News

NASA investigates debris falling from the shuttle stack.

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The incident that poses the highest risk is the discovery of damage to a 22-centimetre-wide (8.5 inch) heat-resistant tile near or on the door enclosing the shuttles nose landing-gear. Radar analysis, and then video footage from a camera mounted on the external fuel tank, revealed that a patch of the surface about 4 cm (1.5 inches) across is missing. The seal around the hatch enclosing the landing gear is known to be an area where any damage would be especially worrying. However, minor damage due to falling debris has been a common occurrence on shuttle flights. The flight operations manager for the shuttle, John Shannon, said it was not yet possible to say if this damage was a safety issue.

Take your date out to expensive dinners.

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So he and Seymour built a model based on a series of dating decisions. In the model males had to decide what kind of gift to offer females – valuable, extravagant or cheap – based on how attractive he finds her. The females had to either accept or decline the gift and then decide whether to mate with the gift-giver – a decision also weighted on the ‘attractiveness’ of their prospective partner. When they measured the different outcomes of all the steps, they found the best solution for the males was to give extravagant, but intrinsically value-free gifts the vast majority of the time, while giving gifts of material value very occasionally.

MRO readies for Mars.

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MRO’s High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) will photograph Mars’ surface with such detail, researchers expect to resolve objects as small as four feet (1.3 meters) wide. To get a wider view, the orbiter’s Context Camera will gather images about 25 miles (40 kilometers) across, with a resolution of about eight kilometers per pixels.

China's military space program is dangerous.

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In assessing China’s overall military prowess, the U.S. Defense report stresses that China is "facing a strategic crossroads." Noting that China’s emergence has significant implications for the region and the world, the Defense Department assessment stresses that "questions remain" about choices that China’s leaders will make regarding its military might as that country’s power and influence grow.

Atlantis rolls into the VAB.

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Shuttle engineers rolled the Atlantis orbiter into the VAB, where it will be mated to its external tank-solid rocket booster launch stack for NASA’s STS-121 mission, at about 10:20 a.m. EDT (1420 GMT) Friday. Landing gear glitches plagued Atlantis’ rollover from its Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) to the VAB.

House endorses Moon and Mars.

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There is some tension between Congress and the White House over the balance between Bush's vision for space exploration and other NASA initiatives. Originally, the measure would have shifted $1.3 billion in funds from exploration to other NASA programs. But after administration objections lawmakers added the money back to the budget for exploration during floor debate. That was done by adding to the bill's bottom line -- now at $34.7 billion -- not at the expense of science and aeronautics.

First, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas makes news after some dork hacks the code which re-enables a "hot coffee" sex mini-game, and now the governing bodies from Illinois have decided to try to pass a law to fine retailers who sell "M" rated games to kids under 17.

How many times does the U.S. government have to be reminded that when dealing with entertainment and art, the general public consensus is: "stay the F#CK out of our bedrooms and living rooms!?" It's been said time and time again: one man's filth is another man's art. What offends one, may titilate another. Keep your damn noses out of our private lives, please. And as for the whole "but we have to protect our children" argument, I say B#LLSH!T. We label "dirty" movies and games accordingly. It's up to the parents to filter out what they deem appropriate for their own kids. I don't think the government should raise our children any more than they already do.

Parents, show some responsibility and pay attention to what your own stupid kids are playing and watching. Leave all this censorship to places like Germany, China, and The Middle East. Let's try and at least maintain the illusion that America still cares about its citizens and their own, personal freedom of choice.Next Page »

Logitech's best keyboard and mouse combo to date: »http://www.aselabs.com/articles.php?id=172

Microsoft forces piracy check for Windows updates. This + Longhorn may urge people to move to Linux.

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Meanwhile, those who fail the validation test will be presented with two options. People who send in their CDs, show proof they bought Windows and fill out a piracy report will be eligible to get a legitimate copy of Windows at no charge. Those who don't have CDs or a proof of purchase but fill out a piracy report will have to pay for a licensed copy--$99 for Windows XP Home and $149 for Windows XP Professional. Those prices are higher than the upgrade cost for Windows XP, but lower than the price one would have to pay for an entirely new copy of the OS.

Sony SMG stops payola.

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Companies in the recording industry depend heavily on airplay for their artists. It boosts sales by encouraging listeners to buy their music and helps them climb the charts, which are based on airplay. Spitzer said Sony BMG's efforts to win more airplay took many forms, including outright bribes of cash and electronics to radio stations and paying for contest giveaways for listeners. In other cases, he said, Sony BMG used middlemen known as independent promoters to funnel cash to radio stations.

Shuttle launches today at 10:39 EDT.

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NASA will conduct two more of these tests before launch – one at 0645 EDT (1048 GMT) and the final test at 0945 EDT (1348 GMT). But officials said on Monday that they could override the requirement for all sensors to work perfectly, if the same problem is seen in the same hydrogen sensor as before. Only two functioning sensors are required to trigger engine cut-off once the fuel is consumed.

China makes 2nd gen MIPS CPU.

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The CPU is made by BLX IC Design Corp and the company plans on using these chips for China's booming domestic consumer electronics market. If and when they are used in exported goods, the company may face legal challenges from MIPS Technologies for infringing on its intellectual property. The Godson-2 is pretty much a copy of the MIPS R10000 which makes it on par with 1995 technology.

NASA TV has the latest on the shuttle including a live feed.

It has been a long day. Check out my review on the MX3100, Logitech's new keyboard and mouse combo! »http://www.aselabs.com/articles.php?id=172

HIS X850XT @ Tweaknews.

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As the savior for all those consumers with buyer remorse that invested in a AGP based computer, you still have options that will have you gaming right along with even the best of what most PCI Express cards have to offer. If you do not have enough money to upgrade your whole system to the newest hardware, you can easily just upgrade to this AGP card and buy yourself the time to make your computer last and still have an excellent gaming experience..

HIS X800XL @ VL.

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When comparing the performance to cost ratio I think you'll have a tough time finding a card that performs as well at this price. It ran all of the current popular games well at the midrange resolutions (1024 X 768 and 1280 x 1024) of course if you insist on running at 1600 x 1200 with max AA and AF you might want to consider looking at a more powerful, and generally MUCH more expensive card.

Wintec PC2-5400 DDR2 @ Legitreviews.

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Those of you looking for some budget DDR2 modules to match up with that Intel Pentium D 820 really should consider Wintec's PC5400 offering. Featuring good performance at less than $200, you won't be disappointed...

OCZ PC3500 @ 3DX.

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Today 3DXtreme is featuring two of the latest Memory offerings from our friends at OCZTechnology. These two new products target two different user types and two different price points. For the gamer looking to squeeze every last frame out of their game OCZ has created the OCZ EL PC-3500 Gold GX Dual Channel Memory kit. The PC-4800 product is targeted towards the true enthusiast looking to run their Memory 1:1 with high HT overclocking primarily on the AMD64 platform. PC-4800 is rated to run DDR600 (300HT) with the memory timings of 2.5-4-4-10.

Ultra PC3200 XL @ OO.

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Ultra Products has proven itself as a quality provider for a number of products. While they are still relatively new, their reputation has grown exponentially with the success of their X-Connect power supplies. These memory modules have certainly put Ultra Products on the map for high speed, low latency DDR kits. The quality of the product does comes at a reasonable price. This 2*256MB kit retails for 95 dollars at Tiger Direct. At this price, you won't find very many other 2*256MB kits at this clock speed. In addition, Ultra Products guarantees performance of PC4200, which is something not all competitors will do.

Abit AX8 @ AMDZone.

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Abit has done another solid job with the K8T890 chipset in this case. The AX8 is certainly the top board with the VIA chipset for overclocking, and has a good feature set. The only question is how many will opt for the VIA based board, and will not rather pick up a nForce 4 solution. If VIA is your chipset, and overclocking is your game, this the Abit AX8 is your board.

MSI K8N SLI @ VL.

