Well guys, we are (almost) there once again. It is January and CES 2009 is about to kick off on the 8th of January. We will be there a couple of days early to give you the inside scoop. All the juicy stuff will be posted in form of news here on the front page. We, W1zzard and I, are currently stranded in Cincinnati but should arrive in Las Vegas tomorrow.

Source: TechPowerUp

NVIDIA today launched two new graphics solutions for the enthusiast gamer, the GeForce GTX 295 and the GeForce GTX 285. The GeForce GTX 295 is the world’s fastest dual GPU solution. Featuring the power of two NVIDIA GeForce GTX 200 GPUs on a single card, the GeForce GTX 295 delivers unrivaled graphics performance in the hottest games including Far Cry 2, Mirror’s Edge, and Call of Duty 5: World at War.

The GeForce GTX 285 is the world’s most powerful single GPU, delivering 30% faster performance than competing single GPU solutions, and tearing through complex DirectX 10 environments at blazing frame rates in extreme HD resolutions.

Briefly mentioned in the NVIDIA 3D Vision news here was the name of ViewSonic, and that it has got 3D monitors running. That's exactly how things are and ViewSonic is not only launching a 22-inch 3D display today, but it is also presenting a portable 3D projector. Both products are part of ViewSonic's new and oddly spelled FuHzion line-up for three dimensional display devices. More information follows below.

Unleashed earlier today AMD's Dragon platform has now been integrated into Dell's latest XPS 625 desktop PC. Starting at $999, the system is powered by a 3.0GHz AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition processor, two ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics cards in CrossFire mode, 8GB memory, and a 10,000 rpm hard drive. All that hardware is placed carefully in a special Dell aluminum chassis with a choice of either black or red accents, plus the AlienFX customizable lighting system inside it. For more information on the XPS 625 system, please click here.


Source: Dell

Dell today announced its G-Series of LED widescreen flat panel monitors with the introduction of the G2210 22-inch and G2410 24-inch models. G-Series high-performance EPEAT Gold and ENERGY STAR-compliant monitors are distinguished by a design approach that combines energy efficiency, LED technology, recycled materials and other environmentally preferable components. Availability of the G2210 and G2410 monitors through Dell.com is planned for late February, with prices starting at $279 and $359 respectively.

NVIDIA is pushing the pace for graphics performance in mainstream notebooks with the announcement of the GeForce 100M Series of graphics processing units (GPUs). The NVIDIA GeForce 100M Series, which includes the GeForce G105M, the GeForce G110M and the GeForce GT 130M GPUs, meets the performance demands of today’s visual computing applications. Whether you’re viewing or editing photos, finding directions, playing a game, or watching a high definition movie, an NVIDIA GeForce 100M Series GPU makes your notebook run silky smooth, with amazing visuals.

The three new GeForce 100M Series GPUs each represent a significant performance increase in their respective segments. The GeForce G105M is over 55% faster than the previous NVDIA product in its segment, while the GeForce G110M is 35% faster than NVIDIA’s previous mainstream GPU. The GeForce GT 130M is around 17% faster than its predecessor.

NVIDIA Corporation, in conjunction with the world’s leading content developers, display manufacturers, and PC OEMs and system builders, is pleased to announce NVIDIA 3D Vision for GeForce, the world’s first high-definition 3D stereo solution for the home. Forming the foundation for a new consumer 3D stereo ecosystem for gaming and home entertainment PCs, 3D Vision is a combination of high-tech wireless glasses, a high-power IR emitter and advanced software that automatically transforms hundreds of PC games into full stereoscopic 3D experiences. Designed to work with the new pure Samsung and ViewSonic 120Hz LCD monitors, Mitsubishi DLP HDTVs, and the DepthQ HD 3D Projector by Lightspeed Design, Inc, 3D Vision unlocks crystal-clear, flicker-free 3D stereo imagery perfect for driving new experiences in 3D gaming, 3D movies, and 3D photography.

