LR News History - Legit Reviews

Legit Reviews News History

Intel First to Demonstrate Working 45nm Chips

Intel Corporation today announced it has become the first company to reach an important milestone in the development of 45 nanometer (nm) logic technology. Intel has produced what are believed to be the first fully functional SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) chips using 45nm process technology, its next? generation, high?volume semiconductor manufacturing process. Intel has gone from 90nm to 45nm very quickly and it will be interesting to see performance numbers from these new parts.

Intel?s 45nm process technology will allow chips with more than five times less leakage power than those made today. This will improve battery life for mobile devices and increase opportunities for building smaller, more powerful platforms. The 45nm SRAM chip has more than 1 billion transistors. Though not intended as an Intel product, the SRAM demonstrates technology performance, process yield and chip reliability prior to ramping processors and other logic chips using the 45nm manufacturing process. It is a key first step in the march toward high?volume manufacturing of the world?s most complex devices.

Posted by | Wed, Jan 25, 2006 - 06:15 PM

Wednesday Reviews from Around the Web

[H]ardOCP has posted their review of the ATI Radeon X1900 Series gaming video card. Find out what they have to say, and find more reviews by visiting the Legit Forums!

If you want the fastest performing video cards right now that provide the highest level of image quality in games, it doesn't get any better than the Radeon X1900 XT and XTX. You get High Quality AF, Adaptive AA, HDR with AA, and very fast shader performance.

Posted by | Wed, Jan 25, 2006 - 11:47 AM

Google agrees to China censorship

Online search engine leader Google Inc. has agreed to censor its results in China, adhering to the country's free-speech restrictions in return for better access in the Internet's fastest growing market. Go take a look at Google.CN and tell us what you think. Is anyone else excited about the upcoming Chinese New Year? I am!

The Mountain View, Calif.-based company planned to roll out a new version of its search engine bearing China's Web suffix ".cn," on Wednesday. A Chinese-language version of Google's search engine has previously been available through the company's dot-com address in the United States. By creating a unique address for China, Google hopes to make its search engine more widely available and easier to use in the world's most populous country.

Posted by | Wed, Jan 25, 2006 - 08:22 AM

Do It Yourself PC System Guides @ Legit Reviews

One of the most common questions the staff members of LR get asked is, "What kind of system can I buy for x dollars?". To help answer this question we have started doing monthly system guides. These guides cover both Intel and AMD based systems as both processor brands have loyal followers and they accept no substitute.

The Legit Reviews system guides are aimed at helping first time system builders on a strict budget pick out the hardware that is going to give them the best performance for the price. Our AMD and Intel system guides ranging in price from $700 to $1500 and are developed with the gamer/enthusiast in mind. With a carefully selected blend of products we feel these systems are superior to many of the pre-built systems that come loaded with proprietary hardware and software that is not needed.

Legit Reviews System Guide

Posted by | Wed, Jan 25, 2006 - 08:18 AM

AMD once again hits the roaring 20s

AMD's market share has grown from 17.7% of x86 market share to 21.4% in the third quarter according to Mercury Research. AMD's market share in the x86 server market also grew from 12.7% to 16.4%. CNet News also mentioned that AMD's goal is to reach 30% of market share, Looks like they are on the right track!

AMD now accounts for 21.4 percent of all desktop, notebook and server processors using the x86 instruction set that were shipped during the fourth quarter, Mercury Research plans to announce next week. The chipmaker's share grew from 17.7 percent in the third quarter, on strong gains in all three of those segments.

Posted by | Wed, Jan 25, 2006 - 08:03 AM

USI prepares to buy Abit?s motherboard division

Universal Scientific Industrial (USI) today have announced that they are to aquire the motherboard division of Abit. Abit was going through a ruff patch as of late. This merger will now give some financial backing for the troubbled motherboard manufacturer.

Under the terms of the agreement, USI will pay a total of NT$350 million in cash and 20 million preferred shares of USI?s newly established subsidiary for Abit?s motherboard brand ?ABIT?, as well as all patents, products, business and human resources related to its motherboard business, according to USI?s release. In April 2005, Wan Hai Lines purchased 23% of Abit with NT$433 million. The latest transaction shows a significant decline in the value of the company. This has been reflected by the stock price, which has fallen more than 70% since April last year.

