California Cell Phone Law Takes Effect Tomorrow

California's new ban on driving while on your cell phone is set to take effect beginning tomorrow July 1st. The new law bars all drivers from using hand-held wireless phones while operating motor vehicles but lets drivers over 18 use hands-free devices. The law says drivers under 18 may not use hand-held or hands-free phones while operating a vehicle.

Here is an overview of the two cell phone laws that take effect Tuesday in California:
— Drivers under 18 are prohibited from using a wireless telephone, pager, laptop or any other electronic communication or mobile service device while driving. They cannot talk on a cell phone, even with a hands-free device, nor can they text-message. They will be allowed to make calls in an emergency.
— Drivers 18 and over must use a hands-free device when using their cell phone while driving. Text-messaging is not specifically banned for adults, but the California Highway Patrol said they can be cited for negligence under existing laws.

There is no grace period for violators. Beginning Tuesday, anyone seen driving while holding a cell phone to their ear will be subject to base fines of $20 for the first ticket and $50 for subsequent tickets, plus additional fees that will more than triple the fine.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles will not assign a violation point to motorists' driving records.

Drivers of all ages—with or without a hands-free device—can use their cell phones in an emergency.

The California law will apply not only to Californian drivers, but also to those coming from other states, even if in those states similar laws don’t apply.

California Department of Motor Vehicles Wireless Telephone Laws FAQs

Blizzard's Diablo III Officially Confirmed

Last week Blizzard Entertainment officially confirmed the third entry in their highly successful Diablo series during the company's Worldwide Invitational.

Blizzard has also launched an official website for the game which not only includes the announcement, but also shows off 60 pieces of artwork as well as a teaser trailer and nearly 20 minutes of gameplay footage. They've also got the fan forums up and running, which is already a buzz with new questions and speculation.

So far details are limited and there is no set release date, the company is sticking to a "it'll be done when it's done" mantra and refuses to even speculate on a release. The new game will jump us 20yrs into the future following along a similar story line from Diablo II, when Mephisto, Diablo and Baal have been defeated.

The Worldstore, which once shielded the world of Sanctuary from the forces of the High Heavens and the Burning Hell, has been destroyed, and evil thrives once more.

When Deckard Cain returns to the ruins of Tristram's Cathedral, a comet carrying a dark omen calls upon the heroes of Sanctuary to defend their world against the horrors that have arisen.

Fears That The Large Hadron Collider Could Doom Earth Purely Fiction

The most powerful atom-smasher ever built is expected to be switched on some time in August however several critics fear the Large Hadron Collider could exceed physicists' wildest conjectures potentially putting Earth in danger.

The European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN), that has been working to finish the $5.8 billion collider, or LHC, says that its perfectly safe. The LHC Safety Assessment Group (LSAG) has issued a report (summary here), which addresses the key concerns surrounding the doomsday particle accelerator, due to fire up later this summer.

The findings back a similar 2003 probe into the possibility of the LHC provoking an apocalyptic event and concludes the device's collisions "present no danger and that there are no reasons for concern".

Specifically, the report addresses the key theoretical menaces posed by the LHC, including the formation of microscopic black holes, vacuum bubbles and strangelets.

Of black holes, the LSAG declares: "According to the well-established properties of gravity, described by Einstein’s relativity, it is impossible for microscopic black holes to be produced at the LHC. There are, however, some speculative theories that predict the production of such particles at the LHC. All these theories predict that these particles would disintegrate immediately. Black holes, therefore, would have no time to start accreting matter and to cause macroscopic effects."

Moving swiftly on to vaccum bubbles - described as the universe in "a more stable state...in which we could not exist" - the report gives the theory short shrift: "Since such vacuum bubbles have not been produced anywhere in the visible Universe, they will not be made by the LHC."

Regarding your strangelet - a "hypothetical microscopic lump of ‘strange matter’ containing almost equal numbers of particles called up, down and strange quarks" which might "coalesce with ordinary matter and change it to strange matter" - the LSAG notes that the US's Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider hasn't to date produced any and "experience there has already validated the arguments that strangelets cannot be produced".

The LHC, near Geneva, Switzerland, is expected to begin operations this summer. It will collide proton beams at levels of energy never before produced in a particle accelerator. Those results will then be studied for clues to new forces of nature, and possibly even extra dimensions of space. The first collision of beams is likely to be in September. The $8 billion project has taken 14 years.

Two men have filed a federal lawsuit in Hawaii in an attempt to halt the LHC due to their concerns about the safety of black holes. One of the plaintiffs, Walter L. Wagner, a physicist and lawyer, said CERN's safety report, "has several major flaws," and his views on the risks of using the particle accelerator had not changed.

More about the LHC:
CERN: LHC Homepage | LHC Machine Outreach
AOL News: Critics Fear Collider Could Doom Earth
Science Daily: If The Large Hadron Collider Produced A Microscopic Black Hole, It Probably Wouldn't Matter
Science News: Safe From Black Holes

NVIDIA GTX 260 GPUs Hit The Market

Nvidia recently launched their new GTX 200 family of GPUs that included the GTX 280 and the GTX 260. The GTX 280 has been available for purchase since the June 16 launch however the GTX 260 was delayed for a a couple weeks.

