Content and news by Rob Williams

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – November 7, 2006 – AGEIA Technologies, Inc., the pioneer in hardware-accelerated physics for games, today announced that BioWare Corp. is integrating AGEIA PhysX technology into its next-generation BioWare Eclipse Engine for PCs and next-generation consoles. BioWare chose AGEIA PhysX for its unmatched physics capabilities and its straightforward implementation across multiple platforms.

You can read the full release here.

Cases & Enclosures
• Akasa integral P2 LAN 3.5″ – techPowerUp!
• Antec Nine Hundred – Virtual-Hideout
• NZXT Adamas – Think Computers
• SilverStone Temjin TJ08 – XS Reviews
• Thermaltake Mozart TX – 3D Gameman

Cooling
• CPU Cooler Round-up – Boot Daily
• How Does a Heat Pipe Work? – OC Modshop
• Thermalfly F1-IACSHA Heatsink – Frosty Tech

Motherboards & Processors
• Core 2 Extreme QX6700 – ByteSector

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• Be-Quiet! Straight Power 700W – Nordic Hardware
• Cooler Master Real Power Pro 850W – Hexus
• Logitech VX Revolution Wireless Mouse – XYZ Computing
• OCZ EvoStream 600W Modular PSU – PC Modding Malaysia
• Tips for Buying Bluetooth Stereo Headphones – Blue Tomorrows

Displays & Video Cards
• Multi-Monitor Tips & Tricks Guide – TechARP
• MSI GeForce 8800GTS – TweakTown
• NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTX / 8800GTS Linux Preview – Phoronix

Complete Systems, Competitions & Etcetera
• ThermoHawk 200 – Computing On Demand

Routers are often boring, but ASUS proves that doesn’t have to be the case. The WL-500g is a very fast WiFi router that offers USB connectivity and even the ability to download while your computer is turned off!

Starting November 22, Microsoft will be expanding its Xbox Live service to include high-definition movie downloads as well as standard and high-definition television content. The Redmond-based company has announced deals with CBS, MTV Networks, Paramount Pictures, TBS, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment to blanket Xbox Live with over 1,000 hours of TV programming and movies.

Microsoft has been on a roll over the past year with the 360. I am not a fan of consoles becoming entertainment centers, but for those who enjoy this kind of things, it seems like they know what they are doing. One issue I see though, is the fact that these movies and shows must take up some good deal of space. But we only have a 20GB hard drive to deal with. That doesn’t seem to leave much breathing room.

Zango, Inc has been fined $3 million by the Federal Trade Commission for unfair and deceptive adware downloads. According to the settlement, Zango is barred from installing its adware without the consumer’s consent. Consumers that already have Zango adware installed will be glad to know Zango is required provide a uninstall utility for its adware as part of the terms, in addition to the $3 million fine.

News like this is what makes me want to wake up in the morning! However, in reality $3 Million dollars is absolutely nothing to this company I’m sure. Perhaps a $300 Million fine would be more effective. It’s hard to imagine a “small” fine like this would discourage other Adware companies from stopping what they are doing.

Last week I posted news about an HBO special called “Hacking Democracy” that focused on the potential threats and inaccuracies that voting machines can cause. The developers of the machines wanted the show pulled, but were unsuccessful. Now, the video has found it’s way to Google video. If you don’t have HBO and wanted to catch it, here’s your chance.

People who have bought music from Microsoft’s MSN Music store could face problems if they decide to buy the firm’s new Zune portable player. Microsoft has said it will stop selling music from MSN music from 14 November, when Zune goes on sale in the US. But in a move that could alienate some customers, MSN-bought tracks will not be compatible with the new gadget.

Is it just me, or does this really make no sense? They wouldn’t release a version of Office that doesn’t work with Windows. You’d just think they’d better support their own products with services they run, at least.