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Working with the Neo4 was a very enjoyable experience with tons of options in the BIOS that allow a multitude of tweaking, in some ways almost too much. I found that this board was pretty picky in some regards (referring specifically to BIOS settings), and it required a significant amount of tweaking at times in order to reach overclocks that I desired with the utmost amount of stability, but after finding out the appropriate settings performed very solidly.

Asus AN8-SLI @ NGOHQ.

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The AN8-SLI Premium board is based on the popular nVidia nForce 4-SLI chipset. I think most people know that Asus is among the world biggest supplier of motherboards, shipping 40 million in 2004. That’s a very impressive figure. Asus builds their motherboards with top quality parts and they tend to be very overclocker friendly.

ECS KN1(1.0f) @ Futurelooks.

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With the "Extreme" name one would expect greater options for the hardcore overclockers and fewer legacy components (although, the additional memory settings in the BIOS are a good sign that ECS is listening to feedback). With respect to the FSB, speeds greater than 250Mhz are quite attainable at the very high end; perhaps a future BIOS upgrade will allow for greater overclocking. Also, the options for older components (FDD, LPT1, COM1), really should not be present, and could better have been sacrificed for board space, extra cables or dual Gigabit. The KN1 just does not seem so Extreme in this regard. Consideration in nuking all of the legacy components may be a step in the right direction. Now that would be EXTREME!

Foxconn WinFast NF4K8AC-8EKRS @ PCStats.

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Today, PCStats will be checking out the econo line Foxconn WinFast NF4K8AC-8EKRS socket 939 Athlon64 motherboard. This motherboard is based on the vanilla nForce4 chipset and it seems like the only difference between this and the Ultra version is Serial ATA II (this version supports standard SATA). Other onboard features include a PCI Express x16 and two PCI Express x1 slots, an integrated 7.1 channel audio codec, Gigabit LAN and IEEE 1394a firewire.

Logitech takes the MX1000 and pairs it up with a brand new wireless keyboard. The combination is the best thing to hit my desk since the MX Duo came about. This is the combo to get. Read why within...Next Page »

I'll be posting a new review tomorrow and there will be an article posted by someone, soon.

Revaluation of the yuan may hurt tech sector. That's why manufacturing should be moved ELSEWHERE.

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Computer companies should also have plans to identify alternative suppliers if the yuan really does spiral upward, said David I. Levine, an economics professor at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. "Those contingencies should be part of every high-tech company's plans," Levine said. "This relatively minor currency revaluation shouldn’t be putting those contingency plans in motion."

US screws itself by setting the Patriot Act in stone.

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The bulk of the back-and-forth centered on language making permanent 14 of 16 provisions that had four-year sunset provisions under the original law, which Congress passed overwhelmingly after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

NASA sets to launch new Mars probe.

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When it begins its two-year primary science phase in November 2006, it will glide 20% closer to the surface than any of the three spacecraft now circling the planet. From an average altitude of about 305 kilometres, it will be able to take high-resolution images over an area 10 times larger than previous surveys.

Military satellite inspects other space objects. Air Force sends better stuff than NASA.

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The Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) Space Vehicles Directorate at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico developed the XSS-11. Small, low-cost satellites such as XSS-11 are being tapped to demonstrate key capabilities, from autonomous mission planning, rendezvous and proximity operations to other functions that add to the U.S. military’s space toolkit.

Microsoft and Google fighting over China. American companies should not invest in China. China has ambitions that do not comply with any of the western world. Content filtering is just the tip of the iceberg, and why American companies (such as Microsoft or Google) would even think of filtering content is terrible. China will one day outlcass the US in many ways, and it is nearly there already. I am not just talking about technology. We need to overhaul our on country before expanding, thanks.

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With an estimated 100 million people online, China's Internet audience is second only to that of the United States, and financial analysts believe it will surpass America's Internet population within five years. China also has 350 million mobile phone subscribers, 43 million broadband homes and 20 million online gamers--the largest gaming population in the world, according to Piper Jaffray.

Accessibility on websites.

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Even when people have similar disabilities, every individual is different. Given the enormous range of functional limitations that exist, even within a single disability or impairment type, it would be nearly impossible to create a label or mark that could provide sufficient information to buyers regarding a product's conformance with evolving accessibility standards. In fact, labeling products as "accessible" could set false expectations for consumers.

Employees get notification swamped.

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There is a mini-rebellion under way, however. Desperate for some quiet time to think, people are coming up with low-tech strategies to get away from all their technology. That has Microsoft and others taking note and looking for ways to create software that can be more adept at preventing interruptions.

Bombs on Japan had a second motivation. I agree on the last part of the article.

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Truman's main aim had been to end the war with Japan, Freedman says, but adds that, with the wisdom of hindsight, the bombing may not have been militarily justified. Some people assumed that the US always had "a malicious and nasty motive", he says, "but it ain't necessarily so."

China revalues yuan against the dollar. China's trade policies are hurting the US, and the US consumer doesn't care.

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The statement said China will immediately value the currency at 8.11 yuan, down 2 percent from the 8.28 rate previously. It also said it will now peg the yuan against a "market basket" of numerous currencies, although it will keep the yuan in a tight band rather than letting it trade freely. But the central bank did promise that the exchange rate band would be adjusted when necessary according to market developments as well as economic and financial situations.

Goldmine in patents. The patent and entertainment copyright law in this country is horrid. The USPTO grants patents based on trivial ideas and things which aren't even demonstrated to function.

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Still, Acacia and other patent companies say their work helps protect the pioneering spirit that has historically defined the American way. Inventors and patent holders say they must constantly fight an uphill battle against wealthy multinationals that deploy legions of lawyers and invariably want to exploit their ideas for little or no cost. Common tactics include persuading small companies to submit their ideas to standards organizations, which subsequently license them cheaply or for free, and filing counterclaims against small companies in an effort to force them into cross-licensing arrangements.

Broadband bargain hunt still on.

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So far, the phone companies' pricing strategy has helped them gain some market share against their cable competitors. In 2004, DSL had about a 41 percent share of the broadband consumer market, up two percentage points from the year before, due largely to aggressive pricing. Experts expect the trend to continue, and within three to four years subscribers will be evenly split between cable and DSL.

Maps come alive with real data.

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The system makes use of an overhead camera and image recognition software on a connected computer to identify the region from the map’s topographical features. An overhead projector then overlays relevant information - like the location of a traffic accident or even the position of a moving helicopter - onto the map.

Kodak cuts more jobs.

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Kodak said it also plans to trim its traditional manufacturing assets, including plants, factories and other equipment, to about $1 billion, compared with $2.9 billion in January 2004. The company, which has been closing factories since its restructuring began, did not detail if more plants would be closed.

News will be light this week due to a medical condition.

HP to lay off 14,500 people. Say hello to the new HP.

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As part of its strategy, the computer and printer maker said Tuesday that it will lay off 14,500 workers, or about 10 percent of its staff, under a restructuring plan designed to bring the company's costs in line with those of competitors like Dell and IBM. HP said the broad changes will save it about $1.9 billion each year starting in the summer of 2006. In its current fiscal year, the company expects to save between $900 million and $1.05 billion.

Boulders on Saturn's moon.

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On 14 July, Cassini swooped in for an unprecedented close-up view of the wrinkled moon. Its Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) camera has since returned pictures of a boulder-strewn landscape that is currently beyond explanation. The "boulders" appear to range between 10 and 20 metres in diameter in the highest-resolution images, which can resolve features just 4 m across.

Shuttle tank refuelling may lead to launch.

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However, if the armada of engineers and technicians solve the problem before next week, they could convert the upcoming fuelling test into the shuttle’s new launch date, NASA shuttle managers said on Monday. The team is testing the sensor system in room temperature conditions. But to work out why the sensor is acting up, they may need to repeat the tests while the shuttle’s external tank is fully loaded with liquid oxygen and hydrogen.

Largest stellar quake produces F sharp key.

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Combing through data from NASA's Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, a team of astronomers has identified oscillations in the X-ray emission of SGR 1806-20. These rapid fluctuations, which began 3 minutes after the starquake and trailed off 10 minutes later, had a frequency of 94.5 Hertz.