Today the GTX 260 cards have been made available to purchase through Newegg.com and several other online retailers. Newegg features a slew of both stock cards carrying the $399.99 MSRP and overclocked cards with higher performance and higher price tags available.

For those shopping for stock cards at $399.99 Newegg has BFG, PNY and a XFX cards available. The three cards are identical save the XFX card ships with a full copy of Assassin’s Creed and have a double lifetime warranty.

The most expensive GTX 260 listed on the site is the EVGA GTX 260 FTW edition retailing for $459.99. The card is overclocked to a devilish 666 MHz on the core and 2,214 MHz on the memory clock. A less overclocked SSC edition from EVGA is available for $424.99 with a 626 MHz core and 2,106 MHz memory clock. An EVGA Superclocked edition GTX 260 is also offered at $409.99, a mere $10 more than the stock clocked cards.

The EVGA Superclocked version has a core clock of 602 MHz (stock is 576 MHz) and the memory clock is 2,052 MHz (stock is 2,000 MHz). Both BFG and XFX have overclocked versions of the GTX 260 coming as well.

Push Made For More U.S. Broadband Access

A list of highly respected, highly influential Internet guru's joined forces with the commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission Tuesday in renewing calls for the U.S. government to more actively expand broadband service.

The group including Stanford Law School Professor Lawrence Lessig, Columbia professor and author, Timothy Wu, Google VP and Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf, and FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, announced Internetforeveryone.org.

Their goal is "to see that every American gets connected to a fast, affordable, and open Internet." They called it a "basic right" that should be afforded to all Americans.

Broadband advocates have complained that the U.S. government has not stepped up to help make widespread adoption of broadband enough of a priority. For years now U.S. residents have lagged behind those of several nations in purchasing broadband access, according to a recent report by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.

According to the ITIF 2008 Broadband Statistics the United States ranks 15th in the world. A ranking that many people feel is unacceptable. FCC member Jonathan Adelstein said this low adoption of broadband use puts the country at risk in lagging behind globally in other social, educational and economic endeavors.

Internetforeveryone.org is based on four principles, said Josh Silver, executive director of Free Press and one of those who launched the initiative.

Those principles are to provide access to high-speed, world-class communications infrastructure to every home and business in America; to ensure that people have sizable choice of broadband providers; to foster openness so users have the right to freedom of speech and commerce when using the Internet; and to promote innovation so the Internet can create jobs and foster entrepreneurship and economic growth.

InternetforEveryone.org said it will look to national leaders to adopt a plan to deliver high-speed connections to every home.

eBay Bumps Up Fraud Protection For Paypal Users

Late last week eBay made a feeble attempt to attract more online users by boosting its fraud protection for PayPal users. The new fraud protections, which will go into effect later this year and will be offered at no extra cost.

eBay executives, at the company's annual user conference, announced last Thursday that buyers who pay for items with PayPal (and only PayPal) will be eligible for full refunds, with no cap, if a seller fails to deliver an item as promised. Previously a buyer's coverage was capped at $200, or $2,000 if the item's seller enjoyed a particularly good reputation on eBay.

Sellers will who accept PayPal as a payment method — (as nearly all of us are forced to do) — will now also get unlimited protection against a charge being reversed. The coverage protects sellers from against claims, chargebacks and reversals due to an unauthorized payment or an item that was not received. Previously sellers' coverage had an annual limit of $5,000, and applied only for shipments to the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

The fraud protection is a move in the right direction for eBay, however the push for more and more usage of PayPal is not. eBay has been, and by this move looks to continue, double dipping on its fees that it is charging users. In my opinion its not right, eBay should extend the protection to more payment options as well as opening its doors to more sites than just the one they own!

A-DATA Launches the World’s Fastest CompactFlash Card 350X

With the insistence on high quality products and the breakthrough of innovation, A-DATA Technology introduces the Turbo Series CF 350X memory card especially for professional photographers. The excellent data transferring of the read speed at 52MB/sec and the write speed at 47MB/sec along with the availability of 8GB and 16GB make Turbo CF 350X the perfect partner for your high-end cameras.

Turbo Series CF 350X supports dual-channel data transferring and UDMA 0-5 mode as well as MDMA 0-4 mode of high-level digital cameras. Under the Ultra DMA mode 5 and IDE interface, the write speed can reach up to 47MB/sec. In addition, users can store up to 1,500 photos of RAW file in the high-capacity memory card and do not have to worry about inadequate space for photos. Using original SLC flash memory (Single-Level-Cell), Turbo CF 350X is more power consumption and able to deliver outstanding performance. With the advantages of stability and high capacity, users can enjoy the pleasant feeling of non-stop shooting and continuous filming.

For those who seek for outstanding performance and high-resolution photos, A-DATA Turbo Series CF 350X memory card will definitely brings out the best of your high-level digital camera!

