Can Auzentech's new 7.1 card blow your mind?

Subject: General Tech | February 14, 2006 - 04:00 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Elite Bastards has posted the first review of the new Auzentech X-Plosion 7.1 PCI card.  It claims to bear the first real DTS Connect logo, and should be able to turn any 2 channel audio into 7.1 surround.  According to thier tests, the card uses 2% of the CPU at a constant rate, which would put it well below the Audigy's peak usage.

"The big addition to the X-Plosion along those same lines is support for DTS' equivalent to Dolby

Digital Live, n

The Walt Disney Company, Cisco Systems and Intel Corporation Invest in MovieBeam, Inc.

Subject: General Tech | February 14, 2006 - 01:15 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Burbank, Calif., San Jose, Calif. and Santa Clara, Calif., February 14, 2006 — The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS), Cisco Systems and Intel Corporation, through its leading investment arm Intel Capital, today announced they have invested in MovieBeam, Inc., a newly formed digital entertainment venture. The series A financing round, worth a total of $48.5 million, includes additional investment from tier-one venture capital firms the Mayfield Fund, Norwest Venture Partners and VantagePoint Venture Partners.

Intel(R) Core(TM) Duo Delivered to Embedded Market

Subject: General Tech | February 14, 2006 - 01:15 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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SANTA CLARA, Calif., Feb. 14, 2006 — Intel Corporation today provided extended lifecycle support for the Intel® Core™ Duo processor used by developers of embedded solutions, such as industrial control, test and instrumentation, aerospace, defense and medical imaging systems.

Embedded system designers increasingly wrestle with two challenges: balancing performance with power efficiency and supporting general purpose and special purpose functionality in embedded applications.

FreeGeek.com, recycling and reusing old PCs

Subject: General Tech | February 14, 2006 - 12:30 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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If you have a bunch of old PC components around, and you have come to the realization that you really aren't going to be rebuilding that K6-2 system, or find a use for that old Matrox PCI video card, get in touch with FreeGeek, and they will rebuild or properly recycle it.  Read more info about them at Designtechnica.

"Free Geek, a nonprofit company in Portland, Oregon takes unwanted computers and gizmos, rebuilds

them and gives them away or breaks them down for proper recyclying."

Here is some more

I am so jealous, Transformers never did that when I was a kid!

Subject: General Tech | February 13, 2006 - 12:00 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Kids these days get the best toys.  Take this working transformer that goes from functional model car to walking robot and back that MAKE: Blog has linked to.  Probably not too long before that is the basis for the next perfect holiday gift for your kids.

"This little robot car from Nakamura-san at Himeji Soft Works in Japan drives around then it

transforms into a real robot and walks around."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

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Reinventing the mouse

Subject: General Tech | February 10, 2006 - 04:03 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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The Evoluent VerticalMouse 2 reviewed at Extremetech is exactly what it sounds like.  A mouse that sits on it's side, so that while you use it, your hand is in the "handshake" position.  Find out how well it worked, and if it will help with that Carpal Tunnel Syndrome you managed to get after the 7 day LAN party.

"Unfortunately, Evoluent's VerticalMouse 2, which we review today, doesn't win any crazy and kooky

awards.

So ya wanna be famous?

Subject: General Tech | February 10, 2006 - 11:50 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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See your name in lights with The Movies, the newest sim game.  Pamper your starlets, keep your leading men interested, and remember, the only bad publicity is no publicity.  Check out the full review at GamePyre.

"Overall, the movies game was one of the first games to have me looking at the time in shock —

it's been a while.

Where's the heat?

Subject: General Tech | February 10, 2006 - 11:39 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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The ThermoHawk 200 Infrared Thermometer is a $60 dollar tool that you may never get bored of playing with.  Sure, it is handy for figuring out which capacitor or chip is running really hot and needs a heatsink, or where the hot air gathers in your case.  But think, now you will never need to sip a beer to figure out if it is cold, or if the water in the lake is warm enough for a swim, or just how hot your coffee is.  Check it out at Think Computers.

'Today I have for review somethi

Practice your web-based self defense

Subject: General Tech | February 9, 2006 - 11:36 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Tech Connect Magazine has posted an article called "Under Attack", a primer on defending against the various wild nasties currently roaming the virtual world.  If you aren't up to speed on what kind of threats are out there, this is a read that could save you a lot of time and money.

