Content and news by Rob Williams

Intel is expecting to lay off 10% of their workforce in a move to become more competitive against rival AMD. From the article: ‘The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker, having suffered several financially disappointing quarters, launched an internal analysis in April to find ways to increase its efficiency. [CEO Paul] Otellini is scheduled to announce the results of the analysis, including the layoff, on Tuesday after the stock market closes, sources familiar with the plans said.

Seems that the CEO really doesn’t like all the extra crust on the proverbial bread. This in no way means that there is trouble brewing for Intel, rather it appears they employed too many people. Interesting…

Leipzig, Germany – August 31, 2006 – Today Valve, creators of the Steam broadband gaming platform, announced that it has partnered with Ubisoft to bring the highly anticipated action role playing title Dark Messiah of Might & Magic to the Steam online distribution service when the product is launched worldwide in October 2006.

Woot, another game that’s going to be easy to get ahold of. Of course it will be in stores also for those who don’t like Steam.

Cases & Enclosures
• Antec Minuet 300 Mini ATX Case – OC Modshop
• NZXT Apollo – TweakPC
• Thermaltake VC4001SNS Mozart HTPC Case – ModTheBox

Cooling
• Thermalright Ultra 90 – techPowerUp!
• Zalman ZM-NWB1 Northbridge Waterblock Cooler – TweakNews

Memory & Storage
• Seagate Sata2 320GB vs. Western Digital Sata 2 320GB – Overclockers Club
• Verbatim Store’n’Go 4GB USB – OC Modshop

Motherboards & Processors
• ASRock Motherboard Previews – OC Inside
• ASRock 775Dual-VSTA – Legit Reviews
• ASUS P5NSLI – Bjorn3D

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• Optical Liquid Wireless Mouse – DragonSteelMods

Displays & Video Cards
• Giveaway: NDA XFX NVIDIA Card – Bjorn3D
• MSI NX7300GS-TD256E GeForce 7300 GS 256MiB – Hexus
• MSI NX7600GT-VT2D256E 256MB – Futurelooks

Complete Systems, Competitions & Etcetera
• Reasons why Vista will Rock for Gaming – Digital Trends
• The Growing Dependency on Mass Mediocrity –

It seems as though Valve is trailer happy lately.
We posted the latest HL2 Episode 2 trailer last night, if you want to also grab it.

This is one of Valves largest HD trailers, weighing in at 218MB! I have to say, when I first seen what the TF2 upgrades looked like, I was highly disappointed. This trailer is somewhat reassuring, however.

Right-Click, Save As (218MB, 3:31)

Firefox 2.0 is an modest step in the browser’s development, as some of the more widely anticipated (and cooler) features having fallen by the wayside during the development cycle. Not making the cut for 2.0 were a new bookmark and history system that originally appeared in an alpha build, which were axed due to developer concerns that their inclusion would further delay the release of 2.0.

If you are a diehard Firefox user and want the latest and greated, give it a download here. Ars takes a quick look at what’s new, and what didn’t make it this time around.

Developers confirmed to have left 3D Realms since last December include Scott Alden, Will Bate, Brian Cozzens, Kyle Davis, Andy Hanson, Keith Schuler, and Charlie Wiederhold. Some of the former employees headed up crucial game systems such as physics, animation, and rendering. Notably, Schuler is a sixteen year veteran of Apogee and 3D Realms. Our sources indicate that while the game’s team has reached a size of about 24-28 developers, recently it has been closer to 18, meaning these current departures may actually comprise a majority of the team. Several sources have indicated that further information regarding these matters is expected next week.

Just when a DNF release was looking hopeful! Ugh. It’s hard to blame the developers for leaving… 10 years working on a single game doesn’t do much to add to your portfolio.

The makers of Browzar reckon the free download, which hitches a ride on Internet Explorer, is ideal for use or shared machines. like those in cybercafes or libraries. The software doesn’t require any installation and removes all temporary files when it is finished. It’s the brainchild of Ajaz Ahmed, who made £1.65bn ($2.37bn) from the free internet provider business to sold to Wanadoo in 2004.

