Tech News

Seven years for piracy

Posted on September 11, 2006 8:13 AM by Rob Williams

Nathan Peterson, 27, of Los Angeles, sold copyrighted software at a huge discount on his site, iBackups.net, prosecutors said. The FBI began investigating the site in 2003 and shut it down in February 2005. U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III on Friday ordered Peterson to pay restitution of more than $5.4 million. Peterson pleaded guilty in December in Alexandria, Va., to two counts of copyright infringement for illegally copying and selling more than $20 million in software.

I have to wonder why it took a full two years to shut this dudes site down. Talk about a slow process! 7 years in prison and has to pay $5.4 Million in restitution. If the quote of making $20 Million is correct, it doesn’t look like he will be hurting much in that regard.

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Review Roundup for September 11

Posted on September 11, 2006 8:12 AM by Rob Williams

    Cooling
  • Apack Zerotherm CF800 Intel Core 2 Duo Socket 775 Cooler – TweakNews
  • Danger Den nVidia Watercooling Kit & MAG II-LE Pump – OC Modshop
  • OCZ Tempest CPU Cooler – Phoronix
  • Scythe Infinity CPU Cooler – Pro-Clockers
  • Titan Amanda TEC Cooler – Virtual-Hideout
  • Zalman VF900-Cu LED – MadBox PC (Spanish)

    Motherboards & Processors
  • ASUS A8N-SLI Bios Mod – NGOHQ

    Displays & Video Cards
  • Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Rev. 11.4 – techARP
  • NVIDIA 7900GS – Technic3D (German)
  • nVidia GeForce 7900 GS – Hardware Info
  • “Nvidia to release an AGP version of GeForce 7300GT” – NGOHQ
  • “What To Look For In A Gaming LCD Monitor” – Laptop Gamers

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Killer NIC Now Available

Posted on September 10, 2006 11:44 AM by Rob Williams

The KillerNIC M1 has a 400MHz dedicated networking processor with 64MB of PC-2100 DDR memory integrated onto the card. When the card was announced earlier this year, no official price had been slated for the card. The $280 price tag at Newegg is slightly higher than MSRP.

If anyone out there has near $300 to waste, feel free to give this card a try. At least it runs Linux…

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Gaming Tourneys Coming to U.S. Television

Posted on September 10, 2006 11:14 AM by Rob Williams

DirecTV is aiming to bring to the states what the South Koreans have been enjoying for years: regular broadcasts of videogaming tournaments. Games at the first tournament were Battlefield 2, Counterstrike 1.6, Halo 2, Project Gothem Racing and Dead or Alive 4. The initial broadcasts of the exhibition invitational are on the free DirecTV channel 101 this weekend.

Ha! It’s about time! This type of action get’s hardcore viewers over in Korea, so it would be interesting to see if it will catch on here.

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Electricity from vaporizing trash?

Posted on September 10, 2006 11:11 AM by Rob Williams

A Florida county has grand plans to ditch its dump, generate electricity and help build roads — all by vaporizing garbage at temperatures hotter than the sun. The $425 million facility expected to be built in St. Lucie County will use lightning-like plasma arcs to turn trash into gas and rock-like material. It will be the first such plant in the nation operating on such a massive scale and the largest in the world.

Ok, I would have to say it’s scary that they can reach temperatures hotter than the sun, right here on earth. Cool method of creating electricity though.

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Google Earth gets another update

Posted on September 9, 2006 11:35 AM by Rob Williams

Just discovered that there has been an update to aerial and satellite photos in Google Maps. So far, I have determined there is new photography for many areas in California and Texas (Now also areas found in NH, CT, NC, GA, NY, FL, entire state of Montana, Coastline of Maine, the Netherlands, Belgium, Japan, Norway, New Zealand, Canada)

This seems like quite an update. If you previously were unable to see your city in there, you may want to check to see if it’s been included in the update!

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H.P. Chairwoman Aims Not to Be the Scapegoat

Posted on September 9, 2006 11:31 AM by Rob Williams

Patricia C. Dunn, Hewlett-Packard’s chairwoman, was known as a remarkable saleswoman as she rose to the top of the financial industry. But on Sunday, she will have to sell her board on the idea that she should not be dumped as the scapegoat for the scandal rocking the company.

I won’t give my opinions on this, but it would be hard for HP to be known as a reputable company with her on top.

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Removing logos from your electronics

Posted on September 9, 2006 11:30 AM by Rob Williams

This instructable is to show you how easy it is to remove some unwanted logo’s from cell phones and other plastic / metal products. The logo has to be of the type glued onto the surface rather then etched in (which generally is the case 90% of the time) as we will scratch them off. There are many ways which you can go about this from fingernails, to pin, but there is one trick, which i have tested and will show you…

This is odd, and I’m surprised it works. I wish I had known this when I tore the stickers off my laptop.

