Legit Reviews News History
Friday Reviews from Around the Web
Rockdirect Xtreme 64 4800+ DTR -- Dual core in a laptop -- Sweet! See what HEXUS has to say about it and find other reviews by visiting the Legit Forums!
The last six months has given Rock the time to engineer an even faster laptop, replete with a dual-core AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ processor and twin 100GB 7,200RPM hard drives. Sounds like just the thing for you? Read on to see if it's as good as it appears to be on paper.
Posted by | Fri, Dec 30, 2005 - 01:45 PM
Google To Supply Search For Opera's Mobile Browsers
The browser's Mini version operates on WAP-equipped cell phones, while the more robust Opera Mobile version is generally offered as an add-on to mobile and wireless devices for a small user fee. Looks like Google isn't going to buy them after all! See Internet rumors still do exisit.
Google will supply the default search function for Opera Software's mobile browsers, the company said Thursday. Opera Software supplies two separate browsers for mobile and wireless devices. In a statement, Opera said: "Google will be the default search partner for the mobile browsers: Opera Mobile and Opera Mini." Opera Software's Opera Mini browser, a mobile browser is due for formal unveiling next month.
Posted by | Fri, Dec 30, 2005 - 07:17 AM
Intel VIIV 1.5 and 2.0 revealed
The Inq has posted an article that talks about Intel's upcoming VIIV 1.5 and 2.0 systems. Some of their comments really crack me up. Take this one for example by Charlie: "VIIV IS NOT a product, but a lineup of products. It was originally supposed to be launched with Smithfield, but Intel figured that going from from a 64-bit soldering iron with a blow dryer attached to a 32-bit quiet system, back to a mid power 64-bit system would make the marketeers heads explode."
The parts we have not talked about yet are the next two generations, cunningly named VIIV 1.5 and VIIV 2.0. From what we gather, the V(IIV)1.5 parts will basically add in Merom based cores in place of the Yonahs, bringing more horsepower, more wattage, and 32 more bits to the fray. Look for this mid-year. V(IIV)2.0 is slated for the end of the year, and looking at the Intel roadmaps, side by side with the current MS roadmaps, we are pretty sure V(IIV)2.0 will feature Vista. Luckily, this adds all sorts of evil new DRM to the mixture, and removes more of the few remaining rights you have left.
Posted by | Fri, Dec 30, 2005 - 07:15 AM
Advansus Computer: Formed By Asustek-Advantech Venture
Advansus Computer, the joint venture between motherboard giant Asustek Computer and industrial PC (IPC) specialist Advantech Computer. It took $30.4 million to start up and we should start seeing products in 2006 from them!
Ke-cheng Liu, chairman of Advantech, will lead Advansus as the company chairman, as reported by Emma Wang in today?s Chinese-language Apple Daily. The joint venture is aimed at targeting the DMS (design and manufacturing services) business for industrial servers and notebooks, as well as the component procurement and manufacturing business, according to the paper. Advansus will initially locate its capacities at Asustek?s Chung-li plant, the paper noted, adding that its operation roadmap will be announced to public in the middle of January 2006.
Posted by | Fri, Dec 30, 2005 - 07:12 AM
The Tech Industry Gets Ready For CES
Legit Reviews has been gearing up for CES over the past few weeks and we are ready to tackle the long taxi lines and over priced hotels for the fourth year in a row! We will bring you CES starting on Jan 4th or 5th depending on how busy we get those first nights!
While most people are still sleeping off the effects of their New Year's Eve debauchery, more than 130,000 industry gearheads and 2,500 hopeful exhibitors will flock to Sin City for the annual Consumer Electronics Show. CES is a buzz-filled mecca, where the latest and greatest electronic wares are hyped by small startups and global conglomerates alike. With more than 1.6 million square feet of space crammed with wires, chips, plastic, booth babes and various attention-grabbing gimmicks, the show is a true circus. No, not Circus Circus, but still the biggest show in town. In fact, the show floor has expanded this year to encompass not only the entire Las Vegas Convention Center but also the Las Vegas Sand's Sands Expo near the Venetian.
