Content and news by Rob Williams

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Of course, that’s not to say that I like UAC’s prompts. I find it somewhat annoying, but it’s nowhere near as annoying as some other interface flaws in Vista, like the inconsistent use of the Back/Forward navigation buttons and the lack of “OK” and “Apply” on many Control Panel apps. But I’m not kidding myself: plenty of early Vista adopters loathe the feature.

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I don’t care what anyone says about UAC, it’s great. You will not find a better test for patience anywhere.

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Source: Ars Technica

eVGA is giving away 100 motherboards and gives you two ways to win.

Exclusively from EVGA, the nForce 680i SE SLI is engineered around the feature-rich 680i SLI chipset from Nvidia but has been optimized for Core 2 Duo overclocking performance. All you need to do is to fill out the survey below.

Surprised? If you buy the board during the month of May, you can enter to have your money refunded. With 100 boards available, your chances are already far better than in most other contests.

Source: eVGA

We all saw this coming, but now it’s official.

Ubuntu was the most requested option. Today, we are excited to tell you that Dell will begin offering Canonicals’ latest version, Ubuntu 7.04, as an option on select Dell consumer models in the U.S. in the coming weeks.

Though I am not a fan of Ubuntu, I am glad to see Linux becoming more popular and getting the exposure it deserves. Now it’s just a waiting game to see if all those people who begged Dell will follow-through and purchase a system.

Source: Dells Ideas In Motion

Yesterday, we posted about a popular string of numbers/letters that’s doing a great job of stirring up the web. No surprise, since it’s the same string that’s required to bypass HD-DVD security. Well, it seems things are really amped up now.

More disturbingly, my story got Dugg twice, with the second wave hitting 15,500 votes, and today I found out it had simply disappeared from Digg. How long until the long arm of the MPAA gets to my own site (run in Ecuador) and the rest of them holding the processing key? How long will we let rampant censorship go on, in the name of economic interest?”

If you happened to be one of the people browsing Digg last night, you know that people were not happy. I managed to grab a screen capture so you know what I am talking about. When Digg users are pissed, everyone knows about it.

The issue is, can a number be censored? It’s… just a number after all. Number fun aside, it has taken no time at all to see t-shirts, mugs and posters for sale that feature this now famous string. It’s like DeCSS all over again, except in a far greater dose.

Source: Slashdot

An implementation issue exists in QuickTime for Java, which may allow reading or writing out of the bounds of the allocated heap. By enticing a user to visit a web page containing a maliciously-crafted Java applet, an attacker can trigger the issue which may lead to arbitrary code execution.

Apple has patched the QuickTime flaw discovered in last weeks Hack a Mac contest. They have also posted new updates for both AirPort and FTPServer, which you can grab through the built-in software updater.

Source: Apple.com

It has been a while since I have written an editorial about what the industry looks like from the helm here at HardOCP, but as I am flying out to California to see the latest in video technology, it seems to be about that time again. Much of the time, the writing is on the wall, and typing an editorial that takes a broad view of the CPU, GPU, and motherboard chipset world is sometimes about as worthwhile as tits on a boar hog. At this time, though, I think that many in the enthusiast crowd may not be seeing the big picture, hence the point of talking about it here.

One thing is certain… the future is uncertain. Kyle Bennett has taken everything into consideration and gives his thoughts on the future. AMD/ATI is not the only target, but NVIDIA as well. At this point in time, it’s them who seems to have the foggiest future.

Source: Hard|OCP

I cannot believe it’s been a full three years since the game has launched. For those in the dark about this pure-PvP MMO game, the equation is simple. Take one part WoW, filter out the cartoon elements, add one part actual difficulty, two parts gameplay and three cups (1.5 pints) of monotonous mini-quests. That’s Lineage 2. NC Soft provides us some quick stats gathered over the course of those three years.

• Number of free major content updates: 6
• Number of contests and events: 42
• Number of Striders: 7,233
• Number of Chrono souvenir items: 2,418,054
• Number of pets (Hatchlings, Wolf, Baby pets): 128,898
• Number of deaths since launch: 618,978,656
• Number of chaotic characters: 86,176

Source: Lineage 2

In an e-mail interview with Computerworld, Dai Zovi talked about how finding vulnerabilities is like fishing, the chances that someone else will stumble on the still-unpatched bug, and what operating system — Windows Vista or Mac OS X — is the sturdiest when it comes to security.

There you have it. Hackers can’t stand to use Vista either! In all seriousness, he is speaking from experience and without bias (and to a Mac site no less). Though, OS X 10.5 is right around the corner, so we’ll have to wait and see if it still falls behind Vista then.

Source: Macworld

Childhood obesity is an increasing problem in the developed world, fed by a one-two punch of poor dietary options and a sedentary lifestyle. Video games are sometimes blamed for the appeal of sedentary living, but an article in the New York Times takes a look at one game that may provide a solution: Dance Dance Revolution, which has appeared as part of regular gym classes in at least 10 states.

This is cool. There’s been reports of people losing weight with the help of this game in the past, so it’s almost not even a surprise to see it going into schools. Keeping active and having fun? Almost an unlikely situation.