I have the 6600GT OC review up: »http://www.aselabs.com/articles.php?id=171

New ULi (ALi) chipset preview @ TT.

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During Computex 2005 in Taiwan there was plenty of talk around town about ULi's fight back into the chipset scene. The company formerly known as ALi has sent us their newest AMD64 reference motherboard based on their M1695 Athlon 64 two chip chipset solution. Read on as we take a complete look at the design behind the chipset and how it performs against VIA's K8T890 Pro and nVidia's nForce4 Ultra chipsets. Do we have a real new chipset competitor on the block? Read on and find out!

Chaintech nForce 4 @ AMDZone.

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If a low cost nForce 4 Ultra board is what you are looking for then the Chaintech VNF4 Ultra Zenith VE is going to be hard to beat. At $81 it gets you the nForce 4 features we love, along with some decent overclocking options. It also gets you in the door with dual core support, and we like the black understated PCB look. For a budget box pairing the Chaintech VNF4 Ultra Zenith VE with the 3000+ Venice core gets you in the door for just $227.

Corsair 5400UL DDR-2 @ TT. And this at EOC.

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Earlier this year Corsair launched their 5400UL part which is designed to offer impressive timings (3-3-2-8) at 675MHz DDR. Not only that but they make claims that their memory can do over 800MHz DDR with relaxed timings. Read on as we take a look at Corsair’s latest performance DDR-2 memory and see how it performs at stock speeds and just how far we can overclock the sticks.

Powercolor X800XL @ Hexus.

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What do you want from a £290 video card today? Is it performance, performance, and yet more performance in present games, or is it a deal of futureproofing at the expense of, you've guessed it, performance. PowerColor's X800 XL 512MB pricing treads dangerously on X850-class water, which is a great deal faster in almost every conceivable gaming scenario.

Albatron K8SLI @ AMDZone.

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Albatron has put out a unique nForce 4 SLI board that those looking for a lower cost solution. While overclockers may want to steer clear with only an average feature set those looking to mod, or just wanting some more case real estate for watercooling can take advantage of the smaller depth. You won't find a board packed with extras, or high end hardware, or extra SATA ports. The bottom line is that the Albatron K8SLI is an interesting implementation of the nForce 4 SLI with a low cost, and small footprint that makes it stand out.

PDP PC3200 @ VL.

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PDP Systems with its introduction of Patriot Memory +XBLK line takes dead aim at the DDR enthusiasts. They bring to market tight timings and flexible VDimm requirements to allow you to stretch the usability of a PC3200 Module to that of a PC4200 Module. A well done introduction into the market space, giving us yet another vendor for serious consideration when choosing our memory.

Mushkin XP4000 @ OCTools.

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The amazing thing with these modules is that we can even run it at these overclocked speed (270MHz) at the most extreme latencies of CAS 1.5-2-2-5 rock solid. This is the first time we have had DDR running at this incredible timings at these speeds.

XFX GeForce 6800 Ultra 512MB @ Hexus.

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You need to evaluate what you require in a graphics card. On the one hand, XFX's GeForce 6800 Ultra 512MB makes a compelling case as a cheap, relatively-speaking, workstation-class card, capable of running exotic displays. On the other though, and this affects the majority of potential buyers who tend to be gamers, you'd be better off opting for a single GeForce 7800 GTX or a couple of GeForce 6800 GTs in SLI formation. £470, then, will be either a snip or prohibitively expensive, depending upon your intended need.

Soltek K890Pro-939 @ AMDZone.

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Soltek is one of the manufacturers that has picked up the VIA K8T890 chipset. While the nForce 4 has captured most of the product territory on the high end VIA has a long history of making chipsets. To see how this latest version stands up we will look at the enthusiast class K890Pro-939. First lets look at the specs to see what we are dealing with.

Gigabyte X800XL @ Gruntville.

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The installation went well, with no Significant issues to be noted. One nice thing about this card is the lack of a power source; No extra molex is needed to run this particular card. This minimizes messy wires for that neat freak. Now some may think this card is large, and depending on your motherboard layout you may have space issues. The card comes very close to the heat-sink fan on my Asus P5WD2-Premium. It may be close, but it did not pose a problem.

BFG gets it roots from the game industry. The OC line of cards come overclocked right out of the box. The 6600GT OC is a nice mid range card for the price. Read why within...Next Page »

Better late than never. Yodasmokes reviews this post holiday first person shooter which now sells at a budget price.Next Page »

I'll be working on a video card review tonight and hopefully post it by tomorrow. While you are waiting, checkout the forums: »http://www.aseforums.com and ASEville: »http://www.aseville.com

Open source P2P unhampered by Supreme Court ruling.

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Companies that haven't been sued, such as LimeWire and eDonkey parent MetaMachine, are anxious as well. Lawyers for the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America have made it clear that they view those companies as potential lawsuit targets.

Cleverness has no effect on happiness.

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A happy old age is what many people spend their lives preparing for, aiming for financial security and good health in their dotage. But one thing people need not worry about, it seems, is how clever they are. A study of more than 400 pensioners reveals that cognitive ability is unrelated to happiness in old age.

Computer generated people.

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Every character in the simulated world will need to eat to survive, and will be able to learn from their environment through trial and error - learning, for example, how to cultivate edible plants with water and sunlight. In addition, characters will be able to reproduce by mating with members the opposite sex and their offspring will inherited a random collection of their parents "genetic" traits.

Still searching for the shuttle problem.

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In that case the launch could push into early next week, shuttle officials said. While Discovery’s STS-114 astronaut crew – which was strapping into the orbiter when their launch was scrubbed – will stay on at KSC for the time being, they will likely return to NASA’s Johnson Space Center if the liftoff date stretches further out, they added. Discovery must launch by July 31 to make its current launch window. The next opportunity to launch after that runs between Sept. 9-24.

Man convicted of copyright infringement for LINKING to a site. In AU.

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Although Cooper didn't host pirated recordings per se, the court found he breached the law by creating hyperlinks to sites that had infringing sound recordings. This is the first such judgement against hyperlinking in Australia. Tamberlin found against all other respondents in the case, namely ISP Comcen, its employee Chris Takoushis, Comcen's parent company E-Talk Communications, and its director Liam Bal.

Study about studies prove studies are bogus.

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The sobering conclusion came in a review of major studies published in three influential medical journals between 1990 and 2003, including 45 highly publicized studies that initially claimed a drug or other treatment worked. Subsequent research contradicted results of seven studies -- 16 percent -- and reported weaker results for seven others, an additional 16 percent.

Shuttle problems being looked into.

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The problem appears to lie in one of four fuel sensors that measure the amount of liquid hydrogen in the shuttle's external fuel tank. They work just like the fuel gauge in a car, except NASA is supposed to be able to override the sensors' readings in order to ensure the devices are working.

Remember that today is the day. The shuttle will launch once again. Lift-off is scheduled for 3:51 PM EDT. Get your video on at NASA http://www.nasa.gov

Panel falls off shuttle, repaired already. Whoops.

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On Tuesday evening, a plastic cover fell off one of the shuttle’s cockpit windows and damaged protective tiles on a panel about 18 metres below. The damaged panel shields an engine pod that flares out near the base of the orbiter. But engineers quickly replaced the panel with a spare, and NASA said it would probably not affect the launch, from Florida's Kennedy Space Center.

New telecommunications act, maybe? Giving a hand to consumers? That'll be the day.

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For example, the Federal Communications Commission classifies broadband service offered by cable companies as an unregulated information service, while the telephone companies' competing DSL service remains classified as a regulated telecommunications service. Obviously, when a consumer decides which broadband service to order, he or she couldn't care less about the service's regulatory label. But the classification has important consequences. Among other things, the rates of telecommunications services are regulated and information services are not. Telecommunications services are subject to universal service fees that information services escape. So voice services offered over legacy wireline facilities are subject to regulation and universal service taxes. New Internet telephony services against which they compete are not.

The shuttle is ready to fly.

