Content and news by Rob Williams

GNOME 2.16 is the latest version of the popular, multi-platform free desktop environment, providing all the tools a user needs for everyday work, and a platform for developers to write new software. GNOME’s focus is ease of use, stability, and first class internationalization and accessibility support, so that GNOME and its applications are usable by anyone, anywhere.

If you are a GNOME user and didn’t know that this was out… then where have you been? To see all of what’s new, you can check out the release page and notes. Phoronix has a look at the newest version with Ubuntu, and Ars Technica looks deeper into what’s been upgraded.

Sunnyvale, CA—September 6, 2006—OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, is pleased to announce the opening of the new OCZ Asia Pacific Product Development and Logistics Center, located in Chung Ho City, Taipei County, Taiwan.

You can read the full press release here.

SUNNYVALE, CALIF. and MARKHAM, ONTARIO – Sept. 6, 2006 – Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE: AMD) and ATI Technologies Inc. (TSX: ATY, NASDAQ: ATYT) today announced that the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended, relating to the proposed acquisition of ATI by AMD, has expired. In addition, the Commissioner of Competition issued an advance ruling certificate in connection with the proposed acquisition under the Canadian Competition Act, and the German Federal Cartel Office likewise has cleared the transaction. As a result, the conditions to the acquisition relating to U.S., Canadian and German antitrust approvals are now satisfied.

You can read the full press release here.

Cases & Enclosures
• Antec Fusion Media Center Case – DragonSteelMods
• ICYDOCK MB122 SKGF and Modiflash 722 – Virtual-Hideout
• Telstar TLD-3500 Network Attached Storage Enclosure – Big Bruin

Memory & Storage
• OCZ PC4000 EB Platinum Edition – ClubOC
• OCZ PC2-8000 Titanium Alpha VX2 – techARP

Motherboards & Processors
• ASUS Crosshair – Hardware Info
• ASUS P5W64 WS Professional – Hexus
• ASUS WL-500g Premium – Phoronix
• E6300 and E6400 Core 2 Duo – Neoseeker
• MSI K9A Platinum – Motherboards.org

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• Logitech G15 – Laptop Gamers
• Razer Barracuda HP-1 Gaming Headphones – XYZ Computing
• Saitek Pro Gamer Command Unit – Game Apex
• Ultra X2 550 Watt Modular PSU – Futurelooks

Displays & Video Cards
• eVGA e-GeForce 7900 GS Superclocked – Hexus
• GeForce 7900 GS – Tech Report
• Kinc Overlocking Radeon X1950XTX – Nordic Hardware
• NGO Nvidia Optimized Driver v1.9147 – NGOHQ
• NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS Shootout – Guru3D
• Powercolor X1950XTX – Overclock3D
• XFX GeForce 7900 GS 480M Extreme & 7950 GT – HotHardware
• XFX GeForce 7900 GS XT – Bjorn3D
• XFX GeForce 7900 GS – Neoseeker
• XFX GeForce 7900 GS 480M – Legit Reviews
• XFX GeForce 7900 GS 480M Extreme – HardOCP

Complete Systems, Competitions & Etcetera
• “Building A KICKASS Gaming Rig Part 2 of 3” – 3D Gameman
• Canon PIXMA MP510 – BIOS Magazine
• Cyber Snipa Dog Tags – ClubOC
• JBL On Time iPod Dock – Digital Trends
• “Why We Resist Change” – The TechZone

Valve just doesn’t want to stop! We posted #1 and #2 last night, but apparently that’s not enough to whet an appetite.

The third of five new gameplay movies from Half-Life® 2: Episode Two is now available. This cut of gameplay footage features vehicle-based fighting and some of the more open style of combat featured in EpTwo. Targeted for release in Q1 2007 on the PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, Half-Life 2: Episode Two will also include Team Fortress 2 and Portal.

As always, the video is in WMV HD format, and weighs in at 124MB.

Right-Click, Save As – 124MB

Magnatune is the non-evil record label who gives away 128 kbps mp3s of all their artist’s songs for free. You can then choose (or not) to purchase DRM-free higher quality versions at a price you set and they allow you to share their purchased songs with 3 friends. The label splits revenues 50/50 with their (carefully picked) signed artists, while these artists keep all of the rights to their music with a non-exclusive contract.

