The Tech Files

Noctua launches NH-U9B with two fans

2009-11-10T16:05:00.001-08:00

Noctua today announced a new special edition of its popular NH-U9B premium cooler, which is renowned for providing excellent quiet cooling performance in a compact package that lends itself to use in HTPCs or smaller cases. The new NH-U9B SE2 now comes with two of Noctua's award-winning NF-B9 92mm fans and adds support for LGA1156 as well as LGA1366 via the latest SecuFirm2™ multi-socket mounting system.

"Many customers who are looking for a premium quality quiet cooler but can't accommodate our larger models are choosing our NH-U9B, which offers performance levels close to its bigger brothers while being much more compact", explains Mag. Roland Mossig, Noctua CEO "Given the ongoing popularity of the NH-U9B, we've decided to create a special edition that comes with a second NF-B9 fan and provides support for the latest CPUs."

Thanks to the addition of the latest SecuFirm2™ multi-socket mounting system, the new NH-U9B SE2 supports LGA1366, LGA1156, LGA775, AM2, AM2+ and AM3, making it compatible with Intel's latest Core i7 and Core i5 processors.

Now including two of Noctua's much acclaimed NF-B9 92mm fans, the new SE2 version further improves its predecessor's renowned quiet cooling performance. The supplied Low-Noise and Ultra-Low-Noise-Adaptors allow for full flexibility in fine-tuning the cooler for supreme quietness or maximum performance in push-pull mode. Topped off with Noctua's award-winning NT-H1 thermal compound, the NH-U9B SE2 forms a complete premium quality package for environments that can't fit the larger NH-U12P and NH-D14 coolers.

The NH-U9B SE2 will be available shortly at a recommended retail price of EUR 46.90 / USD 54.90

OCZ Teams Up with SandForce on SSD Technology

2009-11-10T16:01:00.000-08:00

OCZ Technology Group today announced its collaboration with SandForce on OCZ’s next generation of mainstream and enterprise solid state drives (SSDs). Based on the highly-anticipated SandForce SSD Processor family, OCZ’s new line of SSDs will be the pinnacle of storage options.

To accommodate a wide range of consumer and enterprise storage applications, OCZ’s impending solutions will feature various configurations of SandForce’s innovative SF-1500 and SF-1200 SSD Processors and multi-level cell (MLC) and single-level cell (SLC) NAND flash memory.

The SandForce-based SSD line will be available in multiple interfaces including 3Gb/s SATA and 6Gb/s SAS in capacities ranging from 50GB to 400GB, addressing an assortment of storage and infrastructure requirements.

“OCZ is committed to delivering SSD solutions to our enterprise clients and also has a strong following for our consumer solid state products; partnering with SandForce enables us to offer an even more robust offering to both these markets,” said Ryan Petersen, CEO of the OCZ Technology Group. “Together with SandForce we are focused on making enterprise-class MLC-based SSDs which offer excellent reliability and performance coupled with superior total cost of ownership for all our customers.”

The OCZ Technology Group aims to take storage to the next level with SandForce SSD Processors, further increasing the advantages of SSDs over traditional hard disc drives for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), enterprise clients, and enthusiast consumers who place a premium on performance, total cost of ownership (TCO), and efficiency.

The first product announcements will be made in the next few weeks leading up to the 2010 International CES show.

Researchers Take Down Spam Botnet

2009-11-10T15:56:00.000-08:00

The Register is reporting on the takedown of a botnet once responsible for 1/3 of the world's spam. The deed was done by researchers from the security firm FireEye, who detailed the action a series of blog posts. PC World's coverage estimates that lately the botnet has accounted for 4% of spam.

From the Register:

"After carefully analyzing the machinations of the massive botnet, alternately known as Mega-D and Ozdok, the FireEye employees last week launched a coordinated blitz on dozens of its command and control channels. ... Almost immediately, the spam stopped, according to M86 Security blog. ... The body blow is good news to ISPs that are forced to choke on the torrent of spam sent out by the pesky botnet. But because many email servers already deployed blacklists that filtered emails sent from IP addresses known to be used by Ozdok, end users may not notice much of a change. ... With [the] head chopped off of Ozdok, more than 264,000 IP addresses were found reporting to sinkholes under FireEye's control..."