Product Features:

• 350X Turbo speed performance with read speed at 52MB/sec and write speed at 47MB/sec
• Dual-channel support (Ultra DMA mode 0~5 , IDE PIO mode 6, MDMA 0~4)
• Low power consumption and RoHS compliant
• Original SLC flash memory to deliver outstanding performance

Product Specification:

• Capacity: 8GB/16GB
• Dimension: 42.8 x 36.4 x 33 mm (L x W x D)
• Weight: 11.4g

Source: Official A-Data Press Release

Mini Refrigerator To Cool Your PC

Researchers at Purdue University are developing a new miniaturized refrigeration system that is small enough to fit inside laptops and personal computers, the new cooling technology could boost performance while shrinking the size of computers.

The main focus of the Purdue research has revolved around learning how to design miniature compressors and evaporators. So far the researchers have only developed an analytical model for designing tiny compressors that pump refrigerants using penny-size diaphragms. However their initial research looks promising.

The mini compressors will be made with elastic membranes of ultra-thin sheets of a plastic called polyimide and coated with an electrically conducting metallic layer. The metal layer allows the diaphragm to be moved back and forth to produce a pumping action using electrical charges, or "electrostatic diaphragm compression."

Miniature refrigeration has a key advantage over other cooling technologies, Eckhard Groll, a professor of mechanical engineering said. "The best that all other cooling methods can achieve is to cool the chip down to ambient temperature, whereas refrigeration allows you to cool below surrounding temperatures," he said.

The ability to cool below ambient temperature could result in smaller, more powerful computers and also could improve reliability by reducing long-term damage to chips caused by heating.

Thoughts:
We all know cooling is a essential part of any PC. Air cooling has always been fundamentally flawed as it takes bulky heatsinks and added fans to move enough air to adequately cool CPUs. And as mentioned above you are limited to cooling to an ambient temperature.

Water cooling has been a viable alternative for many years, however there is still the trade off of adding components as well as the slight risk of leaks.

Refrigeration has been looked at before, however where there is a large temperature variance there is inevitably going to be condensation. No where did I see that the two researchers had solved that problem, nor is the issue addressed in any way. So until they address that issue and we see some working models, I'm not going to get my hopes up!

Source: Science Daily

AMD Lifts 4850 N.D.A Allows Benchmarks and Reviews

Even though Radeon HD 4850 was still covered by the NDA, stores all over the world (such as FXVideocars.com) started selling the card early. Since it was already out, AMD decided to lift the embargo and let reviewers publish benchmarks.

Over the next day or two expect an influx of data on the new cards, but here are a few of the early reviews.

• Guru3d.com - AMD ATI Radeon HD 4850 Crossfire Force 3D & PowerColor
• XtemeSystems.com - Vision Tek 4850 Review | ATI 4870/4850 Volt Mod
• PCPerpective - AMD Radeon HD 4850 512MB Preview
• techPowerUp - PowerColor Radeon HD 4850 512 MB | MSI R4850 Radeon HD 4850 512 MB
• Hexus - AMD Radeon HD 4850 - the preliminary benchmarks!
  
• Legit Reviews - Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 Review
• VR-Zone - Radeon HD 4850 Single & Crossfire Quick Test

Doctors Test Gestural Interface During Surgery

Leave the keyboard and mouse behind, because gestural interfaces are the hot new thing. Touch based screens are nothing new but researchers have been working on a new system of purely based on motion instead of touch.

The new system would track movements of the hands or arms, allowing users to gesture to literally scroll around images on screen. Microsoft recently announced that their newest OS, Windows 7, will rely heavily on gestures and touch and of course gadgets like the iPhone have the pinching gesture which allows you to shrink or expand items.

But this new system of motion detection will allow you to leave all that behind.

Developed by researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) in Israel and tested at a Washington, D.C. hospital, the new gestural interface was designed to enable doctors to manipulate digital images during medical procedures by motioning instead of touching a screen, keyboard or mouse which compromises sterility and could spread infection, according to a just released article.

The June article," A Gesture-based Tool for Sterile Browsing of Radiology Images" in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (2008;15:321-323, DOI 10.1197/jamia.M24), reports on what the authors believe is the first time a hand gesture recognition system was successfully implemented in an actual "in vivo" neurosurgical brain biopsy. It was tested at the Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C.

According to lead researcher Juan P. Wachs, a recent Ph.D. recipient from the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management at BGU, "A sterile human-machine interface is of supreme importance because it is the means by which the surgeon controls medical information, avoiding patient contamination, the operating room (OR) and the other surgeons." This could replace touch screens now used in many hospital operating rooms which must be sealed to prevent accumulation or spreading of contaminants and requires smooth surfaces that must be thoroughly cleaned after each procedure – but sometimes aren't. With infection rates at U.S. hospitals now at unacceptably high rates, our system offers a possible alternative."

The new system, simply known as Gestix, utilizes a Canon VC-C4 camera, positioned above a large flat screen monitor, using an Intel Pentium and a Matrox Standard II video-capturing device. When surgeons first start the system, they work through a set of initial calibration stages. Where the system begins recognizing the surgeons' hand gestures.

In the second stage surgeons must learn and implement eight navigation gestures, rapidly moving the hand away from a "neutral area" and back again. This movement scrolls the image. They also learn to zoom in and out by rotating their hand clockwise or counterclockwise. To avoid misleading signals, when the doctor is done, they drop their hand which triggers a sleep mode.

