Content and news by Rob Williams

Thermaltake has had great success with their Armor and Kandalf cases, and there was a natural step to take to bring them both to the next level… water cooling! For $100 more above the price of a standard Armor case, you can have one complete with a well designed WC setup.

The United States could be rife with Internet addicts as clinically ill as alcoholics, a study suggested. Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, California, said their telephone survey indicated more than one in eight US residents showed at least one sign of “problematic Internet use.”

O RLY? Ya rly! I don’t think it takes a brain surgeon to figure this one out, really. Although, some are certainly “addicted” more than others. If you don’t think you are addicted, then you probably are ;-)

The company said that a small number of video iPods made after Sept. 12 included the RavMonE virus. It said it has seen fewer than 25 reports of the problem, which it said does not affect other models of the media player, nor does it affect Macs.

The humor doesn’t even lie within the fact that an Apple product loads a virus onto Windows PCs, it’s the comment they made on their website: “As you might imagine, we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses, and even more upset with ourselves for not catching it. Or for a shorter term: “We’re sorry, but serves you right.”

Sunnyvale, CA—October 17th, 2006—OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, today announced the addition of PC2-6400 Gold Rev.2 GX DDR2 to the popular gaming oriented Gold XTC series. OCZ Technology now offers a complete line of gamer-grade XTC DDR2 solutions ranging from DDR2-533 to DDR2-1100 to pair perfectly with the latest high performance AMD and Intel based motherboards.

You can read the full press release here.

Saratoga, California USA – October 17, 2006 – Futuremark Corporation today announced SimulationMark ES2.0, an innovative new approach to benchmarking. The benchmark allows mobile device chipmakers and manufacturers to test and compare simulated 3D graphics performance in OpenGL(r) ES 2.0 chip designs prior to the fabrication of silicon based hardware implementations. SimulationMark ES2.0 will enable users to calculate reliable estimated performance data during the chip design phase comparing various graphics hardware architectures and application processor designs, while minimizing misuse and misinterpretation of those results.

You can read the full press release here.

Sunnyvale Calif. and Markham, Ontario – Oct. 17, 2006 -Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. and ATI Technologies Inc. today announced that the Ontario Superior Court of Justice has issued the final order approving the arrangement under which all of ATI’s outstanding common shares will be acquired by an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of AMD. The proposed acquisition, announced on July 24, 2006, is expected to be completed during the week of October 23, subject to satisfaction or waiver of customary closing conditions.

Just one step closer! This is the entire press release… believe it.

INTEL DEVELOPER FORUM, Taipei, Oct. 17, 2006 – Intel Corporation announced today that it will encourage networking companies to benefit from a key server data input and output acceleration technology designed and added to its server product lines earlier this year.

You can read the full press release here.

In honor of its first birthday, GameTap, the first-of-its-kind broadband entertainment network from Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (TBS, Inc.), is bringing new opportunity to the gaming community with the formation of the “GameTap Original” label. Through this new initiative, GameTap will continue what it started with the introduction of “Sam & Max” and “Myst Online: Uru Live” and partner with more independent developers and publishers to bring innovative new video game titles to fans.

Sounds a lot like what Steam already does, but the more the merrier. I am not a fan of Gametap per se, but they’ve come a long way since the initial launch. If you are interested in giving the service a shot, they pass along word that they have a limited b-day deal that offers the service for $60 a year, as opposed to the usual $9.99 a month.

Cases & Enclosures
• ICY Dock MB559UEA-1S – Bjorn3D
• SilverStone TJ08 mATX Case – Think Computers
• Thermaltake Armor LCS – Hexus

Cooling
• Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro – Futurelooks
• Coolink Products – DragonSteelMods
• Orbiter Single Fan 3.5inch HDD Cooler – Modders-Inc
• Scythe Infinity – techPowerUp!
• Thermaltake Extreme Spirit II – Computing On Demand

Memory & Storage
• RAID Technology Part 1 – ASE Labs
• SyncMAX Express PC2-6400 DDR2 800 – PC Stats

Motherboards & Processors
• ASUS M2R32 MVP Crossfire – Motherboards.org
• Foxconn 975X7AB – 8EKRS2H – Overclockers Online

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• Aizen RoadRunner Bluetooth Communicator – A True Review
• Asus EN7600GT SILENT/2DHT/256M – Viper Lair
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 – Digit-Life
• Scythe Kama Connect USB 2.0 to SATA/IDE Adapter – Virtual-Hideout
• Seasonic M12 700W Power Supply – PC Stats
• Tagan Easycon XL 700w TG700-U35 PSU – Overclock 3D

Displays & Video Cards
• Sapphire Radeon X1950 Pro 256MiB – Hexus
• Visiontek Radeon X1300 PCI – Boot Daily

Complete Systems, Competitions & Etcetera
• Nokia N73 Mobile Phone – UK Gamer
• My Vista RC2 Experience – Digital Trends

It has been a while since we’ve seen a capture of the top spot in the mobile storage market, but Toshiba has come along and delivered a 200GB 2.5″ drive. What the drive adds in extra storage though, it takes away in speed.

Firefox 2 Release Candidate 3 (RC 3) is a preview release of our next generation Firefox browser and is being made available for download to Web application developers, our testing community and users who want to get a sneak peek at the next version of Firefox. Please note that at this time, users should not expect all of their extensions, plugins and themes from previous versions of Firefox to work properly.

RC2 was just released last week, but RC3 seems to have taken care of many bugs seen with that release. Two annoying bugs I found in RC2 are now gone. If you need to upgrade from RC1 or RC2, be sure to upgrade once more.

