Ok I want one…

Source R&D announced today the availability of the Warpia Easy Dock, which will allow users to wirelessly connect their notebook/netbook/Macbook to any traditional desktop setting.  With the Easy Dock’s straightforward plug-and-play interface, consumers can have both the convenience and portability of a laptop, as well as the comfort of a desktop computer.  Easier on the eyes, ears and hands, users will no longer have to squint at a miniature screen, deal with a below average sound quality, or fumble with a tiny keyboard.

Based on wireless technology from Wisair, a leading provider of single-chip based Wireless USB solutions, the Easy Dock consists of a USB dongle that connects to your laptop and a receiver that connects to your monitor, mouse, keyboard, and speakers.  Your laptop will instantly recognize the dongle and begin submitting a wireless signal to the receiver, transmitting the image with a resolution of up to1400×1050 to your monitor’s screen.

“Perfect for professionals working from home, students on-the-go, or families with both MacBook and PC laptops, the Easy Dock gives customers ultimate portability and comfort,” says Marc Levaggi, VP of Marketing for Source R&D.  “They can take their compact notebook to business meetings, while still having the option to do more intensive work at home with a full-size keyboard and monitor.  It’s also a great solution for those who want to play media on high quality speakers.”

Compared to other laptop docks on the market, Easy Dock stands out for its wireless quality; adding capability without contributing to cable clutter.  Priced affordably at $149.99, the Easy Dock and works with Windows 7, Vista, XP, Mac OS X Leopard, and Snow Leopard.  For more information, please visit http://warpia.com/Product_Guide-Easy_Dock.pdf.

About Source R&D:
Source R&D, Inc., maker of the Warpia Wireless USB Adapter, is one of the world’s premier technology providers. Specializing in emerging technologies and innovations, Source R&D serves as a vital link in the technology value chain by creating sales and profitability opportunities for OEMS, ODMs, vendors and resellers through unique marketing programs, logistics services, backend support, financial services and product aggregation and distribution. For additional details, visit Source R&D web site at http://www.sourcerandd.com or the Warpia website at www.Warpia.com.

About Wisair:
Wisair is a fabless semiconductor company providing Ultra Wideband (UWB) and Certified Wireless USB solutions based on its CMOS single chip. Recognized for their superior coverage, and throughput, Wisair’s solutions offer the best combination of performance, price, and power consumption for Wireless USB. For more information, visit www.wisair.com.

Related posts:

1. Source R&D’s new Warpia Wireless USB Audio/Video Adapter Offers the Ultimate PC to TV Wireless Experience
2. be.ez Debuts LE rush Notebook Bag Collection
3. Verizon Wireless Announces the Availability of the Samsung Omnia II

Since this is two reviews in one I’m going to do it a little bit different than other review, I’ll look at the specs and the cards separately then get into the testing of both.

First up is the Unitek:

UNITEK 2 Port USB 3.0 ExpressCard/34mm

Price: US$47.00

Features:
-NEC UPD720200 chipset
-Compliant with ExpressCard Standard Release 1.0
-Compliant with USB 3.0 Super-Speed (5Gbps), USB 2.0 Hi-Speed (480Mbps), USB 1.1 Low-Speed (1.5Mbps)
-Compliant with xHCI Specification Revision 0.95
-ExpressCard/34 form factor module
-Max. 900mA per Port
-Bus Interface Express Card
-Support Window 7 (32-bit and 64bit) / Vista / XP
-Dimension: 113 x 42 x 14mm (approx.)
-Weight: 31g

Package Contents:
-UNITEK 2 Port USB 3.0 ExpressCard/34mm
-CD Driver

The card comes in a plastic clam shell style package and comes with a mini-CD-Rom with drivers on it. The side has a hole for an alternate power source, but they don’t provide one for you. The back end is where you’ll find the blue colored USB 3.0 connections. Not much else to say really, it looks like most other expresscards..

-

Next up is the no-name or generic card:

ExpressCard USB 3.0 2-Ports Hub

Price: US$39.00

Features:
-Compliant with ExpressCard/34mm Standard
-USB 3.0 SuperSpeed
-USB 3.0 2-Ports Hub
-Compliant with USB 1.0, USB 1.1, USB 2.0 and USB 3.0
-Support Window 7 / Vista / XP
-Dimension: 116 x 40 x 14mm (approx.)
-Weight: 32g

Package Contents:
-ExpressCard USB 3.0 2-Ports Hub
-USB Power Cable
-CD Driver

The first thing you’ll notice is that this card is actually $8 cheaper than the Unitek branded card, but it comes with a power cable…

The card comes in a generic box, inside you’ll find a plastic box with the card, USB power cable and driver mini-cd. The side of the card does have the hole for power like the Unitek card and on the back you’ll find the blue USB 3.0 ports.

-

Now let’s get into the testing here:

Installation, Testing:

Here’s the two cards together:

Now for testing I’m comparing the cards to each other and to the regular USB 2.0 interface on my netbook. It’s just an Atom Based 10.1″ netbook, but it does have a 34mm Expresscard slot which is nice…

The Unitek card does have a green LED on the top to let you know it’s powered on, and the other card has an LED inside of it that you can’t see unless you look inside the USB ports. Installation was very simple, I just plugged them in and installed the drivers.

For my testing I used a Unitek USB 3.0 hard drive dock actually with a 750GB Western Digital Caviar Black hard drive. You’ll find the reasoning behind this shortly…

Since the dock uses an external power source I didn’t need the additional power cable.

I used ATTo Disk Benchmark for testing.

We’ve pretty much tripled the read speed when going to USB 3.0 and more than tripled the write speeds. Not bad at all. They are some very nice speeds truly.

You might be wondering about using a portable hard drive instead of a dock as I did, well so was I.

…and it doesn’t work on either card. I have two USB 3.0 hard drive enclosures that have 2.5″ drives in them and neither one would power on. They seem to get power but the drives wouldn’t spin up at all.

I used the extra power cable with the generic expresscard and the indicator lit up on my drive but it would just click and not spin up. Using the Unitek card though the indicator wouldn’t even turn on, but the drive clicked so there was some power getting there.

So if you want to use an external hard drive you’ll need to use one that has it’s own power supply as even with the extra power it wouldn’t work.

This could work fine for doing backups etc as many people use 3.5″ enclosures with power supplies for their backups, but if you’re using a 2.5″ style you’ll need to figure something else out because obviously this isn’t going to work.

-

Conclusion:

These cards work but not as I expected them to, for my netbooks I use either a USB drive or a 2.5″ portable hard drive for backups and transfers.

So yes on one hand this is a quick and easy way to add USB 3.0 functionality to your portable computer, but as you saw there are limitations to its actual usability.

Looking at the actual cards, I don’t see any reason to buy the more expensive Unitek brand card, the performance is the same and you don’t get the power cable with it. ( not that it mattered much though..)

-

Pros:

+Simple t0 install and use

+Much faster than USB 3.0

-

Cons:

-Limited functionality

-

Disclosure: This product was given to iGadgetLife for review by the company for review purposes only, and is not considered by us as payment for the review, we do not, and never will, accept payment from companies to review their products.

Related posts:

1. NetSecure SmartSwipe Review
2. Be.ez LA robe Netbook 10.2 Sleeve Review
3. Review of Kodak Zx1 Pocket Video Digital Camera/Camcorder

It’s that time again for news from all of our friends.. Lots of stuff in here, including a lot of CeBit 2010 coverage..

Storage Related:

Thecus N7700 Pro 7 Drive NAS Server
QUOTE: "Thecus has their own history of Tick Tock behavior with their NAS servers. In April 2009 we reviewed the Thecus N7700 and found it to be an exciting product that was a step above the more consumer focused N5200 Pro while also being worthy of our highest award, the TweakTown Editors Choice. Since that time we reviewed the QNAP TS-809 Pro TurboNAS and found it to be able to transfer data faster with its faster processor (Core 2 Duo compared to the N7700’s Celeron M) and more memory.
Thecus’ answer to the flagship QNAP unit is now here, the N8800 Pro and N7700 Pro. The new Pro model of the 7700 features a Core 2 Duo processor and 4GB of memory. All of that pales in comparison to what came next. For the first time ever a product in this price category has an option to use a 10GbE data connection."
For more information, please visit – http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/3174/thecus_n7700_pro_7_drive_nas_server/index.html

==

Kingston SSDNow V-Series 30GB Solid State Boot Drive Review @ ThinkComputers.org

Review URL: http://www.thinkcomputers.org/kingston-ssdnow-v-series-30gb-solid-state-boot-drive-review/

Quote: “Upgrading from a normal hard drive to a solid state drive can be quite expensive and for most people it really does not make that much sense. Solid state capacities are getting larger, but that just brings the price of the drives up even higher. Kingston wants to help people out who want to take advantage of the blazing speeds of solid state drives, but don’t want to break the bank. They have just released the SSDNow V-Series 30GB solid state boot drive. This drive will retail at around $100 and will allow you to load your operating system and applications on it for fast load times, and then you can just put all of your media on a normal SATA drive. This is a great upgrade option for people looking to get a solid state drive, but might not have that much extra money for one."

==

WD SiliconEdge-Blue Solid State Drive @ Benchmark Reviews

DESCRIPTION: Western Digital has been the leading name in consumer storage technology since the early 1970’s. Just in time for their 40th anniversary, the WD SiliconEdge-Blue Solid State Drive debuts as the first consumer SSD they’ve ever offered. Based on the JMicron JMF612 SATA-3Gbps SSD processor, the SiliconEdge-Blue promises 250/170Mbps read and write transfers with 5000-4KB IOPS. In this article Benchmark Reviews tests the WD SiliconEdge-Blue SSD, 256GB model SSC-D0256SC-2100, against a myriad of high-performance solid-state enthusiast storage devices.

ARTICLE URL: http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=478

=

Kingston SSDNow V Series 30GB Boot Drive
Quote: Why would Kingston be coming out with a 30GB SSD boot drive if they already have a 40GB for sale? Without providing TRIM or garbage collection, Kingston scrapped the product and wanted to produce something the community was asking for. The 30GB boot drive was born with a new controller and slightly better specs.
Link: http://www.hardwarelogic.com/articles.php?id=6441

==

Corsair Dominator GT PC3-12800 DDR3 Dual Channel Kit Review
DESCRIPTION:
"There are two things you should take into consideration when choosing what memory to upgrade to – the first is overall speed which is sometimes called data rate. Such as the kit we are going to look at today – 1600MHz. The faster this is the larger the bandwidth and thus better overall performance. The second is latency, which is often overlooked by consumers. You may well have fast rated memory modules but if the latency timings are high bandwidth could experience issues. Today we take a look at Corsair’s Dominator GT series, a DDR3 dual channel kit designed specifically for the AMD platform. This kit has some pretty tight timings and is reasonably rated and since Corsair are one of the main players in the high performance memory marketplace it will be interesting to see how these modules perform a little later on."
LINK: http://www.vortez.co.uk/review.php?id=142

==

A-DATA N002 USB 3.0 and SATA II 128GB SSD Review

The interesting thing about the A-DATA N002 drive is it is one of the first USB 3.0 devices on the market, as well as a SATA drive. This opens possibilities for the end-user of using the N002 as an external USB 3.0 OR SATA to move files from one computer to another fast. The drive showed excellent performance across the spectrum of benchmarks that we use on both the USB and SATA interface, actually scoring higher than some of the other SSD drives we have tested. These are a good indication of sustained read and write performance across a wide variety of programs. A-DATA has taken the concept of the SSD drive and driven it with a new feature that allows it to be used on motherboards with USB 3.0 ports or an expansion card that adds it to the motherboard and does it well. The A-DATA N002 is not available online as of yet but gets a Hot Product award due to its excellent feature set and high performance. Look for it to sell in the $299.00 to $349.00 US price range.

Review Link: http://www.motherboards.org/reviews/hardware/2023_1.html

==

Kingston 128GB V Series Notebook Upgrade Kit Review

Kingston thought of everything when it comes to designing an SSD drive for the notebook market at large. The drive has adequate performance, but it is primary designed to slide into the enclosure and work as an external drive hooked up through the USB interface which allows up to 480Mb/s of bandwidth between the two devices. The SATA 2 interface is not necessary as the bundle includes an enclosure to work with notebook PCs that have limited expansion bays and may not fit an SSD drive internally .At the end of the day, the Kingston Notebook Replacement drive is a SSD drive with all of the positives you could want and is available online for under $300 making it a good fit for those wanting a SSD drive without paying the high price of some others on the market that may offer higher performance but cost more. The Kingston 128GB Notebook Upgrade Kit is available at most e-tailors and many PC DYI centers.

