Best Buy says 7 more than Vista that Works
You know I sometimes think that corporate bosses need people to check their correspondence to make sure they do not say anything foolish, in indeed really stupid. Sadly for them but fortunate for us (in terms of pure comedy) that does not happen enough.
The gang at Engadget managed to get a hold of a memo from a Best Buy Executive that says "This new operating system isn't just a "Vista that works" program". In terms of sheer foot in mouth comedy that is way up there.
But then the he goes on to detail the plans explaining that systems (PCs) bought after June 26th are eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 7.
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nVidia 40nm Desktop Cards to be DX10.1
With the announcement at Computex that AMD has working DX11 silicone we started to wonder if nVidia would have a comeback of its own but so far we only hear rumors of the GT300 in late 2009 or early 2010.
In fact the first 40nm GPUs from the green team will only be DX10.1. This is sort of odd as for years nVidia has claimed there was no advantage to using the DX stopgap. They have held firm that they were going to wait until DX11 to make the move.
But as of this writing the GT216 and GT218 will be DX10.1 parts. For all of the nVidia fans out there, it looks like you will have to wait on the GT300 for your DX11 gaming fix. But then again, as of this writing there are no DX11 games on the shelves and Windows 7 is still in the RC stage.
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Flaw in XP lets malware steal PIN Numbers
There is a hack that has been put into place on ATM(Automated Teller Machines)using windows XP as an OS that allows for malicious persons to recover account and PIN numbers directly from the machine.
The hack is most likely inserted using a compromised card that when read by the ATM causes the infection to begin. Once the virus is in play it replaces the isadmin.exe file which then replaces the lass.exe file.
Once the infection has run its course another "control" card can be used to harvest the information gathered. According to the report the card can even eject the cash box on the ATM.
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A tour of the ECS suite - P55 on display and more
Computex Taipei 2009: On our last day of Computex 2009 we took a look at what ECS has on offer. ECS moved from their booth at Nangang in 2008 to the Taiwan International Convention Center just adjacent to Hall 1 and the Grand Hyatt Hotel. This year we were given a bit of a look at what ECS thinks will be its big products for the year.
Like most companies now ECS has their own range or netbooks based around the Atom processor. This is one of their new ones.
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VIA makes the move to mobile and miniature PCs
Computex Taipei 2009: Since VIA has dropped away from the desktop chipset market, you would think this company would be going under. After all, their big push in the late 90's and early 2k was their chipsets for AMD and Intel products. However, times have changed and VIA no longer has any desktop chipsets for their competitors, rather focusing on their mobile and miniature PC market with chipsets for their own CPU's as well as graphics support through S3.
Samsung's QIEX based UMPC was running some MPEG2 and MPEG4 video playback without any dramas. In fact, it showed very smooth playback while using VIA's NANO processor.
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Cooler Master build PowerLine Ethernet into PSU
We have covered PowerLine networking adapters and while they are great for connecting hard to reach parts of your home they can be a little cumbersome as most are pretty bulky.
At Computex Cooler Master is showing off a rather interesting product that might help with some of that. This is a 700 Watt PSU with a PowerLine adapter built right inside.
The new PSU will feature the traditional powerline unit built inside the housing for a standard PSU. This means that to use the power line feature you will need to run a short Ethernet cable from the LAN port on your mainboard to the LAN Port on the PSU.
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ASUS Shows Off P57 Based Motherboard
While many motherboard manufacturuers are taking the time at Computex to show off motherboards based upon Intel's P55 chipset, ASUS is showing off a little bit more.

Dubbed the P7P57 motherboard, it is based upon Intel's P57 express chipset and is ready to support Lynnfield and Clarkdale CPUs when they arrive. ASUS didn't shed too much light on the motherboard, but we did learn that it will support Intel's Braidwood technology as well as dual-channel DDR3 support.
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Five new Moorestown devices announced at Computex
As if Smartphones, smart books, low cost under powered notebook PCs or whatever Microsoft wants to call netbooks now I think that we have gone overboard on Mobile Internet Devices.
We now have an excessive amount of ways to keep connected. But that is not enough for many and not enough for Intel who announced five more MID devices based on the Moorestown.
the devices ranged from a traditional 3G Smartphone through to navigation and entertainment products.
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ISPs still not giving in to RIAA
I have talked about the MPAA and the RIAA cartel before but today I have some news that might actually be good for advocates of privacy and fair use.
It seems that despite the RIAA's statement that ISPs were working with them to cut off P2P users the ISPs have not really done anything.
In fact AT&T has come out and stated that they will not cut anyone off without a court order. This is a welcome statement to many as the fears of being cut off just on the say so of the often wrong RIAA was looming.
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Apple gets the green light for servers in NC
It has been a while since I have done any major Apple news and while I was feeling the beginnings of withdrawals I found a blurb on Apple's plans to build a new data center in North Carolina.
It seems that North Carolina passed a bill to give Apple a nice $46 million state tax credit. The new site will only have around 50 full time employees but for some reason NC is claiming it will create 250-300 jobs in the region. I am not sure what math they are using but that sounds a little off to me.
No matter the data center will be good for the local economy, I just wonder if it will actually help the consumer, after all it won't be in place to prevent another iPhone upgrade fiasco that is sure to happen when iPhone 3.0 hits. But maybe just maybe it will impact iPhone 4.5...
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