Content and news by Rob Williams

According to these blog posts from SUSE/Novell KDE developers that include bootcharts showing KDE startup, recent performance improvements in fontconfig and KDE/Qt have a noticeable effect on startup times. KDE can even match Xfce startup time (both 5 seconds on a 900MHz laptop) when some KDE features are turned off to match Xfce more closely in terms of functionality.

If you want to improve your KDE boot time, check out the blog post here. I find it takes more time to load the kernel than KDE, but that could be just me.

US broadband providers are in the midst of a speed boost, offering new, higher tiers of speeds — even as high as 50 Mbps — and demanding higher prices. As Om Malik points out, it’s all about the money: increasing the bandwidth to customers doesn’t cost these companies all that much, but it’s something for which they can charge a lot more.

I’m pretty happy with my 3Mbps connection, but I would likely pay extra to have that higher, but 50Mbps! That’s crazy fast. Check out the posting at Tech Dirt.

The Windows beta team is pleased to announce the availability of Windows Vista and Longhorn Server build 5270. This release is the December Customer Technology Preview (CTP). This build is not beta quality but is offered as a preview or our progress towards Beta 2. It will allow you to confirm bugs that have been fixed and begin testing features that have been added since build 5231.

I wonder which servers would trust beta software, besides Microsoft, to actually be reliable? At any rate, check out the post over at AnandTech.

Looks like the National Association of Theater Operators (NATO) is going to petition the FCC to allow theater owners to actively block all cell phone signals. Already a reality in France (and they know from rude), NATO thinks this is more than an appropriate action, rather than trying to hand out fines. Of course, Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association spokesman Joseph Farren doesn’t quite get it.

I don’t even go to see movies, but this clearly makes sense to me. Read about the prospect at Gizmodo.

An alleged child porn offender in Germany turned himself in to the police after mistaking an e-mail he received from a computer worm for an official warning that he was under investigation, authorities said on Tuesday.

Can you say owned? It goes to show that porn offenders are just as gullable to spam as anyone. Check out the full read here.

The Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS), a distributed computing project, has probably found a new record prime number. Two verification runs have started; no errors were found in the initial calculation. The number of primes found lately, four in just over two years, is higher than previously expected. This prime is just under 10 million digits, which means that one of the participants in the project makes a good chance to obtain his or her part of the EFF prize of $100,000 for the first prime of over 10 million digits in the coming months. In 2000, one of the Gimps participants collected the $50,000 reward offered.

Numbers like this boggle my mind, but it’s certainly impressive. Read more over at Slashdot.

Phoronix is taking a look at the TT Muse today, which is almost just a silver version of what we reviewed two months ago. Either way, it’s a great looking HDD enclosure, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it. Not only do they have that review, but also are looking at the Sharook Rainbow TC fan… you have to go read the review to see how cool that thing is.

Ever play games and wish that you could feel that bullet? Legit Reviews is taking a look at the Buttkicker Gamer, which you strap to your chair. It’s essentially a lotta bass and will rock your world. For more normal looking speakers, head over to XYZ for their review of the gorgeous Logitech Z-4i speakers.

Cases & Enclosures
• Thermaltake Kandalf Aluminum – Driver Heaven
• Thermaltake Muse A2293 – Phoronix

Cooling
• Sharkoon Rainbow TC – Phoronix
• Thermaltake Big Typhoon – Pro-Clockers
• Vantec Mach 1 MP4-7015-FC Athlon64 Heatsink – Frosty Tech

Memory & Storage
• G.Skill High End DDR400 RAM – TweakPC

Motherboards & CPU’s
• Gigabyte GA-K8N51PVMT-9 – InsaneTek
• Intel ‘Black Creek’ 955X Motherboard – Viper Lair
• ITX form factor mainboard with integrated ATI graphics – Hexus

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• Logitech Z-4i 2.1 Speaker System – XYZ Computing
• Spire DigiPanel II – A1 Electronics
• The ButtKicker Gamer – Legit Reviews

Video Cards & Monitor
• NVIDIA 6800GS 256MB – techPowerUp!