Borderlands DLC landing on November 24th

2009-11-10T14:00:00.001-08:00

Borderlands is enjoying great critical and commercial success at the moment, and the game has lined up its first DLC, called “The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned“, which will be available on November 24th for $10 on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. However, developer Gearbox didn’t mention a PC version of the DLC, which is a bit disappointing, to be honest, especially if it turns out that the DLC won’t be available on the PC at all.

Google Search Results About to Get a Dose of Caffeine

2009-11-10T06:43:00.000-08:00

It appears that the effects of Google's Caffeine update may be felt sooner rather than later. That is if you really do feel the effects at all.

If you are unfamiliar with Caffeine, it is an algorithm update that Google announced in the summer. Upon the announcement, Google's Matt Cutts said, "The Caffeine update isn't about making some UI changes here or there. Currently, even power users won't notice much of a difference at all. This update is primarily under the hood: we're rewriting the foundation of some of our infrastructure." Cutts told WebProNews about Caffeine in the following interview:

When Caffeine was introduced, so was a sandbox, where people could play around with Caffeine based search results, and get a look at how rankings were altered (if at all), and try to get a feel for how it was going to go. Now that sandbox has closed up shop, it looks like the Caffeine update will be live in Google search at any time. It will most likely begin a gradual roll out if it hasn't already. The announcement at what used to be the Caffeine sandbox reads :

We appreciate all the feedback from people who searched on our Caffeine sandbox.

Based on the success we've seen, we believe Caffeine is ready for a larger audience. Soon we will activate Caffeine more widely, beginning with one data center. This sandbox is no longer necessary and has been retired, but we appreciate the testing and positive input that webmasters and publishers have given.

Of course as people tested Caffeine via the sandbox, many of them blogged about their results and findings. The general consensus seemed to be that Caffeine is fast and utilizes real-time search a great deal. Given Google's frequent announcements related to speed, and a recently announced deal with Twitter, speed and real-time search seem like logical updates to Google search results.

When SEOBOok's Aaron Wall tested Caffeine, he said he thought there was:

- an increased weighting on domain authority & some authoritative tag type pages ranking (like Technorati tag pages + Facebook tag pages), as well as pages on sites like Scribd ranking for some long tail queries based mostly on domain authority and sorta spammy on page text

- perhaps slightly more weight on exact match domain names

- perhaps a bit better understanding of related words / synonyms

- tuning down some of the exposure for video & some universal search results

This stuff should not necessarily be taken as gospel. These are just the results and speculations of individuals from tests of a product that was only introduced (for testing purposes), let alone finalized. It is what it is.

As the Caffeine update rolls out, there will no doubt be more and more mystery unraveled as search industry professionals scramble to stay ahead of the game, and Google drops subtle hints from time to time. It's going to be interesting to see where Caffeine takes the world's most popular search engine.

802.11n Xbox adaptor on sale in UK

2009-11-09T02:28:00.000-08:00

Microsoft's eagerly-awaited wireless adaptor for the 802.11n standard has been photographed on sale in the UK.

The next generation of the Xbox wireless adaptor has been popping up and then disappearing for several weeks, but appears to have finally broken cover with little fanfare.

Engadget managed to get hold of a photograph of the adaptor on sale in Asda – with a retail price of £49.99.

Xbox Live

With much of Xbox's big message to the public now about its community and the multiplayer games that have proven to be a hit on the platform, the need for a top quality wireless adaptor is paramount.

The 802.11n standard was finally brought out of draft recently, and, if you can bring yourself to part with £50 for the adaptor, then you can now have an official add-on for the Xbox.

