Tuesday January 6th, 2009
 Third party plug-ins like Adobe Flash do a poor job of cleaning traces of your browser sessions, rendering private-browsing features somewhat useless, according to a new study by researcher Katherine McKinley.
McKinley, a researcher at iSec Partners, created a tool for testing the functionality of clearing private data after a browser session and browsing in private mode and found that some browsers — most notably Apple’s Safari for Windows — do a poor job of wiping traces of a browser session.
Read the full article @ ZDNet |
Posted By Jason @ 11:15 AM
 Steve Jobs' latest health statement is contradictory and makes little sense, according to an expert who says it could mean Jobs has anything from hyperthyroidism to a new form of cancer.
There are three medical threads running through the statement, said Robert Lustig, a prominent neuroendocrinologist at the University of California, San Francisco — and they "don't add up to a very strong cable."
On Monday morning, shortly before MacWorld 2009 — which, until he canceled, was scheduled to feature Jobs as keynote speaker — opened in San Francisco, the Apple CEO released an official statement about the ongoing weight loss that has left him gaunt and panicked his company's investors.
Read the full article @ Wired News |
Posted By Jason @ 11:14 AM
 Since the dawn of time, or so it seems, Steve Jobs and the major labels have been at war on two fronts: digital rights management and pricing. Apple wants to sell music without DRM, so that it's easier for consumers to use. Meanwhile, the labels want Jobs to budge on pricing to let them sell songs in iTunes at prices other than 99 cents.
According to CNET, negotiations between Apple and the world's three largest record labels may finally have produced an agreement that would give each party its wish.
Apple would be able to sell music from all four major labels without wrapping it in DRM, while the labels would be able to sell a song at three different pricepoints, depending on whether it's older catalog material, a song of mid-level popularity or a hit. (Presumably, the hits would be priced higher than the long tail stuff.)
Read the full article @ Wired News |
Posted By Jason @ 11:12 AM
Hope everyone survived the holidays. I'm still trying to get back into the swing of things... Anyhow, here's some review news for ya. I'll try to get back to posting on a normal schedule from here on in.
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Posted By Jason @ 11:00 AM
Monday January 5th, 2009
Fujitsu did not give Western Digital a Christmas present - in fact it said 'No deal'.
The two companies have been talking about Fujitsu selling its loss-making hard disk drive business to Western Digital.
Fujitsu's president Kuniaki Nozoe said there was zero chance of a deal because Fujitsu wished to sell its Japan-based and overseas plants as a bundle with many workers keeping their jobs. It has not been able to agree with Western Digital how this could be done. A price of $550m has been mentioned by the Japanese Nikkei newspaper.
Article |
Posted By chris4404 @ 8:26 AM
 Seagate once again boasts the largest single drive for magneto-optical storage. Larger size generally means larger platters, which typically come with greater performance and the 1.5TB sets new limits. Is this enough for you yet?Can you really ever have enough hard disk storage? We don’t think so. All too many times we’ve gone and bought a monster hard drive and uttered those immortal words “I’ll never fill this!” only to find six months down the line that ripping our whole CD and DVD collection has made that once mighty drive seem woefully insufficient.
Of course hard disk manufacturers are always striving to release ever larger drives to slake our continued storage lust and 1TB hard drives are now increasingly commonplace in enthusiast systems thanks to continually tumbling prices that have made even a high performance 1TB drive well within everyone’s reach. Full Review @ bit-tech |
Posted By WiCKeD @ 8:25 AM
Friday January 2nd, 2009
According to DigiTimes AMD is looking to switch to AM3 pretty quick and stop producing AM2+ chips. Keep in mind the date of the article is Dec 26th, so not 100% sure if next year is 2009 or 2010. This move makes sense since AM3 chips will be backwards compatible with AM2+ boards.
AMD plans to launch six 45nm CPUs under its Athlon line including the quad-core Athlon X4 615 and 605 and triple-core Athlon X3 420 and 410 in April next year and dual-core Athlon X2 240 and 235 in June, according to sources at motherboard makers.
Last order notice for the company's upcoming 45nm AM2+ Phenom II X4 920 and 940 Black Edition CPUs, will be issued in May next year, while AMD has already stopped taking orders for its quad-core Phenom X4 9650 this month. AMD's Phenom X4 9950 (140W) and 9850 (125W) will have their last order notice issued in March next year, and Phenom X4 9750, 9850 (95W) and 9950 (125W) will be in June.