Posted by | Wed, Jan 25, 2006 - 05:10 AM

E3 bans scantily-clad booth babes from show!

The video game industry?s 2006 E3 trade show in Los Angeles is getting a make-over ? banned are the swarms of sexy, semi-clad ?booth babes? that in years past took the unveiling of new games and technology to titillating new levels. Good thing Legit Reviews was at E3 2005 last year and we managed to take pictures of the last E3 booth babes.

Rules prohibiting the use of scantily clad young women to peddle video games are nothing new, but the handbook for this year?s show in May outlines tough new penalties, including a $5,000 fine on the spot for the booth owner if the ?booth babe? is semi-clad. ?What?s new in 2006 is an update and clarification of the enforcement policies; as we do from time to time, we have taken steps to ensure that exhibitors are familiar with the policy and how it will be enforced,? Mary Dolaher, E3Expo show director, said in an e-mail.

MSNBC Technology News

Posted by | Tue, Jan 24, 2006 - 01:31 PM

ATI Launches and Ships New Radeon X1900 Graphics Processor

ATI Launches and Ships New Radeon X1900 Graphics Processor For Advanced Multimedia and Gaming Consumers. The Radeon X1900, All-In-Wonder X1900 and Radeon X1900 CrossFire products will engage and entertain customers while they breakthrough performance and quality barriers. Be sure to read our review of the ATI Radeon X1900XTX and Radeon X1900XT that was posted this morning titled: ATI's Radeon X1900 Video Card Series

For gamers who want the ultimate in gaming, ATI is also introducing the Radeon X1900 CrossFire for multi-GPU systems. Combined with either the Radeon X1900 XT or Radeon X1900 XTX, the Radeon X1900 CrossFire gives gamers access to even more performance and image quality. The Radeon X1900 XT, Radeon X1900 XTX and Radeon X1900 CrossFire are shipping immediately from ATI and its board partners around the world. The Radeon X1900 XT has a suggested retail price of USD$549 and the Radeon X1900 XTX has a suggested retail price of USD$649. These prices are well below that of competing products. The Radeon X1900 CrossFire has a suggested retail price of USD$599. ATI has already shipped many thousands of Radeon X1900 GPUs to partners and into the channel.

Posted by | Tue, Jan 24, 2006 - 06:16 AM

Tuesday Reviews from Around the Web

Madshrimps reviewed the AMD Athlon 64 New Stock Heatsink with 4 Heat Pipes today. Find this and other reviews from around the web by visiting the Legit Forums!

When it comes free of charge, it may not be bad or an underperformer. The new and improved heatsink from AMD retail pack 165 Opteron comes with 4 heat pipes, topped with 80 x 20mm delta fan with built in temp sensor that will reach 5,200 rpm when it is called for the tough job(s), yet runs quietly during light duty even at 800Mhz overclocked speed.

Posted by | Tue, Jan 24, 2006 - 06:08 AM

IBM Lotus Sametime Users Get Freedom

IBM said it will allow users of its Lotus Sametime instant messaging software for large corporations chat online with users of the consumer-focused networks owned by Time Warner's AOL, Yahoo! and Google. This is an interesting move, but one that is good for the 15 million users of Sametime.

IBM said it will offer the feature in a version of Sametime that it plans to sell later this year. Microsoft, which also offers an IM service, isn't covered by the agreement. Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM said the 15 million users of Sametime will be able to communicate with friends and family who use AOL, AIM, ICQ, Apple iChat and Yahoo! Messenger.

Posted by | Mon, Jan 23, 2006 - 09:46 AM

Ford Motor Co. to cut 25,000-30,000 jobs

Ford Motor Co. on Monday said it will cut 25,000 to 30,000 jobs in North America and idle 14 manufacturing facilities through 2012, hoping to turn around the money-losing unit. Not a good way to start off the week for the U.S. economy.

The sweeping restructuring plan also calls for reducing capacity by 1.2 million units, or 26 percent, by 2008, and targets a material cost reduction of at least $6 billion by 2010. The job cuts, in addition to the previously announced slashing of 4,000 salaried positions and a 12 percent cut in officer ranks by the end of the first quarter in the first quarter of 2006, are the deepest since Ford launched a multiyear restructuring program in 2002.