Source: Eurekalert.org

Skype 4.0 Beta

Skype has began public beta testing of its newest software Skype 4.0. The new version aims to make casual video chatting more common among users. The new software client, which can be downloaded here (for Windows only), takes up a larger portion of the screen with video front and center.

"Skype users are communicating in many different modes--often at the same time," said Josh Silverman, a veteran eBay executive who took charge of Skype as president this year.

"We thought it was time for software to take that into account," Silverman said in a phone interview with Reuters' Eric Auchard. "Now video is really bringing together all those modes of communication."

Besides the redesigned enhanced UI the biggest major change in Skype 4.0 is that the entire experience is now centered around conversations and managing those conversations. Whether those are with groups of people or just individual converstations. Skype 4.0 lets you import contacts from Outlook, Outlook Express, Hotmail and Yahoo Mail. Skype continues to snub Google by not including Gmail import features.

There are also other improvements, such as automatic detection when you plug in a new headset or if your laptop lacks a built-in microphone. It also has software tools for testing your audio and video quality. All in all, Skype 4.0, as it should be, is a step forward.

For more information on the Skype 4.0 beta checkout the Skype Blog

Firefox 3 Download Record Hits 7.9million And Counting

With about 30mins left to contribute to the attempt at setting a new world record for the most single day downloads the total sites at 7,973,620. An impressive total considering that Mozilla's servers crashed for several hours yesterday under the strain of incoming download requests.

For details on the total tally or to download Firefox 3 visit Spread Firefox | Download Day 2008

Mozilla will by default make the record books for the most software downloaded in 24 hours, seeing as there’s no Guinness World Record to beat however it is impressive to see the numbers they reached in a 24 hr period.

**Update**
The unofficially tally breaks in at almost 8.4 million downloads. We'll have to wait for the official count to see where the record will stand. However it seems a little shocking that they reached that number in just under 30mins. When I originally posted this they had right around 7,970,000 (I forgot the original screenshot--my bad).

According to C/Net News the download rate peaked at 14,000 per minute Tuesday and was still going strong at more than 6,000 per minute Wednesday morning. So in that last 30mins they must have had a pretty good rush, or possibly the numbers hadn't been tallied.



I might seem a little skeptical, however no matter how you look at it Mozilla and their PR stunt drew a ton of attention. And no doubt there were millions of people out there waiting for their chance to be part of the occasion. The fact that download day gained as much attention as it did indicates that Firefox is more than just a piece of software. It's a movement people want to belong to.

PhotoBucket Hacked

Somewhere around 6:30 est popular photo sharing site PhotoBucket.com fell victim to hacking by the NetDevilz, an infamous Turkish hacking group.

The site still remains down, redirected due to some DNS poisoning. Users shouldn't worry about their images being lost. The site is only being redirect and everyone's accounts should be intact. In fact if you are still having issue you might try a proxy server or clearing your DNS cache to correct the issue.

We are on Comcast and are still having a few issues reaching the main site, however using a proxy allowed us to bypass any issues and reach any files we needed.

FireFox 3 Record Attempt Crashes Servers

Mozilla has been campaigning for several weeks to try to set a world record with the official release of the newest version of FireFox, however the attempt might be hampered by failing servers.

Mozilla encouraged users to host download parties so it could set a Guinness World Record for the number of downloads in one day. Currently, Guinness does not hold recorded information on the number of downloads in a single day.

Nevertheless, Mozilla has generated plenty of excitement about the launch, with nearly 2 million people saying they would download the latest version. In fact, so many people tried to access the site that the servers appeared to crash. Attempts to reach the site for the latest version of Firefox were unsuccessful at least 20 minutes after the 1 p.m. Eastern time zone launch. Mozilla hopes to successfully complete 5 million downloads of the browser in 24 hours.

Several of my own attempts to download the latest version sent me to a page producing results for the latest official release of FireFox 2. However I was later successful in downloading from one of the official mirrors. Several sites such as MajorGeeks.com are also hosting the files for anyone wishing to go through unofficial channels.

Sony Ericsson Announces C905 8.1-megapixel Camera Phone

Sony Ericsson has been keeping tights wraps on the Sony Ericsson C905 Cyber-shot codenamed Shiho, until now. They have made it official when they recently announced the release of the new 8.1 magapixel camera phone.



The Sony Ericsson C905 Cyber-shot features quad-band GSM/ tri-band UMTS/ HSDPA 850/ 1900/ 2100, a built in GPS receiver, a stereo Bluetooth, a useful TV-out and Wi-Fi with Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) support which allows a direct wireless transfer to TV.

The screen is a 2.4 inch scratch-resistant QVGA display mineral glass cover. The display will also feature an accelerometer which will allow for screen to auto rotate when you go through your camera album.

The phone’s center piece has to be the impressive camera. The camera offers the new Xenon flash, an image stabilizer, smart contrast, red-eye reduction, auto focus and also faces detection, in addition to its BestPic technology, video recording with stabilization and a very effective digital zoom of 16x. Users will find the C905 photos can be geotagged thanks to the built-in GPS receiver.