Review Link: http://www.motherboards.org/reviews/hardware/2022_1.html

==

LaCie Network Space 2 Review
"Of all the tech appliances you might want to prominently display, a mundane network attached storage device probably falls about 78th on most people s lists, right after VoIP desk phones and before network switches. LaCie s Network Space 2 may change that. The attractive 1TB NAS sports an exterior design as clean and intuitive as the software that runs it. As we found out, it s also just as basic as its shape but entry-level consumers might not mind the lack of high-end features or Formula One performance."
Link to the review:http://www.digitaltrends.com/product-reviews/networking-and-wi-fi-reviews/media-streamers-reviews/lacie-network-space-2-review/

==

Audio/ Video:

Samsung PN58B650 58 Inch Plasma TV Review @ Tweaknews
Article Url: http://www.tweaknews.net/reviews/samsung_pn58b650_58_inch_plasma_tv_review/

Article Snippet:"The Samsung PN58B650 is one of those products that can be a little confusing to sum up in a couple paragraphs. For one, this TV is quite a bit cheaper than the higher end 850 series model, but other than the dimensions, it has a better overall visual viewing experience."

==

EOS wireless loudspeaker system @ TechwareLabs

Quote: More and more great music is being transmitted to you via the web, break out of your browser and together with the EOS loudspeaker system you can fill your house with sound.
LINK: http://www.techwarelabs.com/eos-wireless-loudspeaker-system/

==

, ‘Panasonic Lumix DMC-FP8 ‘
An ultra-compact camera that delivers great performance.
http://tbreak.com/tech/2010/03/panasonic-lumix-dmc-fp8/

==

Arctic Cooling E361-WM Headphones:
English link: http://www.rbmods.com/content/19847/introduction.aspx
Swedish link: http://www.rbmods.se/content/14141/test–sammanfattning.aspx
Quote:  Arctic Cooling is well known of their coolers. Their newest product isn’t a cooler, but headphones. We will take a look at their E361-WM headphones which are built to be portable gaming headphones. How will they perform against similarly priced Koss and Sennheiser headphones? Let’s have a look!

==

ARCTIC COOLING Arctic Sound E352 Earphones Review
DESCRIPTION:
"It’s always interesting to see companies venture in other areas other than those that they have been specialising for awhile. Take ARCTIC COOLING for example. For years, this Swiss company has become synonymous with quality cooling devices, such as fans, CPU and VGA coolers, and computer cases. Recently, ARCTIC COOLING has expanded in various domains including game consoles, audio devices and, even, rechargeable batteries!
LINK:http://www.vortez.co.uk/review.php?id=126

==

Laptops/Netbooks Etc:

MSI Wind Box Intel Atom 330 NetTops @ Phoronix
Direct Link: http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=14648
Summary: "Through Phoromatic you can easily build a benchmarking test farm with minimal effort and combined with Phoromatic Tracker you can monitor the performance of a given software or hardware component over the course of time. We used our own tools to launch a Linux kernel tracker that monitors the performance of the very latest Linux kernel code on a daily basis at kernel-tracker.phoromatic.com. We are also announcing another new, important public tracker coming soon, but first off, we needed a few more low-powered Intel Atom systems. We ended up purchasing two MSI Wind Box NetTops (the 6667BB-003US and 6667BB-004US) that are both based around an Intel Atom 330 dual-core processor within a very low-profile enclosure. The MSI 6667BB-003US utilizes Intel GMA 950 graphics while the 6667BB-004US boasts an ATI Radeon HD 4330 graphics processor. Here is our Linux look at these two Intel nettop computers."

==

ASUS EAH 5850 TOP DirectCU

Link:http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/EAH_5850_TOP_DirectCu

Brief:
ASUS has released what seems to be one of the best custom designed HD 5850s. The card which supports DirectX 11 and Eyefinity is extremely quiet, offers better price/performance than the AMD reference design, comes with an overclock out of the box and supports voltage control via SmartDoctor.

==

ViewSonic ViewBook Pro VNB131S 13.3-inch Notebook
QUOTE: "ViewSonic is most known for its range of TVs, PC displays and digital picture frames. The company has been making all sorts of computer displays for years now and has just started branching out into the notebook arena. Interestingly, the ViewSonic ViewBook Pro at first glance doesn’t look like a freshman offering.
In fact, if you look at the ViewSonic ViewBook Pro too quickly, you might actually mistake the thing for an Apple MacBook Pro. The minimalist design, silver on black colors and elegant looks of the machine certainly appeal to the same senses that draw many to the MacBook line."
For more information, please visit – http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/3171/viewsonic_viewbook_pro_vnb131s_13_3_inch_notebook/index.html

==

Toshiba Satellite E205-S1904 Laptop Review:
http://hothardware.com/Articles/Toshiba-Satellite-E205S1904-Laptop-Review/

If you could design your own laptop in an effort to have the perfect balance of performance, price, size, weight, and features, what would you include and what could you live without? As part of its Blue Label program, Best Buy asked that question of its customers–accepting as much feedback as its customers could give and then channeling that information back to the laptop manufacturers it partners with. The ensuing results of this feedback now manifest themselves in the three current Best Buy Blue Label exclusive laptop offerings: the Dell Studio s15Z-2249CPN, Sony Vaio VPCS11FM/S, and Toshiba Satellite E205-S1904.

==

Everki Camber Laptop/Netbook Bag @ TechwareLabs

Quote: Looking for a carrying case for your netbook? Take a close look at EVERKI has to offer with their Camber 7” – 13” case. Sure, there are endless companies on the market today to choose from, but not too many have carrying bags for netbooks. The Camber from EVERKI is one that really stood out among others while attending CES 2010. Let’s take a closer look at the Camber to see why were excited to review it for you.
LINK: http://www.techwarelabs.com/everki-camber/

==

Dell Inspiron Zino HD Desktop Review:
http://hothardware.com/Articles/Dell-Inspiron-Zino-Desktop-Review/

For the last couple of years, Dell’s foray into the small-form-factor desktop market was its successful mini-tower (with the emphasis on "mini") Studio Hybrid. But with Dell’s latest small-form-factor entry, the Inspiron Zino HD, out goes the vertical mini-tower and in comes the horizontal square–7.8-inches wide by 7.8-inches deep to be exact, and a mere 3.4-inches tall. Like the Studio Hybrid (which Dell still sells), the Inspiron Zino HD (a.k.a. the Inspiron 400) is a solid little machine, with decent mainstream performance, and geared towards budget-minded consumers. Similar to how you could change the Studio Hybrid’s looks by swapping out different-colored sleeves, the Inspiron Zino HD can switch personality with the snap of new color or pattern lid. Of course, other than the default "Piano Black" lid, you’ll have to pay extra for any of the Inspiron Zino HD’s other color ($15 each) or pattern ($30) lids. And with a starting price of $249, the Inspiron Zino HD can give any number of nettop PCs a run for their money…

==

‘HP dv6-1390ev Notebook review’
Good performance- but its big and heavy with a lower-than-average battery life.
The Full Article can be viewed at
http://tech.tbreak.com/2010/03/hp-dv6-1390ev-notebook-review/

==

Asus G73J: The Ultimate Gaming Notebook @ InsideHW

The G73J is the ultimate gaming machine, with no performance bottlenecks whatsoever.
Article link: http://www.insidehw.com/Reviews/Notebooks/Asus-G73J-The-ultimate-gaming-notebook.html

==

‘Alienware M11x Notebook Review’
Its a hallmark moment for the Alienware family with the arrival of their new baby.
The Full Article can be viewed at
http://tech.tbreak.com/2010/03/alienware-m11x-notebook-review/

==

Everki Beacon Laptop/Notebook Backpack @ TechwareLabs

Quote: Everki sends us the largest bag in their lineup, the Beacon backpack. Join Will as he sees if this backpack is up to the "road warrior" lifestyle.
LINK: http://www.techwarelabs.com/everki-beacon-backpack/

==

Assorted Stuffs:

March Giveaway Contest – Win a free XO Skin for your cell phone or MP3 player!
http://www.topreviewshop.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&p=1707
"The giveaway contest starts on March 5th and ends on March 21st.  We’ll be giving away 3 XO Skins for cell phones or MP3 players. In addition to skins for popular phones such as the iPhone, Nexus One, Blackberry Curve, Storm, Pearl and others, XO also offers a wide range of choices with skins for other cell phones and MP3 players."

==

WinX DVD Ripper Platinum v5.9 Giveaway
Contest Entry Details URL : http://www.bayreviews.com/blog/1-general/3382-winx-dvd-ripper-platinum-giveaway
Quote : "You likes free stuff… right? Of course you do! So we are holding our very first contest. That’s right, we are giving away 10 licenses for WinX DVD Ripper Platinum v5.9. "WinX DVD Ripper Platinum can rip the content of DVDs to all popular video formats such as AVI, MOV, FLV, WMV, MPEG, MP4, 3GP, etc. What’s more, it also owns the ability of ripping different DVDs (including encrypted DVDs) to Sony PSP, Apple iPhone, iPod, iTouch, Apple TV, Zune, Mobile phone, etc." You can get more information about it here. We would like to thank our friends at Digiarty Software who were nice enough to give us 10 licenses to giveaway."

==

Brother HL-3070CW LED Printer Review at CCE Reviews
Link: http://www.ccereviews.com/reviews/brother-hl-3070cw-led-printer/
Quote: The HL-3070CW delivers a very high quality black and white or color print perfect for the small office or at home. The overall print speed of 17ppm is fast enough for regular use without breaking the bank. I would have really liked to see the printer bundled with automatic duplex printing. However, the HL-3070CW does feature wireless print capability allowing you to store this printer anywhere there is a power outlet.

==

A Deep Dive Into Thecus NAS Software
QUOTE: "Testing NAS servers is a complicated and time consuming task. For the most part modern NAS products are computers in their own right with some using Intel Core2 Duo processors with 4GB of RAM. When writing a NAS review it is easy to focus on the hardware and capabilities, but often the software, applications and setup functionality take a back seat even though these functions are in many cases just as important as the hardware used.
To help ease the strain on both the reader and the writer, today we are going to cover the latest firmware / software release from Thecus. In a couple of days we will also publish a similar article covering the QNAP firmware / software since these are the two companies that send us a sample every other month and also have such extensive software. We plan to keep these available as living documents with updates published throughout the coming years."
For more information, please visit – http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/3168/a_deep_dive_into_thecus_nas_software/index.html

==

Batterygate II: Exposing Fakes @ MobilityDigest

In my war against crappy cell phone batteries I’ve been dying to dig into the whole Chinese bathtub battery world as doing so could yield more effective and actionable information to use to shake things up and blow off lids than just fighting on the eBay feedback front would offer. But that’s a dark place you may not find on Google (or Pamela) to get access to and information about, one thing I’m hoping HTC can give me if they take my little email seriously. I want them to help me help them help me help you patronize the right people, you dig? That could take a while so I want to hand some of this off to you in case you ever buy a battery on eBay, either a counterfeit OEM, a crappy battery or a crappy counterfeit battery, as one of you might be able, with the right footwork, to crack their Great Wall of Cell Phone Accessory Secrecy. By they I mean China obviously. And Hong Kong and Singapore too at least have some peripheral involvement but we’re dealing with, primarily and as usual, China.

http://www.mobilitydigest.com/batterygate-ii-exposing-fakes/

==

CeBit 2010 Coverage:

CeBIT 2010 – CoolIT Vantage A.L.C @ Vortez.co.uk

CeBIT 2010 Coverage @ Madshrimps

CeBIT 2010 – CoolIT Omni A.L.C @ Vortez.co.uk

CeBIT 2010 – ASUS HD5970 ARES Preview @ Vortez.co.uk

CeBIT 2010 – Does Cooler Master have the X-Factor? The all new HAF X @ Vortez.co.uk

CeBIT 2010 – SteelSeries give an exclusive first look at the new 7H headset @ Vortez.co.uk

CeBIT 2010 – Thermaltake Armor A90, FRIO and a TOP SECRET preview @ Vortez.co.uk

Coverage from BCCHardware:

Day 4 – Patriot @ CeBIT 2010
Day 4 – Arctic Cooling @ CeBIT 2010
Day 4 – Loop @ CeBIT 2010

Day 3 – Silverstone @ CeBIT 2010
Day 3 – Spire @ CeBIT 2010
Day 3 – Scythe @ CeBIT 2010

Day 2 – Enermax @ CeBIT 2010
Day 2 – MSI @ CeBIT 2010

Quick Links:

NZXT LEXA S Crafted Series PC Case Review @DragonSteelMods

THERMALTAKE SILENT 1156 CPU HEATSINK @ APH NETWORKS

Noctua NH-D14 and C12P-SE14 Review  @ XSReviews

DimasTech Bench Table V2.5 @ techPowerUp

Thermaltake Contac 29 Direct Touch CPU Cooler Review @ Legit Reviews

Battlefield Bad Company 2 (PC) Game Review on Technic3D.