Reuters Technology News

Posted by | Mon, Jan 23, 2006 - 09:43 AM

Monday Reviews from Around the Web

techFEAR put out their review on Corsair's TwinX2048-4000PT memory today. You can find this and other reviews from around the 'net by visiting the Legit Forums!

Corsair has provided users with a matching set of high capacity, high speed memory modules. With further promises of even higher clock rates, techFEAR pushes the TwinX2048-4000PT to the edge of stability. Corsair met us head-on and we end up with a solid kit everyone should have.

Posted by | Mon, Jan 23, 2006 - 07:11 AM

Rumor: ATI Crossfire RD580 delayed till February

ATI's original plan was to launch its new Radeon X1900 (R580) cards together with its new chipset with the codname RD580 together, but The Inq. says that is not the case. The ATI Crossfire Radeon Xpress motherboards are going to be delayed till February.

The original plan was to launch its new Radeon X1900 (R580) cards together with its new chipset codename RD580-based Crossfire Radeon Xpress 3200 boards. The graphics chipster will launch the X1900 cards tomorrow but the motherboards will be on hold for at least a few more weeks, we learn.

Posted by | Mon, Jan 23, 2006 - 06:56 AM

Nokia, Motorola, Intel form alliance for mobile TV

Mobile phone giant Nokia has teamed up with other technology firms to promote the DVB-H technology standard for mobile TV, Nokia said on Monday. Looks like the three companies have enough monies behind them to push the DVB-H standard to the market quickly.

The tie-up, called the Mobile DTV Alliance, aims to encourage open standards for TV broadcasts to mobiles, focusing on the North American market. DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld) technology bypasses mobile networks and broadcasts directly to handsets from TV masts, allowing millions of phone users to access the service at the same time. It also allows them to use interactive services and order "on-demand" programs via mobile networks, which operators hope will be a new source of income.

Reuters Technology News

Posted by | Mon, Jan 23, 2006 - 06:52 AM

AMD Promotes Dirk Meyer to President and COO

AMD (NYSE: AMD) announced today that Dirk Meyer has been promoted to president and chief operating officer of AMD. Meyer previously served as president and chief operating officer of AMD's Microprocessor Solutions Sector (MSS) business.

"Dirk has played an essential role in AMD's rise to the position of technology and innovation leader in the microprocessor industry," said Ruiz. "He has made amazing progress with our microprocessor business, making it the envy of our industry. His leadership, operational skills and business acumen have positioned the company for long-term, sustainable growth, and I'm very pleased that AMD now will benefit from those skills on an even grander scale."

Posted by | Mon, Jan 23, 2006 - 06:49 AM

AMD Cuts Athlon 64 X2, Turion, and Sempron CPU Prices

AMD has cut the prices on many of their popular desktop and mobile processors this morning. The AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ processor took a 19.9% price slashing and can now be bought for $643 when bought in 1000 units. If you have been waiting to buy an AMD Athlon 64 X2 processor now is the time to jump on it! Just wait till the retailers update their pricing in a couple days.

AMD has cut their prices up to 32% on some processors! The biggest cuts come to the Turion 64 line of mobile processors, with the prices of the ML-44, ML-42, ML-40, ML-37, ML-34 and ML-32 coming down by 32.6%, 25.7%, 16.4%, 16.3%, 16.3% and 5.8% per cent, respectively. In order, these six chips now cost $354, $263, $220, $184, $154 and $145 when sold in batches of 1000 CPUs. All other Turion prices remain unchanged.

Posted by | Mon, Jan 23, 2006 - 06:43 AM

Cell Phone Ads in Exchange For Text Messages

The time has come to get ads on your cell phone and actually like it! It seems that some cell phone users are being offered the chance to send text messages for free in return for viewing ads on their phones.

The service is due to be unveiled later this month with the firm behind it busy recruiting punters to take part in beta testing. Exactly how many free texts peoplewill receive depends entirely on how many advertisers are prepared to give away. I-movo - a mobile marketing company whose clients include Nectar and All Bar One - has hooked up with mobile technology provider i-text to launch the service.

