Life sucks… my mom is back in hospital, she weighs about 80lbs, can’t walk, can’t do much of anything… this is just depressing… anyway, here’s the news:
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We have just posted up our review of the Sonim XP1. This phone is featured over at www.toughestphone.com and can withstand a beating. We do just that as well as give a proper look at its features, function and performance. If you want a phone that can take some flinging and keep on ringing make sure you catch our review for all the details.
Title: Sonim XP1 Toughphone
URL: http://www.bcchardware.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6725&Itemid=40
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The motherboard does not feature any heatpipe chispet cooling, instead it come with just a standard heatsink, which should be enough. The rear ATX I/O panel comes with a host of video out connectors, including DVI, D-Sub and HDMI … great for A/V addicts. Other connectors include the usual PS/2 keboard or mouse, optical SPDIF, 6 USB, Firewire, eSATA, gigabit ethernet and an array of audio connectors. The motherboard features Asus’s own instant boot system, which you’ll find as part of their Express Gate feature. It’s very similar to ASRock’s infamous instant boot feature.
Read the rest of the review here … http://www.cpu3d.com/review/7161-1/asus-m3a78-t-am2-motherboard/introduction.html
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Title: Enermax Pro 82 Review @ XSReviews
Review Link: http://www.xsreviews.co.uk/reviews/power-supply-units/enermax-pro-82/
Quote: “When Enermax contacted us regarding reviewing a power supply for them, we were pleasantly surprised. With such a prime range of PSUs, it’s difficult to see why Enermax would release yet another series of units. However this was made clearer after doing some research…price. All of Enermax’s units top the £60 bracket, but the Pro 82+ series is aimed more so at the low-mid range and the price reflects this. But by still maintaining price, Enermax boasts that the Pro 82 range provides outstanding efficiency and a quiet fan. Let’s see how this 425w unit holds up.“
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NEW CONTENT (Storage) – Western Digital Caviar Green 2 TB Retail Desktop Drive
QUOTE: “Ten percent of all 3.5in hard drives sold today are in capacities of 1TB or greater, claims Mark Geenen, President of Trend Focus. For enthusiasts, that number would grow exponentially and with their low cost, rightly so. A few months ago Seagate launched their 1.5TB drive, but it has been plagued with firmware issues that are only now getting resolved. Just as with the graphics card world, hard drive manufacturers play the performance and capacity leapfrog game.
In this round Western Digital was first to reach the finish line and the race was to 2 terabytes of storage capacity. This is achieved through their new platter technology that allows for 500 GB of data to be stored on a single platter. Western Digital also filled the drive with their best IP like IntelliSeek and IntelliPower technology that allows the new 2TB Caviar to fall under the Green product line. The advanced technology doesn’t stop there, but we will get into all of the details on the Specifications Page.”
For more information, please visit - http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1738/western_digital_caviar_green_2_tb_retail_desktop_drive/index.html
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No Windows 7 drivers yet? Try using Vista’s
http://www.techspot.com/blog/354/no-windows-7-drivers-yet-try-using-vistas/
If you’re holding back from testing your copy of Windows 7 because you’re not sure what to do as far as device drivers are concerned, there is something you ought to know (if for some reason you didn’t until this point). Under the hood, Windows 7 is essentially the same as Windows Vista and as such Vista drivers will work just fine a majority of the time.
After downloading the drivers, run the installation setup and follow the prompts as if you would any other time. If you are presented with any errors due to compatibility, cancel the installation, right click the on the install package’s .exe and choose “Troubleshoot Compatibility”.
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iXBT Labs Review 1: Gigabyte EP45T-Extreme Motherboard
Excerpt:
“It’s interesting to review this board and to evaluate its proprietary technologies. However, we would recommend it only to users who are ready to spend that much on a motherboard, and who are willing to please themselves with the purchase.”
Article: http://ixbtlabs.com/articles3/mainboard/gigabyte-ep45t-extreme-i45p-p1.html
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iXBT Labs Review 2: Pulse Smartpen
Excerpt:
“The Pulse smartpen is a pen with a computer inside. As you take notes, the smartpen records all of the audio being played, and then “links” the audio with your written notes. Tapping a word in the notes plays back the audio that was being said when that word was written.”
