By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Guide

Today sees the launch of Tip’d, a Diggalike that focuses purely on Commodities, Economy, Personal Finance, Stocks and Tech.

Tip’d works in the same way as Digg. Users hit "Tip it" on stories that they like and those that garner enough votes make it to the Tip’d homepage, a place where Wall Street and Main Street financial and economic enthusiasts hang out.

This launch of this site just so happens to coincide with the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. In a time when everyone is panicking about mortgages, bail out plans and lending, having an aggregate for financial or economic news is a definitely a way to make money when there’s none to be found anywhere else — as well as keeping the general public informed on important national and international financial developments.

That said, given the effects of said financial crisis, we get the feeling Tip’d could be the most depressing news site going. News about the global economic crisis is everywhere as it is. However, it’s not all bad. Now that it’s almost a given that your site have some sort of social networking aspect, Tip’d is also a community where users can offer each other financial tips (geddit?) and ideas. So there’s always a chance you’ll get some decent advice from the user base.

Current top stories on the homepage include, "Europe Formulates Sweeping Crisis Plan", "How Oversold Are We?", "Let’s face it: We’re socialists! Bank bailouts to proceed" and "Can the ’Funnest iPod Ever’ Take on Nintendo and Sony?"

Check out Tip’d for your daily installment of recession, recession, recession, iPod.

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By Gavin Steacy - Source : Tom's Guide

From this point on, the much anticipated update to Microsoft’s Windows product line will be referred to by its final release name. Mike Nash, Corporate Vice President of Windows Product Management, posted on the Windows Vista Blog that the operating system has now been officially named "Windows 7".

That’s right, the upcoming operating system has been named the exact same as its codename, which according to Nash is "a first for Windows." Since Microsoft stopped using numerical product names for consumer and business versions of their operating systems after Windows 2000, this may come as a surprise to some. However, Nash stated reasons why the software giant decided on this rather uncreative name.

Microsoft has tried many naming schemes in the past. First there was Windows 3.x which was simply a version number. Then there were of course the names based on the year of release such as Windows 95. Windows Me, XP and Vista followed using what Nash referred to as "aspirational monikers." Microsoft did not want to detract attention from the fact that Windows 7 is based on the same kernel as Windows Vista and Server 2008, which is why they avoided the "aspirational monikers" of current operating systems.

This time around they wanted to keep things simple. So why call it Windows 7? Nash gave a blunt explanation in his blog entry: "Simply put, this is the seventh release of Windows, so therefore ’Windows 7’ just makes sense."

Quite clearly there are more than seven Windows releases. It is possible that Nash is referring to the seventh major release of a Windows NT-based operating system, although the kernel version number is not 7.x.

More details about the new operating system will be released at the Professional Developers Conference and the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference. A "developer only" pre-beta release will be demonstrated to attendees at both events.

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By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Guide

A spokesperson for Electronic Arts has confirmed that Obama is using the Microsoft’s Xbox 360 console to further his campaign.

Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama made headlines last week when the Obama Camp launched an iPhone application designed to encourage voters to spread the word and vote Obama in next month’s elections. The announcement stirred up a lot of talk as to whether or not John McCain should also be taking steps to expand the reach of the Republican campaign.

This week, reports confirm that Obama is not only using the Apple smartphone to talk to voters, but is also using the Xbox 360 to get his message across.

Holly Rockwood, director of corporate communications at Electronic Arts told Gigaom in a statement that the company (not unlike other media outlets) was willing to advertise for political candidates.

“Like most television, radio and print outlets, we accept advertising from credible political candidates. Like political spots on the television networks, these ads do not reflect the political policies of EA or the opinions of its development teams.”

Gamers playing Burnout Paradise for the Xbox 360 will see a billboard advertisement with a tag on the bottom that reads, "Paid for Obama for President."

Recent studies have shown Obama supporters are more likely to garner information or news about the elections than those who support McCain.