SANTA CLARA, Calif., and BOISE, Idaho, Nov. 6, 2006 – Intel Corporation and Micron Technology Inc., today announced they are ahead of schedule on their development of the NAND flash memory joint venture, IM Flash Technologies. Since the formation of IM Flash in January, the companies have brought online a state-of-the-art 300 millimeter (mm) NAND fabrication facility in Manassas, Virginia, and a Lehi, Utah, 300mm facility is on track to be in production early next year. The venture also currently produces NAND memory through existing capacity at Micron’s Boise, Idaho, fabrication facilities.

You can read the full press release here.

Cases & Enclosures
• Antec Nine Hundred – Overclockers Online
• NZXT Adamas – Pro-Clockers

Cooling
• Jetart Coolstand – DragonSteelMods
• Vizo Ninja Notebook Cooler – DragonSteelMods

Memory & Storage
• Buffalo FireStix PC2-9200 1GB – Virtual-Hideout
• Crucial Tenth Anniversary DDR2 PC2-5300 – techFEAR

Motherboards & Processors
• ASUS M2R32-MVP vs ECS KA3 MVP Extreme – HotHardware
• Asus P5W64 WS PRO – PC Modding Malaysia
• Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 Quad-Core – TechARP

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• be quiet! Straightpower 450W & 600W – Bjorn3D
• Silverstone EB01 – Xtreme Computing
• Ultron G1-Clawpad – techPowerUp!

Displays & Video Cards
• Forceware 93.71 Driver Comparison – Hardware OC
• HIS X1300 XT IceQ Turbo – XYZ Computing
• InFocus Play Big IN76 DLP Projector – The Tech Lounge
• Inno3D GeForce 7950 GT 512MB Zalman Edition – Guru3D
• Sapphire Radeon X1950 XTX – TweakPC
• XFX GeForce 7950 GT XXX Edition – Hexus

Complete Systems, Competitions & Etcetera
• Dell 1800MP – BIOS Magazine
• Dell XPS 700 – Technic3D
• Motorola KRZR – Digital Trends
• Valve talks about Multi-Core CPU Processing in Source – TweakTown
• Win a 750w Modular PSU with Overclock3D and Silverstone – Overclock 3D

What do you get when you place a huge computer manufacturer in a blender with an Italian automobile powerhouse? One great looking laptop! Does it prove to be as fast as the cars it mimics?

We were treated to an unveiling of the company’s new programming strategy, which has been completely realigned around supporting multiple CPU cores. Valve is planning on more than just supporting them. It wants to make the absolute maximum use of the extra power to deliver more than just extra frames per second, but also a more immersive gaming experience.

If you want to see what Valve has in store for the future, be sure to check out this article. With technology like this, AGEIA is going to have a far rougher time trying to market their PhysX cards.

Microsoft announced today that its Office 2007 productivity suite has gone gold. The announcement further solidifies the company’s efforts to make Office 2007, Windows Vista and Exchange Server 2007 available to businesses on November 30 of this year.

At this point, all versions range between $300 for the Standard and $500 for the Professional. The Student version retails for $150. I am unsure if any of the included applications, like Excel can be purchased separately though. It’s not looking like it…

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Stanford University have made a breakthrough in the field of vision. Kareem Amir Zaghloul and Kwabena Boahen have proposed a silicon retina that reproduces signals in the optic nerve, a technology which could be used to provide vision to those who suffer from blindness-related diseases, such as retinitis pigmentosa.

If this can help blind people see, then this truly is a breakthrough. If science is your strong point, the article has many reference images to show how it’s done.

We have received news that all the 8800GTX cards out in the channel are being recalled due to manufacturing defect. We heard it is probably due to a resistor controlling 2D/3D switching and that leads to 3D corruption. However, the defect doesn’t affect the 8800GTS cards. This issue probably could delay the launch, if not, there could be no availability of 8800GTX cards at launch but just GTS.

Better this happen now than after the launch! According to VR-Zone, this mishap will not affect the launch date, but I have to wonder if it will affect the original quantity available.

One of the most common questions I get as related to photography is “What camera should I buy?” Before I get into the reasons I recommend buying a DSLR, I’d like to state why you should NOT buy a DSLR. There is a saying among photographers: “The camera doesn’t make the photo, the photographer does.” Professional equipment means nothing without someone who knows how to properly use it to its fullest.

