Launched a few days into 2006, The Dell 3007WFP matches Apple's 30-inch, ultra-high resolution display but undercuts the Apple's price by around £300. £1471 (yes, it's a lot of money) currently buys you Dell's flagship TFT. We bought (see, review websites don't all receive free kit) one directly from Dell, to see if it could displace our 2405FPW as our monitor of choice. Read on to find out if it does.

From my experience working for corporate aliens, from what others have told me, and from numerous articles on the internet, I have come to the conclusion that managers of many corporations show considerable disrespect to their technology workers. Throughout my career, I've had a several bad experiences. This was one of my worst.

“There seems to be a new virus popping up all the time, sometimes I think that my Anti-Virus software won't be able to keep up. AV software is also sometimes bypassed by viruses, making your system vulnerable to attack. There is a way to protect your self that does not involve software; it is through hardware such as what I have today from Jackson Armor. It is called the Armor Card; it is impervious to attack by viruses as it runs outside of your operating system. It easily plugs into a free PCI slot on your motherboard and is setup before your OS boots. It also protects CMOS and BIOS settings as well from attack.”

Internet giant Google is in talks with digital music service Napster over an "extensive alliance" that could include an "outright acquisition," according to a Tuesday report in the New York Post, citing anonymous sources.

The goal is to enable ISPs to provide television programs over the Internet as easily as it is done for TV, the sources said.

Nyxem is thought to have caught out many people by promising porn to those who open the attachments on e-mail messages carrying the virus.

Microsoft advised Office Professional Edition 2003 and Office Access 2003 users to install Office 2003 Service Pack 2 for all current and future deployments.

Here are some Benchmark results between Wine and Windows XP, Your mileage will vary depending on your Linux config, Wine version and Hardware.

Western Digital has posted a January 31, 2006 ship date for its new SATA Hard Drive. The new model from the Caviar line is marketed as being fast, cool and quiet.

The heatsink we are looking at today is the first unit brought into the US so you're getting your first look at it right here. The unit goes by the name of the Global Win Model GP94NPHH Super Conductor or 180 Watt Cooler. As we look closer at it you will see that it is indeed a unique design and we will explore its performance with two different fans supplied to us by Global Win.

So Rashtchy thinks the sell-off in Google was overdone. And we do too. Despite Yahoo!'s slip, Google deserves the benefit of the doubt. Sure, it probably will be a volatile stock for the foreseeable future but Google hasn't disappointed Wall Street yet and shows no signs of slowing down. And as long as earnings keep growing and the company keeps entering new businesses, it should continue to be a good stock for the long haul.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Microsoft founder and Chairman Bill Gates believes cell phones are a better way than laptops to bring computing to the masses in developing nations, according to a published report.

The New York Times reports that Craig Mundie, the No. 1 software provider's vice president and chief technology officer, told the paper that both he and Gates believe that turning a specially configured cell phone into a computer by connecting it to a TV and a keyboard is the best way to spread the power of computing.

NEW DELHI - U.S. computer maker Dell said Monday that it planned to add 5,000 jobs in India over the next two years, bringing its work force in the country to 15,000.

Enron's inbox first hit the internet in March 2003 when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission made public more than 1.5 million e-mails from 176 Enron employees as part of its investigation of the company's manipulation of California energy markets in 2000.

Journalists quickly scoured the e-mail for embarrassing moments and incriminating missives.

This morning, Google released a beta version of Google Toolbar 4, an update to the search toolbar used by millions. With this version users can add custom buttons that will either search your favorite site without your having to go there or take you directly to it. A drop-down menu on the button itself can even reveal the latest headlines from that site.

Since the ESA dropped the anti-provocative booth babe bomb, message forums have been flooded by people from all camps. Some think the show should be cancelled completely. Others will miss the display of skin, but are glad that the focus will be more on the games. And then there are those that don’t really care either way because they are immune to the magnetism of hot women promoting videogames. This isn’t another article debating the ESA’s decision or pondering the need for booth babes. We here at TTZ have decided to approach the issue from a very different perspective. What perspective am I referring to? Has anyone considered the huge impact that this will have on the economy??

BEIJING, Jan. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- It is estimated that nearly 12 billion short text messages will be sent through mobile phones in China during the seven-day holiday of the Spring Festival in 2006 starting from Sunday.

It took me more than five minutes to open Google or Yahoo, but according the shop assistant, I was lucky because that was considered speedy by their standards.

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Enron Corp.'s former top bosses Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling will enter a federal courtroom on Monday to face the jury that will judge whether the two took part in the fraud that brought down the company.

The unit itself weights in at 310g, hardly light. It measures 149 x 42 x 123mm and has a built-in 2 watt speaker in the center. Yes, 2 watts. Don't expect serious audio (or any bass for that matter) with this panel.

Sony PSP Homebrew 'celebrity' Fanjita and his partner Ditlew released now eLoader Beta for GTA that works on all Sony PSP Firmware versions (2.01, 2.50 and 2.60).

For investors who love Google, when the swooning ends, heartache awaits.

The Internet search-engine company has not only been overvalued, it has a lot of competition that may be overlooked by most of Wall Street.

Why bother? For starters, Outlook Express supports multiple accounts, so you can manage your Gmail and Hotmail messages under one roof. Plus, it offers more features than most Web-based clients, including a robust address book, mail filters, and message grouping. Best of all, if more than one person wants to use Outlook Express to manage e-mail, you can set up multiple users without having to share an in-box.

Jan. 27, 2006 - In League City, Texas, it would be unusual to make one arrest of a suspected online sexual predator in a month. But in the last two weeks, detectives there have tracked down two men whom they've charged with sexual assault of a minor. Both of the accused men found or conversed with their victims via the social-networking Web site MySpace.com, according to League City police.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The widow of Challenger’s commander laid a wreath of roses and carnations at a memorial honoring fallen astronauts, just miles from the launch pad where the doomed space shuttle blew apart 73 seconds after lifting off 20 years ago Saturday.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - In its latest move to broaden its iPod and iTunes franchises, Apple Computer Inc. has introduced "iTunes U," a nationwide expansion of a service that makes course lectures and other educational materials accessible via Apple's iTunes software.

The virus, dubbed Nyxem.E among other names, was first reported on Jan. 16. It is thought to have infected more than half a million PCs. Security vendor IronPort warned Thursday that these machines are now hard-coded to propagate the virus on Feb. 3.

"From the Flash Voyager to COOL Water Cooling, Corsair has proven time and time again that they are able to offer exceptionally designed products just not when it comes to their system memory origins but whatever they focus their attention upon. Under our microscope today, we have the Secure Digital 133x series to see if the product lives up to Corsair name we have all become to know and appreciate."

EverLAN has arisen again to throw its come-back party to start off 2006 with a bang. Featuring a $21,000 Counter-Strike: Source tournament and a never-before-seen-at-a-LAN series World of Warcraft challenges, this LAN in the snow-capped Colorado is determined to throw one hell-of-an event.

Usually we are able to use IM to send/receive files, but they clients' transfer functions aren't very good, so usually the files are slow, they stop transferring, you can't stop them or resume them, and they're generally very cumbersome.

Using my own work, with a combination of real writing and intentional “errors,” I’ve produced the evidence I need to show you the problems that videogame journalists face.

