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December 2003
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12-31-2003 |
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 Strawberryswirl
All of us here at Xtreme Tek would like to wish you a happy and safe New Year! Enjoy counting down to 2004, it should be a good year. 
| Chaintech ZNF3-150 Motherboard |
Strawberryswirl
ipKonfig has posted a review on the Chaintech ZNF3-150 Motherboard. Here's a quote:Chaintech's newest mobo takes on 64-bit, and covers the bases--for those who just can't wait! Here’s our view of the latest motherboard from Chaintech, the ZNF3-150 motherboard sporting the NVIDIA nFroce3 chipset. The board seem to perform well for such a new technology, and introduces the same classic goods that Chaintech is known for with their high-end motherboards. Head on over for all of the details.
Strawberryswirl
Hard Extreme has posted a review on the powerRunner 2300. It sounds like a pretty handy device, go check it out.
Strawberryswirl
The Viperlair has posted a review on the DVD X Copy Express. Here is bit from the review:Image quality will vary depending on what option you decide to use when backing up the DVD. When you strip out the extras, and stick with just one language and no subtitles, the quality is pretty much an exact replica of the original (there will still be some compression if the movie takes a lot of storage space). When you copy the entire disc, including the extras, the image quality can take quite a nosedive, especially if it's a DVD9 disc. Sounds like a pretty good product, go read up for more info.
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12-30-2003 |
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Strawberryswirl
Legit Reviews has posted a Best Of 2003 Awards article. I still can't believe 2004 is here! Head on on over and see what they came up with.
Strawberryswirl
3dXtreme has posted a review up on the ATI Radeon 9600XT. Here's a snip:The benchmark scores clearly tell the tale of this video card, however, there is also basically user experience that can’t be quantified here with graphs. Not only does this card perform by sheer numbers, but the quality of the video and smoothness of the graphics are among the best. These are things that can only be experienced by actually seeing the card in action... Go check it out.
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12-29-2003 |
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| Dummy Floppy Drive mod w/ HDD activity LED |
Strawberryswirl
Mod Asylum has posted a review on a Dummy Floppy Drive mod w/ HDD activity LED. Here is a bit from the review:The purpose of this mod is to replace the standard power on button of your pc with a floppy disk, and replacing the unused floppy drives LED to display HDD activity. This mod should also be cheap, if not free, using bits and bobs most modders will have lying around. Go read up for all of the details.
Strawberryswirl
Raptor-Mods has posted a review on the Chieftec BX Front Panels. They reviewed the case awhile back, this review covers an add-on for the case. Go check it out.
Strawberryswirl
Futurelooks has posted a review on All-in-One Handhelds. Everyone loves handhelds... go read up and see what they have instore!
| Samsung 241MP LCD Monitor and HDTV |
Strawberryswirl
Envy News has posted a review of the Samsung 241MP LCD Monitor and HDTV. Here is a quote:Samsung has long been making displays to suite almost every need. If you are in the market for a freaking huge display with inputs for just about anything, the 241MP is just that. I found the lack of DVI and manual screen geometry/sizing settings turned me off using this as a primary PC display. It's big yes, but there is no point when you can't use the entire display area without butchering the aspect of your image. Go read up, in my opinion Samsung produces some high quality products.
| Crucial 256MB CompactFlash |
Strawberryswirl
Viperlair has posted a review on the Crucial 256MB CompactFlash. It's a quick read, go check it out.
| Internet tax... a good idea? |
Strawberryswirl
Design Technica has posted an article on Internet Tax... WTF? Yeah, that's right internet tax. People have toyed with the idea in the past and now Congress is set to address the issue come 2004. Go head on over for more info.
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12-28-2003 |
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| SilverStone B032FW Enclosure |
Strawberryswirl
Tweak Town has posted a review on the SilverStone B032FW Enclosure. Here is a snip:In the not too distant past, the thought of getting an aluminum case meant pouring out a huge chunk of change. While there are some high-dollar aluminum cases out there, it is getting easier to find them in a more reasonable price range lately. Come join us as we take a look at a low cost aluminum case with some very high end features and see for yourself if it is worth the meager entry fee! Head on over and read up for all of the details.
