Content and news by Rob Williams

Today Guru of 3D brings you a new release of the inmensely popular GeForce/Radeon tweaking tool RivaTuner. The purpose of this utility is to give you access to all the undocumented features of ForceWare and Catalyst drivers. This new 15.7 update is as expected extremely large. Please check the “What’s new” information for a specific explanation of the update. There are some very interesting new items in there, let alone four pages with information of all the changes.

The What’s New list is pretty hefty, so it looks like a worthwhile upgrade. Grab it at Guru 3D.

I can say with absolute certainty that if there’s one subject that’s resulted in an obscene amount of confusion for notebook buyers, graphics are it. I remember the halcyon days of the desktop market where your options were ATI’s Radeon 9200, 9600, 9800 or nVidia’s GeForce FX 5200, 5600, or 5900. Unfortunately, those days are long gone, and worse, the confusion has spread alarmingly to the notebook sector.

This is a fantastic guide if you are planning to purchase a laptop and game on it. Check it out at Notebook Review.

ATi have recently released the Radeon X800GT graphics core featuring just 8 pixel pipelines. This product shares a similar price tag to that of the GeForce 6600 GT and the specifications are almost identical. These mid-range graphics cards are capable of delivering exceptional performance that in some cases is able to rival that of the high-end products. While the performance side of these new ATi and NVIDIA cards is impressive, it’s their value factor that has me sold and many others. These graphics cards can be easily purchased for $150 US or less.

There’s no doubt that either of these cards are worth their cost. It could be the best $150 you spend on your computer. Check out the interesting comparison over at Legion Hardware.

It’s been a long time since there has been any innovation or even “change” to the infamous rounded IDE Cables we’ve all come to never live without. The time is now though that someone dare mess with something that just plain works. Is it in vein or is there actually room for improvement, short of custom making your own? Well A.C.Ryan thinks so and our buds over at Performance-PC’s are stocked up on what could be called a “new” rounded IDE Cable to hit the market. It’s being dubbed as the Roundcable2-FX series.

Check out the full review at Virtual-Hideout!

Sega has announced the next generation of the Sonic the Hedgehog series, slated for a Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 release sometime in 2006. Just by looking at the screens, it’s obvious they are going to shoot for some dazzling special effects. We’re not entirely sure whether this is CGI graphics or…..

It’s not that the demo is specifically incompatible with Windows XP, though we’re pretty sure we’ll get a nice letter from Microsoft hacks telling us otherwise, if 99.99% of games agree with Windows 2000 no problems we have to smirk a bit if it’s a Microsoft game that forms part of the .01% that doesn’t.

It sucks if you are on anything other than XP, because I was very impressed with the demo. It’s quite for Microsoft to not at least support Windows 2000 though.. Check out the posting at The Inquirer.

GNOME 2.12 is finally here! With a number of critical enhancements and new features, the latest release is a special treat for users and developers. While there are quite a few significant improvements in plain sight, many of the most beneficial additions work behind the scenes. Built on GTK 2.8, GNOME 2.12 is the first GNOME release to use the versatile Cairo vector drawing engine for widget rendering. The inclusion of Cairo will enable GNOME applications to take advantage of hardware accelerated rendering and integrated SVG. In addition to rendering improvements, the latest release also includes better support for the moderately new Linux Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) which should resolve some problems with external device detection.

If you are a Gnome user, check out the posting here!

Google announced on Thursday that it hired Internet pioneer Vint Cerf, as the search giant seeks to build a network foundation for its future Internet applications.

Cerf, who co-designed TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol), will help Google develop architectures, systems and standards for next-generation applications, the company said.

As if Google wasn’t big enough already.. it looks to be getting larger. With all these amazing hires, I’m sure we can expect amazing things. Check out the news at News.com.

Firefox 1.5 Beta 1 is now available for download. This is the first Beta release of our next generation Firefox browser, to be released later this year, and it is being made available to our developer and testing community for compatibility testing and to solicit feedback.

I’m holding off so that I can still use my extensions.. for now. If you are interested in giving the next version a go, download it here.