With the large heatsink and a hidden heatpipe taking the brunt of the heat and transferring it to the stacked copper fins away from the card. Not only that but the fins can be swiveled out thanks to a join design and rotated to dissipate heat further off the graphics card.

Here's the deal: in the "Firefly Forest" scene of 3DMark06, Radeon X1900 cards render an image that's not quite right. The problem is visible to the naked eye—that's how I spotted it.

IC tags, which come in various sizes but are most commonly a few centimeters across, have a very small antenna that allows communication between the chip and a reading device. IC tags are characterized by their high-speed processing capability and reusability.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge on Friday sentenced a convicted hacker known as "illwill" to two years in prison for selling the code, or software blueprint, for Microsoft Corp.'s closely guarded Windows programs.

From influencing public opinion through new media to designing "computer network attack" weapons, the US military is learning to fight an electronic war.

NEW YORK - America Online Inc. may be focusing lately on expanding free offerings on its advertising-supported Web sites, but that doesn't mean it has given up on its declining Internet access business.

A bill was introduced by Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), it's called the Digital Content Protection Act of 2006. It's designed to give the FCC (and, let's be honest, the movie and music industries) control over the capabilities of home entertainment technology.

LOS ANGELES - The city attorney’s office has sued the makers of “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” for allegedly hiding pornographic material inside the video game, officials said.

Rocky Delgadillo said his office sued Rockstar Games and its parent company, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., for making misleading statements in marketing the game and engaging in unfair competition.

MIAMI, Florida (Reuters) -- Cell-phone pornography is a fast-growing business that analysts expect will generate about $2 billion in global revenue by 2009.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - In a sign that video games are becoming more popular as family entertainment, a national survey released Thursday indicates joysticks aren't just for kids.

Thirty-five percent, or about one in three parents, say they play, too, and 80 percent of that segment play video games with their children, according to the new survey commissioned by the Entertainment Software Association, a video game industry group.

Like the Hummer vehicle, the Itronix Hummer Laptop IX600 is ruggedized for the great outdoors, and does not come cheap. If you're the average consumer, look toward the Acer Ferrari 4000.

NEW YORK (AP) -- The cyber-world expands people's social networks and even encourages people to talk by phone or meet others in person, a new study finds.

DAVOS, Switzerland — The United Nations on Thursday lent its support to a project which aims to ship inexpensive, hand-cranked laptops to school-aged children worldwide.

Google's new China search engine not only censors many Web sites that question the Chinese government, but it goes further than similar services from Microsoft and Yahoo by targeting teen pregnancy, homosexuality, dating, beer and jokes.

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. will introduce a service in autumn in which clients can deposit or withdraw money at automated teller machines using cell phones, the first service of its kind to be introduced by a major bank.

MIAMI (Reuters) - Dial P for porn? It may never be quite that easy. But cell-phone pornography is a fast-growing business that analysts expect will generate about $2 billion in global revenue by 2009.

Retailer Best Buy said this week that it will electronically process rebates for notebook PCs and PC accessories, eliminating the mail-in rebate.

In the last week, traffic to Dingledine's Free Haven Project, where free software to anonymize Web sessions is available, has skyrocketed to an average of a quarter million visits a day in the last few days.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Ten people suspected of online movie or film piracy have been indicted on criminal charges as the US cracks down on "warez" groups, federal officials said.

If you aren’t the type of user who wants Quad SLI but want more desktop room on the PC, then this motherboard with its eight monitor support is simply the way to go.

Everyone I have shown this to wants one and just thinks it is very cool. I agree totally, it is a cool little product that has shown the Mp3 player is not dead yet.

Abit is to sell its motherboard division to fellow Taiwanese mobo maker Universal Scientific Industrial for $11 million and 20m shares.

Curious about Windows new Live! Program that's been running for sometime now? Well, here's an interesting hack that will get you a Windows Live! Mail account.

The Intel D975XBX, code name Bad Axe, is a follow-up to the Intel D955XBK, which was based on the Intel 955x chipset.

A man who created spyware to access victims' computers and steal Internet banking passwords and identification, which he used to illegally withdraw money from their accounts, has been arrested, police said.

Microsoft leads this promising new market with a number of applications still in the beta testing stage, such as a "live" version of the popular IM program, MSN Messenger, and some interesting security services, including an antivirus and a defragmentation utility.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Intel Corp. said on Wednesday it had made the world's first microchip using tiny new manufacturing methods that promise to let the world's top chipmaker make more powerful, efficient processors.

You can't make phone calls or personal visits to all your friends very often, but you can 'cc' them regularly with a couple of keystrokes. That turns out to be very important"

CHARLESTON, West Virginia (AP) -- West Virginia, which has one of the nation's worst obesity problems, is expanding a project that uses a video game to boost students' physical activity.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Microsoft Corp. will license some of its secret software blueprints in an effort to avert fines of up to 2 million euros ($2.5 million) a day for failing to comply with European antitrust penalties, the U.S. company said on Wednesday.

LOS ANGELES - The Walt Disney Co. said Tuesday it is buying longtime partner Pixar Animation Studios Inc. for $7.4 billion in stock in a deal that could restore Disney’s clout in animation while vaulting Pixar CEO Steve Jobs into a powerful role at the media conglomerate.

LOS ANGELES - The video game industry’s 2006 E3 trade show in Los Angeles is getting a make-over — banned are the swarms of sexy, semi-clad “booth babes” that in years past took the unveiling of new games and technology to titillating new levels.

Rules prohibiting the use of scantily clad young women to peddle video games are nothing new, but the handbook for this year’s show in May outlines tough new penalties, including a $5,000 fine on the spot for the booth owner if the “booth babe” is semi-clad.

SAN FRANCISCO, California (Reuters) -- Sex.com, long coveted as potentially one of the most lucrative sites on the Web because of its catchy name, has been sold for about $12 million in cash and stock, a source familiar with the deal said on Monday.

ECS unveils CrossFire-ready motherboard for 3D gamers and performance enthusiasts on a budget

Milton Keynes, England, Jan 24th, 2006 – Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) today announced the availability of its RD480-A939 CrossFireTM-ready motherboard based on the ATI RADEON XPRESS 200 CrossFireTM chipset supporting the revolutionary AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 CPU.

The ECS RD480-A939 CrossFireTM-ready motherboard offers outstanding graphics and performance to 3D gamers at incredible value.

The RD480-A939 features ECS’ unique S.D.G.E. (Scalable Dual Graphic Engines) technology that allows two PCI Express-based graphic cards to be connected and to operate in tandem on one motherboard. The RD480-A939 is also capable of delivering excellent graphic performance with a single PCI Express graphics card, but by leveraging the power of ATI’s CrossFireTM technology users will experience the ultimate 3D graphic performance with dual graphics cards.

For those who like to tune their systems and push performance to the limit, the RD480-A939 has enormous overclocking potential. Users can tweak a wide array of settings including memory voltage, CPU core voltage and chipset voltage, amongst others to maximize performance.

Even though the RD480-A939 is designed to be a budget CrossFireTM motherboard, it offers a complete range of top features including dual core, advanced 64-bit, high-speed Giga LAN, and eight-channel audio for surround sound that belies its price.

Availability
The RD480-A939 will be available at the end of January 2006. Price £51.50 (ex vat).

One thing that should be apparent is that this is a single slot solution, and what this will do for temperatures we shall see during testing.