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12-27-2003 |
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Strawberryswirl
The fella's over at SL Central have been busy! They have posted several reviews for your reading pleasure. In no particular order they have the FIC K8 800T Motherboard, Eurotrack UB1002 Mixer, and last OCZ Gladiator 3 and Thermaltake Volcano 12 Heatsinks. Head on over and check 'em out.
Strawberryswirl
Hard Extreme has posted a review of the Eumax 5-in-1 MP3 Player. Here is a bit from the review:Don’t you hate when you buy a product and then a year later the manufacturer abandons it? Eumax comes to the rescue and will fully support their player by releasing firmware upgrades for the Eumax 5-in-1 mp3 player. Eumax guarantees that the firmware will be upgradeable through USB to future music formats that the record industry will support. None of the other players we have reviewed except the Neuros are able to be upgraded. For $119.99 most of the other competitors would have given you a 128 MB mp3 player and an FM Tuner. Go read all about it!
Strawberryswirl
All of us at Xtreme Tek hope you all had a wonderful Holiday and that you will have an awesome New Year! Can you believe that 2004 is right around the corner! WooHoo!
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12-24-2003 |
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| Corsair TWINX1024-3700 Memory |
Strawberryswirl
The Viperlair has some reviewage on the Corsair TWINX1024-3700 Memory. Go read up, what else would you be doing on Christmas Eve besides reading hardware reviews?
| Lite-On LDW 401S DVD+RW and LDW 411S DVD+RW |
Strawberryswirl
SLCentral has posted a review of the Lite-On LDW 401S DVD+RW and LDW 411S DVD+RW Burners. Go check it out, DVD burners are dropping in price... and everyone is gonna want one!
| Gigabyte 7S748 vs 7N400 Pro 2: Two-Way Battle |
Strawberryswirl
The Cool Tech Zone has posted a comparative review on the Gigabyte 7S748 vs 7N400 Pro 2: Two-Way Battle. Here's a snip:Gigabyte has always manufactured some of the best motherboard contenders in the market. With their popular blue PCB and feature rich motherboards, Gigabyte has managed to stabilize themselves amongst the PC enthusiasts. Gigabyte is also a well-rounded company with other extensive line of
products that include Mini-PCs, laptops, desktops, graphics adapters,
networking products and monitors. Go check it out.
Strawberryswirl
Bjorn3d has posted a review on the Albatron KX18D Pro II. Here is a bit from the review:As the latest and greatest in Athlon 64 processors and chipsets come out, the nForce 2 chipset still holds its own as king of the castle. These boards continue to provide top notch performance for a relatively low amount of money. It's still the best bang for the buck on the market. You can get this board and a 2500+ Athlon XP for under $200. That's a small amount of money for a board and processor package that you can be happy with for quite a while. So, it's obvious the chipset is not dead, and the Albatron KX18D Pro II is alive and packing a lot of performance into a low priced, high featured board. Let's take a look at the Albatron KX18D Pro II, featuring the nForce 2 Ultra 400 chipset. Go read all about it.
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12-23-2003 |
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| Beantech BT-85 Crystal Clear |
Strawberryswirl
OcPrices has posted a review of the Beantech BT-85 Crystal Clear Acrylic Case Review for your reading pleasure. Here's a quote:Beantech was not a particularly well known manufacturer to me at least, but with increasing market penetration here in the UK, they are starting to become a threat to other high-class manufacturers like Lian-Li and Coolermaster. Unlike most other manufacturers, their clear case solution comes fully assembled in the standard well-packaged quality case box. Head on over for all of the details and pics.