AMD's triple-core Phenom X3 8450 and 8550 CPUs have started phasing out of the market, while the Phenom X3 8650 is scheduled to have its last order notice issued in March next year followed by the Phenom X3 8850 and 8750 in June.
AMD's low-power Athlon X2 4450e CPU will have its last order notice issued in March next year.
AMD declined the opportunity to respond to this report saying it cannot comment on unannounced products. |
Posted By Jason @ 1:18 PM
Wednesday December 31st, 2008
 Allegedly this will be the upcoming lineup from nVidia for 2009. According to Xbitlabs (thanks AuDioFreaK39), the GT214 may also be the first card from them to feature GDDR5.
According to some documents VR-Zone has seen, Nvidia is preparing move to 40nm process technology for their top to bottom GPU line-up by Q2 next year.
This transition to 40nm will first take place with their high end GT212 GPU in Q2 follows by the mainstream GT214 and GT216 as well as value GT218 in Q3. GT212 will be replacing the 55nm GT200 so you can expect pretty short lifespan for the upcoming GTX295 and GTX285 cards.
As for the mainstream and value segment, GT214, GT216 and GT218 will be replacing G94, G96 and G98 respectively. We are looking at 4 desktop SKUs for GT216 and 6 desktop SKUs for GT218 at least so you can expect different clocks and memory configurations/types.
For the IGP segment, iGT209 will be replacing current GeForce 9400/9300 motherboard GPU series. Last but not least, you can expect DX11 capable GT300 to appear in Q4 next year. Full Article @ VR Zone |
Posted By WiCKeD @ 12:55 PM
Tuesday December 23rd, 2008
 EXTREME Overclocking has just posted a review on the Rosewill Wind Ryder Mid Tower Case.When purchasing a computer case, there is the age old debate of looks & features vs. price. Consumers want the best look and functionality for the money. Rosewill’s Wind Ryder mid tower is one of their budget enthusiast cases. With a budget price of only ~$45 and features of some of the higher end cases we will see how it stacks up.
Read the full review @ EXTREME Overclocking |
Posted By Jason @ 7:38 PM
Here's some bits of review news from yesterday and today. Nothing overly exciting... I think things are kind of winding down for Christmas...
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Posted By Jason @ 3:19 PM
Monday December 22nd, 2008
 Just when you think we are nearing the edge of technology, someone discovers a way to adapt...
A team of researchers at Rice University has found a method of creating a new type of memory from a strip of graphite only 10 atoms thick. Graphite is the basic element in the new type of memory. The scientists describe in a paper published in the online journal Nature Materials a storage device that utilizes the conducting properties of graphene. A large clump of graphene is better known as graphite, something school kids doodle with everyday.
Rice professor James Tour says that graphene memory would increase the amount of storage in a two-dimensional array by about five times. He says that this massive improvement is due to the individual bits being able to be made smaller than 10 nanometers. By comparison, circuitry in your average flash memory chip today is 45nm. Another big benefit of graphene memory is that switches can be controlled by two terminals rather than the three terminals used in flash memory today.
The two-terminal capability is important because it provides the capability to make three-dimensional memory practical since the very thin graphene arrays can be stacked, multiplying the storage capacity of the array with each graphene layer. Full Article @ DailyTech |
Posted By WiCKeD @ 10:17 AM
Saturday December 20th, 2008
 EXTREME Overclocking has just posted a review on the Thermalright HR-01 X Server Heatsink.Popular with PC enthusiasts, Thermalright makes cooling products that are known for their quality and performance. What some people might not know is that Thermalright also caters to the server / workstation crowd, offering heatsinks that fit dual socket boards and rack chassis. This review will take a look at a pair of the HR-01 X heatsinks, which fit a 120mm fan.
Read the full review @ EXTREME Overclocking |
Posted By Jason @ 3:14 PM
Some of this is from Friday too... More of the Atomic 4870 X2 reviews and various stuff...
And here's a couple contests:
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Posted By Jason @ 3:12 PM
Thursday December 18th, 2008
Here's your daily helping of review news...
Also have a couple interesting giveaway contests, that don't require much effort on your part.
Enjoy! |
Posted By Jason @ 1:51 PM
Tuesday December 16th, 2008
 If you've never tried Firefox, Safari, Opera Google Chrome or other Internet Explorer alternatives, now might be a good time. Microsoft's flagship browser, the default choice on countless Windows machines, currently has a serious security flaw that affects all versions of the browser running on any version of Windows. The vulnerability allows hackers to gain access to any sensitive data on your PC.