Related Links

Gigaom

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By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Guide

Samsung Electronics has announced that the company will begin selling its notebooks in North America.

While the company has sold laptops outside the states for some time now, Samsung this morning announced the introduction of a line of notebooks set to take the U.S. market by storm. The new line ranges from netbooks (yet another addition to the already bursting-at-the-seams UMPC market) to 16-inch multimedia monsters.

A few months back, Samsung had the press all a flap with claims it was going to quit the notebook business if things didn’t improve dramatically in three years’ time.

According to PC Pro, back in May, Sukyong Hong, senior manager of overseas sales and marketing at Samsung, claimed that the company needed to ship 11 million laptops in 2011 if its notebook division were to remain "sustainable." With 1.7 percent of the global laptop market, these figures meant Samsung needed to more than triple that percentage to meet what the company described in a presentation as a “minimal survival” volume, PC Pro reports.

A couple of days later damage control kicked into high gear and Samsung sent out a statement saying the company had no intentions of quitting the market.

"Samsung has no intention of closing its Notebook division in 2011. We do however expect the market to become increasingly saturated and therefore for there to be increased price competitiveness,” the company told PC Pro. "In light of this Samsung Electronics has set an ambitious but realistic goal of achieving 5.7% market share by 2011 to sustain profitability,” the statement read.

Looks like Samsung is hell bent on achieving those figures.

Related Links

Laptop Mag: We’re Coming to America: Samsung (Finally!) Enters U.S. Notebook Market
PC Pro: Samsung threatens to quit laptop market
PC Pro: Samsung withdraws threat to quit laptop market

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By Kevin Parrish - Source : Tom's Hardware

Talk about turned inside out! Antec’s skeleton case looks more like a national monument than a PC case.

Imagine a PC case with no side panels, a domed shape, and multiple levels for the drives and motherboard. As Antec’s website states, "Think Beyond the Box," and that’s just what its Skeleton open-air ATX enclosure does with its revolutionary design. Featuring eight expansion slots, four drive bays and rack-mount quality side rails, this case will not only keep the PC’s innards cool, but impress friends as well.

"The target market is the kind of PC builder who leaves the doors off the side of his case, pops off the front door covering the optical drives, and wouldn’t have it any other way," says ExtremeTech’s Jason Cross in his review. "It’s certainly unique—so much so that it’s hard to pin a "good" or "bad" label on it. Odds are, you’ll see it and either know you have to have it, or wonder why anyone would ever want something like this."

While the Skeleton enclosure is impressive visually, one must question whether it actually protects computer components. Built as a rack instead of a case, sensitive electronics appear to be left out in the open, exposed to static discharge, dirty little fingers or a sleepy kitty looking for a cozy warm spot to nap. There’s also an issue of noise; without side panels, there’s nothing to muffle the humming fans. And what of dust? This case may bring more problems than prevent them.

If anything, Antec’s Skeleton is geared towards the hardcore PC user, those who prefer to exchange out parts on a weekly basis and leave off those pesky ATX case panels. The motherboard sits flat at the bottom, housed inside a high-density ABS frame reinforced with 0.8mm cold rolled steel. Although no power supply comes with the case, a huge 250mm TriCool fan sits perched upon the arching apex, with another 92mm HD cooling fan docked on the front.

"You’d think building a PC into such an open case would be easy, but it actually requires a bit more work than you’d think," Cross said. He also mentions that additional hard drives won’t fit inside the enclosure; they’re mounted on the outside. Standing at 13" high and 15" wide, the case also comes with 2 USB (2.0) ports, 1 FireWire port and 1 eSATA. There’s even enough space to fir multiple 11-inch video cards, including NVIDIA 3-way SLI.

Currently Antec’s Skeleton open-air enclosure retails for approximately $170 to $180 (without power supply).

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By Kevin Parrish - Source : Tom's Guide

The latest PlayStation 3 firmware update will include in-game screenshots and support for Sony’s Bluetooth headset.

