News for 10-3-10

Kristofer Brozio | October 3, 2010 | Xbox | No Comments

Good morning, Happy Sunday and all that stuff! It’s time for the news from around the world, a mixture of everything and anything pretty much! Enjoy!

Storage related:

Corsair F40 SSD Review – 40 GB as a bargain
Teaser: With the Corsair F40 from the Force Series customers will also come with a very tight budget to enjoy a SSD. Is it worth it?
Link: http://www.tweakpc.de/hardware/tests/ssd/corsair_f40_force/s01.php

MUKii TransImp External SuperSpeed 3.5” Enclosure @ Pro-Clockers

Review link: http://pro-clockers.com/enclosures/1672-mukii-transimp-external-superspeed-35-enclosure.html

MUKii intends on breaking into the USB 3.0 enclosure competition with very reliable and very durable products, which manage to look good to boot. We will be taking a look at one of MUKii’s USB 3.0 enclosures, heralding from their TransImp line, which among other things also includes hard drive docks. The TransImp U3 models are available for either 2.5" or 3.5" SATA drives, which our view sample is the latter. But unlike a lot of hard drive enclosures on the market, the TransImp come bundled with a software application to help the buyer to achieve some simple task and configurations.

G.Skill Phoenix Pro 40GB Solid State Drive
QUOTE: "Close to a month ago we took a look at the Corsair Force 40GB SSD powered by the fabulous SandForce SF-1200 controller and determined it to be fast, but without a desktop adapter the value was lacking for some users. Today we are looking at a nearly identical drive, but this time the cost of ownership is lower and the overall cost is reduced with the inclusion of a 2.5 to 3.5” desktop adapter bracket.
The new class of small, fast and cheap SSDs might get a nose raised at them from existing SSD users, but if you already own a SSD these drives aren’t made for you. The G.Skill Phoenix Pro 40GB is an entry level SSD designed to get this amazing technology in the hands of those who are either still skeptical to spend the big money on a larger drive SSD, or those financially challenged. In these days of recession and a possible double dip recession, there are enough enthusiasts in this category. When it really comes down to it, I would choose a small SSD over a large platter drive any day and that is what G.Skill is counting on."

Thermaltake BlacX 5G USB 3.0 Dock Review @ Tweaknews
Article Url: http://www.tweaknews.net/reviews/thermaltake_blacx_5g/
Article Snippet:
"If you’re currently using a USB 2.0 dock to access drives externally, Thermaltake’s BlacX 5G is a great reason to upgrade to a faster USB 3.0 dock. You’ll save a lot of time transferring files and still have the ability to use the dock on just about any modern PC or laptop, thanks to the backward compatibility of USB."

G.Skill Ripjaws PC3-12800 (1600MHz) 8GB Kit
QUOTE: "Over the past few months we’ve seen memory companies offer us some fairly large kits. We saw Kingston offer us a massive 24GB kit not too long ago and more recently recently looked at a 12GB kit from SuperTalent as well as an 8GB kit from ADATA. Today G.Skill will be joining the ranks of big kits with a new Ripjaws series offering.
The Ripjaws kit isn’t anything new to us; we’ve seen the series before from G.Skill and we’ve been impressed by it, too. Larger models tend to come at the cost of more relaxed timings, though, and today we’ll figure out if that’s a trade-off we’re happy to accept."

2500MHz Patriot Viper-II Sector-5 Memory Kit @ Benchmark Reviews

DESCRIPTION: As if 2133MHz were not enough for a high-performance kit, there are some brands pushing the limits to the max in the memory section. Just about 6 months ago, some brands released 2200MHz kits, followed by 2400MHz and finally 2500MHz kits specially targeted at high-end enthusiasts and overclockers. The kit we are reviewing today is one of the fastest kits available in the market, and the fastest kit ever tested at Benchmark Reviews. The Patriot Viper II ‘Sector 5’ Edition is a 2500MHz 4GB kit, running with high binned ICs, and according to Patriot’s homepage, this kit works with LGA 1156 Core i7 CPUs and possibly nothing else at the moment of writing this revision. Join Benchmark Reviews in a trip to discover how far we can push this kit, and analyze system’s performance with extremely high frequencies.