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HL2 Episode 2 Gameplay Movie #5

Posted on September 8, 2006 6:19 PM by Rob Williams

And the five part series ends! Here is the final installment of the gameplay videos. That’s not to say there won’t be more prior to release. Knowing Valve… there will be.

The fifth of five new gameplay movies from Half-Life 2®: Episode Two is now available. This week’s release of movies concludes with a look at the expansive outdoor environments, new creatures, and weapons included in Episode Two. Targeted for release in Q1 2007 on the PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, Half-Life 2: Episode Two will also include Team Fortress 2 and Portal.

As always, the video is encoded in WMV HD, and this is the largest one yet weighing in at 262MB. The previous four are listed also in case you haven’t grabbed them yet.

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FTC fines Xanga

Posted on September 8, 2006 8:18 AM by Rob Williams

Social networking Web site Xanga.com will pay $1 million — the largest penalty ever issued for violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act — for repeatedly allowing children under 13 to sign up for the service without getting their parent’s consent, the Federal Trade Commission announced Thursday.

The thing I find most incredible about this is the fact that they went so long without being fined. Though I disagree with a lot of fines given, this is a smart one. But ouch… $1 Million!

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HP scandal deepens

Posted on September 8, 2006 8:17 AM by Rob Williams

The investigators got the records by impersonating journalists from the Wall Street Journal, CNET.com and other news organizations in a practice known as “pretexting,” the company said. HP spokesman Michael Moeller said that “there are other journalists” whose records were improperly accessed, but would not say how many others were involved.

C|net and Wall Street Journal were the two publications that had been spyed on. The investigators searched telephone records to find out that the HP employees had been in contact with them. I personally find this unbelievable, and have lost all respect for HPs top management. It just seems odd to me, that the information gained from these ‘sources’ seemed like that big of a deal.

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NHL 2K7 Gone Gold

Posted on September 8, 2006 8:16 AM by Rob Williams

NHL 2K7, the latest in the #1 rated hockey video game series, has gone gold and is set to hit retail shelves on September 12th. NHL 2K7 introduces a completely new skating engine and a multitude of new features, enriching the virtual ice rink experience. Gamers can play in a whole new perspective with Cinemotion™ – an exclusive and revolutionary experience that brings the game a new dramatic dimension with unique camera angles and striking orchestrated music. Cinemotion utilizes cut scenes shot from brand new perspectives to further heighten the drama and excitement of the game.

The game will be available on the 12th for the Xbox ($19.99US) and the Xbox 360 ($59.99US).

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Intel vPro Technology Poised to Redefine Business PCs

Posted on September 8, 2006 8:15 AM by Rob Williams

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 7, 2006 – Intel Corporation today introduced Intel® vPro™ technology, a package of hardware and software that marks a major change in what businesses can expect from their PCs, providing IT workers with unprecedented levels of computing performance and more proactive control of security and costs. Intel also said early trials with select Fortune 500 companies showed an average potential cost savings of 40 percent.

You can read the full release here.

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OCZ Technology Annouces ATI CrossFire-Certified PC2-5400 Memory for Gamers and System Builders

Posted on September 8, 2006 8:14 AM by Rob Williams

Sunnyvale, CA—September 7, 2006—OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative ultra high performance and high reliability memory, today announced the new OCZ PC2-5400 ATI CrossFire™ Certified modules. The award-winning PC2-5400 gaming solutions from OCZ now feature the first ever exclusively designed heatspreaders for ATI Technologies. Co-developed with ATI, the unique PC2-5400 CrossFire-certified series offers an unparalleled opportunity to boost performance and stylize gamers’ systems.

You can read the full press release here.

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Review Roundup for September 8

Posted on September 8, 2006 8:13 AM by Rob Williams

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HL2 Episode 2 Gameplay Movie #4

Posted on September 7, 2006 2:18 PM by Rob Williams

Valve has just released part 4 of their 5 part gameplay series! Where the third trailer ended, this one begins. It’s different this time though… there’s rockish type music playing, and it -almost- sounds like there is even a singer. Hard to tell with the constant gunfire though.

The fourth of five new gameplay movies from Half-Life 2®: Episode Two is now available. Targeted for release in Q1 2007 on the PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, Half-Life 2: Episode Two will also include Team Fortress 2 and Portal.

Thi movie is WMV HD format and weighs in at 145MB. If you missed 1 – 3, you can download them also.

