Solid State Drives are up and coming, so it's not too surprizing that HDD manufactuirers are not exactly charmed by it as .. well let's be honest here, SDD is the future and in the end will replace the traditional Hard drive. Check out these absolutely silly comments from Bill Watkins, CEO of hard drive maker Seagate. He states says he's not impressed by solid state drives. He claims sales won't take off and if they do that Seagate may sue SSD makers as he believes that SSD manufacturers are infringing upon several of Seagate's and Western Digital's patents, can you tell the man is feeling some heat ?: 

Seagate, a company firmly entrenched in traditional hard disk drive (HDD) storage, unsurprisingly is not impressed with SSDs. "Realistically, I just don

We'd been hearing that HP's slick UMPC 2133 was going sport VIA processors, and now we've got some more info to back that up -- we just received what appears to be a full spec list for the upcoming machine, and it's VIA C7-Ms all around, with graphics courtesy of a VIA Chrome 9 chipset. According to our source, these will hit on April 7th, and it looks like those pricing whispers were pretty accurate as well: $600 will buy you a 1.2GHz C7-M, a 120GB drive, 1GB of RAM and Vista Home Basic, while $749 bumps you up to 1.6GHz and Vista Business and adds Bluetooth, another gig of RAM, and a bigger battery. There's also a mysterious $849 Vista Basic model listed as having "regional" availability (the others are listed as "Smart Buy") with Bluetooth and bigger battery, but we don't see why it's more expensive than the Vista Business version. Regardless, what really caught our eye was the $549 model that shares the same specs as the $600 unit, but looks to be running SuSE Enterprise -- another rumor that's come true. That could be the one that HP expects to sell like hotcakes -- after all, the goal is to have people buy these "without a thought," and that's certainly not going to happen at $749. We'll see soon enough, we suppose.

AMD today releases it's new B3 revision Phenom X4 processors. Solved and free's of the nasty TLB issues, the new and new, old CPUs are set to finally give Intel some reasonable competition and offer customers parts with a good performance-price ratio.

Coming in AM2+ form, the Phenon 9050 series CPUs go from 2.2 GHz (Phenom 9550), 2.3 GHz (9650) through 2.4 GHz (9750), and 2.5 GHz (9850 Black Edition) and all feature HyperTransport 3.0, a DDR2-supporting memory controller and 2MB of shared L3 cache. These B3 processors have 95W (9550, 9650, 9750) or 125W (9750 and 9850 BE) TDPs and are set to become widely available in April.

In the 8000 series we now spot the tri-core Phenom as well. The tri-core CPUs includes two Phenom parts that are set for "gamers and digital media enthusiasts" who want a good performance per price ratio and they are basically quad-cores with one busted and disabled core. Codenamed Toliman, the triple-core Phenom 8400 and 8600 are clocked at 2.1 GHz and 2.3 GHz respectively.

In terms of prices, the Phenom 9550 will be $209, the 9650 $215, the 9750 still $215 while the only B3 and highest-end Black Edition Phenom, the 9850 will cost $235, in 1000-unit tray quantities. The prices of the last three CPUs will go live on April 7 so that's probably the day they will start hitting the stores in sufficient numbers.

We're also expecting to see a 9850 Black Edition as well as the 9950 clocked at 2.6GHz, but these parts aren't listed yet.

Far Cry 2 for PC, PS3, Xbox 360 is announced to be scheduled for release in the fall of this year, Ubisoft revealed in a production video released today.

In this video, Ubisoft Montreal producer LP Pharand says Far Cry 2 will see a simultaneous release for the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. Pharand adds, "The team has been working extremely hard and making sure that there are no compromises made for quality [or] features on each platform." The video also contains a brief clip of gameplay from the game.:

Corsair Flash Voyager 32 GB review

These are the flash memory sticks that Bruce Willis could carry around while making Die Hard 4.0, they've been laundered, baked, frozen, boiled, dropped, and even run over by a SUV in many third party reviews. After all the punishment it receives, these sturdy little freaks continue to work. Now available in a 32GB capacity. It's a small HDD in your pocket. With that file size you could even partition it, split into two partitions, and make one encrypted as the product supports EAS-256 bit encryption technology.

