AVA Direct Custom GT3 SFF Gaming System Review
When building or buying a desktop gaming system, enthusiasts don't normally put much thought into how much it's going to weigh, or how hard it will be to carry around when attending a LAN party. Notebook and netbook end users are much more weight-conscious consumers than are folks looking at desktops, obviously. And in the case of a gaming desktop, users tend to opt for power over form factor. Then the day comes that you decide to bring the system to someone's house, or to a hotel ballroom, for a LAN party.
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Rehab Center For Internet Addicts Opens; More Fun Than Its Chinese Counterparts
For anyone who's had trouble shutting off his computer, who keeps saying she just needs to hit the Stumble bar "just one more time," who needs to fight just one more battle in World of Warcraft, there's a spot in Washington state to unwind and get away from it all.reStart Internet Addiction Recovery Program is on five acres in rural Washington and just got its first live-in patient, a 19-year-old WoW addict. "We are not anti-technology," reStart psychotherapist Hilarie Cash told AFP. "It is about helping people
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Apple Issues 7200RPM Hard Drive Fix, New Bluetooth Firmware
People may gripe that a company like Apple gets all sorts of positive publicity simply because its iPod and iPhone products are selling so well, but there's a dark side to rampant fame as well. The bad definitely comes with the good, and a chorus of angry MacBook Pro owners have apparently made themselves heard.The story goes something like this: folks purchasing new MBPs with the 7200rpm hard drive were hearing all sorts of weird whirring, clicking and popping noises from their drives. Some users even reported
Read More ...
Bose Puts A Hurting On Noise With $300 QuietComfort 15 Headphones
The greatest name in sound? The only name in sound? Yeah, something like that. Whatever Bose's slogan happens to be these days, the company is doing itself proud by introducing yet another glorified set of cans designed to help you tune out mortar fire and crumbling buildings, not to mention airplane noise and rowdy children.Dubbed the "quietest Bose headphones ever," the fresh QuietComfort 15 acoustic noise-cancelling headphones are said to be the company's best performing, ever. While details are scant on
Read More ...
Sony Cranks Memory Stick To 32GB, Won't Concede To SD/CF
While Sony has made strides to ditch its proprietary ways in some aspects, it certainly has more work to do in others. Take the memory card game for example. Most everyone these days uses a camera that supports either SD/SDHC or CF (CompactFlash). You'd probably have to search pretty hard to find anyone using xD, Memory Stick Pro or any other off-the-wall format.That said, Sony's still a believe in the MSPro and MSPro Duo formats, as it has today introduced a new pair of flash cards for those who think 16GB
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Video Ads To Appear In Print Magazine
An upcoming issue of Entertainment Weekly’s print magazine will feature a video advertisement that plays on an embedded video player. The ad’s package will likely remind you of the heavy-paper packaging found in the novelty greeting cards that play sound. The player will have a roughly two-inch screen with a speaker embedded below it. Similar to the greeting cards, the ad will start playing automatically when the page flips open. The player is scheduled to run ads for CBS shows and Pepsi. CBS and Entertainment
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RadioShack Stores Now Offering T-Mobile’s myTouch 3G
Nearly a month ago, we told you about RadioShack’s plan to offer T-Mobile phones and services in its retail stores. Now, we’re seeing that plan put into practice: The new T-Mobile myTouch 3G with Google as well as other T-Mobile products and services are currently available in more than 4,000 RadioShack stores across the United States and in Puerto Rico. “With an exciting product like T-Mobile’s myTouch 3G, The Shack continues to build its authority in innovative, mobile technology,†said Peter Whitsett, Executive
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Gigabyte Invitational Editor's Day 2009 - Lynnfield / P55
As details of upcoming Lynnfield processors and P55 chipset-based motherboards hit the scene, there is a growing buzz within the industry about the effects of bringing Nehalem down into the mainstream market segments. While X58 and Core i7 performance dominates, complete system pricing has kept some average consumers looking to upgrade wistfully on the fence. That roadblock will likely been cleared by P55 as the companies involved eagerly expect to see widespread adoption of the high performing and relatively
Read More ...
