Tech News

Apple music store downloads top 300m

“The timing of the latest announcement marks a slight acceleration in song download activity. It took around 41 days for Apple to sell 50m further downloads after passing the 200m mark. The next 50m downloads were sold in 36 days. It’s difficult to be precise because Apple didn’t say when exactly it sold its track numbers 200m, 250m and 300m, but it’s clear songs are being downloaded more frequently.”

Welp, that’s more music than I have. Check the full article at The Register.

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Logitech V500 Cordless Notebook Mouse Review @ Tech Zone

“The Logitech V500 Cordless Notebook Mouse is without a doubt, the sleekest mobile mice I have ever laid eyes on. The stylist, ultra-thin mouse blends uncompromising performance with the ultimate in mobility. Like a high-end sport car, the V500 is loaded with innovations – an expandable chassis, a touch-sensitive solid-state scrolling panel, and 2.4GHz wireless technology – all wrapped up in a sleek design that will turn heads.”

This is definately a great looking mouse.. but how does it perform? Only one way to find out.

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IDF Reports all over the place!

There are Intel Developer Forum reports all over the place today. After all the announcements yesterday, there are even more today, although some not as exciting.

AnandTech

Inquirer
The Register
Legit Reviews
Hexus

Each one of those sites has some great information discovered from the IDF. I am sure even more info will become available as time goes by.

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XG Vortec 500W Power Supply Review @ PC Modding

“The Vortec 500 shares the spotlight with the Vigor 500, but where the Vigor left off, the Vortec continues. The Vortec 500 features a fully light-weight Blue aluminium housing that not only looks great, but also enhances the overall performance of the entire system. With two large blue LED fans keeping the interior cool, there is no worry for overheating. Two blue acrylic windows enhance the overall look giving gamers the edge on the competition.”

It’s unreal how many different ways you can make a ‘simple’ PSU look cool, and this ones not quite like any others. Check out the full review over at PC Modding.

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Thermaltake Water Cooler Heatsink System Accessories Review @ A1 Electronics

“Yes, while we appreciate these are only optional extras for a computer water cooled heatsink system we do think that the H20 temperature indicator is a very handy item for all H20 cooler heatsink systems as it will allow you to adjust the fan speed on your radiator /s for optimum cooling performance to speed / noise of the fan or fans. Especially handy during the hot summer months and then down again for winter.”

Check out the full review at A1 Electronics.

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Cooler Master Cool Drive Lite @ Viper Lair

“If you’re only interested in cooling, and your case already does an adequate job of keeping your hard drive cool, this is not a required purchase. On the other hand, the Cool Drive Lite does shield some of the hard drive noise, and the included fan is essentially silent so if you’re building a silent PC, you might want to give the Cool Drive Lite some consideration.”

If you want to keep your HDD’s cool, check out the review over at Viper Lair.

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Antec Phantom 350W Fanless PSU Review @ Mikhailtech

“Most of the above listed features are standard with the majority of quality power supplies, but the 85% efficiency is by far the highest rated value of any currently available PSU. Much like the fanless design, this is big news. Mechanically, efficiency is the ratio of useful energy delivered by a machine to the energy supplied for its operation. In power supplies, the rest is given off as heat. The industry standard is currently close to 70% with quality units ranging between 75%-80%. 70% vs. 85% may not seem like much, but consider this mathematically ideal situation: using a 300 watt load (more than adequate even for high-end systems), an 85% efficient PSU will give off 45 watts as heat; a 70% efficient PSU will give off 90 watts as heat – that’s twice as much! So, even 15% of extra efficiency translates into half the heat output.”

Look ma, no fans! Definately a cool looking PSU. Check the full review at Mikhailtech.

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Asetek WaterChill Socket LGA 775 watercooling @ Guru of 3D

As you know these Pentium 4 CPUs these days are getting rather hot. So why not watercool it ? What a coincidence that Asetek is offering a new kit especially for these hot puppies of ours.



The kit Guru3D received from Asetek is pretty much their best kit. It’s called the KT12AT-L30/220V/Dual Radiator Socket LGA755 kit, a CPU/VGA/Chipset kit. We opted the version with thick 1/2″ tubing for optimal flow. Next to that the kit has the heavy Hydor L30-II included, a pump that can push 1200 liters of water per hour. Did if work sufficiently … welll .. how does 35 Degrees C for a fully (100%) utilized 100 Watt sucking Pentium 4 3.46 GHz Extreme edition sound ?



