[H]ardNews 10th Edition

Upcoming Mobile GPUs

Anandtech has a mobile GPU update for Q1 of 2004. The article covers upcoming mobile GPUs such as the NVIDIA NV36M, the ATI M10 and the unannounced M11. As always, good reading here.

The new requirements for Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro have some ramifications. Previously, there were fewer distinctions between laptops with 64MB or 128MB of video memory, high and low core clocks, etc. Now, there is a three-tier naming solution for the M10 and this means that several notebooks dubbed non-Pro have suddenly and miraculously gone professional, and dare I say it, Turbo pro. If anything, these multiple naming derivatives make it more confusing, so hopefully this won't happen with M11 or future mobile GPUs.

MyDoom After MS Now:

This is getting ridiculous. A new variant of the MyDoom is making the rounds but instead of targeting SCO, this new version has its sights set on Microsoft. Did I mention that SCO is offering $250,000 for the head of the person that created this virus? It wouldn’t break my heart to see him turned in for the cash.

A variant of the MyDoom worm has emerged as the most devastating virus since last summer, and is likely to target Microsoft Corp.'s MSFT.O Web site, security experts said on Wednesday. Since appearing earlier this week, the worm, also dubbed Novarg or Shimgapi, has infected computers across the globe by enticing users to open a file attachment that releases a program that potentially allows other attackers to gain unauthorized access.

Free Cyber Alert:

Hey, look at this…free cyber alert e-mails warning of attacks, virus and other things. The catch? The service is provided by the Homeland Security Department. Conspiracy theorist will no doubt take a pass on this free service.

"There is a clear need for this kind of system to be developed," said Amit Yoran, the Bush administration's cyber security chief. "Receiving information from the Department of Homeland Security gives people a certain level of confidence."

[H]ardNews

Sponge Bob Square Mac:

This is quite possibly the funniest thing I have seen all day. A man named Brian Billadeau came up with this hilarious PowerMac G5 crossed with Sponge Bob Square Pants. If this doesn’t make you laugh, there is something wrong with you. There is even a song to go along with the picture ( sing to the Sponge Bob theme ). The picture posted in the SpyMac forums is a whopping 1600 x 1200 version suitable for using as wallpaper. Thanks to Monte Fontenot for the link.

[H]ardNews 8th Edition

Flower Power:

Mr. Burns sends word that the next time someone tells you to “take time to smell the roses” you might want to think twice about that. Check this out, Danish researchers have made a flower that changes color to detect landmines and explosives. Holy cow that is amazingly cool.

A Danish biotech company has developed a genetically modified flower that could help detect land mines and it hopes to have a prototype ready for use within a few years. "We are really excited about this, even though it's early days. It has considerable potential," Simon Oestergaard, chief executive of developing company Aresa Biodetection, told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.

I am still wondering, for this to work, who gets the job of walking around in a mine field planting flowers? You could start out planting flowers and wind up pushing up daisies instead. Heh...now that is funny.

[H]ardNews 7th Edition

Gigabyte GA-K8VNXP K8T800 Athlon64:

Bjorn3D has a quick and dirty 2 page review of the Gigabyte GA-K8VNXP K8T800 Athlon64 mainboard. The board gets points for features and performance but gets knocked for a high price tag. Overall the GA-K8VNXP scored an impressive 9 out of 10.

As with the great layout, Gigabyte was thinking about the consumer when the connectors were chosen for this board. Whatever could be color-coded was color-coded, and that's no exaggeration. Even the front panel connectors were color-coded. However, Gigabyte did not stop there. With a relatively large plus sign on each appropriate pin, the polarity was clearly marked on each colored set of pins on the front panel connectors.

Mobile Mac:

Installing a PC in your car is nothing new, people have been doing it for years. What makes this “computer in a car mod” so different is that the guy used a 450MHz PowerMac G4 for the project. You don’t see many Apple computer car mods that’s for sure.

OK, so no iMac. The second alternative was a separate LCD display, built into the original dashboard and connected to a computer (either a PowerMac or a PowerBook), that could be placed under front seats or behind the dashboard. At this time, I also came with idea of another screen, that would allow rear seat passengers to watch movies or play games. This eliminated the PowerBook (since it cannot easily handle two external screens). So I purchased an old PowerMac G4/450MHz and a industrial 6.5" LCD screen, that has contrast and temperature range, which are both necessary for in-car use.

Mods & Ends:

Silverstone Eudemon @ System Cooling - AeroCool DP-102 HSF @ Gruntville - Vantec Vortex @ Creative Mods

[H]ardNews 6th Edition

Ethics & Cheap PCs:

Sudhian has posted an editorial that discusses a dark side of the PC industry. The need to offer the lowest possible price has led to many companies using labor from overseas that often ( almost never ) doesn’t meet the same strict standards we apply to our work place here in the US. Is this the price we pay for uber-cheap Dell, IBM and HP computers?? Interesting dilemma, endorse slave labor or go back to higher PC prices. Which would you choose?

