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On the hunt for an addictive game that's not too taxing on performance for your CULV notebook with Intel graphics? - Geoff Gasior of Tech Report has found a gem with a game called Darwinia that he's been soaking up on his little Aspire 1810TZ for a while and explains why he feels it's a great game ideally suited to the ultraportable platform.

The world of Darwinia is a virtual themepark, running entirely inside a computer network and populated by a sentient evolving life form called the Darwinians. Unfortunately Darwinia has been overrun by a computer virus which has multiplied out of control. Your task is to destroy the Viral Infection and save the Darwinians from extinction.

The game has actually been out for near on five years now, but is still considered a brilliant title with fantastic gameplay that can be purchased for a measily $10 on Steam, or bundled with Multiwinia for $15. If you don't want to pay out straight up in fear of it just not being your cup of tea, there is a demo available for you to try out first.

After finding out yesterday when NVIDIA plans to officially release its third GTX 400 series graphics card in the GTX 465 (when Computex kicks off), a sample has already made its way into the hands of some Chinese folks over at eNet.

As such, they had shared out some interesting info about the card with screenshots of the NV driver control panel that reveal some of the key specs as well as taking it for a spin in several benchmarks to give an idea of expected performance.

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the sneak peek appears to have been pulled since. However, the folks over at Tech Report were quick to get the scoop on all the interesting bits about the card before this occured.

Michael Dell gave the keynote speech at the Citrix Synergy Conference and topped it off with a full minute sneak preview of the new Streak mobile internet device which has been rumored for months. This was the first public demo f the 5 inch long device and Dell advised the device will become available starting in June.

This mobile internet device features built in WiFI, Bluetooth, and wireless WAN capabilities as well as an 800 by 480 touchscreen display and 5 megapixel dual LED camera. It will run the latest Android OS.

Dell made the Streak look like a mighty capable device during the preview. As he showed off the Streak he stated, "The device we use to access our information shouldn't matter anymore. Whether it's a phone, or a notebook, a netbook or a desktop PC, your client image can follow you everywhere. I've got my Citrix Receiver on here; we can log in and capture our desktop. I've got six different desktop planes here, I've got my Android applications, I can see what's going on at Twitter and Facebook."

ASUS just finished up with its press conference today in Taipei which launched a range of new notebooks from 13.3-inch all the way up to the monster 18.4-inch NX90JQ desktop replacement model that we will go hands-on with after this one.

The ASUS U33Jc was first shown during CES, but today we get to see the final shipping version that will go on sale in Taiwan and presumably around the world in the middle of next month. In Taiwan it has a street price that works out to be 1300 USD, it may end up being slightly cheaper in the US. Watch the video just above and then read on.

This 13.3-inch notebook weighs in at 1.8KG and comes with an impressive 8 cell battery that ASUS claims can provide up to 11 hours of on the go power, of course in the best case scenario. We checked Windows batter life and it was stating around 9 hours left with about 90% charge - not bad at all. What is interesting is that this model doesn't include any optical drive, so it looks like it will be suited for the folks out there who download movies rather than watch them on DVD or Blu-ray.

The first notebook that ASUS launched today during its press conference in Taipei was the monster-sized NX90JQ 18.4-inch desktop replacement notebook.

The thing is really a monster. Besides the massive 18.4-inch screen, it has two large speakers on each side of the screen that are designed and created by Bang & Olufsen and work alongside ASUS' Sonic Master audio technology. The whole focus on this notebook during the conference was its audio and multimedia quality and it seems pretty good. Watch our hands-on video just above and then read on.

They had it hooked up at the front of the stage and everyone in the large room filled with about 200 people were able to hear it clearly enough. Interestingly enough though and during our hands-on, we tried some basic sample audio and it sounds a little tinny. There is no extra speaker on the bottom of the unit to create LFE (bass), but having said that, it did sound pretty good for a notebook, but at the price it should.

We've known for a while now it would be arriving very soon and here 'tis. Microsoft has just officially announced Office 2010 as well as SharePoint 2010, Visio 2010 and Project 2010.

Initially it is only available to business customers, but consumers will be able to purchase it as of June 15 at prices ranging from $99 to $499 U.S. depending on which Office version you opt for.

There's a huge amount of updates and features added to the 2010 Office suite including Backstage view which replaces the file menu, improved search and navigation functions, superior video and editing tools, a Sparklines tool for Excel which gives the ability to create small charts inside a single cell and backing for Office Web Apps that gives online versions of MS Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote.

Our VGA gun Shane has learned that the upcoming GTX 465 that gets you a top end NVIDIA DX11 capable graphics card for less dollars will be officially launched on June 1, the day Computex makes its 2010 splash.

He's also been able to ascertain that stock levels won't be an issue come launch, unlike when the GTX 470/480 cards were released. Apparently several manufacturers already have stock in hand of this card and samples are being prepared for shipments this week, giving potential for leaked results on the interwebs ahead of launch.

It is not known for sure as to what specifications exactly this card will use. There have been rumours and numbers thrown about, but until samples get in peoples hands none of it can be confirmed, though that doesn't sound like very long of a wait now.