Posted by | Mon, Jan 23, 2006 - 06:33 AM

DDR2 Memory Prices Continues to Increase

The price premium DDR 400 enjoyed over DDR2 533 has shrunk to 1.4%, as DDR contract prices remained flat in the second half of January, while 512Mbit DDR2 533 prices increased to US$4.09! The most interesting part is that memory module makers can have gross margins of 50% for the segment. Simply amazing!

Prices of mainstream DDR remained flat sequentially, while DDR2 prices increased 3.54% (after growing 3.13% in the first half of January). With the spot price of 512Mbit DDR2 533 surpassing the US$5 level on January 20 and closing at US$5.03 on January 23, sources at DRAM makers noted that chipmakers can enjoy gross margins as high as 50% for the segment, thus attracting more vendors to produce these parts.

DigiTimes Daily IT News

Posted by | Mon, Jan 23, 2006 - 06:28 AM

Happy 20th Birthday Computer Viruses!

Happy Birthday Mr. PC Virus! Beleive it or not computer viruses have been around for 20 years now! The term computer virus dates from 1984 and was coined by US computer scientist Fred Cohen even thought the first virus (Brian) wasn't out yet.

It was during the opening weeks of 1986 that the first PC virus, called Brain, was discovered in the wild. Though it achieved fame because it was the first of its type, the virus was not widespread as it could only travel by hitching a ride on floppy disks swapped between users. Now 20 years after they first appeared there are more than 150,000 malicious programs in existence.

BBC Technology News

Posted by | Sun, Jan 22, 2006 - 11:55 AM

TVMyPod Sells IPods Pre-Loaded with Videos

A tiny Massachusetts company named TVMyPod is selling iPods that come with movies and TV programs already loaded on them, a practice that raises questions of legality as it addresses consumer demand for convenience and portability. Interesting to see what happens if legal action is taken against TVMyPod

Customers choose any content currently available on a DVD and which iPod they want. TVMyPod then puts the content on the player and ships the original DVDs along with the iPod restored to its original packaging. TVMyPod co-founder Vijay Raghavan said most people don't have the time or the technology to convert DVDs into the iPod's required format, which is what gave him and his business partner the idea to start the service.

Reuters Technology News

Posted by | Sun, Jan 22, 2006 - 11:52 AM

Jan 22nd News from Around the Web

Another round of news from around the web. This time the leading article is on the Gigabyte X1800 XT 512 MB video card, which looks to be a hefty performer.

Overclocked by a healthy margin, Gigabyte's GV-RX18T512V-B Turbo Force Edition is tied for the honor of being the fastest Radeon X1800 XT 512MB in the retail scene. It may look like your reference card with a Gigabyte decal but it is certainly a lot faster. Read on as we uncover its speed secrets.

Posted by | Sun, Jan 22, 2006 - 11:15 AM

Friday Reviews from Around the Web

Hardwarezone checks out AMD's Athlon 64 FX-60 Processor. Find this and other reviews by visiting the Legit Forums!

AMD welcomed the new year with a spanking new AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 processor. Based on the Toledo core, it's a dual-core processor clocked at 2.6GHz. Find out how much faster is the new FX-60 as compared to the FX-57 and the X2 4800+.

Posted by | Fri, Jan 20, 2006 - 03:01 PM

Wi-Fi 802.11n Standard Still Coming

If you are wondering what is going on in the WiFi industry the new standard is still in the works and it's looking like 802.11n will make it! At four times the speed of current wireless networks I am looking forward to seeing it in action!

The proposed standard, 802.11n, provides a huge speed boost for wireless networks, with actual throughput speeds of 100 megabits per second, or roughly four times as fast as current wireless networks. It also opens the door for bandwidth intensive services such as voice over IP and streaming video. The IEEE unanimously voted in favor of the proposal from the Enhanced Wireless Consortium (EWC), a group led by chipmakers Intel, Marvell, Atheros and Broadcom. The EWC formed in October to accelerate adoption of an 802.11n standard after months of haggling between TGn Sync and WwiSE, the two industry groups that had been working -- unsuccessfully -- to settle on a standard.