It would be fun to own a HD capable 2TB box , but we're not going to drop $7,400. SnapStream's 11-tuner performance art piece looked fun too, but not practical. Even Ars Technica and ExtremeTech had decent looking guides, but both systems broke $2K.

Ken Lombard, president of Starbucks Entertainment, says that his customers are "asking for device fill-up" (do people really talk like that?) and that the company intends to "go forward and do that."

As you can see, despite the same GPU and RAM clocks, and identical graphics card board design by the way, the benchmark performance differences are obvious across the board.

For size, quality, and cost-performance, the Mini DisGo sets a new benchmark for portable storage devices.

To use cell phones with electronic money functions, called osaifu-keitai, users need to "precharge" them with money.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Warner Brothers and CBS Corp. announced plans Tuesday for the creation of a new broadcast television network, called CW, that would replace the WB and UPN networks in the fall of this year.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - About 20 percent of government staff in one Malaysian state use the Internet for personal activities including downloading pornography, music and games, the national news agency reported Tuesday.

As users browse, the Opera Mini application, which is designed for Java-enabled cell phones, communicates with Opera's servers that strip down the size of Web sites, allowing them to load faster and fit the small screen of the phone.

Firefox 2 will be based off of the same Gecko branch that shipped Firefox 1.5, so the two should be compatible from a web developer's point of view.

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- A 20-year-old hacker admitted Monday to surreptitiously seizing control of thousands of Internet-connected computers, using the zombie network to serve pop-up ads and renting it to people who mounted attacks on Web sites and sent out spam.

Since my jump into water cooling I've wanted to cool my XFX 7800GTX, I've been running just a DangerDen TDX water block on my AMD 3200+ 64 Chip. The TDX block gave me great temps on my CPU and I decided that water maybe the best way to go for my 7800GTX as all owners of 78 cards will tell you these babies run hot.

After some time of reasearching, the guys from Ituner managed to create what is now the smallest PSU on the world. It is as small as 2 normal sized AA batteries but is capable of powering normal SFF PC's. With normal SFF PC's I mean mini-ITX systems up to Pentium 4 systems, although there is no P4 connector added, you should be able to boot a lower-end P4 with the 120Watts of power

The penultimate in our series of articles focusing on the Radeon X1800 XT 512MB from various brands, we have with us today the MSI RX1800XT-VT2D512E. Clocked at the default 625/1500MHz, it looks to be a typical Radeon X1800 XT 512MB card, but is it? Read on.

Whether on the desk or on the road, the diNovo Cordless Desktop proved to be a very nice keyboard mouse combo. The keys have nice feedback but they're also very springy and they lack that clicking sound found on other Logitech keyboards. Compared to the keyboard on the Dell notebook, it was no contest - the diNovo wins hands down.

The nation's No. 2 automaker said that it will close a total of seven North American assembly plants. Three U.S. assembly plants identified for closing in the next three years are in St. Louis, Wixom, Mich., and Atlanta. Two other assembly plants yet to be determined will also be closed by 2008, while Ford's St. Thomas, Ontario assembly plant, with nearly 2,600 employees, will lose one of its two shifts.

SAN JOSE, California (AP) -- Apple Computer Inc. has altered its iTunes software after users raised privacy concerns over a new spy-like song-recommendation feature in the music jukebox program.

NEW YORK - Over the past year, Janelle Gunther occasionally captured video with her Canon PowerShot digital camera: An elephant parading through city streets to the Ringling Bros. circus, her friends on stage during an improv dance show.

But the clips simply sat on her computer unwatched — until last weekend, when she began adding them to Vimeo, one of several sites to emerge for sharing amateur footage.

"Toyota's entry into the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series and the NASCAR Busch Series is good for drivers, teams and the fans," NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France said. "This move provides for even more intense competition on the track between drivers and manufacturers, which will provide more excitement and fan interest. Toyota's entry also provides more options for drivers and teams, which will increase the competition between manufacturers."

We'd give the Dell UltraSharp 3007WFP an unequivocal thumbs-up if it had S-Video ports and better DVD playback.

We have obtained a very recent compile of Internet Explorer 7. The build number is 5299 and it is labelled "Beta 2 Preview".

Actually, photographer blmurch was strolling along the beach when she found this rusted shell of an Xbox on the shore.

WASHINGTON, Jan 23 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday pushed the maker of the BlackBerry e-mail device a step closer to a possible shutdown of U.S. service, refusing to review a major patent infringement ruling against the company.

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Mobile phone giant Nokia has teamed up with other technology firms to promote the DVB-H technology standard for mobile TV.

BOSTON - Users of IBM's Lotus Sametime instant-messaging service will be able to connect to people on the rival AOL and Yahoo networks under a deal that underscores the technology's transformation from a program for chatty teenagers into a common business tool.

Microsoft has announced a new codename for the Windows OS that will follow the yet-to-ship Vista: "Vienna."

The goal in this case was to see how far we could go while keeping stable and reliable operation in benchmarks and stress test, without excessive voltage ups - both while keeping the 1066 FSB but changing the multiplier, and while attempting to speed up the FSB but with a fixed multiplier.

Created by Upstartle, a Silicon Valley company, Writely is an AJAX Internet-based service that allows people to create documents and share them with colleagues and friends, who could also edit and change them at the same time.

Unlike past Tyan motherboards that were loaded up with the standard and workstation versions of the Phoenix BIOS, the Tyan Tomcat i7230A shipped with the Phoenix Technologies cME FirstBIOS Pro.

(CBS) The world's best video game player practices for hours to hone the skills that have earned him more than $450,000 in prize money.

We have got some solid numbers for you, this time, courtesy of a friend who doesn't want to be named, and the numbers do look good.

MELVILLE, West Virginia -- The bodies of two miners who were trapped after an underground fire broke out at Aracoma Alma Mine No. 1 were found Saturday, mine officials said.

Casual Mac users will love the new iMac (Intel Core Duo), but professional users or anyone who uses graphics apps like Adobe Photoshop and video-editing software (such as Final Cut Pro) should wait until those tools are updated.

The best offerings in the X1300 and X1600 range are what we look at today, as the markers for their sub markets, so join us as we analyse RV515 and RV530 in a modicum of depth internally, before looking at the physical specifics and performance levels of X1300 PRO and X1600 XT.

We all know that pulling the power to your computer has to be the absolute fastest but not the best way to shutdown your computer. In this 5 step tutorial we will show you how to make your shutdown as fast as possible.

The game is named Crysis and will be shipping, as the first DX10 enabled game, in Q4 2006. We have the first screenshots from the game, screenshots that were exclusive to the latest Gamestar magazine issue released today.

"Pumping out a full 38A on the single +12V rail is no joke and keeping it up to specifications at high loads during extreme temperatures is even harder. With efficiency near towards 80%, its no doubt why SilverStone claims that Zeus ST56ZF the most efficient single +12V rail PSU in the world. Read more as to why we found that the ST56ZF was showing numbers similar to the highly priced PCP&C Turbo Cool 510SLI unit."

Overclocked by a healthy margin, Gigabyte's GV-RX18T512V-B Turbo Force Edition is tied for the honor of being the fastest Radeon X1800 XT 512MB in the retail scene. It may look like your reference card with a Gigabyte decal but it is certainly a lot faster. Read on as we uncover its speed secrets.

"We can now electrolyze young wine and ship bottles of fine wine out in no time at all," declared Tanaka, president of Japanese startup Innovative Design and Technology Inc., which runs a small laboratory in Hamamatsu, west of Tokyo.

