BitFenix made the airwaves a little while ago with its launch and entry into the market highlighting itself as a high-end gaming hardware manufacturer. The team is built around well known tech people with plenty of experience in the industry from the likes of such well known past and present companies such as ABIT and CM Storm. The creation of the company is an interesting story, but best left for another time.

Yesterday we headed out to the brand spanking new BitFenix office and got an exclusive hands-on video preview of their upcoming and really impressive Colossus full tower computer case. The product was introduced to us by Swedish chap David who is the product manager and it is important to keep in mind that this particularly sample only just arrived in from the China factory and it is a prototype and not yet finished - i.e. it will go through some changes before the final retail version ships sometime in September with a very estimated street price of around 170 USD.

The Colossus is a very hip and new breed of computer case that will come in either white or black. It is a very important product for BitFenix since it is their very first product that will go on the market; the team does not intend on rushing it and will take as long as it needs to perfect it before it goes on sale.

Yesterday we visited the Ikonik office in Taipei where they gave us an early introduction of what they will be showing at the re-named Tabutex Computex event next week.

We were given an introduction to a total of three new computer cases including the SOHO, M1000 and the Optimus 1200. All very nice cases with varying uses, we really liked the Optimus 1200 model that has a front face that resembles Optimus Prime from Transformers.

We were also shown Ikonik's new Vulcan+ series of power supplies which come in sizes of 850, 1000 and 1200 watt. They look like they have the moves to impress with 80 PLUS Gold certification. Watch our video above to get a close-up look at all of the new products.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), who aren't the first company people think of when it comes to government entities on their side, may be making a push to make wireless devices users happy by taking a deeper look into wireless carriers and their billing practices.

The fact that they have been investigating billing practices and outrageous early termination fees is not eally recent news; however it seems that FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and his team have been turning up the heat on the big boys in wireless. According to a survey released Wenesday, many consumers have been "shocked" by extra fees on their bills and also have reversed findings that the wireless market is competitive, instead calling the industry "concentrated."

According to the report, "The FCC surveyed about 3,000 Americans about these billing issues. What it discovered is that one in six mobile users say they have experienced a sudden increase in their monthly bill that is not caused by a change in service plan. The survey indicated that 84 percent of respondents said their mobile carrier did not contact them when they were about to exceed their allowed minutes, text messages, or data downloads. And about 88 percent said their carrier did not contact them after their bill suddenly increased."

Analysts at Forrester have released a report saying that Microsoft needs to answer the Apple iPad with a Windows based tablet to compete with the iPad and many other tablets coming into the market, arguing that tablets are "the next important computing form."

In the report released Thusday, JP Gownder and Sarah Rotman Epps from Forrester, stated: "To keep its products front and center, Microsoft needs a partner to produce a successful Windows tablet that competes with the Apple iPad. At stake is nothing less than the future of the operating system." Strong sales of the iPad have shown that the market is wide open to these types of devices. With the Zune never quite gaining the popularity of the iPod, Microsoft can't be wanting to fall behind Apple on another platform.

"Windows can't afford to cede ground on tablets--and not just out of fear that Apple is defining the next generation of computing device," the Forrester researchers said in their report. "Google, too, has its hungry eyes trained on Microsoft's plate and is pushing its Chrome OS as a consumer- and wallet-friendly solution for Netbooks."

AMD is looking forward to demonstrating Fusion-ready systems at Computex which will be the first to combine a traditional processor with a graphics processing core on a single die for mainstream processing.

Ryan over at PC Perspective has managed to scoop up a good amount of detail on AMD's plans to roll out Fusion into the market. AMD's first APU (accelerated processing unit) is codenamed Llano and will cater to the notebook market. Its formula is a combination of four x86 processor cores with a Redwood-class DX11 capable performance GPU on the same die.

The core is said to be built on GlobalFoundries 32m SIO process using High-K metal gate transistors. This means ATI GPUs manufactured by AMD rather than TSMC; the first time this has ever happened.

Today we attended a ViewSonic press conference in Taipei where the company used the event to launch a range of new eBook e-readers appropriately held at the eslite bookstore.