The photos and videos are stored on a 2 Giga Bytes Memory Stick Micro (M2) or can be uploaded to your PC via an included USB cable. Battery life is set at about 9 hours of conversation or 380 hours of standby. We can expect the C905 sometime in Q4 of 2008.

Image via the Unofficial Sony Ericsson Blog

Phoenix Processor Sets New Lower Power Processing Record

Engineers at the University of Michigan have developed a new microchip that uses 30 picowatts in sleep mode, which roughly computes to 30,000 times less power in sleep mode and ten times less power when working than other comparable chips on the market.

The processor, called The Phoenix Processor could theoretically run on a standard watch battery for up to 200 years.

The processor isn’t physically any smaller than other chips on the market, what makes the Phoenix revolutionary is that its thin-film battery is the same size as the Phoenix chip. Typically batteries used with processors are much larger than the processor itself making the overall size of the device much larger. Engineers also used a little old school ingenuity, using much smaller power gates that let smaller amounts of electricity leak past the power gates when in sleep mode.

The draw back to smaller power gates is that they place sever limits on the processing power of the chip. To remedy this performance loss the researchers run the Phoenix at a higher operating voltage of about 20% greater than needed when the chip is awake. Despite the higher power sent to the chip when awake it still consumes only 0.5 volts. By comparison the Intel Atom processor needs 1.1V to operate.

U-M researchers built the chip with the major application coming for use in sensors. Thus the push for lower power consumption during sleep mode. "Sleep mode power dominates in sensors, so we designed this device from the ground up with an efficient sleep mode as the No. 1 goal. That's not been done before," said Dennis Sylvester, an associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

The system defaults to sleep. A low-power timer acts as an alarm clock on perpetual snooze, waking Phoenix every ten minutes for 1/10th of a second to run a set of 2,000 instructions. The list includes checking the sensor for new data, processing it, compressing it into a sort of short-hand, and storing it before going back to sleep.

The timer "isn't an atomic clock," Hanson said. "We keep time to 10 minutes plus or minus a few tenths of a second. For the applications this is designed for, that's okay. You don't need absolute accuracy in a sensor. We've traded that for enormous power savings."

A team of researchers has already been putting the Phoenix into biomedical sensors. They plan on building a sensor to monitor eye pressure in glaucoma patients. Engineers envision that chips like this could also be sprinkled around to make a nearly invisible sensor network to monitor air or water or detect movement. They could be mixed into concrete to sense the structural integrity of new buildings and bridges. And they could power a robust pacemaker that could take more detailed readings of a patient's health, researchers say.

Gpcode.ak Ransomware Fix

Last week we reported on Gpcode.ak, new nasty piece of "ransomware" that has been spreading around the web. This week Kaspersky labs believed they have found a solution to the virus.

The Gpcode.ak virus encrypts files on a victim's hard drive and demands a ransom to decrypt them/ So far the encryption that is sued has proven too strong to crack. But Kaspersky Lab, which first identified Gpcode.ak earlier this month, says there is a way for most victims to at least recover their files.

Kaspersky says Gpcode.ak works by making a copy of the original file it wishes to kidnap using 1,028-bit encryption, then deleting the original. However, "it doesn't wipe the file from the system," says Roel Schouwenberg, senior antivirus research analyst at the security company.

Kaspersky has been recommending the freely available PhotoRec utility, a nifty piece of software that was initially created as a tool for graphic files’ recovery. The program was crated by Cristophe Grenier and is distributed with GPL license, so anyone can use it.

For more details and instructions checkout the Kaspersky Forums

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 Edition Reviews

Today, NVIDIA officially announced it's new GeForce GTX 200 series of GPUs, and the first two products in the family, the GeForce GTX 280 and the GeForce GTX 260.

Nvidia claims the GeForce GTX 200 processors provide up to 50 percent faster gaming performance over the GeForce 8800 Ultra GPU, which is even faster than the top-end Nvidia graphics card available as an add-on board for today’s Mac Pro systems. The GPUs also support Scalable Link Interface (SLI), a technology that enables more than one Nvidia card to work together in the same computer in parallel; PureVideo HD, video decoding and post-processing technology; and Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA), which enables programmers to offload processor-intensive tasks to the Nvidia graphics chip and card.

The new chip has 1.4 billion transistors, yes that billion with a "B", about 80% of which are used to perform the mathematical calculations required for 3D rendering. (By comparison, only a small fraction of the 820 million transistors in a quad-core Intel processor are directly used to execute software; the rest comprise memory blocks, instruction decoders, data transfer channels, and other support functions.)

That's almost twice as many transistors as found on NVIDIA's 9800 series chips. The extra transistors boost the number of cores per chip from 128 to 240. Each core runs at almost 1.3 GHz.

Pricing for the cards is set at $399 for the GeForce GTX 260 and $649 for the GeForce GTX 280.

Reviews:

• AnandTech
• CNet- Gizmo Report
  
• TweakTown
• Guru3D
• Elite Bastards
• Hardware Secrets
• Hot Hardware
• Overclockers Club
• The Tech Report
• Benchmark Reviews
• Technic3D
• Legit Reviews

AT&T Fee Hike Means The New iPhone Will Actually Cost More

Consumer set to run out and buy the new lower priced iPhone will be surprised to know that the new rate hike from AT&T means their $199 iPhone will actually cost them more money over the life of their contracts.