BEIJING, Jan. 21 -- A new satellite capable of transmitting 300 TV channels is expected to bring information signals to more households when it is launched in 2007.

Google is resisting partly on grounds that turning over the data might create a public perception that it would readily cough up personal factoids, if asked.

NEW YORK (AP) - A technology that promises to replace the cables behind TV sets and entertainment centers with wireless connections appears to be headed for a format war.

As we can see, even if there are no performance increases in the latest drivers from ATI, the fixes alone make the upgrade worthwhile.

The Walt Disney Company is in serious talks about an acquisition of Pixar Animation Studios, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper report said terms under discussion would have Disney pay a small premium to Pixar's current stock market value of $6.7 billion. The deal would be a stock transaction and make Pixar Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs the biggest individual shareholder in Disney.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) -- If MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe has his way, the quirky social networking site he co-founded two years ago will hold tight to its homegrown roots, even though it now boasts more unique users than Google or America Online and has a new owner at its helm.

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Using a mobile phone does not increase the risk of developing the most common type of brain tumor, according to a study on Friday.

"We get students who have a wide variety of cravings in the middle of the night," says Brandon Arbiter, a Columbia University student who helped launch CU Snacks. "They're desperate for anything, from fresh-baked cookies to pizza to condoms."

Google’s decision to resist a government demand for millions of its search-engine records may not do a thing to protect the privacy of computer users, but it certainly boosts the company’s reputation as a protector of its customers’ rights.

The Corsair TwinX2048-4000PT PC4000 DDR500 Memory modules incorporate silver coloured heat spreaders that is fastened via a metal clip.

Because of its somewhat mediocre performance, I wouldn't recommend the STC-01 to overclockers since even a minor temperature difference could mean the difference between life and death when doing major overclocking.

The GeForce 7300 GS is that card - NVIDIA's replacement for the GeForce 6200 TurboCache. This change is evolutionary more than revolutionary.

The popular wisdom these days seems to be that it's smarter and safer to buy a computer online -- that way, you aren't susceptible to sleazy salespeople who'll sell you something you don't want.

SAN JOSE, Calif., Jan. 19 -- The WiMAX Forum, an industry- led, non-profit corporation formed to promote and certify compatibility and interoperability of broadband wireless products, today announced the first fixed wireless broadband network products to achieve the designation of WiMAX Forum Certified.

BEIJING, Jan.20 -- US online trading giant eBay yesterday canceled transaction fees for its users in China amid intensifying competition from Taobao and Tencent.

LONDON (Reuters) - Using a mobile phone does not increase the risk of developing the most common type of brain tumor, according to a study on Friday.

The changes include a pop-up warning about MiniStore that gives users a chance at installation to turn off the feature so no recommendations are made and no data is passed back to Apple.

Japan will slap import duties of 27.2 percent on computer memory chips made by Hynix Semiconductor Inc. in retaliation for alleged government subsidies, the South Korean and Japanese governments said Friday.

Three years in the works, the Registered Traveler program is finally set to begin June 20, Transportation Security Administration chief Kip Hawley told USA TODAY.

Signal Hill, CA – Thursday 19, 2006 - Swiftech™ today announced the release of the MCW30 chipset cooler, a low flow restriction water-block for AMD® and Intel® compatible motherboards. “The MCW30 water-block was designed with maximum compatibility in mind” said Gabriel Rouchon, Swiftech's Chairman. Mr. Rouchon also added “We wanted this product not only to be compatible with as many popular PC platforms as possible, but also to satisfy the largest number of enthusiast users by enabling all common sizes of compatible tubing so that the product can be integrated with just about any liquid cooling system”.

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) -- At a high-tech prison opening this week inmates wear electronic wristbands that track their every movement and guards monitor cells using emotion-recognition software.

LONDON - Worldwide sales of music via the Internet and mobile phones hit $1.1 billion last year, almost triple 2004 sales and accounting for 6 percent of global record companies' revenues, an industry group said Thursday.

"The Fusion was working on the draft better than by itself, so I am pretty excited about that. To me, it was really nice to get out there and draft. More fun than single-car runs."

Tip 1: Fine-tune Yahoo Web search queries
Tip 2: Personalize, track, and share the Web
Tip 3: Compare Yahoo and Google search results

Folks, I didn't write a column last week because I was busy making some fresh, new Toyota Tundra commercials. Some of them will air during the Daytona 500. We spent all last week shooting those commercials in Nashville. They're going to be funny and good, and I'm excited about them.

Nothing beats listening to your favorite music to get you through a grueling workout. We've uncovered a selection of MP3 players that are light enough to take anywhere and will survive every bounce, kick, and step.

The rocket is flying flawlessly and we are beyond the point where an accident would pose any threat to people here on the Space Coast or across central Florida.

The fourth step was to automate the process through MCE in a manner that works over an Xbox Extender.

Given the amazing performance, very simple installation process (LGA775) and overall high level of quality, the HR-01 really is a good value product.

Perhaps the most important change in 3DMark06 revolves more around the CPU than the GPU; CPU test results now influence and affect the overall 3DMark score.

SanDisk claims the miniSD card offers significant savings in card area and volume, which are two critical design parameters as mobile phones grow more miniaturized.

The KOOLANCE RAM-30-V06 is watercooling for DDR. Do you need watercooling for DDR.... maybe not

The new NVIDIA nForce4 SLI XE MCP is designed for the Performance Mainstream segment, while the new NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra MCP is aimed at the Mainstream market.

What makes it "Royal?" Well, for starters, it features support for 888MHz DDR2, Gigabyte's patented Universal-Plus Dual Power System, dual gigabit LAN and IEEE 1394b.

TOKYO, Japan -- Investors spooked by a raid on an Internet company and weaker U.S. tech earnings dumped Japanese shares Wednesday.

The Cingular-branded 2125 Smartphone, made by High Tech Computer Corp. (2498.TW: Quote, Profile, Research) will go on sale for $199 on Wednesday.

The site of a UK student who had the idea of selling pixels as advertising space has been hit by a web attack.

Microsoft's forthcoming Internet Explorer (IE) 7 browser will have a thorough flush feature that clears its history and all associated files stored after a Web site is accessed.

The launch team has chosen tomorrow. The liftoff time, to review, is 1:16 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. with a 70 percent chance of acceptable weather.

No one under 18 would be surprised to hear that teenagers like to post their intimate thoughts and photographs online -- they've done it for years. But school administrators have begun to take notice, and some are warning students that their online activities may affect not only their safety, but also their academic and professional lives.

SAN FRANCISCO - A 20-year-old California Institute of Technology student set a new world's record Saturday for solving the popular Rubik's Cube puzzle, turning the tiled brain-twister from scrambled to solved in 11.13 seconds.

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Microsoft Corp. has sold 600,000 of its new Xbox 360 video game consoles in the United States since its November launch, an analyst for market researcher NPD Group said Friday.

The weather forecast still looks positive for Tuesday's 1:24 p.m.-3:23 p.m. launch window. Air Force forecasters put the chance for acceptable conditions at 80 percent.

The first thing I noticed was how clear these speakers are, and how LOUD they get! Before you scoff at the 120 watt specs, remember that efficiency and clarity is worth more than sheer power.