We need more of this! The site isn’t chock full of artists yet, but its well done. You can preview a CD prior to listening, and then purchase the album by download. If you, like me, would rather own the actual disc, you can do that also. You can even pay what you -want- for it… between $5 – $18. The reason? 50% goes straight back to the artist. Lets see this catch on!

Microsoft Corp. announced on Tuesday U.S. prices for Windows Vista, the long-awaited new version of the operating system that sits on more than 90 percent of the world’s personal computers. Microsoft, the world’s biggest software maker, also reconfirmed its plan to target a general launch of the product in January after making it available to large-volume business customers in November.

Not surprisingly, the leaked prices revealed last week by Amazon are right on the money. For the creme of the crop, Ultimate Edition will set you back $399. For the modest Home Premium, it’s an easier to stomach $239.

This 3-minute video of 1,000 runs of the same Trackmania Sunrise road course, overlaid on each other, turns the game into a gorgeous picture of an ordered system tending toward chaos. The pack starts out in perfect shape and becomes a glorious mess by the end of the course. Plus, it’s just beautiful stuff.

This is far from being tech news, but this is some cool tech! I am unsure how this was accomplished, but the video includes a literal 1,000 cars driving throughout the same track at the same time. It turns out to be an enjoyable watch, so give it a look.

“RC1 is in the best shape of anything they have shipped for Vista, but in the old nomenclature I would call this at best a Beta Three and not a Release Candidate One,” said Mike Cherry, lead Windows analyst at Directions on Microsoft, a newsletter in Kirkland, Wash. “I am always skeptical of a plan that is so good that you know that you are only going to have a single release candidate and then get to golden or release quality code. Instead I think they will do a second release candidate at a minimum and finish up or release to manufacturing sometime in December.”

Even with the vast improvements over the past few months, it looks like Vista is just not meant to hit its January launch date. Surprising? No. It is quite hard to get excited for a buggy operating system at this point.

Next-Gen has ranked the top 100 PC games released since January 2000, based wholly on unit sales. Revenues, aggregate review scores, commentary, franchise information and more are included.

We are aware it’s not the end of the 21st Century yet, but no harm in getting a head start on things! This is a great list… and should take a good half-hour to read if you are going to skim it all. First place? The Sims of course. Half-Life 2 landed itself at 17 and Halo at 20.

Hundreds of protest ‘Groups’ formed, the largest of which have over 10,000 members, and sites like this student portal sprung up to pour scorn on the recent changes. The biggest gripe is the new “News Feed” on every page that tracks recent changes, activities, and comments made by everyone the user is connected to, such as a change in a users relationship status.

Is this a surprise? Facebook has got to be one of the worst social networking sites for things like this… though it’s even worse now. When will people realize that typing out your life on any website is not the smartest thing to do?

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 5, 2006 – Intel today announced plans for restructuring following an analysis of the company’s structure and efficiency. As a result of the restructuring, the company expects to generate savings in costs and operating expenses of approximately $2 billion in 2007. In 2008 the company expects savings from this restructuring to grow to approximately $3 billion annually.

You can read the complete press release right here.

Cooling
• Apack Zerotherm BTF80 Aluminum Heatpipe Intel/AMD Processor Cooler – TweakNews
• OCZ Tempest CPU Cooler – XS Reviews

Memory & Storage
• Sandisk Cruzer Titanium 2GB USB U3 Flash Drive – Overclockers Club

Motherboards & Processors
• ECS 945G-M3 Viiv – Viper Lair

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• Anyreal DPF-8800 8-inch Digital Photo Frame – Think Computers
• be quiet! Straight Power (Quad Rail) 550 Watt PSU – TweakPC (German)
• CoolMax CUG-600B Green Power 600W – Big Bruin
• Razer Barracuda™ HP-1 8 Channel Gaming Headphones – Modders-Inc

Displays & Video Cards
• Diamond Viper X1600 PRO 512 MB – HardOCP
• NVIDIA Launches The GeForce 7950 GT & GeForce 7900 GS – techARP

Complete Systems, Competitions & Etcetera
• Apple MacPro Video Tour – Digital Trends
• ATI X1950XTX Event in Brazil – MadBoxPC (Spanish)
• “How to Protect Your Eyes While Gaming” – Laptop Gamers
• “Guide To Reinstalling Windows XP” – Digital Grabber
• Motherboard Tray Mod – Virtual-Hideout
• PDA & Handheld Computers Buying Guide – The TechZone
• “The Trials and Tribulations of Buying Your Term Papers Online” – Futurelooks

It feels like Valve is on a serious trailer rampage here, which is why they threw two new videos at us at once this time around.

