[H]ardNews 9th Edition

PowerColor Bravo X700:

For those of you who might have missed it, our latest review pits the passively cooled PowerColor Bravo X700 against a NVIDIA GeForce 6600 for a bit of a mid-range video shootout. Read the full review to see what the PowerColor card has to offer besides its most obvious feature, near silent operation.

For those of you who don’t have a lot of money to spend, are looking for a midrange card, and also want a silent video card, you might want to check this out.

PowerColor Bravo X700:

If you haven’t gotten your fill of the PowerColor Bravo X700 yet, there is another review done by the folks at Overclockers Online tonight. Head on over and check out their review for a second opinion.

Where the Bravo X700 gets its market share is from those loving their silence. Utilizing the heatpipes and heatsinks, the silence would be golden in an HTPC machine.

Shuttle To Host World Cyber Games:

Shuttle Inc, the leading designer and manufacturer of small form factor (SFF) computers and accessories, has unveiled plans to host the World Cyber Games (WCG) event for Taiwan in August this year. Taiwan’s best gamers will fight it out for their chance to compete on the international stage at the WCG grand final event to be held in Singapore later this year.

[H]ardNews 8th Edition

No Safe Web Browser

If you are interested in some really interesting reading, I suggest this St. Louis Today article that says “There is no safe web browser”. The article discusses the fact that IE isn’t the only browser with issues, all browsers have issues and will continue to have them as they grow. Agree? Disagree? Either way, it is interesting reading for sure.

Netscape’s turn from wonderful to woeful last week set a new Internet speed record for embarrassment. Hours after the once-proud Web browser’s Version 8 upgrade hit the streets, it limped back into the garage for an overhaul.

[H]ardNews 7th Edition - Freaky Friday Edition

Fake Spyware Removal Tool:

Most of you are smart enough to avoid stuff like this SpywareNO program, but just in case, here is all the info. Pass the link on to family members that might be not be tech-savvy.

Security experts are warning Internet users about a new piece of software that poses as a spyware-removal tool but is actually being used to persuade unsuspecting Internet users to download spyware programs and Trojans.

Technology Gone Horribly Wrong:

While this site may be all tongue in cheek, the forget-me-not-panty is as scary as it is funny! Bright idea? Maybe. Is this possible? Definitely. Hilarious? Depends on whether you would actually have a need for them or not…now doesn’t it? Blame Blair for this one.

Ever worry about your wife cheating? Want to know where your daughter is late at night? Need to know when your girlfriend's temperature is rising? This amazing device will answer all of your questions! These panties can give you her location, and even her temperature and heart rate, and she will never even know it's there!

Yahoo Sued Over Nude Pics:

Let me see if I got this right. Some chick takes nude pics with boyfriend. They break up, boyfriend posts pics on the internet (naturally), woman sues Yahoo.

"Due to these profiles and online chats, unknown men would arrive without warning at plaintiff's work expecting to engage in sexual relations with her," the lawsuit claims.

[H]ardNews 6th Edition

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+:

PCPerspective has put the AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ to the test today in their latest review. For more information, you can see our review here.

AMD has thought this dual core processor evolution through and you can tell by the elegant implementation that they have released in the Athlon 64 X2 processor.

ATi Radeon X800XT-PE & XT850XT-PE AGP:

If you want a big bad ATi card to slap in your AGP slot, check out this dual review of both the ATi Radeon X800XT-PE and the XT850XT-PE AGP video cards at Accelenation. Our X850XT-PE AGP review can be found here for comparison purposes.

We have had ample time to live with this new technology in normal day-to-day use and especially game play. It is certainly nice to have the option of antialiasing, anisotropic filtering or high resolutions without worrying about performance loss.

Corsair XPERT XMS 3200XL:

If you want high performance memory that also has a +10 bling factor, Corsair’s XPERT XMS 3200XL should do the trick. You can see small movies of this stuff in action here.

The aesthetics and performance lead me to choose to keep it for my main rig, although the Overclocking aspect wasn't all too thrilling in the end. For the money however, these are excellent modules, giving you a nice combination of looks and performance for your hard earned dollar.