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NASA’s three remaining space shuttles have been grounded since the destruction of the Columbia orbiter and loss of its STS-107 astronaut crew on Feb. 1, 2003. That shuttle broke apart during reentry when hot atmospheric gases entered a hole in Columbia’s wing – damage caused at liftoff by a chunk of external tank foam debris. Since the accident, NASA has worked to develop new ground and orbital tools and inspection methods to prevent similar damage for Discovery’s flight and track it in the off chance that it occurs.

Buy your own mech.

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That's right, any takers who want a huge, slightly perambulation-challenged mech are in luck, as long as they have $40,000 and a big backyard. He's not happy about selling off the steel giant that he has spent practically every waking hour with for years, but he says it's the only alternative if he wants to start over from scratch.

Game warez groups hunted down. I'm all for try before you buy.

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The Department of Justice’s action, code-named “Operation Site Down,” targeted warez “release” groups, including “Myth,” “Vengeance,” and “Gamerz,” which specialized in the early distribution of pirated games throughout the world via the Internet. U.S. and foreign law enforcement officials conducted close to 100 searches worldwide within a 24-hour period. Searches occurred in the U.S., Canada, Israel, France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany, Portugal, and Australia. The investigation has identified more than 120 individuals around the world, including many leaders or high-level members of piracy groups. The Department of Justice expects that additional targets will be identified and pursued during this ongoing investigation.

Adware gets legit?

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Despite running highly profitable businesses, makers of Internet software that tracks people on their PCs and displays pop-up advertisements or other kinds of promotions have a sullied history. In the past, they have buried download disclosures in lengthy legalese; installed software surreptitiously through security loopholes; disguised their brands, or made it tough for consumers to uninstall the pop-up programs.

Boycott HD-DVD. Forget the crappy new format. Blu-ray is better.

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The most interesting thing for people buying TVs at the moment is that Toshiba have stated that their HD-DVD Player will ONLY output high Def on the player's HDMI output (plus other digital connections) the analogue output will be downrezed to 480 lines (in the US - expect the equivalent, no doubt, in Europe). The Toshiba player will also have a USB interface to allow connection to computers for enhanced content and interactive options direct off the disk. In addition mastering of the underlying DVD content will be based on 1080p - but there was no discussion on the resolution of the MPEG4 images.

One day till Discovery launches.

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The countdown to the shuttle Discovery's launch on Wednesday officially started on Sunday. But the real frenzy begins on launch day. Below is a list of specific events leading up to the first launch of a space shuttle in more than two years.

Return to Flight coverage.

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Discovery is scheduled to launch at 3:51 p.m. EDT (1951 GMT) on July 13, though its 10-minute launch window that day opens at 3:45 p.m. EDT (1945 GMT). Weather officers predict a 70 percent chance that conditions will be good for Discovery’s flight, though subsequent launch attempts on July 14 or July 16 could see a higher possibility of poor weather.

Hands-free cell phone use in vars increase accidents.

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The research, conducted in Perth, Western Australia, was based on 456 drivers who had been involved in road crashes requiring hospital attention. By comparing the time of crash with records from phone companies, study leader Suzanne McEvoy and colleagues at the Injury Prevention and Trauma Care Division at the University of Sydney, found that cellphone use significantly increased the chance of a crash. That was regardless of sex, age group, or whether or not a hands-free device was used.

Black hole close up.

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In a stellar black hole, which forms when a giant star dies explosively, the rotation is a logical remnant of the star's spin. Just as a skater speeds up when she pulls her arms in, the dead star's rotation picks up dramatically as remaining material collapses into a small, dense black hole.

Journal entry: »http://www.aseville.com/journals.php?userid=1 Make sure to add your own.

Video Cards

MSI RX850XT @ PCStats.

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PCSTATS is testing the MSI RX850XT-TD256E videocard, which does not feature CrossFire. Based on the Radeon X850 XT, this PCI Express card is backed by 256MB of GDDR3 memory and supports VIVO, TV/S-Video output and component output. The ATi X850 series of GPUs are the current 3D performance leaders and the XT is the second fastest available GPU in the line. As usual for MSI Computer, the software package is among the best on the market and includes full versions of XIII, Uru and Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow. Other software includes FarStone's VirtualDrive and RestoreIT! software as well as CyberLink's DVD Solution software.

MSI RX800XL @ PCStats.

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Things are getting interesting in the video card market once again, mainly because of the ATIs new 'Crossfire' dual-videocard feature. In the mean time, ATI still holds quite an edge in the (single) high-end videocard arena with its range of X800/X850 graphics cards. Today, PCstats will take a look at one of MSI's latest ATI-based cards, the PCI-Express based RX800XL-VT2D256E. Catchy name. The MSI RX800XL-VT2D256E uses the ATI Radeon X800XL core and is backed by 256MB of speedy Samsung GDDR 3 2ns memory. The most notable feature of the card is its dual-DVI connectors, but it also sports a full complement of multimedia abilities including VIVO, and HDTV-out as well as a nice software bundle.

Asus 6800 GT @ VL.

Quote

While there were a couple of tests that the X800XL clearly dominated, the 6800 GT performed very well in every test. As stated above, the image quality is superb, with no problems noticed at all. There is also the benefit of having shader 3.0 available, which ATI does not currently have.

Nvidia Geforce 7800GTX @ 3DA.

Quote

Even though it only seems like a little while ago the 6800Ultra was being introduced, it is time again to meet Nvidia's latest 3D king, the Geforce 7800GTX. While in recent years Nvidia have had stiff competition from ATi in the high end sector, as it stands right now, they have beaten ATi to the punch with the Geforce 7800GTX GPU, leaving ATi to react for the first time in quite a while. Today, we check out not one, but two 7800GTX reference boards in both normal and SLI mode to see just how much performance this new 3D beast can deliver.

X700 Roundup @ TT.

Quote

It started off with a couple ATI Radeon X700 graphics cards and then everyone wanted to get in on the act. Today we've got an absolute monster of a roundup for you comparing 11 Radeon X700 cards from 8 different companies including ATI, GeCube, PowerColor, HIS, MSI, Sapphire, Gigabyte and ASUS. Read on as we take a close look at all the cards, their packages and most importantly how they perform against each other!

CPU

Sempron 3100+ @ AMDZone.

Quote

Today AMD officially launches the 64 bit Sempron. We look at the 3100+ based on the Palermo core running at 1.8GHz with 256kb of L2 cache. We were able to easily overclock the Palermo core to almost 2.4GHz with mid range air cooling, and no bumps from the default voltage.

Athlon64 3700+ Overclocking @ PCStats.

Quote

After putting ECT's awsome little Prometeia Mach II GT though its subzero paces, there's no way we can overlook a round of phase-change overclocking... so after hooking everything up, I pressed the power button and watched the temperatures drop. A few moments later the Prometeia Mach II GT powered on the rest of the computer, and I immediately loaded the BIOS and found that the processor was running at a chilly -27C.

Motherboard

Gigabyte K8VT890-9 @ TT.

Quote

Today we take a look at Gigabyte's K8T890-9 motherboard designed for Socket 939 AMD Athlon 64’s. It includes support for the latest Athlon 64 x2 processors and is based on VIA’s K8T890 chipset. We compare the K8T890-9 motherboard against an nVidia nForce 4 based motherboard to help work out where VIA's latest AMD64 chipset stands.

RAM

G.Skill PC4800 @ Bigbruin.

Quote

G. Skill has come through with a high quality, high performance DDR product. With stock speeds of 300MHz guaranteed you can’t really go wrong here. The graphs in the testing portion of the review show that the stock settings perform as well as other overclocked TCCD modules. The ability to run with 1T timings provided a nice boost, but is by no means guaranteed.

OCZ DDR PC-3200 @ Hexus.

Quote

There's never been a better time to buy system RAM than right now. £130 buys you a 1GB DDR1 dual-channel pack that gives superlative performance when paired up with a S939 CPU, preferably a fast one. The performance advantage over regular memory, usually specified with 2.5-3-3-7 timings, can be close to 10%, so investing in some high-quality RAM makes decent sense.

And life moves on.

Wireless robots everywhere! Run away!

