Info Laptop

Motherboards & Processors
• DFI Lanparty UT X58-T3eH8 and JR X58-T3H6 – TechSpot
• GIGABYTE MA785GPM-UD2H 785G – TweakTown

Displays & Video Cards
• Inno3D GeForce GTS 250 iChiLL FreezerX 1GB – TweakTown
• Interview with Khronos – The Tech Report
• XFX GeForce GTX 275 XXX 896MB – Elite Bastards

Memory & Storage
• Corsair P64 SSD – Bjorn3D
• OCZ Low Latency Blade DDR3 1600MHz – Pro-Clockers

Peripherals & Gadgets
• Eagle Arion 2.1 iDock Speakers with Subwoofer – Think Computers
• Plantronics Voyager PRO Bluetooth Headset – Legit Reviews

Cooling
• CoolIt Domino ALC CPU Cooler – JonnyGURU
• Scythe Mugen 2 CPU Cooler – Verdia Reviews
• Thermaltake Massive23 CS Notebook Cooler – Tweaknews
• Xigmatek Thor’s Hammer CPU Cooler – Tech-Lobby

Chassis & Power Supplies
• Chieftec Dragon Mid-Tower Chassis – ThinkComputers
• Cooler Master Elite 310 Chassis – Bjorn3D
• Corsair HX750W Power Supply – Overclockers Club
• Thermaltake Element G Chassis – PureOverclock

Competitions, Complete Systems & Et cetera
• Alienware M17x Dual-GPU Gaming Notebook – HotHardware
• How-To: Install Windows 7 from a USB Flash Drive – Legit Reviews
• HTC Touch Pro 2 Windows Smartphone – Verdis Reviews
• Toshiba Mini NB205-N210 – TechReviewSource

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Although I’m not entirely stoked about it, there’s a huge shift lately in how companies would like us to use their software. If you ask Google, they believe any application you need should be available online, and they’ve proved it by offering suites of various sources that way (including their very popular office suite). But what about applications that are incredibly robust, such as Photoshop?

Well, as much as hate working with applications of any sort online (I’ll always be a desktop guy), there are some applications that, when done right, will work online just fine,  like image manipulation tools, such as the one offered by Adobe at Photoshop.com. Obviously what’s offered online here isn’t going to be near as robust as the full-blown suite, but rather, it’s designed people on a low budget, or people who just want to take care of quick photo edits fast.

The reason that the site is significant now, is because Adobe has just discontinued their Photoshop Album Starter Edition application, which has always been free, in order to push people towards their online service. It’s an interesting move, to say the least, because rather than have people use their free desktop application, they’d rather people use their bandwidth and be confined to a web browser. Seems a wee bit odd to me, but once again, I am not a web apps guy.

How do you guys feel about this? Would you rather use Photoshop in a web browser than on the desktop? I admit, it is a nice feature if you are on the go and need a quick photo edit, but I don’t recall the last time when I was in that situation, and without my notebook. Either way, I realize I’m probably in the minority, as it’s far from being only Adobe that’s starting to throw such robust applications online.

The move reflects the growing importance of Web-based applications even for software powerhouses such as Adobe. Web applications, even when using relatively sophisticated technology such as Adobe’s Flash, are typically primitive compared to what can run on a computer, but they offer advantages in sharing, maintenance, and remote access from multiple computers and mobile devices. And of course the Web is gradually growing more sophisticated as a foundation for applications.

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Motherboards & Processors
• ASUS M4A79T Deluxe – PureOverclock
• Gigabyte GA-EP55-UD4P – Overclockers Club
• MSI 785GM-E65 – Motherboards.org

Displays & Video Cards
• GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 285 2GB OC – TweakTown
• Using Dual-Monitors to Optimize Productivity – Benchmark Reviews
• Zotac GTX 285 Infinity – XS Reviews

Memory & Storage
• Iomega eGo Mac Edition – Digital Trends
• OCZ Platinum PC3-10666 6GB – Hardware Logic
• OCZ Vertex Turbo MLC SATA SSD – Benchmark Reviews

Peripherals & Gadgets
• Iqua VizorSUN Bluetooth Handsfree Car Kit – Tech-Reviews
• Logitech G13 Advanced Gameboard – Phoronix