The folks at Netbooknews have gotten a good scoop on AMD's upcoming Athlon II Neo platforms while in attendance at an AMD event held in Cannes, France.

In presenting three separate articles, the first looks at Acer's upcoming Aspire One 521 netbook which we first learned about towards the end of April. It will use a single core AMD V105 1.2GHz processor and has built-in Radeon HD 4225 graphics for HD support. You will find a couple videos (one being of some quality hands-on time with the unit) and a stack of official product shots here.

Also on display at the event was Acer's Aspire One 721 which is based on the new Athlon II Neo K325 dual core processor with a 12w TDP rating, each core working at 1.3GHz. The same Radeon HD 4225 IGP is used for this unit as is used in the Aspire One 521, giving smooth full HD video playback.

The term of Apple and AT&T's iPhone exclusivity deal has long been a mystery -- although USA Today reported a five-year arrangement when the original iPhone came out in 2007, that number has never been independently confirmed, and it's been looking suspect in recent weeks as Verizon iPhone chatter has gotten louder. But we've been doing some digging and we can now confirm that Apple and AT&T entered into a five-year iPhone exclusive in 2007, based on court documents filed by Apple in California. Read on!

Here's the deal: an ongoing California class-action lawsuit filed in 2007 claims that Apple and AT&T illegally exerted a monopoly over iPhone service by telling customers the iPhone's required service contract was two years long when the Apple / AT&T exclusivity deal was actually for five years -- thus requiring buyers to re-up with AT&T for three years (and not, say, T-Mobile) if they wanted to keep using the iPhone. Obviously Apple had to respond to these allegations, and in addition to arguing that no one was ever promised an unlocked iPhone after two years, the company's lawyers repeatedly confirm the existence of the five-year agreement while noting it was publicly reported in USA Today. It's extremely black and white -- check these choice quotes from Apple:

"The duration of the exclusive Apple-[AT&T] agreement was not 'secret' either. The [plaintiff] quotes a May 21, 2007 USA Today article - published over a month before the iPhone's release - stating, "AT&T has exclusive U.S. distribution rights for five years-an eternity in the go-go cellphone world."

A software update to solve wireless network connectivity issues with some iPads will be forthcoming from Apple, but the company has not offered a time frame for the fix.

In an updated support document on the Apple site, the company says: "A very small number of iPad users have experienced issues with Wi-Fi connectivity. This article outlines workarounds for these issues. Apple will also address remaining Wi-Fi connectivity issues with a future iPad software update."

Apple did not respond to a request for amplification on the matter.

Sprint is following in the footsteps of Verizon, by backing out on its promise to carry the Google Nexus One on its network, and replacing the smartphone with a newer, flashier sibling. Still, it's not all bad news for Google or Android.

In mid-March, Sprint announced that it would carry a CDMA version of Google's Nexus One smartphone sometime later this year. But on Monday, Sprint said that it would not support the Nexus One, making way instead for the upcoming HTC EVO 4G smartphone.

A CDMA version of the Nexus One for Verizon also fell off the table recently, with the carrier instead opting to sell the Android-based HTC Incredible this spring. Now, the Nexus One remains available only for T-Mobile and AT&T's GSM networks, or in an unlocked version for $529.

Fresh off NPD's latest Mobile Phone Track report claiming that Android has leapfrogged the iPhone in US sales, Apple is commenting on the numbers -- and as you might expect, they're not exactly taking a congratulatory tone with Google. Speaking to AllThingsD's John Paczkowski, Cupertino had this to say:

"This is a very limited report on 150,000 US consumers responding to an online survey and does not account for the more than 85 million iPhone and iPod touch customers worldwide. IDC figures show that iPhone has 16.1 percent of the smartphone market and growing, far outselling Android on a worldwide basis. We had a record quarter with iPhone sales growing by 131 percent and with our new iPhone OS 4.0 software coming this summer, we see no signs of the competition catching up anytime soon."

The factual accuracy of Apple's words here can't really be disputed, but as Paczkowski notes, the context can: lumping the iPod touch into this equation isn't really fair, since NPD's report is about smartphones, not mobile operating systems (which would've let devices like non-phone Android MIDs into the picture). Besides, this is about the US market in the first quarter of 2010, not global sales, nor is it about Apple's development pipeline. In other words, Apple's not disputing NPD's report here -- rather, they're simply trying to change the subject, as any properly-trained PR department would. There's no question Android still has an uphill battle to dominate market (and mind) share the world over, but the odds that it outsold the iPhone in the US in Q1 remain very real.

Details and pics of Sapphire's new Pure CrossfireX 890GX motherboard have surfaced. The board is full ATX sized and uses the 890GX+SB850 combination.

It's interesting that Sapphire has done away with its iconic white PCB this time around.

The AM3 socket is given 10-phase VRM power and is wired to four DDR3 slots. The integrated Radeon HD 4290 IGP is given 128MB of Sideport memory alongside the ability to share system memory.