Article: http://ixbtlabs.com/articles3/peripheral/smartpen-pulse-p1.html
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The Raptor is now a 2.5\” drive although don\’t get your hopes up about equipping in into your notebook- its power requirements and height wont allow you to do that. While the 2.5\” form factor is nice, it means that you\’ll probably end up buying the 5.25\” IcePAK heatsink/cage for it separately which could be a bummer.
Full Article:
http://www.tbreak.com/articles/46/1/Western-Digital-Velociraptor-300GB/Page1.html
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NEW CONTENT (Motherboards) – DFI LANParty UT X58-T3eH8 Core i7 Motherboard
QUOTE: “Over the past 5 years, however, DFI has made some rather interesting purchases such as ex-ABIT engineers to help improve a lot of their motherboards and without a doubt, the team from ABIT that brought us some impressive boards helped DFI come into the retail channel with their own hardcore motherboards; these make up the LANParty series.
When you now think of DFI, the LANParty series of boards are extremely popular, especially with overclockers and even case modders who want a functional board with extreme performance and a good aesthetic design. Today we have their latest offering and without surprise it’s for the Core i7.”
For more information, please visit - http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1737/dfi_lanparty_ut_x58_t3eh8_core_i7_motherboard/index.html
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Temperatures are important to any computer enthusiast. However, there comes a time when temperatures REALLY need to be low (overclocking) Cooler Master has just the solution for this. The Cooler Master V10 is one of the largest heat sinks we have ever seen at Tech Arkade, it even includes 2 120mm fans to keep it cool. Keep reading to see if size really does matter when it comes to cooling.
http://techarkade.com/component/content/article/83-cooler-master-v10.html?directory=54
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TITLE: Razer Moray Review @ LanOC Reviews
DESCRIPTION: Recently Razer has jumped into the Audio market in full force with a variety of headsets, speaker systems, and even a sound card (ok this has been out for a while but still). Obviously all of their products are geared towards the PC gaming community. One of their new products that stands out in the Moray, “Designed for gamers, the Razer Moray delivers immersive gaming audio or music on the go in a sleek, compact package.” The Moray could be a more compact replacement for my Razer pro|tone m250′s. If you’re playing games while on the go or even looking to bring razer style along with you and your mp3 player make sure to check out how they performed for us.
ARTICLE URL: http://lanoc.org/reviews/razer-moray/
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Title: The Computer Repair Utility Kit v2 @ Technibble
Article Snippet:
“The Computer Repair Utility Kit v2 is a collection of 57 computer repair tools to fix many different PC problems in one easy to use pack. Â This includes virus scanners, malware removers, system cleaners, network scanners, specification viewers, recover deleted files and many other useful utilities.
The Computer Repair Utility Kit allows you to run all of the repair tools from your portable drive (eg. USB Flash Drive, External Hard Drive, IPod etc.) and comes with an easy to use, right-click menu.
It has the ability to let you add your own favorite programs and you can even make it autostart when you plug your USB drive into a computer.
A complete list of the programs it contains is available on the Technibble site.”
Link: http://www.technibble.com/computer-repair-utility-kit/
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InsideHW.com has reviewed Acer Extensa 5630G notebook. Here is a quote from this review:
“One of most interesting notebooks at the moment for majority of potential notebook buyers is Acer Extensa 5630G. In this price range it is very hard to find similar notebook that is well balanced with characteristics that can satisfy widest consumer types. Extensa is, by Acer classification, business model, but if you take a closer look at specification you will see that it is much more and that it can satisfy easily even users that are searching for universal multimedia notebook solution…â€
Article link:
http://www.insidehw.com/Reviews/Notebooks/Acer-Extensa-5630G.html
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Title:
Upek Eikon & Eikon To Go Fingerprint Readers
Link:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Upek/Eikon
Brief:
There are plenty of fingerprint readers out there and odds are that you may have used one here and there. Upek is one of the companies behind such units and also offers two very interesting retail products, which managed to surprise with both Windows and OS X functionality.
