Content and news by Rob Williams

Although Skype requires no additional hardware beyond an Internet connected PC sporting a sound card with speakers and a microphone, USB compatible Skype Phones are available to make the experience even more convenient… Geeks.com carries a handful of USB VoIP phones for use with the Skype service, and they have sent over a pair of phones from Skype-Phone.net for consideration.

Check out the full article over at Big Bruin!

The Epox 9NPA+ SLI supports any current and future socket 939 AMD Athlon64 processor and is based on the Nvidia nForce4 SLI chipset with support for up to 4GB of PC3200 DDR memory. The Epox EP-9NPA+SLI motherboard adds on to this capability with an on board PCI Express-based Silicon Image SiI3132 Serial ATA II controller. The SIS SiI3132 supports two additional Serial ATA II channels, and thanks to port multiplier capabilities it can accommodate up to 30 SATA HDDs (fifteen on each port) with an appropriate port-multiplier device.

You can check out the full review at PC Stats.

This isn’t something you want to broil or eat on the half shell but it looks like something born outta Las Vegas. Today we show you the Neon Crab Memory Cooler by Evercool. They are a top 5 company in Taiwan for manufacturing PC Thermal Solutions. They provide a wide range of products worldwide from retail to prebuilt computer system companies. I’d like to thank Evercool at this time for an innovative product.

Check out the entire review over at Think Computers.

The design is revolutionary. I’m sure we’ll see copycat designs surfacing to flatter the Asetek engineers. Performance is excellent, this pump should be able to handle the most taxing of watercooling circuits. Now all Asetek have to do is sort out the Control Panel software.

Check out the full review over at Hexus!

Hey, are you waging losing a battle against wires and cable clutter? Although we’ve managed to come up with a way to eliminate some of that cable clutter with Wi-Fi, that doesn’t mean that the Wi-Fi router itself is wireless, it still requires its power adapter! Unless we come up with some way to transmit not only data but electricity through air (hold that thought, it may become reality in about 15 years from now…) but until then, we have the CABLEYOYO from Bluelounge Design; A welcomed ally with its state of the art patent pending revolutionary design that’s so simple, yet practical, is here to lend you a hand and reclaim some of that lost desktop space due to cable C|-|@o$

This is a very unique product, that could come in handy. Check out the review at PC Modding Malaysia.

Apple’s iTunes Music Store in Japan recently had a clearance sale of everything-must-go proportions–albeit accidentally, according to a report on Asahi.com.

For the better part of the day last Thursday, the store mistakenly sold entire albums for 50 yen, just over 3 percent of the intended price of 1,500 yen.

Haha, ouch! Check out the full posting at C|NET.

Yeah ok, so I was a little slow on the draw with this one.

They say talk is cheap. Google thinks it should be free. Google Talk enables you to call or send instant messages to your friends for free–anytime, anywhere in the world.

I tend to try anything Google throws at us, and this one is no exception. Even though there are so many IM clients out there, Google may impress us, we will have to see. For a lot more info, check out the official about page here.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – August 25, 2005 – AGEIA™ Technologies, Inc., the pioneer in hardware-accelerated physics for games, and Mythic Entertainment, developer and publisher of massively-multiplayer online role-playing games including Dark Age of Camelot, today announced a publisher-wide licensing agreement in which Mythic can fully exploit the power of AGEIA physX™ technology in developing its massively-multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPG).

Glad to see MMO devs are getting in on the action! check out the full press release here.

While DDR2 has a
handful of technical advancements over DDR, its early model’s (PC2-3200 and
PC2-4200) speed and performance are easily matched by the latest DDR
modules. It is only at its third speed level of PC2-5400 that DDR2’s speed
is reasonably out of reach from DDR. In this review I will be examining the
high performance line PC2-5400 dual channel memory modules from three of
the biggest names in computer memory: the Ballistix from Crucial, the
HyperX from Kingston, and the Gold Series from OCZ.

Check out the full round-up over at A True Review.

Hexus again has many new updates from their findings at this years IDF. Here are a couple of the notable quotes:

We spent some time talking to Microsoft about Media Centre and X360. Whilst there is some good news, there is some even better news if you are planning to upgrade to VISTA.

VIA seem to be re-focusing themselves on the market and attacking it from a different angle, meaning who seriously would want to be in the middle of NVIDIA and ATI at the moment? Meaning 2 is better than one – but sandwiched in there – no way!

Check out these articles and more at Hexus!

The fan sits neatly in the middle of the heatsink, so the air is being sucked through one set of fins and heatpipes, and blown out the other set. A very effective way of getting the most out of the 120mm fan. Not only that, but the fan is hidden out of the way of fingers, and the aesthetics are much better without a huge fan sitting on top.

Check out the review over at Xtreme Computing.

Guru3D has just uploaded some new WHQL certified NVIDIA drivers, that are apparently dated August 02, 05. I’m quite content with the 78.11 BETA drivers, but I may give these ones a try for fun. Check them out here if you want to experiment.

We find and use external hard drives for backup. For us this gives us the added security that should anything go wrong with our computers we have a totally separate hard drive with our data backed up. And of course it is so easy to transfer data from one PC to another.

Head over to A1 Electronics for the full review!

Once again, we have a House of Commons with the Developers of EVERQUEST tonight, Thursday August 25th. It will be at 6pm PST / 9pm EST in the #StraticsHoC channel on Stratics IRC. We will be discussing the upcoming expansion: Depths of Darkhollow. The following will be In attendance, so do come…..

As mentioned the other day, Blue Shift is coming to Steam. Well, it has been released today, and I have already jumped in and gave it a go. Ahh, I remember that X-pac quite well, it’s good stuff.

For those of you pissed off because you don’t get it due to not buying a Silver or Gold package, don’t fret. You can purchase the Premier Pack for the current classics already there, and the new Blue Shift. Check it out!

Noise, air volume throughput, longevity, and even dust prevention are now becoming things to consider when choosing the fans that are right for you and your system. Today we take a look at the Acousti Products Ultra Quiet Low Vibration Dust Proof Cooling Fans, along with their Soft Silicone Fan Gaskets and Anti-Vibration Silicone Case Feet. All are means of further enhancing the system’s cooling performance and quieting overall case noise.

Check out the full look over at Big Bruin!

For a 20th anniversary you’d better have something special! This is one really unique product unlike anything else that’s currently on the market. It’s a radical design that you either like or dislike. It has lots of room to work, plenty of features, many drive bays & excellent air circulation. Also, the build quality & design are fantastic. Dare to be different! Watch the Video to find out more…

Check out the full video review at 3D Gameman.

The UWC used to govern the universe, keeping it safe for all species. Alliances and agreements were made to keep the peace and harmony in the universe. Forces from different species would stand together to maintain peace and ensure all enjoyed mutual benefits. The universe, at that time, was comprised of peace…..

We can speculate all we want, but there’s nothing better than getting firm answers directly from companies that deal with evolving market, competition and customers everyday. Today we have Andy Talamantez, Online Media Coordinator, OCZ Technology for a quick roundup of questions regarding OCZ’s plans, its recently launched Gamer GX series and the future of the memory industry. Without further ado, let’s get started…

This is a great interview if you love memory or OCZ! Check it out at Cool Tech Zone.

Since this is a passive cooling device it won’t make huge reductions in the temperature of your watercooling setup. What it will do is keep the temperatures low even when you lower your radiator fan/noise levels, allowing you to further silence your system. It’ll look good doing it and won’t cost a bomb either.

Check out the full review at Viper Lair.