ARTICLE URL: http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=616&Itemid=67

OCZ RevoDrive PCI-Express RAID-0 SSD @ Benchmark Reviews

DESCRIPTION: Storage standards and bandwidth aside, it’s understandable why SSDs were developed on a drive profile first: notebook and desktop hard disk drive upgrades offered a tremendous user-base. Unfortunately, SSDs were introduced with premium prices that rendered many consumers numb with sticker shock. As the technology became more prevalent, prices have also become more affordable and power-users have embraced the performance SSDs are known to offer. Now the market is ready for the next step: high-performance PCI-Express SSDs built for hardware enthusiasts. Enter the OCZ RevoDrive PCI-E SSD. In this article, Benchmark Reviews tests the 120GB OCZ RevoDrive SSD (model OCZSSDPX-1RVD0120) against the fastest storage solutions on the market.

ARTICLE URL: http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=596&Itemid=60

Crucial 128GB RealSSD C300 2.5" Review @ XtremeComputing

Quote: "Personally I’ve always had a positive view of Crucial as a company – and have bought quite a bit of RAM from them in the past. Additionally, I have always found them to offer good products for great value. Today I’ll be looking at the Crucial RealSSD C300 128GB (with O/S Transfer kit). Let’s see if it fits with my previous experience of offering good value for money."

Review Link: http://www.xtremecomputing.co.uk/review.php?id=535

G.Skill Trident 2000 MHz DDR3 CL9 8GB Kit

Link: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/GSkill/F3-16000CL9D-8GBTDD

Brief: The G.Skill 8 GB 2000 MHz kit manages to offer high capacity, nicely packaged within tall and solid heatspreaders. The active cooling bracket lights up blue and we push the memory & test bench to the limit to see what this kit is capable of.

Mobile Related:

‘iPhone 4 App of the Week – ZumoCast’
The ultimate media streaming app for your iPhone & iPad. Dreams DO come true!
The Full Article can be viewed at http://tbreak.com/tech/2010/10/iphone-4-app-of-the-week-%e2%80%93-zumocast/

Kiwi U-Powered Solar & USB Portable Charger Review @ ThinkComputers.org

Review URL: http://www.thinkcomputers.org/kiwi-u-powered-solar-usb-portable-charger-review/

Quote: “Phones, cameras, and other mobile devices are power hogs. Those who have moved to smartphones have to plan ahead if it’ll be more than ~20 hours before they’ll next be near a power outlet. A dead battery means disconnection, which means the device isn’t receiving messages, which means business isn’t getting done. Fortunately, a new class of portable batteries has hit the market. Prices on these devices are dropping, and they are diversifying in capacity and features. Once such device is the subject of this review, the Kiwi U-Powered Charger. This device sports a 2000 mAh capaci ty, multiple charging tips, and, as its name indicates, an array of photovoltaic cells for sun-powered recharging. ThinkComputers has the review…"

Microsoft Windows Phone 7: going to fail ?

KitGuru has been reporting on the new Microsoft Windows Phone 7 platform for many weeks now. With the imminent launch of the new Phone OS, it is worth analysing if Microsoft really can make their mark in this competitive sector.

Read the article here: http://www.kitguru.net/mobile/jules/microsoft-windows-phone-7-going-to-fail/

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Thermaltake Massive23 LX Notebook Cooler
Quote: " When it comes to notebook coolers, most manufacturers stick to the smaller sizes of notebooks. They rarely expand their range to support notebooks larger than 15.6 inch models. Those with larger laptops are usually left out in the cold. They are forced to either stick with whatever internal cooling system their laptops have or come up with DIY solutions. Thermaltake sees the market for full-size notebook coolers. The Massive23 LX targets this market. "
Link: http://www.aselabs.com/articles.php?id=12259

Amazon Kindle 3 Review (with leather light cover) review @ Kitguru

Since the Apple iPad was released, the tablet sector has been a thriving hotbed of news and discussion. Market leaders such as Research In Motion, Samsung, Sharp are developing new tablets to target this lucrative market. On the ‘monochrome’ side however, the battle has been just as intense and recently one of the most awaited devices has been released in the UK – The new Amazon ebook reader, entitled The Kindle 3. The levels of demand have been that high that many people are having to wait several weeks before one can be shipped.

