Content and news by Rob Williams

Cases & Enclosures
• Antec SOLO Mid-Tower Enclosure – Virtual-Hideout
• Enermax Chakra ATX Case – Big Bruin
• Sansun Galaxy ATX/BTX Black Computer Case – TweakNews
• Shuttle XPC SN27P2 – Tech Report
• Shuttle XPC X100 – SFF Tech
• SilverStone TJ07 – XYZ Computing
• Sunbeamtech Silent Storm – OC Inside

Cooling
• OCZ Tempest – Overclockers Online
• SilverStone NT04 CPU Cooler – Think Computers
• Titan Eagle Copper VGA Cooler – Viper Lair
• Verax Helado PWM-T Low Noise Heatsink – FrostyTech

Memory & Storage
• GIGABYTE GC-RAMDISK i-RAM – Hexus
• SuperTalent PC2-8000 2x512MB – Driver Heaven

Motherboards & Processors
• AMD Athlon64 3500+ (Orleans) – MadBoxPC (Spanish, Translated)
• ECS KA3 MVP Extreme – Bit-Tech

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• Logisys Office, Internet and Multimedia Pro Illuminated Keyboard – Bjorn3D
• Super Talent MEGA Screen MP3 Player – 3D Gameman
• Ultra X-Connect X2 550W PSU – Legit Reviews
• Vizo UFO USB Hub – Red & Blackness

Displays & Video Cards
• Albatron 7300GT – LAN Addict
• ASUS EN7600GT Silent – Motherboards.org
• HP LP2465 24-inch LCD – Digital Trends
• NGO NVIDIA Optimized Driver v1.9137 – NGOHQ

Complete Systems, Competitions & Etcetera
• Mio C510E – BIOS Magazine

Adobe has resumed work on a Linux version of its Flash Player and plans to catch the software up to its Windows and Mac OS X equivalent, version 9, the company has said. “We expect to make a pre-release version available on Adobe Labs for early feedback and testing before the end of the year, with the full release expected in early 2007.”

This has been a hot topic lately, and it’s good to see that Adobe is working to bring 9 to Linux. They’ve also opened a blog which has been updated near everyday.

Nigeria has officially ordered and paid for one million of the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) devices, according to the Nigerian Vanguard newspaper. The deal is the first actual order for the project that aims to provide Linux-powered laptops to children in developing economies.

It’s good to hear that one Country has jumped on the bandwagon. Before production begins though, OLPC needs a total of 5 Million orders.

Darling of the dotcom boom – online retailer, Amazon – has reported that in Q2 2006, its operating income declined dramatically from $104 million in Q2 2005 to $47 million in 2006. A contract dispute with Toys ‘R’ Us was partly to blame.

Who would have thought Toys ‘R’ Us was such a big part of Amazon? Of course it’s not the only reason for the drops, but they are quite significant.

Samsung is beginning production of a special 4GB solid-state disk (SSD) it says will dramatically speed up notebooks and PCs when using Microsoft Windows Vista. Using a Vista feature called Windows ReadyBoost, Samsung says this little flash disk will eliminate hundreds of exasperating multi-second delays when working with the operating system.

I could see how this could benefit notebooks, but what about PC’s with 2 – 4GB of system ram?

A few days ago, Ritual Entertainment’s Mike Russell posted a frustrated blog entry about piracy and its effect on his job and on developers such as Ritual. Recently, Russell has observed that he has been dealing with about five times as many support requests from pirates as he has from legitimate users, a figure that has a significant impact on Ritual’s bottom line.

Five times? That’s insane. It’s one thing to steal a game from a company, but then to take up their time with support? Just how clueless are people?

HP announced this week that it agreed to buy Israeli-based Mercury Interactive Corp. for roughly $4.5 billion in stock. HP said that it will pay $52 per share in Mercury Interactive and the acquisition is aimed about expanding HP’s business software portfolio. News of HP’s acquisition surfaced Tuesday, which negatively affected HP’s share price, knocking down the value roughly 4 percent.

Man, this is the week for mergers and acquisitions! Phillips Semiconductor is still up for grabs, for only around $10B for those interested.

In a demonstration session for the media at its Silicon Valley headquarters yesterday, AMD revealed a few more details about its plans for its upcoming enthusiast-oriented platform, code-named 4×4. Read on to see why 4×4 may prove to be a really nice development for PC hobbyists, not just a stunt to distract attention from The Other Guy’s shiny new processors.

It’s really good to hear that you will not need a pricy FX processor to take advantage of this. However, it does not look like you will be able to just go out and pick up a 3800+ X2 and expect it to work. When AMD finally has it figured out, things are going to be interesting.

In the past, the majority of EclipseOC’s hardware reviews have been in a case. To be specific, an Antec Super Lanboy, complete with the stock fans that move next to no air. The somewhat cramped quarters and rather odd placement of the watercooling loop that is used to cool the CPU was getting more and more frustrating with each passing day. Finally, I have put my foot down to say: “No more!”. To be able to change things was an exciting, but slightly daunting idea.

If you are interested in an open air case, they can be somewhat expensive for something that looks so simple. EclipseOC was fed up with a cramped up case, so they built their own.

In June at our analyst day in Sunnyvale, AMD introduced “Torrenza” and reinforced our commitment to an open architecture for third-party innovation. In the near term, 2007, we should be able to deliver new customer-centric, unified solutions for key market segments like mobile and commercial. For these market segments a tighter coupling of the CPU and GPU has the potential to deliver a compelling performance-per-watt proposition.

This is a great interview if you want to know what’s going on. The future doesn’t seem so bad, at this point.