Quote

IBM filed a patent last year on a roving machine equipped with a Wi-Fi location tracking system and an RFID reader. Its purpose is to help stores and factories take an inventory of supplies. Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs is reportedly combining robots, RFID systems and photo sensors to guide robots and locate inventory on assembly lines. Hewlett-Packard is tackling the problem by throwing ultrasound and ultra-wideband short-range radio technology into the mix.

Sasser author gets jail time. Punk kid.

Quote

In addition, 19-year-old Sven Jaschan has to complete 30 hours of community service while on probation, the court in Verden, Germany, said in a statement. The sentence marks one of few successful prosecutions of a virus writer. Authors of malicious code have typically proven difficult for law enforcement to track and catch.

Teleportation, science fact.

Quote

Teleporting a person would require a machine that isolates, appraises, and keeps track of over a trillion trillion atoms that constitute the human body, then sends that data to another locale for reassembly—and hopefully without mussing up your physical and mental makeup.

Shuttle managers watch hurricane Dennis.

Quote

In a written shuttle update, NASA officials said the agency’s weather officers are carefully tracking the approach of Hurricane Dennis – currently headed toward the Gulf Coast – and its possible impact at Florida's Kennedy Space Center, where Discovery currently sits atop Launch Pad 39B.

London has been hit by a terrorist attack. The world mourns for the people that were killed by the cowardly terrorists. http://www.cnn.com/rssclick/2005/WORLD/europe/07/07/london.tube/index.html?section=cnn_topstories

UK mobile services strained after bombings.

Quote

"Following the major incident in London today, Vodafone London switches are at capacity (which is very rare), so we're having to go into 'access overload' procedures, which means freeing up a proportion of capacity across London to ensure the police and emergency services can communicate," the company said.

Beware of all browsers.

Quote

Use caution on the Web. Don't enter sensitive information like passwords or account numbers on any Web site that doesn't use HTTPS to authenticate the site and encrypt information. Don't click on links in e-mail messages. When you visit a sensitive Web site, type the URL into the browser address bar, or use a bookmark you created after typing in the URL. If a browser window looks right but does not have an HTTPS connection, do not enter any information into that window.

Google to release toolbar for Firefox.

Quote

More specific details are also provided, with the e-mail claiming the software will work on Microsoft's Windows 2000 and XP platforms, Mac OS X 10.2, and "Linux 8.0+". The latter is likely to encompass the more recent releases of popular Linux distributions like SuSE, Red Hat and Mandrake, several of which are at release versions eight or above.

Downloading movies legally before DVD release.

Quote

Actor Morgan Freeman and chipmaking giant Intel Corp. are teaming up on a new venture to distribute premium movies to consumers over the Internet before the films become available on DVD. Freeman and Intel executives announced the new digital entertainment company Wednesday at an annual retreat for chief executives of top media companies in this mountain resort.

Discovery to be the most closely watched launch, ever. By cameras at least.

Quote

Now, a total of 107 cameras will be trained on Discovery during its launch. From lift-off and for about 30 seconds, while the shuttle is still in view, the cameras should be able to spot falling pieces of foam or ice as small as 2.5 centimetres across. If there is a problem, the cameras should be able to pinpoint where the debris strikes the orbiter and where it came from on the tank to within 15 cm. The cameras - which include 19 high-definition television cameras - will record images of the shuttle from at least three different locations around the launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Look at the post below to find out what is going on around ASE.

Dell to open a plant in Oklahoma.

Quote

Dell is expanding its customer call center operations in Oklahoma City by adding 1,000 new employees and erecting a new building, the company said Tuesday. Plans call for a new 120,000 square-foot facility, which is scheduled to open by March 31, 2006, the computer maker said. It will be a mirror image of Dell's existing plant on the Oklahoma River.

Europe rejects patent proposal.

Quote

A government representative said that 648 out of 729 members of Parliament voted Wednesday to reject the proposal, called the Computer Implemented Inventions Directive, which critics said would widen the extent to which software could be patented.

A cold day for detecting X-Rays in space.

Quote

This sensitive task requires Astro-E2’s main instrument, the X-Ray Spectrometer (XRS), to be cooled to just 0.06 degrees above absolute zero. This will allow it to detect extremely small changes in photon energies - representing a 10-fold improvement in sensitivity compared to existing detectors. “It’s interesting that we have to fly this thing so cold to look at things that are so hot,” Mushotzky says. To keep the device cold, three layers insulate it from the relative warmth of space, which is 2.7 degrees above absolute zero (2.7 Kelvin). Liquid helium at 1.3 K provides the innermost layer around the refrigerator holding the XRS. A layer of solid neon at 10 K blankets that, followed by a layer of insulation that wraps around the entire setup like a thermos.

Hot day for Cars.

Quote

They found that, regardless of outside air temperature, the car heated up at a similar rate – gaining 80% of its final temperature within 30 minutes. Cars that started out comfortable 22°C, for example, rocketed to over 47°C after 60 minutes in the sun. And keeping the windows open a crack hardly slowed the rise at all.

Deep Impact gets smashed by comet as expected.

Quote

The plume of gas and dust kicked up by the impact was much bigger, brighter and less transparent than expected. As a result, the crater itself, hidden behind the plume, will be very difficult to detect in the images taken by the flyby spacecraft. But the science team has already figured out some indirect ways of determining the crater's dimensions, if the optical images cannot provide enough information. In any case, any problem with getting data on the crater challenge is far outweighed by the wealth of information returned from the first-ever deliberate comet impact.

Lasers could power quantum gates.

Quote

Computers that perform calculations by harnessing the bizarre properties of quantum physics – such as the superposition or entanglement of particles – could one day operate at extraordinary speeds. Quantum computers should, for example, be able to perform multiple calculations at once simply by exploiting the fact that quantum particles can simultaneously occupy two distinct states.

The regulars on the forums are waiting for new people to greet. »http://www.aseforums.com And now, an ASEville update. FAQ system is done. It is (as everything on ASEville is) member supported. »http://www.aseville.com/faq.php I'll be updating the majority of FAQ for the site related things. If you want any new categories, let me know. The User Articles are waiting for content! You create them, »http://www.aseville.com/userarticle.php

Video Cards

Connect3D AIW X800XT @ BFR.

Quote

Earlier this month we reviewed the ATI All-in-Wonder X800XT and really liked what we saw. A top performing graphic card with an excellent set of features complimented by smart design and accessories. Today we have the luxury of reviewing another AIW X800XT but this time it's from the friendly folks at Connect3D. Like the ATI card, this model comes with a bundle of features including EAZYLOOK, TV-ON-DEMAND, and MULTIMEDIA CENTER.

ATI AIW X800XT @ TN.

Quote

Dollar for dollar, you still just can't beat the value and features compressed into this one computer peripheral. It's a TV, it's a top notch gaming card, it's an FM Radio, it's a personal video recorder, well, I guess it is pretty darn well everything. You buy it, you install it and instantly your drab and boring computer has an amazing amount of potential and power needed to turn it into an excellent gamer or a home theater system.

ATI X800XL @ TTL.

Quote

As gamers and geeks alike, we often times find ourselves getting wrapped up in the exciting world of high-end video cards and forgetting about the more budget-oriented models. With talks of SLI, 512MB cards, CrossFire, and NVIDIA’s recently released G70, you can’t really blame us. When it comes down to it, we all want to have the latest, greatest, and consequently most expensive hardware that is available at any given time. This isn’t really possible, however, unless you’re a die-hard gamer, or just disgustingly wealthy, in which case the rest of us simultaneously admire and hate you. Just kidding. Today, with the average shallow-pocketed geek in mind, we will be examining the performance of ATI’s X800 XL 256MB video card on a PCI-Express platform.

ATI X800XL @ PCStats.

Quote

In the high-end videocard market, the Radeon X800 XL VPU offers great value. Perhaps that's why these cards are selling out everywhere. Today PCStats will be checking out this high-end value king in the form of the ATi Radeon X800 XL PCI Express videocard. Backed by 256MB of GDDR3 memory, a 512MB version is available also, but the extra memory does little in terms of real world performance. Like all other videocards currently on the market, the Radeon X800 XL supports S-Video/Composite TV-out as well as component output for HDTV owners.