Halo Legends HD Movie Review

The Informant Blu-Ray Review @ Ascully.com

SilverStone TJ07 Case Review

SteelSeries 9HD Pro Gaming Surface

Sapphire Radeon HD 5830 Video Card in CrossFire

Hardware Canucks is pleased to present our NVIDIA GeForce GT 240 Roundup featuring cards from EVGA, Gigabyte, MSI & Sparkle.

Coolermaster USP100 Case Review @ High Tech Reviews

In Win Fanqua Mid Tower Chassis Review @ ThinkComputers.org

Gelid Solutions Tranquillo @ LanOC Reviews

Gigabyte H55M-USB3 – The Ultimate $100 H55 Board? @ Techgage

MSI H55-GD65 Gamer Series LGA1156 ATX Motherboard Review

ASUS Maximus III Formula motherboard review @ Elite Bastards

Gigabyte KM7580: Keyboard and Mouse Combo @ Bjorn3D

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 GPU Performance In-depth

iPhone 4G to Include Video Calls: Confirmed by New O2 Tariffs

Overclock3D have just published a new article titled: NZXT Panzerbox

Thermaltake Element V Chassis Review

Steelseries Xai Review  @ XSReviews

UMLan Article Release: Ineo Technologies I-NA205Ue – Review

Razer Naga und Megasoma Review on Technic3D

Newegg Releases Statement Regarding Fake Processors

Cooler Master 690 II Advanced Review at Overclockers Online

Noctua NH-D14 CPU Cooler Review @ BayReviews.com

Steel Series Siberia v2 @ LanOC Reviews

Raidmax Skyline Windowed Mid-Tower Chassis

Cooler Master V8 Heatpipe CPU Cooler Review @ Bigbruin.com

Review: Greed Corp @ Xbox360Digest

Aluratek Cinecam HD DV Camcorder- Review

Related posts:

1. News and Links for March 4th 2010
2. News for Friday March 5th 2010
3. News and Links for February 1st 2010

A new phone for you Cricket subscribers out there!

Cricket Communications, Inc., a leading provider of unlimited wireless services and subsidiary of Leap Wireless International Inc. and Samsung Telecommunications America ¹, the No.1 mobile phone provider in the U.S.², today announced the availability of the new Samsung Stunt™ (SCH-R100).

“The Samsung Stunt provides a slender, smart design and introduces BluetoothTM to our most affordable tier of devices”

A slim, sleek and stylish bar phone, the Samsung Stunt comes loaded with Mobile Web, Games & Apps, Bluetooth^TM, long battery life, speakerphone and voice commands. In addition, Crickets MyBackup, which enables subscribers to automatically protect their mobile contacts without the hassle of data cables, is available via a link in the contact list. The Samsung Stunt is a sophisticated evolution from its predecessor, the Samsung SCH-R211, and features a larger and more vibrant 128 x 160 color display and slimmer design. The Samsung Stunt measures 4.22” x 1.73” x .54” and weighs 2.61 oz.

“The Samsung Stunt provides a slender, smart design and introduces Bluetooth^TM to our most affordable tier of devices,” said Matt Stoiber, vice president and general manager of devices for Cricket. “And with its friendly user interface, it offers a sophisticated experience while remaining easy to use.”

The Samsung Stunt is now available for $99.99 at Cricket retail stores, dealers, mycricket.com and by calling 800-922-9169. For more information, please visit www.mycricket.com or www.samsungwireless.com.

About Cricket

Cricket is the pioneer of simple and affordable unlimited wireless services with no long-term commitments or credit checks required serving more than 4.7 million customers in 35 states and the District of Columbia. Cricket offers wireless voice and broadband Internet services over the latest technology, high-quality, all-digital 3G CDMA2000 1X and 1xEV-DO wireless network. Cricket’s wireless voice service plans include unlimited anytime minutes, unlimited U.S. long distance, unlimited text and picture messaging, unlimited text to Mexico, unlimited Mobile Web, unlimited directory assistance, as well as a variety of calling features and feature-rich mobile applications such as popular games, ringtones and wallpapers. Cricket Broadband provides unlimited Internet access anywhere within Cricket’s coverage areas at speeds comparable to DSL. For more information on Cricket, visit www.mycricket.com. Cricket is offered by Leap Wireless International, Inc., headquartered in San Diego, Calif. For more information on Leap, visit www.leapwireless.com.

Leap is a U.S. registered trademark and the Leap logo is a trademark of Leap. Cricket, Jump, the Cricket “K” and Flex Bucket are U.S. registered trademarks of Cricket. In addition, the following are trademarks or service marks of Cricket: Cricket By Week, Cricket Choice, Cricket Connect, Cricket Nation and Cricket PAYGo. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

About Samsung Telecommunications America

Samsung Telecommunications America, LLC, a Dallas-based subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., researches, develops and markets wireless handsets and telecommunications products throughout North America. For more information, please visit www.samsungmobileusa.com.

About Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2007 consolidated sales of US$105 billion. Employing approximately 150,000 people in 134 offices in 62 countries, the company consists of two main business units: Digital Media & Communications and Device Solutions. Recognized as one of the fastest growing global brands, Samsung Electronics is a leading producer of digital TVs, memory chips, mobile phones and TFT-LCDs. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com.

¹ Samsung Mobile is proud to provide ENERGY STAR-qualified power adapters with its mobile phones and accessories. ENERGY STAR qualified products use less energy, save money, and help protect the environment. Products that have earned the ENERGY STAR meet strict energy-efficiency guidelines set by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department of Energy.

² Based upon reported shipment data, according to Strategy Analytics Q1 2010 U.S. Market Share Handset Shipments Report.

Related posts:

1. Verizon Wireless Announces the Availability of the Samsung Omnia II
2. T-Mobile USA Launches the Samsung Behold II on November 18
3. Hannspree Introduces HannsNote 10″ Ultra-Mobile Laptop PCs

…and Friday is finally here!! Woo-Hoo! Here’s some more news:

Storage Related:

ASUS External Slim Blu-ray Disc Combo SBC-06D1S-U Review
"As reported in our News section on 15th February – ASUS have launched two new external optical drives. ASUS have very kindly provided us with the SBC-06D1S-U to review today. ASUS are a hugely successful company known for their innovative product design and industry leading quality in the world of 3C (Computers, Communications and Consumer Electronics). Let’s take a look at one of their latest external optical drives and see if it continues their excellent pedigree."
LINK: http://www.vortez.co.uk/review.php?id=122

==

Kingston HyperX PC3-17066 (2133MHz) 4GB Kit
QUOTE: "Kingston has a reputation for creating some extremely high quality memory. What this means is that we tend not to see the company jump on the speed train as quick as some other makers do. They want to know when they release a module that it’s going to run 100% across many platforms.
Due to the nature of this, what tends to happen is we see only major step-ups in speed. To give you a better idea from Kingston, we see at the top of the table the 2133MHz DDR kit we have with us today. Moving downwards and we’ve got 2000MHz which was a major release, while below that there are 1800MHz DDR, 1600MHz DDR and 1333MHz DDR modules."

==

Corsair Nova 64GB and Reactor 60GB SSD Review on Technic3D

Link: http://www.technic3d.com/article-1034,1-corsair-nova-64gb-und-reactor-60gb-ssds-im-test-klassentreffen.htm

Translation Link: http://translate.google.de/translate?u=http%3a%2F%2fwww.technic3d.com%2Farticle-1034%2C1-corsair-nova-64gb-und-reactor-60gb-ssds-im-test-klassentreffen.htm&sl=de&tl=en&hl=&ie=UTF-8

Quote: "The Corsair Nova 64GB and Reactor 60GB SSD arrived Technic3D. Available in 60GB, 64GB, 120GB and 128GB configurations. Results in extreme performance with up to 250MB/s sequential read and 130MB/s sequential write speeds? We will check this against the SSDs from OCZ and G.Skill."

==

Corsair 8GB Padlock 2 USB Flash Drive Review  @ Legit Reviews
Article URL: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1229/1/

"The Corsair Padlock 2 USB Flash drive would make an excellent off-site backup drive for your critical data as it offers both the security and portability to make this task a breeze. Overall, the only nitpick I had was the lack of place to secure the cap when the drive is in use. If that’s the only complaint I can come up with, Corsair must be doing something right. I found the Padlock 2 to be simple to use, aesthetically pleasing and darn good at its core function of protecting data. It doesn’t hurt that the price tag is less than many other secure drives at only $55…"

==

‘TwinMOS Mobile Disk Q7 64GB USB Drive Review’
This 64GB USB drive should let you carry plenty of data with you.
http://tech.tbreak.com/2010/02/twinmos-mobile-disk-q7-64gb-usb-drive-review/

==

Verbatim InSight Portable HDD 500GB:
English link: http://www.rbmods.com/content/20033/features.aspx
Swedish link:  http://www.rbmods.se/content/14105/funktioner.aspx

Quote:  We are taking a look at an external HDD from Verbatim today, they sent us a sample of their latest 500GB HDD that is equipped with a display on the front of the eclosure to show how much space is left on the HDD. Lets see how it will perform vs other removable drives.

==

ADAT

A S596 128GB SSD Video Review & Benchmarks

ADATA is a company that is new to us, but is a well established company in the east, making their way west. Watch in this video review as I actually beat this drive on a table a few times and then run it through a gauntlet of tests. This new S596 SSD is a very fast drive and can hold its own agains’t the competition. Check out the full review and I think you will like what you see, its pretty funny to watch just for the verbage and drive beating.

Review Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yjOL6PUt9I

==

Overclock3D have just published a new article titled: Silicon Power E10 and M10 SSDs.

Quote: Today we have a look at two Solid State Drives from the Taiwanese company Silicon Power. Do they cut the mustard?
Link: http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/storage/silicon_power_e10_and_m10_ssds/1

==

Audio/Video Related:

Some Fun With A 6-Screen ATI Eyefinity Configuration:
http://hothardware.com/News/Some-Fun-With-A-6Screem-ATI-Eyefinity-Configuration/

We’re just doing a bit of testing here in the lab today, and wanted give you all a glimpse of what was on the test bench. We have already given you glimpses of AMD’s ATI Eyefinity technology running on more than three screens on a few occasions in the past, but we haven’t had the ability to do any hands-on with the technology up to this point because the Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity 6 Edition and the requisite software wasn’t quite ready yet. Well, it’s here now. And we’ll be able to give you the full scoop very soon. For now, here’s a fun preview…

==

Roku XR Review @ ASE Labs

Link: http://www.aselabs.com/articles.php?id=5623

Quote: Most people should have heard about the ease of use that the Netflix streaming service provides. One of the major components of this ease of use would be the set top boxes that provide the service on TVs. Roku was the original and is still the best way to get streaming Netflix to your TV, right now.

==

Gunnar Optiks Wi-FIVE Digital Performance Eyewear @ Legit Reviews
Article URL: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1224/1/

Quote: "People are spending an ever-increasing amount of time in front of computer screens as our lives become more intertwined with technology. This increase correlates to an increase in health hazards from repetitive motion injuries, neck and back problems, and eye strain. Gunnar has recognized this and has put together a diverse product line dedicated to mitigating the strain we are putting on our eyes with some of their special lens and optic technologies. They sent us over a sample pair of their Wi-FIVE digital performance eyewear from their Catalyst collection to see how effective we felt they were. For $99, if they work as advertised, they should be well worth the investment…"

==

iXBT Labs Review: i3DSpeed, February 2010
Excerpt:
"The i3DSpeed informs you about performance of popular graphics cards and the best price/performance deals in the market. In this issue we updated the test results to reflect the performance of the latest drivers (as of February 2010)."
Article: http://ixbtlabs.com/articles3/i3dspeed/0210/i0210-video-p1.html

==

Mobile Related:

Beware of Counterfeit OEM Batteries @ MobilityDigest

Link: http://www.mobilitydigest.com/beware-of-counterfeit-oem-batteries/

As you can guess these guys fib quite a bit on their numbers (the question being by how much, which is what I’ve been after) and I’ve been holding off on telling you the specifics until I had tested another handful of batteries.

==

XO Skin for iPhone 3Gs
http://www.topreviewshop.com/xo_skin_iphone_3gs
"Need protection for your iPhone 3Gs that can withstand a Dremel drilling? Take a look at the XO Skin."