Posted by | Fri, Dec 30, 2005 - 07:09 AM
Intel Drops 14 Year Old Slogan: Intel Inside
After 14 years, the "Intel Inside" marketing slogan is being put to rest. Expect a major overhaul of Intel's corporate logo and branding next year!
The company also will move away from the Pentium name, which it has used to label many of its chips since 1993. The company's forthcoming notebook processor, to be introduced at next week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, will be dubbed "Core Duo" and "Core Solo," depending on whether the chip features one or two processor cores, the Journal reported.
Posted by | Fri, Dec 30, 2005 - 07:05 AM
Self-booting Microsoft Xbox 360 kiosk demo disk ISO released
It seems that a self-booting Xbox 360 kiosk demo disk ISO file has made it out on the web thanks to a group called Pi. They claim a number of games are hackable when using this disk. They mention Call of Duty 2, Hexic, Kameo and King Kong. Microsoft might be a bit hot over this one!
There's a lot of speculation about what exactly this disk will allow hackers to do. Perhaps it can be used to create a boot disk. Then again, a number of DVD-R booting XBEs from the original Xbox were available that never proved useful for the purpose. Here is Pi's take on the situation from the NFO file in their
Posted by | Thu, Dec 29, 2005 - 07:48 AM
LG Telecom Launches Water-Proof Cell Phone
LG Telecom, Korea?s smallest mobile operator, Thursday took the wraps off the nation?s first waterproof mobile phone, canU 502S developed under alliance with Japanese firm Casio Computer. No word on just how deep these phones can go before the seal gives in and leaks, so no scuba steve stunts!
``If dropped in a pool, tub or sink, this phone will survive in roughly thirty minutes since we sealed its tiny crevices with rubber packing,?? LG Telecom spokesman Kang Shin-koo said. Two big holes for a speaker and built-in camera module were also specially treated to prevent water from soaking into the handset through them. Its other strength is that the model can endure shocks in case of accidental drops because materials such as urethane and glass were employed that are resistant to such shocks.
Posted by | Thu, Dec 29, 2005 - 07:43 AM
NSA used banned Web data-tracking Cookie
The National Security Agency's Internet site has been placing files on visitors' computers that can track their Web surfing activity despite strict federal rules banning most of them. These files, known as "cookies," disappeared after a privacy activist complained and The Associated Press made inquiries this week, and agency officials acknowledged Wednesday they had made a mistake. Just remember that big brother is always watching and you will be fine!
Until Tuesday, the NSA site created two cookie files that do not expire until 2035 ? likely beyond the life of any computer in use today. Don Weber, an NSA spokesman, said in a statement Wednesday that the cookie use resulted from a recent software upgrade. Normally, the site uses temporary, permissible cookies that are automatically deleted when users close their Web browsers, he said, but the software in use shipped with persistent cookies already on. "After being tipped to the issue, we immediately disabled the cookies," he said.
Posted by | Thu, Dec 29, 2005 - 07:40 AM
Women Out Number Men on the Internet
Did you know that women have been the major users of the Net since 2000? I actually didn't and found a number of the survey findings in the latest Fallows study to be interesting to say the least from the view of a webmaster.
Younger women are more likely to go online than younger men. Eighty-six percent of women ages 18 to 29 go online compared with 80 percent of their male peers. Money changes everything. Internet usage goes up with income: 90 percent of men and 95 percent of women in households earning $75,000 or more are online compared with 49 percent of men and 48 percent of women earning less than $30,000 a year. Fallows expected that the Net would free the sexes to behave in "unstereotypical ways," such as men acting more "touch-feely" and women being more comfortable exploring new technologies.
