[H]ardNews 1st Edition

Target: The Pusher:

Francisco a [H] faithful sent me this little number. I never though it would come to this so fast. Almost free shipping too; just add a lighter, and some papers.

Item available in 4-8 weeks.

Sager 8790:

This is a new review at least in its release. Techware Labs has a write up of the Sager 8790 Laptop. They are branding it as a 'discount' laptop, but to me it really looks like a top notch system.

The Sager 8790 from Discount Laptops is a sizable desktop replacement laptop. It packs a punch in performance and boasts a myriad of features like its two hard drive bays with onboard RAID support. Get an up close and technical look at this high performance system and find out what else it offers by way of features, performance, appearance, and usability in the article.

Half-Life Timeline:

Chan "Ventro" Karunamuni wrote up a pretty comprehensive timeline of the events before Half-Life 1 all the way until the end of Half-Life 2. There are spoilers embedded in the page so read at your own risk. Thanks Godfrey.

Here are my thoughts on what's been going on so far in the Half-Life saga. I'm assuming you've beaten HL1 and HL2.

Transferring Windows Activation:

About.com has a write up on how to transfer your Windows XP Activation from format to format. It is a pretty interesting process, but since activation takes such a short time connected to the net, this would really mainly help the phone activation users.

All that said, I know that there are many users who abhor the process. It may be because they have had problems activating and have had to call the toll-free number and wait to talk to a Microsoft support agent who then read them some 278-character long (okay- it's a slight exaggeration) activation code. Or maybe they just feel that it is some sort of invasion of privacy or that Microsoft is acting as "Big Brother" and monitoring their actions.

[H]ardNews 5th Edition

iRiver iFP-799:

19" LCD Hansol H950:

Within last 2-3 years, LCD monitors have really become a hit on the computer market. Not so long ago noone would even dream they would own a LCD. Now – many users would change their CRT monitors to the new technology, that dominated the market on the whole world. I was wondering : why everybody tends to chose them and isnt the price scarry for them?

Sunbeam Samurai Gaming Case:

Here we have the side panel window. It provides a nice view of the interior, though reaches a little too far over the drive bays for my taste. I like side fans, and this case doesn't disappoint there. The laser cut fan grill is nicely unobstructed. Too bad it doesn't come with a fan in place.

[H]ardNews 4th Edition

Looking for News Readers for Atomicfire.net:

Andrew Peng is looking for news posters for his new site. If you think you have the gumption then sign on up!

I'm looking for tech editors and news posters for my website - www.atomicfire.net which I plan on expanding. The website is still under development, but I plan on working it up. If you could please post a recruiting message on the news page, that'd be appreciated. This is by no means a paid position, but in the future when the site expands I hope to be able to offer something in return for the position. Thanks

[H]ardNews 3rd Edition - Reader Writes

Grinchy Neighbours:

This is nuts! George sent us this news article. Essentially the neighbours across the street from Alan and Bonnie Aerts petitioned the city council to enact a city ordinance that states that Christmas displays may only be displayed for 3 days. Nuts I say!

PNY 6800 at CompUSA:

We have a news report that some PNY 6800 Video Cards have a detached, or loose Capacitor in the box. If you have one of these cards please discuss this here. Scott Millar one of our readers brought this one to our attention. Please double-check your cards at the store if you intend to buy one. Thanks Scott.

Just picked up my PNY 6800 from CompUSA for the $199 deal, opened it and noticed a capacitor sitting in the bottom of the plastic. You can also see where it fell off on the back of the card. I figured it was a fluke and decided to try the card anyway since the closest CompUSA is 40 mins. away. The card seems to work, but will not overclock even 1 mhz when using the detect optimum settings. However, with powerstrip it will get up to 380/810. When I checked the forums, I noticed at least 4 other people from different states just got the same card with a capacitor that fell off the card.

[H]ardNews 2nd Edition

Mushkin MP3 Player:

The chaps over at Viperlair have a review of Mushkin a well known memory maker's MP3/WMA/Voice Recorder. The unit is a 128MB device that will on top of playing your favourite media will also allow you to record voice memos. I think that missing expandable memory it will quickly fade into the spectrum of players.

MP3 players like this are very common, but what isn't so common is the rechargeable battery negating the need for regular purchases of standard batteries. If this is a feature you could use, then you will be happy with this player.

Tryptophan follow up:

You may have noticed the word "tryptophan" used in last editions title. I though it might be nice to follow up with a little information about what it really is. I pick www.howstuffworks.com's digital brain to get the skinny on its meaning.

So you might think that if you eat a lot of turkey, your body would produce more serotonin and you would feel calm and want a nap.

Thanksgivings Sales:

Wal-Mart recorded a "lower than expected" sales for November. It looks like they are blaming it on poor advertising opportunities for the holiday season.

Wal-Mart has seen its November sales fall below forecasts after customer traffic tailed off in the final week of the month.

[H]ardNews 1st Edition - Tryptophan Edition

I knew it:

CA (Computer Associates) has shown that Kazaa is considered spyware as it add's so much junk to your registry that you want to just scream? So essentially keep away, and if you are looking for peer to peer there are relativly better alternatives.