==

Palm Pixi Plus Review
"What the Honda Civic is to the Accord, the Pixi Plus is to the Pre Plus. While not entirely hobbled, the Pixi flutters in the shadow of the Pre with a smaller screen, a slower processor, and a lower-resolution camera, but balances the handicaps with a lightweight, easy-to-use form factor that finds fans in nearly everyone who handles it. It will have to be the body that sells it. Even with Wi-Fi added for the Plus variant, we find it hard to recommend the stripped down Pixi when the much more capable Pre stands only $70 away."
Link to the review:http://www.digitaltrends.com/product-reviews/cell-phone-reviews/cell-phone-smart-phone-reviews/palm-pixi-plus-review/

==

Review: PDAir Leather Case for Zune HD

The horizontal pouch case has a simple design, with cushioned leather on the front and back that is held together with elastic sides. The case has white stitching, which adds  a nice accent.  The only other adornment is the PDAir logo stamped on the front of the case.

http://www.geardiary.com/2010/03/04/review-pdair-leather-case-for-zune-hd/

==

‘HTC HD2 Smartphone’
We look at what is probably the most best Windows Mobile phone you can purchase today.
The Full Article can be viewed at http://tech.tbreak.com/2010/02/htc-hd2-smartphone/

==

Evercool FIT Notebook Cooler
http://www.topreviewshop.com/evercool_fit_notebook_cooler

"There are a multitude of laptop coolers available, but today we take a look today at a unique cooling product from Evercool – the FIT Notebook Cooler.  It is compatible with just about any notebook or netbook – from 9” to 18” sizes. It’s small enough to carry with you in your laptop bag, and it is also lightweight at only 60g total weight. But how well does it actually cool your laptop? Read on for our testing results."

==

NVIDIA NextGen ION Preview @ t-break

About a year after NVIDIA released the original ION, they are back with the Next Gen touting with a tag line of "10X Performance and 10 Hours of Battery Life."
http://tech.tbreak.com/2010/03/nvidia-nextgen-ion-preview/

==

ASUS G51J 3D 15.6" Gaming Notebook @ Techgage
Link: http://techgage.com/article/asus_g51j_3d_156_gaming_notebook/
Quote: The term "3D" has been used quite a bit over the past couple of months, and as it stands today, there’s a fair bit of content available to those with capable hardware. But on the mobile side of things, support is just beginning to creep in. The first available option was from ASUS, with its G51J 3D, and we’re taking a look at it here.

==

Assorted Stuffs:

The WikiReader @ TechwareLabs

Quote: Love dedicated devices filling your pockets? Here’s a great one for you: The WikiReader. This little guy contains all of Wikipedia for all of your argument winning needs.
LINK: http://www.techwarelabs.com/wikireader/

==

PC Power Supply Protections: They Won’t Always Protect You
Link: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/blog/167
Here is a snippet:
"PC power supplies usually come with some protections. The savvy user will always try to pick one that provides the most protections possible. But having protections available doesn’t mean that the power supply will in fact protect your equipment in case of malfunction. Let’s see why."

==

Join us this week to hear our panel debate over the Apple iPad launch, discuss our latest system guide, and provide a sneak preview of the Radeon HD 5830, among other things.
http://techreport.com/articles.x/18536

==

Techgage’s 5th Birthday Contest – Win a Gaming PC! @ Techgage
Link: http://techgage.com/article/techgages_5th_birthday_contest/
Quote: Techgage has just turned five, so what better reason to celebrate? To help kill two birds with one stone, we’re looking to YOU for input on what we’re doing right, and what you want to see more of (or improve). As a thanks for taking our site survey, you’ll be entered to have a chance at winning our custom-built gaming PC, valued at $4,200!

==

News: XPC maker Shuttle soldiers on, creates laptop ecosystem

Although its toaster-sized XPC barebones systems used to be a regular part of our review coverage, we haven’t heard the Shuttle name quite so much lately. Recently, we decided to check in with Shuttle and see what was new with this unlikely survivor of the consolidation trend in the motherboard business. Turns out Shuttle is still very much alive and kicking, and it’s working on new ways to promote its barebones systems, along with an unusual modular notebook initiative.
http://techreport.com/articles.x/18469

==

An Interview with Dow2Live.com  @ alltern8

Quote: "Most strategy gamers out there are aware of the skill level they possess. You know there are certain players worse than you, and you’re certainly well aware that there are those that destroy you with no problems at all. However beyond playing your game of choice over and over, how’s a fella’ or lady supposed to improve their gaming ability? One way is to watch replays of the pros hacking away at each other.

==

2010 s Top Business Gadgets and Technology Trends
"Good news for modern professionals the future of high-tech is here, and it s rife with opportunities to enhance communications, maximize productivity, and revolutionize the way the way that business is done on nearly every front. As previewed earlier this year at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), a wired wonderland where the hottest gadgets and technology trends of coming months are revealed, the future truly is now. From WiFi-ready, touchscreen-equipped cars to app-enabled home theater components and Skype-compatible TVs that let you videoconference right from your living room screen, there s no end to the commercial possibilities in sight. Imagine selling software programs direct to shoppers right on their 3D HDTV, marketing copies of your latest book for download via digital eReader or filling customers orders right from a shiny new tablet PC."
Link to the feature:http://www.digitaltrends.com/gadgets/top-2010-business-gadgets-and-technology-trends/

==

Join us for this special edition of the TR Podcast in which Jordan and Scott discuss our latest CPU roundup extravaganza.
http://techreport.com/articles.x/18503

==

Gigabyte Media Event At Castle Oudaen

The Dutch media was kindly invited at the lovely city of Utrecht for a pre CeBIT presentation of Gigabyte and Intel Company. Rendez-vous took place at the castle of Oudaen. The major websites and magazines were present. Shrimps was represented by yours truly and [M] reviewer Danny Terwindt. Too bad we heard Intel canceled their presentation at last call, for till now unknown reasons. Without further ado let us quickly guide you through the presentation and show the new toys present.
http://www.madshrimps.be/gotoartik.php?articID=992

==

Four Tech Movies Every IT Pro Should See
Link: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/blog/166
"It doesn’t matter if you are a newcomer to the IT industry or a veteran with over 30 years of expertise: there are some movies that I love and think that all people working on the computer industry should watch. They are entertaining and educative at the same time."

==

Run XP Mode in VirtualBox Instead of Virtual PC

Windows 7 only: If you’ve been itching to use the new XP Mode feature in Windows 7, but you aren’t too keen on using Virtual PC or just prefer VirtualBox, here’s how to use XP Mode in VirtualBox.

http://lifehacker.com/5485879/run-xp-mode-in-virtualbox-instead-of-virtual-pc

==

10 Star Wars Products With Force Power

http://nerdapproved.com/approved-products/10-products-that-impart-the-force/

Was “The Force” simply a figment of George Lucas’ imagination, or is it a real power that is all around us? My guess is that the real Force exists with Star Wars-themed merchandise, and it is constantly beckoning us to open up our wallets. The following 10 Star Wars products have definitely harnessed that power.

==

Hands on: Opera 10.50 makes impressive performance gains

http://arstechnica.com/software/reviews/2010/03/hands-on-opera-1050-makes-impressive-performance-gains.ars

The Opera Web browser has taken a big step forward with the release of version 10.50, a significant update that brings some nice new features and a number of radical improvements under the hood. Opera Software contends that it has taken the lead in performance, leap-frogging its competitors. We conducted benchmarking and some hands-on tests to determine if the new Opera lives up to the hype.

==

Quick Links:

NZXT Tempest @ LanOC Reviews

ASUS X58 Rampage III Extreme Motherboard Preview @ Legit Reviews

AMD’s Radeon HD 5830 graphics card @ T-Break

HIS Digital HD5570 Review @ High Tech Reviews

Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H AMD 890GX Motherboard @ TechwareLabs

AMD’s 890GX Chipset: Low-End Price, High-End Features @ Hardware Canucks

Asus M4A89GTD Pro/USB3 Motherboard Review: AMD’s 890GX Chipset Makes Its Debut

Jetway NC94-510-LF Mini-ITX Atom Motherboard @ TechwareLabs

TITAN, Skalli – Universal CPU cooler Review @ XtremeComputing

Overclock3D have just published a new article titled: Biostar TH55XE H55

Supreme Commander 2 Details @ [OC]ModShop

Thermaltake V3 Black Edition Case Review @ ThinkComputers.org

Evercool Ever Green 40mm Fans @ PCShopTalk

ASUS M4A89GTD Pro/USB3 (AMD 890GX) Motherboard

NZXT M59 Classic Series Mid Tower Chassis

ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 Motherboard Review @ Hardware Secrets

OCZ Gladiator Max CPU Cooler Review at Overclockers Online

Star Trek Online Expansion Details @ [OC]ModShop

Noctua NF-S12B FLX Cooling Fan Review @ [OC]ModShop

A Look at AMD’s 890GX Chipset @ Techgage

AMD 890GX SB850 Chipset Debut: Phenom II X6 Ready @ HotHardware.com

Thermaltake Silent 1156 Heatsink Review @ Ninjalane

Roccat Arvo Gaming Keyboard @ Rbmods

Zalman Z7 Plus Computer Case Review @ Tweaknews

Thermaltake SpinQ VT Heatsink Review @ frostytech.com

Scythe Grand Kama Cross SCKC-2000 Heatsink Review @ Frostytech.com

Corsair Obsidian 800D @ Bjorn3D

XFX RADEON HD 5830 Video Card Review

Arctic Cooling ARCTIC F12 Pro TC Case Fan Review @ Verdis Reviews

iXBT Labs Review: Gigabyte 790XTA-UD4 Motherboard

Thermaltake Element V Full Tower Chassis

OCZ Z Series 1000 W Power Supply Review @ Hardware Secrets

AMD Phenom II X2 555 BE @ Rbmods

Gigabyte GV-567OC-1GI Radeon HD 5670 Videocard Review @ PCSTATS.com

iXBT Labs Review: AMD 785G Motherboard Roundup

Whip It Blu-Ray Review @ Ascully.com

Overclock3D have just published a new article titled: Intel 980x Gulftown

XtremeGear HP-1216B HSF Review at Overclockers Online

ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 890GX Motherboard Review @ Vortez.co.uk

Intel D510MO Mini-ITX Motherboard Review @ Bigbruin.com

Thermalright Venomous X CPU Cooler Review @ Vortez.co.uk

Athlon II X4 635: Quad-Cores Are In @ InsideHW

Thermaltake ISGC-300 CPU Cooler Review @ Tweaknews

ASUS TUF SaberTooth 55i @ Bjorn3D

Noctua NH-D14 @ Bjorn3D

AMD ATI Chips Comparison Table @ Hardware Secrets

SilverStone Fortress FT02 @ Phoronix

Enermax MODU87+ 700W Power Supply Review @ HardOCP

Related posts:

1. News and Links for Tuesday March 9th 2010
2. News and Links for March 4th 2010
3. News for Thursday January 21st 2010

So it’s safe to assume that the bathroom is an essential room of the house.

The bathroom is a getaway… our one true private space.  With today’s technology, bathrooms can become an oasis – a luxury spa and your private retreat.  The bathroom has seen drastic changes since 3000 B.C.

Whether you call it a bathroom, the loo, lavatory or a water closet, check out these innovative ideas that will transform your bathroom into a sanctuary:

Kohler C3 Toilet Seat

Enjoy some quality personal time with the C3 125 Toilet seat. Soothing water is used instead of tissue. A side control operates two self-cleaning wands and warm air dryer. A deodorizer and a self-warming seat rounds out the throne fit for any king.

GROHE Grohtherm Wireless Shower Control

With the Grohtherm Wireless shower control, you can start the shower from your bedroom and by the time you get into the bathroom it will be on and perfectly adjusted to your temperature and flow choices. Now you can easily set the shower to match your mood, and you can do it all remotely.

MirrorVision

Mirror Mirror on the Wall, what is the Basketball score? Not only can you check out the score, you can watch the game! Mirrorvison by Pro Display combines a mirror with an LCD TFT panel, allowing it to pull double duty as both mirror and TV/PC screen.

Water Sensing Shower Head Light

Immerse yourself in water and light with this unique item from Think Geek. The LED show head light shines blue for cold water and red for hot. What’s more, no power connection is required, since it has an internal turbine that generates its own power. You have to agree, this is a bright addition to a luxurious bathroom.

Towel Warmer

This free standing towel stand will heat your towel for a warm, crisp shower experience. Not only that, it will also warm up bath robe, allowing you to have something nice and toasty to snuggle into after the shower.

TV Tub

Designer Karim Rashid has given us a magnificent deep tub that not only allows you to soak away your cares, it also offers entertainment via the enclosed TV at the foot of the tub.  The modern design is executed in Liquid Acrylic Resin, making it antibacterial and easy to care for.

Eago Showers Two Person  Steam Shower

Designed for two, the 3 kw steam shower house features a FM radio and built in whirlpool. The system also offers chromotherapy via an integrated color LED system to set the desired mood, from invigorating and healing to calming and tranquilizing.

Ultimate Clean Toilet

The commode has been the site of a constant battle between man and woman since its invention. But with this unique design from Yanko it converts from urinal to toilet with the push of a button. As if making peace was not enough, it also self-cleans with steam and UV lighting.

VADO Squid Shower Head

The Vado shower head may look like something from a horror movie, but its six heads allow for a nearly-infinite arrangement of water blasts to adjust as you see fit. We’ll let your imagination decide where to point the heads.

