Content and news by Rob Williams

A group of computer experts from the University of Cambridge claims that they are now able to circumvent the censorship mechanism that China uses to block unwanted content from reaching its citizens. Certain words are banned and certain websites are also banned. A user sitting within the country’s network will not be able to reach websites for which the government has deemed inappropriate. China itself has defended its right to police the Internet for its citizens many times.

It was bound to happen, and there’s no doubt this ‘hole’ has already been exploited before. I am sure it will not take them long to fix it though.

Two men from Manitoba have hired a lawyer and are threatening legal action after a Winnipeg casino refused to pay out more than $209,000 in slot-machine winnings.
The men were playing a computerized version of Keno last week when they matched all five numbers on the screen. The machine said the win was worth a jackpot of $209,716.40. The casino said it was a software error.

You have to feel for these guys, who fully believed they won $200K. Granted though, they where on nickel machines!

UDI addresses the primary issue of cost by redesigning the current DVI standard. While there is room and margin in the video card market to add DVI, the interface is relatively complicated and costly to add to the value space, which is made up mainly of integrated chipset graphics solutions. According to Silicon Image, motherboards with integrated DVI chipset output for the business and value market do not exist — although NVIDIA’s integrated GeForce 6150, positioned for Media Center PCs, does feature a DVI TMDS. Some manufacturers have created DVI-output add-in boards that contain the necessary transmitter as a purchasable option.

I am sure I am not alone when I say there is far too many different ports and such. Usually choice is a good thing, but unless TV’s/Monitors come with 20 different connectors, consumers will have a rougher time with purchase decisions.

Google spoke to reporters today and warned that if broadband service providers abuse a possible right given by the government, it will step up and file anti-trust complaints. The issue boils down to net neutrality, which has been large ongoing issue between broadband service providers, companies, schools and the government. Google says that it hopes that legislators will support net neutrality, which will prevent large telcos and cable companies from creating tiered networks, charging more for a certain type of use than another, even though the data travels the on same network.

Now this is a rather comforting thought… to know that such a large company has our backs. It’s good to see massive companies with lots of cash take action instead of sitting around.

Cases & Enclosures
• Aerocool ExtremEngine 3T – TweakPC (German)
• Fantec LanDrive 3,5 External – Technic3D(German)

Memory & Storage
• Kingston HyperX DDR2-800 2GB – HotHardware
• Kingston HyperX PC3200 KHX3200AK2/2G 2GB Kit – PC Modding Malaysia
• RAID 2: A Look At The PCI Players – Bjorn3D

Motherboards & CPU’s
• ASUS A8R32-MVP Deluxe Motherboard – Legit Reviews
• ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe – TechSpot
• ASUS P5WD2-E Premium Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 975X – Think Computers
• MSI K9N SLI Platinum – nForce 570 SLI – Hexus

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• Blackberry 8700c – XYZ Computing
• Kingwin Absolute Power ABT-600CW – Virtual-Hideout
• SteelPad QcK+ Mouse Pad – ModTheBox
• VIZO Multi-Function USB 2.0 LAN Dock – Hardware-Review

Video Cards & Monitor
• NGO ATI Optimized Driver v1.6.6 – NGOHQ
• Palit GeForce 7900GT “Sonic” 512MB in SLI – TweakTown

Etcetera, Complete Systems & Contests
• Brando Skype USB Phone – Bona Fide Reviews
• NOVOGO V30 Satellite Navigation – UK Gamer
• Sling Media’s Slingbox – BIOS Magazine

Some games have a hugely impressive pedigree with a history that has dominated your early gaming years. Tomb Raider is one such game. Championship Manager is another. Then there’s Worms and Sensible Soccer too. Which just happen to be two Codemasters’ titles and so have something in common with the game under the spotlight, Micro Machines V4 a game that across multiple platforms ruled the roost for top-down, then isometric racing games.

I had high hopes for this one, but after playing the demo I was left with a bad taste in my mouth. Hexus Gaming had a good time with it though. Their main complaint is the ackward camera angles at times. I hear that!

In an attempt to protest against Sweden’s new piracy law, a man named Magnus Braath is creating a piracy insurance policy for fellow Swedes who wish to continue downloading copy protected content such as music, movies and other data. The insurance policy can be purchased to cover 6 months or an entire year at a time.

Now THIS is crazy. It’s unclear how he can afford to take such a huge chance, but fines there are not as asinine as the ones RIAA hands out here.

AMD has silently released a utility that fixes time stamp counter (TSC) issues with dual-core AMD processors such as the Athlon 64 X2 and Opteron. The AMD Dual-Core Optimizer utility is a driver that synchronizes the time stamp counter on both processor cores and improves game compatibility and performance. Time stamp counter issues occur in older games that are incompatible with multithreading and would run too fast or out of sync.

It seems that this could have been around for a few months at least, but we’ve just stumbled on it now. It’s also compatible with Intel Dual Cores, which is another oddity.

Jim Hall, creator of the open source MS-DOS operating system project FreeDOS, says that while work on the project may have slowed recently, he isn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet. In fact, Hall says he hopes to see version 1.0 released as soon as the end of the month.

This is great to hear, considering FreeDOS has been in the works for a very, very long time. You can see what’s in the horizon over at NewsForge.

A new brand of music maestro is turning programming into performance, eschewing turntables for a compiler and a mind for syntax structure. “Livecoding” practitioners improvise using Perl or homemade programming architectures to build compositions from the ground up, replacing instruments and samples with raw code authoring before a live audience.

As odd as this sounds, it’s really quite interesting. I have to wonder what happens if they happen to miss an operator or misspell a function?