Read the news here: http://www.kitguru.net/mobile/zardon/amazon-kindle-3-review-with-leather-light-cover/

Thermaltake Mobile Fan 12 Review @ ThinkComputers.org

Review URL: http://www.thinkcomputers.org/thermaltake-mobile-fan-12-review/

Quote: “Have you ever been working at your computer or laptop and felt a little hot? Being hot and uncomfortable makes working hard and you are less productive. I’ve had this happen to me on numerous occasions. Thermaltake has just the thing for this problem; they call it the Mobile Fan 12. It is a 12cm fan that sits on your desk and is powered by USB; there is even a speed control knob. Let’s take a look and see if this product is worth the $19.99 price tag."

Evercool Hawk 1 Notebook Cooler Review @ ThinkComputers.org

Review URL: http://www.thinkcomputers.org/evercool-hawk-1-notebook-cooler-review/

Quote: “Today we are going to take a look at the Evercool Hawk 1 notebook cooler. Heat in a computer is its number one enemy. The only way to counteract this heat in laptops is to make sure that good airflow is available by making sure vents are not being covered up by anything. This however doesn’t always cut it for some laptops. Overheating can still occur due to higher operations being done on laptops with higher end processing taking place such as gaming. This is where Evercool’s Hawk 1 steps in."

Choiix Cruiser 2.4GHz Wireless Mouse Review @ ThinkComputers.org

Review URL: http://www.thinkcomputers.org/choiix-cruiser-2-4ghz-wireless-mouse-review/

Quote: “If you are anything like me then you absolutely cannot not use your laptop’s track pad to do any sort of work. Even if you are not like me using a mouse with a laptop is a lot more comfortable. Well our friends from Choiix may have the perfect portable mouse for you. The Choiix Cruiser is a 2.4 GHz wireless mouse that is small and can be used on pretty much any surface, which makes it perfect for laptop users that are on the go. Read on to check it out!"

Funky Kit Review: Innergie mCube Pro Universal Adapter (tested on an airplane)

"The Innergie mCube Pro can charge most popular brands of notebooks between 15-21 volts, including Acer, Asus, Compaq, Dell, Fujitsu, Gateway, HP, IBM, Lenovo, MSI, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, and many others. What’s more, the actually unit is light-weight, has good looks, and features a separate USB port for charging USB devices, such as digital cameras and mobile phones.… In our tests, we will be using our recently reviewed Samsung X130 Ultramobile notebook … on an airplane! Yes, that’s right… it’s the first test of its kind to be conducted on an airplane."

Read the rest of the review here … http://www.funkykit.com/reviews/4476-review-innergie-mcube-pro-universal-adapter-.html

Tom Bihn Brain Bag Laptop Backpack Review

After dropping all that money on a shiny new notebook, why on Earth would you then cheap out on the laptop bag that is going to be used to carry it around? You want to have adequate protection for your technological investment, you want to have adequate storage for your various accessories, and you probably want to look good walking around town with it too.

Direct Link: http://www.futurelooks.com/tom-bihn-brain-bag-laptop-backpack-review/

Audio / Video:

Apple TV Wireless HD Digital Media Player Preview @ Legit Reviews
Article URL: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1425/1/

"It’s hard to believe that Apple announced the Apple TV (iTV) back in 2006 and then released their first player back on March 21, 2007. Apple has finally started shipping their second generation Apple TV this week and we got a pair of them that just arrived from Shenzen China today. This player is rather interesting from a cost perspective alone as it retails for just $99. This is a far cry from the original $299 price tag brought by the first generation player…"

Arctic Cooling Arctic Sound P531 5.1 USB Headset Review

The Arctic Sound P531 is a 5.1 USB headset from Artic Cooling, very helpful in games which require 3D sound positioning, but also movies or sound files that have multi-channel sound content, and produces a very nice bass. The casing is built mostly from plastic, but does not give us a cheap feel and thanks to that it is very light. The software can even transform the stereo sound which we listen to the most into 5.1 so we can use the surround feature everywhere.
http://www.madshrimps.be/gotoartik.php?articID=1075==

USB Portable Media Player w/Card Reader @ Bona Fide Reviews

Quote:
" Today for review I’ve got another product from our friends at Geeks.com. It’s a portable media player that can use either SD cards or USB storage devices like flash drives or hard drives. It’s generic or no-name basically and it’s very inexpensive coming in at about $25, but it works, and I guess that’s what counts right?"