Ideal Standard New Idea Super Shower

Dubbed the Supershower, the New Idea from Ideal Standard is adorned with whirlpool jets. The jets are arranged in 8 vertical, 3 dorsal, and 2 atomizing specifically for the face. The system encompasses the therapeutic properties of the Kneipp method, givng you a relaxing and delightful shower experience.

So whether you have the budget to do a whole new bathroom or not… you can always do something to make your time in the bathroom a spa-like experience.  And remember, on the plus side, you can’t go wrong updating bathrooms regarding resale value.

Related posts:

1. High Tech Suits Help 2010 Winter Olympians Compete
2. Budget Friendly Tech Gift Ideas
3. 10 Worst Tech Product Releases

==

Quick Links:

Logitech MX-620 Cordless Laser Mouse @ Benchmark Reviews

Jache 2.1 iPowerSpeaker J6 Review @ GadgetReview

Nexus RX-5300 530W PSU Review @ XtremeComputing

Intel’s Core i3-530 – The Budget Powerhouse? @ Techgage

Thermaltake TR2 RX 750Watt Power Supply Review @ Ninjalane

ASUS RoG Maximus III Extreme LGA 1156 Motherboard Preview @ Hardware Canucks

LUXA2 LM100 Mini HTPC Case @ PCShopTalk

Amacrox Free Earth 85PLUS 650 W Power Supply Review @ Hardware Secrets

SteelSeries Kinzu Optical Mouse Review @ Tech-Reviews.co.uk

Coolermaster Hyper 101 Review  @ XSReviews

ASUS P6X58D Premium Motherboard Review

ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 AMD 890GX Motherboard Review @ PCSTATS.com

ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3: A Fast Inheritor @ InsideHW

NZXT – Hades Crafted Series Computer Case @ TechwareLabs

Cooler Master 750 Watt GX PSU @ Bjorn3D

Indilinx Barefoot Firmware Testing with the RunCore Pro IV SSD

Overclock3D have just published a new article titled: Ozone Gaming Roundup

ECS A890GXM-A Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets

Top 5 Best Heatsink on Frostytech – UPDATED! @ Frostytech.com

AMD 890GX @ Bjorn3D

Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H Motherboard Review – AMD 890GX Chipset @ Legit Reviews

Overclockers.com – MSI 890GXM-G65 Review

Thermaltake V3 Black ATX Mid Tower Case Review @ BayReviews.com

CeBIT Coverage – Day 1 Bundle – BCCHardware

Day 1 – CoolIT @ CeBIT 2010
Day 1 – Reeven @ CeBIT 2010
Day 1 – Matrox @ CeBIT 2010
Day 1 – Gigabyte @ CeBIT 2010
Day 1 – Synology and QNAP NAS at CeBIT 2010
Day 1 – ASRock at CeBIT 2010

Audio / Video Related:

Masscool MP-1370S ‘Media Mate’ Media Player Review @ Legit Reviews
Article URL: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1227/1/

“Today we take a look at Masscool’s MP-1370S “Media Mate” high-definition media player. For us, Masscool is not exactly the first name you think of when you look to buy a HD media server, but the company has been in the business of designing and building HDD enclosures and media players since 2000. The Masscool MP-1370S is designed to not only be a media player that can access your favorite multimedia on your local or remote hard, but users are able to use the player to record to an attached USB device or an installed HDD. Priced at a very economical $100, it supports playing of video up to 1080i resolutions through an HDMI port and includes room for an 3.5” internal SATA hard drive so that you can load up all your favorite multimedia. Even if you don’t install an internal hard drive, the MP-1370S can connect to your local internet via the 10/100 Ethernet connection…”

==

Atomic Floyd TwistJax Review
“UK-based Atomic Floyd has been around for a couple years and has garnered quite a bit of attention, both in Europe and here in the States. At the time of publication, Atomic Floyd offers five different earphones: AirJax, AirDrum, HiDefDrum, HiDefJax and the new TwistJax. With a price of £129 or roughly $200 USD at today s exchange rate, the TwistJax are among the priciest in the Atomic Floyd lineup.”
Link to the review: http://www.digitaltrends.com/product-reviews/mp3-player-reviews/headphone-reviews/atomic-floyd-twistjax-review/

==

Storage Related:

NAS File System Tests by Thecus Explored
QUOTE: “A couple of weeks ago my curiosity turned a light working weekend into a full on charge in exploring the ins and outs of NAS server file systems. While testing the Crucial RealSSD C300, we moved away from the ASUS P6T7 WS SuperComputer motherboard that was used to test storage released products and started using the GIGABYTE X58A-UD7. This left me with a free system at a key time to start taking a deep dive into file systems on NAS servers.
At first it started out as a harmless test with a single drive on a different file system to see what would happen to performance. Forty-eight hours later has evolved into a nonstop Bawls fueled obsession to see how much improvement we could find just by setting our NAS up differently.”

==

OCZ Vertex Limited Edition 100GB Review
http://www.techspot.com/review/250-ocz-vertex-limited-edition/
Roughly a month ago we brought you an early preview of the OCZ Vertex 2 Pro SSD. This uber-fast product was supposed to be part of a new series of drives based on controllers from start-up SandForce. However, as we recently learned OCZ decided to scrap the Vertex 2 Pro altogether due to the high cost of its SF-1500 controller, and instead shift focus to the originally announced Vertex 2 and Vertex 2 EX.

==

Marvell 88SS9174-BJP2 SSD Controller Review @ Benchmark Reviews

DESCRIPTION: Just over two years ago there were only five companies involved in Solid State Drive technology, and as of January 2010 there are nearly 140 names in the business. Without doubt, the SSD market has enjoyed a powerful growth period with relatively painless consumer acceptance. Benchmark Reviews has been on top of the SSD scene since retail products were first introduced at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show. Based on the Marvell 88SS9174-BJP2 SSD processor, the Crucial RealSSD-C300 becomes the industry’s first SATA-6G consumer Solid State Drive. Likewise, the C300 is also the first SSD to use ONFI 2.1 synchronous NAND flash. In this article, Benchmark Reviews inspects the Marvell 88SS9174-BJP2 SSD processor rated for 355/215 MBps read and write speeds.

ARTICLE URL: http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=486&Itemid=60

==

Seagate BlackArmor NAS 220 – Review
Article Clip: Everyone is trying to save some money now a day and by everyone i mean regular joe and companies. It doesn’t matter if you own large or midrange or even small company, you must be concerned with the marketed being highly unstable and of course your assets and cash flow. Purchasing IT equipment is becoming more and more a science thing than anything else. Most small or medium size companies struggle to come up with some kind of budget whether it is renewal or upgrade of the equipment. I am IT Systems Engineer for a medium size company and i know first hand that it is not an easy to per sway my boss to purchase a 40k NAS for data storage. Most people in my positions either spend quite bit of money on equipment or use “bandaids and rubber bands” to prolong some of the IT assets.
Article Link: http://umlan.com/reviews/hardware/h111.html

==

MEGATech Previews – Patriot Memory Sector 5 2250MHz DDR3 Memory Kit Benchmarks

About three weeks ago, Patriot Memory announced their newest Sector 5 2250MHz DDR3 Memory Kits for the Intel Core i5/i7 Processors that utilize Dual Channel memory. That means it’s currently designed for motherboards  with the Intel P55/P55A Chipsets. This 2×2GB Dual Channel DDR3 kit only needs a cool 1.65 volts to maintain its insanely fast stock 2250MHz frequency along with 9-9-9-27 memory timings. Here’s a quick preview of what these modules can do for you!

Direct Link: http://www.megatechnews.com/megatech-previews-patriot-memory-sector-5-2250mhz-ddr3-memory-benchmarks/

==

Western Digital SiliconEdge Blue 256GB SSD Review @ Legit Reviews
Article URL: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1233/1/

“The new WD SiliconEdge Blue SSDs are available in capacities of up to 256 gigabytes (GB) and feature a SATA 3.0 gigabits per second (Gb/s) interface with sequential read speeds up to 250 megabytes per second (MB/s) and sequential write transfer rates up to 170 MB/s. Not bad performance for a mainstream consumer SSD that has is part of the ‘blue’ series of SSDs from WD. Those looking for a little more performance should keep their fingers crossed as we would guess that SiliconEdge Black SSDs are on the way in the future.Today, we have the WD SiliconEdge Blue 256 GB (SSC-D0256SC-2100) SSD and we’ll be taking an in-depth look at the drives features, internal components and the performance of the drive…”

==

WD SiliconEdge Blue 256GB SSD Review:
http://hothardware.com/Articles/WD-SiliconEdge-Blue-256GB-SSD-Review/

Storage is going solid state and the move to acquire Silicon Systems back in March of 2009, was a very deliberate course of action for WD that spoke clearly about their intentions.  We’ve heard rumblings of offerings forthcoming from WD’s primary competitor, Seagate, as well but today WD makes it real with their new SiliconEdge line of SSD products.  We’ve taken a 256GB SiliconEdge Blue drive out for a spin, or perhaps lack thereof, and have our impressions posted on the pages ahead of WD’s first foray into solid state drive technology…

==

Western Digital SiliconEdge Blue 256GB Solid State Drive
QUOTE: “When it comes to solid state drives the controller is the heart of the drive. There are SSDs on the market that are using bottom of the barrel, slow as molasses NAND flash, but their controller is able to make it all come together. Most of the time we are able to find out what controller is in a product and have a very good idea about the drives performance.
As it sits right now I have no idea what controller is in the Western Digital SiliconEdge Blue. To further aid to the confusion the cache is larger than anything we have tested before. The good thing is that when we buy SSDs we are rarely buying a name or the laser etches found on the controller. Pricing, performance, overall value between the two, length of warranty and a company’s reputation on standing behind their products is what we are breaking our wallets out for.”

==

G.Skill ECO Kit 4 GB PC3-12800U CL7-8-7

Link:http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/GSkill/F3-12800CL7D-4GBECO

Brief:G.Skill is offering a full range of P55 compatible memory kits, with the ECO being one of them. As the name implies, the memory aims to deliver the most performance while only requiring a mere 1.35V to run at 1600 MHz CL7-8-7.

==

Kingston SSDNow V+ Series 128GB SSD
Quote: It is always interesting when a new controller steps into the market for SSDs and today we are looking at the Kingston SSDNow V+ Series with the new Toshiba T6UG1XBG drive controller. Will this new controller be a step up or another JMicron disaster? Read on to find out.
Link: http://www.hardwarelogic.com/articles.php?id=5631

==

QNAP TS-259 Pro Turbo NAS Review at CCE Reviews
Link: http://www.ccereviews.com/reviews/qnap-ts-259-pro-turbo-nas/
Quote: Good things come in small packages and the QNAP TS-259 Pro is exactly that. You shouldn’t be fooled by the small footprint. Packed inside this small chassis is a very powerful dual core Intel Atom processor with 1GB of memory. The result is a powerful server capable of RAID 1 performance with little overhead loss or a lightning quick RAID 0 configuration. If you’re strictly concerned about numbers, the TS-259 Pro will easily put up 100MB/s+!

==

OCZ Technology 60GB Agility Series SATAII SSD Review

When recently asked what SSD would be ideal for regular users, that doesn’t cost too much, but contains quality components, I found myself going back over my notes. I found myself considering what kind of controller is used inside an SSD rather than basing it off the name brand. The controller is a major component that can make or break performance. And, it doesn’t hurt if an SSD has a little extra cache to maintain transfer rates.

Direct Link:http://www.futurelooks.com/ocz-technology-60gb-agility-series-sataii-ssd-review/

==

Thecus N2200

Link:http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Thecus/N2200

Brief:The N2200 is an entry level dual bay NAS. It has a fairly long list of features without making it overly complex to configure, plus it comes at a low price. Since Thecus seems confident about the N2200 we took a closer look at it to see if this is justified.

==

OCZ Vertex Limited Edition, Sandforce Powered SSD
http://hothardware.com/articles/OCZ-Vertex-LE-Sandforce-Powered-SSD-Review/

When we first took a look at OCZ’s Vertex 2 Pro series SSD back in February, we noted that our evaluation was a product “preview” due to the fact that the product was still being finalized in many ways and wasn’t yet available on the open market.  Little did we know that exact product would never see the light of day in retail.  In fact, the Vertex Limited Edition SSD that we’re taking a look at here today, will only be available in a limited 5K unit batch release from OCZ. That’s not to say that good things don’t come in limited quantities though.

==

OCZ Technology’s Vertex 2 Pro 100GB Solid State Disk
QUOTE: “As time goes on we are seeing what was once enterprise-only technology being weaved into consumer products. Dual core processors have eliminated the need for dual processor systems used for A/V production. In the storage field we have the adaption of 10K platter speeds and technological advances like Native Command Queuing.
Today we are looking at the OCZ Technology Vertex 2 Pro. What makes the Vertex 2 Pro so special is that it uses one of the first true enterprise grade solid state controllers and pairs it with low cost consumer grade Multi-Level Cell (MLC) NAND flash memory.”

