Content and news by Rob Williams

“In this article for the weekend, we’ll be taking a look at the Triplett Line-Bug 4 Phone/LAN Tester. This tester is designed to test any phone jack (RJ-11) or LAN jack (RJ-45).”

Check out the full review at Phoronix.

“Tired of plugging devices into the back of your computer? Can’t read your
friends camera’s memory card? Looking for something that will tell you the
temperature of the your case? Look no more, for Sunbeam has created their
20 in 1 Superior Panel. This panel is like a Swiss Army knife for your
external devices.”

Check out the full review at A True Review.

“Today the brand spanking new Koolance EXOS-2 (Model # EX2-750BK) is in for review. This is the replacement for the venerable EXOS-Al, and is the marriage of the PC3-720BK into the EXOS lineage. The EXOS-2 is available in brushed aluminum or black, with no other models currently announced. It was almost exactly four years ago today that we posted our first Koolance review. At the time, only the bleeding edge enthusiast would think of having water inside their system, even if it meant cooler operating temperatures. The then unknown group at Koolance began shipping water-cooling systems that were not only accessible to the technologically challenged, but also performed effectively enough for the enthusiast.”

Check out the full review at Hard|OCP.

Apple Corp. has unleashed the Tiger. The latest major update of Apple Computer Inc.`s Mac OS X operating system, code-named Tiger, went on sale worldwide on Friday.

At a cost of USD 129 and available at Apple`s own retail stores, authorized Apple resellers and on Apple`s online store, the upgrade is the fifth major refresh of Mac OS X and includes more than 200 new innovative features.

Check out the full read at Benson Report.

To commemorate the moment, the foundation said on its Web site that it would create 50 limited-edition coins, to be distributed to people with stories of spreading the browser online. An additional, a still-unnamed prize will be given to the owner of the Web site responsible for the 50 millionth download.

“It’s funny how the counter just blows by 50 million without a care in the world, isn’t it?” Mozilla developer Blake Ross wrote on the foundation’s Web site. “But it’s not just a number to us. It’s a validation of half a decade of work, and the beginning of half a decade more.”

Good stuff! Before we know it, I am sure it will hit the 100 million mark. Check it out at News.com.

“Both cases have a long list of features & bold styling, especially the Nemesis which has a radical front design. The Nemesis case is all aluminum, except for the front & therefore it is fairly light. Three 120mm fans make air circulation excellent, and it even comes with a flip-up LED at the top. The Trinity case is steel with great features & a classy look. Watch the Video to find out more…”

Check out the full video review at 3D Gameman.

In celebration of the upcoming launch of Asheron’s Call 2: Legions, Stratics and Turbine Entertainment bring to you a chance to win some great Asheron’s Call 2 prizes! No need to jump through hoops, nothing to buy, just sign up for a chance to win: * A Free Lifetime Account to Asheron’s Comment (0) -->

“Dell is both large enough and savvy enough to engineer and market the best gaming system around. This Dimension XPS Gen-4, however, is overpriced and, from a package’s point of view, hasn’t been specified too well. Dell, I feel, needs to reduce the price to below £1,500 inc. VAT and offer a choice between CRT and TFT at no extra cost. Custom touches, such as a gaming mouse and windowed panel wouldn’t go amiss, either. It’s surprising to say this, but Dell, with this XPS system, isn’t doing what it does best, that is, offering unbeatable value for money.”

Check out the full review at Hexus.

“Six months after the release of the print version of the BIOS Optimization Guide, the e-book version is now available! Come and take a look at the e-book version of the ultimate guide on BIOS optimization for PCs!”

Check out the article at Rojak Pot.

“To most of us GPU cooling is not that important. If you have having heat problems inside of your case then you might want to consider some type of aftermarket GPU cooling system. Now if you are Overclocking then you defiantly want to get an aftermarket CPU cooler. Today we will be looking at the Arctic Cooling NV Silencer and see if it can solve some of these heat problems.”

