Ehm  No, Microsoft hasn't suddenly transformed its 30-inch, multi-touch Surface into a big-ass cellphone. But it has, however, chosen AT&T to launch the world's first Surface into retail.

Shoppers in New York, Atlanta, San Antonio, and San Francisco will be treated to what amounts to the novelty (at least initially) of learning about a device (Samsung BlackJack II, pictured) by simply placing it atop the Surface. They'll also have the ability to explore interactive coverage maps. Later, users will be able to drag ringtones, graphics and video and drop it into "the phones." Note their use of "the" and not "your" phone in the press release. Nevertheless, we're happy to see Microsoft get the technology out the door on its long march towards consumerdom.

Okay let's call it, the death of the PC Games stores is near. Digital downloads are the future. This Stream news officially announces that publisher UbiSoft will expand on the number of games it offers via Valve's PC game digital download service.

While Steam has previously offered UbiSoft's Dark Messiah of Might and Magic (powered by Valve's Source engine) this new announcement reveals that UbiSoft will offer up over 40 other games via Steam in the coming weeks. Two full games are already available for download and purchase - Far Cry and the original Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell. In addition, you can currently pre-purchase Assassin's Creed in preparation for its release on April 9th. The current list of Ubisoft titles can be found right here.

Noticeds this one on ggmania.com today,  an extensive list of April Fools' Day Jokes that websites have run each year. Go laugh:-)

• Assassins's Solid Video - In a rare inter-publisher crossover, this YouTube video shows off some (April Fool's) gameplay that has Solid Snake of Konami's Metal Gear Solid 4 dressed as UbiSoft's Altair of Assassin's Creed.
• Duke Nukem Forever Concept Artwork - 3DRealms has just released today a brand new, never before seen concept artwork of Duke Nukem Forever as well as a new corporate logo!
• Diablo III Announcement - Blizzard Entertainment today reluctantly unveiled Diablo III, the third groundbreaking title in its highly acclaimed role-playing game series and sequel to the award-winning Diablo II: Lord of DestructionTM, at the company's very first surprise press conference at its newly opened headquarters.
• Grand Theft Auto 4 includes masturbation and explicit sexual references - Extended details found in the recently published GTA 4 BBFC classification have revealed new details about the sexual content of Rockstar's anticipated title. This includes sexual references, prostitution, lap dancing and portrayed masturbation
• HL2 Episode 3 Delayed until 2010 - Planet Half-Life has received word from an employee at Valve that Episode 3 has been delayed until some time in 2010!
• Legend Of Zelda Movie Trailer - It's so good it might actually give some Hollywood studio some real ideas :-)
• Microsoft's New Xbox 360 Accessories - Xbox.com show off some newly revealed Xbox 360 consoles and accessories, including a wireless helmet with 5.1 surround sound, a "Vintage Edition" Xbox 360 console complete with retro joystick, an Xbox 360 Recon edition that's rugged and has solar power and "Xbox Live: The Board Game".
• New Lord Of The Rings & D&D Online Content  - Turbine enters the April Fool's Day news race with word on some new free content coming to their fantasy MMO Lord of the Rings Online. Turbine's other fantasy MMO Dungeons and Dragons Online gets the April Fool's Day treatment with word on new "content" for the game.
• Postal's 'Cat Silencer' Enters US Army's Arsenal - One of the most controversial implements in the Postal game series arsenal-the 'Cat Silencer'-is now part of real world, cutting edge weapons technology.
• World Of Warcraft Comes To Consoles - Blizzard continues their April Fool's Day fun with their post announcing that their hit MMO game World of Warcraft will be coming to consoles
• Other April Fool Jokes - Black Mesa: Source purchased by EA, Metal Gear Solid 4 GamePlay Footage,  Planet Electronic Arts , The Diablo Loot Piqata, Virgle: The Adventure of Many Lifetimes

And some more:

Read - Space bot demands to be called "Dextre the Magnificent"
Read - Windows XP running on the iRex iLiad
Read - iPhone_iTouch_2.0_Beta_5a225c_ipsw
Read - Free Nokia 6630 bundled with Girl Talk mag for tweens
Read - Google's gDay with MATE searches the future
Read - Toshiba announces HD DVD+
Read - Think Geek's Betamax to HD-DVD Converter
Read - Qualcomm's HandSolo
Read - FireFold's Ultra High-Performance Coat Hanger
Read - Virgin and Google form Virgil for Mars expedition
Read - Xbox 360 Wireless Helmet, Board Game

GeForce 9800 GTX 512 - (Single & SLI) review

Today is the day that NVIDIA launches it's GeForce 9800 GTX series of graphics cards. Guru3D will bring you two reviews on these products being launched today.

A respin product series aimed at the enthusiast gamer, that is what the 9800 GTX is all about. Minor tweaks, some improvement, pretty equal to GeForce 8800 GTX performance is what the 9800 GTX is all about. So what's so hot about the GeForce 9800 GTX you ask ? The price .. expect a 249-299 EUR / 299-349 USD sales price.

As stated Guru3D brings you two reviews:

• GeForce 9800 GTX (Single card) - Point of View
  Direct URL: http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/516/
• GeForce 9800 GTX (SLI) - BFG technology
  Direct URL: http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/518/

Should you feel like having a little chat about this product, check the Guru3D 9800 GTX forum discussion.

It surely took NVIDIA a while yet today they officially released Windows Vista 32-bit NVIDIA 6, 7, 8 and 9 Series 3D Stereo Drivers 
 
Stereo drivers are intended to enable the NVIDIA stereo Control Panel for the support of 3D Glasses. This is a beta driver so there might be a bit of stability issues for you. Then again it has been a long time since NVIDIA released such a driver so it'll make loads of you quite happy. 
 
With this release we finally see proper Windows Vista 32-bit support.

Download - click here

PC maker Dell announced a plan to save $3 billion over the next three years by cutting costs and laying off employees. The firm will close its desktop manufacturing plant in Austin, Texas and will cut about 10 percent of its workforce:
Dell Inc. is also reaffirming its plan -- announced last year -- to cut at least 8,800 jobs, or about 10 percent of its work force. In the last nine months of fiscal 2008, the Round Rock, Texas-based company cut 3,200 jobs.

The company plans a broad range of cost cuts in design, manufacturing and logistics, materials and operating expenses to stay competitive.

Dell is also reviewing alternatives for its financial services business, especially its consumer and small to medium business revolving credit financing receivables. Shares of Dell rose 31 cents to close at $19.92. They added another 28 cents to $20.20 in aftermarket activity.

Would you just take a look at that. Right on cue, Dolby and SIM2 are collaboratively showcasing a 46-inch 1080p display built around the former firm's high dynamic range technology.

The HDR-enabled LCD HDTV boasts 1,836 LED-based backlight units (designed / developed by SIM2), a full 1,920 x 1,080 resolution, brightness level greater than 4,000 cd/m2, an "infinite" contrast ratio, 16-bits of luminance and a Xilinx Virtex field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) chipset. Additionally, the prototype employs a design created by Giorgio Revoldini, and while we can't imagine hearing of a release date anytime soon, the two firms aren't wasting any time putting the new set on a world tour to presumably wow onlookers.

The prototype is a 46-inch LCD with Dolby

A updated version of Sony's PlayStation 3 console has been sent to the FCC, documents show. Any new device with wireless technology must be approved by the FCC; the Sony application notes, however, that the company has only made two minor changes, one of which is merely an adjustment to the construction of the Bluetooth module. The other is a switch to an 80GB hard drive, a boost from the presently-offered 40GB capacity. The storage should allow gamers to keep more games, music, videos and other material.