Link: http://www.bonafidereviews.com/review-of-usb-portable-media-player-wcard-reader/

21.5" Compaq Q2159 1080p Widescreen LCD Monitor @ Bona Fide Reviews

Link: http://www.bonafidereviews.com/review-of-21-5-compaq-q2159-1080p-widescreen-lcd-monitor/
Quote:
"It’s Monday and I figured why not start the week off with a review. Today for review Geeks.com has sent me over a 21.5” LCD monitor from Compaq, specifically it’s the model Q2159 and it can do 1080P and it even has built-in speakers. The monitor itself is nicely made, and the picture quality is very good, I didn’t even have to make any adjustments to it, right out of the box it was picture perfect! So read on… "

efo Multimedia USB Dongle.

Quote: "With our latest life style, plenty of multimedia entertainment devices are being used widely and today we are going to introduce a simple USB dongle which allows us connect to 20000 radio channels, 5000 web TV stations and tons of games. This USB dongle is being sold at efo at ~ 35USD which is neither too expensive nor really cheap; let us go through this cool device further to justify whether it is worth for it or not."

Read More: http://hardwarebistro.com/index.php?option=com_simple_review&Itemid=84&review=159-efo-Multimedia-USB-Dongle-Review

NVIDIA 3D-Vision Multimedia Resource Guide @ Benchmark Reviews

DESCRIPTION: While the path towards widespread 3D acceptance has been long and difficult, we’ve arrived at a market rich with 3D innovation. Cinema 3D movies are showing in theaters across America, major sporting events are broadcast in 3D, and now 3D-HDTVs are a sought-after item. Many would credit NVIDIA’s 3D-Vision technology for being the catalyst that launched a new era of visual entertainment, and in this article Benchmark Reviews presents our NVIDIA 3D-Vision Multimedia Resource Guide. Video games are a primary part of this article, and we’ll share tips on optimizing convergence settings to produce eye-popping out-of-screen 3D effects. NVIDIA’s 3D-Vision kit is capable of much more than video games, which is why we also offer sections on 3D video multimedia, 3D Blu-Ray Disc movies, 3D photos, and Sony’s PlayStation 3.

ARTICLE URL: http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=612&Itemid=38

Radiopaq Dots Review – ‘The tiny earphones with the big sound’

Although some people are willing to spend upward of £100 on a premium set of earphones, there are many more who cannot afford top-end audio hardware and will opt for a cheap and cheerful product instead. But the lower end of the market is filled with hundreds, possibly thousands of different earphones so choosing between them can often be difficult.

Today we are going to look at a set of ‘Dots’ earphones from Radiopaq which come it around the £15 mark. There are certainly cheaper options out there but Radiopaq have a whole lot of reasons to justify this. We shall see if their claim of ‘The tiny earphones with a big sound’ proves to be true in our testing.

Read the review here: http://www.kitguru.net/apple/henry-butt/radiopaq-dots-review-the-tiny-earphones-with-the-big-sound/

Assorted Stuffs:

Trendnet TEW-691GR Router:
English link: http://www.rbmods.com/content/26796/trendnet-tew691gr-router.aspx
Swedish link: http://www.rbmods.se/content/15086/trendnet-tew691gr-router.aspx
Quote: When shopping for a wireless router most users are looking for the fastest possible connection they can get with the longest possible range. Enter the Trendnet TEW-691GR. Promising previously unheard speeds of up to 450Mbps while retaining the traditional wireless N range this router sets the bar high. Can it deliver, or does it fall short?

