It’s only fitting that one of the biggest notebooks I’ve ever seen, is sponsoring one of the biggest contests I’ve ever seen. HP has partnered with BuzzCorp and 31 sites to give away 31 HP HDX Pavilion Entertainment Notebooks! (a.k.a. The Dragon) 31 days, 31 sites, 31 notebook prize packages. This is HUGE!
As configured, the retail value of the notebook is $4,500. Including movies and software from other partners the total price if purchased would be $5,196! That’s over $160,000 in total prizes to be awarded!
Yes, we’re one of the participating 31 sites, and you can win one here! Find more details on the system, and how you can win yours after the break.
Still searching for that perfect Mother’s Day gift? For a while now, I’ve been thinking about getting my wife a portable picture viewer she can carry around. With all our photos being digital and only having family pictures taken once a year, she’s been wanting something for those in-between moments, something to help her showcase our little one. Maybe a thoughtful addition to one of those lovely gift hampers you’ve been considering?
For those in the same situation, let’s take a look at the Digital Foci Pocket Album. This keychain weighs in at just over an ounce, sports a 1.5 inch color LCD screen and 8MB of onboard memory. The Pocket Album also comes with its own special software to manipulate photos and transfer them to the keychain.
By now you may have seen the commercials for Ford’s line of cars featuring Microsoft Sync, a music and mobile phone platform for automobiles. If not, you can view one here. It chronicles the embarrassment of people who find that treadmills, doors, and curtains do not respond to their voice the way their car does. While I like the concept of Bluetooth capability in cars, and I think voice commands are a safety enhancement over trying to dial a phone or search for a CD while driving, I sometimes wonder if our cars are becoming too electronic and computerized, to the point that safety could be compromised. I actually also wonder if some cars are just becoming too complex.
As vehicles become increasingly integrated with advanced technology, the importance of proper maintenance and repair cannot be overstated. As cars evolve, the potential for electronic malfunctions can rise, making it critical to have a trusted garage for repairs. This is where a reliable service center like Pete’s Garage comes into play. Skilled technicians there are equipped not just to handle routine maintenance, but also to diagnose and repair the sophisticated electronic systems that newer vehicles rely on. You have to work with experts that know how to handle obsolete electronic parts. Regular check-ups are essential to ensure that all systems are functioning optimally, minimizing the risk of unexpected breakdowns.
As a kid, I absolutely loved the movie Spaceballs. As an adult (and arguably still a kid) I still love the movie Spaceballs. When I got my mitts on the Corsair Voyager GT, the line “Light speed is too slow?” “Yes. We’re gonna have go right to – ludicrous speed” popped into my head. According to all the Corsair hype, the Voyager GT is supposed to be up to 4X faster than a standard USB key. Let’s see how it stands up during some real world tests.
The first thing I noticed when I got this USB key is the attractive look to it. It’s a good looking unit with its black base and red, yellow and white accents. The activity light is blue, which seems odd for something in black/white/yellow/red, but whatever. This key has a rubberized exterior that gives it a nice rugged look. According to the materials that came with it, it’s waterproof and shockproof! I’ll try these features later; that way if I break it, I at least get to test it first.
What would you do with a 32GB Flash Drive? Mine contains my entire music collection, all of my important documents, my family photos, a restore image of the operating system on my computer, and 6GB of free space. When you’re used to using 2, 4, or even 8GB flash drives, you find yourself looking for stuff to store on this drive…it’s actually tough to fill up! Voyager will hold almost 10,000 6 MegaPixel images, or nearly 13 hours of MPEG-2 video (152 hours of MPEG-4), or 8,000 of your favorite MP3 recordings. Imagine the possibilities – a thumb-sized device that has the capacity to store all of your important data securely in one location, and is accessible from nearly any computer. It even comes complete with an encryption application already aboard. The Corsair Voyager is compatible with Windows ME, 2000, XP, Vista, Mac (9.X and later), and Linux (Kernel 2.4.2 and higher). Pretty much everyone can utilize this device.
Motherboard GIGABYTE GA-MA770-DS3
==========
Motherboard review by James_8970
==========
As technology continues to progress, our present demands continue to outgrow our pasts. Over the past few months we have seen many new chipsets released: Intel’s P35/X38/X48, nVidia’s 7x0i series, and now it’s AMD’s turn with the 770 (AM2+) and 790fx series chipsets. With our budget constraints we were not able to leap for a $200+ motherboard, but overall we believe this board is a great compromise between performance and dollar value.