InformationWeek

Posted by | Fri, Jan 20, 2006 - 01:29 PM

AMD Eyes Chip Memory Expansion with Z-RAM

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. is exploring new types of onboard memory for its chips as a way to bump performance and squeeze more out of its manufacturing plants. Time will tell if this makes it to market, but we hope it will.

The Sunnyvale, Calif., chip maker has licensed memory technology called Z-RAM, created by startup Innovative Silicon Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., in an effort to look at new ways of bumping up the cache or onboard memory of its processors. Z-RAM, which stands for zero-capacitance dynamic RAM, promises the ability to double the density of DRAM?used to store data?or quintuple that of static RAM?used for processor caches?without requiring special materials or extra manufacturing techniques when being fabricated, according to Innovative Silicon officials.

Posted by | Fri, Jan 20, 2006 - 01:26 PM

ATI Radeon X1900 family already on sale

In a move that is sure to get ATI steaming, several online retailers have X1900 cards for sale - today. Looking at Froogle we find that 8 retailers are carrying the ATI Radeon X1900 XTX. They even have an Radeon X1900 CrossFire Edition available over at Digitally Unique for $604. All I can say is that these hardware companies need to do something about their NDA's. I'm still under NDA, so if there is such a thing as an ATI Radeon X1900 I can't talk about it. This all makes sense right?

Why is this such a big deal? Well the cards don't offically exist until Tuesday. On one hand this is a big no-no, but on the other it is extremely encouraging that lower-tier retailers have available stock. Perhaps this launch won't be as cellulose fiber based as so many have been in the past. Another encouraging thing is that the All-in-Wonder card appears to be available at or near launch.

Posted by | Fri, Jan 20, 2006 - 01:22 PM

Infineon Technologies Expects Quarterly Loss

German chipmaker Infineon Technologies expects to post a first-quarter loss as selling prices slumped for DDR2 memory chips. Now that DDR2 prices are on the rise this might be the last loss due to DDR2 pricing. If you haven't bought your 2GB kit of DDR2 memory we suggest doing so now when prices are still low.

The company said Friday it expected to lose 183 million euros (about $217 million), or 0.25 euro a share. Revenue was 1.67 billion euros (about $2.02 billion). Favorable development couldn't offset "significant deterioration" of the cash flow in memory products, due mostly to a strong fall in average selling prices, in particular for DDR2 memories.

Posted by | Fri, Jan 20, 2006 - 01:17 PM

No link between cell phones and common tumor

Ever get tired of people telling you talking on the cell phone will give you a tumor? A new study shows that using a mobile phone does not increase the risk of developing the most common type of brain tumor. Send them this link and to relax on the tumor comments!

After a four-year survey, scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research in London and three British universities found no link between regular, long-term use of cell phones and glioma. "Overall, we found no raised risk of glioma associated with regular mobile phone use and no association with time since first use, lifetime years of use, cumulative hours of use, or number of calls," said Professor Patricia McKinney, of the University of Leeds, in a report in the British Medical Journal.

Posted by | Fri, Jan 20, 2006 - 01:15 PM

Google defies US over search data

The US Dept. of Justice are requesting Google to submit data about the type of searches and what results are returned according to the BBC. The Justice Dept. claim they require the data to aid them enforcing the online pornography law. According to the BBC they requested "A list of terms entered into the search engine during an unspecified single week, potentially tens of millions of queries" and "A list of terms entered into the search engine during an unspecified single week, potentially tens of millions of queries".

The internet search engine Google is resisting efforts by the US Department of Justice to force it to hand over data about what people are looking for. Google was asked for information on the types of query submitted over a week, and the websites included in its index...But Google's lawyers said it would fight the order.

BBC Technology News

Posted by | Fri, Jan 20, 2006 - 09:45 AM

Thursday Reviews from Around the Web

The Tech Report reports that NVIDIA has announced a budget GeForce 7-series GPU, the GeForce 7300 GS. Find their article and other reviews by visiting the Legit Forums!

The 7300 GS is an all-new chip built on a 90nm fabrication process. It's a budget part, and thus, cards based on it will retail for between about $99 and $149, depending on the configuration. These cards should offer roughly twice the performance of the GeForce 6200 TurboCache cards that they supplant, and like the 6200, the 7300 GS will use TurboCache technology to allocate system RAM for use as graphics memory.