Sceptical about water cooling your system? Check out this 12 page in depth article at the Guru of 3D. You may change your mind!

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Yahoo Turns 10

David Filo remembers the days in 1994 when he and fellow Stanford University doctoral candidate Jerry Yang would get together with friends to conjure up big ideas for making a business out of the Internet.



Hard to believe it has been ten years! If this article interests you then read more here.



There is also a special offer from Yahoo for their birthday celebration to their users. If you are a Yahoo member then visit the Yahoo! home page to get your own Yahoo birthday treat!

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Intel Ditches Pentium 4 and replaces with D

Anandtech is reporting back from the IDF (Intel Developer Forum), with the latest news on the new Pentium D chips. D is obviously for “Dual-Core”, and it’s promising some impressive efficiency and speed.

The 90nm chips, which also feature a 2*1mb cache, will be launched with three versions, ranging from 2.8GHz – 3.2GHz. Also revamped is the P-Extreme Edition, which launches at 3.2GHz speed, with 2*2 threads, meaning to per core. Check out all the latest reports on this over at AnandTech.

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Intel leads 32/64-bit chip sales, CEO says

SAN FRANCISCO–Advanced Micro Devices may have come to market with the first x86 chips that can run both 32-bit and 64-bit software, but Intel’s chief said his company has surpassed AMD in shipments in that sector.



“We are outshipping the competition in that space,” Intel CEO Craig Barrett said in an interview with reporters following his keynote speech here at the company’s developer forum.



Check out the full article at ZD Net.

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Microsoft says 64-bit Windows due in April

SAN FRANCISCO–Microsoft said it plans next month to offer long-awaited 64-bit versions of its Windows operating system.



Speaking at the Intel Developer Forum, Windows chief Jim Allchin said the desktop version of the souped-up Windows would come at the beginning of April, while the server version would come at the end of the month.



Want to know more? Read the full article here.

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Intel Pentium 4 660 (64-bit) and Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.73GHz @ TrustedReviews

“The top of the range chip will be the new Extreme Edition which operates at 3.73GHz and has a 1066MHz bus. The new Extreme Edition differs not only by supporting 64-bit operating systems, but also with its cache size, which has actually been reduced in total by 512KB. The reason for this is that the older 3.46GHz had 512KB of Level 2 cache and 2MB of Level 3 cache, while the new 3.73GHz processor only has 2MB of Level 2 cache. The micron process used on the die has also shrunk to 90 nanometre compared to 130 on the 3.46GHz part.”

There’s no benchmarks to be had, but there is a lot of indepth details to both these top end CPU’s. Check out the full look at TrustedReviews.

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Corsair 4-Gigs Memory Giveaway @ MVKTech

“Rules? It’s simple! Contestants will sign up in our forums and post this trigger line “Corsair rules the world!” that will automatically enter you into the contest. Winners will be picked via raffle style draw. One entry per sign up, contestants agrees to sign up for Corsair’s monthly news letter via e-mail. 4 Winners, 4 Prizes, 4 Gigs! (1GB kit will be award to 4 winners). Prizes are new in the box, shipped directly from Corsair! Contest ends on March 15th with winners being announced March 16th. Good luck!”

You must want a stick of Corsair ram! Check out MVKTech and enter!

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ATI RADEON X850 XT 512MB Technology Preview @ Firing Squad

“Since memory modules of the same density are used, ATI had to retune the R480’s memory controller to properly address the additional memory with a minimal performance impact, without this the added memory would have introduced additional latency, hampering performance. Physically, you’ll see the return of double-sided memory, as the 512MB X850 XT card has memory modules on both sides of the board’s PCB. Other than this change however, the X850 XT 512MB HD looks practically identical to previous X850 XT boards, right down to the same dual-slot cooling.”

It’s going to be interesting to see how this card performs compared to it’s 256MB counterpart. ATI claims that it gives considerable performance increases in games like Doom III, HL2 and FarCry. Check out the full report over at Firing Squad.