Seagate has successfully demonstrated the ability to provide 245 Gbpsi with perpendicular recording (with a data rate of 480 Mbits per second), and sometime in the future it is expected that 500 Gbpsi will become a reality!

The overall build quality is very high, I could spot no sharp edges and the heat column is very smooth.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Seagate Technology LLC has started shipping a notebook PC hard drive that overcomes an obstacle many feared would be a major roadblock to the further expansion of disk capacity — and the overall growth of the storage industry.

Enter the name of the search (like “life hacks”) and the sites you want to include (like lifehacker.com, 43folders.com, tricksofthetrade.com, davidco.com) and add it to your Firefox search bar with one click.

The two companies appear to be the past and current owners of two sites that advertise as being able to obtain call records for any mobile phone customers.

Prosecutors raided Internet giant Livedoor Co. in Tokyo on Monday on suspicion that its president, Takafumi Horie, and other employees manipulated its stock prices.

The big selling points about this power supply are the high efficiency, low noise, and triple 12V output circuit. For those big rigs that need an ample amount of juice, this may be a way to make sure all your components get enough power!

"The first thing I noticed was the weight, and styling of this case. I like its simple clean lines, with refined touches such as the perforated aluminum front bezel, optical drive drop down door, aluminum trimmed release handle and side fan bezel. Another point worth mentioning is the construction quality and the interior layout design. Its clear to see that some thought went into these areas by the designers, intent on building a functional, quality case, while so many other cases fall short in this area."

Thermaltake started its core business based on their extensive knowledge of PC thermal management during the era where the area of performance CPU cooling was only exclusive for "overclockers" or PC enthusiasts. With the company's initial launch of Orb coolers, it created waves of shocks and appraisals throughout the gaming and overclocking communities. Thermaltake quickly became the name gamers turn to when they need high-end and reliable thermal solutions. Today I'm taking a closer look at the Eclipse DV VC6000BWA with black side window panel. The Eclipse DV also features a internal DVD combo drive, which makes this case a real eyecatcher."

What else is left to say? I think this is seriously the best Intel motherboard I've used in years now. I think a lot of the benefit comes from nVidia's nForce4 chipset, but if you've ever used any variant of nVidia's chipsets you'll feel very comfortable knowing that the same quality and direction towards the enthusiast is still there.

The TherMax Tech XFlux-GA compound is packaged in a clear plastic bag that is sealed with a cardboard label at the top. 3.5 grams of compound is contained in a translucent medical syringe with a clear reusable cap.

I was immediately surprised at how expensive looking the Eagle Cooler was, the shiny gold finish on it gave it a very pricey look and from the heft of the package I could tell that the unit had some parts that were made of metal and not all plastic.

Like most Sapphire retail packs we have seen in recent times, the Sapphire Radeon X1800XT features the "SapphireSelect" game bundle. What happens is, four games are "included", but you can only choose to keep one.

Indeed when we put it through its paces, we found that Geminium-Go and the MXM modules were only barely warm to the touch whereas a standard single GeForce 6600 graphics card was hot to the touch.

The engineers at Realm Systems have designed a new product that is roughly the size of two thumb drives yet rather than simply offering data storage capabilities they have designed an entire Linux server.

WICHITA, Kan. - Satellites have monitored crop conditions around the world for decades, helping traders predict futures prices in commodities markets and governments anticipate crop shortages.

WASHINGTON - The Web site for the National Security Agency, which has been under scrutiny over domestic wiretaps it conducted without warrants, was inaccessible for more than seven hours Friday.

Cyber-security and computer experts from the government and law enforcement are increasingly concerned with malicious code that runs on Linux and Apple Computer Inc.'s Mac OS X operating systems and threats posed by devices such as iPods and Xboxes.

The 6800GS outperforms the X1600 Pro in every respect, meaning the 6800GS is a better buy.

The 6800 GS AGP is a twelve pipelines part powered with 256 bit memory interface and it is more or less declocked Geforce 6800 GT, for much less money.

Simply put, it's been a long time since we've seen such a nice case available for so little dough.

Sporting awesome design values and a 20" widescreen LCD panel, the F20 will be a conversation piece worthy of any desk.

As you know Bawls has a monthly modding contest that has two categories which are “Out of the Box” and “In the Box”. Two members of the CMG staff swept this months contest.

TOKYO, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Japanese electronics conglomerate Fujitsu Ltd. said on Friday it would enter the 1.8-inch hard disk drive market and aim to become one of the world's top three makers of hard drives by the business year through March 2009.

MiniStore looks for similar tracks when a user clicks on a tune in a playlist. It even makes recommendations about songs that were not bought via the hugely popular online music store.

BEIJING, Jan. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- The world's second Linux international standard testing lab was set up in China's capital of Beijing on Friday.

Academy members or others tapped in to the screener-distribution chain have already posted copies of Syriana, Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, North Country, and Memoirs of a Geisha to the peer-to-peer file-sharing network BitTorrent, complete with "FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION" blurbs and studio IDs.

"I'm still sticking to my story" — story author

SEATTLE, Washington (AP) -- King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp visited Microsoft Corp.'s campus recently to record sounds that could be used in the forthcoming version of the company's flagship Windows operating system.

WASHINGTON - High-energy particles spewing out of a young star in a nearby stellar nursery are plowing through interstellar clouds and creating a giant spiral structure in space that looks like a glowing, rainbow-colored tornado, scientists said Thursday.

The Thermaltake BigWater 745's best point is also its weakest. Effectively having triple the capacity of a standard 120mm radiator, the BigWater 745 offers fantastic performance and I applaud Thermaltake for releasing a kit that represents 'the extreme!' The downside to this is mounting space.

Microsoft's Peter Moore, head of the company's Interactive Entertainment Division, has been talking to Japanese-language website ITmedia suggesting that you may be able to get a Blu-ray disc drive for the Xbox 360 by the end of the year.

The systems we have from All American Computers and Falcon Northwest are overclocked, and the reason is simple: the world of the enthusiast is driven by speed and power, and the more you have of both... the better.

We still don’t know where can you buy them but you should be able to get one for the suggested retail price of $299.

Samsung will be the first to deliver a combo drive but the others will soon follow, delivering a solution to this crazy dispute about standards. t should come out this summer

We suspect the majority of our readers are probably the DIY types, but every now and then it's nice to let somebody else do all the work.

New features include:

Sort address autocomplete results by how often you send e-mail to each recipient.

Spell check as you type.

Saved Search Folders can now search across multiple accounts.

Built in phishing detector to help protect users against email scams.

Weather departments have made timely and accurate forecasts and precautions for relevant subscribers about the floods.

BEIJING, Jan. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- China and the European Union (EU) will jointly establish a broadband network with transmission speed of above 2.5 Gbps, according to a joint statement signed here Thursday.

To solve the problem and improve the heat transfer between the processor and the cooler, we should apply thermal grease between them in order to fill in the tiny gaps of air.

The only thing stopping the hardware enthusiast from purchasing it is the fact that the AM2 will be released and shift to DDR2 some time around the middle of 2006, this is subject to change.

MSI has launched their new 4.3 pound S262 notebook which is based on Intel's new dual-core Napa archictecture.

Hot on the heels of Intel's second-generation dual-core Extreme Edition 955 chip comes AMD's Athlon 64 FX-60. More than just a speed bump to AMD's ultra-high-end FX line, the Athlon 64 FX-60 features two processing cores, bringing the FX series into the modern multicore era. Expect to see the chip available for $1,031.