Although the company has not released an official release date, v2.5 of the PlayStation 3 firmware should go live sometime this week in preparation of SOCOM: Confrontation’s arrival this Wednesday. The console’s new firmware update adds support for the bundled Bluetooth headset as well as enabling a High-Quality (HQ) mode for wide-band online voice chat. There is also a "proximity chat" feature embedded in SOCOM, matching distance to sound effects and voiceovers within the game.

Another important feature of the v2.50 update is the ability to take screenshots within the game. Players will be able to snap pictures and send to friends via the PlayStation Network or transfer them to a PC via a local network connection. Unfortunately, not all games will support the feature immediately. "This will be supported on a game by game basis," says Sony. "Please check back to find out which games will support this feature."

Other notable updates include a refined PlayStation Store with a new "redeem codes" option, a Scene Search feature in the Video section and a better Trophies interface. Gamers can also set the PlayStation 3 to turn off automatically after a certain time frame, and can even allow the console to shut down once downloading a demo or movie has completed. Have friends? Now information will be stored under their avatars, displaying the date last seen online.

Additionally, Sony is updating the PSP system firmware as well. The v5.00 firmware update will add a PlayStation Network icon on the XMB. Now PSP owners can access the PlayStation Store directly without the PlayStation 3 connection. Sony also redesigned the XMB background as well as throwing in a sleep timer option. There’s also a full on-screen keyboard heading to the PSP, a vast improvement over the current multi-character key listing.

Although the firmware updates for both consoles are certainly welcomed, many PlayStation 3 owners anxiously await the PlayStation Home interface, bringing a Second-Life type virtual community right to their TV. The update is scheduled to enter open beta sometime in Q4 2008 with a release date set for next year. In the meantime, let’s hope that this new firmware update doesn’t brick the PlayStation 3 console like v2.40 did back in July.

Currently the update is not available as of this writing. Look for a review of SOCOM: Confrontation over at Tom’s Games in the coming weeks.

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By Kevin Parrish - Source : Tom's Guide

"Shall we play a game?" That infamous line from the movie WarGames might be closer to reality than you may think.

But not today.

In fact, there’s clearly no thinking computer in accordance to rules laid out by British mathematician Alan Turing. In his 1950 seminal paper entitled Computing Machinery and Intelligence, Turing states that a thinking computer is impossible to distinguish -in text-based dialogue- when compared with human responses. He predicted that by the end of the 20th Century, there would be a 30% chance that computers would be mistaken for humans in a five-minute conversation.

To test this theory, Reading University conducted the Turing Test yesterday, an exercise by human judges to determine if a computer is actually thinking as Turing dictated. This report by Will Pavia of Times Online dictates his experience with the many entrants. As one of the judges, he sat down and conversed with each artificial contestant. The winner walks away with the coveted Loebner Prize and possibly deemed as the "first thinking computer."

While many impressed Pavia, one in particular seemed too human. Named Eugene Goostman, this AI had to convince all five judges -in five minutes worth of text messaging- that is was human. Eugene talked about its guinea pig called Bill, its parents and reading Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five. "I was fooled. I mistook Eugene for a real human being. In fact, and perhaps this is worse, he was so convincing that I assumed that the human being with whom I was simultaneously conversing was a computer."

Pavia goes on to talk about other entrants in his article, one chatting playfully while another responded to his questions with a question. By the end of the day, no computer passed the Turing Test although an AI named Elbot won the Loebner Prize, convincing "a quarter of the judges."

While it seems as though thinking computers are still a work of fiction, its interesting to see scientists and computer enthusiasts alike strive for the same goal. Naturally, there’s always fear of the thinking computer becoming "aware" as dictated in movies such as WarGames, the Terminator and even the subliminally sinister computer Hal from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Still, who wouldn’t want a robot friend to converse with?

