Or are they just trying to get some good old' fashioned news plugs world-wide ? Well, either way it works. Ultra Products, Inc. is trying its hand at that most glorious of corporate traditions: suing the pants off one's competition. The maker of computer components is taking 22 -- yes, twenty two! -- of their competitors to court, claiming to have a patent for modular power supplies since November of 2006.

Ultra says they sent several warnings to the companies about the violations and is asking for the legal maximum of three times the damages. The suit actually doesn't accuse the companies of violating the patent, but of being an accomplice to end users who are violating the patent. Oh, and unless we're missing something here, Hewlett Packard filed a modular power supply patent in 2000 -- we certainly recall Screen Savers covering the devices way back in '99.

Pathetic.

The Autobots and Decepticons are locked in the eternal struggle for the All Spark (spelled as two words in the movie). The former clan wants it to rebuild its home world Cybertron and end the war, while the latter wants it to transform Earth's technology for its own benefit and conquer the universe. When falling into the hands of a USB geek, the All Spark would transform into a 4-port USB hub; and given its size, it seems an overkill. Keep in mind though, the manufacturer won't be responsible your USB missile launcher is brought to life.

 Did we mention it talks, spouting off classics like "We must protect the All Spark Cube," every time you plug in a device? This surely-authorized product will run you about $35 US, although the toll on your dignity may not be calculable.

NVIDIA, addressing a meeting of financial analysts, has announced plans for a new CPU platform. Currently known only as "The World's Most Affordable Vista Premium PC," the platform would incorporate an integrated graphics processor from NVIDIA alongside one of VIA's upcoming Isaiah CPUs, in a design that would cost below $45. The chip is deliberately intended to compete with Intel, for whom NVIDIA has previously supplied hardware; the latter company claims that its platform is capable of 36 gigaflops, whereas a similarly-priced Intel 945/ICH4 combination is limited to 6.4.
Also unlike the Intel hardware, the NVIDIA platform supports DirectX 10 rendering and Blu-ray decoding. It is further said to be powerful enough, as its name implies, to run Windows Vista Home Premium, where many low-cost platforms are limited to either Home Basic or Windows XP. No release dates have been revealed.

The move is seen as a deliberate snub of Intel, whose integrated graphics chipsets were recently called "a joke" by NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang.

One of Windows Vista's design features was deliberately implemented "to annoy users," a Microsoft executive admitted yesterday at the RSA 2008 conference in San Francisco. David Cross, a product unit manager, explained to an audience that Vista's User Account Control scheme was built to discourage people from running as an administrator on their computers, which in case of attack can grant hackers deeper access than they might otherwise be allowed. "We needed to change the ecosystem, and we needed a heavy hammer to do it," said Cross.
The problem, many Vista owners have complained, is that it is common for users to run as administrators regardless, and UAC can harass people regularly and unnecessarily. Cross dismisses these concerns, noting that "most users" have no UAC warnings on an average day, although only 66 percent of sessions are said to be alert-free. Cross also rejects the notion that that users are shutting off UAC, citing Microsoft statistics that 88 percent of Vista users keep it active.

"Are there some annoyances with UAC? Yes, but advanced users know how to get around them," says Cross.

Massive released a new trailer for its upcoming expansion and console port World in Conflict: Soviet Assault (PC, PS3, Xbox 360). World in Conflict: Soviet Assault will feature a brand new campaign, new units (chronoplane), as well as the option to call the reinforcements or new units to the battlefiled by using the context menu or voice communication via the headset, same as in Tom Clancy's EndWar.

Soviet Assault will be released on the PC as an expansion to the original World in Conflict, while Swordfish Entertainment is combining the original and the expansion into a standalone console release for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.  World in Conflict: Soviet Assault is expected to ship this fall on all platforms.

XFX is spicing up its NVIDIA graphics card line-up with the introduction of two "Black labeled" GeForce 9 series cards.

Available in limited numbers the G92 products include XFX GeForce 9800 GX2 1.0GB DDR3 Black Edition (PV-T98U-ZHB9) overclocked to 700MHz/1700MHz/2.1GHz core/shader/memory clocks and XFX GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB DDR3 Black Edition (PV-T98F-YDB4) with factory clock speeds of 760MHz/1900MHz/2.28GHz for the core, shaders and memory clock speeds.

Both cards will come bundled with Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed game. Prices are not yet available, they still need to hit the stores.

 

GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB DDR3 Black Edition

GeForce 9800 GX2 1.0GB DDR3 Black Edition

 

HP, the world

[QUOTE]If you like watching Blu-ray Discs on your PlayStation 3, then things are about to get better. Sony has announced a firmware update that

A new report from the Internet Crime Complaint Center indicates men get duped more often than women by internet fraud. The center received more than 206,000 complaints in 2007, totalling a $239 million loss to fraud. That's $40 million more than the year before.

Data compiled from more than 206,000 complaints received last year by the U.S. Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) shows that men lost US$1.67 to every $1 lost by women in online fraud.

The organization says that buying patterns and human nature play into the findings.

"Historically men were more apt to purchase large ticket item like electronics... that could explain a lot of it," said John Kane, the IC3 research manager who wrote the report.

But with women now spending more online, the difference is also due to the fact that certain types of schemes seem to suck men in. "Men tend to fall victim... to business investment schemes and some other schemes that have a higher dollar loss," Kane said.

Investment fraud complaints, where the average loss is more than $3,500, were overwhelmingly submitted by men, Kane said. Compare that to something like auction fraud, where both men and women are frequently victimized. The average loss there is just over $480.

A new NVIDIA ForceWare driver appeared on the web which is being served on-line by one of NVIDIA's partners. This driver set is commonly distributed and it is receiving pretty good feedback.

The drivers are dated dated (03/29/2008) and to be considered beta.

Download:

GeForce 174.85 Beta driver Vista 64-bit
GeForce 174.85 Beta driver Vista 32-bit

We'll make sure to review some of these soon by the way. Corsair announced all their HX, TX and VX series power supplies now have 80 Plus Certification.

80 PLUS Certification is the gold standard for power supply energy efficiency. The 80 PLUS specification requires computer and server PSUs to be at least 80 percent efficient at 20 percent, 50 percent and 100 percent rated load, ultimately improving computer stability and saving money on electricity bills. In addition, there are also performance benefits, such as reduced heat output which increases system reliability and minimizes the need for loud, high rpm cooling fans.