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Windows Vista RC1 Impresses

Posted on September 7, 2006 9:59 AM by Rob Williams

Early feedback from testers already using Windows Vista RC1 (Release Candidate 1) report that the OS (operating system) is more stable than expected, which bodes well for Microsoft’s plan to have Vista out according to its current schedule.

We posted the other day about some who were not impressed with RC1, but here’s the opposite opinion. It would be quite interesting to know how many businesses and home users are planning on purchasing on release, and those who are going to wait.

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AMD Quietly Releases Athlon 64 X2 5200+

Posted on September 7, 2006 9:34 AM by Rob Williams

AMD has quietly released a new Athlon 64 X2 5200+ processor for AM2 platforms. DailyTech previously reported AMD was expected to launch new Athlon 64 X2 5200+ processors. The Athlon 64 X2 5200+ is essentially identical to the previous socket 939 Athlon 64 FX-60, with the exception of socket and memory support. Clock frequency of the Athlon 64 X2 5200+ is also identical to the previous X2 5000+ at 2.6 GHz.

The retail pricing will hover around $400US once released, but is it worth it? The 4600+ retails for around $280 for near the same speed, but less cache. Comparing this chip to what’s available in the price range for Conroe makes things even more difficult.

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Wireless HDMI on the horizon

Posted on September 7, 2006 9:31 AM by Rob Williams

Ultrawideband chipmaker TZero has partnered with Analog Devices to announce an HDMI wireless technology that would allow high-definition video and audio to be transmitted between devices at up to 480 Mbps without the use of cords. With the use of a transmitter and receiver, the user would be able to transmit high-definition content from any HDMI-enabled device, such as a DVD player or a game system, to the receiver attached to the HDMI display from up to 30 meters away.

The compression uses JPEG2000, so there will be quality loss regardless of how great the result is. This might not be for everyone, but the price could ultimately decide that.

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New Russian law targets AllofMP3.com

Posted on September 7, 2006 9:13 AM by Rob Williams

Like the rumors of Mark Twain’s death, reports of AllofMP3.com’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. A new Russian law that came into force this week could mark the end of the site’s defiant run, though, as Russia attempts to enter the World Trade Organization and bring its intellectual property laws into agreement with international norms.

I still find it funny that a ‘simple’ website is holding back an entire Country from anything. Still, this could be the beginning of the sites demise… maybe.

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HP Boardroom Drama

Posted on September 7, 2006 9:10 AM by Rob Williams

A quiet internal investigation into media leaks at tech giant Hewlett-Packard has blown up into a full-fledged media event, with one board member resigning in protest and another in jeopardy of losing his seat.

This news blew up into something huge quick! If you want to be in the know, News.com is tracking every aspect of going-ons. One thing is for sure… we need more people like Tom Perkins in business.

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GNOME 2.16 Released

Posted on September 7, 2006 9:07 AM by Rob Williams

GNOME 2.16 is the latest version of the popular, multi-platform free desktop environment, providing all the tools a user needs for everyday work, and a platform for developers to write new software. GNOME’s focus is ease of use, stability, and first class internationalization and accessibility support, so that GNOME and its applications are usable by anyone, anywhere.

If you are a GNOME user and didn’t know that this was out… then where have you been? To see all of what’s new, you can check out the release page and notes. Phoronix has a look at the newest version with Ubuntu, and Ars Technica looks deeper into what’s been upgraded.

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OCZ Technology Group Announces Grand Opening of Asia Pacific Product Development

Posted on September 7, 2006 9:05 AM by Rob Williams

Sunnyvale, CA—September 6, 2006—OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, is pleased to announce the opening of the new OCZ Asia Pacific Product Development and Logistics Center, located in Chung Ho City, Taipei County, Taiwan.

You can read the full press release here.

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AMD and ATI Announce Merger Control Clearances…

Posted on September 7, 2006 9:03 AM by Rob Williams

SUNNYVALE, CALIF. and MARKHAM, ONTARIO – Sept. 6, 2006 – Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE: AMD) and ATI Technologies Inc. (TSX: ATY, NASDAQ: ATYT) today announced that the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended, relating to the proposed acquisition of ATI by AMD, has expired. In addition, the Commissioner of Competition issued an advance ruling certificate in connection with the proposed acquisition under the Canadian Competition Act, and the German Federal Cartel Office likewise has cleared the transaction. As a result, the conditions to the acquisition relating to U.S., Canadian and German antitrust approvals are now satisfied.

You can read the full press release here.

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Review Roundup for September 7

Posted on September 7, 2006 9:02 AM by Rob Williams

    Memory & Storage
  • OCZ PC4000 EB Platinum Edition – ClubOC
  • OCZ PC2-8000 Titanium Alpha VX2 – techARP

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