Content and news by Rob Williams

Picture the scene; this kid’s dad comes home from his first day working at Microsoft’s next-gen console lab with a big brown box. The kid rips open the box, takes out next-gen console and gets his friend to take pictures of him playing with it.

Wow.. idiocy. This kids father will be lucky if he remains at MS. Unless of course, this is a cheap ploy by MS in some bizarre way. The kids not using an ordinary console though, it looks like a dev kit. Check out the full post at Joystiq.

Intel released an update to its Itanium line with the first two processors in the chip family to sport a 667 MHz front side bus (FSB).

High end servers, such as a new one being rolled out by Hitachi, are expected to exploit the capabilities of the faster bus to deliver more than 65 percent greater system bandwidth over servers designed with current Itanium 2 processors with a 400 MHz FSB, according to Intel.

Head over to Internet News for the full posting.

Our modelling had anticipated the 500m mark to be passed late June or early July, but the growth rate isn’t so far off the forecast, and the company is still on track to sell its billionth song in December, probably towards the end of the month.

Huge grats to Apple, because that’s quite a number. The last couple hundred thousand songs were selling FAST. In fact, they sold 900,000 yesterday alone. The person who bought the 500 Millionth song, won 10 iPODS, 10,000 tracks and Coldplay tickets. Check out the posting at The Register.

Although we’ve only recently begun examining SunbeamTech products we’ve known of their long product legacy for quite some time. One of the areas that SunbeamTech specializes in is the market for controller/multi-function panels. In this review, we’ll be checking out the SunbeamTech Chromatic Windmill.

This panel has a great look. I like the fact that the back is covered up so you don’t see the PCB. Check out the review at Phoronix.

The 200GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 SATA NCQ drives earn praise for several reasons. The results from the various tests show that this generation of drives provides a performance boost over the previous generation, whether the system is capable of implementing NCQ or not. The availability of NCQ just makes the drives even more appealing for those with a system (or controller) capable of taking advantage of this new technology.

Check out the full review at Big Bruin.

We must say first off that the fan of this Thermaltake Golden Orb II is really very quiet. We hardly heard it working at all. We are proud because of its cooling performance to quietness to award this Thermaltake Golden Orb II our Editors Top Choice for an air cooler heatsink.

Check out the review at A1 Electronics.

Is a data backup solution part of your computer plans? Do you have a way to protect yourself if something goes wrong with your computer or data? Computers are a useful part of our lives but we don’t always protect ourselves from their loss be it fire, theft or hardware failure.

Keeping your data safe and backed up is *so* important. Check out the article at BFR.

Defcon 13 will be happening in Las Vegas, Nevada at the end of the month. Admission will be a heft $80, which should prove good at weeding out people who shouldn’t be there.

If you are planning to check it out, check out the official Defcon site here.

Gigabyte continues to amaze us with their cooling advancements. The 3D Galaxy performs quite well, is easy to install, and
adds a nice touch of blue inside your windowed case.

Head over to InsaneTek for the full review!

It’s not entirely clear where they scored this info, but Xbox365.com is reporting that Microsoft is going to launch the Xbox 360 on November 4th. 112 days and counting…

If this is true, I can’t wait. This console is going to be a killer addition to your collection. Check out the post over at Xbox365. Source: digg

SIPphone.com Project Gizmo, launched earlier this month, is a SIP based PC-to-PC VoIP application with a basic feature set similar to Skype. There are Gizmo CallIn and CallOut features, which connect the application to calls coming from and going to the PSTN, as well as Gizmo-to-Gizmo calls. As a SIP-based application, though, Gizmo also lets users call other SIP-based applications.

Skype isn’t scared, but should they be? What I’ve seen of Gizmo so far looks awesome, and the overall feel is better than Skype. Read more at Wi-Fi Planet. Source: digg

Art-case objects, or designer brands are really into the market nowadays, specially-designed (and usually functioning) gadgets and gizmos; from Steinway pianos to cars to cellphones, they all have a usually radical design, and more often than not, some very special features. Usually produced in limited quantities, art-case objects are a growing trend that is hooking on to many – and a designer keyboard is no exception. This revolutionary new project seems set to re-define the word “keyboard” from every aspect imaginable, so let us welcome the Art. Lebedev Optimus Keyboard.

Check out the full look Cyber Wizard Pit.

Ever had problems opening or running applications even when your system has a LOT of free memory? Isn’t it puzzling to get “Out Of Memory” errors when you evidently have a lot of free memory??

What you are actually facing is a lack of desktop heap! Today, we will show you just how to fix this annoying problem once and for all!

Check it out at Rojak Pot!

The NGO ATI Optimized Driver is a tweaked version of the ATI Catalyst driver. The main purpose is to satisfy the users with a better performance and better image quality. The Driver has support for all Radeon cards.

Download it at NGOHQ.

More Power supplies! Today I have 2 Power Supplies (psu) from HEC Group (High-Quality Evolution Commitment). These psus are some of the big boys on the block coming in at 550watts and 580watts. We decided to do this as a combined review so our readers wouldn’t have to re-read the same thing again in a second HEC review. I had to do some research on the internet to find some more info on this brand of psu, because I never heard of them, what I found is interesting; the reviews I read were excellent. HEC received top scores in all categories, I also found that they are pretty big in Europe and not that well known here, could be why I never heard of them. Well anyway I have the WINPower 550watt and the AcePower 580watt psu’s for review. They are essentially the same with some cosmetic differences and wattages of course.

Check it out at Think Computers.

BF2, by now you have heard of it and probably played it quite a bit, the demo if not the actual game. And I am sure you have read all the reviews of the game, so this isn’t a review of the game just more of a rant about how this was handled and the new trend it seems that we (the consumer) are now paying to become Beta Testers.

Check out the article at Think Computers.

AN AUSSIE aircraft hit panic stations after the smell from an overheated laptop was thought to mean that the plane was on fire.

A Virgin Blue Boeing 737-700 was half an hour from Coolangatta on a flight from Sydney late yesterday when the pilot radioed ahead to have emergency services put on standby.

This could have been much, much worse. I’m surprised I haven’t heard of news like this before though, considering how many people use laptops on flights. Check out the posting at The Inquirer. Source: digg

In this review, I will take a look at two devices that attempt to
raise your gaming experience to the next level: the Raptor-Gaming M2 Gaming
Mouse and MyStify Claw Game Controller. The M2 mouse’s main appeal is an
astonishing 2400 DPI optical sensor while the MyStify Claw offers a
substantially more ergonomic alternative to the keyboard. Does either
device deserve a spot under your gaming palms? Read on and find out.

Check out the review at A True Review.

Being the fastest low latency DDR2 modules we have tested up to date, I have to admit that these Patriot Memory kit proved that this is the type of module you want to have installed in your gaming rig. The ability to do 3-2-2 timings at DDR667 is amazing and PDP Systems stretches their award winning XBL series into the DDR2 market. Although we maxed out at 347MHz; 3Mhz shy of the rated speed of 350MHz, it was mainly because our test setup was the barrier and I strongly believe that we could have achieved better overclocks. However, we can only confirm once we have geared up with the required motherboard.

Head over to PC Modding My for the full review.

Patriot surprised us all with their XBLK line of memory that featured Samsung TCCD IC’s. It was extremely affordable and
overclocked very well. This new PC4800 not only provides speed, but amazing looks as well.

Head over to InsaneTek.