Since I’ve gone to D-SLR, I could not go with anything else. It helps if you are into photography though, and not a casual user. If you are pondering joining the club but don’t know the benefits, check out this article.

While Xfce doesn’t receive nearly as much coverage in the mass media as KDE and GNOME when it comes to the main desktop environments for GNU/Linux, the 4.4 version of Xfce is shaping up to be a very competitive release.

If you are a Linux user and love minimalistic environments but find fluxbox far too tiny, then Xfce should be right up your alley.

SUNNYVALE, CALIF.-NOV. 6, 2006-AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced the ATI
Radeon(r) X1900 G5 Mac(r) Edition, a next-generation graphics card that
combines workstation-class creative productivity and cutting-edge 3D
game performance. The ATI Radeon X1900 G5 Mac Edition represents a
high-performance PCI Express graphics upgrade card for the Power Mac G5
Quad and Power Mac G5 Dual.

You can read the full press release here.

Cases & Enclosures
• Antec Nine Hundred Advanced – Bjorn3D
• Fantec LD-U35NU2 – Technic3D
• Sunbeamtech Zorro – Pro-Clockers
• Thermaltake Eureka Big Boy Chassis – Hexus

Cooling
• Thermaltake Tide Water Videocard Water Cooling System – TweakNews
• Zerotherm BTF90 – Technic3D

Memory & Storage
• Crucial 10th Anniversary 2GB PC2-5300 – Think Computers
• Crucial Ballistix PC2-8000 – ClubOC
• OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400 Special Ops Urban Elite 2GB – Virtual-Hideout

Motherboards & Processors
• ABIT AW9D-MAX – techPowerUp!
• ECS KA3 MVP EXTREME – 3D Gameman
• Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad Core QX6700 Preview – HardOCP

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• APEVIA 680Watt Iceberg Power Supply – DragonSteelMods
• Apevia ATX-IB680W-RD 680W Iceberg Power Supply – ModTheBox
• Art. Lebedev Optimus Mini Three – techPowerUp!
• Everglide g-1000 Professional Gaming Mouse – Cooling-Station
• Everglide Titan MonsterMat – Red & Blackness
• Seasonic M12 700W – Phoronix
• Silverstone ST40EF – Xtreme Computing
• Steelsound 5H v2 Gaming Headset – XYZ Computing
• Trendnet ClearSky Bluetooth VoIP Phone Kit – BuzzmeBaby
• Zalman ZM460B-APS Power Supply – MadBox PC

Displays & Video Cards
• ATI Catalyst 6.10 Performance Analysis – TweakTown
• Inno3D GeForce 7950 GT Zalman Edition – Hexus
• NGO NVIDIA Optimized Driver v1.9371 – NGOHQ
• Sapphire X1950 Pro 256 MB – Modders-Inc

Complete Systems, Competitions & Etcetera
• Hypersonic Sonic Boom OCX – HardOCP
• Apple iPod nano II – Digit-Life
• Olympus Stylus 750 – Digital Trends

OCZ Technology is at it again attempting to push the envelope
for flash media. When they had introduced the Rally it was a smoking fast
flash drive that had finally stolen the performance crown from Corsair’s
Flash Voyager. After that OCZ pushed the physical envelope for flash
drives with the incredibly small Mini-Kart. Now OCZ Technology is at it
again, but this time around they are attempting to push the storage
capacity for computer users. The OCZ Mega-Kart offers an 8GB storage
capacity while retaining a small footprint, and best of all an
economically-minded price.

It looks like 8GB is the new norm! It wasn’t too long ago 4GB was the Holy Grail, but the storage market is anything but slow. It’s called “Mega-Kart” for a reason, not only because of it’s density ;-)

According to a memo sent out to LA Convention and Visitors Bureau members, magazine publisher and show organizer International Data Group (IDG) will be creating a new games show that should be similar to E3, except it will run in mid-October instead of mid-May.

So maybe E3 is really not -that- dead. Many of the people responsible for E3 are now with IDG, so we should except a similar format and size.