Content and news by Rob Williams

AMAZON UK is taking preorders for highly anticipated Duke Nukem Forever and it claims that the game should be available on the 29th September 2006. This story may have been around teh block many times before, with different dates attached, but it would be a refreshing change if the game actually hit the shelves in September.

If only this were true, then that would be a great day. We are on what, year 10 of waiting?

I’ve never liked the idea of the Windows Product Activation, though over the years I’ve grown fairly accustomed to the process which can frequently require a call to Microsoft and the reading of a 54-digit long “Installation ID” to a friendly computer with speech recognition (something Microsoft is still working on). Tonight, however, was the first time that many of my misgivings over the activation process were realized and validated. If that picture of a nearly 22 minute phone call with Microsoft’s activation hotline has peaked your interest, please do read on.

I am quite thankful that I have never run into such a problem. This is like punishing people who legally fork over the $300 for a copy of Windows. Doesn’t seem that fair.

You knew it was coming. So I’ll spare the lengthy story and just start with the quotes from the train-wreck that is Jack Thompson, Attorney at Law. Identifying numbers and addresses have been blanked out. These documents were kindly provided by Jack himself to Trusted Reviews and Bit-tech.

It didn’t take long for good ‘ole Jack to get the train rolling. I have to wonder if he realizes that there are other violent and questionable games out there. Then I also have to wonder if Rockstar purposely created Bully to egg him on. Good times!

The PCI Express x8 based Areca SATA II RAID controllers are based on Intel’s 81341 I/O processor clocked at 800 MHz. One 240-pin DIMM slot is available as a cache and comes with 256MB of DDR2-533 ECC. Memory can be upgraded to 2GB with another DDR2 memory module. Non-ECC memory modules are supported as well.

If you have ever set up a raid, you will appreciate this card. 24 ports! As you would expect… it’s an absolute monster.

OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, today announced the first ever production DDR2-1100 modules, developed for the latest processors from AMD® and Intel®. The new OCZ PC2-8800 Gold Edition will offer computer enthusiasts and gamers unparalleled performance and the piece of mind they are guaranteed to produce the world’s fastest memory speeds within their personal desktop or gaming system.

You can read the full press release here.

SAN FRANCISCO (LinuxWorld Conference & Expo) – Aug. 15, 2006 – Lenovo and Novell today announced the industry’s first Linux-based ThinkPad mobile workstations, which will run Novell’s recently released SUSE® Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 operating system. The workstations are based on Intel Centrino Duo mobile technology. This groundbreaking innovation, the result of a two-year research and development effort between Lenovo, Intel and Novell, allows electronic engineers engaged in integrated circuit and board level design the necessary support solution for numeric intensive applications in any mobile environment.

You can read the full press release here.

Sunnyvale, Calif. – Aug. 15, 2006 – AMD (NYSE:AMD) today introduced its Next-Generation AMD Opteron(tm) processor family, featuring industry-leading performance-per-watt and outstanding virtualization capabilities. As the only x86 server processor with planned upgradeability to native quad-core within the same thermal design power envelope, Next-Generation AMD Opteron processors are designed to enable customers to increase computing capacity without altering datacenter infrastructure. Improving upon what already is recognized as a standard-bearer for energy-conscious microprocessor architecture design, new platforms based on Next-Generation AMD Opteron processors will be offered in record numbers from global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

You can check out the entire press release right here.

Cases & Enclosures
• 7zoneUSA PC DIY Kits – ModTheBox
• Shuttle X100HA Small Form-Factor PC – Hexus
• Thermaltake Mozart TX – techPowerUp!
• Vizo Luxon 3.5″ IDE/SATA Hard Drive Enclosure – Big Bruin

Cooling
• OCZ Tempest CPU Cooler – Think Computers

Memory & Storage
• OCZ Rally 2 Thumb Drive – Overclocker Cafe
• Vantec NexStar LX NAS Storage – A True Review

Motherboards & Processors
• Gigabyte M59SLI-S5 – TechSpot

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• AMD AM2 3800 x2 – XS Reviews
• Cooler Master Musketeer III Tube Amplifier – Motherboards.org
• Corsair CMPSU-620HX PSU – HotHardware
• FrozenCPU Ultimate LCD Power Supply Tester – Virtual-Hideout
• SteelSeries SteelPad QcK heavy – techFEAR

Complete Systems, Competitions & Etcetera
• Canon Digital IXUS 800 IS – BIOS Magazine
• Microsoft Does “Who wants to be a Game Designer?” – Digital Trends
• Samsung SCX-4200 Multifunction Printer – XYZ Computing

If you are in the market for a memory kit that offers great overclocking ability along with an ideal price, then G. Skill may have you covered. Equipped with the amazing Micron GMH chips, these modules have some pushing power.

This past weekend, they descended on a field in beautiful Amity, Oregon for two days of plotting and stomping. By Sunday, over an acre of oats was emblazoned with the Firefox logo. To get the pictures, they pulled out the planes and the helicopters.

Wow. Time well wasted maybe? Firefox is a great browser, but this is crazy dedication! That, and some people know how to use up a few days worth of free time.