The service plan will cost $10 a month more than the current plan, meaning an additional $240 over the life of the mandatory two-year contract with AT&T Wireless, the iPhone’s exclusive carrier.

Consumers with the current generation iPhone pay $20 a month for an unlimited Internet and e-mail use, and can send up to 200 text messages as part of that plan. However, those who buy the new iPhone, due out July 11, will pay $30 a month for the same services. AT&T has not yet made it clear as to whether text messaging will be part of that cost, or an add-on.

“That’s part of the pricing we’ll get into more detail about as we get closer to launch date,” said Mark A. Seigel, executive director of media relations for AT&T Mobility. “That’s not something we’ve discussed yet.”

The new iPhone were revealed earlier this week during Steve Jobs Worldwide Developers Conference keynote presentation. Pricing was set at $199 for 8GB version, and $299 for the 16GB version. Thats a $200 drop from the current prices of $399 for an 8-gigabyte iPhone, and $499 for the 16-gigabyte version.

The lowest-priced iPhone plan, now $59.99 a month, with $20 of that for data and the other $39.99 for 450 voice minutes, will go to $69.99 a month. If AT&T decides not to include text messaging in to that plan users could easily be paying upwards of $75/mo for their new plan.

AT&T points out that the data plan for the iPhone was lower than comparable plans for other smartphones, such as the BlackBerry, however the pricing might push a few users away.

“That $30 price point for Internet and e-mail is not uncommon,” said Bill Ho, research director for Current Analysis’ wireless services. “AT&T is aligning that plan with the prices for its other smartphones like the Treo or the BlackBerry.”

AT&T needs to make up for the subsidy of the new iPhones. Providing a lower up front fee and higher back end fee's allows AT&T to entice more users to switch to iPhones.

Overall, it will cost a minimum of $40 more for the new iPhone and contract, compared to the current pricing. A customer with the new 8-gigabyte iPhone will spend $1,878 over the life of the contract, compared to $1,838 for the current 8-gigabyte phone and agreement. A customer with the new 16-gigabyte iPhone will spend $1,978 over two years, compared to $1,938 for the a first-generation, 16-gigabyte iPhone and contract.

RIAA Walks Out On P2P Case

After two years the RIAA has voluntarily dismissed the case Warner v. Cassin, or more commonly know as the "making available" case.

Cassin was originally sued by the RIAA in April 2006 for copyright infringement. The complaint used by the RIAA at the time doesn't provide many details, but the exhibits attached to the filing show that MediaSentry detected a user with the handle omc@KaZaA sharing 406 files on KaZaA, including tracks from Madonna, Bob Seger, Dixie Chicks, and Sade.

Instead of filing an answer, Cassin's attorney filed a motion to dismiss in early 2007. One of the issues raised in the motion was the now-well-known argument that merely making a file available over a P2P network constitutes distribution. Indeed, Warner v. Cassin looked as though it would be one of the first cases where the issue would be argued in court.

Subsequent rulings against the RIAA may be behind their sudden change of heart. In April Geek-News.Net reported on federal court judge Judge Nancy Gertner dismissal of an RIAA subpoena. Judge Gertner stated that "Merely because the defendant has 'completed all the steps necessary for distribution' does not necessarily mean that a distribution has actually occurred." She also noted that " merely exposing music files to the Internet is not copyright infringement."

More on this story:
DailyTech - RIAA Suddenly Walks Away from Longstanding P2P Case
ARS Technica - RIAA suddenly walks away from old, contested P2P case

eBay Fined Over Counterfeit Goods

eBay was convicted by a French court last week of selling counterfeit goods and ordered to pay the equivalence of $30,000 dollars in damages to French luxury group Hermes.

The court ruling, which was the first of its type in France, found eBay directly responsible for the sale on its website of three Hermes bags including two fakes, for a total of 3,000 euros.

"By selling Hermes bags and branded accessories on the eBay.fr site, and by failing to act within their powers to prevent reprehensible use of the site," the user and eBay "committed acts of counterfeiting and imitation of French brand names ... to the detriment of Hermes international," said the ruling.

eBay, along with the woman who put the bags up for sale, were ordered to pay the damages of 20,000 euros (roughly $30,000 dollars) as well as post the ruling on its French homepage for three months.

This lawsuit defeat could open the door for more suits against eBay which has already come under fire from several major companies. Luxury fashion houses Louis Vuitton and Dior Couture have also taken legal action against eBay respectively seeking 20 million and 17 million euros in damages. Last September L'Oreal launched legal action against eBay in five European countries including France, over the sale of bottles of counterfeit perfume.

Here in the states the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) as been keeping close tabs on eBay and the selling of counterfeit software. In February the SIAA filed its biggest round of lawsuits to date against several eBay sellers for selling counterfeit goods including fake copies of Photoshop, PcAnywhere and Norton Utilities.

"Roadrunner" Smashes Petaflop Barrier

IBM and the Los Alamos National Laboratory have reportedly built the world's first petaflop supercomputer named Roadrunner. Roadrunner was specifically designed to ensure the safety and reliability of the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile.

