One of the newest video cards that covers the home theater and modestly priced segments of the video card market to come from Big Green is the GT430. Club 3D has pulled the wraps off its own single slot GT430 video card and the small little card should be a nice choice for a HTPC machine that doesn't need the most powerful hardware on the market.

The GT430 from Club 3D is aimed at accelerating photos and HD video according to the company and will allow the user to watch 3D Blu-ray flicks on a computer screen or a big screen in the living room. The video card uses the PCIe v2.0 slot and has a core clock of 700MHz. The card uses 1024MB of DDR3 RAM that is clocked at 1333MHz and has a 128-bit memory interface.

A fan and heat sink keeps the GPU cool while producing little noise to distract you from your favorite movie. Dimensions of the single slot card are 154mm x 120mm x 16mm. The card has a single DVI output, a VGA output, and HDMI out. It supports HDCP for Blu-ray films and has a maximum resolution of 2560 x 1600. Pricing and availability are unknown at this time.

A full two weeks before Windows Phone 7 makes its debut with AT&T is the U.S., smartphone fanatics in Europe and Asia will be able to get their hands on WP7 devices. Ten different devices will be launched across thirty countries (some devices will have different names in different markets) with 60 mobile operators in 30 countries planning on carrying WP7 devices by 2011.

"We have a beautiful lineup in this first wave of Windows Phone 7 handsets," said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. With their "hub" format giving easy access to games, pictures, and music with heavy social network integration, Microsoft is taking a big leap back into the smartphone market currently dominated by Android, iPhone, and BlackBerry. Check out the full list of worldwide Windows Phone 7 launch devices and carriers after the break.

New Windows Phones: (List courtesy of Microsoft:

When it comes to HTPC and nettop computers, most people look for the smallest machines they can find that offer the most performance. A small HTPC that supports 1080p HD video is what many consumers are looking for and with the ION 2 packing machines on the market the number of options is growing all the time. Habey has unveiled a new mini ITX mainboard called the MITX-6564 that is aimed directly at nettop and HTPC use.

The mainboard is called the MITX-6564. The machine is a low profile mini-ITX mainboard with ION 2 Graphics and an Intel Atom D510 dual-core processor inside. The thin mainboard is under an inch thick and is designed to be very quiet during operation. The ION 2 GPU has 16 CUDA cores and supports resolution up to 2560 x 1600 and full 1080p HD video. Connectivity includes VGA and HDMI.

The mainboard has dual RAM slots supporting up to 4GB of RAM and has a pair of SATA ports for up to a pair of storage drives. Other features include four internal USB ports and tow external ports. The board has a pair of mini-PCIe slots for WiFi and TV tuner options. The little board supports multiple Windows flavors and Linux.

The ACCC is taking more bits out of Apple, finds it a bit sour.

The ACCC's continuing investigation against Apple regarding it's warranty is still going on, but with Apple refusing to budge on it's policies, the result might be an increase in mobile plan fees. Apple are refusing to let Telco's (like Telstra, Optus, etc) to offer repair services for the Apple iPhone.

Last week, I posted about Telstra now offering 24 months warranty on their handsets, with Apple's iPhone excluded. The ACCC is still pushing for 24 month contracts to have 24 month warranty included.

Telstra has named their new CIO today.

Meet, Patrick Eltridge:

Former Seek and Westpac CIO, Patrick Eltridge has stepped up to the plate of chief information officer, replacing former CIO John McInerney who resigned in June of this year.

Could it be? Only 11 days until the world knows what's under the hood of AMD's new 6k range of graphics cards.

NDA paperwork is starting to come through and it looks like the 22nd is cemented into history as the launch of the AMD 6000 range of graphic cards. While we don't have exact model numbers, our understanding is that the PRO and XT flavours will be coming in, which should carry the 6850 and 6870 names.

While these names seem like a "replacement" of the current HD 5850 and 5870 parts, initial speculation with the name changes suggest these products could fall into the $200 - $250 segment.

Development of the Cell processor that powers the PlayStation 3 has not stalled, IBM are continuing to develop chips and supply hardware for future gaming consoles, a company executive said.

IBM is working with Nintendo and Sony, CTO of IBM's Systems and Technology Group, Jai Menon said.

The Cell processor which was developed by IBM with the involvement of Sony and Toshiba, first appeared in Sony's PlayStation 3 in 2005. It was a hybrid chip, including processor cores from IBM's Power architecture. But, lately there have been doubts about Cell's future and it's use in upcoming next-generation gaming consoles.

Are you ready?

The first picture of AMD's reference built Radeon HD 6870 has been leaked ahead of it's launch later this month, it reveals some outputs on the card.

It is the first GPU to no longer hold the ATI name, bearing an AMD Radeon branding in it's place.

I often work from my netbook when I travel and the worst thing about the little machine is that it lacks an optical drive. I still get handed CDs and DVDs with information on them that I can't access on the little machine. There are also many ultraportable notebooks on the market that lack optical drives as well. This is an issue for many users who want to watch movies and be able to access software and other content on discs.

Samsung has unveiled a new and very portable external DVD drive that can burn to CD and DVD media at fast speeds, and is small enough to fit in most any laptop bag or briefcase. The little optical drive is called the SE-S084F DVD Writer. It has WriteMaster technology for multitasking on the PC and high-speed media writing on slower computers. The machine also has Buffer Under Run Tech to prevent errors.

The optical drive will work with Mac or PC computers and has special Tilt Actuator Compensation Technology to use all the disc area. The little drive is so power efficient that it can get the connectivity it needs and power from a single USB cable. The burner is available to purchase right now with an MSRP of $59.99. I did see the thing online for $49.99 today making it a very good deal if you really need an optical drive that is easy to take with you.

It's been a while since I saw a new PMP launch with a traditional HDD for storage rather than flash. Flash is generally used in portable devices because it needs less power and can survive the drops and bumps that come with life on the road better than a HDD can. The downside is that you get less storage with flash for the same money than you would with a HDD. Cowon has unveiled the X7 PMP in Korea and it uses a HDD for storage.

The HDD is available in 80GB, 100GB, and 160GB varieties. We have the large 4.3-inch screen to thank in part for the high storage capacity and space to fit in a HDD. Just be sure you don't drop it or you might find your new PMP no longer works. That big 4.3-inch screen is touch capable and the resolution is a mystery for now.

The maker claims the thing is good for 103 hours of music playback per charge or 10 hours of video per charge. Other features include Bluetooth, a radio tuner, support for DivX video, and an integrated RSS reader .Cowon says the thing comes with a web browser, which would suggest WiFi is featured as well. A basic 160GB model will sell for 339,000 won with a version with integrated dictionaries selling for 379,000 won.