| Thermaltake Aquarius III Water Cooling Kit |
Strawberryswirl
Overclocker Cafe has posted some reviewage of the Thermaltake Aquarius III Water Cooling Kit. Here's a bit from the review:Some water cooling kits are designed for cooling molten lava and have the loud fans just as do their high performance air cooled counter parts. One of the major points of water cooling is the ability to cool very efficiently and very quietly. ThermalTake has moved its focus for the majority of its cooling line up to excellent performance at exceptionally low sound levels. The Aquarius III exemplifies this in my opinion. Go read up.
| Canon Powershot A80 Digital Camera |
Strawberryswirl
Futurelooks has posted a review on the Canon Powershot A80 Digital Camera . Go check it out, Cannon usually produces pretty high quality products.
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12-22-2003 |
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| BFG Asylum GeForce FX 5950 Ultra 256MB |
Strawberryswirl
Bjorn3d has posted a review of the BFG Asylum GeForce FX 5950 Ultra 256MB. Here's a bit from the review:Today, we get to take a look at their highest performing product, the Asylum GeForce FX 5950 Ultra 256MB. Like many of the other companies offering NVIDIA-based solutions, BFG seems to try to differentiate some of their products with unique cooling solutions. I think this board has their best looking and probably best performing cooler yet. It resembles the one that was on the BFG 5900 board, but this time BFG's engineers have employed a heatpipe design for more efficient cooling. Go read up!
| Noise Blocker Silent Fans |
Strawberryswirl
Silence is a key issue these days. Raptor Mod's has posted a review on a product that may help this situation, the Noise Blocker Silent Fans. Go check it out.
Strawberryswirl
The Tech Zone has posted their review of the VisionTek 9800XT . Here's a snip from the review:The VisionTek went with ATI's stock heatsink fan unit for their 9800XT card and I definitely think that was a wise choice. First of all, the card looks sweet. Just by looking at it you get a sense of the kind of beast the XT is. At the top of the card is the 4 pin Molex power connector, providing the extra juice the XT needs to run. Despite the amount of voltage pumping through the core, the card runs cool thanks to its well designed heatsink and fan.. If you haven't read up on this video card yet, go read up and enjoy.
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12-21-2003 |
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Strawberryswirl
The Viperlair has posted a couple reviews. First they have their review of the Aerocool Deep Impact DP-102, heatsinks are always fun to read about . Then they have their review of the Intel 3.2GHz 800FSB. Here is a bit from the review:Budget-minded customers should seek solace with the AMD Athlon XP 2500+ or 3200+ processor's for now, as our testing shows very little difference in performance between the our Athlon XP @ 2400 MHZ and the Pentium 4 3.2 C, although the Pentium 4 outperformed the Athlon XP-based system in every benchmark when the two processors were run at their maximum stable overclocked speeds. Go read up.
Strawberryswirl
Tech Angel has posted their review of the H2O Computer Cool Sprinter 2.0. The unit looks pretty damn cool, but you'll have to read it to see how it performed.
| SilverStone B032FW Mid-Server Case |
Strawberryswirl
3dXtreme has recently posted a review on the SilverStone B032FW Mid-Server Case for your reading pleasure. Here is a taste of the review: This case is one very classy case even though it may lack some visual pizzazz. For the price I have seen around the internet, a measly $65 is a steal for the SST-B032FW seeming it has so much drive space and all the features of a $150+ case... Go check it out.
| Sunbeam Liquid Neon Light |
Strawberryswirl
Everyone loves case modding.. especially adding bright lights to accentuate a nice system (or distract from a poor system ). The CoolTechZone has reviewed the Sunbeam Liquid Neon Light. So if you're into lighting, you may want to check this out.
Strawberryswirl
Bjorn3d has some reviewage on the Samsung 957MB 19-inch CRT Monitor. They seem to like it, go read up.
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12-18-2003 |
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Strawberryswirl
Here are a few video card reviews to check out: Techware Labs has a review on the PowerColor 9800 Pro 256 Mb. Over at Tweak Town they have a review up on the Sapphire Radeon 9600XT. And Legit Reviews has posted on the S3's DeltaChrome S8 Video Card. Go read up.