Read our review here:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/corsair-flash-voyager-32gb-review/

I was in doubt wether to post this or not, it needs to be validated. But check out this info that Creative labs has send out to the press:

Hello from Creative,

With respect for you and your readers, we wish to share this important information. With its recent driver updates, Asus is misleading its customers by suggesting that its sound cards now support EAX 5. Asus sound cards do not support EAX 5, nor do they support EAX 3 or EAX 4. There are a small number of PC game titles that specifically query the audio device on the system to see if EAX 5 is available before they will attempt to render more than 64 3D simultaneous audio voices. The new Asus drivers are falsely reporting EAX 5 capabilities in order to get these games to ouptut 3D audio on Asus sound cards. Asus customers are not getting a genuine EAX Advanced HD experience with this driver update.

Furthermore, the several hundred games that support EAX 3 or EAX 4 for delivering in-game effects will not provide those effects from Asus sound cards.

Thank you,

Here's an overview of the NPD chart's detailing the best selling PC games in the USA for the week ending March 15.

1. The Sims: FreeTime - Electronic Arts
2. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War Soulstorm - THQ
3. Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Activision
4. Sins Of A Solar Empire - Ironclad Games/Stardock
5. The Sims 2 Deluxe - Electronic Arts
6. World Of Warcraft - Blizzard
7. World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest - Blizzard
8. World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade - Blizzard
9. Frontlines: Fuel of War - THQ
10. Sim City 5: Societies - Electronic Arts

AMD is planning to phase out its single-core Sempron LE-1150 processor by the end of this month and will launch a higher-end Athlon LE-1660 for its single-core CPU lineup, according to sources at motherboard makers.

In addition to the Athlon 64 X2 6400+, 6000+ and 5600+, the company has also informed customers that final orders for its Athlon 64 X2 4200+ will be taken at the end of this month.

Intel Corporation introduced today two low-voltage 45nm processors for servers and workstations that run at 50 watts, or 12.5 watts per core and frequencies of 2.5GHz. The Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processor L5400 Series takes advantage of Intel's 45nm manufacturing capabilities and reinvented transistor formula.

According to the press release, Quad-Core Intel Xeon L5400 processors are as much as 25 percent faster and have a 50 percent larger cache size than Intel's previous-generation, low-voltage Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors, while at the same time maintaining the low 50-watt thermal envelope. The quad-core L5420 and L5410 processors run at 2.50 GHz and 2.33 GHz, respectively, and feature 12MB of on-die cache and dedicated 1333 MHz front side buses.

Next quarter, Intel will also begin shipping a new dual-core low-voltage processor that will boast a 40-watt rating and clock speed of 3 GHz, with a 6 MB cache size and a 1333 MHz FSB. Intel is also extending the existing Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor 5400 series for embedded market segments by offering the Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor L5410 with support for a 7-year life cycle.

Pricing and availability (in 1,000-unit quantities):

• Intel Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor L5420 2.50GHz 1333MHz 50W - $380
• Intel Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor L5410 2.33GHz 1333MHz 50W - $320

Today is the 25th, the press is "allowed" to publish results on new NVIDIA technology today. It's a topic we quite frankly already have covered before, yet back then on a different operating system. It was exactly that operating system which limited what we really needed and wanted to achieve, and that is utilizing more than two GPU's to render a game.

It's 2008, times have changed and obviously we'll play peek-a-boo with a Quad-SLI system. What do you need for Quad-SLI ? A pretty beefy system, that's for sure.

You can find the article at this URL:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/quad-sli-review-with-dual-9800-gx2-/

NVIDIA just re-released it's 174.53, this time with Quad SLI support for Windows Vista. Some of the release highlights:

• Added support for GeForce 9800 GX2, including Quad SLI Technology.
• Added new PureVideo HD features for GeForce 9800 GX2:
• Dynamic Contrast Enhancement
• Dynamic Blue, Green & Skin Tone Enhancements
• Dual-Stream Decode Acceleration*
• Microsoft Vista Aero display mode compatibility for Blu-ray & HD DVD playback*

Download:

ForceWare 174.53 XP (32-bit )
ForceWare 174.53 XP (64-bit )
ForceWare 174.53 Vista (64-bit )
ForceWare 174.53 Vista (32-bit )

Product supported are the GeForce 9600 & 9800 series.