==

Patriot Valkyrie 2-Bay NAS Review @ Tweaknews
Article Url: http://www.tweaknews.net/reviews/patriot_valkyrie/
Article Snippet:
“Given the fairly large feature set wrapped up in a well constructed, attractive unit, the Valkyrie is a good buy for those in the market for a simple home NAS. It supports up to 4TB of storage and has all the most commonly used functions like an FTP server, print server, media server, and one touch backup to an external device.”

Mobile Related:

nitroX X835 and X735 Bluetooth Headset @ Bjorn3D

nitroX has shipped us their X835, a Bluetooth handsfree kit, and X735, a Bluetooth stereo headset, for review. Let’s take a look at these Bluetooth devices for your portable player and cellphones.
http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1802

==

‘Nokia C5, the el cheapo smartphone’
No, not el cheapo as in cheap and crappy necessarily but el cheapo as in cheap and very affordable. The just unveiled Nokia C5 will be available in the second quarter of 2010 (including the MEA market)    at an expected retail price of just under AED 700.
That doesn’t seem like a dirt-cheap [...]
The Full Article can be viewed at http://tbreak.com/tech/2010/03/nokia-c5-the-el-cheapo-smartphone/

==

MSI to debut worlds first full HD 3D all-in-one PC

MSI are going to be showcasing their new range of all in one pcs at the forthcoming CeBIT expo in Hanover from March 2nd to March 6th 2010 and amongst them there’s one product that’s bound to attract a lot of attention. It is the world’s first large screen full high definition 3D all in one computer designed for the 3D home experience. The press release says it all.

==

Verbatim Nano Wireless Notebook Mouse
Quote: Add a dash of color and style to your day, with Verbatim’s Color Nano Wireless Mouse. In six new colors, this mouse travels well in tight spaces. With a receiver that’s small enough to plug into your laptop and leave, it offers 2.4 GHz wireless performance – that means no delays in cursor movements and fewer cords to pack. The receiver also slides right into the bottom of the mouse for safekeeping. Its sleek design offers a smooth, contoured comfort grip for right or left hand and a programmable roller button. Small enough to fit easily in work totes, backpacks or even handbags, Verbatim’s Color Nano Notebook Mouse offers cool colors to match your laptop, your bag or even your mood.
Link: http://www.aselabs.com/articles.php?id=5624

==

Cooler Master NotePal ErgoStand Review @ ThinkComputers.org

Review URL: http://www.thinkcomputers.org/cooler-master-notepal-ergostand-review/

Quote: “Lately these days many people are purchasing a notebook cooler when they purchase a new laptop. This is because many laptops still get very hot and many notebook coolers also act as a stand for their laptop. Today we will be taking a look at the NotePal ErgoStand from Cooler Master, which not only is a notebook cooler it acts as a notebook stand as well with 5 adjustable viewing angles. It also features a large 140mm fan, 4-port USB hub and a great ergonomic design. Let’s take a look…”

==

NVIDIA ION 2 Preview, Optimus Enabled:
http://hothardware.com/Articles/NVIDIA-NextGeneration-ION-2-Preview-Optimus-Enabled/

Ever since NVIDIA’s original ION chipset proved it was possible to pair Intel’s low-power Atom processor to a relatively powerful graphics core and attain acceptable multimedia performance, the market has been curious as to what NVIDIA’s Ion 2 Next-Generation Ion product might offer. This has also been a topic of some discussion between Intel, NVIDIA, and the FTC. Because Intel’s next-generation Atom platform is a system-on-chip (SoC), NVIDIA had to adjust its own plans for NG-Ion…

==

Second Generation NVIDIA ION Announced @ Legit Reviews
Article URL: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1234/1/

Quote: “The next generation of the NVIDIA ION architecture brings some much needed changes in order to bring forth the performance desired by low-power, low-performance mobile users. While we have heard the ION 2 name bounced around leading up to the launch, it seems NVIDIA is just referring to the platform changes as the next generation of NVIDIA ION. So for those researching which netbook to purchase, keep in mind that NVIDIA ION netbooks and nettops featuring an Intel Atom N2xx or N3xx processor have the previous generation of ION with shared graphics and system memory. NVIDIA ION systems with an Intel Atom N4xx, D4xx or D5xx processor would have the new generation of NVIDIA ION with dedicated graphics memory instead of sharing with the system memory…”

==

Hardware Canucks is pleased to present A Look at NVIDIA’s Next Generation ION.

Article URL: http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/29377-look-nvidia-s-next-generation-ion.html

Quote: There is no denying that Intel’s Atom family of processors are extremely popular and that companies are clamoring to get products out which feature it.  NVIDIA’s original ION blazed the trail for better performing netbooks but with the release of the Pineview series of Atom processors, they needed to rethink their approach.  In this article, we take a look at the next generation ION and all it has to offer.

==

WildCharge Wireless Charging Pad and iPhone 3G Adapter Case
QUOTE: “I have always been a fan of new technology. I enjoy the implementation, creation and even the way it is marketed to the consumer (for good or bad). I am sure this is no surprise to you (given what I do for a living), but what might surprise you is that I am even more intrigued by the recent resurgence of old ideas that are finally coming to light as new technology.
Today we are looking at another resurrected technology; this time from WildCharge. WildCharge is another of the companies that is working very hard to make wireless charging a standard. They offer one of the least expensive options for wireless charging with the WildCharger Pad and iPhone/iPod Touch Skin bundle running only $80 or so. We have their WildCharger pad and a single iPhone case in the lab to see how well it works.”

==

An Insight to NVIDIAs Next-Gen ION Platform
QUOTE: “NVIDIA made many of us sit up and take notice of the hardware acceleration of HD video in netbooks and nettops back in 2009 at CES when the company showed off its first ION chip. The device took a while to come to market, but it eventually did and was welcomed by those looking for better HD video performance and graphics in small netbooks and nettops.
NVIDIA is now unveiling the successor to the original ION platform; this referred to as Next-Generation ION by NVIDIA, but often called ION 2 in the media. So far the only product to have been unveiled using the platform is the Acer Aspire One 532G. NVIDIA is betting big on the new platform and sees a huge market for netbooks moving forward, especially those that use quality graphics like ION.”

==

Lenovo IdeaPad U150 Review
“Call it a netbook if you must, but Lenovo s U150 shines where many that share the category name crumble and fail. With an 11.6-inch high-resolution display, dual-core processor and a keyboard fit for the novelist, Lenovo s U150 stands as one of the most livable ultra-portables we ve tested.”
Link to the review:http://www.digitaltrends.com/product-reviews/laptop-reviews/netbook-reviews/lenovo-ideapad-u150-review/
==

Speck CorePack Fly Laptop Messenger Bag Review @ ThinkComputers.org

Review URL: http://www.thinkcomputers.org/speck-corepack-fly-laptop-messenger-bag-review/

Quote: “One of the biggest pains of traveling is going through security. I hate having to always take my laptop out of my bag. Usually my bag is stuffed with gear so its always a struggle to get it out without something getting into the way. Lately we have seen many companies come out with “checkpoint safe” laptop bags that make it so you don’t have to take out your laptop when going through security. The thing about these bags is that they are noit attractive at all. This is where Speck comes in with the CorePack Fly bag, which is available in 2 very attractive colors.”

Assorted Stuffs:

CyberPower AVRLCD UPS Battery Backup for PCs @ Benchmark Reviews

DESCRIPTION: It’s no secret that our cherished computers and personal electronic devices all depend on electricity. They can’t live without power, and we feel powerless without them. Conscious of our need for continuous productivity, CyberPower Systems has built an entire battery backup product line designed to supply uninterrupted power to our PCs and HDTVs. So when winter storms come or summer brown-outs occur, there’s no reason why your small business or home office should stop working. A sudden power-outage shouldn’t mean crashing your computer system in the middle of an exciting video game, and an enjoyable movie should not need to restart. In this article Benchmark Reviews demonstrates how important CyberPower UPS battery-backup devices are for sustained computing as their Intelligent LCD Series CP825AVRLCD, CP1000AVRLCD, and CP1500AVRLCD models are put to test.

ARTICLE URL: http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=471&Itemid=71

==

Take Ownership of Windows 7 and Vista Files with a Shortcut
http://www.techspot.com/guides/253-take-ownership-windows-files/
While Windows 7 is a largely polished upgrade from Vista, a few headaches have carried over. Among them is a security feature that assigns ownership of many system and program files to an entity called “TrustedInstaller.” Such a design is useful in the presence of inexperienced users, who might otherwise accidentally delete or modify important files. However, for the tech savvy, it can be an aggravating obstacle.

==

Windows PC-Fax Directly from Adobe Acrobat PDF @ Benchmark Reviews

DESCRIPTION: We here at Benchmark Reviews are probably just like you, when we hear “digital communication” we think e-mail, Facebook, twitter, or maybe a discussion forum. But there is a form of digital communication that predates all of these: the facimile. There are times when you just have to send a fax. Financial, legal, and medical matters often require that a signed form or letter be sent via fax. OK, but what if you don’t own a fax machine? It seems that fewer and fewer of us have fax machines these days, especially with the growth of e-mail and web-based fax services. But what if you don’t have one of these either? Well, luckily for us, Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7 include a fax service. And Adobe Acrobat provides a perfect multiplatform application from which to fax. With Windows & an Acrobat PDF file, you can fax directly from your PC. We’re not only going to show you how to use the Windows fax service, we’re also going to review ! a simple USB fax modem hardware solution from Rosewill if your computer didn’t come with one.

ARTICLE URL: http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=470&Itemid=38

==

Related posts:

1. News and Links for Tuesday March 9th 2010
2. News and Links for February 20th 2010
3. News for Friday March 5th 2010

"The Nokia 5230 Nuron is a great product of our collaboration with T-Mobile USA and provides consumers with more compelling mobile experiences as they navigate, watch video, play games and social network," said Mark Slater, Vice President, Sales, Nokia. "The Nokia Nuron offers U.S. consumers a unique and compelling mobile experience that caters to their everyday needs and enables them to connect to their passions with an affordable 3G touch smartphone."

The Nokia Nuron is a mobile solution that allows consumers to easily make their way around town, download content and applications to keep them entertained, or help to manage their busy lives. Consumers can keep up with friends and family via IM, text, personal or work e-mail, and offers the ability to easily surf the Web with a full HTML browser.

"Many of our customers are looking for smartphones that deliver a great mobile Web experience with access to games and applications, all at an affordable price," said Travis Warren, director, product marketing, T-Mobile USA. "We are excited to partner with Nokia to offer our customers the Nokia 5230 Nuron, a 3G smartphone for the masses that delivers features like a full touch screen, free turn-by-turn navigation and a premium storefront for applications."

The Nokia Nuron is the first U.S. carrier -supported Nokia smartphone to pre-load Ovi Maps, a solution from Nokia that offers consumers free turn-by-turn directions and navigation. Additionally, Ovi Maps makes it easy to discover great places to eat, concerts, movies and more with Lonely Planet guides. Other features include the ability to check the weather forecast and even share one’s current location on Facebook. With pedestrian navigation, Ovi Maps delivers the best routes through pedestrian zones and shortcuts as well as pathways through parks and buildings. Exploring the world or rediscovering your own city has never been easier or more fun with Ovi Maps. Nokia Nuron also comes preloaded with maps for the USA, Canada and Mexico – with the ability to access over 180 country maps at http://www.nokiausa.com/maps.

The Nokia Nuron will be the first device from a national U.S. carrier to come pre-loaded with Ovi Store by Nokia – giving consumers access to thousands of applications and other exciting content.

T-Mobile also plans to simplify the purchase experience for its customers and expects to enable them to pay for this great content by having it billed to their monthly bill or via a credit card.

To learn more about Ovi by Nokia, or for more information on how to develop for Ovi Store, please visit http://www.ovi.com/ and http://publish.ovi.com/, respectively.

Availability

The Nokia 5230 Nuron is expected to be available on in the coming weeks in select T-Mobile retail stores and online at http://www.t-mobile.com/. For more information, please visit http://www.nokiausa.com/NokiaNuron or http://www.t-mobile.com/.

Use of some features or services may incur separate, additional charges and/or require a qualifying data plan. 3G coverage is available in locations nationwide, but may not be available everywhere. For more details on where T-Mobile network coverage is available, please visit www.t-mobile.com/coverage.

About Nokia

Nokia is a pioneer in mobile telecommunications and the world’s leading maker of mobile devices. Today, we are connecting people in new and different ways – fusing advanced mobile technology with personalized services to enable people to stay close to what matters to them. We also provide comprehensive digital map information through NAVTEQ; and equipment, solutions and services for communications networks through Nokia Siemens Networks.

About T-Mobile USA, Inc.