Today, at the Consumer Electronics Show, Razer unveiled a cutting edge of gaming peripherals including the Razer Mamba, a high precision wireless laser gaming mouse, and the Razer Carcharias, a circumaural audio headset. Product demonstrations will be held at the South Hall, meeting room 35166. This new suite of Razer products will give gamers the competitive edge and allow for enhanced game play for longer periods of time. With an emphasis on product design and a focus on proprietary Razer technologies, these latest products will help gamers amplify performance levels with faster response times, increased precision and offer unique design features.

SanDisk Corporation today also unveiled its third-generation family of solid-state drives (SSDs). Using multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory technology, SanDisk’s G3 Series establishes new benchmarks in performance and price-performance leadership in the SSD industry. Designed as drop-in replacements for hard-disk drives (HDDs) in notebook PCs, the initial members in the SanDisk G3 family are SSD C25-G3 and SSD C18-G3 in the standard 2.5” and 1.8” form factors, respectively, each available with a SATA-II interface. Available in capacities of 60, 120 and 240GB, the unit MSRPs are $149, $249 and $499, respectively.

SanDisk Corporation and Sony Corporation today announced the joint development of two expanded formats that will shape the flash memory landscape for years to come. “Memory Stick format for Extended High Capacity (Tentative name)” expands the “Memory Stick PRO” format series to achieve a maximum storage capacity of 2-terabytes (TB), while the “Memory Stick HG Micro” format enables a maximum data-transfer speed of 60 megabytes per second (MB/s), making it one of the fastest-smallest memory card formats to date. Format licensing corresponding to the “Memory Stick format for Extended High Capacity” and the “Memory Stick HG Micro” is scheduled to start in 2009.

With new cards always comes a new driver. NVIDIA has just released GeForce Release 181.20 WHQL for GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9, and 200-series desktop GPUs. Here's what is new in this release and what has been added:

• Added support for GeForce GTX 295 and GeForce GTX 285
• Enables NVIDIA SLI technology on SLI-certified Intel X58-based motherboards with all SLI-certified GPUs.
• Enables NVIDIA SLI Multi-monitor support, giving you the ability to use two monitors with your GeForce graphics cards in SLI mode. Now you can easily switch between multi-monitor desktop mode and full screen 3D gaming mode. Learn more here.
• Enables NVIDIA PhysX acceleration on a dedicated GeForce graphics card. Use one card for graphics and dedicate a different card for PhysX processing for game-changing physical effects. Learn more here. (Note: GPU PhysX is supported on all GeForce 8-series, 9-series and 200-series GPUs with a minimum of 256MB dedicated graphics memory. This driver package automatically installs PhysX System Software version 8.10.13).
• Supports GeForce Plus Power Pack #2.
• Added support for the new NVIDIA CUDA Video Encoder with H.264 optimization

DOWNLOAD: GeForce Release 181.20 WHQL

Micro Star International (MSI) is the next bug computer company that launches own branded GeForce GTX 295 video card. The N295GTX-M2D1792 is standard in all ways, it follows NVIDIA's dual-GPU reference design, cooling and clock speeds. The two GPUs are set to 576MHz, the shaders work at 1242MHz and the 1792MB of GDDR3 memory is clocked at 1998MHz. The card hasn't reached the stores just yet, but that's about to change very soon.


Source: TechConnect Magazine

Zii has taken us by surprise for sure. It's not affiliated with life-science, it's certainly not a PC audio processor. It's a multi-core processor the size of a postage stamp, that its makers claim to possess raw computational power to rival that of a supercomputer. Zii stands for "Zen Two" or Z II, it is a combination of the ZMS-05 processor, a system board, middleware and an optimised OS. Soon to be announced at CES, Zii might well turn out to be Creative's most important product, even more so than SoundBlaster. VR-Zone provided some details ahead of Creative's announcement.