Check out the full review at Think Computers.

“The cutout of the door enabling the front audio ports to be accessible when the door is closed truly is ingenious. There are features like this all over the case. Another example is the power supply mount, not only is the power supply support by the bracket, but ThermalRock also integrated two steel stands, to support the back of the power supply. The cooling of the ThermalRock Circle is also excellent. The backwards internal design truly does help with cooling, and thus gives us an early look into the BTX form factor.”

Check out the full review at Viper Lair.

“If we forget about pricing and purely look at the product then I can undeniably recommend it. It’s the most fun you’ll ever get from a display ever and you can use it for many situations, case-mods, LAN Fragfest “coolness”, Home Theater PC and so on. The ease of use and flexibility make it incredibely fun. Next to that the build quality is just awesome. Whether you are playing game or are looking at the weather forecast or system load it doesn’t matter, the Matrix Orbital MX610 is a really fun display and quite frankly the best I’ve ever owned.”

Check out the full review at Guru 3D.

“Although the design looks like it will offer amazing cooling through the wind tunnel, I am unsure about the rest of the system. This fan mount supplies the rest of the case with air and although the front is meshed this might be a problem for some of you with a high-end Gfx card.”

Check out the full review at Xtreme Computing.

“OCZ’s new Gold PC3200 features new Winbond UTT BH5 IC’s and one great price. If you’ve got the voltage to pump, look no further. You’ll be happy with the low latencies.”

Check out the full review at InsaneTek.

“If we learned anything from Microsoft’s Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) 2005, it’s that the move to 64-bits will be a very quick and easy transition, with most new systems containing x86-64 processors by the end of 2005. WinHEC launched Microsoft’s long-awaited Windows x64 operating systems in XP Professional and several Server 2003 flavors. Everywhere we turned, x64 desktop and server systems were on display.”

Check out the full article at Tech Report.

“Chaintech is one of the few manufacturers to produce an entry level motherboard for the socket 939 AMD Athlon64 processor, and from what we’ve seen, its Zenith VNF4 Ultra has been scooping up a lot of sales. Considering this PCI Express x16 motherboard goes for just over $100 CDN, you can’t expect too much in terms of features. The Chaintech VNF4 Ultra still has a Gigabit NIC as well as 7.1 channel audio though, so it’s not completely bargain basement stuff. Chaintech also toss in a copy of Norton Anti-Virus 2005 (90 day subscription) and a few other software utilities, which is a nice. Expansion is provided by three standard PCI slots and a pair of PCIe x1 connectors. The VNF4 Ultra supports 4 IDE and 4 SATA I/II devices for storage.”

Check out the full review at PC Stats.

“We are pleased to announce that Guild Wars has opened in North America and Europe. In the five years of development, we have seen the advent of a new company, the forging of a new international bond, and the launch of one of the most popular preorder programs of all time. Tonight, Comment (0) -->

“No Tux. No License. No Mercy. You are Andrew Sterling, British MI6 Agent … disavowed, in this PlayStation®2 exclusive First-Person Shooter. VU Games wants to give you a sneak peek at this amazing game by mailing you a free copy of the playable demo that’s included in the April 2005 issue of Comment (0) -->

“As Microsoft unveiled details of a “more secure” desktop operating system this week, news emerged that the company’s browser is losing business users because of – among other things – security.

A survey of 168,000 surfers hitting business web sites has found Internet Explorer has lost nearly two percentage points of market share. IE’s open source nemesis Firefox, meanwhile, doubled its presence.”

When IE7 hits the market, it will be interesting to see if the numbers for IE will go back up, or if people will stick with Firefox. Read about it at The Register.

Early preview footage of the Half-Life 2 add-on level, the Lost Coast, has hit the net this morning.

Weighing in at a hefty 180MB for just over a minute of footage, the hi-res video shows the ‘outstanding’ effects of the high dynamic range lighting support featured in the level.

Info taken from The Inquirer, and you can torrent the trailer here.