"There too, was Rollo Carpenter, 43, a computer scientist from Devon, whose program Jabberwacky has spent years developing a conversational style via millions of web chats," said Pavia, referring to one of the human contestants. "Some of its conversational partners confide in it every day; one conversation, with a teenaged girl, lasted 11 hours."

Perhaps in our lifetime, a computer might actually begin to think in accordance to Turing’s theory. They might even be able to chat longer than five minutes. But when that eventually happens, what then?

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By Michael Brown - Source : Tom's Hardware

Intel’s Atom processor has shown up in a fair number of portable devices, thanks to its small size and very low power consumption, but Trigem USA has tapped the tiny processor for its Averatec All-in-One desktop machine.

The Averatec All-in-One is a one-piece computer in which the system unit and an 18.4-inch wide-screen display (with native resolution of 1680x945) are integrated into a single device. As such, it’s very similar to HP’s TouchSmart, Dell’s XPS One, Gateway’s Gateway One, and of course Apple’s iMac. But with a list price of just $549.99, the Averatec is considerably less expensive than those rigs. It’s also less powerful.

Trigem selected Intel’s single-core Atom N270 CPU, which runs at 1.6GHz and has a 533MHz front-side bus, and paired it with Intel’s 945GMS Express chipset (with integrated graphics in the form of the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950) and Intel’s ICH7M I/O controller hub. The system comes with 1GB of DDR2 memory and can be expanded to 2GB (although upgraders will have to toss the existing 1GB DIMM, because the motherboard has only one DIMM slot).

The Averatec has built-in wired and wireless networking, but the former is limited to 10/100 Mb/sec speeds and the latter is limited to 802.11b/g. A smallish 160GB SATA hard drive, spinning at 5,400 RPM, is provided for storage. A 1.3-megapixel webcam is built into the display’s bezel, and there’s a four-in-one (Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, MultiMedia Card, and Secure Digital) media reader integrated into the chassis.

Considering the price, we’re not surprised that the Averatec All-in-One lacks a TV tuner, Bluetooth, or a wireless mouse and keyboard (wired models of both are included). But we do find it interesting that Trigem is selling the Averatec All-in-One not with Vista installed, but with Windows XP Home. Hmm, that wouldn’t be because Vista is such a resource pig, would it?

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By Steve Seguin - Source : Tom's Hardware

Zepto Computers launched what it claims is the world’s fastest 14-inch notebook.

While Zepto Computers may not be the most familiar brand of computers in North America, the Danish computer company is Europe’s largest local notebook PC manufacturer. The newly announced Zepto Nox A14 notebook is claimed by the company to be the world’s fastest 14-inch notebook, offering a balance between mobility and performance.

The Nox A14 features a Nvidia Geforce 9600M GT graphics solution with 512 MB of GDDR3 memory, which should be adequate for most gamers. Unlike with some other notebooks, the Nox A14 is built on the Nvidia MXM platform, which means the graphics solution can potentially be upgraded to something faster down the road. The notebook also comes standard with a 14-inch 1440x900 resolution LCD display, the ability to turn off all visual indicator lights, docking station support, a fingerprint reader, a webcam and Bluetooth.

The notebook seems to be rather configurable, with the base configuration consisting of an Intel Core 2 Duo P7350 processor ( 2.0 GHz | 1066 MHz FSB | 3 MB Cache | 25 W TDP ), 2 GB of DDR2 800 MHz memory, a 6-cell battery, a DVD drive, 802.11n and a 160 GB 5400 RPM hard drive. While Windows Vista is available as an option, some buyers might appreciate the fact that the base configuration does not come with an operating system and that the system has been tested to work with Ubuntu. For those seeking even more performance, the system apparently can be configured to have up to a dual-core Intel 2.8 GHz processor, a 9-cell battery, 8 GB of RAM, a 128 GB SSD, Blu-ray, a TV tuner and Intel Turbo Memory.

