Content and news by Rob Williams

Happy mid-week! If you are looking for a bluetooth headset, and I know many people who are, then you should check out Legit Reviews today. The Plantronics 640 is feature packed and is offered at a decent price. It also looks pretty cool! In another audio related review, XYZ Computing takes the Altec Lansing IM7 for a test run. With these speakers, you can mount your iPOD and stream music off of it. It’s bulky looking, but the styling is great. For you DDR2 buffs, Neoseeker is testing out some Ballistix sticks that roll in at PC2-6400 speeds! Motherboards.org is offering a new 7800GS AGP review, so check it out if you are looking to upgrade.

Cases & Enclosures
• Aspire X-Qpack – Guru3D
• ExBoot 2.5-inch One Touch Portable HDD – Hardware Zone
• Sansun Bat Mid Tower ATX Case – MadShrimps

Cooling
• AeroCool Video Magic (VM-102) Fanless VGA Cooler – Hi-Tech Reviews

Memory & Storage
• Crucial Ballistix PC6400 DDR2 – Neoseeker

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• Altec Lansing IM7 Portable Audio System – XYZ Computing
• Hiper TypeR 580W Power Supply – XS Reviews
• Plantronics Discovery 640 Bluetooth Headset – Legit Reviews

Video Cards & Monitor
• ATI X1900 XTX Roundup – Trusted Reviews
• XFX 7800GS AGP Extreme Edition – Motherboards.org

Etcetera & Contests
• Announcing the ARP-Scythe Survey Contest Winners – Rojak Pot
• Archers Etching Mod – Xtreme Computing
• ASUS W5F Notebook: Featuring Intel Core Duo – CoolTechZone
• Globalsat BC-337 SiRF Star III GPS Receiver – Think Computers
• Panasonic TH-42PX50U 42″ Plasma – Design Technica
• Pushing the Frame Rate Envelope – Tech-Hounds

Nexuiz, one of the popular open-source first person shooter
games available for Microsoft Windows as well as Linux on both x86 and
x86_64 platforms, has released v1.5 today. Unlike some of the past
releases, many of the features in this release are prominent from a new
instant action mode to improved artificial intelligence and completely
new menus! In addition, there is now smoother net-code, engine
optimizations, redone sound effects, all new character skins, new
game-modes, new maps, and new characters. For the open-source
enthusiast, Nexuiz v1.5 is definitely worth checking out!

Check out all the new pictures at Phoronix.

In the end, what can we say about Battlefront 2? After hours of gaming, the rather superb gameplay experience was capped off by a sensational story. The game had both decent visuals and a superb audible experience to boot. When the missions became dull (which tends to happen after playing the game for hours on end in one day), the Instant Action mode provided some spice and life to get us back in the spirit.

Check out the full review at Gamepyre!

Just because the memory package says ‘value’ doesn’t mean it has bad performance! We are taking a look at the HP3200 1GB kit, which delivers DDR400 speeds and 2-3-3 timings.

Harrison Odiawa, 38, aka Abu Belgori, managed to extract $1,939,710 from US national George Robert Blake on the promise of a percentage of a bogus $20.45m Ministry of Health contract. The classic advance fee scam saw a duped Blake transfer the “advance payments” after seeing forged documents – including a certificate of registration with the Corporate Affairs Ministry and the aforementioned forged Ministry contract – which convinced him he was indeed about to get rich. Blake raised the cash from his company, Quest Exploration and Development, and his own personal assets.

Wow, this is deadly! It serves the moron right; he’s getting exactly what he deserves. Check out the posting at The Register.

Discs printed with LightScribe and Labelflash are both really nice to look at. When we asked THG employees which ones they thought looked the best, they said they preferred the blue-colored discs, perhaps due to the color and more contrasting coating. The selection of discs and burners is much larger with LightScribe, however, a fact reflected in the price of blank discs.

I think I will stick to the good ole marker. Head over to Toms Hardware for a big look at these two unique products.

Google and CodeWeavers are working together to bring Google’s popular Windows Picasa photo editing and sharing program to Linux. The program is now in a limited beta test. If this program is successful, other Google applications will be following it to the Linux desktop, sources say.

The only Google app I want to see work in Linux is Google Earth, and I am sure I’m not the only one who wants it. It’s good to see a start at least though. Check out the posting at OS News.

Nearly three months after launch, Microsoft’s Peter Moore is saying that the Xbox 360 shortages are coming to an end. Moore’s comments came at the DICE Summit in Las Vegas, which kicked off last week. Moore said that “Within the next four to six weeks, anybody will be able to walk into a store and buy an Xbox 360.”

It’s about time! Of course, it’s still another month and a half away, but at least the problems will be over soon enough. Check out the full posting at Ars Technica.

Awards shows on television are kind of like Starbucks outlets: nobody will admit to liking them yet they continue to proliferate with no end in sight. In the latest example of the multiplication of the species, the Academy of Interactive Arts and Science has unveiled a new annual television show, a co-venture with Dick Clark Productions designed to showcase the year’s best video games and the creative teams that made them possible. The somewhat awkwardly-titled event, “The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Presents: The Year in Games” is set to debut in the first quarter of 2007.

Hopefully this show won’t suck like all the others out there, including G-Phoria. You can read all about the new show at Ars Technica.

Screenshots of the upcoming and much talked about KDE 4 have appeared at Planet Diaz. They include screenshots of the control panel, system tray, tabbed views, music and mail views, plus a mockup or two. I don’t know what the Gnome guys are up to, but KDE is starting to look seriously cool.

Bah, well the website hosting the pictures is down, so you may want to wait a bit to see if you can access it. Check out the Slashdot posting for the info.

