Legit Reviews News History
LR's Folding Team 38296 Seeks More Members
Now that the Legit Reviews Folding Team has surpassed the 1 million point mark we are looking to add new members to the team!! In less than a year Team 38296 has folded 7,000 work units that will hopefully aid in cancer, Alzheimer, and Parkinson's disease research. Our readership owns and has access to some of the fastest computers than money can buy and we thank each and every reader that has folded on the team. We are always looking for more team members so we can have more folding power. If you are interested in adding your PC to the 78 computers that are folding for Legit Folding please visit the link below.
Posted by | Sun, Jul 31, 2005 - 08:20 PM
NASA: Discovery crew may have to repair shuttle
NASA is trying to determine if two bits of material sticking up from the shuttle Discovery's thermal tiles present an unacceptable risk of overheating when the shuttle returns to Earth, the flight director said just a couple hours ago.
NASA managers already have deemed 90 percent of Discovery's heat shield able to withstand the tremendous forces and high heat of atmospheric re-entry on Aug. 8.
But NASA has discovered two protruding gap fillers, which is material used to fill any minute gaps between heat shield tiles. A decision about whether the crew will be asked to fix them is expected on Monday, Hill said.
Posted by | Sun, Jul 31, 2005 - 04:28 PM
Intel to borrow from laptops for server chips
Looks like the Pentium M is by far one of the most under rated processors every produced by Intel. Intel now confirms that a new Xeon chip that is based off the Pentium M family will make it into their server family. With roots going back to the Pentium M family and a nickname of Sossaman this is a processor that we can't wait to see released.
A Xeon chip for blade servers due in the first half of 2006 derives from the Pentium M family, the company's notebook chip family, said Stephen Thorne, marketing manager of the server platform group at Intel. Code-named Sossaman, the chip puts out a maximum of 31 watts, fairly low for server chips, which can boast thermal ceilings of 110 watts.
Posted by | Sat, Jul 30, 2005 - 05:53 PM
Mobo makers facing component shortages
Motherboard makers are facing component shortages that may threaten their business during the high season in the second half of the year, industry sources said.
Entry-level core-logic chipsets have long been in serious shortage, and recently supply of printed circuit boards (PCB) has also become tight, sources in the mobo sector said. In addition, a serious power shortage in China has sent top mobo makers rushing to book capacity or place orders in advance with PCB makers whose China plants are likely to be affected. PCB supply has become tight due to precautionary measures, the sources said.
Posted by | Sat, Jul 30, 2005 - 05:50 PM
Intel Trickles Out Dual-Core Servers
Intel has begun its transition to dual-core server hardware by handing out a few dual-core machines. The programs goal is to seed servers based on its dual-core Xeon DP Bensly chip and Xeon MP Paxville processors to businesses.
The new servers "have already started trickling out," said Shannon Poulin, an enterprise marketing director in Intel's server group. By the end of the year, "We're going to aggressively seed thousands of units or maybe tens of thousands. It gets customers there?and ready for the technology. It greases the skids, so to say."
Intel plans to shift its server lines to the dual-core processor/platform strategy quickly in 2006. It will follow the Xeon DP and MP chips, which will be dubbed with 5000 series model numbers and 7000 series numbers, respectively, with less power hungry dual-core Xeon chips for rack-mount machines and server blades.
Posted by | Fri, Jul 29, 2005 - 06:50 AM
Iwill's dual AMD Opteron board will support 64GB of memory!!
Iwill introduced its DK88 workstation and server motherboard based on the AMD Opteron platform and supporting up to 64GB of memory. The Iwill DK88 is expected to hit the market in the middle of August, according to Iwill public relations.
The DK88 offers 16 DDR memory DIMMs (eight DIMMs per CPU) on board, with each DIMM supporting up to 4GB of memory. It also supports registered memory with ECC and chip-kill functions, the company stated. The company will target the DK88 for the Electronic Design Automation (EDA) market, according to Mason Su, general manager of Iwill.
Posted by | Fri, Jul 29, 2005 - 06:46 AM
Handhelds fuel 21 pct rise in U.S. video game sales
Retail sales of U.S. video games hardware, software and accessories rose 21 percent in the first six months of the year, as the popularity of handheld devices offset a decline in aging game consoles, a study said. Good news for those in the gaming and hardware industries!
The video games industry, which has been rocked this month by concerns over sexual content in one of its most popular titles -- Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.'s <TTWO.O> "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," saw sales rise to over $4.1 billion in the period, from $3.4 billion in 2004, research firm NPD Group said in a report. Overall unit sales rose 11 percent.
