Content and news by Rob Williams

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – October 11, 2005 – AGEIA™ Technologies, Inc., the pioneer in hardware-accelerated physics for games, today announced the addition of a new member to its executive team: Irene Qualters, vice president of software engineering. Ms. Qualters will be responsible for the full life cycle of software development including processes and implementation methodologies for the AGEIA PhysX™ parallel computing architecture.

Read: Full Press Release

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – October 11, 2005 – AGEIA™ Technologies, Inc., the pioneer in hardware-accelerated physics for games, today announced that Icarus Studios is supporting the AGEIA PhysX™ processor in its upcoming massively multiplayer online (MMO) game Fallen Earth. The post-apocalyptic game takes place in a world struggling to emerge from the collapse of civilization brought on by war, plague and environmental disaster.

Read: Full Press Release

In today’s age of brand spanking new technology, people are turning to more and flashier alternatives to the boring beige box. Most of the new pre-modded cases available on the market are constructed from thin, flimsy steel. When you move up in price, you begin to notice that there ARE cases that are extremely well constructed, and good looking. Today I get to look at a case that is compatible to a Mack truck in the PC world. The main difference between this case and a Mack truck is that it is a little easier to build a PC inside the case ;). CoolerGiant, a subsidiary of Enermax has been generous enough to send the CS-10182-BBA Entry Level Server Case. This case is sure to please most any users out there, as it brings some very nice features along for the ride. Let’s get on with the inspection to find out if it’s worthy enough to have your hardware installed in it.

Check out the full review over at Extensive Mods.

WALTHAM, Mass. – Oct. 11, 2005 – Novell today announced the launch of the Better Desktop initiative, a new component of the openSUSE project that provides open source developers with usability testing data and resources they can use to improve the quality of the Linux* desktop. Novell is releasing primary desktop research, including video footage and analysis of usability tests, at betterdesktop.openSUSE.org. Instructions for constructing and operating a low-cost usability lab will also be provided. For the first time, open source developers worldwide will be able to see for themselves the types of desktop software designs that are succeeding with end users. As a result, open source developers will have the resources to build applications that better meet the needs and expectations of users and ultimately help drive the adoption of Linux on the desktop.

Read: Full Press Release

There is only ONE more day left! You may still stand a chance to win an OCZ Gold Gamer eXtreme dual-channel memory kit for FREE!

So, hurry up before it’s too late!

Hurry up peeps! Check out the details at Rojak Pot.

What do you get when a company that makes fine quality utility knives and a company that makes memory products? You get a sophisticated and sleek next generation tool for the 21st century. What I am talking about is the retroALOX, created when Victorinox the famous makers of Swiss Army Knives and Swissbit, a maker of quality memory products collaborate together. The retroALOX is the culmination of history and the future combined.

Check out the full review over at Think Computers.

While this is only my second foray into the gaming section of the Marvell universe, it will undoubtedly be noted as the one with the highest expectations. For me, the early commercials of Ultimate Spiderman brought back fond memories of childhood; most notably the SNES title Spiderman vs. Venom. While it might…..

It all started with the four-track cassette recorder, really. That gave budding bedroom musicians the chance to make their own music (it was also the start of the lo-fi movement, as if people had forgotten that much of the great music of the ‘60s was made on four-track machines, with very good sound, but that’s another story).

Check it out at Design Technica.

Let us start by saying that in this review of the Asetek VapoChill Micro Extreme heatsink we have only tested with the heatsink in the horizontal fitting position which is how you would install it in your tower computer case. In our next review using the other fan choices from Asetek for the VapoChill Micro we will also test this heatsink in the vertical position for those of you with horizontal desktop computer cases and to show you the difference in cooling performance with this super Asetek VapoChill Micro heatsink.

Read the full review at A1 Electronics.

Today we take the ECS KN1 Extreme SLI motherboard out for a spin. Looking at the specifications the board is based on NVIDIA’s NF4 chipset and features SLI technology, so should we expect to see a solid motherboard if done right. ECS told us to expect more from this SLI board than the original KN1 Extreme. Read on to see the results.

Check out the full review at Legit Reviews.

In May of this year, Creative surprised many by announcing an all-new Xtreme Fidelity audio processor loaded with 10,000 MIPS of processing power—24 times that of the Audigy chip it would replace. A radical departure from architectures of old, the X-Fi arranged its on-chip components around a pipelined audio ring with a whopping 4096 internal audio channels. The X-Fi also upgraded EAX to support up to 128 simultaneous hardware-accelerated 3D voices, and promised to enhance compressed audio playback to sound better than the original CD.