The first of five new gameplay movies from Half-Life 2: Episode Two are now available. In addition to revealing some of the new locations featured in Episode Two, these movies also demonstrate some of the technical updates made to the Source Engine, such as the new particle system and soft shadowing effects. Half-Life 2: Episode Two is targeted for release in Q1 2007 for release on the PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 and will include Team Fortress 2 and Portal.

It’s going to be difficult to wait until early next year for this one. It looks even more amazing with each new video! As always, these are in WMV HD format.

• Right-Click, Save As – 157MB
• Right-Click, Save As – 91.4MB

Google Inc., which refused in the past year to hand over user search data to U.S. authorities fighting children’s access to pornography, said yesterday that it was complying with a Brazilian court’s orders to turn over data that could help identify users accused of taking part in online communities that encourage racism, pedophilia and homophobia. The difference, it says, is scale and purpose.

It seems that Google really had no choice at all in this matter, but at least it’s a worthwhile case. The continual moral of the story is that you have no privacy online, so it’s best to use it with that mindset.

While our upgrade experience was fairly good, we recommend that administrators opt instead for a clean install, teamed perhaps with Vista’s Windows Easy Transfer utility for carrying over files and settings from the previous install. Not only is a clean install much faster than an upgrade, our tests show, but the significant changes in how Windows Vista handles software installation bring the possibility of compatibility issues that might not be immediately apparent.

I have always thought this was common sense, but apparently not. Fresh install means a smooth running system. If after a fresh install you run into a problem, you can’t very well blame it on the fact of upgrading ;-)

Market sources say that about 20 million Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) processors will be used in Dell’s servers, desktop PCs and notebooks between the fourth quarter of 2006 and the fourth quarter of 2007. Dell will use four million AMD CPUs in its notebook line while sixteen million AMD CPUs will appear in Dell’s desktop and server products, according to the sources.

Well this answers the question as to whether Intel’s Conroe will or will not end AMD’s reign. I’ve always been a fan of choice, so I am glad to see Dell finally listening to the customers. No doubt the lawsuit had everything to do with this, but who cares. People are going to have -choice-!

The spam contains an animated GIF with four frames. One of the frames (which contains the actual spam message) remains visible for 17 seconds. The other three frames are displayed for 10ms or 40ms, and each of those contains a little random noise and the word BUY in random positions.

This is actually quite hilarious because it’s far too easy to spot the ‘hidden text’. This may be due to a limitation in the GIF file format, I’m not sure. Good for a laugh at a petty attempt though.

California legislators have passed a law which will force makers of wireless internet equipment to include guidance on keeping data secure on wireless connections. The law now awaits signature by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. From 1 October 2007, manufacturers must place warning labels on all equipment capable of receiving Wi-Fi signals, according to the new state law.

I’m impressed that there is a new law I actually agree with wholeheartedly. Though this isn’t important for geeks or anyone else out there reading this, it’s great for those who are not knowledgeable about PC’s or computer security in general. Bring it on!

After a short break, the Phoronix Redblog is back and ready to roll! This comeback is due to the amount of messages received asking for the blog’s return and the overwhelming help users continue to request… Getting back on track with the ATI fglrx Linux content, since the 50-day trial ended on July 20 there have been two driver releases — 8.27.10 and 8.28.8. The fglrx 8.27.10 drivers had introduced X.Org v7.1 support, Radeon X1000 series TV-out support, Fedora Core packaging support, and a few small fixes…

It’s good to see this back up and action! You can see what it’s all about right here and subscribe to the RSS if you want to keep up to date.