Strawberryswirl
Viperlair has posted a review on the ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe. Here's a bit from the review:Some manufacturers build motherboards made for overclocking. Others build with stability in mind. Some concentrate on eye-candy; whereas others ditch aesthetics in favour of build quality. While one can debate who builds a faster board, it's generally agreed upon that ASUS manages to find a good balance of what is important to the enthusiast. Go read up if it sparks your interest.
Strawberryswirl
Design Technica has posted their 2003 Holiday Gift Guide. Go check it out, the guide ranges from computer peripherals to personal audio.
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12-17-2003 |
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Strawberryswirl
Two motherboard reviews to check out: head over to the Viperlair and read their review on the VIA EPIA CL10000 Mini-ITX Motherboard. Or you can go take a look at Techware Labs review of the AOpen AX4C Max II. Go on.. go read up, knowledge is power!
| MiniDisc Armband & Carrier |
Strawberryswirl
Now here is a great and cheap holiday gift for your pals with mini disc players. Futurelooks has reviewed the TuneBelt Armband (AB1) and Belt (MD2) MP3/MiniDisc Carrier. There's really not much to it... it's sorta self explainatory, but it seems like a great little product.. I want one for my mini disc player! Go check it out.
Strawberryswirl
A couple of videocard reviews were posted you might want to take a look at, first over at Tweaknews they have postage on the HIS Radeon 9600SE 128Meg VIVO. Then you can head over to Bjorn3d and read their review on the VisionTek XTASY Radeon 9800 XT 256MB. Enjoy, and happy reading this holiday season.
| Plextor PX-708a combo DVD-RW drive |
Strawberryswirl
Pyroport has posted some reviewage on the Plextor PX-708a combo DVD-RW drive. They seemed to have enjoyed the product.. here is bit from the review:The Plextor PX-708a has everything that most people will ever need, a fast and versatile drive with support for virtually every media on the market today. Go read up for all the detials.
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12-16-2003 |
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Strawberryswirl
The guys over at LAN Addict have a lot of time on their hands... they have posted a review on their AOL CD Case. You have to see it to believe it.. head on over and check it out.
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12-15-2003 |
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| Holiday Gift Idea For A Techie |
WebMasterP
Just thought I would throw in a gift idea for the holidays and remind you all not to forget about our famous 'I Hacked Your Mom' shirts.
You know you want it...
Strawberryswirl
Legit Reviews has posted a review on the Thermaltake Lanfire VM2000 Aluminum Case . The Cool Tech Zone has a review up on the CoolerMaster Praetorian Case. One more, Tweaknews has posted a review on the Lian LI PC-6077 Black Aluminum MID-ATX Case. Go read up if you're in the market for a new case.
| Micro Solutions Backpack 120 GB HD |
Strawberryswirl
Bjorn 3d has posted some reviewage on the Micro Solutions Backpack 120 GB HD. Here is a snip from the article:With the large amount of data that we have today comprising of spreadsheets, images, videos and music having a easy way of transporting them from one computer to another is a must. Go check it out.
| DFI LANParty NFII ULTRA B |
WebMasterP
HardOCP has posted a review of an updated offering from DFI, the DFI LANParty NFII ULTRA B. They seemed to like the board except from some stability issues, which the author seemed to work out with a BIOS update. If you read any part of this review, read the conclusion.
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12-13-2003 |
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Strawberryswirl
3dXtreme has posted a review of the CoolerMaster Musketeer for your reading pleasure, now go and enjoy it!
Strawberryswirl
Making computers as silent as possible is a big issue these days. To help quiet things down a bit, PimpRig has posted a review on the Antec Sonata Quiet Case. Go see how it checked out.
Strawberryswirl
Legit Reviews has posted reviewage on the AOpen DRW4410 DVD+RW Burner. Go on, go read it.. you know you want to know all about it.