“There are partially fluorescent green pigs elsewhere, but ours are the only ones in the world that are green from inside out. Even their hearts and internal organs are green,” Wu said on Thursday.

It currently has about 20.1 million U.S. subscribers, down from nearly 27 million at its high point in 2002.

So much fuss -- yet Apple's share of the computer market is less than 5 percent. Walk into a major corporation anywhere in the world and you'll have a hard time finding an Apple Macintosh computer, except maybe in the graphics department. Sony introduces as many new products in a week as Apple does in a year, but Apple's market capitalization (the value of all the shares sold to investors) is bigger than Sony's, clear evidence that investors, as well as customers, are enamored of the Cupertino company that was founded on April Fool's Day 30 years ago.

Most people think the Consumer Electronics Show is just a big trade convention but that's only a small part of it. The companies that exhibits at CES throws some of the biggest and baddest parties around and yours truly is the master at getting invited to them. The first trick is finding out where the parties are.

Everyone knows that DFi is the king of the hill when it comes to AMD 64 overclocking. There is no other motherboard out there that offers you the controls over the voltages and timings. When DFi brought the LanParty line of boards to the market, it offered all the goodies that would make the inside of your case look as good as it would run. But some of us enthusiasts don't need all that added flare, so DFI gave us the Infinity line.

"Depending on your setup, this kit may or may not be for you. Certainly, the TWINX-2048 3500LL PRO is a quality part that ran rock solid throughout testing, and for those of you stuck at the 230FSB hump, we think this is one of the best choices you can make simply because of the large capacity and speed."

"The successor to Nikon's Coolpix S2, the 6 megapixel Coolpix S3, is a camera that looks very similar to its predecessors with a lot of the same features, such as the Zoom-Nikkor Lens, 17 scene modes, and Nikon's BSS and D-Lighting features. Since I haven't reviewed any of the previous offerings, I am simply going to write this review in the perspective of a first time buyer or amateur photographer, since the Coolpix S3 is made for such a purpose and not as a replacement for SLR cameras."

In more exciting coverage of CES 2006 we go over the new products on the way from MSI, CoolerMaster, and Zalman. The highlights of this article include a solar powered notebook computer, a new WaveMaster case, and fan for Zalman's Reserator Watercooling System, a new CPU cooler from Zalman, and pictures of Zalman's new Fatal1ty case. Stop by for complete CES coverage and lots of pictures of what new products are coming in 2006!

The Blue Orb II is a spectacular heatsink.... It managed to give the Thermalright XP-120 some tough competition and, in some cases, even performed better! Though the heatsink is not exactly quiet, it is bearable and most of the noise is the swooshing of air. Not only does this heatsink perform well, it also looks great! It is the Blue fins, and not obtrusive LED fan that makes the heatsink stand out! Overall, this heatsink is truly remarkable and is priced much lower than its competitors.

Continuing its trend of offering products with features that consumers demand, AMD has released the FX-60. The AMD FX 60 is a dual-core, completely unlocked processor built for performance and overclocking. See just how well it performs and overclocks in our review

The mouse is advertised as 'designed by gamers, for gamers' and after a few weeks of use, it is apparent this is really where the mouse shines. The mouse takes on the same shape of the MX 500, 700 and 900 series mice, but has been streamlined and refined to be more ideal for gaming environments.

An enterprising hardware guy known as JavaMoose on Flickr has created an amazing case mod for his iPod by modifying an old Geiger counter to house the iPod and remote

"With all these features you would expect us to get a good amount of overclocking out of this board, you are not wrong here. We raised the CPU voltage to 1.5v, Memory to 2.2v, FSB term voltage to max, NB and SB voltages at 1.5v, PCI Express locked to 100, Hyper Transport links at 1000MHz and 16bit connection we managed to hit a FSB of over 361MHz - a record for any Intel Pentium 4 board we have tested so far. We also kept the memory locked at 800MHz DDR to eliminate any memory limitations which is easy through the asynchronous nature of the nVidia chipset."

Every year the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is sure to produce a few interesting products. Many companies wait for CES to unveil their new toys but also with all those companies displaying items it is impossible not to see things which you have not seen before. For me, one such item was the picoPSU, what turned out to be the smallest 12V snap-in ATX DC-to-DC power supply ever.

If you are an enthusiast who is always playing with hardware, constantly swapping components, the HighSpeedPC Tech Station might be for you. We test the large version which offers plenty of space to add serious watercooling or even more exotic stuff. During our review we check if it's easy enough to put together and we also put a system inside the Tech Station to see if it can live up to the expectations.

Out of all the halls at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show, the most popular is always the North Hall. This is the hall where the hot cars and hotter women hang out. Manufacturers of mobile audio and video equipment are always trying to out do each other with wild demo cars and many booths will have booth babes to man them (or woman them in this case). We've posted some of the best ones here.

In house testing between an AMD Athlon64 FX-60 and Intel Pentium D 840 based system illustrate the decreased power consumption of a FX-60, about 40W less power at idle and about 45W at full load. Looking at total system power draw, with both cores stressed, the AMD Athlon64 FX-60 system draws comparably less power than the equivalent Intel PC under the same conditions.

Finally, those gamers on a limited budget have a number of choices when it comes to video cards thanks to ATI and Nvidia's decision to duke it out in both the top and mid-tier price range. Since competition is good we are now presented with a number of viable options to chose from when it comes to saving money and still being able to enjoy today’s video games.

Today we are reviewing the PowerColor X800 GTO 16, which with its 16 native pipelines and 256 MB of memory as well as dual DVI output makes it an ideal choice for anyone looking for reasonably priced, yet capable video card for either gaming or building their HTPC.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday warned users of its Windows operating system of two "critical" security flaws in its software that could allow attackers to take complete control of a computer.

The Levi's RedWire DLX Jeans for men and women, which will be available this fall, also have a built-in docking cradle for the iPod and retractable headphones. Pricing was not immediately available.

CAPE CANAVERAL - NASA is looking for a few good men and women to help the United States get back to the moon, and successful applicants won't even have to get out of bed.

And not only did we find that our AMD Athlon FX-55 and GeForce 6800 Ultra equipped system didn't short out when we filled the sealed shut PC case with cooking oil - but the non-conductive properties of the liquid coupled created a totally cool and quiet high-end PC, devoid of the noise pollution of fans.

Today we take a look at different 120mm fans from well known and less known manufactures. We started out with 2 fans and quickly added more to give you, the reader, a better overview of the performance and noise level of the 120mm fans out there.

Albatron’s NF4 solution has SLi, blue styling, and a smaller footprint, but can it perform as well as its competitors?

"The new iMac is two to three times faster than the iMac G5," Jobs said in a speech introducing a range of new products.

This time Nikki Cash interviews Heather from Absolute Car. She is also the catalog model for Absolute Car.

The D- Series includes attractive locking aluminum doors and bezels, which provide a customized professional look to your servers.

Like its two predecessors, the Sony Ericsson W900i seeks to leverage, again the Walkman appeal to woo consumers.

Look to the top right of the screen surround on any of our pictures and you'll see that the display carries the HDMI logo. This shows that the screen connects using the new High-Definition Multimedia Interface.

Because Blu-ray and HD DVD technologies both feature advanced copyright protection mechanisms, output of video onto analog devices is not possible, hence, all the laptops capable of next-gen DVD playback should feature HDMI interconnection.