Dell has just launched its new Studio XPS notebook family. The first members of this family are the Studio XPS 13 (1340) and Studio XPS 16 (1640), boasting a 13-inch and a 16-inch LED backlit displays respectively. Both laptops share the same chassis design that combines magnesium alloy, plastic, brushed aluminum, and leather. They only distinguish from each other from the different display sizes and internal hardware specs. Both systems start at a base price of $1,199 and can be completely customized. If you are interested, you might want to check Dell's online configurator here. It will give you all the information you need. Also, our friends at NotebookReview have posted a complete professional first look on the Dell Studio XPS 1640 here.


Source: NotebookReview

Manli Technology, a leading manufacturer of Graphics cards and Motherboards in Hong Kong today launched their next generation graphics cards, the Manli GeForce GTX 295 and GeForce GTX 285. The Manli GeForce GTX 295 is equipped with a whopping 480 stream processors. It also comes with 1792 MB GDDR3 memory and a 896-bit memory interface at a GPU clock speed of 576 MHz while the Manli GTX 285 is equipped with 240 stream processors, comes with 1 GB GDDR3 memory and a 512-bit memory interface at a GPU clock speed of 648 MHz. Furthermore, to deliver the Graphics Plus idea, both graphics cards offer world-class graphics performance plus GPU—accelerated NVIDIA CUDA, PhysX gaming effects, and stereoscopic 3D support, along with PureVideoHD for video and image processing.

Today LaCie announced the LaCinema Classic Hard Disk, suited for all fans of digital movies, music, and photography. Designed by award-winning industrial designer Neil Poulton, this attractive multimedia storage device can pack more than 1,000 movies, or 250,000 songs, or 1 million photographs with up to 1 TB (terabyte) of capacity. Weighing a mere 33 ounces, LaCinema Classic is extremely compact – a perfect storage device for entertainment in the home. Customers simply load content from their PC or Mac on the Classic drive and connect it to their TV for instant playback. No configuration required. Users will also enjoy HDMI 1080p upscaling of movies and photos.

Yesterday ATI released two updates to its Catalyst driver package, the one is actually being a whole new driver for Windows 7. The ATI Catalyst preview driver for Windows 7 includes drivers for all Radeon HD 2000, 3000 and 4000 series GPUs plus the ATI Catalyst Control Center with limited features support.
The ATI Catalyst release 8.12 hotfix is said to improve DirectX10 performance in various applications in multi-core CPU systems. It also resolves the BSOD issues using dual ATI Radeon HD 4850 in CrossFire mode.

DOWNLOAD: Windows 7 Preview Driver | ATI Catalyst release 8.12 HOTFIX

Source: AMD Customer Care

Sony today took the wraps off of the world’s lightest 8-inch notebook— the new VAIO P Series Lifestyle PC. About the size of a business envelope and roughly as thin as a cell phone, the VAIO Lifestyle PC weighs just 1.4 pounds and is small enough to slip into a jacket pocket or handbag while integrating full-PC features. We already know a little something for VAIO P, but let's do the specs again. It's little, but has a high-resolution, 1600x768, LED backlit 8-inch ultra-wide display with Sony's XBRITE-ECO LCD technology. The foundation of VAIO P is its Intel Atom 1.33GHz processor, 2x1GB DDR2 memory, and a 60GB HDD or up to 128GB worth of SSD storage. The VAIO P also has built-in WAN 3G, Atheros 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, webcam, two USB 2.0 ports, one SD slot, one Memory Stick Duo media slot and a lot more. It includes a real-time GPS, and comes standard with Microsoft Windows Vista Home 32-bit pre-installed. The VAIO P Series Lifestyle PC will retail for about $900. It will be available for pre-order in four different colors tomorrow online at Sony, and later next month at all major Sony retailers. The full fact sheet can be viewed here.


Source: Sony

Hiper introduces its brand new S-Series with the first model: S625. This 625 Watts power supply has been certified 80 PLUS Bronze by 80 PLUS Program. The Hiper S625 performs extremely well and exceeds the 80PLUS requirements by far. The new S Series will offer a range of highly reliable and stable performing PSUs with the well-known excellent built quality by Hiper. It comes in Gun Metal with a new logo and packaging design. The Hiper S625 will be available soon and represents best price/performance ratio at probably the lowest RRP of all A-brand 625W PSUs with 80 PLUS Bronze certification: US$ 95 / € 72 / £ 65 (excl. VAT). The new model has also been approved for NVIDIA SLi and comes with a 3 years RTB warranty.