Zepto claims the Nox A14 has a battery life of 3.8-hours and weighs 2.5-kilograms (5.5-pounds). The Nox A14 is priced to start at £826.99 ($1,450) including VAT/GST. US and Canadian customers can place orders on ZeptoUSA.com.

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By Aaron Heibert - Source : Tom's Hardware

Looking to upgrade your current video card? Looking to upgrade to something that looks cool AND has functionality for cooling? Asus has launched a few customized cards based on ATI and Nvidia GPUs that deviate from typical reference designs.

All new cards are named under Asus’ new Dark Knight (DK) name. The new Dark Knight cards come with varying specifications, but most notably the Dark Knight Fansink that will apparently deliver "extreme" cooling and "low noise levels." Other features include the EMI shield, DIP Spring Chokes, LF PAK MOS, and Japanese made Solid Capacitors.

The new Dark Knight Fansink is manufacturer from aluminum alloy, has four heatpipes and a larger surface area. From the description and available pictures at this time (see below), it looks pretty slick. Though we find it odd that Asus chose aluminum over copper. The aluminum definitely looks cool color-wise, but based on the target audience — where’s the copper?

Hopefully we’ll get our hands on some of these for a closer look soon. For now we will leave you with some eye candy to look at and the specs of the new cards to go along with them – draw your conclusions in the comments sections!

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By Kevin Parrish - Source : Tom's Guide

Apparently, consumers are downloading less music illegally... unless you’re a teenager.

Recently Entertainment Media Research conducted a survey with 1,500 UK residents and discovered that the number of music fans downloading music illegally actually dropped to 39 percent, a whopping 4 percent difference from last year’s statistics. Three-quarters of those people even admitted that they would cease downloading the files if contacted by their ISPs.

"It is quite evident that an ISP-led strategy has bite because illegal downloaders are fairly convinced that ISPs are currently monitoring their activities and are more likely to act against them than the courts," said Russell Hart, chief executive of EMR.

And he could be right. According to an article on the Telegraph.co.uk, six of Britain’s leading ISPs teamed up with the British Phonographic Industry to identify and contact internet users actually downloading illegal music. The intent is to inform those downloading consumers that their activity is currently being monitored. This route bypasses the court entirely, however the British Government is considering a proposal to force those ISPs to hand over the information without a court order.

That said, it’s hard to imagine anyone openly admitting to downloading music illegally to anyone other than the immediate family, much less a survey. However, teenagers seem to have no problem admitting to their carefree access to illegal music. Roughly 58 percent of the teenagers questioned said they would not pay to download music; that’s quite a jump compared to the 41 percent claiming the same thing in 2006.

There’s no question that music fans feel the heat from companies, ISPs and the government regarding accessing illegal music. However, if there’s any factor that help reduce pirating music, it’s the availability of DRM-free music on retail sites. P2P networks also bring trouble, whether they’re monitored by organizations like the RIAA or littered with nasty viruses. Time Warner Cable even shut down its Newsgroup servers because it was impossible to monitor every file passing through the network. North American ISPs are even threatening to place bandwidth caps, thus reducing the load of files downloaded each month.

But are ISPs actually monitoring their users? That’s a good question, and as long as that thought remains in the minds of its subscribers, illegal downloading of music just may begin to decline. Still, one must we wary of surveys and statistics. After all, who would actually admit to illegal activities?

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By Michael Brown - Source : Tom's Hardware

Remember Gamer Grub? Inventor Keith Mullin claims his “cognitive performance snacks” will “boost your brain and speed your reaction time” to make you a more competitive gamer. I’ve since had an opportunity to sample the product, and while I don’t think it did much to enhance my IQ or make me quicker on the draw, it did a terrific job of satiating the munchies.

I went for “Action Pizza” first, mostly because I was curious how you could make anything other than pizza taste like that doughy, saucy, cheesey, sausagey delicacy. Since Mullin’s innovative packaging isn’t quite ready, he sent samples in old-fashioned foil packets. The package had labels glued on them, but there was no nutritional information or even much about the ingredients aside from a warning that some contained soy and peanuts.