Although opinions vary on how to preserve data on digital storage media, such as optical CDs and DVDs, Kurt Gerecke, a physicist and storage expert at IBM Deutschland GmbH, takes this view: If you want to avoid having to burn new CDs every few years, use magnetic tapes to store all your pictures, videos and songs for a lifetime.

Today there's a combined test of the fast Gigabyte GA-K8N Pro SLI Motherboard with an introduction to the SLI technology on ocinside.de Gigabyte once again enthuse an overclocker, who would like quite recommend this board with little modifications to the chipset cooling as a well Tuning motherboard

It would seem that a few key NVIDIA partners have already been sampled with GeForce 7900, and they're currently working towards a hard launch planned for CeBIT 2006 in Hannover, Germany (9th through to 15th March), and if so, our money's would be on watching for announcements from NVIDIA, ASUSTeK, eVGA, XFX and possibly MSI, between the 9th and 11th March.

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Forgetting computer passwords is an everyday source of frustration, but a solution may literally be at hand -- in the form of computer chip implants.

With a wave of his hand, Amal Graafstra, a 29-year-old entrepreneur based in Vancouver, Canada, opens his front door. With another, he logs onto his computer.

There's not much suspense to hold with this new CPU. The mystique of whether or not the next Athlon 64 FX would be single or dual core was dashed a while ago, and really it was obvious if you think about it. Once you understood that it was dual-core, then going on to figure out the target clock frequency was a piece of cake, given Athlon 64 X2 4800+.

"With great looks and excellent performance, this cooler would be an asset to most any compatible graphics board out there. Installation was a snap thanks to Zalman's online installation guides and compatibility charts, and the Fatal1ty's noise-to-cooling ratio is very good."

Today we are going to test the new Accelero X2 VGA Cooler from Arctic Cooling. We will find out how the first GPU cooler with heat pipes technology performs. As I previously mentioned this product is intended for the new ATi RADEON X1800 series. In case you didn't know, the RADEON X1800's stock heat sink/fan is quite loud, especially at full speed or in use with Crossfire. It should be pretty interesting to see a VGA cooling solution with six heat pipes at work

Today I have less expensive parts to test for both middle and low-end sectors of the market. They are PowerColor X1600 XT and X1300 PRO. The first card is based around RV530 core. There should be a lot of different SKUs mainly because ATI allows for handful of configurations ie. memory size and type

All new processors from AMD found on the stores nowadays are based on AMD?s Athlon 64 architecture, also known as x86-64 or ?hammer?. In this tutorial we will list all Athlon 64, Athlon 64 FX and Athlon 64 X2 models released so far and the main differences between them

Today, we take a look at the Nexus NX5000 power supply. Going alone with Nexus quiet theme, this power supply also provides alot of power.

On one hand, we have those users who will go the extra distance to ensure they have tons of wattage headroom by purchasing that 700W+ power supply unit with three fans. And on the other hand, we have those users who want a new system, but want absolute silence. Directron was more than happy to supply me with a fanless power supply unit to review and so today, I will take a look at the Coolmax Fanless power supply that sports 400W of power and possibly more than meets the eye.

Globally renowned Enermax has a new line of power supplies out called the "Liberty" Series. Within this series is 400W, 500w, and 620W PSU's. We will be looking at the Liberty 500W which supports the latest Intel Pentium D and AMD Athlon 64 X2 systems.

The difference here is that the CoolIt solution uses a proprietary ‘Chiller’ which incorporates MTEC Technology - multiple TECs or peltiers to chill the liquid coolant.

Apparently, one shop is saying that because EIST and other power-saving features are not fully functional with this initial lot of processors, the TDP (thermal design power) might go up as much as 10 - 15W.

As for maximizing the DDR2 frequency, we were able to push the OCZ system memory up to a whopping 736MHz before beginning to fall prey to memory errors and other conflicts.

Apparently, two models will be released, both 512MB DDR3. The XT model will have a core clk of 625MHz and memory of 725MHz.

Intel will introduce the 3.6GHz 960, pricing it at $640, and causing what it describes as a cascade in prices on the 950, the 940, the 930, and the 920.

Most people don't realize that HDMI supports sound transfer as well as video, it is a one cable fits all thing.

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AP) -- Google Inc. is upping the ante in the online video gold rush, allowing content owners to set their own prices in a bid to create a more flexible alternative to Apple Computer Inc.'s pioneering iTunes store.

SAN FRANCISCO - Google Inc. is distributing a free software startup kit designed to make computing safer and easier — a generous gesture driven by the company’s desire to steer technology offline as well as online.

The software bundle, unveiled Friday in Las Vegas during a speech by Google co-founder Larry Page, represents the Internet search engine leader’s latest jab at industry kingpin Microsoft Corp.

“Some of you may not know the name Commodore, but for me it brings back many memories. I really got my start in all this computer stuff with the Commodore Vic-20; I can say that it changed the way I looked at computers and how I felt about them. Sure I used and owned other computers, but when I got the Vic-20, that's when my love for computers became an obsession. Today we had the chance to take a look at the 'new' Commodore company. Bob and Alex, being much younger than I, really couldn't appreciate or understand my excitement and enthusiasm at going to the meeting with the Commodore reps for our private little showing of their newest products. I'm sure some of you out there that are reading this can possibly understand how I felt about this meeting.”

CX200X is, as the company describes, targeted towards consumers who seek a full-featured notebook PC combined with pen input functionality. While the CX200X certainly delivers in this regard, it is extremely hampered by its bulky size and weight which make it less than desirable to cradle for too long when in tablet mode

For an off-the-shelf retail drive the Maxtor Diamondmax 6B200R0 is well packaged and easy to use from the start. The Installation guide is well organized and uses illustrations to aid the novice user. Overall the drive is worth the $100 price tag, especially since the drive has bonus 16MB cache. The drive would make a wonderful addition to any system needing extra storage space, or as a primary drive. This drive has surprising performance, and I shall not be wary of buying another Maxtor drive (well, soon to be Seagate)!

I hate fan noise. Maybe it is because I am getting old, but I no longer can stand having several fans spinning loudly in my case. At the same time, I need those fans to keep all my Components cool. The solution? A fan controller of course. Today, I am testing the Sansun Thermal Monster fan controller.

Tomorrow Google will announce a new commercial video download service, according to multiple sources. The service, which will be an addition to Google's Video Search, will allow users to buy video content for pre-determined prices, and the company is expected to announce partnerships with the likes of CBS and the NBA.

According to the Cingular press release, the deal will see new Lenovo laptops preconfigured to access the Internet through their HSDPA network without needing a separate PC card or any additional hardware. In areas where UMTS/HSDPA is not available, ThinkPad owners will be able to use their notebooks on Cingular's EDGE service, with availability in 13,000 cities and towns at typical speeds of 70-135Kbps

Fremont, CA - January 4, 2006 - Antec, Inc., the pioneering and leading global brand of high-performance computer components for the PC upgrade and Do-It-Yourself markets, has introduced Fusion, the latest addition to its LifeStyle series of PC enclosures. Fusion brings quiet computing to home theater PC (HTPC) cases.

This HTPC case is ideal for users who want to integrate PCs into their daily lives. Fusion was designed to resemble other consumer electronics equipment in order to seamlessly blend into any home entertainment center. The case features a unique triple chamber design that isolates the power supply, hard drives and motherboard into separate cooling zones - resulting in a quieter and cooler system well suited for media center applications.