Sony has sold several different capacity options throughout the PS3's history. The console initially launched in 20 and 60GB versions, but the popularity of the 60GB model led to the 20GB edition disappearing. Both were eventually replaced by 40 and 80GB variants, the latter also having disappeared in recent months. It is unclear why Sony would introduce a second 80GB system, although Microsoft offers a 120GB model of its Xbox 360 console.

Appearantly I complete;y missed out on this one, but earlier in March at the CeBIT EVGA showcased its 17-inch wide dual display

Tomorrow on Guru3D; well, like you guys have no idea what this is eh ? ...

The ATI FireGL V7700 professional graphics accelerator provides superior rendering speed, 3D performance and color fidelity for Computer Aided Design (CAD), Digital Content Creation (DCC) and Medical Imaging professionals. ATI FireGL V7700 delivers the top-quality image quality needed to create photorealistic visualizations of real-world objects and environments

Thermaltake BigTyp VP is a new upgraded value pack of the famous classical air cooler Thermaltake BigTyp 120 VX. BigTyp VP not only maintained the same excellent thermal structure of the original BigTyp but added on one extra 120mm satellite fan, and thus enabled the simultaneous cooling of CPU surrounding chipsets. The satellite fan (120x120x25mm) further utilizes system air flow and cools wherever you placed it.  The 2-direction-installation option of this additional fan is for extra cooling of RAM or VGA, and this multi-positioning design also allows add-ons of additional 12cm-fan, 9cm-fan, 8cm-fan, 6cm-fan, 5cm-fan, or 4cm-fan. Rotatable fan holder enables fan installation adjustment from 0 to 45 degrees to best fit your system structure.

The proprietary soldering process enables the Thermaltake BigTyp VP to be one of the best coolers on the market. With the adjustable fan speed from 1300 to 2500rpm, and lowest sound output of 16dBA, the flexible fan operation status can be easily controlled to best fit the users

ComingSoon.net got a chance to talk to Twilight producer Wyck Godfrey about the status of the proposed Gears of War video game adaptation. "We've got our script on and a director we're about to attach. We'll hopefully make that early next year for the summer of 2010," said Godfrey.

It was announced in March of 2007 that New Line Cinema (now a unit of Warner Bros.) had acquired the feature film rights to Epic Games' award-winning video game. Stuart Beattie was attached to adapt the project and Temple Hill Entertainment set to produce.

Since its debut in November 2006, "Gears of War" has broken sales records on the Microsoft Xbox 360, selling more than 4.5 million copies worldwide (it sold 3 million copies in the first 10 weeks after launch).

The game thrusts players into humankind's epic battle for survival against the Locust Horde, a nightmarish race of creatures that surface from the bowels of the planet. The story unfolds as a ragtag group of soldiers use every last ounce of strength to survive the onslaught from the forces of evil, which begins on the historic Emergence Day.

Cliff Bleszinski, the lead game designer for "Gears of Wars," worked in conjunction with Beattie to define a treatment for the film.

Bleszinski announced in February at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco that a sequel to the "Gears of War" video games is in the works and is slated for a November 2008 launch.

Guru3D Behind the scenes - the servers 2008

Earlier last week Guru3D drove to the datacenter to install our newest server "Corleone", a new front-end server that is to be used for our rapidly growing forums. We'll show you the specs and some insider info on that server later on. But also let's have a look at where the Guru3D website is hosted, the racks, the gear and the network we are broadcasting over ...

A quick peek behind the scenes of Guru3D, the 2008 edition.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/guru3d-behind-the-scenes--the-servers-2008/

NiBiTor allows graphics card enthusiasts, or the hardcore overclockers to have full control over some advanced features and functionality found on firmware of supporting cards. Doing so users gain some extra performance, enable certain hidden features, tweak memory latencies, provide extensive information, adapt boot up settings, change fan speed options and/or get extra stability on the NVIDIA based graphics accelerators.