[H]ardNews 5th Edition

[H]ardForum [H]appenings:

Friday [H]ardForum [H]appenings us here! By now you all know that Friday = Folding. That means anyone out there with a few CPU cycles to spare needs to get started folding for the [H]orde. There are even folding contests and giveaways in the forums. At the very least, download and install the folding client, join team #33 and just run the program every now and again when you think about it…no need to run it constantly, but any little bit helps. On to non-folding topics…check out the custom PSP skinning going on here. Very nice work for a cool custom look. Don’t have a PSP? Hit the For Sale & Trade forum someone is bound ot have one for sale or trade. If not, you can sell off your old crap for the cashola to buy a new one. Deal of the Day is this link to cheap BFG video cards…instant savings, no mail in rebate stuff. Speaking of no MIRs, you can get 1GB of Corsair DDR2 for under $210. Pretty damn good deals. As always, have fun…we’ll see you in the forums.

[H]ardNews 4th Edition

ZombieMeter:

Real time zombie tracking is cool. Just click on the section of map you want to know about and you get instant results.

The ZombieMeterSM tracks the number of new, completely unique zombies per hour, every hour. Visitors can view real-time updates regarding new zombie activity across the world, including the origination of messages and the number of machines affected by zombie activity.

Terrorist Link To Pirates?

Could it be true that terrorist are profiting from piracy? A case is being made, albeit a weak case, that terrorist groups like Hezbollah are profiting from intellectual property crimes. Whether or not terrorist are downloading illegal tunes / movies for fun and profit, tying the words terrorist and piracy together simply insures that laws against piracy will get fast tracked and we could end up with laws passed that we really don’t want passed. Then again, I could just be paranoid too.

"Some associates of terrorist groups may be involved in IPR crime," Stedman said. "During the course of our investigations, we have encountered suspects who have shown great affinity for Hezbollah and its leadership."

[H]ardNews 3rd Edition - Mods & Ends

Cooling:

Wet & Chilly Chips Passively Cooled Radiator @ OverClex

Etc.:

Logisys 20in1 Multi-Function Panel @ ExtremeMHz - Samsung SyncMaster 930MP 19" LCD @ BonaFideReviews - Arctic Silver ArctiClean @ GideonTech - Razor Diamondback Review @ 1337 Reviews - Tagan i-Xeye TG420-U02 Review @ PC Modding Malaysia - Bytecc BT-200 USB 2.0 to IDE Adapter Review @ Virtual-Hideout

Cases & Modding:

Sunbeam Trio Mid-Tower ATX Case @ LAN Addict - SilverStone Lascala LC13 HTPC Case @ Rage3D - Defyants LED Flex Leads @ CaseModGod - Antec P160 Aluminum Case @ Driver Heaven

[H]ardNews 2nd Edition

More DVD Format Wars:

It seems that there is no compromise in sight in the latest round of next-gen DVD format wars. Sony apparently isn’t willing to budge on their demands which will force the industry into having two formats. Sony’s Blu-ray has decent industry support but isn’t expected to ship until 2006 and will require a new DVD player. Toshiba will have their HD-DVD, which is backwards compatible, ready by the holiday season.

Sony, however, seemed to hold out hope while at the same time stipulating that any agreement must be in its format's favor. The inability to compromise is the key reason why the two sides cannot seem to work out their differences.

Pentium D Sales Slow Until 06:

DigiTimes is reporting that, according to their sources, Intel will not ship more that 500k dual core Pentium D processors this year.

Intel will not be able to ship more than 500,000 Pentium D dual-core processors this year, as demand will not pick up until 2006, sources with motherboard makers in Taiwan said yesterday.