As time moves on, new CPU’s are released and their performance is greatly affected by the features on the motherboard. AMD has just recently released some new products, the Phenom series CPU’s. While they aren’t quite as good as their Intel counterparts, they do have a great number of innovative features that set them apart from Intel’s current offerings. That aside, many of the current motherboards are Phenom compatible – after a BIOS update. This motherboard, on the other hand, is compatible with this CPU out of the box. It also has a higher hyper transport speed then other traditional AM2 motherboards, which could ultimately affect future upgrades. This motherboard comes fully equipped with native DDR2 1066MHz, PCIe 2.0 – a first for an AMD motherboard – and up to 16GB of RAM to keep you on the leading edge of technology and give you an unprecedented upgradability path for the future.
I’ve been a fan of Corsair RAM for years, so when they decided to enter the power supply market, I jumped at the chance to see what they have to offer.
The TX750W comes with some impressive packaging including a “velvet” bag to keep it in if you’re not actually going to use it…which would be a serious mistake. Don’t let the “Plain Jane” matte black and orange dressings fool you, this is a truly nice piece of hardware. When you remove this PSU from the box (and the bag), the first thing you notice is the abundance of leads…more than enough for almost any installation. There’s an ATX 24/20 pin connector, an EPS/ATX12V 8/4 pin connector, 4 PCI-E 6/8pin connectors, 8 SATA power connectors, 8 4 pin Molex peripheral connectors, and 2 floppy connectors…all of adequate length. This all sounds great; but it presents some issues I’ll get to a little later.
While the Geek Squad may be getting most of the bad press recently, it seems other home computer repair companies may not be fairing much better. CBC Canadian television news called 10 on-site geeks into a house with hidden cameras to repair a simple hardware problem. How many got it right? Watch the short video below to find out:
The original story and a much longer 25 minute video, including the performance of some big box retailers and a notebook system, can be found on CBC.ca Marketplace.
Unless you’re a hardware enthusiast, you may have missed the fact that Intel significantly lowered the price on it’s quad-core CPUs this weekend. A quad-core CPU has four processing units on one chip (this first quad-core from Intel is actually two dual-core CPUs on the same chip). With the price drop, a quad-core CPU can now be purchased for just a little more than a high-end dual-core. Four CPUs for the price of two. Sounds like a good deal, right?
Well, not so fast. Unlike clock speed increases, multiple cores don’t scale linearly. While a 2ghz CPU is twice as fast as the same CPU at 1ghz, a quad-core CPU is not four times as fast as a single core. Like most desktop technology, quad-core CPUs have migrated from the server market. Comparing server performance using round numbers, a dual-core CPU offers about a 50% performance over a single core (not 100%), and there are diminishing returns. A quad-core CPU is only about 25% faster that a dual-core CPU.
A reminder about some major laptop battery recalls over the last year:
IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad Battery Recall for most 9-cell batteries sold between November 2005 and February 2007, and for batteries manufactured by Sony between February 2005 and September 2006.
The batteries have been identified by the manufacturers as having the potential to catch fire or explode. Although the chances are low, it worth a couple of minutes to click a link above and see if your laptop is affected.
Free Help from Tech Experts
Still searching for that perfect Mother’s Day gift? For a while now, I’ve been thinking about getting my wife a portable picture viewer she can carry around. With all our photos being digital and only having family pictures taken once a year, she’s been wanting something for those in-between moments, something to help her showcase our little one. Maybe a thoughtful addition to one of those lovely 
As a kid, I absolutely loved the movie Spaceballs. As an adult (and arguably still a kid) I still love the movie Spaceballs. When I got my mitts on the Corsair Voyager GT, the line “Light speed is too slow?” “Yes. We’re gonna have go right to – ludicrous speed” popped into my head. According to all the Corsair hype, the Voyager GT is supposed to be up to 4X faster than a standard USB key. Let’s see how it stands up during some real world tests.
I’ve been a fan of Corsair RAM for years, so when they decided to enter the power supply market, I jumped at the chance to see what they have to offer.
Unless you’re a hardware enthusiast, you may have missed the fact that Intel significantly 