Changes in this release:

• Added Support for GeForce 9800 GTX
• Added Support for GeForce 9500 GT
• Added Support for GeForce 8800M GTX
• Added Support for GeForce 8600M GT
• Fixed Bug with Fan Speed IC Settings

Download - click here

CPU-Z is a diagnostic tool that provides information on your CPU, including: processor name and vendor, core stepping and process, processor package, internal and external clocks, clock multiplier, partial overclock detection, processor features, supported instructions sets, L1 and L2 cache information, location, size, speed, and technology.

CPU-Z is a freeware that gathers information on some of the main devices of your system.

System

* Windows and DirectX version.

Changes in version 1.44.2:

• NVIDIA 650i, 680i, 750a/780a, 750i, 780i, 790i chipsets
• Intel G35 chipset
• Updated support for VIA chipsets

Download - http://downloads.guru3d.com/CPU-Z-v1.44.2-download-1340.html

Let's face the truth here, personally I haven't had to experience the problems Creative Labs users have been having on Windows Vista. However, the sound cards, which work fine on Windows XP, yet lose some functionality on the new Vista operating system. Forum member Daniel_K made some modifications to the code used to run the sound cards, and released drivers of his own that allowed Creative Labs users to take full advantage of their sound cards on Vista.

Daniel Kawakami has been modding Windows Vista drivers for Creative Labs products. While Creative Labs insisted that features such as Decoding of Dolby Digital and DTS signals and DVD-Audio which worked fine in WinXP, would not work on Vista.

Daniel_K was recently able to "fix" many drivers, enabling the "incompatible" features as well as fixing some bugs. He made a few mistakes, however, as in asking for donations. Making a profit off his modded drivers was asking for trouble. Now Daniel_K probably shouldn

So we just pourchased a new server, 4 cores .. pretty spiffy right ? Yet Forrester Research analysts believe server processors will get 64 cores next year and that the same number of cores is expected in desktop processors by 2012. However, to fully take advantage of so many cores software makers will need to get ready:

While the era of multi-core computing is here, application development teams must embrace new programming approaches to reap the full performance and economic benefits of the new hardware. The new

Chipzilla Intel published information on its website about the new Desktop Board DX48BT2 motherboard which uses the all new X48 chipset.

Pulse-pounding gaming and high powered multimedia experiences require the ultimate in performance from your processor and motherboard. Intel

read the whole thread, the have crippled previous gen cards drivers for vista on purpose to sell more X-Fi cards. They also shut down the only guy who made them work but also fixed their broken Vista drivers for their X-Fi.

Message to Daniel_K

Daniel_K:

We are aware that you have been assisting owners of our Creative sound cards for some time now, by providing unofficial driver packages for Vista that deliver more of the original functionality that was found in the equivalent XP packages for those sound cards. In principle we don't have a problem with you helping users in this way, so long as they understand that any driver packages you supply are not supported by Creative. Where we do have a problem is when technology and IP owned by Creative or other companies that Creative has licensed from, are made to run on other products for which they are not intended. We took action to remove your thread because, like you, Creative and its technology partners think it is only fair to be compensated for goods and services. The difference in this case is that we own the rights to the materials that you are distributing. By enabling our technology and IP to run on sound cards for which it was not originally offered or intended, you are in effect, stealing our goods. When you solicit donations for providing packages like this, you are profiting from something that you do not own. If we choose to develop and provide host-based processing features with certain sound cards and not others, that is a business decision that only we have the right to make.

Although you say you have discontinued your practice of distributing unauthorized software packages for Creative sound cards we have seen evidence of them elsewhere along with donation requests from you. We also note in a recent post of yours on these forums, that you appear to be contemplating the release of further packages. To be clear, we are asking you to respect our legal rights in this matter and cease all further unauthorized distribution of our technology and IP. In addition we request that you observe our forum rules and respect our right to enforce those rules. If you are in any doubt as to what we would consider unacceptable then please request clarification through one of our forum moderators before posting.

Phil O'Shaughnessy
VP Corporate Communications
Creative Labs Inc.


Forum Moderator
Creative Labs