HIS X700 @ OO.

Quote

Much like the PowerColor Bravo X700, this HIS X700 iCooler was good, but not breathtaking. Power and performance simply can't come from an X700, no matter who you buy it from. What we have here is a card that's perfect if you're the occasional gamer, someone who loves their dual LCD displays or a home theater enthusiast who just needs their HTPC projected on to a HDTV.

Asus 6600GT @ NGOHQ.

Quote

nVidia has recently released the new 7800GTX. This new top of the line video card delivers great performance but unfortunately not everyone can afford one. Most users today still dont even have a PCIe slot. We searched for an AGP card that can deliver the goods and doesnt hurt the pockets. Thats when the ASUS Geforce 6600GT entered the picture. ASUSs products are known worldwide for their high quality and performance. In this article you will discover how to benefit from their performance without breaking the bank.

Motherboards

ABIT Fatal1ty AN8 SLI @ Hexus.

Quote

Think carefully about what you want from a S939 board. If it's features above all else, look elsewhere, frankly. If it's the promise of sky-high overclocks and care and attention paid to cooling and tweaking, the ABIT Fatal1ty AN8 SLI is hard to beat. Recommended to the enthusiast/gamer.

Chaintech VNF4 Ultra @ OC.

Quote

If I had to sum up the Chaintech VNF4 Ultra in one sentence, I'd have to say that it's a case of substance over style for a nice price. Powered by the nForce4 Ultra chipset, it brings home good performance all around with while outshining the competition with it's memory and drive systems.

Gigabyte K8NXP SLI @ RBMods.

Quote

SLI motherboards are getting more and more popular as the video card prices go down, we got a sample from Gigabyte called K8nxp-sli which we have had on our test bench and thoroughly tested it with both benchmarking and overclocking. If you are in the market for something like this then you should pay attention to this review to see how these motherboards really perform.

RAM

Mushkin HP3200 @ 3DX. And @ PCStats.

Quote

The Mushkin Redline memory uses Winbond UTT ICs on a Brain Power PCB. What many people may not realize is that UTT stands for UnTesTed. So the ICs are basically unlabelled and binned by whoever is assembling them, in this case Mushkin. The PCB is a jet black, 6 layer design from Brain Power, Brain Power PCBs are known for their overclocking abilities.

CPU

Pentium D 840 @ VL.

Quote

In a multithreaded environment, the CPU demonstrated some excellent performance, besting the 3.73 Extreme Edition which has a 266FSB and over 500MHz clock speed advantage. Image and video editing are really the 840's forté as we've seen results that are truly amazing. We didn't publish the results, but DVD Shrink was remarkably quicker with the Extreme Edition 840, taking half the time the 3.73 XE did to shrink Revolutions, and this was during our multitasking tests.

Check out my review of the Evercase BTX case: »http://www.aselabs.com/articles.php?id=169

USA wants to keep control of Internet root servers.

Quote

The new principles, outlined by Assistant Commerce Secretary Michael Gallagher, say the U.S. government will "maintain its historic role in authorizing changes or modifications to the authoritative root zone file." In addition, the principles say, the U.S. government will continue to maintain "oversight" of ICANN and prevent its "focus" from straying from technical coordination.

Discovery will launch on July 13th.

Quote

Discovery's lift-off is scheduled for 1551 EDT (2051 GMT). That timing coincides with Florida's seasonal afternoon thundershowers, but NASA will not launch during a storm. "Launching in the middle of the afternoon is going to be a challenge," Leinbach says.

Farthest gravitational lens found.

Quote

Other teams have recorded more complete rings at radio and infrared wavelengths. However, the real importance to astronomers in this case is that both the lens and the distant background galaxy are very far away, so we see them as they were when the universe was very young. The background galaxy in this case is 12 billion light years away, revealing a time just 1.7 billion years after the big bang. Normally, too little unaided light from these young galaxies reaches us for astronomers to record detailed spectra. "The lens itself acts as a giant telescope," Cabanac explains, directing enough light towards Earth for astronomers to discern vital features of its spectrum.

I just posted a review of the first BTX case to grace the bench here at ASE Labs: »http://www.aselabs.com/articles.php?id=169

WinXP Starter Edition still sucks. Not News.

Quote

Microsoft says the software, which is offered only as part of a budget system, is aimed chiefly at first-time computer users--those who have never really interacted with Windows. For that reason, the company has poured most of its development resources into things like local language videos that explain PC basics, such as how to print and how to use a mouse.

Big mirrors for big telescopes.

Quote

Construction of the mirror's mould has just been completed, and the oven is now undergoing a pre-firing before technicians carefully load it with 18,000 kilograms of borosilicate glass made from sand gathered on Florida's Gulf coast. The glass will be heated for about a week, starting around 18 July. When it reaches 1200°C, the glass will flow like honey into the intricate mould as the 90-tonne apparatus slowly spins. Then it will gradually cool down for about 12 weeks, spinning all the while.

Wave pools get better.

Quote

The Versareef will generate four types of wave, named after the places in which they are typically found: Hawaii, Indonesia, California and Australia. The Hawaiian has a steep take-off leading straight into a wall of water, while the Californian is a slower, easier wave, which is better for beginners, says Black.

Global Warming in the future.

Quote

Natural ecosystems are currently absorbing up to half of the CO2 that humans put into the atmosphere. Most climate models assume this will continue. But there is growing evidence that from about 2050, soils and forests will stop absorbing CO2 and start releasing it instead.

The age of planets.

Quote

The age of planets will fundamentally shift our understanding of the universe, because it is planets which harbor life. If there is life beyond our tiny plot, it will live on a planet. The first decade has provided the existence proof that planets do spin beyond the confines of our solar system. But the real questions are still to come, and will take decades to answer. The evolution of that quest will map the evolution of humanity's relationship with the universe. Over the coming years, we will learn whether planets are ubiquitous, or rare. We will learn what types and sizes of planet are normal, and which unusual. We will learn if there are any truly Earth-like planets out there, and after that, if any will increase to many. And, someday, we will be able to see whether there is life out there.

AMD finally sues Intel over antitrust issues.

Quote

"Rightly or wrongly, AMD's move can be seen as a clever move to take advantage of a recent favorable ruling in Japan. However, the timing of the complaint and the company's tone of indignation (perhaps exasperation) give us a sense that AMD's traction in processors that they enjoyed last year is not meeting expectations," Hans Mosesmann, an analyst at investment firm Moors & Cabot, wrote in a research report Tuesday.

BTX is the latest and greatest standard to happen to computers since the introduction to ATX 10 years ago. While BTX may be the latest, not everything that is BTX is the greatest. The Evercase Slim BTX case is on the bench for review and it doesn't shine.Next Page »

I'll be posting a review of a BTX case tonight. I also plan on posting a few video card reviews with in the next week or so. Stick around, stuff happens.

India makes the $100 PC. If you can call it a PC.

Quote

In about three months, a little-known company called Novatium plans to offer a stripped-down home computer for about $70 or $75. That is about half the price of the standard "thin clients" of this kind now sold in India, made possible in part by some novel engineering choices. Adding a monitor doubles the price to $150, but the company will offer used displays to keep the cost down.

Supreme Court stupidly and unanimously agreed that Grokster can be held liable for what its users do! The Supreme Court system in this country is absolutely appalling! Judges should NOT be giving a lifetime term. This was done when life spans were only 30-40 years. All of the justices on the current Supreme Court are all over 50 years old. Where do the past few generations come on the Supreme Court? I'm sorry, most people over 50 years old do not have sufficient understanding of technology to impose litigation on this type of issue. REVISE THE SUPREME COURTS NOW!

Quote

The first task at hand is understanding how Monday's landmark ruling against Grokster and StreamCast Networks will change the landscape for file swapping and for the music and movie industries. While far from a death knell for unregulated peer-to-peer networks, the decision has certainly cast a dark cloud over the future of companies seeking to profit from swapping software.

Another angle on the above ruling.