Etcetera & Contests
• Alienware Aurora 5500 – UK Gamer
• Beginners Guides: Dual OS Installation of WindowsXP 32-bit/64-bit – PC Stats
• Creative Zen Vision:M, More Launch Details – UK Gamer
• Intel Digital Home Capabilities Assessment Tool – Hexus
• Justcom JC-104A KVM – GamePyre
• NHJ MPM-201 30GB MPEG4 Personal Video Recorder – Big Bruin
• Notebook Samsung X20 XVM 1730 V – Technic 3D
• What is Blu-ray Disc? – Bona Fide Reviews

At first glance, the Fatal1ty 1010 exudes aggression. From the enormous red target at the peak to the scooped tail, the flat black shell of this beast resembles the throttle of a Stealth Bomber after a brutal assault from Jeremy Piven’s Razr in Entourage. Think James Bond playing Super Mario in a suit. The small red trigger resting behind a sunken thumbhole further enhances the carnivorous look which is balanced by a pristine glowing white Fatal1ty logo.

This mouse is certainly interesting, but has potential. To see what Creative is up to, check out the article over at eSports.

I’ve left Lionhead – a very hard decision for me, but one I have made – my current plan is to spend rest of this year finishing the map editor with Alex, get the free demo out (sorry about delay on this – it’s in Valves hands as to when and how they release it), and then set up a dev team, to make a new game next year, with Alex and Dave, who helped out on Rag Doll. (This time, it will be full time, none of this spare time business, TOO TIRING!) I would like to point out that I didn’t leave Lionhead on bad terms or anything, it was just time for a change really (I was there from the very start!).

Best of luck to Mark, I can’t wait to see what he can make of this new startup. Check out the posting at Shacknews.

IRVINE, Calif. – December 19, 2005 – Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that World of Warcraft, its massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), has surpassed five million customers worldwide. The subscription-based MMORPG launched approximately one year ago in North America, Australia, and New Zealand and has since released in multiple countries throughout Europe and Asia.

Wow, that is truly amazing! Check out the posting at Shacknews.

A group called “Team PI Coder” claims to have found a way to extract the source files of Xbox 360 games as they get loaded onto the console. The glimpse at game code represents the first move toward hacking the Microsoft device, said Steve Manzuik, a security product manager at eEye Digital Security.

It certainly didn’t take long, but Microsoft is confident that their console is very secure. It is only a matter of time before we see piracy happen though, just like on the original Xbox. Check out the article at ZDNet Asia.

[T]here are always those of us with fond memories of 1993 and the original Doom game, and just going around… well kicking ass. When Doom 3 was released, I decided to try my hand at mapping. I had no idea where to start so I figured I do something relatively easy by today’s standards – the angular corridors of The Ultimate Doom’s E1M1. So I did, and I enjoyed it. I finished the first version of it, and saw with the knowledge I had developed in the process of making it, that it was pretty bad. So I remade it. Scrapped that and remade it again. I developed this version and as I developed it, I changed things about the game and turned it into the basis for a mod. The mod is Classic Doom for Doom 3, and will feature the first episode of The Ultimate Doom. Not sure where we will go from there.

Check out the full posting at Linux Hardware, and grab the download through a link they provide.

A report in the Nikkei Business Daily said that Hitachi GST is developing a five terabyte 3.5-inch hard drive aimed at the PC market. But Santa Claus and his reindeer are not about to drop it into your Christmas stocking any time soon. The newspaper said that Hitachi is aiming to bring it to market by 2010.

Wow, that is a lot of space. I can fill my 500GB, but I am not too sure about 5000GB. I guess things may be a little different in 4 or more years though. Check out the posting at The Inquirer.

The minority of Mac users still browsing with Internet Explorer need to consider moving to another browser very quickly, as Microsoft plans to discontinue support for IE beginning Dec. 31.

I’m surprised that anyone still used IE when there are far surperior browsers available, such as Safari and Firefox. Check out the full posting here.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – December 19, 2005 –AGEIA™ Technologies, Inc., the pioneer in hardware-accelerated physics for games, today announced that renowned French developer Cyanide will support the AGEIA PhysX processor in its upcoming ACTION RPG Loki. Known for its popular sports titles such as Pro Cycling Manager and Pro Rugby Manager, Cyanide is taking full advantage of AGEIA’s PhysX system in its bold leap into the world of role-playing games (RPG).