Kids and Cell Phones: Inseparable
Kids and cell phones. You can't live with 'em, and you can't live without 'em. We're speaking of the kids, actually, as cell phones, most teens would say they can't live without, period. A new Pew Internet & Life Project survey (.PDF) shows that, unsurprisingly, cell phone use is continuing to rise among teens. Specifically, the first Pew survey in 2004 showed that 45% of teens had a cell phone. As of 2008, that number had risen to 71%. The survey had 914 respondents in 2004, vs. 2,134 respondents in 2008.
Read More ...
AVA Direct Custom GT3 SFF Gaming System Review
When building or buying a desktop gaming system, enthusiasts don't normally put much thought into how much it's going to weigh, or how hard it will be to carry around when attending a LAN party. Notebook and netbook end users are much more weight-conscious consumers than are folks looking at desktops, obviously. And in the case of a gaming desktop, users tend to opt for power over form factor. Then the day comes that you decide to bring the system to someone's
Read More ...
Gigabyte Invitational Editor's Day 2009 - Lynnfield / P55
As details of upcoming Lynnfield processors and P55 chipset-based motherboards hit the scene, there is a growing buzz within the industry about the effects of bringing Nehalem down into the mainstream market segments. While X58 and Core i7 performance dominates, complete system pricing has kept some average consumers looking to upgrade wistfully on the fence. That roadblock will likely be cleared by P55 as the companies involved eagerly expect to see widespread adoption of the high performing
Read More ...
AVA Direct Custom GT3 SFF Gaming System Review
When building or buying a desktop gaming system, enthusiasts don't normally put much thought into how much it's going to weigh, or how hard it will be to carry around when attending a LAN party. Notebook and netbook end users are much more weight-conscious consumers than are folks looking at desktops, obviously. And in the case of a gaming desktop, users tend to opt for power over form factor. Then the day comes that you decide to bring the system to someone's house, or to a hotel ballroom, for a LAN party. That's when you realize your desktop, in its steel tower case, throws your back out when you try to load it into your car.
AVA Direct's custom GT3 series is aimed squarely at the LAN party gamer, and won't throw out your back with its diminutive size and weight. It's built with portability in mind; the case is small, it comes with a handle and the thing weighs less than 20 pounds. And because it's custom, you can build it up as you please at AVA Direct's Web site. Finally, due to the fact that the GT3 is more a tiny desktop than a true SFF (Small Form Factor) machine, in theory, it shouldn't sacrifice much power for the sake of portability.
AVA Direct Custom GT3 SFF Gaming System Review
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Video Ads To Appear In Print Magazine
An upcoming issue of Entertainment Weekly’s print magazinewill feature a videoadvertisement that plays on an embedded video player. The ad’s package willlikely remind you of the heavy-paper packaging found in the novelty greetingcards that play sound. The player will have a roughly two-inch screen with aspeaker embedded below it. Similar to the greeting cards, the ad will startplaying automatically when the page flips open.The player is scheduled to run ads for CBS shows and Pepsi. CBSand Entertainment Weekly have billed the video advertisement as the first toever appear in a print magazine. CBS hasn’t disclosed what it is paying for thead, but since the idea behind this new experiment is to charge a premium foradvertising that will catch consumer’s attention, we would guess the bill is significantlymore expensive than a regular ad. The player itself is made by a Los Angeles company called Americhip. The player shouldbe able to withstand
the binding processes and mail delivery.The new video advertisement represents yet another change inthe world of advertising. In recent years, we’ve seen major newspapers sell adson their front pages (once thought to be very taboo). We’ve also seen magazinesplacing advertisements into cover flaps and including video promotions viaDVDs.