However, out of their “abundance of sensitivity” (yes, they used that phrase), they have decided to drop the case. Seems a bit funny that said abundance of sensitivity didn’t show up until the equally abundant “bad PR” hit the internet.

In the end, the only thing that matters is that the RIAA will stop hounding the grieving family. It’s just ridiculous what cowards they are to begin with though.

InfoWorld has an article informing us that an early beta of Mac OS 10.5 has been leaked. This appears to be the same build Steve Jobs previewed at WWDC, and contains most of the new features, including Time Machine and Spaces.

Now this is what a call a quick leak! Despite legally binding agreements, someone leaked it on the internet that quickly. There’s no doubt Apple is working hard to figure out who the culprit is.

In even more Optie news…

AMD has officially announced its revision F Opteron 8000, 2000 and 1000 series of server and workstation class processors to take on Intel’s previously released Xeon Woodcrest processors. AMD Opteron revision F processors are architecturally similar to AMD’s socket AM2 consumer processor architecture. Revision F processors introduce DDR2 to AMD’s Opteron—a feature Intel introduced a few years back to its Xeon lineup. Opteron revision F processors also have a new socket too; this time around AMD has abandoned the traditional pin-grid array layout for a land-grid array layout originally used by Intel with its LGA775 socket. AMD’s land-grid array socket has 1,207 pins.

I look forward to seeing the performance from these, but unlike the legendary 939 Opterons, these will require a completely new board. A board which obviously will not be designed for overclocking.

“AMD plans to deliver to customers in mid-2007 native Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors that incorporate four processor cores on a single die of silicon.” For a little historical perspective, AMD’s dual-core Opteron was taped out in June 2004, and then officially introduced in late April, 2005.

One huge benefit with the upcoming Quad-Cores, is that they will work in current Dual Core capable motherboards. Though mainly for servers, this one will be interesting to watch.

To celebrate the 15th anniversary of the web we’ve assembled a list of sites that have become the virtual wallpaper of our lives. What the corresponding list will be like in 15 years’ time is anyone’s guess. As the man said, if you want to know the future, go buy a crystal ball. In the meantime, read on and wonder.

Yesterday, I posted a link to Times 50 coolest websites, but this new list from the Observer is one I can actually agree with. On the list is eBay, Slashdot, Amazon and Wikipedia.

PC World reports that HP is to offer support for Debian Linux on its ProLiant and HP BladeSystem servers. Support will be provided by HP telephone operators rather than the discussion groupmethod that curent Debian users rely on. The move to support Debian continues HP’s relationship with the community based os which stretches back to 1995.

Seeing official support for Linux like this is great. It’s too bad there were not more distros to choose from, but it’s certainly better than nothing!

The recall affects certain Inspiron, Latitude and Precision mobile workstations and XPS units shipped between April 2004 and July 18, 2006. Sony manufactured the batteries that are being recalled, the representative said.

You will want to check out the posting here to see if your notebook is included. Despite me buying a Dell laptop in that timeframe, it does not look like my model is affected. Phew.

Cases & Enclosures
• HSPC Large Top Deck Tech Station – Virtual-Hideout
• Sansun Galaxy – Technic3D
• SilverStone LC18 HTPC – 3D Gameman
• Apevia Corp X-Discovery – DragonSteelMods

Cooling
• Zalman CNPS8000 – Overclockers Online

Memory & Storage
• Crucial Ballistix DDR2-5300 2GB Kit – Think Computers
• DDR2-800 7-way Roundup – Driver Heaven
• Supertalent 2GB memory kit – Red & Blackness
• Transcend JetFlash 210 1GB Finger Print USB Flash Drive – Big Bruin

Motherboards & Processors
• Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe – Viper Lair
• ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe – Legion Hardware
• Core 2 Duo E6600, E6700 and X6800 – Guru 3D
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 – PC Masters
• Phylon 7F2WE-1G5 Mini-ITX – EPIA Center

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• 400-500Watt PSU shootout – Hexus
• Bigfoot Networks Killer NIC Card Seen For The First Time – Legit Reviews
• Logitech G15 – TweakNews
• Razer Krait Mouse – Hi-Tech Reviews
• Ultra 1200W Uninterruptible Power Supply – Legit Reviews
• XClio GREATPOWER X12S4P3-550W – Pro-Clockers

Complete Systems, Competitions & Etcetera
• Acer CU-6530 6.3MP Digital Camera – UK Gamer
• onOne Software’s PhotoFrame Pro 3 – BIOS Magazine
• So How do GPS Companies Get Their Maps? – Digital Trends

OCZ has been launching some amazing kits lately, and this one is no exception. In our tests, we have managed to bring this modest DDR2-900 up to DDR2-1140 speeds and still retain some great stability.

Talking on the eve of its Gamefest event in Seattle, Microsoft has revealed XNA Game Studio Express, a new product which will allow indie developers and students to develop simultaneously on Xbox 360 and PC, and share their games to others in a new Xbox 360 ‘Creators Club’.

Now this is what I call a great idea! The development software will be free for Windows PCs, and it appears that you can code on the PC and immediately give it a test on the 360. Future plans include an enhanced Live Arcade section that may include these homebrew games.