[H]ardNews 1st Edition - Press Releases

VIA Launches VIA C7 Processor:

VIA Technologies, Inc, today announced the new VIA C7 processor family based on the ‘Esther’ core, the world’s smallest, lowest power and most secure native x86 processor. IBM’s leading 90nm System-on-Insulator (SOI) manufacturing technology employed at their state-of-the-art fabrication plant at East Fishkill, New York has permitted unprecedented levels of integration, providing the basis for significant performance boosts within industry-leading power and thermal profiles. With a tiny die size of a mere 30mm2, the VIA C7 processor idle power is as low as 100mW (0.1W), while 2.0GHz will run at about 20 watts peak power, an average of 40% cooler than competitor solutions.

Intel Delivers New Features:

Intel Corporation today unveiled two new platforms for home and office PCs. The new platforms, which combine key hardware and software technologies, are designed to provide consumers the ability to do more with their digital content simultaneously, and better allow businesses to enhance PC security, system management and collaboration capabilities.

MS Delivers New Spam Tools:

Microsoft Corp. today announced new MSN® Hotmail® tools and services designed to expand e-mail industry collaboration in fighting spam -- MSN Postmaster and Smart Network Data Services. These new services complement ongoing industry efforts supported by Microsoft, including e-mail authentication mechanisms such as the Sender ID Framework, to help protect MSN Hotmail customers as well as the overall e-mail community from online safety concerns such as spam, phishing and viruses.

Corsair Leads Industry in DDR2 Transition:

Corsair Memory today unveiled XMS2-8000UL as its latest addition to the high performance XMS family of products. Available immediately in both single module and dual kit packages and rated to run at aggressive latency settings of 5-4-4-9, the new XMS2-8000UL was developed in collaboration with ASUS Computer for its latest Intel i955X chipset based motherboard, the P5WD2 Premium.

[H]ardNews 12th Edition

Advertising In Video Game Magazines:

Alec Matias over at ShackNews has a pretty interesting editorial that covers advertising in video game magazines, past and present. They cover big ads, little ads, deceptive ads, humorous ads and ads that have absolutely nothing to do with the game they are promoting. While there is a place for advertising, I am sure most of you will agree, it is getting out of hand when you pick up your favorite gaming magazine and have to thumb through 12 pages of ads just to get to the table of contents. Interesting reading.

The ads haven't changed much in the past half-decade, still relying on eye-catching imagery as opposed to relevant information. However, there are new techniques, mostly focusing on the covers of your favorite mags.

[H]ardNews 11th Edition

MS Says Uninstall Netscape 8:

Microsoft is advising people to uninstall Netscape 8 as a workaround to the XML render problems it causes with Internet Explorer. So there you have it, all two dozen of you out there using Netscape 8 have to uninstall it.

This issue could be another blow to Netscape, which released Netscape 8 only two weeks ago. Just a day after launching Netscape 8 and touting the browser's security features, the company released an update to fix several serious flaws.

[H]ardNews 10th Edition - Blair's Tech Ed.

CIA Internet War Games:

The CIA is conducting a war game this week to simulate an unprecedented electronic assault against the United States. My only question is how do you realistically simulate something like this? Thank Dean Humphrey for the linkage.

The three-day exercise, known as "Silent Horizon," is meant to test the ability of government and industry to respond to escalating Internet disruptions over many months, according to participants.

Honestly, I think a better test would be if the higher-ups in the CIA just randomly seize control of the computers in a whole branch at a time, leave a “OMFG! J00 |-|4/3 B33|| p0//n3D!” message and see how long it takes that department to identify/recover from the problem. But that’s just me.

11 Steps To A Better Brain:

Your self help link of the day…11 steps to a better brain. Oddly enough, drugs are the first thing mentioned. I need some of this stuff:

Modafinil can keep a person awake and alert for 90 hours straight, with none of the jitteriness and bad concentration that amphetamines or even coffee seem to produce.

Yahoo Testing PhotoMail:

On the surface, PhotoMail sounds cool…I guess it just depends on how it is implemented. I can think of a list of ways to abuse this right off the top of my head though.

Thumbnails of up to 300 photos can be inserted into a single e-mail that can be sent to hundreds of recipients. Even if it contains 300 photos, an e-mail is unlikely to be rejected by inboxes with limitations on the size of a message because each thumbnail is just three to five kilobytes.