The video inserts are set to appear in some copies of thefall TV preview issue of Entertainment Weekly which will be mailed tosubscribers in New York and Los Angeles. Consumers viewing the ad will see charactersfrom CBS's "The Big Bang Theory" talking up Entertainment Weekly andgiving demonstrations that show how to navigate the different buttons thatallow you to see additional clips. Additional spots will include a clip from"Two and Half Men," a sneak peek at thenew CBS comedy "Accidentally on Purpose,"and a preview of CBS’ fall drama slate. There's also an ad for Pepsi Max.آ
* Editor's Note:آ So this is how print media will compete with internet publications for advertising dollars?آ Holy mackerel.آ Come to Papa.آ This is like taking candy from a baby.
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Sony Cranks Memory Stick To 32GB, Won't Concede To SD/CF
While Sony has made strides to ditch its proprietary ways in some aspects, it certainly has more work to do in others. Take the memory card game for example. Most everyone these days uses a camera that supports either SD/SDHC or CF (CompactFlash). You'd probably have to search pretty hard to find anyone using xD, Memory Stick Pro or any other off-the-wall format.That said, Sony's still a believe in the MSPro and MSPro Duo formats, as it has today introduced a new pair of flash cards for those who think 16GB cards are simply for suckers. The two cards offer the most capacity of any Sony-made flash card (32GB), as the 32GB PRO-HG Duo HX and 32GB PRO Duo models provide ample storage for those with devices that will support 'em.
The 32GB PRO-HG Duo HX card is designed to deliver optimal read and write speeds for cameras and camcorders shooting large/high-resolution clips. If you do lots of RAW shooting or 1080p capturing, this card is for you. The HX series offers a 20 MB/s read speed and 15 MB/s write speed, which is approximately three times faster than Sony’s PRO Duo media card. Considering that even Sony realizes how un-friendly this format is, the company even throws in a USB adapter so you can actually get content from your device to your machine. Thanks, Sony.
The new 32GB PRO-HG Duo HX Memory Stick and 32GB PRO Duo Memory Stick will be available at the end of September for around $249 and $199, respectively.
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Quake Live Beta
So I got into the Quake live beta. It's really fun. I only played for a minute, but it is quake 3 all the way. Anyway I have some invites if anyone wants to play.
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Logitech G35 vs Tritton AX PC 5.1 Pro vs Fatal1ty HS-1100
I recently bought the Logitech G35 headset. It sounds great but I'm having a few reasons for maybe looking into these other two before my 30 day trail is over. While the sound of the G35 is quite good, I'm kinda left wanting more from the software, COD 4 is not compatible with it's surround sound processing, and I get a constant high pitch noise when using the mic.
Not able to find many reviews on the Creative HS-1100 prolly because they've recently been released. Tons of stuff on the Tritton AX Pro and a little less on the Tritton AX 5.1 Pro, but hardly anything of value on the AX PC pro. Because they're USB and rely on software to do the processing, I'm thinking it might not be a good idea to overlay the reviews of it's two hardware driven siblings. The difference between driven by software as oppose to hardware may equate to huge differences in how they end up sounding even though the heasets themselves I understand are identical except of their color themes.
I'm hearing that Creative's HS-1000 may be better than their HS-1100,... that they've scaled back on their software drivers kinda forcing you to get their X-Fi card for such basic stuff as noise cancellation for the mic. Creative's HS-1200 I hear are even worse yet, and is muffled by it's inability to maintain fidelity over it's wireless network. Are my assumptions about the Fatal1ty's correct?
I'm thinking of ordering a pair of Tritton's AX PC Pro from Walmart's online store, hoping to receive them in time to do some A and B comparison with the G35 inside my 30 trail. But it would be good to hear some first hand experiences from those who own them,... as well as one of the Fatal1ty sets I mentioned.
Thanks folks!