First iPhone Virus Spreads in Australia

2009-11-09T02:26:00.000-08:00

It was just a matter of time before a virus would finally make its way to iPhones and apparently first reports of it have now been revealed. Called “Ikee” the said virus changes the iPhone’s background to the picture of 1980’s singer Rick Astley. And it doesn’t stop there. Apparently it looks for other iPhones where the device is networked and spreads its dirty work. It makes use of the pre-installed SSH which is perceived to be unintentionally activated in jailbroken phones. Infection seems to be confined to Australia at the moment, though there are unconfirmed reports of Ikee in Thailand and Japan. There has been no word yet on how to remedy this Ikee virus though it has not been categorized as destructive for now.

Image Credits

GA-X58A-UD7 formerly GA-EX58-EXTREME 2 pixelized

2009-11-08T17:45:00.000-08:00

Check that bad boy out. You are looking at the GA-X58A-UD7 (former know as GA-EX58-EXTREME 2). As you noticed, Gigabyte have given the new board a name change to avoid confusion with their previous GA-EX58 Extreme, this board was originally going to be a revision of that board, however it features a drastically changed feature set so I see this as a wise move on Gigabytes part.

* Massive cooling system, near enough spanning across the entire board, with a waterblock on the X58 chip.
* 4 PCI-Express x16 graphics slots supporting Crossfire or SLI
* 4 internal SATA3 6.0Gb/s ports
* 2 USB 3.0 ports supported via NEC controller
* Triple power USB (1500mA to each port instead of 500mA on USB2, 2700mA to each USB 3 port compared to 900mA in the specification.)

Gigabyte have re-labeled their board the GA-X58A-UD7 and it looks pretty much the same as the GA-EX58 Extreme 2 board in my previous article. Gigabyte has only released these two teaser pics so far. Pricing and release date are still TBA -- yeah likely before Christmas.

Check the thumbnails

Fraps 3.0.0 Released

2009-11-07T08:24:00.000-08:00

Fraps 3.0.0. has just been released.

Fraps is now compatible with Windows 7 and the latest DirectX 11 games. Ventrilo & TeamSpeak users have long wanted a way to record their microphone and speakers at the same time. For Windows 7 and Vista we've added realtime sound mixing to our video recording so you can now capture both sides of the conversation!

NVIDIA have recently included stereoscopic 3D support directly into their drivers. If you play your DirectX9 (D3D9) game with 3D Vision enabled you can use Fraps to record the game in full 3D too! You'll get a side-by-side stereo AVI recording that you can drop straight in to a stereoscopic 3D player!
Finally, we are aware that more and more people are putting Fraps to professional use. We've added a new option to force lossless RGB compression to ensure that you always have the highest quality video output to work with.
We hope you enjoy Fraps 3!
Changelog

3.0.0 - 5th Nov 2009
- DirectX 11 support
- Compatible with Windows 7 final (RTM) and RC1 versions
- Stereoscopic 3D Vision video capture up to 1920x1200 for D3D9 games
- Force lossless RGB option to always capture video in pure form
- Ability to mix both game sound and external input such as microphone (Vista/Win7 only)

Download

New Call of Duty 7 Confirmed; Date 2010

2009-11-06T13:45:00.000-08:00

Activision has officially announced during a conference Call of Duty 7 in 2010. The vendor confirms the rumor started by accident recently by an employee of Treyarch. As usual, it retains the alternating games produced by Infinity Ward and Treyarch. Also in terms of information gleaned from right to left, remember Activision was looking for pieces of Cuban music, Russian or in connection with the war in Vietnam, indicating that this new episode might take place during the Cold War.
Call of Duty 7 details:

* Publisher: Activision
* Developer: Treyarch
* Type: FPS
* Date : 4th quarter 2010

Halo: Reach Leaked Screenshots

2009-11-06T09:08:00.000-08:00

Up until now, we’ve heard almost nothing about Halo: Reach other than the fact that Halo 3: ODST owners would get access to the game’s multiplayer beta. However, today we bring you screen shots of the game taken from, well, a screen.