RunCore has just brought to market a new series of enterprise level SSDs that use the tried and true SandForce SF-1500 controller and SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) interface.

RunCore calls the new series Kylin II, of which comes in both 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch form factors. There are both Single Level Cell and Multi Level Cell variants of this series available. Other attributes inlude native ECC data protection, on-board temperature sensor and a power consumption of about 2.6W.

Despite the ECC inclusion, read and write rates are still very respectable at about 270MB/sec read and 260MB write. Capacities in the series go from as small as 50GB up to 400GB.

Although Apple's next iPhone operating system is at least a month away from release, Wired.com got a hands-on peek at the latest beta and found some interesting goodies that have not been officially announced.

Most notably, the iPhone OS 4 beta 3 software includes a brand new iPod widget and a file-sharing feature that was previously exclusive to the iPad. (These features were previously reported by Boy Genius Report.)

Other new features we tested were those on display during Apple's recent iPhone event: multitasking, folders, universal e-mail, wallpaper and camera zoom. Taken together, they paint a picture of an operating system that is well on its way to a major upgrade, one that will greatly increase the usability of Apple's growing family of iPhone OS-based devices.

Google's Android operating system edged out Apple's iPhone operating system for the No. 2 spot in the U.S. consumer smartphone market in the first quarter, research firm NPD Group reported Monday.

According to NPD, devices running Android accounted for 28 percent of the units sold to U.S. consumers in the first quarter of 2010. BlackBerry devices made by Research In Motion, which use RIM's homegrown operating system, took the top spot with 36 percent of the U.S. market. Apple's iPhone, which had been in the No. 2 spot previously, fell to third place with 21 percent of the market.

NPD's figures are based on self-reported consumer surveys and they estimate the number of devices sold to consumers. The figures do not include sales of devices to business customers through enterprise contracts.

Goodbye, Slate, hello, Hurricane! HP is expected to release a webOS-running tablet called the Hurricane, as soon as the third quarter of this year. While a challenge to the iPad, the Hurricane could be more of a threat to Microsoft.

Hewlett-Packard could be releasing a tablet running the Palm's webOS operating system as soon as the third quarter of 2010, according to a report from The Examiner, which attributes the information to "an insider at HP."

The tablet, according to the report, would be called the HP "Hurricane."

Wouldn't it be nice if you could access files on your computer when your away from your home or office? LogMeIn Ignition for Android in now in Beta and free for beta testers who will be able to control and contact their home or office computers.

Ignition gives you access to your work and home computers from your Android smartphone such as your Droid, Droid Incredible, Droid Eris, Nexus One, T-Mobile G1, T-Mobile myTouch 3G Motorola Cliq, Samsung Behold II, Samsung Moment, Motorola Devour, BlackFlip and HTC Hero.

Ignition lets users use the distant computer as if they were sitting in front of it. You can download the beta version for free and let LogMeIn know how you like so that they can optimize the final product before the big launch.

A hotly discussed on-going topic is Flash and the lack of support on mobile devices and the ability to playback HD video using Flash on power efficient devices such as netbooks and tablets.

Earlier today we attended an Opera Software press briefing here in Taipei to discuss Opera's future plans for HTML5, web standards and how they affect consumer electronics and OEMs in Taiwan. The get together was designed to be an early look of what the Norwegian software company intends to show at Computex Taipei 2010 early next month. Håkon Wium Lie, Opera CTO and the 'father of CSS' was there to discuss these topics and for us it was most interesting to hear what Opera thought about Adobe Flash and where it fits in now and in the future.

Jon S. von Tetzchner, Opera Co-founder and he had some interesting thoughts on Flash as well. During the presentation, we were shown the new video tag (created by Opera) which is part of CSS3, a W3C style sheet language web standard that will soon be supported by many web browsers. This new video tag allows you to write a very simple line of code to add a video to your website. It will come down to the individual browser makers to add support for CSS3 powered video playback, but clearly Opera is behind it in a big way. It remains to be seen how much other browser makers will embrace it, but Opera is eagerly optimistic that it will be embraced heavily as they are fully behind open web standards and this one in particular in a big way - at least that was the impression that we got today.

Looking out for the cream of the crop when it comes to choosing an 890FX powered motherboard for your new six-core Phenom II? - ASUS have quite the candidate in store with the Crosshair IV Extreme which the folks at Slashgear managed to get a bunch of pictures and info about.

In case you're a little confused in thinking this board was already released last month, that was the Formula; the Extreme is similar in many aspects, but it gives one main advantage. This board sports LucidLogix's Hydra chip which gives much more flexible multi-GPU support and does away with cross-vendor restrictions.

There are no less than five PCIe x16 slots on this board to further add to the multi-GPU flexibility this board provides and it comes with a stack of other overclocking and enthusiast oriented trinkets. These include support for ASUS RoG Connect (with Bluetooth remote control), hardware buttons on the motherboard to control BIOS settings on the fly, one touch automatic overclocking with Turbo Key II and of course, ASUS' Core Unlocker feature that will unlock more cores on dual, triple and quad core processors.