Quote

Two lower courts had previously ruled that the Grokster and StreamCast could not be held responsible for copyright infringement carried out using their software. This was based on a precedent set by another Supreme Court decision, in 1984, which absolved Sony from liability for copyright infringement carried out using Betamax video tapes, because the tapes also had legitimate uses.

The shuttle still unsafe to launch. There is no perfect safety! Let's get back into space already.

Quote

The CAIB also recommended NASA eliminate all foam and ice that comes off the external fuel tank during launch. A suitcase-sized chunk of foam from the tank ultimately caused the Columbia accident when it punctured a hole in the orbiter's wing during launch. Hot gases flooded in and blew up the orbiter when it re-entered the atmosphere on 1 February 2003.

Titan may have lakes.

Quote

The feature measures about 230 kilometres long and 70 km wide and, intriguingly, lies below Titan's cloudiest region. "It might not be surprising for a methane-filled lake to persist for a long time," says team member Tony Del Genio of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City, US.

I'm finishing up a review of a BTX case that absolutely sucks! I'll be posting it by Wed.

Video Cards

Inno3D Geforce 6200A @ OC.

Quote

Many of you are thinking “what can a budget VGA card possibly do for me?” Aside from it pricing out at a very reasonable $69 as opposed to something north of three or four hundred clams, the 6200A is a passively cooled product. You home theater guys are already all over this. Here in the days of HTPCs, having a single slot, silent video card solution being paired with say a Hauppauge TV-PVR card to run a media center is very desirable.

Radeon X800XL @ PCStats.

Quote

The first thing we did was set the memory to run at a full 1 GHz and it had absolutely no problems running at that frequency. Playing nicely, we then raised the memory speed in 4 MHz intervals and 1.01, 1.02 and 1.10 GHz fell by the wayside. The maximum speed we got the memory to was 1.11 GHz, very good for an ATi Radeon X800 XL class videocard!

ASUS N6800Ultra @ 3DA.

Quote

Although the Geforce 7800GTX from Nvidia saw its official release mere days ago, it doesn't spell the end of the former generation, in fact it is arguably at this time that the former generation sees increased attention due to (usual) appropriate pricing adjustments. The 6800Ultra represents the paramount of Nvidia's now former generation, and it was really the first highend Nvidia GPU to gain some performance ground back from ATi ever since the release of the 9700Pro. Well, today we double the pleasure and throw two ASUS Geforce 6800Ultra PCI-E videocards together in all their SLI glory. Is there an advantage in doubling the cost of your graphic upgrade, or is one enough?

Memory

OCZ DDR PC3200 @ Bigbruin. And OCZ PC3200 @ MTB.

Quote

Memory is arguably the most important and most scrutinized component in all high end computers. While computer enthusiasts search for low latency and high quality components, one type of chip comes to mind... Winbond BH5. BH5 memory is known by enthusiasts and gamers for its excellent performance and competitive pricing, which brings us to some of OCZ’s memory modules... The 1024MB EL DDR PC-3200 Dual Channel Gold kit, which utilizes the Winbond BH5 chip.

Motherboards

EPoX EP-9NPA+ @ Hexus.

Quote

EPoX, with its EP-9NPA+ SLI, has taken onboard the chipset's attributes and added in discrete SATA (PCI-Express, which is nice) and FireWire400. What's also appealing is the voltage manipulation available in BIOS. Enthusiasts will be happy to see 3v+ DDR and up to 1.85v available for the CPU. The chipset, BIOS, and features implementation combine to make the 9NPA+ SLI a reasonably attractive proposition. Priced at around £105, the 9NPA+ SLI matches other manufacturers' similarly priced efforts in both features and performance, making it worthy of consideration if you want a fast, stable board that should overclock to 300MHz HTT and beyond.

Foxconn i925X @ VL.

Quote

Using an Asetek Waterchill system, with only a water block on the CPU, we tested the overclocking potential of the Foxconn 925XE. We would have put a block on the chipset as well, but with the new chipset HSF mounting solution, we have no way of attaching the block to the northbridge chipset. We managed to get our 3 GHz P4 running stable at 3.75 GHz, which is a healthy 750 MHz overclock.

CPUs

AMD FX-57 @ Hexus. And AMD FX-57 @ LC.

Quote

San Diego brings SSE3 support to Athlon 64 FX for the first time, along with support for mismatched DIMM sizes in its memory controller, more efficient use of memory compared to Clawhammer and more performance from its data prefetcher, which pulls data out of system memory into the processor's caches, in advance of it being needed. A lower supply voltage likely means a BIOS update for the majority of boards and board vendors will likely roll in FX-57 BIOS support with their Venice and Toledo 90nm changes. Basically a Clawhammer at 2800MHz with SSE3 and some memory controller and prefetcher tweaks, using around eight million more transistors to get there.

HP's Turion notebook & Dell. If Dell supports AMD, they have just increased their cost of supporting systems for two platforms instead of one. Analysts are pretty narrow-sighted.

Quote

So, if nx6125 notebooks start selling like hotcakes, will that finally persuade Dell it needs to sell AMD-infused products along with its Intel-based lineup, despite its history of offering only Intel inside? Bhavnani seems enthusiastic. "It will make it a viable concern for Dell if HP begins to make money off of this new Compaq," Bhavnani said. "Dell is all about the numbers, and if they are looking at AMD, their main question will be: 'Will AMD give us the volumes that we require?'"

Software piracy is not seen as illegal to people. It shouldn't be illegal! It is immoral, but still.

Quote

The study was commissioned to find out if the anti-piracy message was having an impact on people's attitudes. They have also pushed the idea that consumers are supporting organised crime when they buy a game or DVD from someone in the street. Despite ads in the cinema, magazines and newspapers, the message is falling on deaf ears.

Brown dwarf throws up.

Quote

Now, researchers in Europe have observed a jet stretching 1.5 billion kilometres from a young brown dwarf in a stellar nursery called Rho Ophiuchi. Similar jets have been detected around young, massive stars and are thought to form from material in the disc that swirls around them. The stars grow when matter falls on them from the disc, but the stars' magnetic fields funnel about a tenth of that matter back through the jets

France gets the ITER. Nuclear Fusion!

Quote

ITER is expected to cost up to $10 billion and is the next step towards tapping the inexhaustible power that could be released by fusing together atoms of hydrogen. Scientists have been pursuing the idea, which mimics the reaction inside the sun, for 50 years.

Cosmos 1 still lost somewhere.

Quote

Tracking stations on Russia's Kamchatka peninsula, in the South Pacific and in the Czech Republic recorded signals that seemed to be transmissions from the craft, Planetary Society officials said, leaving the possibility that the vehicle made it part way around the globe or actually was in orbit, waiting to be found.

Symantec set to aquire Veritas.

Quote

Both backers and opponents of the deal say there is little chance investors will reject the all-stock transaction. With no alternative deals in sight for the companies, analysts say, shareholders essentially have no choice but to accept the deal marrying Symantec, a Cupertino, Calif., maker of consumer antivirus software, and Veritas, a Mountain View, Calif., storage software vendor.

Municiple broadband on the table.

Quote

The Bell phone companies and local cable companies have spent millions of dollars lobbying local and state officials to pass laws that would prohibit cities and towns from building their own broadband networks. In the last year, 14 bills were introduced in state legislatures to prohibit the build-out of municipal networks. But state legislatures typically only meet for the first six months of the year.

SETI's new search.

Quote

Long-lived planets may be especially important for the evolution of life, given the devastating effects of periodic asteroid and meteor impacts. For example, many scientists believe that the massive asteroid that hit Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula 65 million years ago was responsible for the wholesale extinction of dinosaurs. That catastrophe opened the way for the proliferation of mammals on Earth, eventually resulting in humankind. But on other worlds, such chance events might have obliterated an even greater variety of complex life, perhaps effectively stopping the evolution of intelligence—at least on planets with only modest lifetimes.

Violent games cause violence?