Posted by | Thu, Dec 29, 2005 - 07:37 AM
Price drops make it a TV year worth watching
Prices plummeted below $1,000 mark for large plasma TVs, and viewers gained a multitude of avenues to tap into TV content. During the course of 12 months, prices on select plasma TVs fell below $1,000 on 40-inch screens, and viewers gained a multitude of avenues--from cell phones to iPods to TV shows on demand--for tapping into TV land.
Liquid crystal display TVs drove the across-the-board price cuts in big-screen TVs. LCDs, the pricier cousins of plasma TVs, dropped to an average of $2,500 to $2,700 for a 42-inch TV, Haruki said. That represents more than a 41 percent drop over last year's prices. The drop in LCD prices stems from a glut of large panels. "LCDs have gotten bigger, and now you can find them in a 40-inch size," Haruki said. "They now compete with plasma on both size and price."
Posted by | Thu, Dec 29, 2005 - 07:34 AM
Samsung Plans to Reduce DDR2 Memory IC Production
Samsung Electronics plans to further slash its DDR2 capacity and instead allocate more capacity for NAND flash production. More than likely this will lead to tighter DDR2 supplies and if DDR2 memory ever starts to sell prices are going to go up and supplies will be low.
Samsung has already reduced its DDR2 capacity by 50 million 256Mbit-equivalent units this quarter. Samsung plans to reduce capacity another 50 million 256Mbit-equivlanent units in the first quarter of 2006, the sources noted. The capacity will be shifted to producing the more lucrative NAND flash memory instead, the sources added. The capacity reshuffle echoes iSuppli?s DRAM forecast for 2006. The market research firm predicted that global DRAM sales will decline by 5.1% to US$23.97 billion in 2006, although a rebound is expected to follow in 2007.
Posted by | Thu, Dec 29, 2005 - 07:19 AM
US CD album sales show 7% slide
It seems that album sales here in the United States have dropped 7% in 2005 while the download biz has doubled over the past year. I'm actually shocked that it only fell 7%! I personally haven't bought a CD in a good number of years.
Sales stood at 602.2 million during the year, down from 650.8 million in 2004, report analysts Nielsen Soundscan. Downloaded music reached 332.7 million for 2005, an increase of 148% on the previous year. More than 95% of music is sold in CD format, with Mariah Carey and 50 Cent proving the year's biggest sellers.
Posted by | Thu, Dec 29, 2005 - 07:15 AM
Wednesday Reviews from Around the Web
Nordic Hardware gets to play with AMD's dual core CPUs...find out the results of their testing and find other reviews by visiting the Legit Forums!
Marcus "Kinc" Hultin, recently entered into the XS Hall of Legends, has started to do some early 3Dmark tests with one of AMD's dual core CPUs. Using only air cooling and NVIDIA's optimized drivers he has managed to score 17 030 with 3DMark 05 with just a slight overclock. We can assure you that you will hear more about this very soon. Perhaps him even breaking his own world record.
Posted by | Wed, Dec 28, 2005 - 04:49 PM
69-year-old grandmother plays 10 hours of video games per day
Barbara St. Hilaire plays video games 10 hours a day and spends a good part of her Social Security check on games. The 69-year-old grandmother has become the heroine of young video-game fans and the star of a Web log created by her grandson. I got $20 that she can take down Fatal1ty on her off day!
MTV profiled St. Hilaire, hired her as a video game correspondent and offered to screen her interview requests. It's all been, as her 22-year-old grandson Timothy St. Hilaire put it, a bit head-spinning. "Well, last weekend was hell, but it's over," the grandson told his grandmother's fans on his blog http://oghc.blogspot.com/. The blog is named for her moniker, Old Grandma Hardcore -- as in hardcore video game player. According to the trade group Entertainment Software Association, 19 percent of computer and video game players are 50 years old or older. The senior-citizen share was 9 percent in 1999.
