[H]ardNews 1st Edition

Big Guns:

Hexus covers what they note as "High end VGA without the frills." That might be a great way of describing a GeForceFX 5950.

HD Cooling:

ModTheBox has a review posted of the VANTEC VORTEX Hard Drive Cooler posted. I want to get a few of these for myself as they have a heads-up display on drive temperature.

Vantec claims it will lower your temperatures up to 40% and although I did not see a 40% drop (8 degrees off 40 is 20%), I could easily see the Vortex shaving off a solid 40% off higher RPM drives.

Blue Future:

Looks as though the minds behind DVD technology have gotten their ducks in a row on new DVD capacities and how to get there. Now once Sony introduces proprietary technology for Blue DVDs, then the world will be back in balance. Thanks Douglas!

An HD DVD format proposed by Toshiba and NEC as the next-generation DVD format was finally approved by the DVD Forum's steering committee during recent meetings in New York. The HD DVD format is a violet laser-based optical disk system with a capacity of 15-20 Gbyte per side using the same disk structure as current DVD disks.

New Mouse:

TecNation reviews the new wireless mouse from Microsoft, the Intellimouse Wireless Explorer. Has MS followed Logitech's lead and gotten it right for gaming?

I have seen no difference between the responsiveness and accuracy of this mouse and Microsoft’s wired optical offerings. The technology seems to have been improved so dramatically, that my faith in the wireless mouse has been completely restored. I plan to continue to use the Wireless Intellimouse® Explorer v2.0 for the foreseeable future.

Pretty Lights:

Thanks to WickerBill for sharing his link to a page at NewScientist that shows just how pretty the Net can be.

A project to create a comprehensive graphical representation of the internet in just one day and using only a single computer has already produced some eye-catching images.

Modding:

VANTEC Spectrum Fans @ 8Balls - Wavemaster Case @ PCTweaks.De - Window Etching @ TecNation

Etc.:

Soyo PSU @ 3DX - Rackmount Enthusiast Case @ OC Down Under - Comdex Report @ TargetPC