Content and news by Rob Williams

Holding the iPod just two inches away from their chests for 5 to 10 seconds was enough to cause electrical interference half the time. In some cases, iShenanigans could be detected as far as 18 inches away. The interference usually just caused the equipment to misread the heart’s pacing, but one case caused the pacemaker to stop working entirely.

No other music players were tested, although I’m sure giving grandpa a Zune with some preloaded Slayer would have a similar effect.

Source: The Register

Today, the company announced its new Travelstar 7K200 mobile HDD which offers a storage capacity of 200GB and a spindle speed of 7200RPM. In addition, the drive can also be equipped with hard-drive level “Bulk Data Encryption.” The drive offers comparable power consumption to 5400RPM units and can withstand 350 Gs of shock.

200GB, 7200RPM and encryption are three things that will make a lot of notebook owners quite happy. Hitachi seems to be quite ahead of the game. Seagate still has maxed out at 160GB 7200RPM thus far.

Source: Daily Tech

AMD showed off their Barcelona quad-core processors in action today in Monterey, California. What you see in the pictures below are single processor and dual processor configurations, so a true “4×4” is now realized by AMD that looks very comfortable on an enthusiast desktop.

Barcelona is looking promising. Although there are no performance/specs information given here, Kyle seemed quite impressed by the performance displayed in the encoding of a 1080p video file. It’s going to be so difficult to wait until launch…

Source: HardOCP

In a marketing case that just sounds too good to be true, vending masters Apex Corp. have purportedly laid out plans that will bring free or subsidized non-alcoholic beverage to thirsty consumers who are willing to watch a 30-second commercial before partaking.

This is pretty cool. Watch a 30s clip and get a free drink. Hard to beat that. Hack: Look around while it plays. You heard it here first!

Source: Engadget

So why not install a fully-featured (but lite) version of Mac OS X on such a drive with a minimal set of applications and files? Many Mac users would like this idea, especially those who often work on different computers and want to do that in their personal environments. So, let’s see how you can install Mac OS X this way.

It’s been done with Linux, it’s been done with Windows, so it’s only fair for it to be done with Mac OS X as well.

Source: Digit-Life

The Beatles. The iTunes Store. The partnership between those two entities is a rumor that goes back almost as long as the iPhone. And people love speculating about exactly when the Beatles will put their back catalog online. February already came and went without any Beatles news, although there’s new news lately that they are, in fact, readying to get everything online.

The Beatles on iTunes is nice, but I’ll still hold out until everything is DRM free and higher than 192KBps. Who knows, it could happen.

Source: Ars Technica

Linux continues to make inroads into China according to the latest market research. A new report from Beijing-based CCID Consulting pegs Linux operating sales revenues up by nearly 31 percent in the first quarter of 2007 to 31 million Yuan (just over US$4 million), as compared to the same period a year prior.

Even with the vast piracy in China, Linux seems to pierce through and succeed. Although the revenues are not staggering, it’s constant growth is certainly a good thing.

Source: Internet News

According to the press release, Microsoft will be giving away the 100 consoles in a “series of special events and promotions.” Microsoft points fans to http://www.xbox.com for further details, but the site has not yet been updated with additional information.

If you are a fan of the Simpsons, stalk the Xbox.com site to get details on how you could potentially win one of these great looking systems. Of course, something so yellow will stand out in your entertainment center, but it will be worth it.

Source: Daily Tech

DOCSIS 3.0 offers two immediate benefits over what cable ISP subscribers are currently stuck with (DOCSIS 1.1): faster speeds and support for IPv6. The technology has the potential to bump download speeds to 160Mbps and upload speeds to 120Mbps, although that bandwidth will be divided up between households attached to a single node.

I can’t seem to stop drooling at the thought of uploading faster than 50Kb/s.

Source: Ars Technica

The biannual Xbox 360 dashboard update is finally upon us, and new in this Spring edition are a plethora of new features. The one that Microsoft seems to be most proud to advertise is the integration of Windows Live Messenger into the Xbox 360 Dashboard, allowing gamers to text chat while gaming, listening to music, or watching videos.