The story of the Extreme Lian Li starts back in 2002, when I came upon a case mod by Tom Versteeg, during a local Home Computer Club computer exchange. That man had built one sweet case mod. Back then, I was totally unaware of the phenomenon of case modding. Inspired, I started looking around on the internet, finding new ideas and tips and tricks. I decided to give modding a whirl, and I bought a Lian Li PC70 to make my first case mod.

I know I have said it before, but this is one of the most incredible case mods I have ever seen. Truly amazing..

The recent switch of two lifelong Mac nerds to Ubuntu hasn’t escaped Tim O’Reilly’s radar. He cites Jason Kottke: ‘If I were Apple, I’d be worried about this. Two lifelong Mac fans are switching away from Macs to PCs running Ubuntu Linux: first it was Mark Pilgrim and now Cory Doctorow. Nerds are a small demographic, but they can also be the canary in the coal mine with stuff like this.

A day doesn’t seem to pass where we hear about Ubuntu in some way, but here’s an interesting one. Though, hearing the term “Mac Nerds” is a completely new one to me. Aren’t people who generally use Macs the type who love simplicity? Doesn’t sound like a nerd to me.

Build 7.0.5450.4 allows users to reorder tabs by dragging them left or right, enables horizontal scrolling while zooming, allows users to update RSS feeds automatically, disables DHTML scriptlets and ActiveX controls by default and also removes support for DirectAnimation. Extension support has also been added, and a few extentions are available now.

For you IE users out there, a new beta of version 7 has just been released. I think IE will have to come up with a lot more unique features than they have in order to gain back the users they’ve lost though.

Cases & Enclosures
• AplusCase Surf HDD Cooling – Technic 3D
• OtterBox 7000 Series Laptop Case – Think Computers
• Thermaltake Aguila Mid-Tower ATX Case – Big Bruin

Memory & Storage
• A-DATA “my Flash” Fingerprint Disk – Nordic Hardware

Motherboards & CPU’s
• Abit AB9 Pro Preview – AnandTech
• Commell LV-667 – EPIA Center
• ECS KA3-MVP ATi RD580 / SB600 crossfire board – OC Workbench

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• ExactPad Prestige Glass Mousepad – A1-Electronics
• Pioneer BDR-101A Preview – CDR Info
• VIZO Master Panel – Hardware-Review
• WolfClaw Devour Gaming keyboard – Xtreme Computing
• XG Magnum 600W External PSU – 3D Gameman
• ZBoard Fang Gamepad – 3D Xtreme

Video Cards & Monitor
• Diamond Viper X1900XT – techPowerUp!
• Revisiting SLI – Tech-Hounds
• XFX G-Force 7600GT XXX PCI-E – Overclockers Club

Etcetera, Complete Systems & Contests
• AlphaShield Professional Firewall Package Giveaway! – ModTheBox
• Pacific Rim iPod Nano Magnesium Case – XYZ Computing
• Zenwalk ZenLive 2.6 – Phoronix

Looking for a feature-packed camera that won’t empty your wallet? The S4 features a swivel-lens capable of 10x Optical Zoom, a 2.5″ LCD screen and even includes rechargeable batteries and charger. But does it take quality pictures? Read on..

Creative Labs has finally released a production quality driver update for its X-Fi XtremeMusic, Platinum and Fatal1ty lineups. The driver release address some (but not all) issues with crackling, corrects a number of issues with popular games and adds full support for OpenAL 1.1.

Apparently the driver fixes a lot, but some issues like the crackling issue is still intact. Either way, if you have an X-Fi, these will be worth your time.

The Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms is a real-time war game, based on the Chinese historical saga “The Three Kingdoms”. The style of The Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms is combines the grand battlefield action of a real-time tactical warfare game and the story development of a role-playing game. In it, you will have the chance to control several armies from the perspective of the Marshall, Liu Bei – the commander-in-chief of the fighting force. Instead of controlling each individual unit at a time, you will command entire divisions of up to eighty men at once. Using formations, tactics, and careful strategy, you can lead your soldiers to victory.

If you enjoy the good ole’ fashioned hack-n-slash Chinese field combat, you may want to check this one out. It seems pretty plain, so it may be for the hardcoreists only. Thanks BluesNews.

Microsoft has “no plans” to offer a version of its Xbox 360 console with an internal HD DVD drive, a company employee has stated in a bid to confound rumours to the contrary. According to the software giant’s official Xbox employee blog, the company is “sticking” with the external drive it announced in January this year and demo’d in May.

So this probably affects about two people, because there is still hardly a need for an HD-DVD player.. let alone it being internal. Microsoft claims it’s due to giving choice, but it’s likely more to do with the high costs.

CNN is reporting that Vic Gundotra, a 15-year veteran general manager at Microsoft, has left the company to join Google. Gundotra worked at Microsoft as general manager for platform evangelism to get software developers to use Microsoft’s software and online offerings. The function he will perform at Google is not yet known, but he will need to wait one year before starting his new job because of a non-compete clause in his contract.

In other news, Microsoft HQ apparently just contacted IKEA for a complete replacement of office furniture. Really though, Google has mastered the art of coaxing people to join the light side.

Seagate has submitted a patent for a technology it invented that could give current hard drive technology a few more years of life. Using nanotube technology, Seagate plans to bring a hard drive’s read and write head even closer to the spinning platter than it already is today. Because of the mechanics of the way hard drives store data, the closer the read and write head is to the patter, the more information can be recorded.

Now this is a cool idea. Technology like this doesn’t sound like it could be -that- reliable though.. it’s extremely precise. The drives also have a fixed life span of 5 – 10 years. Ahh, the fun of backing up your 5,000GB HD before it dies.