Content and news by Rob Williams

Freedb, the free music database used by tons of CD ripping software, has been shut down due to a disagreement among its developers. One of its developers used a data dump from the original freedb.org and is providing the service at freedb2.org, though, and will be adding features and posting them at his site as they become available. Unfortunately, a database dump or source code for freedb2.org is yet nowhere to be found.

This sucks. FreeDB was an awesome service that was far more accurate than other DBs out there. There is a makeshift replacement site up, but it’s hard to say if it will completely take over.

Cases & Enclosures
• NZXT Apollo Case – Pro-Clockers
• Sunbeamtech Tuniq 2 – OC Inside (German)
• Sunbeamtech Tuniq 2 – TweakPC (German)
• Thermaltake Symphony Mini – HTPC Cooling – XtremeComputing

Cooling
• Spire Verticool II SP601B3 Cooler – Technic3D (German)
• Thermaltake ITBU CL-P0303 – Phoronix
• Thermalright Ultra-120 – Overclockers Online
• Zalman CNPS8000 Low-Profile CPU Cooler – Virtual-Hideout

Memory & Storage
• Super Talent DDR2 1000 MHz CL5 Kit 2 GB – PC Masters (German)
• Western Digital Caviar RE2 – TweakTown

Motherboards & CPU’s
• AMD Athlon64 FX-62 – T-Break
• NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI vs. nForce 590 SLI – Legion Hardware

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• Pendrive A-Data Fingerprint Disk FP1 2GB – MadBoxPC
• Razer Copperhead Mouse and Mantis Speed Mat – UK Gamer
• XTracPads Hybrid – APH Networks

Video Cards & Monitor
• ASUS GeForce 7600GT Silent – GD Hardware
• Leadtek WinFast PX7600 GT TDH – Bit-Tech

Etcetera, Complete Systems & Contests
• AlphaShield Professional Hardware Firewall – ModTheBox
• Newbie’s Guide To Overclocking – Rojak Pot
• July Post Like a Mad Man Contest!! – Bjorn3D
• Toshiba M70-159 Laptop – Driver Heaven
• Ultimate Ears super.fi 5 EB Earphones Giveaway – 3D Gameman

If you have been waiting for the killer laptop mouse to come along, this may be your best bet. Not only is it wireless, it has an incredibly tiny receiver. It also estimates 1 year of usage per battery replacement. But… is it worth your $50?

Microsoft has denied that WGA will kill pirated copies of Windows. According to Waggener Edstrom,”Microsoft anti-piracy technologies cannot and will not turn off your computer.” Microsoft also says that WGA is a necessary part of its campaign to catch those illegally using Windows XP which leads one to think what WGA really does then.

Something tells me that if Microsoft ever did this, it would hurt them more than it would the people it cut off.

Thermaltake Aguila boasts a number of customization options starting with a
removable HDD/FDD 5.25″ panel which also houses the Power and Reset buttons as
well as the activity LEDs. This unique panel can be positioned in any of the
free 5.25″ drive bays in the top or bottom portion of the case. A series of
extender cables protrude from the rear of the unit and connect to the
appropriate headers on a motherboard. This is a luxury not offered in most
standard cases currently on the market and it was nice to see Thermaltake
offer something functional and very different from the norm.

Check out the full review at ModTheBox.

With well over 20 products, PURE looks to offer a bigger spread of DAB radios than any other maker – and a wider variety, too. As well as table-top models, pocket-able and personal-stereo-style portables and a CD/DAB micro system, there’s even a separates tuner to go with hi-fi systems. Prices start at under £50 and go up to over £200. We’re looking today at a compact, mains-powered table model, the Tempus-1XT, that sits in the middle of the range and can be had for a bit under £100.

Check out the full review at Hexus.

How would you like to win a custom built X-treme gaming system? HyperKore, CPU Magazine and Modders-Inc are giving you that chance. We are not talking about an average PC we are talking about a full blown hardcore gaming monster! All you have to do is go to the contest page, read about the system, read the rules, and enter the contest. What are you waiting for? GO DO IT NOW!

Sir! Yes sir! Check out the contest at Modders-Inc.

The Antec Take 3 itself is a super solid rackmount server case and should provide any user with many years of trouble free service. It’s built like a tank and once the hardware is installed, it’s not going anywhere. It’ll also remain very quiet thanks to the extra noise and vibration dampening Antec has designed into the Take 3.

Check out the full review at Virtual-Hideout.

Intel’s Core Duo T2400 has a maximum operating frequency of
1.83GHz, 65nm process, 2MB of L2 cache, and 667MHz FSB; however, how
does this dual-core component fare under Linux? We have taken a look at
the Intel Core Duo T2400 in conjunction with the Lenovo ThinkPad T60,
and have comparison results today against the previous Pentium M 750
1.83GHz.

This looks like a sweet laptop. The 2GB of ram is definitely drool worthy. It doesn’t blow benchmarks away in terms of 3D, but it does substantially better than the M 750 also tested.

The SilverStone SG01 Evolution Small Form Factor Case is one very impressive product. As a matter of fact, it’s one of the best SFF cases on the market today. It’s all aluminum so it’s lightweight, with excellent build quality and design. One limiting factor many SFF cases have is poor air circulation. This is not the situation here due to the number of fans and way they are implemented. The case comes with two 5.25″ external drive bays and two 3.5″ internal drive bays. They include two 80mm fans but two optional fans can be installed. They also have an optional carry bag so you can easily transport the case. No question about it, this product has LAN Party written all over it! Watch the Video to find out more…

Check out the full review at 3D Gameman.