Read the full release here!

Happy Monday! GruntVille is taking a look at the TT Shark case today, which looks fantastic especially with the bright blue LED’s! Arctic Cooling has recently released their Freezer 64 Pro cooler, and Hardware XL is taking that one for a spin today.

There are many memory reviews up today, including two for the Corsair PC4000 2GB Platinum which Madshrimps and Big Bruin are evaluating. It’s my memory of choice this season, because the price is right and quality is there. It also overclocks quite well also!

Cases & Enclosures
• Thermaltake Mambo VC2000 Case – Trusted Reviews
• Thermaltake Shark – GruntVille
• Xion II Case – Technic 3D

Cooling
• Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler – Hardware XL
• PrimeCooler MegaCool 6 AMD Athlon 64 & Sempron Heatsink – A1 Electronics

Memory & Storage
• Corsair XMS TWINX2048-4000PT 2GB Dual Channel DDR – Big Bruin
• Corsair 2GB TwinX2048-4000PT – Madshrimps
• G.SKILL F1-3200USU2-2GBHS PC3200 – techPowerUp!
• Intel Centrino DDR2 Investigation – Phoronix
• OCZ EL DDR PC-3200 Gold GX XTC – Legion Hardware
• OCZ PC2-5400 Gold Edition – Overclocker Cafe

Motherboards & CPU’s
• ASUS K8N-DL Opteron Server – TweakTown
• ECS 945P-A (2.0) – Digit-Life
• Gigabyte GA-K8N51GMF-9 Micro – Cool Tech Zone
• Foxconn 6150K8MA-8EKRS – TweakTown

Peripherals & Power Supplies
• Antec TrueControl 2.0 550W – TweakNews
• X-Arcade Trackball – XYZ Computing

Video Cards & Monitor
• ATI X1000 (X1K) Series Video Card Roundup – Legit Reviews
• ATI Radeon X1800 XT Crossfire – Guru 3D
• Sapphire X1800XT Performance Edition – Case Mod God

Etcetera & Contests
• Casio Exilim EX-S500 5.0 Mega Pixel Digital Camera – Bona Fide Reviews
• Creative Zen Vision:M 30GB – Everything USB
• D`zign DV-5 3.2MP Digital Video Camera – Think Computers
• XPSC LCD Character Display – Xtreme Review

With the bolts installed we can test the fit of the water block and mounting
plate. With no obstacles in the way, you can easily use the configuration
illustrated on the left. If large tall standing capacitors are in the way XSPC
includes a mounting ring which elevates the mounting plate an extra 6mm away
from the motherboard. This is a very thoughtful innovation and adds to the
universal compatibility of this system.

Check out the full review over at Mod The Box.

I want to know what exactly is the point of people making viruses. Do the people that make them have an inferiority complex? Does it make them feel ‘L33T’ to see that their creation has infected so many people? What makes a person sit down and write a program that’s sole purpose is to make the lives of everyone else miserable? Are the creators that miserable in their own lives that they feel the need to share their misery? Misery loves company right? Better yet, are they that pathetic and anti-social that they have nothing better to do than cause trouble?

Check out the full article at Think Computers.

There is a new addition to the world of Thermal Compounds, a company called Thermax Tech. They have developed a new type of thermal compound, that I believe is going to give the competition a run for the crown of the top thermal paste. So is this stuff any good or is just the normal thermal gook that we find everywhere? I think we need to run some tests and check it out. So read on to learn something about Thermax Tech XtFlux-GA Thermal Grease.

Is this a good competitor to some AS5? TC gave it a perfect score, so check out the review here to find out why.

The Buttkicker, sounds like someone that goes around kicking butts. Well there is a little truth to its name because you do get your but kicked… But in a good way. The Buttkicker is essentially an add-on to your sound system, be it your PC or home theater setup, which enhances your listening pleasures by enabling you to feel, rather then just listen to your audio.

Check out the full review at Extensive Mods.