They aren’t exactly high quality but they definitely give us a glimpse of what the graphics are to look like in the new title and I must say they definitely look on par with recent titles.

When exactly will Halo: Reach hit store shelves? Your guess is as good as ours.

Of course, I don’t think Bungie would appreciate us hosting the images so you’re going to have to head here to check them out.

Asus Announces Cheap USB 3.0 + SATA 6.0 Card

2009-11-06T05:45:00.001-08:00

The era of USB 3.0 will soon be upon us. Devices are slowly being talked about, and compatible motherboards being announced. Of course unless you’re planning on building a new machine in the near future, you’ll either have to live with your old 2.0 ports, or buy an add-on card. Asus has announced such a card that not only gives you two of the latest USB ports, but also a pair of SATA 6.0 ports.

The card allows you to experience the full power of both new standards, provided you have a free PCI-E port on your motherboard. Sure, it’s probably still a little early to really start thinking about USB 3.0, but this is a case where I really don’t see an issue with it. The card is only $30 (USB 2.0 cards were at least twice as much when it came out) and you’re going to get SATA 6.0 ports to boot. According to Asus, the card will be out “soon.”

Xoxide.com Open Once Again

2009-11-05T10:13:00.000-08:00

Xoxide.com, a site that sells a ton of computer parts, is now open again since it closed before. It has a 10% off sale, so go there and buy!

Mushkin Copperhead Memory Cooling System

2009-11-05T10:12:00.001-08:00

The Mushkin Enhanced Design Team has once again pushed the envelope in regards to memory cooling and developed the new Copperhead Memory Cooling System. The side plates are comprised of pure copper, providing much more heat reduction than other metals.
One of the unique characteristics of the Copperhead System is the "Copperhead Watercooler". This is a quick and easy way to liquid-cool your memory modules. All that is needed is a quick, two-screw setup per memory module and Copperhead can be integrated into any existing watercooling system. The water cooler is available separately.

Overview:
996775 - 4GB (2x2GB) PC3-12800 8-8-8-24 1.65V Copperhead Series Kit
996772 - 4GB (2x2GB) PC3-12800 7-8-7-20 1.65V Copperhead Series Kit
998774 - 6GB (3x2GB) PC3-12800 8-8-8-24 1.65V Copperhead Series Kit
998771 - 6GB (3x2GB) PC3-12800 7-8-7-20 1.65V Copperhead Series Kit
998773 - 6GB (3x2GB) PC3-12800 6-7-6-18 1.65V Copperhead Series Kit

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Trailer Just Released

2009-11-05T10:10:00.000-08:00

Enermax launches compact keyboard for HTPCs

2009-11-04T16:10:00.000-08:00

Enermax has introduced the Aurora Micro Wireless Keyboard for HTPC users. This peripheral measures 319mm x 193mm x 33mm and features a brushed metal enclosure. It's wireless and features a high-precision trackball with a 1200 dpi sensor, two buttons, and a 2-way scroll wheel. It should be available in retail stores for around 75EUR.
The device combines a compact keyboard with a high-precision trackball. Measuring 319 x 193 x 33 mm and weighing 800 g, the keyboard has a brushed metal shell, with diamond-cut edges. Being a micro keyboard, it trades the number pad for compactness. Some of the important keys are LED illuminated for convenience in the typically dark HTPC room.

Besides the 7 hotkeys, there is a full-fledged high-precision trackball with a 1200 dpi sensor, two buttons, and a 2-way scroll-wheel. The wireless technology operates in the 2.4 GHz range, with an operating range of 10 m. The keyboard is powered by two AA batteries. On sale now, the Enermax Aurora Micro Wireless is selling for 75 EUR.

Best Budget Gaming Laptop

2009-11-03T11:23:00.000-08:00

For a $1000 laptop specifically for gaming, there are parts that you'll want to get that are essential to running games well.
In this guide, the parts that you'll be sure to want to get will be shown.