While Panasonic's rugged Toughbook 30 has been strutting its stuff with a Core 2 Duo within, the poor, poor Toughbook 19 has been going without. No more, however, as Panny has just announced that it'll be boosting the speed and expanding the memory available in the beastly convertible tablet. Available now, the 5.1-pound rig is stuffed with a 1.06GHz U7500 processor (2MB L2 cache), up to 4GB of SDRAM, 80GB shock-mounted HDD, 10.4-inch daylight-readable display, a battery good for around seven hours, optional integrated WWAN / GPS / 2-megapixel webcam and a magnesium alloy case that won't mind getting trampled. So, what's the price for such an (almost) impossible-to-destroy machine? $3,199 and up, we're afraid.

Toughbook 19 joins flagship rugged Toughbook 30 in delivering Core 2 Duo technology for mission-critical applications in extreme environments; Eleven independently-verified mil-spec tests and more than 500 internal quality checks combine for unparalleled Panasonic reliability

Secaucus, NJ, March 25, 2008

Mitsubishi has announced two models from its new "REAL Blu-ray" Blu-ray Disc recorder series. The two models are the "DVR-BZ200" with a 500-Gbyte HDD and the "DVR-BZ100" with a 250-Gbyte HDD. These are Mitsubishi's first Blu-ray recorders. Both models feature two tuners for each of terrestrial digital, BS digital and 110-degree CS digital broadcasts, so they can simultaneously record two digital broadcast programs in high definition (HD) mode. A terrestrial analog tuner is housed as well. For easy playback, recording and other operations, Mitsubishi incorporated its new "REALINK" capability compatible with its "REAL" LCD TVs in the recorders.

In addition to a standard remote controller, the Blu-ray recorders come up with another remote controller equipped with a touch screen LCD panel. To realize even easier operations, this controller displays necessary buttons on the LCD panel in accordance with the option chosen by the user. Mitsubishi REAL Blu-ray" Blu-ray Disc recorders DVR-BZ200 and DVR-BZ100 will be available in Japan from May24, 2008

Ever wanted to prank one of your co-workers? The Phantom Keystroker is your big chance to do so. It resembles a circuit board, but it's really a device of destruction. Well, it can destroy an unsuspecting co-worker's day anyway.

Here's how it works: Attach the Phantom Keystroker to any free USB port on the victim of your choice's computer. The Keystroker is said to emulate a keyboard and mouse and will perform random mouse movements and type out unusual text and phrases on his or her computer. This is the point when your victim will start freaking out and probably call IT.

You control whether you want the device to randomly type weird phrases, perform annoying mouse movements, or both, thanks to the "Jumper" setting. The Phantom Keystroker is compatible with any OS and sells for $24.99

To achieve performance levels of 100MB/second read and 40MB/second write in these first generation drives, Toshiba utilized a SATA II interface and an innovative MLC controller supporting fast read-write speed, parallel data transfer, and wear-leveling. As a result, Toshiba SSDs achieve overall PC Benchmark scores that are better than 5400 rpm and 7200rpm HDDs and comparable to selected SATA SLC NAND SSDs.

The SSD drives excel in Windows Vista boot speed, application loading, general usage and virus scan operations. Compared to hard disk drives, SSDs realize a number of advantages that address needs in the mobile computing market for performance, ruggedness, and lightweight, compact form factors.

• 4-inch, 800 x 480 pixel touchscreen display which slides out and flips over for the cellphone interface
• Up to a 1GHz VIA C7M ULV processor and 4GB of DDR2 memory
• Dual, Windows XP / Linux Qplus embedded OS
• Unspecified cellphone radio
• Maximum 1.3-inch 60GB hard disk (or 4GB SSD) and miniSD/microSD expansion
• 7-hour battery (or 90-hours at low power)
• 802.11b/g WiFi, Blueooth 2.0
• 2x USB, docking port, stereo speakers, QWERTY thumbpad and mouse
• What looks like a 5 megapixel camera
• DMB mobile television and external GPS add-on

All that tech allows the HDPC to function as a portable SatNav device, handheld gaming rig, cellphone, UMPC, PMP, eBook reader, digital camera, etc. Did we already tell you that it will cost less than $500?

We're still a little hazy as to exactly what ASUS's new Splendid HD1 "video enhance card" actually does differently than most other 2D-enhanced devices, but the company claims it ratchets up 1080p video quality on both digital and analog outputs, and it'll fit in right along side those Splendid-based Xondar cards. Of course, it's also got HDCP (which is a start), but it's starting to smell a little gimmicky around here, splendid or not.

With the implementation of Asus