Quote

He found that as violence became imminent, the cognitive parts of the brain became more active. And during a fight, emotional parts of the brain, such as the amygdala and parts of the anterior cingulate cortex, were shut down. This pattern is the same as that seen in subjects who have had brain scans during other simulated violent situations such as imagining an aggressive encounter. It is impossible to scan people's brains during acts of real aggression so Mathiak argues that this is as close as you can get to the real thing. It suggests that video games are a "training for the brain to react with this pattern," he says.

All of these stories are being grabbed from the RSS Reader at ASEville: »http://www.aseville.com/userrss.php

I've got a contest brewing that I think you all will enjoy. »http://www.aseville.com Make sure to start posting your UArts.

Geforce 7800 Preview Day
Hexus, Bjorn3d, TT, HardOCP.

Quote

Obviously, it is up to you to decide what you need and what you can afford. If you want the best gaming video card on the market, the GeForce 7800 GTX is it right now. You may be wondering about cheaper versions of the GeForce 7800 series. Currently, NVIDIA is only announcing the GeForce 7800 GTX as their flagship model. You can pretty much assume that there will be lesser versions sold for less money down the line, each one being slower than the 7800 GTX of course. AGP versions of the 7800 family, if any, have not been discussed either.

CPU:

Intel Pentium D 820 @ Legitreviews.

Quote

The Pentium D 820 is a great processor for those who like to multi-task but who are also on a budget. It would not be my first choice for gaming, but if you are in the market for a fairly inexpensive, general processor, the Pentium D would be a great choice...

Intel 840EE @ LC.

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Dual cores are becoming mainstream. Both Intel and AMD's flagship CPUs are using two cores on a single die, albeit, with different interfacing strategies. In addition, Intel offers the ExtremeEdition with HyperThreading capability to double the logical cores to a total of four units. On the other hand, the dual cores are offset by a lower clock speed, at 3.2 GHz, the Smithfield core lags 600 MHz behind the fastest single core Pentium4 offered by Intel.

Memory:

PDP PC5600 @ OO.

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I can say that I'd recommend this memory to people looking for fast, stable, and high performing memory. Most users, with current chipsets won't find this memory or any other DDR2 we've looked at so far to limit their system overclocks. In fact, without some frustrating trial and error it's proving difficult to find the right combination.

Mushkin Redline XP3500 @ EO.

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Always innovating, Mushkin has added a new Redline Series to their XP (Xtreme Performance) lineup of memory. The Redline modules are rated for PC3500 or PC4000 speeds with 2-2-2 timings. In order to achieve these speeds however, voltages in excess of 3.1V are needed!

OCZ PC-4000 Gold @ TechIMO.

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OCZ Technology PC-4000 Gold VX Series memory is designed specifically for high-frequency and high-voltage operation – the two most important aspects when trying to push the memory bus to its absolute breaking point.

Motherboard:

MSI K8N Neo3 @ PCStats.

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Today, PCSTATS will be looking at MSI's nForce4-4X entry, the K8N Neo3-F. This motherboard supports all AMD Athlon64 and Sempron Socket 754 processors and up to 2GB of single-channel DDR memory. As with other nForce 4 chipsets, PCI-Express is integrated and the K8N Neo3-F sports a full PCIe x16 slot for video cards as well as a single x1 slot for peripherals. A standard compliment of four SATA 150 ports and two IDE controllers are present, as well as four built in USB 2.0 ports and two more on the included PCI bracket.

Gigabyte GA-8I945P Pro @ ClubOC.

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Mainstream versus Performance; the ongoing saga. You can always expect to sacrifice features and performance when you opt for a mainstream product instead of The Flagship. In most instances, the performance is something you would never feel and the features are probably something you would never miss. The latest chipset from Intel doesn't skimp on the features, and really doesn't cut back on the performance; it's just Overclock Unfriendly. The i945 chipset itself has many features which we've already talked about, that lend themselves to a budget upgrade while still able to support the high end in processor selection. Intel Flex Memory which allows modules of different sizes to be utilized in the Dual Channel setup. Supporting Dual Core and a Front Side Bus of 1066 allows power users who utilize heavy multi-tasking applications to make the most of available silicone. All in all, I'm very impressed with the package that Gigabyte has put together with this board.

Cases & Etc:

Rosewill R114A @ 3DX.

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I’m sure if you asked anyone these days what brand of computer case they wanted, they would probably tell you Lian Li, Thermaltake, Silverstone, CoolerMaster or maybe even Antec. But if you asked that person which one of those cases they can afford they might tell you none of them. Sure it might be nice to spend at least $100 to buy a high quality case, but not everyone has that kind of money to spend. So they look for a budget case, maybe around the $50 mark, hoping to find a decent case with the features they want. Today 3DXtreme is going to look at one such case, the Rosewill R114A mid-tower. Does it have the features you need at a price you can afford? Let’s find out…

Seasonic 600W PSU @ RBmods.

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It was awhile ago we looked at a Seasonic power supply, a few days ago we got their new PSU the SS-600HT power supply at a whopping 600W. We have decided to compare this to OCZ Powersteam and a Coolermaster supply to see how well it performs against these PSU´s that have performed very well in testing before.

Aerocool 550W PSU @ VL.

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AeroCool has brought to market a short list power supply with the Turbine Power 550. It is an efficient solution that can drive most anything you have to throw at it. There is ample power, connectors and separation of 12V rails to alleviate headaches on high end water coolers and the like. Their design plays nice with your customizations, no matter the level, without taking over as the centerpiece of your hard work.

If you would like to write your own articles, the new User Article section at ASEville is open! »http://www.aseville.com/userarticles.php

HP, Acer release new Turion notebooks.

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Acer's Ferrari 4000 has a flashy black carbon-fiber casing accented with sports-car red trim and the classic Ferrari insignia on the lid. The notebook includes an ATI Mobility Radeon X700 graphics chipset for better rendering on the 15-inch display. Inside is a 100GB hard drive for storing lots of digital photos, as well as a DVD Super Multi double-layer drive unit for watching movies. The Ferrari-styled notebook starts at $1,999.

Quantum computers on the horizon.

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The difference between D-Wave's system and other quantum computer designs is the particular properties of quantum mechanics that they exploit. Other systems rely on a property called entanglement, which says that any two particles that have interacted in the past, even if now spatially separated, may still influence each other's states. But that interdependence is easily disrupted by the particles' interactions with their environment. In contrast, D-Wave's design takes advantage of the far more robust property of quantum physics known as quantum tunneling, which allows particles to "magically" hop from one location to another.

Solar sail lost in space.

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The weakness of the signals could indicate that the craft is in the wrong orbit, meaning its antennae are not pointing directly at the ground stations. "The good news is we have reason to believe it's alive and in orbit," Planetary Society co-founder Bruce Murray told reporters. "The bad news is we don't know where it is."

Whale hunting still rejected.

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The ballot, which would have required a three-quarters majority, was voted down by 29 votes to 23 on Tuesday. Five countries abstained. It was the second blow for Japan at the commission’s annual meeting, held this year in Ulsan, South Korea, after its bid to change votes to secret ballots was also rejected.

Flying eyeball inspects spacecraft.

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The current prototype has only a digital camera system, but Frederickson says it could also be fitted with chemical sniffers to detect fuel leaks or a laser-based radar. The latter would give accurate depth measurements of any damage that the shuttle might have received from foam or ice during lift-off. Ground controllers could fly the 19-centimetre-diameter Mini AERCam, astronauts could control it from inside the spacecraft, or the craft could scan a vehicle autonomously. It can work a maximum of six hours before returning to its docking station, where it would recharge its batteries and the tanks that fuel its 12 thrusters.

And in the dark view of the future...

WMD attack very likely in the next decade.

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However, when the risks were combined to determine the probably of an attack with any form of WMD, the survey put the chances as high as 50 percent over the next five years, with the probability increasing to as high as 70 percent over the next decade. Among the experts who participated in the survey were Nunn; retired Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf; former defense secretaries William Cohen and Frank Carlucci; former CIA Director James Woolsey; former National Security Adviser Richard Allen; former Iraq chief weapons inspector Richard Butler; former Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott; and David Kay, who led the hunt for WMD in Iraq after the fall of Saddam.