Through its PestPatrol research, CA found that Kazaa posed a greater threat than other programs in its top five spyware list because of its widespread popularity. Kazaa claims that its software has been downloaded 214 million times.

Free Tech Books:

You can get free electronic version tech books from TechBooksForFree.com. Thank Shell Extenstion City for the heads up.

Lots of programming and computer science book in digital form... Linux, C+, Perl, Java, networking, much more.....(free).....

I Love Turkey:

Well just to let the readers know I love turkey. Its one of my favorite foods. I will make any excuse to cook one up, and I did for the US Thanksgivings, even though I am a Canadian. But this guy loves turkey more than me.

The fight broke out when Gonzalo Ocasio Jr., 18, and his father, Gonzalo Ocasio, 49, reprimanded Frank Palacios for picking at the turkey with his fingers, instead of slicing off pieces with a knife...

[H]ardNews 10th Edition

[H] Sighting:

This is a perfect example of what happens on them long holiday weekends when you are bored with nothing to do. [H] reader Ed Cabarles sent me this screenshot which started out looking like wishful thinking (pic 1) but actually turned into the [H] sighting of the day (pic 2)…imagine that. Check it out:

[H]ardNews 9th Edition

Albatron Mars PX915P-AGPe:

PCStats has the Albatron Mars PX915P-AGPe motherboard in house today. What makes the Mars PX915P-AGPe different from other motherboards is the fact that it sports both an AGP slot as well as a PCI-E slot. The question is: Can the hermaphroditic motherboard perform? Hit the link and see what PCStats said:

If you want to jump on the Socket 775 bandwagon but can't afford to go all the way at once, the Albatron PX915P-AGPe offers you a very flexible platform!

iPod Users Dump PCs?

Here is an interesting one. Apparently 6 percent of iPod users plan on dumping the PC and switching to a Mac. This could effectively bring Apple’s market share total to 12….people, not percent.

According to a survey of iPod users by financial analysis firm Piper Jaffray, Macs are basking in the reflected glory of the iPod, with some who own the music player saying they have already or are intending to ditch their PCs for Macs.

[H]ardNews 8th Edition

ThrottleWatch: CPU Throttling Detection:

Cool tool of the day has to be ThrottleWatch: CPU Throttling Detection tool, a free 156k download that detects thermal throttling in Pentium 4 processors. What are the two types of thermal throttling? Glad you asked:

[H]ardNews 7th Edition

More NVIDIA SLI Coverage:

Hexus has part two of their NVIDIA SLI coverage posted. Where the first article covered the high end 6800Ultra, today’s installment covers the GeForce 6800GT in SLI.

In this article I'll cover 6800 GT performance and how driver revisions have affected SLI performance so far, cooling and powering your SLI box.

Albatron GeForce 6600GT:

Legion Hardware has the 6800GT’s baby brother, the GeForce 6600GT from Albatron in deck for a little benchmark action. What is the bottom line on this card? Here a quote from the review:

Bottom line is Albatron has done extremely well with the pricing of the PC6600GTV, making it cheap for even a GeForce 6600 GT graphics card.

ABIT AG8 915P:

The ABIT AG8 915P LGA775 motherboard is reviewed by the folks at Bjorn3D. Overall a very nice board, you can see our review here for comparison.

There is a lot to like about the AG8. During my testing, the board was very stable. Additionally, it has a lot of tweaking options in the BIOS, but you can tweak within Windows if you want to take advantage of the µGuru feature and its software utilities.

[H]ardNews 5th Edition

Microsoft Offers Piracy Amnesty:

Alright, let’s say you bought a retail PC that has a fake pre-installed copy of WindowsXP on it, Microsoft will replace it for free. Yes, you heard that right, MS will replace up to 5 copies per person…for free. You won’t be arrested, beat up or sexually assaulted, Microsoft says they are after the “source” not the poor schmuck who bought a bunk copy of XP.

The deal only covers Windows XP, and only five copies per person can be swapped. It's all free, besides the initial postage and packing. The offer only applies to pre-installed home or professional Windows XP bought before Nov. 1.

[H]ardNews 4th Edition

Mushkin PC4200 1GB DDR2:

Anyone who is planning to make the upgrade to a system that requires new DDR2 memory will want to check out Legion Hardware’s Mushkin PC4200 1GB DDR2 review.

I found these modules to be extremely flexible, making them ideal for a wide range of applications. They were able to operate at DDR533 with CAS3-3-3-8 timings and DDR600 with CAS4-4-4-12 timings.

Corsair TWIN2X1024-5400C4PRO DDR2:

After reading the Mushkin review above, you should also check out those crazy crustaceans over at Mad Shrimps, they have a Corsair TWIN2X1024-5400C4PRO DDR2 review posted worth checking out.

While PCIe/DDR2 technology continues to experience growing pains, Corsair has done an excellent job with what is arguably the fastest memory on the market.

1GB Mushkin PC3200 222 LII V2:

If DDR2 isn’t your thing and you just need good old fashioned low latency DDR, check out this 1GB Mushkin PC3200 222 LII V2 dual pack review. Good memory, but doesn’t look like it is too good if you plan on overclocking.

If you are planning to get an Athlon 64 system or if you are looking for better memory modules, the Mushkin PC3200 222 LII V2 will definitely make your day.