A savory scent emerged from the packet when I cut the top off it; looking inside, I saw a mixture of peanuts, almonds, cashews, and what I guess was sesame crackers and perhaps soy crackers. Everything was covered in an assortment of spices, and it would leave a greasy mess in your hands if you were to eat it that way. To avoid that, I allowed the product to tumble out of the package directly into my mouth. Fortunately, I was able to avoid any George W. Bush pretzel moments.

Action Pizza was quite spicy and delicious, but I’m disappointed to report that it tasted nothing like pizza. My wife nibbled a few and agreed: There was no hint of tomato sauce, cheese, or crust—not to mention sausage or mushrooms. In fact, it tasted like any number of other salty mixed-nuts-and-crackers snacks you’ll find on grocery-store shelves.

I cleansed my palette by drinking several glasses of water over a three-hour period before sampling Sports PB&J. This one is sweet, rather than savory, and seemed to consist of peanuts, peanut butter chips, and dried strawberries and other fruits (but no raisins). In other words, it’s basically a variation on good ol’ trail mix. But the quality of the dried fruit was excellent, and it did very much remind me of a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich.

Gamer Grub is quite filling, so I waited until the next day to sample Strategy Chocolate (for breakfast). As you’ve probably guessed, this is also a sweet snack, consisting of chocolate-covered raisins, almonds, white-chocolate chips, and large dried cherries. I finished up the taste test by sharing Racing Wasabi with my wife for lunch. No surprises here, we enjoyed a savory blend of sesame crackers, almonds, and coated dried peas coated in wasabi. My wife pronounced this her favorite of the four samples.

The bottom line is that Gamer Grub breaks no new ground as a snack food. It’s quite tasty, and undoubtedly healthier than junk food, but the real attraction isn’t the food; it’s the container the snacks come in. If Gamer Grub is priced competitively with similar snacks, they’ll succeed; but if they’re priced too high, a lot of gamers might buy the product once for the container, and then refill it with something else.

Read our previous coverage of Gamer Grub.

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By Aaron Heibert - Source : Tom's Hardware

When Apple went vocal about the Nvidia GPU failures in its MacBook Pro line nobody was overly surprised.

What is surprising (to some extent for some people) is that Apple has chosen to drop Intel in favor of Nvidia’s MCP79 platform in its new family of MacBooks — despite the GPU failures.

Nvidia, acting slightly out of character, has kept its MCP79 platform secret for most of this year. The MCP79 platform is said to be a substitute for Intel’s Centrino 2 Montevina platform, offering support for the same 1066 MHz front side bus, optional DDR3 memory support and PCI Express v2.0 interfaces.

There are several advantages that tip the scales in favor of the new platform. Down to the design perspective, Nvidia has consolidated all of the controller features into a single chip fabrication rather than the two required for the Intel counterpart – thus reducing the physical footprint required for mobile mainboards.

The MCP79 platform will feature Nvidia specific functions such as DriveCache, which uses flash storage to speed up loading times, Hybrid SLI, which switches from discrete to integrated graphics to increase battery life in low-demanding situations. It is not known at this time if Apple is planning to actually make use of these features, however.

In terms of graphics, it is believe that the MCP79 platform is to use a new set of GeForce 9300 and 9400 series integrated graphics processors. This is will offer a substantial performance increase and feature set over the Intel GMA X3100 solution on Apple’s current MacBooks, and the GMA 4500MHD found on newer notebooks using Intel’s reference hardware.

The new MacBook Pro line is rumored to be getting GeForce 9600M dedicated graphics – this has not been entirely confirmed, but the dumping of Intel definitely supports this.

Apple is expected to make the full extent of Nvidia’s role clear at its MacBook Event tomorrow.

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