A petaflop is a measure of a computer s processing speed and can be expressed as a thousand trillion floating point operations per second.

Scheduled for installation at Los Alamos in August, IBM says Roadrunner represents a breakthrough in hybrid computing, combining AMD microprocessors found in standard laptops and servers with the IBM Cell Broadband Engine chips that power Sony's PS3 gaming console. Roadrunner, consists of 6,948 dual-core AMD Opteron processors, 12,960 Cell processors and 80 terabytes of memory, talk about a screaming gaming machine!

Roadrunner "will produce the largest supercomputer ever at 1.5 petaflops, three times faster than the current largest system," IBM chief engineer Donald Grice says in a video on Big Blue's Web site. "It's a hybrid architecture that will allow science at a scale that's never been allowed before."

CNN via the AP did a great job of putting the speed of the new machine in to layman's terms. "To put the computer's speed in perspective, if every one of the 6 billion people on earth used a hand-held computer and worked 24 hours a day it would take them 46 years to do what the Roadrunner computer can do in a single day."

Virus.Win32.Gpcode.ak Ransomware On The Loose

Kaspersky Lab has issued a security alert following the detection of a particularly malicious piece of "ransomware." Kaspersky researchers were the first to detect and issue warnings that a new, stronger version of the Gpcode virus was on the loose.

The new new malware variant employs RSA 1,024-bit encryption to encrypt nearly every type of file on a victim's hard drive, including .doc, .txt, .pdf, .xls, .png and .jpg. The "ransomeware" contains a ransom note offering a decryption key to the user for a price.

Kaspersky is urging Net users to take extra precautions, make sure they are running the latest versions of anti-malware solutions and back up their data regularly, making sure to disconnect storage devices as soon as the back-up process is completed to avoid infection. If infected, do not power down or restart your PC, the company advises.

Kaspersky also urges victims not to succumb to the ransom threat and instead report details of infection to their security providers, Kaspersky and law enforcement authorities.

Detection to Prevention

So far Kaspersky researchers have not been able to crack the viruses encryption, making it nearly impossible to remove. Therefore the only known solution is to complete erase an infected drive. Users can and should take steps to avoid infection, don't download any suspicious files, update all you anti-virus/anti-malware programs ect.

Fortunately the virus can be detected providing users at least a little protection.

"We can detect it, and we have shared this internationally so that [system administrators and e-mail service providers] can also protect their users, but the most reliable method is creating back-ups of external media, which of course should be disconnected after the back-up procedure. If you leave the external hard drive running, Gpcode will infect the external hard drive and equipment. It's just good back-up practice in any case," Schouwenberg advised.

What to Do If Infected
Kaspersky explains, "After Gpcode.ak encrypts files on the victim machine, it adds '._CRYPT' to the extension of the encrypted files and places a text file named '!_READ_ME_!.txt' in the same folder. In the text file the criminal tells the victims that the file has been encrypted and offers to sell them a 'decryptor.'"

Kaspersky is offering to help victims trying to recover their data. If infected, Kaspersky urges victims to e-mail the labs at stopgpcode@kaspersky.com and include the following information in the e-mail:

• Date and time of infection,
• Everything done on the computer in the five minutes before the machine was infected, including programs executed and Web sites visited.

T-Mobile Sues Starbucks Over ATT Wi-Fi Deal

T-Mobile is upset over the fact that Starbucks and ATT are using their equipment to offer free Wi-Fi service to their customers. So T-Mobile is suing Starbucks Corp., accusing the coffee house operator of breaching a contract by allowing AT&T to provide customers with free Wi-Fi access using T-Mobile equipment.

T-Mobile USA alleges AT&T and Starbucks are not living up to an original agreement over how Starbucks should transfer from its T-Mobile USA relationship to a new partnership with AT&T. T-Mobile USA is seeking unspecified damages because of what it called Starbucks' willful breach of contract and unfair competition.

T-Mobile claims to have exclusive rights to market, offer and sell Wi-Fi services in Starbucks locations until all the stores in the given market are fully converted to AT&T. T-Mobile said Bakersfield, Calif. and San Antonio, Texas., are the only markets that have fully been fully converted, while the vast majority of cafes are still using T-Mobile networking equipment meaning they remain subject to T-Mobile's exclusivity rights, according to the lawsuit.

"If AT&T or Starbucks wanted to offer 'free' Wi-Fi in non-transitioned stores for Starbucks customers, as they are now doing, they should have - and, indeed, were contractually required to - negotiate such an arrangement with T-Mobile," the lawsuit said.

In the 13-page lawsuit filed late last Thursday in New York state court T- Mobile alleged that Starbucks used its equipment and technology while secretly developing a plan with AT&T to provide free Wi-Fi service.

"Since T-Mobile provides resources and equipment to support Wi-Fi service in non-transitioned stores, it is T-Mobile alone that is bearing the cost and burden associated with this 'free' Wi-Fi offer," the lawsuit said.

Last February Geek-News.Net reported that Starbucks was ending its partnership with T-Mobile in favor of an agreement with AT&T. Starbucks previously teamed with T-Mobile to provide Wi-Fi access to its customers at a rate of $6 for the first hour and then 10 cents per minute.