"Viruses, Trojan horses, spyware and Hanson lyrics - the internet is a veritable jungle that only

a few can come out of unscathed.

Avoid the Direct Access button on your monitor

Subject: General Tech | February 8, 2006 - 11:41 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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NGOHQ has been trying to get a hold of nVIDIA, after running into some problems with the relatively new Direct Access feature, wihout much luck.  The feature is now gone from the newest drivers, and they do have a workaround for those who are having issues.

Also, if you entered the NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GS Giveaway Contest @ ARP

Make any stereo broadcast in Bluetooth

Subject: General Tech | February 6, 2006 - 05:45 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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The Bluetake BT450Tx Bluetooth Stereo Transmitter is a little device designed to pulg into an iPod, to allow Bluetooth headphones to not only play your music, but to allow some control over the iPod itself.  The neat thing is that anything with a 3.5mm plug-in can broadcast it's current music over Bluetooth.  Read the full story at A True Review.

A short time ago I reviewed the spectacular Bluetake i-PHONO mini Bluetooth Stereo Headphone.

Will Terratec's new device help you claw your way to victory?

Subject: General Tech | February 6, 2006 - 03:39 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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3DXtreme looks at the Terratec Mystify Claw, a customizable gaming device that will let you get rid of the keyboard for gaming.  Can it actually help your performance, or will it suffer the fate of most things that try to challenge the mouse+keyboard combe?

"Today 3DXtreme has the pleasure of reviewing a gaming device for the hardcore in the Mystify

Claw. Everyone is trying to make the gaming experience easier and more ergonomic and that's where

the Mystify Claw comes in.

A quick glance at AM2

Subject: General Tech | February 6, 2006 - 11:50 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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AnandTech has put together a 3 page look at the upcoming AM2 AMD processor.  If you don't fully understand what this new processor will be capable of, then give this summary a read to see what it can do beyond simply support DDR2.

"The new AMD technology refresh, now called AM2, will bring DDR2 memory to the Athlon64

on-processor memory controller.

Knoppix to the rescue

Subject: General Tech | February 3, 2006 - 11:45 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Extremetech has posted a guide on using the boot disk distros of Knoppix to aid in recovering a borked windows install.  Simply download the newest version of Knoppix, burn to a disk, and boot the troublesome PC using it.  The guide covers various ways to rescue yourself from data loss. 

"A bootable CD or DVD with Knoppix can be a lifesaver when your computer goes awry.

Is Crackberry withdrawl inevitable?

Subject: General Tech | February 2, 2006 - 11:58 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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CNET has gathered an FAQ on the Blackberry patent dispute for those trying to figure out if they will wake up one day to find the service dead.  If you have one, then you know the confusion this suit has caused.  If you don't have one, but know people who do ...

Mobile multifunction music maker

Subject: General Tech | February 1, 2006 - 02:11 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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The SonoWave Digital Media player is a WiFi device that will play back music from just about any source you can stream to it.  It's only major drawback is the amount of batteries it eats, just like old ghetto blasters, this guy wants 8 C batteries.  Heaf to 3dGameMan for the full review.

'This is not your standard boombox. Being able to play Internet Radio, MP3 and other audio formats

wirelessly sets it apart from many other devices.

Internet Explorer discovers tabbed browsing

Subject: General Tech | February 1, 2006 - 11:59 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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CNET has a story about, and a link to download, the newly released IE7 public beta.  Head straight to the page if you want to see what the new version can do ... the only requirement is that you must have WinXP with SP2 in order to use it, Win2K won't cut it.

"The program, still a work in progress, is available for download from the Internet Explorer

section of Microsoft's corporate Web site, the company said.

Tell us something we didn't know

Subject: General Tech | January 31, 2006 - 11:57 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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It looks like Vista won't be under anyone's Christmas tree this year, from what The Inquirer has learned.  The beta version that will come out this quarter to TechNet members will contain all the features of the planned commercial release, so the extra time before distributing to the public should let them iron out a few more bugs.

"As it stands Vista and Allchin will leave the Redmond Volehill about Christmas. Already that is a

bit late, as Microsoft had been talking about October or November.