Posted by | Thu, Jan 19, 2006 - 07:19 AM

Intel Corporation Stock Takes A Royal Beating

If you own Intel (INTC) stock you might want to stop reading right about now. Shares were down more than $3 per share at one point today after Intel missed their fourth-quarter numbers. Shares are currently down nearly 12% for the day.

Invstors were looking for answers a day after Intel stunned the Street with a fourth-quarter miss and a bleak outlook for the current quarter. Intel shares tanked as the predictable downgrades poured in. Citigroup cut the stock to hold on concerns about the chipmaker's near-term profitability and ability to estimate reseller inventories. UBS and Piper Jaffray did the same, citing the potential for weakening growth and gross margins. In midday trading Friday, Intel shares were down $2.98, or nearly 12%, to $22.54. That followed the stock's 9% drop in extend trading Tuesday after the release of the financial results.

Posted by | Wed, Jan 18, 2006 - 12:59 PM

Futuremark Releases 3DMark06 For Download

Futuremark today released 3DMark06, which includes improved Shader Model 2 tests, new CPU tests and HDR Shader Model 3 tests for system-wide gaming performance measurements. The new benchmark weighs in at 576MB in size, so when you go to download 3DMark06 expect to find a line and a huge file size.

Building on 3DMark05 as a foundation, Futuremark improved the core 3D engine, adding more complex ShaderModel 2.0 tests, stunning High Dynamic Range (HDR) ShaderModel 3.0 tests, and overall enhanced the product with substantially higher polygonal counts expected to be found in games two years into the future. Even with the addition of HDR/ShaderModel 3.0 tests, 3DMark06 still enables ShaderModel 2.0 compliant graphics card owners to run most of the benchmark and get a fully comparable 3DMark score. With these demanding new DirectX 9 implementations, 3DMark06's four graphics tests measure performance of the most advanced hardware while showing visually the compelling advantages of these new shader types.

Posted by | Wed, Jan 18, 2006 - 10:01 AM

nVidia Launches the GeForce 7300 GS Video Card

This morning nVidia launched their GeForce 7300 GS video card that is aimed at the mainstream PC user with it's $99 USD suggested price tag. The GeForce 7300 supports high-definition video?up to 1080i resolution and is ready for the upcoming Microsoft Vista operating system (OS). This price point puts the GeForce 7300 in direct competition with ATI's Radeon 1300 Pro cards which can be found for the same price.

The nVidia GeForce 7300 GS-based graphics cards are available for purchase at approximately $99 USD from many of the world?s leading add-in card makers. The Asia Pacific region will see immediate availability of GeForce 7300 GS-based add-in cards in time for Chinese New Year. Availability in Europe and North America will follow in early February. GeForce 7300 GS-based PCs will also be available from the world?s leading system builders starting in early February.

Posted by | Wed, Jan 18, 2006 - 09:46 AM

Wednesday Reviews from Around the Web

Futuremark 3DMark06 is on the lips of reviewers today! Check out what all the websites have to say about the new benchmark by visiting the Legit Forums!

Posted by | Wed, Jan 18, 2006 - 09:17 AM

Blackmailers target $1m website

Alex Tew, 21, hit the headlines at the start of the year when he revealed his Million Dollar Homepage had made him a million dollars in four months. Then came the online attacks... Go figure!

Mr Tew's encounter with the net criminals began on 7 January when he received an e-mail threatening to bombard the site with data unless he paid a ransom of $5,000 (�2,800). He did not respond and the 10 January deadline passed without incident. But the following day the site went down, and has only been up intermittently since then. A series of other e-mails, upping the ransom to $50,000 (�28,000), followed.

BBC Technology News

Posted by | Wed, Jan 18, 2006 - 08:30 AM

Google Buys dMarc Broadcasting

Google made its biggest acquisition to date on Tuesday as it branched out into radio advertising with a deal that could cost it as much as $1.24 billion. This is a huge purchase and will be interesting to see what Google plans to do with them.