Yesterday the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD), a UK-based non-profit, released a report on the working conditions in computer production facilities in Mexico, China, and Thailand. The report, which inspected facilities maintained by HP, IBM, and Dell, slammed all three manufacturers for the appalling working conditions tolerated in the factories.

[H]ardNews 5th Edition

Chat With Epic Entertainment:

If you have ever wanted to ask the fellas at Epic Entertainment, the guys behind the whole Unreal Tournament franchise, a question now is your chance. 3DGPU is holding a chat with the development team on January 29th at 4pm PST.

Our previous chat plans were postponed, but now we reworked a new plan and will be having a chat with the members of Epic Games about Unreal Tournament 2003, the Make Something Unreal Contest, Unreal Tournament 2004, and anything else you'd like to ask them. Both Epic Games and NVIDIA will be joining in the chat, and we'd like to invite you to join in too.

Blizzard Is Hiring:

Another note from the gaming community. If you have mad level designing skills and you are familiar with WarCraft 3, C&C and the likes Blizzard is hiring level designers. They want people that have released a map in the mod community or has actual game experience, so if that is you…apply.

Blizzard Entertainment is looking for a talented level designer with experience building levels using any of the popular 3D Real-Time Strategy game toolset (Warcraft 3, Age of Mythology, Command and Conquer, etc). The ideal candidate has industry experience on a shipping game, or has created and distributed levels in the fan/mod community. Level designers need to be able to create fun and interesting environments that look and play great. Samples of your work should be submitted along with a resume and cover letter. Please include a breakdown for each level that describes what you did (layout, modeling, textures, lighting, triggers, etc.). If you do not have existing work, you will be required to create a level using the Warcraft 3 World Editor.

[H]ardNews - Tech Ed.

90nm Celeron In Q2:

Intel plans to roll out three new 90nm Celeron processors and two new chipsets for the entry-level market in the second quarter, local motherboard makers said. The three new Celeron processors, with a Prescott core, support a 533MHz FSB speed and 256K cache memory. Prices of these processors, depending on the speed, are as low as US$79. The prices are comparable with those of existing 0.13-micron Celeron processors, but should be more cost-effective since the new chips will be made on 12-inch wafers.

Xbox II CPU Taped Out:

"It’ll be built on a 65-nanometer process,” a source confirmed to TeamXbox. “IBM has already taped out experimental samples at its East Fishkill fab but it will take between 12 to 18 months for them to deliver commercial parts. Anyway, they’re way ahead of Intel.” There are countless stories as to why Microsoft decided to drop Intel in favor of IBM. But sometimes, it just could be as straightforward as Jodie Foster claims in the movie Contact, "The simplest hypothesis is most likely to be true."

Bar Code Patents Invalidated:

A federal district court judge invalidated patents on bar code products--in a victory over one of the technology's most prolific patent collectors. Philip Pro, chief judge of the U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, on Jan. 23 ruled against defendant the Lemelson Medical, Education & Research Foundation, calling the claims of 14 of its patents--some of which dated from the 1950s--invalid and unenforceable.

Shining LED Market:

The new Audi A8 6.0's headlights feature daylight running lights based on them. And 12,000 of them illuminate the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. They are white LEDs, full-spectrum versions of the colored light-emitting pinpoints commercialized in recent decades as ubiquitous indicator lights. But if bigger, brighter white LEDs can be manufactured more economically, they could challenge the 100-year-old incandescent bulb in the multibillion-dollar lighting market. LEDs last for years, are tough and use less energy than conventional light bulbs.

[H]ardNews 3rd Edition

Phantom Interview:

Last week we told you about Kevin Bachus joining up with the infamous Infinium Labs gang. This week Mr. Bachus is interviewed by IGN. The interview is basically “marketing speak” where there is a lot of talking but nothing is being said. You know, your basic “I'm a big believer in asking the customer what they want and meeting those expectations” kind of stuff. These comments by Mr. Bachus did strike me as extremely odd that some of the basic specs of this console supposedly aren’t even hammered out yet:

[H]ardNews 2nd Edition

HiS Radeon 9600XT Turbo:

The Guru3D gang says that the HiS Excalibur Radeon 9600XT Turbo is a good card that is long on features and performance. I guess you will have to read the whole review to see how they came to this conclusion and see if you agree. Here is a clip from the full review to get you started:

The true power of this product is that it's 100% DirectX9 compatible and can render decently in such an environment. Feature wise it really is a nice product. For not an extreme amount of money, it has everything you want for the time being; CRT, SVideo & DVI-I outputs and do not forget really good DVD/Media playback and a crispy sharp 2D desktop.