Supporting Micro ATX form factor motherboards, the motherboard chamber features dual three-speed adjustable 120mm TriCool(tm) fans, allowing users to adjust the fan speed to their desired cooling level and quietness. To further ensure silent operations, the removable HDD brackets in the power supply chamber feature extra soft silicone grommets to minimize hard drive vibrations.

Fusion comes equipped with Antec's custom SU430 HT power supply unit (PSU). The highly efficient PSU features an 80mm fan and universal input with active Power Factor Correction. Fusion also provides four expansion slots and three drive bays - one 5.25" front-accessible and two 3.5" internal - to allow maximum expandability. The case is extremely reliable and durable due to its 0.8mm cold rolled steel construction.

For convenience and to work with media center applications, the case includes two external USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire(r) port, audio connectors and a volume control mounted on the aluminum plate front bezel with a Vacuum Fluorescent Display (VFD). The VFD lets users view vital information such as volume level, sound settings and which track of a CD / DVD is playing. This unique feature makes the HTPC media center more like an A/V component.

"People are integrating computers into their home multimedia centers at increasing rates," said Scott Richards, Antec vice president of sales and marketing. "As the computer has become essential to the living room, we understand that users want an attractive, quiet and reliable case that won't disrupt their daily environment. We've designed Fusion with those needs in mind. The result is a HTPC media center with the ideal combination of unique features, stylish looks and the high performance users have come to expect from Antec"

Fusion will be available March 1, 2006, through major retailers, e-tailers and distributors. Street price depends upon final feature set. The case is backed by Antec's Quality 3-Year Warranty. For additional product information and full technical specifications, please visit www.antec.com.

LAS VEGAS - Rival Google Inc. may be nipping at its heels, but Microsoft Corp. wasn’t flashing any defeatist signs Wednesday as it showcased its latest plans to help make living in the digital world safer, easier and more fun.

In his 10th keynote to kick off the International Consumer Electronics Show, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates highlighted the Windows Vista program, a major operating system upgrade set for release later this year.

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AP) -- Flat-panel televisions with built-in digital video recorders. Pocketable satellite radio receivers that can bookmark songs for online purchase. High-definition TVs engineered to play video or display photos from any computer on your home network.

In this tutorial we will explain you how Pentium M CPU works in an easy to follow language. Since all new CPUs from Intel will use Pentium M?s architecture, studying this architecture is very important to understand the architecture of forthcoming CPUs like Yonah, Conroe and Woodcrest

Well CES is only a day away now, but there is a special press only event called CES Unveiled. This event gives manufacturers a chance to showcase new products before the big event. There are only a handful of companies that chose to exhibit at this event, and there is free complementary food and drinks, which makes it even better

Overall, the Coolink U8-120-1600 is a superb CPU cooler. It comes with four, 8-way copper heatpipes and a larger copper base which are the basic aspects of a powerful CPU cooler. The package was complete and everything was in the package, including a fan controller. Being one of the largest CPU coolers we have tested up to date, the Coolink U8-120-1600 may not be for everyone

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) – Pigskin fans rejoice! The National Football League playoffs begin this weekend and Super Bowl XL is only a little more than a month away.

But football freaks aren't the only ones that will celebrate. ABC, which will air the big game from Detroit on Feb. 5, will as well.

People close to ABC, owned by Walt Disney (Research), said that 30-second commercial spots are selling for $2.5 million to $2.6 million, which would be a record price for Super Bowl ads.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - The new year is off to a rocky start at Microsoft, where security experts are scrambling to confront a potentially massive virus threat to Windows PCs.

According to a report Tuesday in the Financial Times, the latest vulnerability involves a flaw which allows hackers to infect computers using programs inserted into image files. The threat was discovered last week. But it mushroomed over the weekend, when a group of hackers published the source code they used to exploit the flaw.

VIENNA, Austria - Have scientists found Mozart’s skull?

Researchers said Tuesday that they’ll reveal the results of DNA tests in a documentary airing Sunday on Austrian television as part of a year of celebratory events marking the composer’s 250th birthday.

TALLMANSVILLE, W.Va. - Twelve miners caught in an explosion in a coal mine were found alive late Tuesday, more than 41 hours after the blast, family members said.

Bells at a church where relatives had been gathering rang out as family members ran out screaming in jubilation.

Relatives yelled “They’re alive!”

Family members say 12 men have been found alive in a West Virginia mine, nearly 40 hours after they were trapped. One man died.

Gamers' headphones require three things to compete: Long-term comfort, impeccable sound, and a quality microphone. The SteelSound 5H headphones may have addressed all three. Read on to find out

SAITEK has long been making some of the most kick ass joysticks and gamepads. With some already great products under their belt, SAITEK has surged forward again with the P2600, featuring force feedback action and a highly ergonomic design.

Less than 4GiB/sec to share between the better-performing four cores is pretty measly, with each Opteron core enjoying roughly twice that with interleaved accesses to a shared MC on 2-way dual-core Opteron.

He’s got a TV deal, rabid fans, and a recent near-death scene that other actors would kill for. He’s also developed a reputation around Hollywood as a little cold-blooded. Which is to be expected, because he’s a lizard.

And a fake lizard, at that. Nimrod, the computer-generated baby amphibian-slash-reptile on NBC’s “Surface,” has emerged as the show’s breakout character, prompting People magazine to name him one of its “Three Faves from the New Season.”

Each month, a million pounds of electronics are recycled in this warehouse. Towering heaps of outdated monitors will become cheap TVs. A mishmash of metal products are later forged into garbage can wheels. Truckloads of processed plastics and precious metal are shipped across the globe, where they return as planks of plastic and other products.

It takes only a few moments of visiting Google Zeitgeist before you're itching to go back a little further in time: the week your second child was born, the month of the Olympics, the year you graduated from high school. Click the "Archived information available here" link to browse the Google Zeitgeist Archive of updates for every week, month, and year since January 2001.

DETROIT, Michigan (AP) -- Obie Trice, a protege of Eminem, was shot early Saturday while driving on a city highway, police said.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Police aren't sure how else to explain it. But when an officer walked into an apartment Thursday night to answer a 911 call, an orange-and-tan striped cat was lying by a telephone on the living room floor. The cat's owner, Gary Rosheisen, was on the ground near his bed having fallen out of his wheelchair.

Rosheisen said his cat, Tommy, must have hit the right buttons to call 911.

The Radio Frequency Identification unit -- about three inches long and consisting of an antennae that's about the diameter of heavy-duty dental floss with a quarter-inch by eighth-inch chip in the center -- will be used to track inventory initially, though its uses can be expanded to other areas in the future. The tires, which previously were tracked using bar codes on the "stickers" affixed to the new tires, will be traced using the "RFID" chips implanted in the rubber's sidewall.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rates Technology Inc., which holds patents for the process by which most Internet phone calls are made, confirmed on Friday that it is suing Google Inc. over its Web-based phone calling system.

New York-based RTI said it estimated that damages from the lawsuit could reach $5 billion, assuming the litigation process takes four years as the market for Internet-based phone services booms.

"Ordinarily we don't need to sue people to get them covered under our patents," RTI President Jerry Weinberger told Reuters. "Every once in a while we run into utter arrogance."