Recently AT&T and Starbucks announced they'd be offering two hours of free Wi-Fi Internet service to customers who have at least $5 on their Starbucks cards. For a short time they also offered free Wi-Fi to iPhone customers , a deal that might still be in the works.

Dealighted Monthly Giveaways

The good folks over at Dealighted.com are running a great promotion opportunity for any deal hunters out there and as a member of the moderation staff, and a forum leader I'd love to pass along the information to any of our readers.

Announcing Dealighted Monthly Giveaways:
If you are a bargain hunter Dealighted will reward you for your hot deal finds. Post deals to their hot deals forum and earn entries into a monthly drawing to win cool stuff like plasma TV's, GPS's, and digital cameras. The more you post, the greater your odds of winning.

Every new hot deal thread that you post to the Dealighted forum gives you one entry into the monthly Dealighted forum random giveaway (maximum 10 entries per day per household, only your first 10 threads posted each day will earn giveaway entries). New threads posted throughout each month will count towards the current month's giveaway. The more entries you have, the greater your odds of winning.

For June 2008, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prizes are:

• -Panasonic TH-42PX75U 42" Plasma HDTV($900 value)
• -Garmin Nuvi 200 GPS ($200 value)
• -Canon Powershot SD870 IS 8MP Digital Camera ($230 value)

Along with the monthly giveaway, Dealighted is recruiting for "Forum Leaders". Forum leaders are Dealighted members who have been handselected by the dealighted staff(apply to be a forum leader!) for their mad bargain hunting skills as well as their commitment to lead the Dealighted community. Not only do these individuals qualify for the standard Dealighted monthly giveaway, but they also receive a $100/month deal hunting reward and the top 3 most active Forum Leaders for each month win additional prizes during that month.

Forum leaders are chosen by the staff of Dealighted.com and may added or dropped at Dealighted's discretion.

Forum Leaders must:

• Be respectful of others.
• Post a minimum of 50 forum posts (new threads or replies to existing threads) each month.
• Help the Dealighted staff identify spam posts and other posts that violate the Forum Posting Rules.
• Seek out, draft, and submit creative and popular deals to the Dealighted hot deals forum.
• Be helpful and welcoming to new members and respond to member questions.

The top 3 forum leaders (by most deals posted) will also receive an additional gift, this month it will be an Apple iPod Touch 8GB ($285 value).

For more information and complete rules please visit the Dealighted Forums.

iPhone 2.0 Release Date And Pricing Announced

As expected, during his Worldwide Developers Conference keynote presentation, Steve Jobs announced Apple plans to introduce a new version of the iPhone.



The new 3G version of the iPhone, will sell for $199 for the 8GB model and $299 for the 16GB model. That's a $200 discount from the current version which sells for $399 and $499 prices for the 8GB and 16GB iPhones, respectively. Apple plans on shipping Iphones by July 11 in 22 countries.

The new 3G iPhone will enable faster data downloads over AT&T's 3G network and will include built-in GPS. Physical changes to the new iPhone include a curvier design, full plastic back, solid metal buttons, and a flush headphone jack. As well as the addition of white as a color option for the 16GB iPhone.

iPhone users can also expect to see improved battery life of 300 hours of standby time. Users will also be able to switch between 3G and 2G in case they wish to save battery life. On the new iPhone, 2G talk time has improved to 10 hours (from 8 hours); for 3G talk time, the phone will have a battery life of 5 hours.

Firmware improvements will include plenty of new features as well as several new software packages. The iPhone will add a contact search that allows users to enter a name and instantly find who they’re looking for. Full iWork document support lets users view Pages, Numbers, and Keynote documents. Apple also will offer full support for Microsoft Office documents, including PowerPoint presentations.

iPhone 2.0 adds much sought-after bulk delete and move capabilities to its Mail application. Mail users will be able to save images from e-mails into their Photo Library.

Apple has also add parental control features, allowing parents to turn off explicit content as well as controls over viewable sites such as YouTube. There will also be controls for download sites including the iTunes Store, and the forthcoming App Store.



During the keynote presentation Apple executives also profiled the iPhone software development kit that allows developers to build native apps for the phone. Developers showed off the games and apps that will be available via the App Store later this summer. Companies demonstrating their wares included Sega, Loopt, Pangea Software, TypePad, Cow Music, and Modality.

Crysis "Sequel" Announced, Crysis: Warhead

Thursday, video game developer Crytek officially revealed Crysis: Warhead, a semi-sequel (not an add-on but an entirely new game) to the very popular and very graphically stunning game Crysis. Crytek claims that the new title will follow in its predecessor's PC-exclusive footsteps as a flexible, open-ended, and visually beautiful shooter wrapped up and presented via an "enhanced and optimized" version of the CryENGINE 2 technology.

Crysis Warhead runs parallel to the original Crysis, but players will play as Delta Force Sergeant "Psycho" Skyes, rather than Nomad, the hero of the original. The new game takes place on the other side of the island and will feature new weapons, vehicles, and additional multiplayer content not available in the first game.

Crysis: Warhead is expected to be ready for a release date for the 2008 holiday shopping season.