There are some great updates here, but my favorite one is none of the above mentioned. Now when you complete an achievement, it actually tells you which one you unlocked. Why wasn’t it like that since the beginning??

Source: Daily Tech

“Priming means a concept gets activated in a person’s head,” researcher Joan Meyers-Levy told LiveScience. “When people are in a room with a high ceiling, they activate the idea of freedom. In a low-ceilinged room, they activate more constrained, confined concepts.”

I think I just found out why I am such a slow thinker…

Source: Yahoo! News

German researchers said Wednesday that they were launching an attempt to reassemble millions of shredded East German secret police files using complicated computerized algorithms. The files were shredded as the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and it became clear that the East German regime was finished.

This is one advanced algorithm! It detects shape, texture, color and of course, the text on the paper. Even though it’s easier with a computer, they believe that 400 out of the 13,000 sacks of paper could be reassembled in two years time.

Source: Komo TV

A chip smaller than the head of a pin is placed onto a DVD along with a thin coating that blocks a DVD player from reading critical information on the disc. At the register, the chip is activated and sends an electrical pulse through the coating, turning it clear and making the disc playable.

Not to be a pessimist, but I can’t see how this would help theft, unless it’s been implemented for a while. I am sure thieves will steal it anyway and just hope for the best, as it’s unlikely that this would be implemented into all future DVD’s. Something like this should have been implemented before the next-gen hi-def formats were released.

Source: MSNBC

Intel has launched their latest mobile platform, Santa Rosa, and I have high hopes for this one. To get up to par with what’s new, you can read the press release or my initial thoughts in our forums. You can expect coverage of Santa Rosa powered notebooks in the very near future from us. Here is a quote from the forum post:

First thing of interest I find, is that the T7700 processor will retail for $530. It has a 800FSB (which should mean we will see DDR2-800 mobile ram), and also a 2.40GHz clock speed. The reason I find this interesting, is that the previous high-end chip (T7600) comes in at 2.33GHz speeds with similar specs, except 667FSB… but still costs $637. Both are based on 65nm, but Santa Rosa is already looking like the better value.

Seeing as the Zune was such a hit, Microsoft decided to repeat the success and tackle the iPhone before it even gets out the gate; friends, we give you the Microsoft oFone. Not to be outdone by Apple’s multi-touch keyless interface, the oFone features not one or two, but three keyboards that can all pivot about the small central screen.

Though somewhat humorous, Microsoft could do better with their jabs at Apple.

Source: Engadget

NEW YORK and SAN FRANCISCO, May 9, 2007 – Faster processors and chipsets. Great-looking video and graphics. Stronger and faster wireless signals. Better security and manageability. Designed for energy efficiency to enable great battery life. An option to turbo-speed boot time and software application loading.

Source: Intel Press Release

Sunnyvale, CA—May 9, 2007—OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, today introduced Speed Class 6 rated memory cards to their high-performance Secure Digital(TM) HC (SD High Capacity) family. As higher resolution digital cameras and camcorders enter the market, faster and large-capacity memory cards are needed to take on the added size. Available in 4GB and 8GB configurations, these ultra-fast OCZ SDHC cards are ideal for the most advanced digital cameras and electronics.

Source: OCZ Press Release

Espoo, Finland – May 9, 2007 – Futuremark Corporation, the industry leading provider of system performance analysis software and services for cell phones, handhelds and PCs today announced the general availability of SPMark for Symbian OS v9.

Source: Futuremark Press Release

Mushkin is the only memory company right now to offer 4GB extreme performance kits, with their top-end offering on our test bench today. Despite the fact that it already has high stock speeds, we were surprised to find out that it still had a lot of overclocking headroom.

In a pre-emptive strike against movie piracy originating from Canada, Warner Bros. Pictures said Monday it will cancel preview screenings of its movies north of the border. Frustrated with unauthorized camcording of its new releases in Canadian cinemas, the studio said it will immediately halt all “promotional and word-of-mouth screenings” of upcoming releases.

What the heck? They are pulling the previews of future movie titles, from those who paid to watch a movie?? I can’t see how that will help piracy or much of anything else. I guess it’s better than them pulling the movie and leaving the previews.

Source: Reuters