Kingston offers PC2-6400 CAS Latency 4 memory in their standard series and in an NVIDIA “SLI Ready” line that features Enhanced Performance Profiles (EPP). Total kit capacity is 2GB (2048MB) which is ideal for high performance platforms. Each module pair has been tested to run at DDR2 800MHz at low latency timing of 4-4-4-12 at 2.0V. The SPD is programmed to JEDEC standard latency 800Mhz timing of 5-5-5-15-2T at 1.9V so you are sure that the system will post every time…

Check out the full review at Legit Reviews.

With 2.2V and the default CAS latency timings of 5-5-5-15, the Corsair Twin2X2048-8500C5 memory was able to clock all the way up to 276 MHz without incident. Anything higher and the motherboard refused to boot into WindowsXP. It’s not the fault of the memory, the Foxconn nForce 590 SLI motherboard simply doesn’t go any higher. We’re doing things a bit backwards here but since the Corsair Twin2X2048-8500C5 is sold as high speed, high latency memory we decided to mainly focus on how the memory performed at its intended settings. Thus the memory timings were set at 4-4-4-12…

Check out the full review at PC Stats.

We’ve been pouring hours into the final version of Prey for both the Xbox 360 and PC. We’ve been getting a lot of questions on which version we prefer. We take both versions through their paces and give you a crapton of direct feed widescreen videos and break down some of the main differences between the two.

After reading the article, I am definitely sold on the PC version. Wall walking is confusing enough on the PC, but paired with a gamepad it could be a nightmare.

FiringSquad: First it’s been a few months since Dell acquired Alienware. Overall how has the transition been like from your point of view?

Alex Aguila: The transition has been moving swiftly. I think it’s important to state that both companies could not start aggressively sharing and executing on best practices until the acquisition was officially approved by the government, which happened on May 8th. But since then, both companies have been “off to the races” and are prioritizing the most important initial activities that our customers will benefit from.

Another quality interview from the guys at FiringSquad. Dell owning Alienware still seems a bit odd, but the future appears bright.

Sofia, Bulgaria – June 29, 2006 –Today Ubisoft, one of the world’s largest video game publishers, announced the opening of a new studio in Sofia, Bulgaria. Alexandru-Ion Radu, recently named director of recruitment and training at Ubisoft’s Romania studio, has been appointed manager of the new studio, reporting directly to Sébastien Delen, managing director of Ubisoft Romania.

Even though this game is looking sketchy to me, it will be great to be able to play in on the PC in high resolution. You can read todays press release on the official site.

A common theme that I have heard when people explain to me why they have no real desire to try Linux is the perceived learning curve. When pressed, the person being asked will eventually divulge that they were told that it was simply too difficult to learn. Finally when pushed into giving their “source” of this information, the truth ultimately comes out – they heard about it from another disheartened user speaking about their feelings with regard to one particular distribution.

I agree with everything that is said here. Even though distros such as SuSE offer an easier entry, Linux in general needs to pull its act together if it’s ever going to be actual competition to Windows. I think this has been well known for a while, though.

This is rather evolution than a revolution, just slightly faster and that’s it. The faster one, Radeon X1950XTX is set to replace the current-fastest ATI Radeon X1900 XTX while the new Radeon X1950XT aims to replace X1900XT cards. We still don’t know about the clock speeds but we know that the new cards comes with GDDR 4 memory. They are set to be released at some point in September/October timeframe.

With such a small leap, it doesn’t seem worth it to get excited. Although, it will be interesting to see how it lines up price wise compared to the obviously faster 7950GX2.

CodeWeavers is in early testing with CrossOver Office for Mac now and plans to release a final version of the software in July or August. CEO Jeremy White said he would have liked to have seen his product out before the rivals. “It’s unfortunate we couldn’t get it out before,” White said in an interview. “We would have loved to have been the only solution out for a while.”

I have heard personal reports about the beta software, and it seems pretty reliable. Although, it has only been tested with office type software, such as Outlook and Word. Half-Life 2 is on the list for support though, so this may be a program worth waiting for.

..it gets worse; instead of going after those breaking the law, they’re placing criminal liability on the ISPs, if they’re seen as facilitating file trading (which probably means not automatically blocking any network that could be used as such). Of course, this won’t work because it places the burden on a party that’s unable to stop the activity.

Digging deeper into this case, it seems that blank CD’s will have a special tax applied. Not only that, but also flash media and other blank media sources. If that wasn’t bad enough, holding the ISP liable for their users actions is. I think it’s quite obvious that this is not something easy to stop, so this is only going to make things harder on the Spanish ISP’s it seems.

Ars Technica reports that Microsoft Office 2007 has been delayed again, this time into early 2007. ‘Based on internal testing and the beta 2 feedback around product performance, we are revising our development schedule to deliver the 2007 system release by the end of year 2006, with broad general availability in early 2007.’ Tough bit of timing after this week’s online preview of Office 2007.

This is somewhat of a shock considering how stable the beta version is, arguably. Instead of pushing back dates, Microsoft should take a step in 3D Realms shoes and just label everything, “When it’s done”.