Cooling
• AeroCool Touch-2000 LCD Fan Controller – Legit Reviews
• Xigmatek S126384 Thors Hammer CPU Cooler – FrostyTech

Chassis & Power Supplies
• NZXT Zero 2 – Virtual-Hideout
• ThermalTake Element G – Ninjalane
• Xclio Godspeed One Advanced Chassis – DragonSteelMods

Competitions, Complete Systems & Et cetera
• Hantech SISO Markus-800 Full 1080p HD Media Centre – ModSynergy
• Samsung Highlight SGH-T749 Cell Phone – Digital Trends
• ZeroShock III Netbook Case – TestFreaks

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Although GPGPU (general-purpose computing on GPUs) is growing in popularity, we’re still a little ways away from it becoming totally mainstream, and used by many. Over the course of the past year, though, NVIDIA is one company who has actively been pushing GPGPU, along with their CUDA technology, in order to get applications and scenarios in front of consumers to show them the benefits that their speedy graphics cards can offer.

One area where GPGPU can drastically improve performance is with video encoding, especially where filters are concerned. In some cases, the performance can increase upwards of 100 times over a CPU, and it’s for this reason that NVIDIA focuses on pushing the technology so hard. The company has just experienced a nice thumbs-up from a company called Lowry Digital, as well, as that company is the one which is responsible for enhancing the film footage of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon.

As you’d imagine, video footage from almost fifty years ago can’t hold a candle to today’s HD video, but even considering the time it was recorded, it still looks pretty bad given the circumstances. As you can see in the sample below, though, the image is drastically improved (there are more samples at the below link). In the  press release, it notes that on typical CPUs, each frame being dealt with would take upwards of 45 minutes to process, but with GPGPU, it takes seconds.

Maybe this is the kind of news that NVIDIA and GPGPU as a whole needs to get consumers excited about such technology, especially given that many people don’t realize they can do similar processing in their own homes.

“Lowry Digital’s restoration process has brought out details in the Apollo 11 videos that were never visible before,” said Andy Keane, general manager of the Tesla business unit at NVIDIA. “You can now see the faces of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin behind their visors, the stars on the U.S. flag when it is being raised and amazing details of the moon surface. We’re proud that NVIDIA has made such an important contribution to this historic project.”

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One of the more touted features of Windows 7 has got to be the “Windows XP Mode”, which aims to tackle an issue that some found themselves with when moving to Windows Vista… incompatibility. With Windows XP, compatibilities existed, but they usually weren’t a major issue. Vista was the stark opposite though, with many peripherals simply not working, and applications as well. While XP Mode could only be considered an unbelievable workaround, it should do well to please anyone who’ll need to use it.

Last week, we posted an article taking an introductory look at virtualization, and how it works. Windows XP Mode uses the same technology, through Microsoft’s Windows Virtual PC application. With Windows 7 (and any current version of Windows for that matter), anyone can go and download the application for free. But if you want to use “Windows XP Mode” as Microsoft calls it, you’ll need to be using either the Professional or Ultimate version of 7. If you’re on Home Basic or Home Premium, you’ll have to provide your own copy of XP.

For those with Professional or Ultimate installations, you’re now able to download the RC version of Windows XP Mode and get to work right away. If all goes well, it should be simple, and everything should work as hoped. The RC features some updates worth noting, such as USB sharing. This means that your XP installation can utilize your USB devices such as printers and flash drives without issue.

To make use of the Windows XP Mode, you need a processor that supports either AMD’s “AMD-V” or Intel’s “Intel VT”. Most recent CPUs support these, but to make sure, you should look up your respective CPU model on the vendor’s website. To read more about Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode, check out Microsoft’s site here. If you happen to take this for a spin, post in our forums and let us know how you made out!

Windows XP Mode provides what we like to call that “last mile” compatibility technology for those cases when a Windows XP productivity application isn’t compatible with Windows 7. Users can run and launch Windows XP productivity applications in Windows XP Mode directly from a Windows 7 desktop. I also strongly recommend that customers install anti-malware and anti-virus software in Windows XP Mode so that Windows XP Mode environment is well protected.

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