Posted by | Thu, Jul 28, 2005 - 08:46 AM
Woman sues Rockstar over Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
So it begins... A woman upset that she bought the video game "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" for her 14-year-old grandson without knowing it contained hidden, sexually explicit scenes sued the manufacturer Wednesday on behalf of consumers nationwide. Here is the kicker that really bites me... She bought the M (17+) rated game for her 14 year old grandson. She shouldn't have bought the game in the first place for a 14 year old. Here comes the attack of the Americans that want to ride/work the system for a free dime through the legal system.
Florence Cohen, 85, of New York, said in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan that the game's manufacturer, Rockstar Games, and its parent company, New York-based Take Two Interactive Software Inc., engaged in false, misleading and deceptive practices.
She sought unspecified damages on behalf of herself and all consumers nationwide, saying the company should give up its profits from the game for what amounted to false advertising, consumer deception and unfair business practices.
Posted by | Thu, Jul 28, 2005 - 08:14 AM
Intel readjusts NOR flash marketing strategy
Declining margins for NOR flash production has pushed Intel to readjust its marketing strategy as a multi-chip packed memory supplier in the Asia handset markets. The Intel Marketing deparment has to love all these changes. IMHO Intel has one of the most active marketing teams of any company we work with!
Intel had long been sourcing SDRAM from other memory makers, and packed the memory with its self-produced NOR flash in a MCP (multichip package) before selling the solution to handset vendors. However, Intel is now selling its NOR flash to design houses like Etron Technology, with the design houses dealing with handset vendors directly, the sources explained.
Posted by | Thu, Jul 28, 2005 - 08:02 AM
ATI Beta 1 Drivers Support Microsoft Windows Vista
This morning ATI announced broad Catalyst graphics driver support for the beta 1 release of the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system. For full details, please see the official release in our forums.
Included with Microsoft?s Windows Vista beta 1 release are ATI?s Catalyst drivers for its desktop and mobile DirectX 9 class discrete graphics processors as well as support for the 64-bit version of Microsoft Windows Vista. Additionally, ATI also is making available today on its website a further Catalyst LDDM driver which includes all of the functionality mentioned above plus support for integrated graphics processors in Windows Vista.
Posted by | Thu, Jul 28, 2005 - 07:57 AM
Microsoft's new efforts to stop software piracy
Microsoft is taking another step to crack down on software piracy this week. As part of Microsoft's efforts to stop software piracy, users must now install counterfeit detection software on their PCs. Start the clocks and let's see how long it takes for someone to come out with a patch to work around this one. Shoot me an e-mail if there is already one.
The measures are part of a change to Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage program, which the world's largest software maker has been testing since last September. Users whose PCs pass muster as running legitimate copies of Windows will be able to download software updates to the operating system and other Microsoft products, as well as additional software Microsoft makes available online, such as the Windows Media Player, DirectX for games, an anti-spyware tool, and new photo-sharing software.
Posted by | Tue, Jul 26, 2005 - 08:44 AM
Discovery Lifts Off Safely
Discovery roared into space this morning, carrying seven astronauts on the first shuttle flight since the 2003 Columbia disaster. The shuttle blasted off on time at 10:39 a.m. ET, following days of troubleshooting to fix a faulty fuel sensor in its external tank. We wish them a safe 12 days and a safe return. 
The space shuttle Discovery roared into the skies over Florida Tuesday morning as NASA returned to manned space flight for the first time since the 2003 Columbia disaster. Before boarding the spacecraft, Discovery crew members, who awoke after midnight, appeared at a traditional photo opportunity wearing matching Hawaiian shirts in the crew dining room as astronaut Steve Robinson strummed a guitar.
Posted by | Tue, Jul 26, 2005 - 08:38 AM
AMD's K7 procrssor is officially phased out
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) will lower prices of its Socket-754 Sempron CPUs in early August, as it has already officially phased out its K7 line of processors this quarter, according to KJ Chou, general manager of AMD Taiwan. I'll never forget my AGOIA stepping and my rear window defrosting unlock mod that was done to it. Long live K7!!!
However, AMD still intends to raise the ASP (average selling price) for its product lines and improve the company?s profits this quarter, said Chou. AMD already informed downstream customers and chipset partners in the second quarter that production of K7-based processors will end from July, noted Chou.
Posted by | Tue, Jul 26, 2005 - 08:32 AM
Intel to sponsor online game provider
Intel Taiwan announced yesterday that it has reached a strategic alliance with Soft-World International, a leading producer of game software and on-line games in Taiwan, for providing efficient graphics solutions for online games using the chip giant?s Centrino platform for notebooks and Pentium D processors with 945G integrated chipsets for desktop solutions.