HiS Excalibur 9600SE:

If the 9600XT is a little “too much” card for your needs then I certainly suggest something like the HiS Excalibur 9600SE. These are fantastic video cards for any basic system that will only be doing a little casual gaming.

Overall though, the 9600SE is a fine card as a replacement in a store bought system, for HTPC's, for mom and dad, for neighbors who need more than what the built in graphics supply. It works in the kids box, the business box, and pretty much fits right at home in any computer that doesn't have neon lights and etched windows. HIS has come through with a nice budget card for the rest of the world.

Sapphire 9800XT Ultimate Edition:

What is an “ultimate edition” 9800XT? Apparently smacking one of those massive Zalman heatpipes on a 9800XT is what it takes. The results we see here show the Sapphire Radeon 9800XT Ultimate Edition, when compared to a VisionTek 9800XT, the performance is identical.

In the Hardware-geek’s universe, there is one main rule of thumb – you can never have a fast enough PC, end of story. To that end, we’ve seen a few add-in board video card companies try and spice up their products by including extra-fancy cooling fans and lame software bundles (save the Half-Life 2 one in most ATI cards), however, Sapphire’s Ultimate Edition cards have definitely raised the bar.

[H]ardNews 1st Edition

SCO Issues Bounty:

The perfect follow up to my previous post. It looks like SCO doesn’t like being the target of the latest worm/virus making the rounds and they have issued a $250,000.00 bounty for the authors head. Damn…my total love of money (face it, most of people would turn in their own mother for $250k) is conflicting with my total disdain for SCO. I’m not sure who to encourage here.

The controversial SCO Group has offered $250,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or group responsible for creating the MyDoom virus. The company also said Tuesday that it is working with U.S. Secret Service and FBI to identify the author of the virus. Also known as Novarg and Mimail.R, MyDoom spread quickly across the Internet Monday, traveling as an e-mail attachment and infecting PCs whose users opened the file.

[H]ardNews 9th Edition

SCO Is Wrong:

Linus Torvalds speaks out on SCO to the fine folks at Business Week. As you can imagine Mr. Torvalds has a few choice things to say about SCO, their tactics and what exactly they are trying to lay claim to. Always interesting reading when Linus speaks. Here is a snippet from the interview:

All this has earned SCO the dubious title of “most hated company in tech”. Ouch.

[H]ardNews 8th Edition

Gigabyte GFFX 5700Ultra:

PCStats has a review of the Gigabyte GV-N57U128D FX 5700 Ultra posted today. If you are on a budget and a fan of NVIDIA based boards, this is a card worth looking at.

As the dust settles I'd have to say we're really quite pleased with the numbers we have seen from the Gigabyte GV-NV57U128D. While the GeForceFX 5600 Ultra was not really a match for ATi's Radeon 9600 Pro, the GeForceFX 5700 Ultra is easily able to take the 9600XT head on, and produce comparable results.

European Monitor Tax?

According to the staff at the Inquirer the European Union will be smacking a whopping 14% tax on PC monitors that have DVI output because of some sort of “reclassification”. Not everything the INQWell says comes true, so for the sake of our UK brothers, let’s hope this is one of those times.

THE EUROPEAN UNION is set to reclassify monitors which have DVI outputs as TVs, meaning that manufacturers will have to pay 14% tariffs on these so-called "video monitors".

Ultimate Gaming Giveaway:

I have a pretty damn snazzy Xbox Gaming Bundle giveaway going at my alter ego site, Hypothermia. This isn’t your average bundle either, this one includes a 17” Hitachi LCD, Hi-Def adapter, the Xbox console, speakers, DVD playback, controllers and 6 games….all for you guys. You got a week to win, so head on over.

This isn't your everyday Xbox Gaming Bundle either, this is a Hypothermia giveaway....you KNOW it has to be over the top. If this isn't a kick ass gaming bundle...I don't know what is. Click the picture and get in it to win it. What is included with this package: (1) Xbox console, (1) 17" Hitachi LCD, (1) X2VGA Hi-Def monitor adapter, (1) DVD Playback Kit, (2) Controller "S", (1) Set Yamaha YST-MS50 Speakers, (6) Games Project Gotham Racing 2, Star Wars KOTOR, Soul Calibur 2, Metal Arms, SegaGT 2000 and Jet Set Radio Future.

Mods & Ends:

Gigabyte Wireless USB Dongle @ PCStats - Zalman Heatpipe Review @ RadikalMod - Ximeta NetDisk External HD @ MTB - Z-Board Crossfire @ ViperLair