Fremont, CA (February 13, 2006) – Corsair® Memory, Inc., a worldwide leader in high performance memory and watercooling products for enthusiasts and overclockers, today launched ValueSelect™ 667MHz DDR2 SO-DIMM memory to support the latest Intel® mobile technology. Available immediately in 512MB and 1GB modules, Corsair’s new DDR2 SO-DIMM is ready to turbo-charge the new Centrino® Core™ Duo and Core Solo based notebooks.

Check out the full press release here.

An important part of data recovery is knowing that the data which is stored is correct. This process is generally easier said than done, after all, how can you tell that data is complete and accurate? As important as this is, this is not something you would think can be easily accomplished without lots of time or some very fancy equipment. Using a MD5 checksum you can do exactly that- verify the integrity of your data.

Checking MD5 is not just for geeks, it’s an important part of verifying data. HDD Saver gives you the scoop on what MD5 is and how to use it. Check out the full article here.

If you are looking to pick up a new 2.5″ hard drive, then first check out Tech Reports round-up! You may not think that there are advantages for one over another, but their benchmarks prove different! Speaking of storage, if you want to have 1GB in your pocket, you can check out PC Apex for their review of the Corsair Voyager. ATI cards certainly are reigning today in terms of reviews, which five different cards to choose from!

Cases & Enclosures
• Mascot 2.5-inch HDD USB External Enclosure – A1 Electronics
• Thermaltake Eureka – TweakPC

Cooling
• Cooler Master Hyper L3 Cooling – Technic3D
• Coolink HDD Cooler – XS Reviews
• Thermaltake Tide Water All-In-One Liquid VGA Cooler – OCIA
• XSPC X20 universal Liquid Cooling Kit – Xtreme Computing

Memory & Storage
• 2.5″ Serial ATA hard drive round-up – Tech Report
• Corsair Flash Voyager 1GB USB Drive – PC Apex

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• Logitech G7 – Red & Blackness
• Razer Diamondback Plasma Edition – Laptop Gamers
• Ultra Products X2 PSU – Motherboards.org

Video Cards & Monitor
• ASUS Extreme AX1300Pro Silent – Legion Hardware
• ATI A-I-W X1900 – GamePyre
• ATI All-In-Wonder X1900 256MB PCIE – 3D Gameman
• ATI Radeon X1800 XT CrossFire – SimHQ
• HIS X1600XT IceQ Turbo Edition – Viper Lair

Etcetera & Contests
• FreeGeek.com Interview – Design Technica
• X-Micro Bluetooth Stereo Media Phone Kit – Think Computers

There’s very few games that allow you to be the bad guy, let alone an MMO! NCsoft is back again with a stand alone sequel to their popular City of Heroes game, and we are here to determine whether it’s worth the monthly fee!

San Jose, California – February 13, 2006 — Super Talent Technology, a leading manufacturer of DDR and DDR2 memory modules, today announced a new 800 Megahertz, 2 Gigabyte DDR2 memory kit. Super Talent’s new T800UX2GC4 is a matched pair of 1GB PC2-6400 Low Latency DDR2 modules.

Read the full press release right here!

NVIDIA today has announced a new addition to its GoForce family of mobility GPUs called the GoForce 5500. Aimed squarely at gamers on the move, the GoForce 5500 brings advanced features that were previously unavailable to the handheld market. Besting even ATI’s top Imageon processors, the GoForce 5500 delivers features not found anywhere else.

Wow, it’s sad that this ‘cell phone gpu’ pretty much has more capabilities of the one in my laptop! Very interesting though, it shows that NVIDIA is preparing for the future… and likes to one-up ATI whenever possible. Check out the news article at Daily Tech.

WESTWOOD, MA, February 13, 2006 – Turbine, Inc. announced today that DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINETM: StormreachTM has gone gold and is in final production. The world’s first online roleplaying game based on the legendary pen and paper DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® game, and voted the “most-anticipated MMO,” by IGN.com readers, is currently scheduled to ship on February 28, 2006. DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is under license from the Hasbro Properties Group, the intellectual property development arm of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS).

Check out the full press release here.

Two weeks ago, Nvidia unveiled its upgrade option for AGP gamers worldwide. Although this launch was a sight for sore eyes, the suggested retail price for the GeForce 7800GS was $350 to $400, depending on the model. Is it worth upgrading to another AGP card when it costs so much?

If you are still considering a move to a better AGP card, check out the exhaustive article at Toms Hardware.

“Selling an iPod preloaded with music is no different than selling a DVD onto which you have burned your entire music collection,” the RIAA said in a statement to MTV.com. “Either act is a clear violation of U.S. copyright law. The RIAA is monitoring this means of infringement. In short: seller beware.” Many people have been selling their used iPods online with thousands of songs preloaded on them.

Well, this seems like a valid arguement really… for once. There’s no doubt that the RIAA is trying their best to find anything to add to their ‘hate’ list. Check out the article here.

Tweak3D: Your Ballistix memory series seems to be doing well since its launch several years ago however people still recall the names OCZ Technology and Corsair more often, how is Crucial tackling this?

Crucial’s Paul Motion: The Ballistix line is our high-performance range of memory which is aimed at gamers and performance enthusiasts. As you know, this area of the computing world demands nothing but the best and that is exactly what Ballistix strives to deliver. To stay strong in this arena, we have an impressive line up of high performance DDR and DDR2 Ballistix, in various speeds and densities to suit all needs. As well as the stunning performance, they also have a unique style, with gold heat spreaders and black PCBs. If that’s still not enough style for your rig, we also offer Ballistix Tracer, which has chasing LEDs mounted to the PCB that monitor the performance of the memory. The more stress you place on the memory the faster the LEDs move.

Check out the full interview at Tweak3D.