Parts
First off, it's essential to get a big enough screen so you can play at a good resolution. You should look for a screen that is at least 16", unless you have a monitor that you'll plug in to.

After you find the monitor you want, you should look for ~4gb of RAM. 4gb is plenty to run games that have even the highest of requirements. A good brand of RAM to look for is OCZ and Corsair.

This is a Corsair model.
Make sure that you get the kind of RAM that goes inside a laptop, not inside of a desktop. There's a difference. Desktop RAM is big, and isn't compatible with laptops.

You'll also want to look for a good graphics card to make sure your games run well. The two main brands of graphics cards are nVidia and ATi. I personally recommend nVidia because it's the one I use, but some swear by ATi.

A good series of nVidia cards for notebooks is the Go Series. The top of the line Go card is the 7 series, but they're pricey, running around 250-300 dollars.

It would be fine to settle for something of lesser quality, but know that it may not run games as well as a higher quality of Go/other cards.

These are the three main things you need, but make sure you get a decent sized hard drive with good speed, it should be >250gb in size, and at least 7200rpm in speed. This allows your computer to load games faster, and also increases the overall speed of your computer.
Also look for how many ports the laptop motherboard has. If you're building your laptop without an initial laptop, you should research laptop motherboards. Asus makes good mobile mobos, so look at those. But chances are that you're either upgrading or just changing the insides with a motherboard intact, so you're set.
If you're looking for a laptop that has all of this built in, look at newegg.com. They have every part imaginable, so you'll find something with (probably) all of the requirements in this guide.
When buying the laptop, research the market and find the best price. With this you can find and but the best budget gaming laptop.

Intel Intros Xeon W3565 Processor

2009-11-03T07:22:00.000-08:00

Intel added a socket LGA-1366 Xeon processor in its lineup today with the W3565 This Nehalem based quad-core processor is made for single-socket servers and workstations.

Comparing apples to apples the specs are nearly identical to the Core i7 960:

* 3.20 GHz (24 x 133 MHz)
* 8 MB of L3 cache
* QuickPath Interconnect (QPI) speed of 4.8 GT/s.

Compared to the W3570 the QPI speed is lower as that one has a QPI of 6.4 GT/s.

And now here's whay that is value ... The new W3565 is priced at $562, the W3570 is priced at $999.

New Intel Gulftown Six-Core CPU Photos & Specifications

2009-11-03T02:30:00.000-08:00

* Six-core
* Twelve threads
* Socket 1366 like 45nm Bloomfield
* 6×256KB of L2 cache
* 12MB of L3 cache
* Support for X58 chipset
* Turbo Boost technology
* Integrated three-channel memory controller
* QPI bus
* 130 W TDP (not 100% sure about this one though)

The Gulftown CPU (left) shot next to a LGA1366 Core i7-920 (right).

Download NVIDIA GeForce Forceware 195.39 driver Win 7 / Vista (32-bit)

2009-11-03T02:27:00.000-08:00

Download NVIDIA GeForce Forceware 195.39 driver for Windows 7 and Vista (32-bit)
Download

Existing Support:

* Supports DirectCompute with Windows 7 and GeForce 8-series and later GPUs.
* Supports OpenGL 3.2 for GeForce 8-series and later GPUs.
* Supports NVIDIA 3D Vision Discover, a complete, low cost solution to start your immersive stereoscopic 3D experience. NOTE: If you are using NVIDIA 3D Vision active shutter glasses, you must download the separate 3D Vision driver which includes the driver for the 3D Vision IR emitter.
* Supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI technology on DirectX 9, DirectX 10, and OpenGL, including 3-way SLI, Quad SLI, and SLI support on SLI-certified Intel X58-based motherboards.
* Supports NVIDIA PhysX acceleration on a dedicated GeForce graphics card. Use one card for graphics and dedicate a different card for PhysX processing for game-changing physical effects. This driver installs PhysX System Software version 9.09.0814. Learn more here.
* Download these FREE PhysX and CUDA applications now!
* Supports GPU overclocking and temperature monitoring by installing NVIDIA System Tools software.
* Release Notes (v195.39)
* Control Panel User's Guide

