IT-Code-News: IT News HeadLines (Legit Reviews) 01/01/2010

AT&T To FCC: Phase Out Landline Regulations

I don't think we'll see landlines completely eliminated anytime this century if the switch to digital TV is any indication but that won't stop AT&T from lobbying the FCC to set a plan for phasing them out.

A day without landline phones? Some may say that's inevitable, but it looks like AT&T is now starting to try to speed things up a bit, with it recently responding to an FCC request for comments with a 32-page filing that details its position on the matter. That more or less boils down to two major requests: that the FCC eliminate the regulatory requirements that it support a landline network, and that it provide a firm deadline for phasing it out.

Spring Design to Unveil Alex Dual Screen eReader Next Week

Spring Design will take the wraps off the Alex, the only dual-screen Google Android-based eReader to fully integrate web browsing and reading, at the Lunch at Piero's media and innovator event during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Alex features a 6" E-Ink EPD display and 3.5" color LCD display, earphones and speakers. A removable SD card will free up library space on the device while letting users archive content for future reference.

Spring Design Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Eric Kmiec, will be avaialble to show Alex's full browser capabilities and patented dual screen interaction technology, the Duet Navigator that enables Alex users to search the Internet on the 3.5" color browser LCD screen while displaying books, periodicals and even personal, educational and corporate documents on the Alex's paper-like 6" EPD screen. The Alex browser and virtual keyboard provide handy access to email, calculator and will accommodate a growing number of programs from the Google Android community.

HIS Radeon HD 5750 iCooler IV Video Card Review

The HIS Radeon HD 5750 graphics card features a dual slot GPU cooler called the iCooler IV. This cooling system moves a massive amount of cool air from the central cooler to cool down the internal fins directly. Heat from the 5750 GPU can rapidly transfer to internal fins that extend under the cooler. Read on to see if the fan performs better than others found in this series!

Pulling the cooler off of the HIS Radeon HD5750 iCooler IV video card you can see that is made solely out of aluminum. In the current times of heatpipes and even the common use of copper for heat dissipation I was a bit surprised to see an aluminum heat sink on a non-reference card. According to HIS the iCooler IV is designed for faster transfer of the heat out of the gpu. The noise level of the iCooler IV is rated for under 30dB's. We will check out how well the iCooler IV works in a bit. First, let's take a look at all the goodies you get with your purchase.

The 13th Annual Build Your Own PC Race for Charity Event at CES 2010

Systemax, Intel and CA are teaming up at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show for the 13th Annual Build Your Own PC Race for Charity. This event has helped raise nearly $2.5 million for charities around the country. This years event will be held from 5:30-8:00 p.m. PST on Thursday, January 7, 2010 at the Wynn Hotel and Resort in Las Vegas. If you happen to be in Las Vegas for CES 2010 be sure to swing by and check it out! Legit Reviews accepted the offer to be one of the 30 tech journalists in the event, so it should be a blast like always!

Systemaxs 13th Annual "Build Your Own PC Race" for charity, sponsored by Intel and CA, will be held on Thursday, January 7th, 2010 at the Wynn Las Vegas Resort from 5:30 - 8:00 pm. Last year's event put us way over the $2 million mark in case and computer equipment donations for charities around the country! Held on the first night of the Consumer Electronics Show, top industry journalists compete in a race to assemble systems based on an Intel CPU in record time. Last year's winner Al Hernandez, technology & consumer reporter at Fox Morning News, won the race with a build time of less than 6 minutes. He was awarded $10,000 for his selected charity, Challenged Athletes Foundation. Each of the 30 participants are given the system they build, plus other products, to donate to the school or charity of their choice.

DIRECTV HD Gets 50% More Channels Thanks To Satellite Launch

Yesterday the DIRECTV 12 satellite soared into space following a successful launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. As a result DIRECTV customers will soon see a stellar lineup of new HD channels and movie choices. The new satellite will boost DIRECTV's HD capacity by 50 percent, to more than 200 HD channels, increase the number of local HD markets DIRECTV will serve and significantly expand movie choices on the DIRECTV Cinema and DIRECTV on Demand services. DIRECTV offers more than 130 HD channels today and delivers local HD programming to 138 markets, representing 92 percent of U.S. TV households.

"With the successful launch of our DIRECTV 12 satellite, we will have the capacity to dramatically expand HD and movie choices for our customers and further extend our content and technology leadership," said Romulo Pontual, DIRECTV's chief technology officer. "With a robust fleet of 11 satellites, including five spacecraft delivering HD programming, advanced transmission and set-top box technology, we are able to provide our customers with an unparalleled viewing experience and maintain a significant competitive advantage for many years to come."

PQI SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Flash Drive Has 97MB/s Read Speeds - Cool Drive U366

PQI recently released their first USB flash drive device in the form of Cool Drive U366. PQIs U366 is encased in an all aluminum shell with a clear plastic lid that can perfectly fit on the end tip so users need not worry about loosing the lid. What makes this new product so interesting is that PQIs Cool Drive U366 is one of the few USB3.0 flash storage devices on the market, and it features a read up to 97MB /sec! Those SuperSpeed USB 3.0 enabled motherboards are starting to look more tempting now that USB 3.0 devices are coming out!

