, it’s a Smart C…(splat).”

This is an incredible story, really. This guy managed to fall 120 feet and land perfectly on a small car. Sure, he broke a few bones, but it’s nothing short of amazing that he survived at all.

Source: Autoblog