Posted by | Wed, Dec 28, 2005 - 09:47 AM
Go Daddy's New Super Bowl Ad Stalled By Censors
The domain registrar Go Daddy had problems with its 2005 Super Bowl ad and now it seems that the Fox network and NFL executives have issues with their 2006 Super Bowl ad. Go Daddy still hopes to air the ad during the Feb. 5 Super Bowl being held in Detroit.
If the 2005 ad is any indication, then racy is an appropriate description of a "GoDaddy-esque" ad. The advertisement featured busty model Candice Michelle in a skit in which she was having trouble with the straps of her blouse while addressing a congressional committee. The Fox network cancelled the scheduled second showing of the ad after complaints from NFL executives. Super Bowl ads last year reportedly sold for a record $2.4 million for a 30-second spot.
Posted by | Wed, Dec 28, 2005 - 09:44 AM
NVIDIA Cancelled its C60 Pentium 4 Chipset Project
nVidia has recently cancelled it's C60 Pentium 4 chipset program although the company has already started new projects to replace the C60. Not a big deal, but it seems that it will be a bit longer before nVidia ships any new Intel chipsets.
During its last conference call, Nvidia's CEO confirmed that the company cancelled its C60 Pentium 4 chipset project. That was supposed to be the Geforce 6150 and 6100 for Intel but as Nvidia lost Intel chipset deal to ATI, it decided to can the chipset. I guess that it was much more than just a loss to ATI and we suspect that this chipset had some problems that they just could not override. You don?t cancel a chip that has cost you millions of dollars for nothing.
Posted by | Wed, Dec 28, 2005 - 09:38 AM
ABIT cuts debts by selling properties, but trouble remains
ABIT was the enthusiast board of choice from the late 1990's to 2002, but it was around this time period things started to get funky. ABIT has sold off properties to get out of debt, but then increased their investments in other companies even though they are still in debt.
At a provisional meeting on December 23, shareholders of financially troubled Abit Computer approved the company?s plan to sell its office building in Taipei to Deutsche Bank for NT$1.7 billion. The company will use the entire amount to retire part of its bank loans and reduce its total debts to NT$1.9-2.0 billion (US$57-60 million), said company chairman Remond Lu. Taiwan?s securities regulatory agency has requested Abit to resubmit its financial statements for all of 2003, 2004 and part of 2005 to the TSE by February 2006. Abit will be delisted from the TSE if it fails to comply with the request. Trading of Abit shares has been suspended since mid-September this year.
Posted by | Wed, Dec 28, 2005 - 09:34 AM
The Father of 'Automation' Dies At 79: John Diebold
Computer Visionary John Diebold Dies At 79. "Automation" became Diebold's main theme as he promoted the early use of computers at large U.S. companies. The rest is history and we can thank all sorts of today's technology to him.
"People say I coined this word (automation,)" Diebold told a Harvard biographer. "But I don't claim to have invented the word, just the use of it." He wrote a popular book on the phenomenon and, it was entitled--what else?-- "Automation." Diebold went on to create different consulting and investment firms that had varying degrees of success and failure. Many of his concepts seemed to be ahead of their time and took hold later. His companies had some success automating bank transactions and medical records.
Posted by | Tue, Dec 27, 2005 - 11:04 AM
A 'Leap second' is to be added on Dec. 31
It looks like the last day of 2005 will be one second longer than usual. An extra second will be added on December 31st, but this is not the first time the World has done this. The first leap second was added in 1972 and we have been doing so most years since then. Pretty interesting stuff!
The precision of atomic clocks will be reconciled with the relative variability of the Earth's rotation on Dec. 31, when an extra second will be added to the Coordinated Universal Time used to tell time across the globe. The Earth's rotational speed changes slightly because of tides and other forces, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology recalibrates its clocks occasionally to match them to the planet's time, called the astronomical time scale. The adjustment, called a leap second, takes place whenever Coordinated Universal Time is out of synch with the planet's time by more than 0.9 seconds
Posted by | Tue, Dec 27, 2005 - 11:01 AM