Based in Bellevue, Wash., T-Mobile USA, Inc. is the U.S. wireless operation of Deutsche Telekom AG. By the end of the fourth quarter of 2009, almost 152 million mobile customers were served by the mobile communication segments of the Deutsche Telekom group — 33.8 million by T-Mobile USA — all via a common technology platform based on GSM and UMTS, the world’s most widely used digital wireless standards. T-Mobile USA’s innovative wireless products and services help empower people to connect to those who matter most. Multiple independent research studies continue to rank T-Mobile among the highest in numerous regions throughout the U.S. in wireless customer care and call quality. For more information, please visit http://www.t-mobile.com/. T-Mobile is a federally registered trademark of Deutsche Telekom AG.

=Web Site: http://www.nokia.com/

Related posts:

1. Free Nokia Maps – Now Available
2. Google Mobile Maps for N95
3. Microsoft to Deliver New Generation of Windows Phones on Oct. 6

WD®, the world’s leader in external storage solutions, today introduced its new My Passport(TM) Studio(TM) portable drives featuring the super-fast FireWire® 800 interface and a customizable e-label that’s always visible, even when the drive is unplugged. Sporting a sleek and stylish design, the new high-performance My Passport Studio drives are formatted for Mac® computers, compatible with Apple® TimeMachine® software, and feature automatic and continuous backup with WD SmartWare(TM) software, and 256-bit hardware-based encryption. Available now at select retailers and shopwd.com, the new My Passport Studio drives are offered in capacities of 320 GB, 500 GB and 640 GB.

WD’s My Passport Studio drives are designed for creative professionals and Mac enthusiasts. Their production and use of many large files require the fast transfers from computer to My Passport Studio drives that FireWire 800 provides. Professionals such as photographers also benefit from the e-labeling system to effectively organize their work.

The e-label smart display on the front of the My Passport drives can be changed as often as desired using the included WD SmartWare software. Users can easily create a label to personalize their drive or remind themselves of its contents. The e-label also shows available capacity and whether the drive is locked. Utilizing e-paper technology, the information on the display remains clearly visible, even when the drive is unplugged.

According to research firm Parks Associates, the average U.S. broadband household currently has over 120 GB of digital media and files which is projected to grow to over 1 TB of data by 2013.

"Many of our customers store their content on multiple external drives, making it difficult to know what content is on each drive," said Dale Pistilli, vice president of marketing of WD’s Branded Products group. "The e-label smart display is an elegant and practical solution for organizing and keeping track of one’s digital life and work. WD SmartWare software makes it easy for users to protect their valuable content with automatic and continuous backup and encryption."

The new My Passport Studio is fully compatible with Apple TimeMachine software for easy backup of your most important files. It also offers the option of the simple and intuitive WD SmartWare software, with automatic continuous backup and real-time visual interface, giving users a reassuring view of their backup as it happens. After the first backup, users’ files are backed up automatically every time they change or add a file.

My Passport Studio drives also feature user-selected password protection combined with 256-bit hardware-based encryption, which scrambles files before they are stored. Typically found only on much more expensive drive systems, the encryption acts as a virtual padlock to keep users’ data safe.

Price and Availability

The new My Passport Studio drives are offered in capacities of 320 GB, 500 GB and 640 GB and have a 3-year limited warranty. My Passport Studio ultra-portable drives are available now at select retailers and online at shopwd.com. MSRP for the My Passport Studio drives ranges from $149.99 USD to $199.99 USD depending on capacity.

  My Passport Studio

  The new WD My Passport Studio ultra-portable drives feature:
  --  Smart display - a customizable e-label that reminds users of what is
      stored on the drive and provides available capacity and security
      status at a glance even when the drive is unplugged;
  --  FireWire 800 - users can save and access data at top speeds with the
      high-performance FireWire 800 interface;
  --  Plug-and-play, designed for use with Mac computers and compatibility
      with Apple TimeMachine software;
  --  WD SmartWare software that visually presents consumers' data in a
      software control center;
  --  256-bit hardware-based encryption and password protection for peace of
      mind knowing that data is protected from unauthorized access;
  --  USB 2.0 interface - for convenience and compatibility among multiple
      computers;
  --  Planet-friendly packaging derived from recycled materials to minimize
      waste;
  --  HFS+ Journaled formatting and are compatible with Mac OS X Tiger®,
      Leopard® and Snow Leopard®; and,
  --  3-year limited warranty.

  WD SmartWare Software
  WD SmartWare software features:
  --  Visual backup displays that show content in categories and shows the
      progress of backup;
  --  Automatic, continuous data backup will instantly make a second copy
      whenever you add or change a file;
  --  Retrieve valuable data to its original location whether it's lost data
      or the file has been overwritten; and,
  --  Customizable data backup that allows users to set drive security, run
      diagnostics, manage the power settings, and more from the WD SmartWare
      control center.

  About WD

WD, one of the storage industry’s pioneers and long-time leaders, provides products and services for people and organizations that collect, manage and use digital information. The company designs and produces reliable, high-performance hard drives and solid state drives that keep users’ data accessible and secure from loss. Its advanced technologies are configured into applications for client and enterprise computing, embedded systems and consumer electronics, as well as its own consumer storage and media products.

WD was founded in 1970. The company’s storage products are marketed to leading OEMs, systems manufacturers, selected resellers and retailers under the Western Digital® and WD brand names. Visit the Investor section of the company’s Web site (www.westerndigital.com) to access a variety of financial and investor information.

Western Digital, WD, My Passport and the WD logo are registered trademarks; My Passport Studio and WD SmartWare are trademarks of Western Digital Technologies, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. Other marks may be mentioned herein that belong to other companies. All other brand and product names mentioned herein are the property of their respective companies. As used for storage capacity, one gigabyte (GB) = 1 billion bytes. One terabyte (TB) = one trillion bytes. Total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment.

Web Site: http://www.westerndigital.com/

Related posts:

1. Fujifilm IP-10 Digital Passport Camera System with F480 Digital Camera
2. Cricket Introduces Samsung Stunt
3. Apple Introduces Magic Mouse — The World’s First Multi-Touch Mouse

News, News and More news.. lots of links for you today, check them out…

Storage Related:

Kingston SSDNow V+ 128GB (SNVP325-S2/128GB) @ Bjorn3D

Suitable applications include power users, system builders, system integrators and demanding corporate environments where efficiency and performance are important. With the results we’ve seen from the drives, they would boast a performance gain for any system not running a solid state drive.
http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1796

==

Toshiba HG2 43nm 256GB Solid State Drive (SSD) Review @ Legit Reviews
Article URL: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1230/1/

"The 256GB Toshiba HG2 Series drive that we benchmarked proved to be a solid performing mainstream SSD from our testing. The vast majority of file transfers in Windows are sequential read and write data moves and the HG2 had very respectable sequential speeds. For example in ATTO we were able to reach 241MB/s read and 177MB/s write. These are the types of speeds that we would expect for a mainstream SSD in 2010. The Toshiba HG2 Series of SSDs also supports TRIM, which is is critical in making sure your drive is performing at the top of its game…."

==

G.Skill ECO DDR3-1600 (PC3 12800) Memory at Modders-Inc
Summary: Everyone is talking about Triple Channel DDR3 as of lately but what about Dual Channel? Those of you that have taken the plunge into the new P55 platform know what I am talking about. Today we will be looking at a set of Dual Channel Memory Modules form G.Skill, the overclockers friend
Articles URL: http://www.modders-inc.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=314

==

WD 1TB Caviar Green Hard Drive w/ Advanced Format @ HotHardware

http://hothardware.com/Articles/WDs-1TB-Caviar-Green-w-Advanced-Format-Windows-XP-Users-Pay-Attention/

Western Digital recently began to ship a new series of Caviar hard drives that included the company’s Advanced Format technology. The new Caviar Green models are nearly identical to their standard brethren, but offer double the cache (64MB instead of 32MB at 1-2TB) and have a different model number. A WD10EARS is an Advanced Format drive; a WD10-EADS is a ‘normal’ drive. WD isn’t marketing Advanced Format much at the moment, but it’s important to understand what the technology is and how it works, particularly if you’re still running Windows XP…

==

ineo I-NA301Ue HD Enclosure Review @ TopReviewShop

http://www.topreviewshop.com/ineo_i_na301ue_hard_drive_enclosure
"There are a multitude external hard drive enclosures on the market, so we take a close look and test out the ineo I-NA301Ue can stand out above the competition."

==

RaidSonic Icy Box IB-318 and IB-250 USB 3.0 HDD Enclosures Video Review
QUOTE: "It’s been some weeks since I last checked out a USB 3.0 product and that was early on in the game. Fast forward a little and in that time many motherboards have hit the market complete with USB 3.0 and it’s easier to find USB 3.0 PCI Express controller cards on the market, too.
Our next USB 3.0 products to be put through the paces come by way of German company RaidSonic. They actually sent us their new Icy Box USB 3.0 products several weeks ago when USB 3.0 was first hitting the market, but with Christmas, New Year, CES, a holiday and Chinese New Year, things have been rather hectic. Today, though, we can tell you about these products for you folks who are interested in getting in touch with the speed advantage of USB 3.0 for your external storage needs."
 http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/3156/raidsonic_icy_box_ib_318_and_ib_250_usb_3_0_hdd_enclosures_video_review/index.html

==

Corsair Flash Padlock 2 8GB USB Flash Drive Review @ ThinkComputers.org

Review URL: http://www.thinkcomputers.org/corsair-flash-padlock-2-8gb-usb-flash-drive-review/

Quote: “Four years ago Corsair introduced the Flash Voyager USB drive, a USB drive that was practically indestructible. A Year after that they came out with the Flash Padlock, u USB drive that had a keypad on the front that allowed you to lock and unlock it to protect your data. It seems Corsair has put the two together and released the Flash Padlock 2, which is basically the Flash Voyager with the Padlock keypad on the front. So not only can you protect your data with a key code you get the awesome protection of the Flash Voyager design.

==

EXCLUSIVE: SilverStone HDDBoost Hybrid SSD / HDD Device Review @ Hardware Canucks

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/29176-silverstone-hddboost-review.html

Quote: Many people have shied away from SSDs due to their somewhat limited storage capacity and high price for the drives.  Spindle-based hard drives on the other hand have massive amounts of storage space but lack the performance of SSDs.  SilverStone’s $50 HDDBoost looks to marry the best of both worlds by allowing us to seamlessly link a budget SSD to a hard drive for increased performance.  However, does it work?

==

Sans Digital Towerraid TR5UT(-B) @ TechwareLabs

Join us with our review of the Sans Digital Towerraid TR5UT(-B) which could be the storage answer you need for your small business, home, laptop, and desktop. With a capacity of up to 10TB of space you won’t run out of storage anytime soon. We show you the TR5UT(-B) inside and out and test its performance
LINK: http://www.techwarelabs.com/sans-digital-towerraid-tr5ut-b/

==

Kingston SSDNow V+ Series SNVP325-S2B 512GB Gen 2 Solid State Drive
QUOTE: "Kingston Technology was very quick to jump on the solid state bandwagon. Their first offerings were more or less rebadged Intel products, but at the time Kingston chose the fastest drive we had ever seen and that strategy worked out well. Later Kingston chose to take what they learned from the Intel offerings and went to work on their own configurations. Right at the start Kingston showed promise as they finally were able to tame the Jmicron controller allowing for shudder free operation and then moving onto Samsung controllers in the V and V+ Series.
At CES we had a chance to sit down with Kingston and learned about a new Toshiba controller that was set to power the new Second Generation V+ Series of products. Toshiba invented NAND Flash and they have the experience to not only make the controller, but also the flash that runs seamlessly with it. For over a year we heard about massive capacity solid state drives, but most of these have been concocted from two smaller drives sandwiched together with a low cost miniature RAID controller. This is not the case with the second gen V+ Series 512GB model we’re looking at today."
- http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/3147/kingston_ssdnow_v_series_snvp325_s2b_512gb_gen_2_solid_state_drive/index.html

==

Overclock3D have just published a new article titled: G.Skill Pi Series 17600 4GB Kit.
Quote: G.Skill have launched the Pi Series of RAM and today we have the 2200MHz P55 kit to test. Is such speed worth the investment?
Link: http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/memory/g_skill_pi_series_17600_4gb_kit/1

==

Audio/Video:

Boston Acoustics VS 344 Review
"Chances are you are familiar with Boston Acoustics. That s because the company has been producing quality speakers for the home audio market for over 30 years and, more recently, has led innovations in mobile audio as well."
Link to the review:
http://www.digitaltrends.com/product-reviews/home-audio-reviews/speakers-and-subwoofers-reviews/boston-acoustics-vs-344-review/

==

Zalman Trimon ZM-M220W 22" Stereoscopic Monitor Impressions @ [OC]ModShop

While visiting Zalman at a few trade shows, I was introduced to their new stereoscopic 3d monitor: the Zalman Trimon 22-inch monitor. nVidia has been showing off their own solutions that use any regular monitor, so what makes this monitor different, and why would you want to buy one?
I spoke with Richard Chung of Zalman, who gave me the lowdown on thi explained to me the differences between the Zalman monitor and nVidia’s 3d solution. For one, this 22-inch 3D LCD monitor
is optmized for gaming purposes, supporting 3D and 2D realizations.