Source: Ars Technica

While previous betas in the 2.0.0 series have been extremely stable, and we recommended their use, this release is actually of beta quality. This is our first release to reflect the name change from Gaim to Pidgin, and so there are a lot of fairly significant changes here, which we’d like to see have broader testing before declaring it ready for release. If you would like to help us out, grab a copy from Sourceforge.net.

Not much has changed since GAIM 2.0 Beta 6, but there are a few new graphics and icons, including the main application icon seen here. Worth a download, but it’s recommended that you back up your GAIM directory prior to upgrading.

Source: Pidgin

While unable to confirm this through official Dell channels, we have heard the same story now from several internal Dell sources. They tell us that the Austin, Texas, computer giant will be preinstalling the newly released Ubuntu 7.04. These systems will be released in late May 2007.

I for one am without words due to absolute shock that Dell would choose Ubuntu for inclusion on their systems. I gotta admit, I just didn’t see that one coming! What’s next? Sunrise in the morning?

Source: Desktop Linux

At least 20 specific search terms that appeared on Google as legitimate ads, redirected users to smartattack.org, which distributed the malicious code. Users were sent to the legitimate site thereafter the damage was done. The flaw appears to only have affected users of the Microsoft Windows XP operating systems.

There are no numbers available of those affected, but that might be due to the fact that people have not finished reformatting their PC’s yet. Techgage’s ads however do not contain any spyware or trojans. Go on… find out for yourself.

Source: Daily Tech

Near three years ago, I purchased the cheapest USB webcams -actually, one pair- I could find at the time, without taking into consideration whether those webcams worked with Linux or not. I ran one desktop PC with Win2K and one of the webcams was plugged to that box. I quickly found out several things: first, “Made in China” webcams surely are cheap, but that comes at a price of often having no support web site, no physical address of the manufacturer, and no updates to its drivers.

I have used these drivers for webcams under Linux many times before, but never did I realize they were written by one guy. What a feat!

Source: The Inquirer

Gigabyte United expects to launch its Ultra Durable 2 series motherboards with Intel’s next-generation Bearlake family of chipsets. There will be five Ultra Durable 2 series motherboards powered by Intel’s P35 and G33 Express chipsets – the P35-DQ6, P35-DS3R, P35T-DQ6, G33M-D2SR and G33-DS3R in full and micro ATX configurations. Gigabyte United pairs all five Ultra Durable 2 series motherboards with Intel’s ICH9R south bridge for enhanced I/O connectivity.

These are sweet looking motherboards, but I am most interested in the DDR3 support. Of course, it will be a while before DDR3 is “exciting” when DDR2 is already so fast, but the lower voltage factor might make things interesting.

Source: Daily Tech

This means the (admittedly long) number is precisely the key you need in order to decrypt and watch HD-DVD movies in Linux (oh, okay, maybe software is also required). And the fact that it’s out there, spreading like wildfire, is killing the types at the movie studios right now.

This is reminiscent of the DeCSS source code release back in the day. Movie execs don’t like it, but it goes to show how much money they waste trying to protect their property. How about better content to begin with?

Source: Rudd-O Blog

At first glance the retail box on the XFX GeForce 8600 GT looks like any other, but take a closer look at the dog on the package. Notice that the dog is drooling like he’s set his sight onto something nice and juicy to tear into. Let’s take a closer look at that drool.

It’s rumored that eVGA plans to strike back at XFX by continuing to sell a lot more video cards than them. Ouch.

Source: Legit Reviews

Sunnyvale, CA—April 30, 2007—OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, today announced an exciting new addition to its award-winning lineup of flash drives. VBoost USB 2.0 Flash Drives are optimized for Windows(R) Vista(TM) ReadyBoost(TM). Vista ReadyBoost enables the OCZ VBoost to double as supplemental cache memory for faster retrieval and storage of system data and applications. By providing an instant supply of additional memory, this drive is a cost-effective alternative to expensive RAM upgrades.

Source: OCZ Press Release

Fremont, CA (April 30, 2007) – Corsair(R), a worldwide leader in high performance computer and flash memory products, today unveiled the new Flash Survivor(TM) family of USB drives. Designed and engineered to be the industry’s toughest USB drive, the Flash Survivor is a water-resistant, aluminum encased, shock-proof way to store user’s information and files. Offering unique features and the highest price/performance solution in the market – the Flash Survivor is immediately available in two variations.

Source: Corsair Press Release

Seeing as how Mondays are normally slow for news, why not take a look at the progression of handheld consoles over the past 20 years?

However, it has taken a while for gaming to crawl from the primordial 8-bit slime to today’s shiny state of affairs. To illustrate just how much things have advanced over the last 20 years, we thought it’d be nice to pull together a few facts and figures in pretty chart form to both inform and entertain you with.

One thing that caught my eye was that the handheld with the second largest screen resolution… was the Sega Nomad. Perhaps Sega was ahead of their time?

Source: Pocket Gamer

Yes, that’s how it’s gonna be.

First of all (and this shouldn’t come as a shocker to anyone) the next generation 3DMark will be Windows Vista only, and will require DX10 compliant hardware.

This does make sense for the most part, but it’s a sad realization at the same time. Most people who like 3D Mark enjoy tweaking all the performance out of their systems. It will be a lot less fun with Vista running in the background.

Source: Nick R Blog