In a constant effort to increase out cooling and overclocks, companies are always quick to push out new technologies. CPU Coolers with killer pipes are all the rage now, if you wish to stick to air. We are taking a look at Scythes newest offering, the Katana. This ultra-light cooler offers two heatpipes to help with your cooling, so let’s see how good it is!

WHEN AMD FILED ITS ANTITRUST complaint against Intel this past summer, the document’s contents quickly engendered a wealth of industry commentary and analysis. The complaint itself alleges that Intel has a monopoly in the x86 processor market, and has illegally used that position to lock PC makers into contract agreements. The specificity of the complaint, the fact that it referenced direct quotes from OEMs and retailers, and its timing all made for a massive shot across Santa Clara’s bow.

It’s a messed up situation for more. For one perspective, check out Tech Reports view.

Over the past 9 months here at BFR I’ve reviewed several portable audio systems designed for use with the Apple iPod. Their strong points were portability coupled with adequate sound output for use in a small room, and sound quality took a back seat to portability. This product is quite different – a high-quality 2.1 channel (two satellites/one subwoofer) home audio system configured to work seamlessly with the iPod in a fixed location, capable of delivering near-audiophile performance at serious volume levels. It’s the first of its kind, and any music lover looking for the best available audio system for the iPod should seriously consider it.

Head on over to Bona Fide Reviews for the full review!

The world of technology is going fast, very fast. In the last few weeks not one not two but 4!! new types of displays have been presented. Some of which we can expect in stores in only 2 years. Wanna know more checkout what Hathor had to say about it.

Check out the full look at HardwareXL.

AUSTIN , Texas , Sept. 8, 2005 —NCsoft ® North America has revealed the contents for the City of Villains â„¢ Collector’s Edition retail game pack that will be released to stores in North America when the game launches later this fall. City of Villains , developed by Cryptic Studios â„¢ and…..

Pre-mod computer cases, it seems everyone that is making computer components is getting into making cases also. I have noticed that companies that were known for one thing, like motherboards, are now making computer cases. I guess it is the next logical step, but what happens when you get companies that try and make everything? Well, you don’t get a quality focused product from what I have seen; yes there are some exceptions to that, as with anything there will be some exceptions.

Check out the full review at Think Computers!

CaseModGod.com. is having a mod contest Through October 31st 2005
to give away 2GB kit Crucial Ballistix Tracer PC4000 high-performance
memory, Crucial Ballistix T-shirt, Crucial Ballistix Cap, Crucial Ballistix
Optical Gaming Mouse pad, Crucial Ballistix Poster. Go check it out and
enter your rig. It’s as easy as sending them an email with pics and specs.
What have you got to loose.

Check it out here!

When the vast majority of compact digital cameras have 3x optical zoom lenses, a camera that offers a larger 5x zoom range, while still remaining small enough to slip into a jacket pocket, is going to have a distinct advantage. The Optio SVi is the latest addition to Pentax’s already extensive range of 5 megapixel compact cameras, and offers just such a bonus. Priced at an extremely competitive £195, it is positioned toward the upper end of the compact snapshot market, and does offer some very useful creative features for the more experienced photographer.

Check out the full review of this great camera at Trusted Reviews.

Just a quick note that the highly anticipated Age of Empires III demo has been released! The demo essentially includes two levels, the second taking around 30 minutes to complete. Even though it’s a shorter demo, it will definitely make you want the full game even more. Download it at the Official…..

If you hadn’t already figured it out from the name, GoldenEye: Source is a Total Conversion (TC) mod using Half Life 2’s powerful Source engine. The game is being produced by 36 dedicated enthusiasts who all have fond memories of the original GoldenEye for N64 and wanted to update that classic gameplay…..

The name of this new card will be X1800, which we have seen on the ‘net already today. But the real juice of this bean is that ATI have some more SKUs coming and they will have the following names:

Of course with any new generation comes new mobile parts, we believe this will be in the form of the X1400.

Head over to Hexus for the full view.