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RadioShack Stores Now Offering T-Mobile’s myTouch 3G
Nearly a month ago, we told you about RadioShack’s plan to offer T-Mobile phones and services inits retail stores. Now, we’re seeing that plan put into practice: The newT-Mobile myTouch3G with Google as well as other T-Mobile products and services arecurrently available in more than 4,000 RadioShack stores across the UnitedStates and in Puerto Rico.“With an exciting product like T-Mobile’smyTouch 3G, The Shack continues to build its authority in innovative, mobiletechnology,†said Peter Whitsett, Executive Vice President of Merchandising forRadioShack. “The Android platform, with its broad array of unique applications,offers our customers another exciting option for their mobile lifestyle.â€
The highly anticipated myTouch 3G joins other T-Mobile devicesat RadioShack, including the BlackBerry Curve 8900, the Samsung T239, theSamsung Comeback, the Samsung Gravity 2 (not available in Puerto Rico), theSamsung Behold, and the Sony Ericsson TM506.
“RadioShack’s knowledgeable associates have the expertise tohelp consumers fully experience the new T-Mobile myTouch 3G,†said DougChartier, Senior Vice President of Sales at T-Mobile USA. “Our partnership withRadioShack offers customers an excellent shopping experience, delivering thecoverage they need at the price they want across a variety of compellingdevices.â€
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Gigabyte Invitational Editor's Day 2009 - Lynnfield / P55
As details of upcoming Lynnfield processors and P55 chipset-based motherboards hit the scene, there is a growing buzz within the industry about the effects of bringing Nehalem down into the mainstream market segments. While X58 and Core i7 performance dominates, complete system pricing has kept some average consumers looking to upgrade wistfully on the fence. That roadblock will likely been cleared by P55 as the companies involved eagerly expect to see widespread adoption of the high performing and relatively affordable platform.
On August 18, 2009, Loews Hotel in Santa Monica, California was host to Gigabyte's Invitational Press Day. The affair promised to provide an informative look at Intel's Lynnfield processor, along with the P55 platform. Representatives from Gigabyte, Intel, and Kingston were available to provide demonstrations and answer questions on their upcoming technology and product line-ups.
Gigabyte Invitational Editor's Day 2009 - Lynnfield / P55 
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Kids and Cell Phones: Inseparable
Kids and cell phones. You can't live with 'em, and you can't live without 'em. We're speaking of the kids, actually, as cell phones, most teens would say they can't live without, period.A new Pew Internet & Life Project survey (.PDF) shows that, unsurprisingly, cell phone use is continuing to rise among teens.
Specifically, the first Pew survey in 2004 showed that 45% of teens had a cell phone. As of 2008, that number had risen to 71%. The survey had 914 respondents in 2004, vs. 2,134 respondents in 2008. Data was collected from those 12 - 17 years of age.
A new Pew Internet & Life Project survey (.PDF) shows that, unsurprisingly, cell phone use is continuing to rise among teens.Age tends to affect both ownership and activity. Only 52 percent of 12- to 13-year-olds own a cell phone. At age 14 the percentage leaps to 72%, while more than 17-year-olds owned their own cell phone.
In terms of activity, only 28% of 12-year-olds talked with their friends daily via cell phone, while more than 70% of 17-year-olds did so. Text messaging showed a similar gap, with That also holds true for texting, as 25% of those aged 12 - 14 text daily, while 51% of teens aged 15 - 17 do so.
It should come as no surprised that the most popular activity for teens is ... text-messaging. Among all teens, 38% of all teens do this on a daily basis, while 26% send messages daily via social networking sites (e.g. Facebook, MySpace) and 24% use instant messaging. Sadly, a mere 29% spend time with their friends face-to-face, something that psychologists, and even the Pope, have warned about.
Texting is more popular among girls, probably also unsurprisingly, with 42% sending text messages to friends daily, while about 34% of boys do the same.
By age 17, about 82 percent of the survey's respondents owned one. But the cell phone isn't the most frequently- used communications device; that's still the landline, Pew found, with 88 percent using it versus 66 percent for cell phones.
Also noted by Pew, the more money, the more likely teens would have a cell phone.