Strawberryswirl
Anyone need a new rack to play with? Well, head on over to Tweaknews and check out their review of the Cremax IcyDock MB911APGF Internal IDE Harddrive Rack. Go read all about it.
Strawberryswirl
The Tech Zone has posted a comparative MP3 player review. The players they checked out are: DAH-900, RipFlash Pro-2, and the Rio Chiba. With Christmas right around the corner this might be a review you want to check out for gift purposes!
| PolarFLO Universal SF Water Blocks |
Strawberryswirl
Viperlair has posted some reviewage on the PolarFLO Universal SF Water Blocks. If water cooling sparks your interest then you should go read up.
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12-11-2003 |
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| Enermax Aluminum Case Review |
WebMasterP
A Enermax CS-5190AL-061 Aluminum Case has been reviewed over at 8BallsHardware. This is the one with the unusual slant on the front end. If you don't know what the hell I'm talking about, you should definitely read the review.
Strawberryswirl
A couple of heatsink reviews to check out: head on over to Viperlair and read their review of the Swiftech MCX462-V and then you can check out the Cool Tech Zone's review of the Thermalright SP-94 HSF. Enjoy.
Strawberryswirl
SL Central has posted a comparison review of the Corsair TwinX1024-3200LLPro PC3200 Dual Channel Kit and Transcend PC4000 512MB. Go check it out.
| Crucial RADEON 9800 Pro 256MB |
Strawberryswirl
Bjorn 3d has posted a review on the Crucial RADEON 9800 Pro 256MB. If you haven't yet read a review on the product, you may just want to go check it out.
Strawberryswirl
Designtechnica has posted a review of the Slim Devices Squeezebox for all to read and enjoy. This little device is capable of playing streamed digital music stored on a computer through a stereo system. Go read up.
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12-8-2003 |
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Strawberryswirl
Legit Reviews has posted a review on the AOpen AK77-600 Max Motherboard. Head on over and check it out.
Strawberryswirl
The Cool Tech Zone has recently reviewed the PowerColor 9200SE video card. Here's a snip from the review:PowerColor has been making video cards for a long time now and they seemed to have captured the hearts of many gamers and enthusiasts. Only basing their cards on ATI’s GPUs, PowerColor is keeping up with its competitors in the market. This is a good time for ATI GPU based manufacturers esp. when ATI has managed to gain lead against Nvidia. Go read up.
Strawberryswirl
Tweaknews has a review up of some Corsair TwinX XMS4000PRO High Performance Dual Channel Memory. Go take a look and see how it performed.
Strawberryswirl
Futurelooks has posted a review of the ABLETON Live 3.0 an audio sequencing instrument. Go check it out.
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12-6-2003 |
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Strawberryswirl
SL Central has posted a couple of reviews, one on Heatsink Thermal Compounds, they compare Arctic Silver and OCZ. Their next review is on the Maxtor OneTouch 300GB External Hard Drive. Go check 'em out.
Strawberryswirl
Computer Critics has posted some reviewage of Cooler Master's Musketeer System Dynamic Detector. Looks pretty cool, go check it out.
Strawberryswirl
Burn Out PC has reviewed the PolyGFX LaptopSkin . Not sure if this is something I would do to my laptop.. but hey, to each their own I guess. Go check it out.
| Soltek SL-87CW-EL Motherboard |
Strawberryswirl
Tweak Town has reviewed the Soltek SL-87CW-EL Motherboard. Here's a bit from the review:Soltek are a company who are known for producing many different value-end motherboards. Today we have their SL-87CW-EL motherboard based on the Intel Canterwood chipset for the Pentium 4 on the test bed which offers great value for money. Go read up.