PQI Cool Drive U366 SuperSpeed USB 3 Flash Drive

The new USB3.0 features 5Gbps/sec maximum bandwidth, which is 10 times the maximum bandwidth of USB2.0 as it eliminates the issue of external connection bandwidth being smaller than the output bandwidth of the storage device. This allows portable, ultra fast and high capacity storage device to flood the market as USB3.0 is deemed to take over USB2.0 as the standard for future external connections!

Huntkey Announces X7 900W Power Supply with Five +12V Rails at 90 Amps

Power Supply maker Huntkey Enterprise Group, claims that they have found the best solution for end-users after considerable investigation and research. Which wattage of power supply is the most useful and suitable to end-users? Through investigation, Huntkey finds that a PSU of around 900W is more and more popular among gamers and DIY enthusiasts. However the expensive price stops most customers. Around the world, the price of kilowatt-level power supply is around USD $240. Can customers have a high-level power supply with higher quality but lower price? The company says the Huntkey X7 900W power supply does. The Huntkey X7 900 is an 80PLUS Silver certified that they are announcing today. Sadly, they don't mention the price of this new PSU even though their press release said that is has a lower price tag than many of the 1KW models on the market today.

Efficiency is the biggest concern of most enthusiasts. How does Huntkey X7 900W PSU measure up? "Interleaved PFC": It turns one traditional big PFC into two smaller CCM PFCs that operate in turns. By doing this, it reduces the ripple currents both of input and output and current stress on PFC FETs and improves the PFC efficiency by one or two percent. "Phase-shifted ZVS full bridge": Lots of PSU on the market now works by traditional "hard switching" topology such as double-forward or half-bridge. "Soft switching" topology such as in the Huntkey X7 900W normally uses high efficiency server power supply and telecom power supply over 3000W to realize up to 90% transfer efficiency.

ECS, Clevo cautious about Shuttle notebook alliance

Second-tier notebook makers Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) and Clevo have taken a defensive attitude toward the potential impact of Shuttle's announced New Notebook Ecosystem alliance, as the alliance will target their clients, according to industry sources.

Shuttle has headhunted the general manager of ECS' notebook business to operate the alliance and the clients that the general manager brought from ECS will become the base for the alliance to enter the notebook industry, the sources noted. The sources also revealed that Flextronics will also joined the alliance, which will provide more threats for Clevo and ECS. To counter Shuttle's move, ECS has dissuaded its component suppliers from participating in the alliance and will consider shifting orders from suppliers who disregard the warning, the sources pointed out.

In Win Ammo 2.5-inch HDD RFID Enclosure Review

Hard drive enclosures seem to be a dime a dozen lately as storage prices continue to drop and users have more data than ever to backup. In Win, however, has an enclosure that stands out from the crowd in a couple of ways. Check out the picture below to see if you can find the In Win Ammo sitting next to a DPMS AR-15 rifle! Read on to find out more about this ammo cartridge-shaped enclosure with RFID encryption technology.

In Win has definitely developed a unique product that will likely appeal to a many first-person shooter gamers. As pictured above, the Ammo enclosure was closely modeled after the ammunition cartridge of an AR-15. Even the groves down the cartridge are in similar positions. Even one end of the Ammo enclosure is angled in order to give the illusion that the clip is curved when, in fact, it is not. Besides having a uniquely themed product with a practical purpose, In Win also brought data security to the table. This will no doubt be an important feature to this market as most anyone would rather know their data is secure in case the enclosure was lost or stolen. Without an included RFID tag, the drive is locked down and does not even show up in Windows until the enclosure is unlocked.

A-DATA Announces N002 Combo USB 3.0 and SATA II Flash Drive

A-DATA Technology launched the industry first ever combo flash drive this morning that features both USB 3.0 and SATA II interfaces, designed to maximize data transfer speed for end users. Adopting the industry-leading 8-channel architecture, N002 is able to boost transfer speed tenfold compared to ordinary flash drives with USB 2.0 interface by delivering up to ultra-fast 200 MB/s and 170 MB/s in sequential read/write performance respectively.

A-DATA N002 USB 3.0 and SATA II Flash Drive

Ready to hit the market by January, 2010, N002 makes USB 3.0 a reality. It supports all latest platforms that come with USB 3.0 ports, while also being backward compatible with USB 2.0 ports at a lower speed performance. Available in 64GB, 128GB and 256GB, N002 is ideal for users who are thirsty for super-sized storage capacities with unrivaled speed via the innovative USB 3.0 and SATA II dual interface. A combination of speed, storage and portability altogether into one device, N002 is by all means the most effective solution to access and transfer large amount of data, including high-resolution images, multimedia files and whole lot more, at an instant and on the go.

HIS Radeon HD 5750 iCooler IV Video Card Benchmarking

Friday, January 1, 2010

IT News HeadLines (Legit Reviews) 01/01/2010

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