Lian Li Industrial launched today the PC-A03, a Micro-ATX chassis featuring a functional and user friendly design. Standing at 190 x 380 x 450 ( W, H, D), with a removable 120mm blue LED fan in the front and a 80mm blue LED extraction fan in the rear, this is yet another great Lian-Li case. Like its brothers its handcrafted and build with the highest standards. Read the full press release below for more information.

You read it. There are elements in Asia using the GeCube brand name to sell counterfeit graphics cards based on the ATI Radeon HD 4000 series graphics processors. Large inventories of counterfeit GeCube graphics cards have reportedly made it to the market and threten to dilute GeCube's market position and its image as a reputed AMD add-in board partner.

GeCube has released a few guidelines to help consumers spot these counterfeits and report them to the authorities. In the picture below, GeCube points out distict features found on genuine GeCube graphics cards that consumers should inspect at the time of purchase. A list of GeCube graphics cards certified by AMD can be found here. The press statement GeCube issued can be read here.


Sources: Hexus.channel, GeCube

EVGA, having launched its X58 3X SLI motherboard which received raving reviews for its features, performance and price-point, looks to up the ante with a new flagship motherboard based on the Intel X58 platform for the Core i7 processors. While X58 motherboards start at the US $200 point, over a period, there has been a faint seggregation of the motherboards based on the prices and features, starting with a $200~240 range sans SLI support, $250~300 with SLI and >$300 enthusiast-grade range.

EVGA's upcoming motherboard fits into the top-range of motherboards, which finds competition in the likes of ASUS Rampage II Extreme and MSI X58 Eclipse Plus. VR-Zone conducted a detailed preview of this upcoming motherboard dubbed "X58 SLI Classified", with "classified" meaning that its brand name is yet to be announced. Looking at the way EVGA has been branding its flagship motherboards in the past, it could be safe to speculate it that it could be something along the lines of "FTW".

With the official launch of the AMD Dragon platform, AMD lifed whatever NDA restrictions it had over the media to publish reviews of its Phenom II X4 processor, letting proper and final reviews make to the internet. Several tech-enthusiast websites have taken the opportunity. Reviewers put the Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition to test.

The Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition is AMD's flagship desktop CPU. With four processing cores clocked at 3.00 GHz, it embeds 2 MB L2 and 6 MB of L3 cache. Based on the AM2+ socket, it supports the DDR2-1066 standard. This processor is especially overclocker friendly with its unlocked FSB multiplier and the overall positive response from the reviewers on its overclocking headroom. Here are some of the reviews at:

bit-tech | Elite Bastards | ExtremeTech | [H] Enthusiast | Hexus | HotHardware | NeoSeeker | TechReport | TweakTown | The Guru of 3D | Tom's Hardware

Empowering consumers to get elite-level computing performance for under $900 U.S. dollars, AMD today launched “Dragon” platform technology for desktop PCs featuring the new AMD Phenom II X4 processor. Even the most demanding users such as enthusiasts and high-end gamers desire affordable systems capable of delivering HD entertainment, graphic-intensive game play at the highest settings their monitors can handle, as well as quick and easy transfer of video entertainment to and from mobile devices. Dragon platform technology provides the power to do it all by combining AMD’s highest-performing CPU, the AMD Phenom II X4 processor, with award winning ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series graphics and AMD 7-Series chipsets. And it’s offered at an incredible value with Dragon-based systems available for up to $1,200 U.S. dollars less than competing systems that deliver comparable performance.