GeForce 200 series:
GTX 260, GT 220, GTX 295, GTS 250, 210, GTX 280, GTS 240, GTX 285, GTX 275, G210

GeForce 100 series:
GT 130, GT 120, GT 140, G 100

GeForce 9 series:
9800 GT, 9600 GT, 9500 GT, 9400 GT, 9500 GS, 9600 GS, 9800 GTX/GTX+, 9400, 9300 GS, 9300, 9200, 9300 GE, 9600 GSO, 9800 GX2

GeForce 8 series:
8200, 8600 GS, 8600 GT, 8500 GT, 8400 SE, 8400, 8100 / nForce 720a, 8300, 8800 GTX, 8400 GS, 8800 GS, 8800 GTS 512, 8800 GTS, 8600 GTS, 8300 GS, 8800 Ultra, 8800 GT

GeForce 7 series:
7050 / NVIDIA nForce 630i, 7050 / NVIDIA nForce 610i, 7050 PV / NVIDIA nForce 630a, 7950 GX2, 7600 GS, 7025 / NVIDIA nForce 630a, 7650 GS, 7100 / NVIDIA nForce 630i, 7550 LE, 7800 GS, 7800 GTX, 7100 / NVIDIA nForce 620i, 7900 GTX, 7300 SE / 7200 GS, 7900 GT/GTO, 7100 GS, 7300 GT, 7900 GS, 7600 GT, 7600 LE, 7500 LE, 7150 / NVIDIA nForce 630i, 7800 SLI, 7350 LE, 7300 GS, 7950 GT, 7300 LE

GeForce 6 series:
6800, 6800 XT, 6800 GT, 6100 nForce 405, 6600 VE, 6600 GT, 6610 XL, 6200 A-LE, 6150SE nForce 430, 6800 GS, 6600, 6100, 6800 LE, 6100 nForce 400, 6200SE TurboCache, 6200 LE, 6250, 6800 Ultra, 6150LE / Quadro NVS 210S, 6150 LE, 6600 LE, 6100 nForce 420, 6150, 6700 XL, 6200 TurboCache, 6800 GS/XT, 6200, 6800 XE, 6500

ION series:
ION, ION LE

Download

MSI announces Big Bang Gaming Series Mainboards

2009-11-03T02:23:00.000-08:00

MSI issued a press release on their new Big Bang Gaming series motherboards.

[Press-release] MSI unveils its first gaming series mainboards in Intel P55 platform featuring awe-inspiring graphics and audio functionality to offer serious gamers immersive gaming experience.

The state-of-the-art gaming line is inspired by the mighty Big Bang. Unique and innovative, the all-new Big Bang series will deliver the shock and awe of unprecedented experiences and expand into its own collection of galaxies.

The first Big Bang branded mainboard, Trinergy is designed with eye-catching features such as NVIDIA SLI technology and QuantumWave™ audio processing with the latest THX TruStudio PC and Creative EAX ADVANCED HD 5.0 plus exclusive performance
boost design from MSI.

Powered by NVIDIA nForce 200 SLI processor, the Trinergy offers extreme gamers the most powerful graphics-intensive capability up to triple graphics configuration. Aimed at gamers and enthusiasts seeking cinematic enjoyment, QuantumWave™ audio card is designed to plunge you into the heart of the action, delivering the fullest audio experience for games, music and movies while remaining true to the source.

The Big Bang Trinergy also features cutting-edge 100% Hi-c Cap to maximizing system performance. This supreme component adopted for gaming machines can guarantee server-grade operation stability in an extreme condition. Besides, it is equipped with an external OC Dashboard that gives extreme gamers on-the-fly overclocking to optimize FPS without interrupting your session. If you’re into a little of amateur overclocking, with MSI’s exclusive chip-driven OC Genie, you can enjoy the convenience and hugely improved performance with a simple press of a button.