The purchase takes the search engine company into the broadcast field for the first time, and signals its ambition to extend the reach of its internet-based advertising network as digital distribution takes hold across a wider range of media. The initial purchase price for dMarc Broadcasting, a U.S. private company, will be $102 million in cash. Google said it would pay up to $1.136 billion more over the next three years if dMarc hits targets that have been set for product integration, net revenues and advertising inventory levels.

MSNBC Technology News

Posted by | Wed, Jan 18, 2006 - 08:27 AM

Take-Two Will Be Late Filing its Annual Report.

The New York-based video-game software publisher Take-Two filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday for a 15-day extension in filing its 10-K report. The company said it expects to file within the indicated 15 days.

Take-Two, which has been struggling financially in recent quarters, is best known for its Grand Theft Auto franchise. In recent years, the company has been trying to diversify beyond Grand Theft Auto into areas such as sports and simulation games, with limited success. Last week the company unveiled the acquisition of Irrational Games, the developer behind titles such as Freedom Force and System Shock 2.

Posted by | Wed, Jan 18, 2006 - 08:24 AM

China: 111 Million People With Internet in 2005

As of the end of 2005, there were 111 million Internet users in China, growing by 18.1% on-year, according to statistics released by the China Internet Network Information Center. This is an amazing number and shows how quickly China is growing in terms of adapting technology.

Of the users, 64.30 million accessed the Internet through broadband connections, increasing by 50.2% from a year earlier, according to CNNIC. In 2005, users surfed the Internet an average of 15.9 hours a week with an expense of 103.6 yuan (US$12.8) a month, noted the agency, adding that there were 49.5 million PCs connected to the Internet, rising by 19.0% on-year.

DigiTimes Daily IT News

Posted by | Wed, Jan 18, 2006 - 08:22 AM

Seagate Launches 160GB Perpendicular Notebook Hard Drive

Seagate Technology has begun shipping the industry's first 2.5-inch notebook PC disc drive built on perpendicular recording technology to the worldwide distribution channel. To make things better these drives are 160GB, which offer more storage than most would need in a notebook!

Momentus 5400.3, a 5,400-rpm drive that operates with 4,200-rpm power efficiency to extend battery life, is Seagate's first to bring the higher capacities and performance of perpendicular recording to mainstream notebook PCs. With Momentus 5400.3, Seagate once again leads the industry in areal density, delivering 132 Gbits per square inch to provide the highest levels of drive capacity, reliability and performance. Seagate will also extend the advantages of perpendicular recording to its 7,200-rpm Momentus disc drives and to all of its 1- and 3.5-inch products.

Posted by | Wed, Jan 18, 2006 - 08:16 AM

Tuesday Reviews from Around the Web

Trusted Reviews posted their review on the Asus A8N-VM CSM Motherboard today! Find this and other great reads by visiting the Legit Forums!

Although the GeForce 6150 and nForce 430 chipsets for AMD processors launched late last year it has taken the board manufacturers a little while to get retail products out on the market. Part of this was because of some early issues with the platform, but these all seem to have been resolved by now. The first board to arrive here at TrustedReviews is the Asus A8N-VM CSM. This is a micro-ATX board, which gives you an idea about the intended market for this board.

Posted by | Tue, Jan 17, 2006 - 10:32 AM

nVidia Launches NVIDIA nForce4 SLI XE and nF4 Ultra Chipsets

NVIDIA Corporation today announced the NVIDIA nForce4 SLI XE and NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra media and communications processors (MCPs). The nForce SLI XE comes with an expected retail price of under $100 and is for enthusiasts who want the most performance. The Ultra has all the same features as the XE, but only has one full x16 slot. LR finds it a bit confusing that the low end nVidia MCP is called an Ultra, but that's what they picked!

With an expected retail price of less than $100 USD for NVIDIA nForce4 SLI XE-based motherboards, consumers can now take advantage of the acclaimed NVIDIA SLI technology and install two graphics cards immediately for scalable gaming performance, or use the second PCIe slot for other PCIe devices or future expansion. Targeted for single-GPU configurations is the NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra MCP, offering users a solid platform with more features and performance than alternative motherboard products that also have a retail price of around or less than $89 USD.

Posted by | Tue, Jan 17, 2006 - 06:19 AM

PREVIOUS | NEXT