A safer browser based on Internet Explorer is an oxymoron. If the Windows version is based on IE, it’s hard to say what they plan to do with the Mac OS X and Linux versions.While it’s a cool idea, anything it offers can be easily disabled in other browsers.

The Solon, Ohio-based company has come up with a way to combine industrial-grade lamps with fiber-optic technology to create interior lighting systems that consume far less energy than traditional fluorescent or incandescent bulbs. A single 70-watt metal halide high-intensity discharge lamp from Fiberstars linked to the company’s fiber system can provide as much lighting as eight 50-watt incandescent bulbs.

While the lighting systems are expensive to get up and running, some larger supermarkets have saved near $6,000 in power bills per year. Looks like it will be quite a while before it ever makes it into our homes… if ever.

XNA Game Studio Express provides a set of cross-platform libraries and development tools for creating games for Windows XP, Vista and the XBOX 360 console. The current beta is targeted for Windows only, and requires Windows XP SP2 according to the official Microsoft requirements. The current beta allows for development of PC games only, but the final release, scheduled for a release “this holiday season” will allow developers to join the “XNA Creator’s Club” for a $99/year membership fee.

I look forward to seeing what becomes of this… it should prove quite fun after a few months when many homebrews are available. The beta includes source code and a compiled version of a game called Spacewar to get you started.

Users of Linspire, and the free version, Freespire, will now have access to “One-Click” software installs, uninstalls, and updates. According to Linspire officials, one goal of CNR is to make installing and managing open source software easy for users of all experience levels.

It appears that the $50 subscription is still in tact, but will be primarily used to give users discounts on commercial Linux software. Linspire is accomplishing a lot of ground lately. Freespire has already had quite good success, so this is yet another push to get it out there further.

You’ve got mail! …and no job! The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting that RadioShack has notified 400 workers by e-mail that they are being laid off. The e-mails state, “The work force reduction notification is currently in progress. Unfortunately your position is one that has been eliminated.” Nothing says thank you for your years of service to our company quite like an e-boot out the door.

What part of daily life hasn’t made it online yet? None that I can think of, so being fired that way doesn’t seem like much of a surprise. I think if I were to be fired, this is how I’d like it done. Saves one from making the trip into work only to be told that they are canned. Seriously though, this is a rather childish way of dealing with things.

PopCap’s titles such as Bejeweled and Zuma are benchmarks of the casual games industry; generating over 175 million downloads and three billion player minutes per month. Steam is the first full-featured broadband platform for the delivery and management of games and digital content, and has pioneered its broadband services to over 10 million customers, generating over six billion player minutes per month, with core titles such as Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike.

You can read the rest of the press release here.

FLETCHER, OHIO – August 30th, 2006 – Ultra Products, a global leader in technology solutions, has announced the availability of a complete line of modular X-Connect power supply units for under $100. The latest X-Connect© V-Series (XVS) 400W, 500W, 600W, and 700W are the most affordable modular power supplies available anywhere, opening up the market for enthusiasts and hobbyists of all levels and experience.

You can read the full press release here.

Cases & Enclosures
• Antec Fusion – Overclockers Online
• Sunbeam-Tech Silent Storm – Tech Domain
• Thermaltake Armor LCS – TweakPC (German)

Memory & Storage
• Akasa Combo Cardreader – Technic3D
• OCZ PC2-8800 2x1GB DDR2 Memory Kit – Virtual-Hideout
• Vizo Mirrorbox 32-in-1 Card Reader – Think Computers

Motherboards & Processors
• ASUS M2R32-MVP Radeon Xpress 3200 CrossFire- Hexus
• ATI Sturgeon CrossFire Xpress 3200 AM2 – Hexus
• Foxconn C51XEM2AA-8EKRS2H – Bjorn3D
• Gigabyte S-Series Core 2 Duo Motherboards: Value Boards for Core 2 Duo – HardCoreWare
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 and E6700 Overclocking Performance – Tech Spot

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• Plextor PX-755SA Burner – 3D Gameman
• Silverstone Strider 600w Modular PSU – XS Reviews
• Zboard MERC – techPowerUp!