Check out the full article over at Tech Report.

‘the best price/performance card ever built’ How can you argue with
that statement after reading this review? If you were not impressed by the
42% overclock of the GPU core or the 22% overclock of the memory, then
surely the temperature when running this ridiculously impressive overclock
under load thanks to the IceQ II cooling technology that HIS incorporates in
their X800GTO offering has you running out the door to buy it. In addition
to the overclocking capabilities of the HIS X800GTO, the pure performance of
this new chipset is just incredible. I was surprised going through the
benchmark results just how much of a difference there was compared to the
6600GT.

Head on over to Overclockers Online for the full review!

One issue that Ultra Products seems to be avoiding is the power factor value. While most manufacturers are offering units with active (or passive) PFC resulting in PF values around 0.90 – 0.99… the Xconnect and previous X-Finity were both rated in the low 0.60 range, and the new X-Finity is slightly improved at 0.70, but that is still quite weak.

Check out the full review at Big Bruin!

Ark Linux, a distribution aiming to hit the systems of desktop
users, has released its 2005.2-rc3 candidate that now encompasses a
predecease of KDE 3.5 and a GNU compiler for the D programming language.
>From our initial encounter with Ark 2005.2 we’ve been impressed by its
optimizations for use as a desktop system as well as various other
improvements. This distribution is attempting to make it so easy to
install and operate, a game of Tetrix is even playable while installing
the data to your hard drive.

Check out the full review over at Phoronix!

Designed in a similar manner to Logitech’s diNovo line of keyboards, the SpacePilot is sleek, sturdy, and definitely feels expensive (and, at $450-ish, well, it pretty much is). The central focal point is the SpacePilot’s “controller cap,” a two-inch diameter, rubberized knob. The cap is somewhat motile, and allows for pushing, pulling, twisting in any direction. The SpacePilot also features twenty other buttons, and an LCD panel that displays context-sensitive information related to the use of the SpacePilot. I’ll get to these in a moment.

Check out the full review at XYZ Computing.

The rules are very simple but we are adding a little twist. Case modification
has progressed from a underground hobby to the mainstream spotlight. We
believe that creative modders can adapt their skills to mod just about
anything conventional or non-conventional. This contest will allow
participants to submit up to two entries of any type of modification. A
modified component can be any type of part either computer specific or
non-computer specific. You must clearly demonstrate that you have completed a
modification and provide information on what your modification does.

Check out the full contest details over at ModTheBox!

ASUS didn’t can the idea of two GPUs on a single board in SLI mode, though. The recent release of NVIDIA G70 which powers the GeForce 7800 GTX and 7800 GT SKUs has given ASUS something new to work with. The G70 GPU, built on 110nm, is actually cooler and less power hungry than NV45, despite a large hike in transistor count and die area.

This card means business, and the few benchmarks performed prove it. It obliterates a single 7800GTX obvious. There are only 2000 of these cards available.. so it’s primarily a test. Check it out at Hexus.

No more wondering what is around the corner or what will be released in the days to come, as of right now the 7800GTX video chipset is the ‘King of the Hill’. Since day one there was no shortage of available video cards containing the mammoth NVIDIA chipset. Every big manufacturer offered their version of the fastest graphic chipset known to man. Gigabyte was kind enough to send us their version, the GeForce GV-NX78X256V-B 7800 GTX. With the Gigabyte 7800GTX having so much video power I don’t think we will have any problems showing off any of its extreme benchmarks or video game playing performance.

Check out the full review at Pro-Clockers!

We start our review of this new ATI Radeon X1000 series, X1800, X1600 & X1300 graphics cards with our quick guide review table of the specifications including the X850 range for comparison.

Check out the full look at A1 Electronics.

At first it was enough for photo printer makers to add a portable model to their mix. Now that most companies sell one, a little more creativity is required to separate one from the pack. HP has stepped up to the challenge with the Photosmart 475 ($279), a.k.a. GoGo, an unabashedly cute tagalong that prints not only the requisite 4 x 6 prints but 5 x 7 enlargements too. GoGo went a step further, adding 1.5 gigabytes of internal storage that can pack up to 1,000 images. Take it to the next family party, hook it up to a TV and you can run a slide show that lasts all afternoon.

Head on over to DesignTechnica for the full review!