Review URL :: http://www.ocmodshop.com/ocmodshop.aspx?a=1668

==

Mionix Keid 20 Gaming Headphones

In the past we have reviewed several gaming mice and gaming surfaces from a company called Mionix. They are based out of Sweden with a good reputation in Europe for their gaming products and accessories. Now they are trying to establish themselves as an elite gaming peripheral company in the States. Today we will be looking at their first entry into the gaming audio market – the Keid 20. This headset is named after a star system and Mionix hopes this headset will shine as brightly as its namesake. The Keid 20 is an ergonomically designed gaming headset which features passive noise reduction and sound optimized for gaming. The ear cups are made with special memory foam that conforms to the shape of the user’s ears.

So let’s take a closer look at Mionix’s first foray into the gaming headset market. Let’s get started…….

http://www.dragonsteelmods.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15839&Itemid=1

==

Asus Xonar D1 @ Bjorn3D

While most motherboards come with great onboard sound, some of us feel it just isn’t enough. This is especially apparent in the so called ‘audiophile’ type of people. If you crave the most realistic sound then you just might fall into this category. The audio that comes with any motherboard is generally far from the best, but recently the quality has been improving. Almost all onboard sound is 24 bit, which is considered high quality. The ASUS Xonar D1 that we are reviewing today is also 24 bit but what makes it any better than onboard audio?
The secret lies in the SNR (signal to noise ratio). Audio cards such as the Xonar D1 have a much better ratio when compared to onboard sound. According to Asus, the D1 has 35x cleaner audio quality than most motherboard audio. This of course does not apply to all motherboard audio, so you will find the occasional exception. Today we have a Asus P6X58D motherboard, which can be considered to have high end audio. Lets see if the D1 has enough to beat out the P6X58D’s onboard audio.
http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1792

==

Kodak EasyShare C713 7MP 3x Optical/5x Digital Zoom HD Camera Reviewed @ MobilityDigest

http://www.mobilitydigest.com/kodak-easyshare-c713-7mp-3x-optical5x-digital-zoom-hd-camera-reviewed/

I’m back with another review of a product from our friends at Geeks.com. It’s one of many Kodak digital  cameras on the market today, specifically it’s the EasyShare C713 7MP camera. The name Kodak is one that’s been around for a long time when it comes to camera, so one would think they know what they’re doing when it comes to photography right? This camera is your sort of basic point and shoot, it’s small and portable so you can take it with you easily. The pictures taken with it aren’t too bad for what it is. The 3x optical zoom works well but the digital zoom is lacking a bit though that’s normal for most any level of digital zooming. The C713 I got is a refurbished product, but it looks brand new, not a mark on it at all. So read on to learn a bit more about this camera…

==

Roku XR
Quote: Most people should have heard about the ease of use that the Netflix streaming service provides. One of the major components of this ease of use would be the set top boxes that provide the service on TVs. Roku was the original and is still the best way to get streaming Netflix to your TV, right now.
Link: http://www.aselabs.com/articles.php?id=5623

==

AirLive 802.11n Review

Link:http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AirLive/Wireless_N_Review

Brief:
With wireless N or 802.11n based networks becoming more and more popular these days, we take a look at what Airlive has to offer in this regard. In our review we take a close look at WN-300ARM-VPN ADSL modem & router, the WN-5000PCI – a 300 Mbit/s & MIMO equipped PCI card and the WN-200USB – an entry level 802.11n USB 2.0 device.

==

Soundgraph FingerVU 706

Link:http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Soundgraph/FingerVU_706

Brief:
Soundgraph is well known for their LCD and VFD products in the majority of HTPC enclosures from virtually all major brand names out there. The new FingerVU series takes the control of the PC to the next level with a 4" or 7" inch, high-res, USB powered LCD touch screen at your finger tips.

==

Mobile:

Laptop Buying Guide 2010
"When you have to jiggle the power connector just right to get your seven-year-old ThinkPad to wheeze to life, only to take 20 minutes to load a YouTube video, it s time to put the old beast out to pasture and start anew. But where do you begin in today s notebook market, which has expanded so much that portables now outsell desktops? With a buying guide, of course. Use this comprehensive buying guide to examine some of the key factors and specs to check when buying a new notebook computer."
Link to the guide:http://www.digitaltrends.com/buying-guides/laptop-buying-guide-2010/

==

Evercool FIT Laptop Cooler @ PCShopTalk

"High performance laptops and notebooks nowadays are hotter and hotter; they often need additional cooling. Evercool decided not to build another cooler which sits under the laptop; this way they developed a cooler which fits exactly at the exhaust ventilation holes. In the following review we will see if the product does bring any improvements compared to the stock cooling."

Link: http://www.pcshoptalk.com/content.php?272-Evercool-FIT-Laptop-Cooler

==

MEGATech Reviews – Be.ez LArobe Protection Tablet Artista WACOM Tablet Case

As luck would have it, I received my first Wacom Bamboo graphics tablet for Christmas, but I had no means to protect it. Well, that’s where the be.ez LA robe Tablet can come into play. You’ve got to protect that Wacom the same way you’d protect your laptop, right?

Direct Link:http://www.megatechnews.com/megatech-reviews-be-ez-larobe-protection-tablet-artista/

==

PowerA iPhone Universal Remote Case Just Announced

LINK: http://www.gadgetreview.com/2010/02/powera-iphone-universal-remote-control-case-released-control-all-your-ir-gear-with-your-phone.html#

STORY: PowerA just announced their latest iPhone accessory, the iPhone Universal Remote Case.  Much like the Red Eye and L5 you can control your IR based products just using the iPhone, that is assuming you’ve also downloaded the accompanying PowerA app.  What makes it different from the competition is the form factor, a case that can always be attached to the phone no matter the scenario.  The L5 on the other hand is rather impractical because it’s a small dongle that attached to the iPhone’s 30 pin connector and juts out, making it less than pocket friendly.  The Red Eye on the other hand is stricken to one room, unless of course you buy additional boxes.  But there is one downside to the PowerA iPhone Universal Remote Control; it’s a learning remote only, which means you’ll have to train or teach it each of your remote’s commands.  It should be available starting today at Apple’s website for $60, which ain’t half bad.

==

Jabra Stone Review @ t-break

Jabra’s most stylish Bluetooth headset yet.
http://tbreak.com/tech/2010/02/jabra-stone-review/

==

Assorted Stuffs:

What OS, Windows 7 or Ubuntu? Why not use both!  @ TechwareLabs

The ability to dual boot systems is nothing new but very rarely done anymore. You more than likely will never find a good enough reason or use for an average PC user to run two Operating Systems (OS). So then you might ask yourself, “Why am I showing you how to?” The answer is easy, to quote Sir Francis Bacon’s much used aphorism “knowledge is power “. I personally wasn’t very familiar with Ubuntu as an OS so I wanted to learn more. The cost of a second PC wasn’t justifiable, just to put a second OS on so that I could learn it for my own gain. So I went and researched how to install both of them on the same machine.
LINK: http://www.techwarelabs.com/dual-boot-windows7-ubuntu/

==

Why is Flash such a problem on the iPad?
QUOTE: "Not that long ago Steve Jobs made a statement during an interview with the Wall Street Journal that if he allowed Flash to run on the iPad it would reduce the battery life down to 1.5 hours. Now, this is an interesting comment, especially coming from someone that has attacked Adobe on more than one occasion saying that no one should even use it.
But what was Steve talking about? Is he saying that Flash is so inefficient that there is no way to get it working properly on a mobile device? Is he exposing (unintentionally) that the iPad’s hardware is not up to running Flash? Let’s take a look at some of the facts in the situation and see what we can find."
 http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/3155/why_is_flash_such_a_problem_on_the_ipad/index.html

==

Another perspective on CPU value

In our grand Athlon II vs. Core i3 showdown article last week, we included performance-per-dollar graphs based on whole system prices. Those system prices were themselves derived from the rough cost of a middle-of-the-road PC—the kind your typical enthusiast might buy. What if you’re on a tight budget and really have to cut corners, though? We’ve whipped up another set of graphs, this time using prices from low-end components, in order to find out.
http://techreport.com/discussions.x/18502

==

Top Budget to Mid-Range Graphics Cards

http://www.techspot.com/guides/248-top-budget-to-midrange-graphics-cards/

While the gaming landscape seems to have shifted toward consoles in recent years, many feel PCs are still where the action is. Naturally those looking to experience the hottest video games in all their glory will need the appropriate hardware powering their rigs. Besides adopting newer platforms, at some point, every gamer or hardware enthusiast worth their salt will upgrade or at least consider upgrading their graphics card.

Of course, going for the latest and greatest (read: fastest and most expensive) is not always an option. Having reviewed a wide variety of graphics cards as they were released in the past months, we’ve compiled a table with some of what we consider the best options at several price points between $90 and $200. Every product chosen can cope with the typical game on respectable settings.

==

PTS Desktop Live 2010.1 "Anzhofen" Released @ Phoronix
Direct Link: http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=14620
Summary: "After releasing Phoronix Test Suite 2.4 earlier this month and delivering the subsequent 2.4.1 update, we have now released PTS Desktop Live 2010.1 "Anzhofen" to the public. PTS Desktop Live 2010.1 makes it extremely easy to benchmark your computer on a completely standardized software stack from a Live DVD/USB environment."

==

Quick Links:

Spire TherMax II Cooler Review @ Tweaknews

ASUS P7H55D-M EVO Clarksdale Motherboard @ Benchmark Reviews

Gigabyte X58A-UD3R Intel X58 LGA 1366 Motherboard Review @ ThinkComputers.org

Mass Effect 2 Mega-Guide and Walkthrough @ [OC]ModShop

Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD7 Motherboard @ Benchmark Reviews

MLB 2K10 Interview: The Devs Answer Our Questions! @ [OC]ModShop

OCZ Alchemy Series Elixir Gaming Keyboard Review @ ThinkComputers.org

SteelSeries NP+ @ LanOC Reviews

A Futurelooks News Flash – Cool Technology at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games

Cooler Master GX750 750W PSU Review on Technic3D

Sapphire Radeon HD 5850 Toxic @ Techgage

Sapphire HD 5450 512 MB GDDR3 @ techPowerUp

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 – New tech info about the DX11 game

Thermalright Venomous X CPU Cooler Review @ Legit Reviews

ATI Radeon HD 5670 Shootout – Mainstream Battle Royale

Samsung GT-M5650 Lindy

CM Storm Sentinel Advance 5600 DPI Mouse Review @ High Tech Reviews

AMD Llano – The First Accelerated Processing Unit @ InsideHW

Moneual MonCaso 600 Case Review @ Rbmods

InWin Maelstrom PC Case Enclosure Review @ Tech-Reviews.co.uk

A Serious Man Blu-Ray Review @ Ascully.com

ASRock A330ION Mini-ITX Motherboard Review @ Legit Reviews

iXBT Labs Review: How CPU Features Affect CPU Performance, Part 7

Overclock3D have just published a new article titled: ASUS Maximus III Extreme 1156 Motherboard

ASRock ION330HT-BD Blu Ray HTPC Review

Lite-On iHES208 Internal 8X Blu-ray Combo Drive

Zalman CNPS9900 NT @ techPowerUp

NZXT Tempest EVO @ Bjorn3D

Neuigkeiten auf DeXgo | 120-mm-Lüfter RoundUp V3.1

ableplanet-PS500MM @ TechwareLabs

AMD Athlon II X4 635 & Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition @ Techgage

Zotac Mag HTPC Review @ t-break

HIS Radeon HD 5670 IceQ+ 1GB Video Card

Lenovo Skylight Preview: Letting the Light In
MWC 2010 – Show Floor Coverage

MWC 2010 – Samsung Unpacked *Updated*

Zalman CNPS10X Quiet Heatsink Review @ Frostytech.com

BioShock 2 Graphics Performance

OCZ Hydro Pulse 800 L/h Pump @ Bjorn3D

AZZA Spartan 102 computer case @ APH Networks

Cooler Master Excalibur 120mm Fan Review on Technic3D

Overclock3D have just published a new article titled: MSI H55M ED55

Benchmarks Of Nouveau’s Gallium3D Driver For NVIDIA @ Phoronix

NZXT Hades Crafted Series Midtower

Corsair Hydro Series H50 Water Cooling System Review

Panasonic 54-inch VIERA TH-P54Z1N Plasma TV – Big on AV

3R System iCEAGE IA500HP80 500 W Power Supply Review @ Hardware Secrets

Silverstone Raven 2 @ LanOC Review

Related posts:

1. News and Links for February 25th 2010
2. News and Links for February 20th 2010
3. News and Links for February 1st 2010