Leading global PC manufacturers HP, Dell and Alienware plan to offer Dragon platform technology-based desktop systems in the first quarter of 2009, with Dell offering immediate availability in its Dell XPS desktop line. “The XPS 625 desktop powered by AMD’s Dragon platform technology features new AMD Phenom II processors to enable a significant boost in speed for enhanced gaming, as well as the flexibility to enable multi-tasking and HD video capabilities free from delays, stalls and lags,” said Arthur Lewis, general manager of Dell Gaming Group. “The XPS 625 gives gamers the unbelievable experience they expect at a price point that won’t break the bank.”

OCZ now has a formidable lineup of solid state drives (SSDs) based on the multi-level cell (MLC) design, top to bottom with the Vertex series on the top with read/write speeds of 200 MB/s and 160 MB/s respectively, aided by a large 64 MB cache; along with the entry-level Solid series offering speeds of 155 MB/s, 90 MB/s.

The company is now looking to fill the price/performance gap between Vertex and Solid series with the introduction of the Apex series SSDs. The new set of SSDs will replace the Core series on the shelves bringing better performance at similar price-points. DailyTech took a few quick snaps of these SSDs in its preliminary coverage of the CES. The Apex series SSDs will come in capacities of 30GB, 60GB, 120GB and 250GB, and will offer read/write speeds of up to 230 MB/s (read) and 160 MB/s (write). The come with the standard SATA 3.0 Gbps interface. OCZ might be, as with most companies, choosing CES as the occasion to launch these products. The pricing and availability isn't known as of now.


Source: DailyTech

Mad Catz Interactive, a leading third-party interactive entertainment accessory provider, announced today the expansion of the Aviator line of flight sticks to include two new models - the Saitek Aviator Flight Stick for Xbox 360 and the Saitek Aviator Flight Stick for PLAYSTATION 3.

Samsung Electronics America, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Corporation, made official today the launch of their first 22-inch 3D LCD monitor. The SyncMaster 2233RZ comes with special high-tech active shutter glasses that make over 350 games to appear in three dimensions for your eyes. The 3D glasses are also designed so that users can simultaneously wear prescription glasses comfortably. Planned for April launch, the $399 22-inch widescreen 3D LCD boasts 1680x1050 native resolution, 300 cd/m2 brightness, 20,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 170/160 (CR>10) horizontal/vertical viewing angles, 3ms GTG response time and Samsung's 120Hz Dual Engine. The Samsung 2233RZ will be compatible with NVIDIA’s new GeForce 3D Vision graphics cards.
“More users are enjoying higher performance games and movies using high-performance graphic boards,” said R.A Atanus, Vice President of Product Marketing at Samsung Electronics’ Information Technology Division. “As entertainment content becomes more available, the need for hardware technology to maintain increasing volumes of software content becomes more important. Combining this new 3D technology with Samsung’s LCD monitor creates an optimal viewing tool – for uses ranging from teaching and using 3D modeling to playing the latest video games.”


Source: Engadget

Despite a tough economy, the gaming industry held strong in 2008 and Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system recorded the biggest year in Xbox history, with more consoles, games and online entertainment experiences sold than any previous year. It was a year in which life-to-date unit sales of Xbox 360 systems climbed to 28 million consoles worldwide — expanding the product’s lead over Sony PlayStation 3 to more than 8 million units. The Xbox LIVE community also grew to more than 17 million active members, as online consumer spending increased 84 percent from last year. Since the launch of the Xbox 360 three years ago, more than $1 billion has been spent on Xbox LIVE. This amazing growth was fueled by the launch of the New Xbox Experience; the broadest selection of hit games, TV shows, and movies available; and mass-market price points, starting at $199.

According to reports by TechConnect Magazine, the third generation of the SATA interface could be introduced as early as the second quarter of this year. The Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO), who have developed the technology, are expected to finalize specifications, with the launch of products sporting the new interface at the same time. The first backwards compatible drives to feature the new interface are expected to be solid state drives (SSD), followed by hard disk drives (HDD) shortly after. The main advancement is doubling the bandwidth from 3Gbps to 6Gbps, but until the official announcement of the final specifications are released, we will not know what further changes are in store.