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12-5-2003 |
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| VisionTek Radeon 9800 XT - 256mb |
Strawberryswirl
Overclocker Cafe has posted a review of the VisionTek Radeon 9800 XT - 256mb for all to enjoy. Go read up, cause we all know you have nothing better to do.
| BFG Sniper Boomslang 2100 |
Strawberryswirl
Bjorn 3d has posted a review of the BFG Sniper Boomslang 2100 mouse. Here's a bit of what they have to say about it:Sniperus Boomslangicus: Latin for "really sensitive gaming mouse!" That is exactly what the BFG Sniper Boomslang 2100 mouse is. With a radical shape and some pretty radical technology to boot, this mouse will bring you new life in your gaming sessions, or put you to an early death. Go check it out.
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12-4-2003 |
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Strawberryswirl
CNN.com has posted a Playing it safe while shopping online article. This just makes me laugh... who wouldn't have enough sense to just know this stuff? Well, if you were raised by wolves or live in a cave you may want to go read up if you plan to shop online. Happy Holidays!
Strawberryswirl
Need memory? Need a great price? Then you should head on over to Legit Reviews. They have just reviewed Corsair's XMS 1GB DDR400 Registered Memory. Go read all about it.
Strawberryswirl
Want a Mini? Laptop that is... well Designtechinica has reviewed the Fujitsu Lifebook P5020 and it's pretty tiny. Here's a tid bit from the review:The sleek, diminutive Fujitsu Lifebook P5020 is one of the most feature-rich laptops in the sub-notebook market. If you prize the portability and uniqueness of a sub-notebook laptop but have hesitated to give up on features, the 3.7lb Lifebook P5020 might be what you are looking for. It is a tiny laptop that still packs in Wi-Fi, a CDRW/DVD combo drive and five hours of battery life. Go take a look at it; it's little, it's cute.
| ByteCC ME-350U2 Aluminum 3.5" HDD External |
Strawberryswirl
PCA had the opportunity to review the ByteCC ME-350U2 Aluminum 3.5" HDD External Enclosure for all to enjoy. Go read up.
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12-3-2003 |
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Strawberryswirl
Viper Lair has reviewed the FIC Ice Cube IC-VL67. Here's a clip from the review:For the image-minded enthusiast, as well as the LAN gamer, FIC has put
together a great package combining both performance, as well as an eye-catching design. Head on over and check it out.
Strawberryswirl
iPods are all the craze these days... and Legit Reviews has recently posed a review of the Apple iPod 20GB. They seem to think that it's a great product despite some battery issues. Go read up for more details.
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12-2-2003 |
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WebMasterP
Feature on the front page of Wired is their geek gift guide. Don't let the first page dishearten you if you don't have a lot of money; there are several more pages after that (ok, those pages have expensive stuff too, just not AS bad).
WebMasterP
ZDNews.co.uk has an article up on a new 'secure email' being touted in North Korea. However, the article points out that very few people in North Korea actually have internet. So, maybe they're operating on the "it's secure if no one uses it" model.
| ATI Radeon 9100 IGP "RS300" Pentium 4 Chipset |
Strawberryswirl
Tweaktown has posted a review of the ATI Radeon 9100 IGP "RS300" Pentium 4 Chipset. Here's a bit from the review:The Radeon 9100 IGP includes all the modern Pentium 4 chipset features you would expect such as 400MHz, 533MHz and 800MHz FSB support for all current Pentium 4 processors, Hyper-Threading support for increased performance and AGP 8x. Head on over for all of the details.
Strawberryswirl
The Cool Tech Zone has reviewed the Altec Lansing 251 5.1 Surround Sound system. Go check it out, and while your at it you can check out our review of this sound system as well.
Strawberryswirl
Bjorn3D has reviewed the Allied 500W Aluminum PSU for your reading pleasure. Go check it out, who doesn't enjoy reading up on a PSU?
Strawberryswirl
Everyone hates spam.. and everyone is working hard to try and get rid of it. Well, Voided Warranty has posted a review of the MailWasher Pro 3.3 Anti-Spam Software to try and help us all out. Go read up and see how well it did.
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