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“For some, it’s difficult to understand the benefits of an all-in-one setup, especially if you have a dedicated ‘computer’ room in your home. If, however, you give an iMac-alike (or an iMac) a chance during your day-to-day computer use, the benefits of an all-in-one are hard to miss. But regarding the positives of an all-in-one system, people typically opt for this of machine for looks and space – sometime you just don’t have the space for a tower and a small form factor PC just can’t do the job! For people who are not worried solely about performance/upgrading, these are all very appealing characteristics of an all-in-one. Also, in this day and age, component failure is basically a non-issue and you don’t have to worry about cooling, upgradability, replacing broken components, and so on. All-in-one computers are, generally, much quieter than desktops (they use laptop components, so heat is never a problem), substantially reduce clutter, and are infinitely more attractive than a tower & monitor & speakers & Web camera & cables all over the place. The only downsides are that the display isn’t touchscreen, the fixed stand prevents wall-mounting, and lack of 64-bit Vista hurts performance. nVidia’s GeForce 9600M GT graphics card doesn’t pack enough power for high-end gaming, either. Nonetheless, if you’re sold on the idea of reducing clutter and want an adequate jack-of-all-trades, Dell’s XPS One 24 is hard to beat.â€
http://www.itreviewed.co.uk/rev.php?id=903
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A special thanks to OCZ Technology for supporting ARM3D and CPU3D, along with providing the promotional material and prizes.
Read the rest of the article here … http://www.arm3d.com/article/255-1/arm3d-exclusive-cardiff-gaming-society/introduction.html
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“All of us have large digital libraries that are all but trapped on our computers. In order to play our content on our TV we have to struggle with clumsy solutions such as copying onto multiple CDs and DVDs or connecting our PCs to our TV via wires or complicated home networking solutions. The WD TV HD Media Player enables anyone to easily access their high-definition content on the biggest screen in the home in a matter of minutes. Using the WD TV HD Media Player couldn’t be any simpler – plug in a storage device and the unit will automatically scan it for multimedia and automatically add the files to its library, which is split up into video, audio, and images. That’s it! WD is onto a winner here, as long as you don’t crave a fantastic selection of outputs (including Ethernet), 5.1 surround sound, and expandability with optional extras like Wi-Fi and a Freeview receiver.â€
http://www.itreviewed.co.uk/rev.php?id=902
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Title: NZXT Cryo LX Vs. Vizo miniNinja 2 Review @ XSReviews
Review Link: http://www.xsreviews.co.uk/reviews/misc-coolers/nzxt-cryo-lx-vs-vizo-minininja-2/
Quote: “Next on the review agenda at XSReviews are notebook coolers. However not just one but two, ready to go head to head to see which is the better in terms of value, style and performance. The contenders are: the Vizo Ninja II and the NZXT Cryo LX. It’s time to find a victor so let’s get started.”
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Title: Zotac GTX285 AMP! EditionGraphic Card Review on Technic3D
Quote: “The new Zotac GTX285 AMP! Edition arrived Technic3D. The High-End “Single” Graphic Card with a Dual Slot Heatsink better than the XFX GTX280 XT Graphic Card? Technic3D will see the GT200b Chip in the following Review with up to 2560×1600 against the GTX295, HD4870X2 and many more.”
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Date: 03-02-2009Â By Vlad Mihaiescu
If you can stay patient and accept the fact that this is a very slow moving game then the game’s potential can truly be appreciated. This game is full of strategy. From the weapons you decide to use to the location selection for deployment to basic decisions like when to kneel or when to go prone to shooting or even bribing your way out of a fight, Hired Guns – The Jagged Edge is a very well made game but the fact that it is such a slow moving game might deter a lot of people from enjoying it. It is also a very difficult game. But if you’re a patient person and love a challenge then this game is a must get.
Link: http://www.gamepyre.com/reviewsd.html?aid=1055&p=1
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We’ll be testing this CPU cooler on our test rig which is comprised of an Intel Core i7 – 920 processor on a Gigabyte EX58 Extreme motherboard. We also used 6Gb of Corsair Dominator DDR3-1600 Triple Channel ram, a Geforce GTX 285 (1Gb GDDR3) and a PC Power & Cooling 860W PSU. It’ll be interesting to see how this CPU cooler can compete against the OCZ Gladiator Max and the Intel stock coolers.
Read the rest of the review here … http://www.cpu3d.com/review/7146-1/spire-thermax-ii-cpu-cooler/introduction.html
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