Even more worrying, the exploit is already in the wild and no there's no fix in sight, leading a number of security researchers to suggested that, in the interest of avoiding malicious software, users switch to another browser.
If you're the pry-it-out-of-my-cold-dead hands sort of IE fan, there is one bright side to news that some 10,000 sites are ready to pwn your PC: so far the sites are mostly Chinese and the malicious software is mainly after passwords for computer games, which can be sold on the black market.
Read the full article @ Wired News |
Posted By Jason @ 11:30 AM
 Apple will launch an upgrade to its low-end desktop, the Mac Mini, at January's Macworld Expo in San Francisco, according to an Apple corporate employee who contacted Wired.com.
The source, who wished to remain anonymous (to keep his job), could not disclose details about the Mac Mini other than its upcoming announcement at Macworld Expo, which begins Jan. 5. That's where CEO Steve Jobs traditionally launches major products during his famous keynotes (assuming he does indeed show up).
An upgrade to the Mac Mini is long overdue: The product hasn't seen a refresh since August 2007, and Apple computers normally have a life cycle of roughly six months. This long period of silence led many to speculate that Apple was going to drop the Mac Mini from its product line. However, Apple has shown no signs of discontinuing the product. It's also noteworthy that although Apple has been quiet about Mac Mini sales numbers, the diminutive desktop appears to be selling quite well. For example, the Mac Mini has been among the top 5 of Amazon's best selling desktops; it currently stands at No. 3.
Read the full article @ Wired News |
Posted By Jason @ 11:27 AM
 Mozilla’s flagship Firefox browser has earned the dubious title of the most vulnerable software program running on the Windows platform.
According to application whitelisting vendor Bit9, Firefox topped the list of 12 widely deployed desktop applications that suffered through critical security vulnerabilities in 2008. These flaws exposed millions of Windows users to remote code execution attacks.
The other applications on the list are all well-known and range from browsers to media players, to VOIP chat and anti-virus software programs. Here’s Bit9’s dirty dozen:
- Mozilla Firefox
- Adobe Flash and Adobe Acrobat
- EMC VMware Player,Workstation and other products
- Sun Java JDK and JRE
- Apple QuickTime, Safari and iTunes
- Symantec Norton products
- Trend Micro OfficeScan
- Citrix Products
- Aurigma Image Uploader, Lycos FileUploader
- Skype
- Yahoo Assistant
- Microsoft Windows Live (MSN) Messenger
See Bit9’s full report (.pdf) for information on how the list was put together, including criteria for inclusion.
Source: ZDNet |
Posted By Jason @ 11:24 AM
Here's your morning list of news from other review sites...
Enjoy! |
Posted By Jason @ 11:19 AM
Monday December 15th, 2008
 EXTREME Overclocking has just posted a review on the AMD Athlon X2 7750 Black Edition Processor!
Before the year ends, AMD has one last little surprise for everyone. The long awaited "Kuma" dual-core processors based on the K10 core (Phenom 65nm) have arrived! These new processors will use the same numbering scheme at the Phenom X4 and X3, becoming the Athlon X2 7000 series.
Read the full review @ EXTREME Overclocking
Here's some other reviews for comparison: |
Posted By Jason @ 1:10 PM
Friday December 12th, 2008
 Sunnyvale, CA—December 9, 2008—OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory and computer components, today unveiled the OCZ Vertex SATA II 2.5” Solid State Drive (SSD) Series, a premium offering for enthusiasts demanding the latest technology in this fast-developing sector of the storage market. The latest high-performance and cost-efficient SSD, OCZ has gained momentum in pioneering flash storage technology while maintaining a price point that is truly within the reach of a wide range of consumers.
“The new Vertex Series of SSD drives are a premium MLC based SSD solution that are designed for consumers that require fast, rugged, and reliable solid state storage,” commented Eugene Chang, Director of Product Management for the OCZ Technology Group. “The Vertex makes use of our newest architecture and controller design complete with 64MB of cache to offer faster transfers and superior overall system response times in a broad range of applications and games.”
Offering your system the incredible performance of flash-based technology, The OCZ Vertex Series delivers the performance and reliability of SSDs at less price per gigabyte than other high speed offerings currently on the market. The OCZ Vertex Series is the result of all the latest breakthroughs in SSD technology, including new architecture and controller design, blazing 200MB/sec read and 160MB/sec write speeds, and featuring up to 64MB onboard cache.
Read the full press release @ OCZ |
Posted By Jason @ 12:08 PM
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