Content and news by Rob Williams

One device that makes data even easier to share on a network is an
external NAS hard drive. Just as a router allows you to share a single
Internet connection without the need for any particular computer to be on,
a NAS (which stand for Network Attached Storage) hard drive allows you to
share a drive full of data without needing any particular computer to be
on. As the availability and popularity of NAS drives continue to rise, NAS
enclosures are becoming more available as well. A NAS enclosure allows you
to turn any hard drive, old or new, into an external NAS drive. One example
is the LANDISK enclosure from Bytecc, which is the subject of this review.

Check it out at A True Review.

The Ammo 533 is definitely one of those cases that you would either
buy or turn away because of its looks. Ultimately, the Ammo 533 is a unique
case and definitely a good LAN case. The screwless design, handle, meshed
side panel and oversized buttons really set it apart from other cases on the
market today.

Check out the full review over at Overclockers Online.

With so many headsets available that are specifically designed for gamers, it makes it difficult to choose the right one. We are taking a look at the IceMat Black Siberia, based off the original Siberia that has been given countless awards. Let’s jump right in and take a fresh look at this cool product!

It shouldn’t be surprising that Google aggressively goes after the best talent in the business. Google’s nascent IM business is apparently no exception.

To that end, Google has hired the lead developer of the Gaim instant messaging project, one of the most popular open source projects on the planet, to help its IM development.

Google is doing a great job of getting the best talent. I have used GAIM as my primary chat client for over a year, and am loving it. Check out the full news posting at Internet News.

MTV Networks, a division of Viacom, has acquired online video purveyor iFilm for $49 million, the companies said Friday. As previously reported, the deal was expected to come together this week. iFilm, a privately held company in Los Angeles, distributes short videos from Hollywood studios and amateur filmmakers over the Web, drawing more than 10 million visitors a month, the company said.

Wow. Sometimes I just don’t realize how huge a website is until it’s bought by a large company for an insane amount of cash. Read all about it at News.com.

In the last couple years, XFX has really catered to the enthusiast and hardcore gamer, and its commitment seems stronger than ever with its 7 Series offerings. Currently, XFX doesn’t even offer a GeForce 7800 GTX at NVIDIA’s stock speeds (430MHz core and 1.2GHz memory). Instead, the company offers a 7800 GTX that runs factory overclocked with the engine clock at 450MHz and memory clock at 1.25GHz and another one at 490MHz and 1.3GHz, respectively. Additionally, XFX is bundling the popular Battlefield 2 with one of the higher overclocked versions for a limited time.

Check out the review at HardwareHell.

The story, or what little there is of one, is based around Sam having to secure five parts of an ancient medallion in order to do whatever the hell it does so he can get to fight the mysterious villain Mental. The cutscenes, which should’ve been rendered live in the game engine,…..

On 13 October 2000 Sun Microsystems donated the source of StarOffice to the open-source community. Sun remains the project’s chief sponsor and contributor, though the project can now boast contributions from Novell, Red Hat, Debian, Intel, and many other large and small companies, plus the very important and numberless contributions from independent developers, NGOs, and government agencies. All these have made OpenOffice.org not just a free alternative productivity suite but the best and most advanced productivity suite. And also a great community.

The final release of OpenOffice should be out in a few days, but there is a release candidate available now. Download it at OpenOffice.

Despite legislative and legal pressure, the United States remains the world’s worst offender when it comes to the origin of spam, though South Korea and China are fast catching up, a software security company said Wednesday. To identify the top 12 countries where span originates, London-based enterprise security software company Sophos looked at spam messages received in its network of spam traps.

Spam spam go away, do not come back another day. Check out the full article at Red Herring.

Corsair wowed us with their blazing fast PC2-8000UL DDR2 memory. The PC2-5400UL is the first low latency DDR2 that started it all.
Is it still a formidable choice for overclocking enthusiasts?

Check out the full review at InsaneTek.

John Guzman, our outspoken editorialist here at Phoronix who’s
never scared to speak his mind, is expressing his views today about
gaming and all of the cheating that’s now involved. He even brings us
back to the days of Contra on the NES. Since that point in time when you
could simply enter a sequence of ten buttons to achieve these mystical
lives, cheating has evolved into programming aim-bots and auto-miners.
When will cheating in games be eradicated?

Jump over to Phoronix. I hate, hate, hate losers who use aimbots :)

Creative has been going strong since the days of ISA sound cards because its family of audio products moves with the times. This is reflected well in the new four-strong range of X-Fi cards of which the leader is the Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro under review. The X-Fi cards span a price range from about £100 to £250, offering enthusiasts add-in alternatives to the on-board audio that is common in many of today’s PCs.

Check out the full review over at Hexus.

This review is going to be taking a look at the SpyderTV, a colorimeter and software package which is designed to be an easy-to-use way to optimize your television’s image. To some it may seem extraneous but if you have money invested in your home theater you should make sure it is working as well as possible, just like you would tune a guitar or tweak your computer.

Check out the full review at XYZ Computing!

Here’s a little teaser of what you can win: XC Cube EY Deluxe from
AOpen, Aeolus PCZ6200TC-DV64 from AOpen, NF4SK8AA 8EKRS from Foxconn, 2*1GB
TwinX20488-3200Pro from Corsair and MGE Dragon from XG BOX. Of course, the
entry is extremely simple so there’s no reason not to get involved!

Great prizes to be had! Check out all the details at Overclockers Online!

d_skin was kind enough to send me some d_skin™ Protective Disc Skins™ to take a gander at. Let’s get some disc dressed for a night in the DVD Rom; you thought I was going to say night out on the town didn’t you.

Check out the full review over at Extensive Mods.

There are but a few names that come to mind when you mention quality memory, even fewer when you mention high performance memory. There are many companies out there now that are making it or trying to get into the high performance memory market. One name that stands out when you think of high quality, high performance memory is Corsair. Corsair is one of the top makers of reliable, high performance ram. Today for review I have an entry by Corsair that promises to deliver something we haven’t seen yet, a CAS latency of 2 at speeds of PC3500.

Check out the full review over at Think Computers.

With the unit fired up and plugged into a USB 1.1 or 2.0 slot, Windows
2000/XP automatically recognizes it as an external storage device, and mounts
the volume(s) instantly. Sequential reads of the blank Seagate 120GB HDD were
measured at 33MB/s, and sequential writes were measured at 32MB/s using Sisoft
Sandra 2005. This value is still relative, as USB performance can be affected
by the strength of the CPU. I can comment that with transfer rates like this,
you won’t be up all night waiting for the BackupStar to transfer large files
back and fourth.

Head on over to Mod The Box for the full review.

Corsair’s recent PC4400PRO 2GB is not their only 2GB enthusiast solution. They quickly follow the high speed memory with another
offering that provides low latencies at a slightly overclocked speed.

InsaneTek overclocked these modules similar to us.. so 260HTT looks to be the max on these. Check out the full review InsaneTek. Check out our review of the modules here for comparison.

Out of the the high end grapihcs card from NVIDIA, the GeForce 6800GT has
the best bang for the buck. Now selling around US$ 250 to 350, it’s the most
affordable SM 3.0 graphics card that won’t slow to a crawl under high
details with AA and AF on. Today, we’re looking at three cards: the ASUS
EN6800GT, Galaxy Glacier 6800GT and Leadtek PX6800GT THD.

Check out the full round-up over at Tech-Hounds.

We’ve looked at a couple of PowerColor X800 GT cards and have come away with the feeling that whilst both offer something new in the marketplace, the respective asking prices takes away much of their shine. Novel, exciting products? Yes. Value-for-money? Not quite.

Check out the full review at Hexus.