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HP Invites us to the Indy Car Race in Homestead Miami @ TechwareLabs

Quote: When fast cars need to get faster engineers turn to manufacturers like HP and get equipped with the latest in high performance computing. The result. . . a 220MPH race car with real time telemetry recording data from over 100 sensors. Take a ride with us as we look at just how the engineers at Luczo Dragon Racing team are using this technology.
LINK: http://www.techwarelabs.com/hp-invites-us-to-the-indy-car-race-in-homestead-miami/

HotHardware Video Podcast – October 1, 2010
http://hothardware.com/News/HotHardware-Video-Podcast–October-1-2010/

We’re back for the latest installment of our weekly video podcast. In this episode, we talk about Zotac’s sleek, new, Blu-Ray equipped ZBox nettop, malware riddled GPUs (not really!), the OCZ IBIS high-performance solid state drive, and RIM’s upcoming Blackberry Playbook tablet. We also take a couple of reader questions, talk about Valve’s upcoming DLC for L4D1 and L4D2, hint at new contest and more…

Gigabyte GOOC2010 World Final

After the several regional qualifiers it was time to put the best 15 overclockers head to head for the ultimate showdown. After USA Fugger from XS had won in 2009, who will be crowned as to be the best Gigabyte World Champion in 2010 ? Due to the qualification of our beloved Massman, apparently known as Tom Cruise in Taiwan, I was allowed to accompany him as Press for this OC event in Taipei. After packing my bags I was off on a 10K journey to the mother of all hardware places, Taipei in Taiwan.
http://www.madshrimps.be/gotoartik.php?articID=1076==

SimpliSafe Security System Review @ DIY-Guides

Quote: Today for review I’ve got a great product to help protect you and yours from a company called SimpliSafe. It’s an alarm system yes, but it’s unique in that it doesn’t use phone lines but cellular signals, so someone can’t cut the line when it tries to call for help. The system is made to be portable and you own it, you don’t rent it like you do with some other security companies. One of the best features about this system is the price, actually two prices. You’ll pay for the system, it’s relatively inexpensive and you own it forever, but if you want police dispatch you’ll need to pay as monthly fee as well that’s only $14.99. That price is well below what other companies charge on a monthly basis. SimpliSiafe sent me over what they call their Apartment Security System, but it of course can be used for your home as well, so let’s get into this already…

Link: http://www.diy-guides.com/review-of-simplisafe-security-system/

Nvidia’s GPU Technology Conference @ ThinkComputers.org

Article URL: http://www.thinkcomputers.org/nvidias-gpu-technology-conference/

Quote: “During this last week, I recently was lucky enough to attend a Nvidia’s GPU Technology Conference, which I’ll hereafter refer to as GTC. GTC was focused primarily on Programming Nvidia’s GPU processors that are installed in several lines of their video cards. The most common & recognized by many is the GeForce line of graphic cards, made more for the average consumers & game enthusiasts. The next line of cards discussed at GTC was the Quadro cards, with more of a tool for visualization industry, including design and animation. The final card discussed at their show was the Tesla cards, made specifically for parallel computing and to take advantage of the many cores prevalent in the GPU processor architecture."

How To Access Your Computer Anywhere With Remote Desktop @ TechwareLabs

Quote: What do you do if you need to access a document on your home machine while you’re out on the road? You simply remote into it. This guide shows you how to set up Remote Desktop on your home computer so you can access your files from anywhere in the world.
LINK: http://www.techwarelabs.com/how-to-access-your-computer-anywhere-with-remote-desktop/

F1 2010 PlayStation 3 Review

Corsair’s HS1 gaming headset @ Tech Report

Civilization V (PC) @ GamingHeaven.com

Logitech G930 Wireless Gaming Headset

Civilization V GPU & CPU Performance In-depth

Review: Hydrophobia

Psyko Audio 5.1 Gaming Headset @ Techgage

CM Storm Inferno Gaming-Mouse Review @ TecCentral.de

F1 2010 Review (Xbox 360)

Ozone Ground Level XT Gaming Pad Review @ Tech-Reviews.co.uk

Arctic Cooling Arctic M551 Laser Gaming Mouse Review @ ThinkComputers.org

Mionix Naos 3200 Gaming Mouse @ PureOverclock