Saratoga, California – July 25th, 2006 – Futuremark Corporation, the world’s leading provider of system performance-analysis software and services for PCs, smartphones and other handheld devices, today announced the delivery of their latest demo production to Digital Media Professionals (DMP) of Japan.

You can read the full press release here.

Func Industries LLC, a leading provider of precision mousing surfaces for competitive gaming and other professional PC applications, is offering online customers the ability to fully customize products using their own uploaded graphics, in addition to a growing selection of images. The Func Custom Gear utility initially features four sizes of Func’s award-winning gaming mouse pads for customers to choose from with additional products scheduled for inclusion later this year.

You can read the full press release here.

Cases & Enclosures
• SanSun Galaxy BTX Case – 3D Gameman

Cooling
• Apack ZeroTherm BTF80 Copper Heatsink – FrostyTech
• orsair Nautilus 500 Watercooling – Guru3D
• Vizo Sleet Chipset and DDR coolers – Pro-Clockers

Memory & Storage
• Edge Tech Corp DiskGo 4Gb 1” Mini Hard Drive – DragonSteelMods
• OCZ Ultra-Slim Mini-Kart USB 2.0 Flash Drive – OCIA
• Smarthumb 2.0 Software – Think Computers

Motherboards & Processors
• Intel Pentium D 940 3.2GHz Dual Core – PC Stats

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• Logitech V450 Cordless Notebook Mouse – ASE Labs
• Logitech MX1000 – GamePyre
• Nova Mousepads – Technic3D
• Primera Bravo II Disc Publisher – ExtensiveMods

Displays & Video Cards
• Gainward BLISS 7300 GT PCX Golden Sample – TechARP
• GeForce 7300GT vs. Radeon X1600 Pro – Tech Spot
• GeForce 7600GT Round Up – Tech-Hounds
• NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GS AGP shootout – Hexus
• NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX vs. 7950 GX2 – techPowerUp!

Complete Systems, Competitions & Etcetera
• Everglide Fantasy Baseball Give Away – Big Bruin
• Philips Holidays in June Event – Digital Trends

We all like to take care of our stuff, and the DS Lite is no exception. In that light, I am taking a look at the DS Lite screen protectors and leather case from Proporta.

Roger A. Grimes, a security columnist at InfoWorld, has posted a $100 challenge — extra goodies as well — both on the mailing list and at his blog at InfoWorld, to anyone who can crack one of three password challenges. Grimes’ assertion is that password length alone can provide more than adequate password protection.

If you feel up to cracking some passwords, you may be ‘abel’ to win $100. Of course long and complex passwords are the best. It’s remembering them that’s the hard part :)

Microsoft has denied its working on a DirectX physics API for the upcoming DirectX 10. DailyTech previously reported Microsoft may be interested in developing a physics API due to a job description on Microsoft’s employment page. However, according to a recent interview with Rick Wickham, Director of the Windows Gaming business in the September issue of Maximum PC magazine, such rumors were denied.

Adding a physics API to Direct X wouldn’t be such a bad idea, so even though they deny the fact, it’s likely they still have something in the works. Physics.. is the future. When that future will be, is yet to be seen.

Nintendo has acknowledged a flaw in the DS Lite that could leave some with a cracked case. Some DS Lite handhelds are showing cracks in the left hand side of the case near the hinge, just above the power connector. Nintendo claims the flaw is rare only affecting 0.02% of the total number of DS Lite handhelds shipped.

It seems unlikely that 0.02% is an accurate number, especially since pictures were spotted at a Nintendo store of DS Lites with cracked hinges. Either way, they will fix it for free as long as it’s under a year old.

Cases & Enclosures
• NMediaPC HTPC 180BA Case – ModTheBox
• NZXT Lexa & Apollo ATX Cases – 3D Gameman

Cooling
• Apack ZeroTherm BTF90 Copper Heatsink – FrostyTech
• Evercool SilverKnight Heatpipes + Water CPU Cooler – MadBoxPC
• nMedia ICETANK CPU Cooler- Think Computers
• Thermaltake Big Typhoon – ModSynergy
• Thermaltake Big Typhoon – techPowerUp!

Memory & Storage
• Western Digital WD5000KS 500GB SATA HDD – HotHardware

Motherboards & Processors
• Foxconn C51XEM2AA 8EKRS2H – Overclockers Online
• Intel Xeon 5160 ‘Woodcrest’ CPU & Armari Magnetar X2 – Hexus

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• Connectland/Brando USB Mini Vacuum – DragonSteelMods
• Logitech mm28 Portable Speakers – Digital Trends
• Super Talent 2GB MEGA Screen MP3 Player – UK Gamer

Displays & Video Cards
• Leadtek 7900 GTX – Technic3D
• Philips 200WB7 20″ WSXGA LCD Widescreen Monitor – Bona Fide Reviews

Complete Systems, Competitions & Etcetera
• Evesham Voyager C545 – BIOS Magazine
• Sitecom USB On-The-Go Copy Box CN-131 – TechDomain

Kate OS 3 is nearing it’s final stages, so I thought I would take a look at the recent beta. This is a lightweight distro with the goals of providing what you need to get a great system up and running, and also the security and efficiency you need.

According to reports, Philips’ semiconductor business is up for bids with three private equity teams that is expected to amount more than $10 billion. The reports said that Philips has just a few days to submit a final bid for its business. The company recently announced that it wanted to sell off its semiconductor business unit to focus more heavily on core competencies.

This is somewhat of a surprise. Like we needed another crazy sell so fast ;-)