Next up Mike Chen, a ViewSonic product manager for its digital media business unit, introduces the special editor VEB632 JinYong Reader e-reader that is at the top-end of ViewSonic's new eBook range. It will go on sale in Taiwan in July with a rather rich street price of 14,800 NTD or around 462 USD at today's rate.

Yin Yong is a very famous Chinese martial arts novelist who has written some 36 books on the ancient Eastern fighting art that are enjoyed by Chinese all around the world. The VEB632 e-reader comes bundled with all of Jin Yong's books included on the 2GB of internal storage. The e-reader sports a six-inch e-ink display that supports an 800 x 600 resolution with up to 16 levels of grey. This model is slightly bigger and heavier than the previous VEB620 model we looked at, but it comes in at a still quite nimble and comfortable 250 grams or around 9 ounces.

Today we attended a ViewSonic press conference in Taipei where the company used the event to launch a range of new eBook e-readers appropriately held at the eslite bookstore.

First up Mike Chen, a ViewSonic product manager for its digital media business unit, introduces the cheapest of its new e-readers, the VEB620 eBook. But when we say cheap though, don't let they confuse it. It comes packed with features and the only thing it really misses out on is wireless connectivity, so you will either need to use a microSD card or copy books etc over via USB from your computer.

The unit will go on sale in Taiwan in a week or so with a street price of 6,990 NTD - which works out to be around 217 USD at today's exchange rate. The device comes with a six-inch screen with 16 levels of grey that is capable of an 800 x 600 resolution. It weighs in at a rather light and comfortable eight ounces or around 227 grams. It was really nice to hold and is made using soft plastics that feel good.

We don't see as many video card partners these days including full version games to give the icing on the cake; certainly not as much as we used to. So it's nice to see MSI deciding to do this :-

There's no doubt they've picked a real good'en to bundle with their new R5970 and R5870 series cards, being named Game of the Year by the New York Times and getting a big thumbs up from game reviewers everywhere. Nearly all of MSI's video cards in their lineup are non-reference in one form or another, be it superior coolers, factory overclocks or higher grade components for better stability, and in some models a mixture of all.

So, a good choice of game, good mix-up of cards in their lineup and hopefully good pricing should have MSI seeing their inventories cleared at a more rapid rate hereon. Keep an eye out for the boxes on the shelf that show Ezio (the star of Assassin's Creed) glaring at you.

Does anyone actually remember breaking out one of those huge foldout maps to figure out which road or highway you needed to take to get where you are going? Global Positioning System (GPS) technology has flooded the market, from standalone GPS devices like TomToms to in-dash navigation in your vehicle to using your phone to figure out where you are and where you are going.

Now it is reported that the U.S. government is pumping 8 billion dollars into GPS system enhancements that will expand the range, improve the accuracy, and improve the reliability of GPS technology. This is no small feat: 24 new satellites are planned to replace the current satellites that make up the current system one at a time. The first satellite in the new system has just been launched this past weekend with the complete upgrade not scheduled to be done until 2021.

"This new system has the potential to deliver capabilities we haven't seen yet," said Marco Caceres, senior space analyst for aerospace research firm Teal Group. "Because GPS touches so many industries, it's hard to imagine what industry wouldn't be affected."

Retrevo, a consumer electronics site, recently surveyed 1,000 U.S. consumers and found that the iPad's popularity is taking a toll on netbook sales. When interested parties were asked whether they were planning on buying an iPad or a netbook 78 percent, or a little more than 3 out of 4, said they would choose the iPad while 22 percent favored a netbook.

Laptops are still staying popular with buyers as well, with 65 precent of people surveyed who were planning to make a mobile PC purchase this year said they would favor a regular laptop over a netbook. Those who did prefer the netbook over the iPad said that size was the biggest concern, with 55 precent preferring the smaller footprint. 20 percent of those said price was the major concern, and 19 percent showed battery life as the deciding factor.

While these numbers show a big preference to the iPad over netbooks, analysts are saying that the $200 or more price difference between the iPad and netbooks should not cripple the sale of netbooks this year. Jeff Orr, an analyst with ABI Research, reportedly said earlier this month that just one percent of potential netbook buyers would be impacted by tablets, like the iPad.