Source: TechConnect

Now that the market for Intel Core i7 supportive motherboards is well laid out, starting with a ~$200 Gigabyte EX58-UD3R all the way up to a ~$400 ASUS Rampage II Extreme, MSI finds the time ripe to introduce its flagship motherboard based on the Intel X58 chipset with the new LGA 1366 socket, the Eclipse Plus. Featured on MSI's product roadmaps as a then undisclosed model, the Eclipse Plus is a notch above the Eclipse SLI with greater expansion options, with components and features packed with keeping the serious performance enthusiast in mind. The Eclipse Plus will be releasing shortly.

To begin with, the Eclipse Plus features four PCI-Express x16 slots for 4-way ATI CrossfireX or 3-way SLI. Unlike with the Eclipse SLI, where the three PCI-E x16 slots which are directly routed to the X58 northbridge and get arranged as x16, x8, x8 electrically when all three slots are populated, the Eclipse Plus uses NVIDIA BR-03 multiplex chips to provide full-bandwidth x16 connections to the installed graphics cards. The BR-03 not just routes data to the graphics cards but as noted with nForce 780a motherboards, the nForce 200/BR-03 chips perform broadcast functions so the same pieces of data which are meant to be supplied to all member graphics cards of a SLI system are "broadcast" by the BR-03, easing congestions on the PCI-E x16 link that connects it to the Intel X58. The rest of the features are similar to those of the Eclipse SLI as listed in the roadmap slide.


Source: Syndrome OC

Toshiba is taking gaming on the go one step further with the unveiling of its Toshiba Qosmio X305-Q725 laptop. A technically advanced multimedia platform for the gaming and entertainment enthusiast, the Qosmio X305-Q725 blends features built for fidelity and speed, including: a 17-inch diagonal widescreen TruBrite display (1680x1050 resolution), high-performance NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTX graphics 1GB GDDR3, a variety of Intel Core 2 processors including the 2GHz Core 2 Quad Q9000 quad-core CPU, 4GB of DDR3 SDRAM, premium Harman Kardon stereo speakers and much more. Qosmio X305-Q725 also includes hybrid storage option that consists of a primary 64GB solid state drive and a secondary 320GB 7200 rpm SATA HDD. The Qosmio X305-Q725 is available now at a variety of major consumer electronics and computer stores nationwide or directly at Toshiba Direct. The laptop is available in a range of configurations starting from $1,449 and going all the way up to $2,699.99.


Source: Toshiba

DivX marked the introduction and rise to popularity of high-quality video compression standards based around H.264 and MPEG-4. DivX played an important role in propagating MPEG-4 derived standard as licences to not only PC video players but also to DTH TV, and importantly consumer video players with the introduction of DivX CD/DVDs where generic data-CDs holding the .avi files of the actual video could be played back just like standard VCDs and DVDs.

DivX Inc. announced its seventh installment of the DivX software. Based on the H.264 video compression standard DivX 7 offers playback and creation of compressed video at resolutions of up to HD 1080p. DivX software is available free (for playback and consumption of content based on the DivX and generic MPEG-4 CODECs, while a premium Pro version allows content creation by providing conversion tools. "The release of DivX 7 for Windows marks a true milestone for digital video users everywhere," said Kevin Hell, CEO of DivX, Inc. "Eight years ago, the first DivX video software helped create the market for high-quality video on the PC. We then worked with a global ecosystem of licensees to extend that support beyond the PC to a variety of devices so that consumers all over the world could enjoy their videos anytime and anywhere."

Source: DivX

Mushkin Enhanced, one of the leading manufacturer for High Performance Computer Parts announces the availability of a new son for the “Gold-Series” – the 1000MHz 4GB dual-channel DDR2 kit “996593X2”.
“Our customer and friends were fascinated about our 800MHz Gold-Kit.” Is Steffen Eisenstein, CEO of Mushkin Logistic GmbH pleased. “So we had to come up with something even better, the 1000MHz kit is the logical consequence.”