Big Bang Fuzion
The upcoming Big Bang Fuzion mainboard features the powerful Lucid HYDRA engine, designed to support different Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) within a single system. This provides the first viable alternative to offerings from current graphics card vendors that offer identical multi-GPU specific solutions. The release date for this product is TBA.

Renesas Now Shipping Tiny, 1080p-Capable Cell Phone Processor

2009-05-07T04:30:00.001-07:00

Just this week Renesas Technology Corp. announced
their SH7370, a SH-Mobile HD1 application processor for mobile phones.
The tiny processor is the first to support full 1080p (1920 x 1080)
video playback and recording potential, and can support H.264/MPEG-4
video compression at 30 frames per second.

This processor also
has two 24-bit dedicated audio digital signal processors that help
lower the CPU’s load, while lowering power consumption. This allows for
audio to stream at up to 5.1-channel Dolby Digital quality.

The
whole thing is currently shipping with 512Mbits of synchronous DRAM,
integrated onto a single package. Said package measures in at a
compact, 10nm x 11mm.

Registering for the StarCraft II Beta

2009-05-07T04:27:00.001-07:00

It’s true.
If you missed out on Blizzcon ’08 or hawked your beta code because you
(wisely) anticipated that Blizzard might pull something like this,
now’s your chance to register for StarCraft II’s upcoming beta test.

“The StarCraft II beta-test period is coming in the months ahead!
If you’d like a chance to participate, now’s the time to let us know,”
reads the World of Warcraft website.

Just sign-in over at Battle.net,
wow Blizzard with your PC’s bleeding-edge specs (or even
middle-of-the-road specs; really – this is Blizzard we’re talking
about), and start F5-ing your inbox. Better still, even if Blizzard
doesn’t deem you worthy of participating in this beta, the opt-in
process still nabs you a spot in line for future Blizzard betas.
Opportunity is knocking. Are you just gonna stand it up? Go on now. Go!

One semi-major stipulation, though: You must have at least one game
registered under your Battle.net account in order to opt-in for
StarCraft II’s beta. But hey, it could be worse. At least you didn’t
have to fly out to California for a geek-tastic weekend of game-filled fun like those other suckers. Who in their right mind would want that?

Increase your Integrated Intel IGP speed of with GMABooster tool download

2009-05-05T07:07:00.001-07:00

The world's first and only performance boost solution for Intel®
Graphics Media Accelerator series (currently supported chipsets: Intel®
945GM/GME/GMS/GSE and 943/940GML/GU Express featuring GMA 950).

Offering
up to an astonishing 2.4x of extra processing power for Your computer's
integrated graphics engine, the GMABooster is a must-have tool for
every user interested in advanced 3D gaming, truly flawless Windows®
Vista and Mac® OS X experience, smoother operation of Google® Earth,
improved video playback, and perfomance gain in a variety of
professional applications!

One might ask: 2.4x boost without adjusting the voltage (right, Your hardware will not be exposed in any way!)

Download

RipNAS Launches SSD-Based NAS with Built-In CD Ripping

2009-05-04T15:59:00.001-07:00

RipNAS this week announced two new storage devices, the Statement SSD and Statement HDD. Both come capable of ripping CDs, leading the company to claim the former as the "world's first Solid State Drive Ripping NAS." And as far as we know, they're right.

The
aptly named Statement series also challenges traditional NAS design in
aesthetics. Instead of a bulky box, RipNAS chose a svelte silver
enclosure that would fit right in with a home theater setup. Combined
with its media streaming capabilities and dead silent operation (SSD
version), RipNAS might be on to something.

On the hardware front,
both boxes come an Intel Atom dual-core processor, 2GB of RAM, and four
USB 2.0 ports. The SSD version will come configured with 500GB
(2x250GB), and 3TB (2x1.5TB) of storage in the HDD version.

No word yet on pricing or availability.