The United States’ population will hit 300 million on Tuesday morning, just 39 years after it reached 200 million, the US Census Bureau estimates. A ‘population clock’ will record the milestone at 0746 (1146 GMT) — a timing based on calculations that factor birth and death rates and migration.

Whew, that’s one big Country. By comparison, Canada has similar sized landmass, but has 9x less the population!

Kotaku reports on a Shacknews Post. Battlefield 2142, the new Electronic Arts game, is expected to include mandatory spyware in the retail package. The software will apparently monitor web browser and other computer usage; this information will be used to deliver targeted in-game advertisements.

I don’t agree with targeting in game advertising, and certainly don’t any sort of spyware. This is something the user should be able to agree to, not be forced upon.

Ever wanted to live like a superhero? Step into the incredible Marvel universe at the Ontario Science Centre and experience the powerful real-life science behind the comics. Step into a suit of armour to lift a Mazda CX-7! Hang from a super-strong spider web! Go bionic… and create your own comics!

If you are a big super hero buff, then this is a worthy exhibition to check out. It’s not free, but is on until March if you want to check it out and happen to be in the Toronto area.

Bellevue, WA – October 11, 2006 – Valve, an entertainment and technology studio, is pleased to announce the availability of the SourceTM engine technology as an official middleware solution for developers on the Xbox 360TM video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. Source, the technology that powered Valve’s Half-Life 2, is already the benchmark game technology on Microsoft’s Windows platform, offering state of the art performance in graphics, networking, artificial intelligence, physics simulation and more. The version of Source, available for Xbox 360, is optimized to utilize the platform’s advance graphics hardware and offer full support for Xbox Live.

Good stuff! Not a bad engine to start seeing on the 360. It has come a long way since HL2 debuted, and isn’t slowing down quite yet.

Cases & Enclosures
• Enermax Phoenix – 3D Gameman
• nMedia System HTPC 180SA & 280BA Media Center Enclosures – Bjorn3D

Cooling
• Sytrin KuFormula SHF1 Ultra – Phoronix
• Thermaltake Ruby Orb CPU Cooler – PC Modding Malaysia
• Voyager Dual Fan Hard Drive Cooler – Modders-Inc

Memory & Storage
• Corsair TWIN2X2048-8500C5 2GB – OC Tools
• OCZ PC2-5400 Special Ops – OCIA

Motherboards & Processors
• Asrock ConroeXFire-eSATA2 – Pro-Clockers
• ECS EliteGroup KN1 SLI Lite Extreme – DSM
• FOXCONN 975X7AB-8EKRS2H – Virtual-Hideout
• Gigabyte GA-945GM-S2 945G Express – PC Stats

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• Antec TruePower Trio 650 – techFEAR
• Logitech Quickcam Fusion Webcam – TweakNews
• Plantronics Discovery 655 Bluetooth Headset – Legit Reviews

Displays & Video Cards
• ATI Radeon X1950 Pro – Digit-Life
• ATI Radeon X1950 Pro – HotHardware
• ATI Radeon X1950 Pro – Legit Reviews
• ATI Radeon X1950 Pro – Overclock 3D
• ATI Radeon X1950 Pro – Tech Report
• MSI GeForce 7900 GTO – TweakPC
• PowerColor X1950 Pro – Technic3D

Complete Systems, Competitions & Etcetera
• Digital Picture Frames Compared Video – Digital Trends
• Guide to Essential Car Tech – Digital Trends
• “Is ASUS Cheating?” – NGOHQ
• “Making Computer Diagnoses” Tech Nibble
• Three Reasons to Use GNOME – XYZ Computing

Two years ago, we opened the floodgates for readers to vote for their favorite games of all-time. You heard right, not just what you liked in one particular year, but from the entire history of games. The debate over what ended up on the list lit up the message boards. Over the past few weeks, we gave everyone another shot at their favorites again and the results are in!

The list is only half-way done, but the choices so far seem pretty good. Personally I disagree with a few, but that’s to be expected. THPS2 was such a great game that caused copycats.. it deserves better than 95th place!

The Sunday Times is reporting that Stephen Hawking is making a new movie. FTA: ‘Professor Stephen Hawking, Britain’s world-renowned physicist, is to switch from theories of multidimensional space to the three dimensions of the Imax cinema by starring in a film that sets out his ideas on the origins and fate of the universe.

This sounds like it could be quite the thought provoking movie.

Online auction house eBay has decided to halt all PlayStation 3 auctions for the time being. According to a post in the eBay Trust & Safety forum, those listing PlayStation 3 systems for sale have had their listings pulled. In addition, eBay is putting very stringent requirements in place for any future listings of the next-gen consoles: sellers need to provide eBay with a copy of their drivers license or other ID, copy of a credit card statement or utility bill with their current address, an invoice or receipt showing “purchase or posession” of the consoles, and written acknowledgement of agreement with eBay’s policies.

Good to see eBay actually doing something. I personally think people who pre-purchase a system to sell for multiple times of the amount on eBay are cheap bastards, but that’s just me. Pre-orders in Canada start today, so you Canucks should get a move on!

Fremont, CA (October 16, 2006) –Corsair, a worldwide leader in high performance enthusiast computer products, today launched a new line of microSD™ removable flash memory cards to further expand the company’s award-winning line of flash products. Available immediately in capacities up to 2GB – the largest capacity available in the world’s smallest flash memory card – the high capacity is essential to users who store music, pictures, watch video, and use downloadable ring tones and address books. The 2GB Corsair microSD cards will hold up to 500 MP3 songs or approximately 4000 2megapixel photos.

You can read the full press release here.