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NMEDIA HTPC 100 Case Review @ Bit-Tech

“I have been a fan of this PC subculture [HTPC] for some time as you may tell since two of my custom mod projects for bit-tech have been HTPC’s. With WindowsXP Media Center Edition within reach for the rest of us who would rather “do it ourselves” there’s even more motive. So when I came across a new model of case from a company I have yet to hear of, NMEDIAPC, I had to take a look. First glance shows a lot of potential but only a closer look will tell for sure.”

Looks like a quality HTPC kit, that doesn’t seem overly pricy. Check out the full review over at Bit-Tech.

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PR: AMD Announces Specification For Open Platform Management Architecture

SUNNYVALE, CALIF. — February 28, 2005 –AMD (AMD: NYSE) today announced the release of the Open Platform Management Architecture (OPMA) specification that defines a common hardware interface between the server platform and its server management subsystem. This specification will provide hardware vendors with a more flexible approach to system management when designing their commercial grade server products.

This may not apply to all of us, but you can check out the full press release on the official AMD site.

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Caffeine and Energy Products @ A True Review

Tired of being tired? Well, that’s why there are caffeine packed products to help keep you awake to game all night.

“If you are a programmer, student or gamer you know about late nights and long hours. Odds are, when you are wearing down during those late nights, you are trying to get something in you that can keep you awake. You don’t always have to drink a caffeine or energy drink. Try a piece of gum, some chocolates or a mint. These don’t have caffeine you say, think again. CaseCooler.com provides lots of energy products and they let us try a few.”

Check out the full article on these products at A True Review.

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NZXT Nemesis and Nemesis Elite ATX Case Review @ 3D Xtreme

“Today 3DXtreme is reviewing two of the latest Cases in the NZXT family, the Nemesis and the Nemesis Elite. Nowadays the Case that is used is just as important as the individual parts that are installed into it. NZXT offers some of the most unique looking Cases on the market while never leaving the product feel stripped of useful features. These new Cases add to the ever growing product line at NZXT.com.”

If you want a new tower that will scare your family, check out the review at 3D Xtreme!

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ATI Introduces New Graphics Chip

ATI today announced AGP 8x versions of its Radeon X800 XL and X850 XT graphics chips, three months after it launched the PCI Express versions.

The new chips are pitched at customers looking to upgrade the graphics in older PCs, much as ATI continued to support PCI after the more advanced, graphics-specific AGP bus had become established.



Read the full article here

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Chinese New Year 2005 Giveaway Contest Results @ Rojak Pot

“To usher in the Year of the Rooster, Team ARP organized a Chinese New year giveaway contest 3 weeks ago! Now, the BIG day is here. Let’s check out the winners!”

Dayum, a 400GB hard drive as a prize. Nice! Check out the results at the Rojak Pot.

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Mushkin March Giveaway Contest Posted @ Rojak Pot

“Team ARP is proud to announce a new giveaway contest! Let’s take a look at what’s at stake!”

Pretty sweet looking contest. Definately check it out over at the Rojak Pot.

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SBC offers DSL discount

“Our move to further encourage customers to do business with us over the Web is an obvious win-win,” Scott Helbing, senior vice president at SBC, said in a statement. “For SBC companies, we’re lowering our cost of doing business while increasing customer satisfaction.”

Want to know more? Visit
CNET News to read more.

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Corsair XPERT PC-3200 Memory w/Programmable LED @ 3D Gameman

“The Corsair XPERT DDR PC-3200 Memory comes with a programmable LED Display. This display is very unique & useful showing a frequency, voltage, temperature & more. The included software enables total control over what’s displayed as well. It’s fast memory, with a default timing of 2-2-2-5 & overclockable when the timings are relaxed. Watch the Video to find out more…”

The best ram just got better! Check out the full video review at 3D Gameman.

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Coolink BAT1VS HSF @ Phoronix

“When pulling the Coolink BAT1VS out of the shipping crate, we were stunned at its immense size but little did we know just how big it really was… When installing the BAT heatsink it covered up 26% of the motherboard! Although the unit may be massive, in both weight and size, it will be interesting to see if it can effectively drive down the CPU temperature.”

Wow, this is definately a very unique cooler, Lol. Check out the full review at Phoronix.

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