- Households earning $30,000 or less: 62%
- Households earning $30 - 50,000: 63%
- Households earning $50 - 75,000: 72%
- Households earning more than $75,000: 79%
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Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit Films Your Ride, Goes To YouTube
Here at HotHardware, we rarely cover rollercoasters. In 99.9% of the cases, a rollercoaster has little to nothing to do with a new GPU, a gaming PC or a new graphics card. But the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit is different. It's a tech-savvy thrill ride that weds technology with wild physics, and if you're in the Orlando, Florida area, you owe it to yourself to check it out.
The coaster has been "almost ready to open" for months on end now. Indeed, the whole summer has slipped by and the ride is just now accepting patrons, but hey, late is certainly better than never in this scenario. First off, the ride offers a trio of first-ever maneuvers: the Double Take, the world's largest non-inverted loop; the Treble Clef, where guests burst through a building facade on track shaped like the music symbol; and the Jump Cut, a spiraling, negative-gravity move.
But it's not those twists and turns that have our attention, it's the built-in camcorder and personal touchpad that have us longing for a trip to central Florida. Riders can use a touchpad to select their own music for the ride, as each seat contains personal stereo speakers catering to just that rider. Then, the rider's entire ride is captured on video, with the song they selected acting as the soundtrack. After the ride ends, patrons can choose to purchase their very own hair-raising music video on DVD or in a digital, e-mail-able file. Not surprisingly, the coaster's press release doesn't mention how pricey the films are, but we highly doubt they're cheap. So, who's down for a ride?
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Apple Issues 7200RPM Hard Drive Fix, New Bluetooth Firmware
People may gripe that a company like Apple gets all sorts of positive publicity simply because its iPod and iPhone products are selling so well, but there's a dark side to rampant fame as well. The bad definitely comes with the good, and a chorus of angry MacBook Pro owners have apparently made themselves heard.The story goes something like this: folks purchasing new MBPs with the 7200rpm hard drive were hearing all sorts of weird whirring, clicking and popping noises from their drives. Some users even reported screen flashes, freezes and reboots. Needless to say, it was driving the collective mob wild, and Apple finally had no choice but to listen.
Today, the company has officially outed a new Hard Drive Firmware Update 2.0, which "reduces certain infrequent noises made by 7200-rpm drives." The update only affects/helps MacBook Pro units shipped after the June 2009 refresh, and while Apple isn't very forthcoming with details, the 3.71MB file supposedly patches things right up.
In related news, the Cupertino-based outfit also issued a new Bluetooth update, Firmware 2.0.1. Put simply, this update provides bug fixes and better compatibility with the Apple Wireless Mighty Mouse and Apple Wireless Keyboard, and it installs on all Mac systems with Broadcom chipsets controlling the BT module.
What are you waiting for? Get that System Update to work, pronto!
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Bose Puts A Hurting On Noise With $300 QuietComfort 15 Headphones
The greatest name in sound? The only name in sound? Yeah, something like that. Whatever Bose's slogan happens to be these days, the company is doing itself proud by introducing yet another glorified set of cans designed to help you tune out mortar fire and crumbling buildings, not to mention airplane noise and rowdy children.Dubbed the "quietest Bose headphones ever," the fresh QuietComfort 15 acoustic noise-cancelling headphones are said to be the company's best performing, ever. While details are scant on the product itself, Bose tells us that the QC 15s "offer more attenuation in louder environments and across a wider range of frequencies -- without compromising the audio quality and comfortable fit of the acclaimed QuietComfort headphone line."
The QuietComfort 15 headphones debut a "more sophisticated, proprietary electronics approach" to active noise reduction, placing microphones both inside and outside the earcup. Supposedly, this approach better senses sound and can then more effectively measures, compares and reacts to the noise. Think noise-cancelling, just smarter (and more expensive).
Furthermore, these cans boast new ear cushion technology to keep your listeners free from aches, and the single AAA battery required to nix the noise can last for around 35 hours of use. The new QC 15s are available starting today for $299.95, while the QuietComfort 3 headphones are priced at $349.95.آ
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