Displays & Video Cards
• ATI Radeon X1950XTX – Nordic Hardware
• ATI to release ‘FireStream’ GPGPU accelerators? – Beyond3D

Complete Systems, Competitions & Etcetera
• Being Smart with Laptop Batteries – Digital Trends
• Benchmarking on Trial – Part 2 – Tech-Hounds
• Giveaway: Zalman VF700-alcu GPU cooler – Tech Domain
• How to install Laptop RAM – Tech Nibble
• Lenovo Thinkpad X60s Notebook – XYZ Computing
• Sabayon Linux 3.0 RC2 Mini – Phoronix
• The Problem with Being Ahead of Your Time – TheTechZone

New footage from the second installment in Valve’s first episodic trilogy is now available. In addition to revealing a little more about where the trilogy leads after Freeman’s time in City 17, Trailer2 shows off the Cinematic Physics system enabled in the Source Engine by Gray Horsfield and others at Valve for Episode Two. Half-Life 2: Episode Two is targeted for release in Q1 2007 for release on the PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

Ok, this trailer is good. The graphics are noticably better than Episode 1. The trees, the water, the destruction of the house. Amazing stuff.

Right Click, Save As (108MB)

The Gentoo release team has just announced the launch of their 2006.1 version, so we are going to take a look at what’s new. Included in the updates is an improved installer/LiveCD with Networkless mode, smarter partitioner, updated compiler and more. This release also adds the addition of an AMD64 Live CD.

In case you missed it on Monday Corsair Memory unveiled the latest innovation in high performance module design, Dual-path Heat Xchange (DHX) technology. From the outside it looks like Corsair changed their heat spreader, but it’s a bit more complex than a minor heat spreader switch!

If you are intrigued by these modules [who couldn’t be?] then you will want to read the new article at Legit Reviews. These spreaders have some serious potential!

Servers memory capacity will get a boost later this year with availability of 16 GB modules. Micron is currently sampling the devices, which are built in a 36x2x2Gb “twin-die” stack configuration. Commercial availability is planned for late 2006. Ultra-dense DDR and DDR2 memory modules ar etypically used in high-end server environments when a memory upgrade makes more economical sense than replacing a complete server. However, high-end memory is not quite mainstream in terms of pricing and typically out of reach for the average customer.

I look forward to seeing what this module actually looks like. For ~$15,000, I don’t think many people will be jumping on this one. I can’t imagine what server would need this module. Considering 8GB * 2 would technically offer better performance, it would be hard to imagine anyone ponying up $30K for 32GB of ram!

Last week, I posted a link to DesktopLinux.com and their quick survey. It didn’t take long for the results to roll in.

Still, when all is said and done, we do think that our survey does say some interesting things about the current state of desktop Linux. So, without further ado, here’s what we found.
The most popular desktop of Linux today is… well, most of you can already guess without seeing the scores: Ubuntu. Ubuntu, with 29.2 percent of the vote, has been the hottest community Linux since early 2005. While this Linux has had its problems lately, such as the update fiasco on August 21st and 22nd, users continue to download, install, and love it.

The runners-up are Debian, openSUSE and then Gentoo for fourth place. You can see the rest of the results here but they are not in graph format so you will actually have to read.

Using the highest performance graphics hardware comes at a cost. Actually, it has many costs: money, power, heat, and noise. Money can buy you a high performance graphics card, and a strong power supply can provide the power it needs… but no matter what you do, that monster graphics processor is going to output a very substantial amount of heat. To make matters worse, cooling that hardware is probably going to be pretty loud, to boot.

Out of the five they tested out, none of them proved perfect. The Arctic Cooling Accelero and EVERCOOL Turbo coolers were of the highest ranked though with 4 out of 5 overall scores.