Intel Corporation today announced preliminary fourth-quarter financial information with revenue of approximately $8.2 billion, down 20 percent sequentially and down 23 percent year over year. Revenue will be lower than the company's previous expectation, provided on Nov. 12, 2008, as a result of further weakness in end demand and inventory reductions by its customers in the global PC supply chain. The preliminary estimate of gross margin for the fourth quarter is at the bottom of the previous expectation of 55 percent, plus or minus a couple of points.

Cisco today announced the Linksys by Cisco Wireless Home Audio system at the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. From the world leaders in networking, the Wireless Home Audio system utilizes Wireless-N technology to deliver a rich audio experience to any room in the home. Users can create a party atmosphere with immaculate synchronization when listening to the same song throughout the entire home, or send different music to customized “zones”. The Wireless Home Audio solution also puts millions of songs at your fingertips through integrated Internet services such as Rhapsody, AudioLounge, and RadioTime. An optional Docking Station for iPod enables your content on Apple iPods, including Podcasts, Audio Books, and purchased iTunes content, to be played through any Wireless Home Audio device on the network. Wireless Home Audio products also work great with the newly announced Linksys by Cisco Media Hub that gathers and presents the available media on a network.

Toshiba Storage Device Division (SDD) is yet another manufacturer that is enhancing its storage line-up, by releasing a new half-terabyte external hard drive, after the start of Consumer Electronics Show 2009. The new 500GB Toshiba USB 2.0 portable external hard drive (model number HDDR500E03X) comes with a glossy black finish and frost white contemporary graphics that will appeal to most customers. Inside the case is a new 500GB ultra-quiet hard drive, with 8MB buffer size and improved acoustics. The drive also ships with NTI Shadow real-time backup software pre-installed. Toshiba’s new 500GB USB 2.0 external HDD is priced at $179.99 (MSRP) and available now at Toshiba Direct and through major retailers and online outlets.


Source: Toshiba

Lexar Media, a leading global provider of memory products for digital media, today announced the immediate availability of the new Crucial.com Netbook Upgrade Center for purchasing DRAM memory, Solid-State Drives (SSDs) and flash memory cards suitable for most netbook products now available in the market. Netbooks, simplified notebooks designed to be affordable, energy efficient, and smaller in size, are growing in popularity with consumers because of their practical price point and no-nonsense capabilities. The Crucial.com Netbook Upgrade Center will help customers optimize the performance of their netbooks with the right upgrades and accessories. The complete line of DRAM, SSD, and flash memory netbook upgrades are now available at Crucial.com, Crucial.UK, or Crucial.EU.

ASUS, world-leading producer of top quality graphic solutions, has today introduced the world’s fastest dual and single GPU graphics cards incorporating the latest generation of NVIDIA GPUs—the GeForce GTX 295 and GeForce GTX 285 chipsets; with the ASUS ENGTX295, ENGTX285 ULTIMATE, and ENGTX285 TOP graphics cards. With an outstanding 3DMark Vantage Extreme Preset score of 9126, the ENGTX295 leads the pack as the world’s fastest graphics card; while the ASUS ENGTX285 ULTIMATE and ENGTX285 TOP deliver 10% and 5% improvements respectively in gaming experiences when compared to reference designed boards. Furthermore, in order to show that ASUS cares for all gamers, both the ASUS ENGTX295 and ENGTX285 Series graphics cards will come bundled with a special coupon to obtain up to $25 or 10% off on a total of 5 games or CUDA applications at the NZONE webpage.

To the excitement of audiophiles and music enthusiasts worldwide, Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. is hosting world famous recording legends Bill Schnee and Doug Sax at its Technical Audio Devices (TAD) suite in the Venetian Sands during the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), January 8 ' 11, 2009. Longtime collaborators, Schnee and Sax are showcasing their new high resolution recordings to be issued on a music-only format utilizing Blu-ray Disc technology, giving consumers an unprecedented opportunity to experience digital music that rivals 2-channel analog sound. With this unique partnership, Pioneer demonstrates its commitment to consistently offer consumers high performance entertainment that replicates the true intentions of creative professionals.