Intel will work with PC manufacturers Asustek Computer and Acer to provide PC solutions for running the game on desktop PCs and notebooks, according to Jason LS Chen, country manager for Intel Taiwan. In addition, Intel is aiming to expand its market share for gaming-use PC applications by seeking similar partnerships with online game providers and hardware makers worldwide, including China, South Korea and the US.
Posted by | Tue, Jul 26, 2005 - 08:29 AM
PolarFLO TT Chrome Basic Watercooling System
The Best Case Scenario took a look at the PolarFLO TT series
watercooling system, and in chrome nonetheless. I recommend
taking a look at the review and see for yourself how dazzling the
chrome is, as well as the TT series' extreme performance.
Originally for this review I was going to go with a two-barb configuration on the CPU block, but then decided: hey... I am a wild man, so why not step outside the proverbial box and go a little crazy? So after I downed half a beer for some courage (oh the hangover! I will never down half a beer again) I proceeded to use the triple barb configuration. A nice detail on these blocks is the chrome plated housings and Posi-Seal type barbs included with them. After the initial setup I went ahead and let the water cooing system run outside for a little over 24 hours. It was my lucky day, not a single leak, and the entire system was then installed into the test rig and onto the motherboard.
Posted by | Mon, Jul 25, 2005 - 04:21 PM
Kingwin AquaStar AS-3000
As watercooling becomes mainstream and aircooling is phased out, more
and more manufacturers have begun creating complex systems to handle a
computer's extreme heat. Kingwin has popped out another good
looking system that warrants a look. Read more at the link.
As water cooling moves out of the garage and into the mainstream, we are seeing more and more major manufacturers embrace the water culture. With the AquaStar AS-3000, Kingwin brings its latest water solution to the masses. Is this the kit you have been looking for?
Posted by | Mon, Jul 25, 2005 - 12:51 PM
Japan to build world's fastest supercomputer
Japan wants to develop a supercomputer that can operate at 10 petaflops, or 10 quadrillion calculations per second, which is 73 times faster than the world's fastest supercomputer - Blue Gene. Coming in just under one billion dollars this super computer will be a contract that all chipmakers will be trying to get!
Kyodo News reported that the total amount for the project is estimated between 80 billion and 100 billion yen ($714 million to $893 million) and hopes to complete the next-generation supercomputer sometime in fiscal 2010, which ends in March 2011. The ministry wants to use the planned supercomputer for a wider use such as simulating the formation of galaxy and the interactions between a medicine and the human body.
Posted by | Mon, Jul 25, 2005 - 07:23 AM
Hacking For Good = Getting Paid Legally
Hackers who seek out loopholes in popular programs could soon get cash rewards for their finds. Those who top the scheme's rewards system could be earning $50,000 a year from their bug hunting. While $50,000 will not make you rich it is plenty of cash for the vast majority of hackers who are under 21!
Only legitimate security researchers are eligible to join the scheme.Open-source browser-maker Mozilla gives $500 and a T-shirt to those that find critical bugs in the software it makes.
Posted by | Mon, Jul 25, 2005 - 07:07 AM
Vista software Flaming Hot Over Windows Vista
By naming the next version of Windows "Vista," Microsoft may have stepped on the toes of another software company just down the road in Redmond.
That would be Vista, a business software and services company founded in 1999 by John Wall. He was not amused when Microsoft announced its choice yesterday, setting the stage for a massive rollout when its flagship operating system goes on sale in fall 2006.
Wall, a well-known technology executive in the area who earlier founded Wall Data, is examining whether the name violates the trademark his company has held for six years. He plans to raise the issue with Microsoft, a company notoriously protective of its own trademarks, and may take the issue to court
Posted by | Mon, Jul 25, 2005 - 07:01 AM
"East Fork" Platform to get Intel Pentium D9 support, with ICH7-DH southbridge
Some more info was published today on Intel's famed "East Fork" desktop platform. This would of course be the Yonah Pentium M processors platform that is designed for desktop PCs, Intel?s digital home strategy, and not the mobile crowd. Nothing like having a dual-core Pentium D9 series processor, which is based off good old time proven Pentium 3 designs.
For the East Fork platform, the next-generation Intel Pentium D9 series will be partnered with 945 (and ICH7-DH southbridge) chipsets, Ekron 10/100 and Tekoa Gigabit Ethernet chips, as well as Calexico 2 wireless chip supporting 802.11a/b/g technology, noted the makers. Originally set to debut in the second half of this year, Intel will introduce its digital home platform in the first quarter of 2006, at the same time that 65nm-produced dual-core Pentium D9 processors are set for release, the motherboard makers indicated.
Posted by | Mon, Jul 25, 2005 - 06:57 AM