Akasa is readying a new graphics card cooler for the consumer segment, this time touting support for almost all current single-GPU graphics cards. The Akasa Freedom Force was first pictured at the CeBIT event. It measures 190(L) x 107.5(W) x 55(H), and weighs in at 440 g. Its design consists of a GPU contact block that doubles up as a heatsink, from which four aluminum heatpipes convey heat to two aluminum fin blocks on either side of the GPU block. Each block is subject to air-flow by its own white LED-lit fan that spins at 2200 rpm. The GPU block has mount holes for 43.2 mm, 53.2 mm, and 61.5 mm cooler mounts. Also bundled are nine memory chip heatsinks. The cooler supports one of the broadest range of GPUs, including NVIDIA GeForce GTX 200 (GTX 260, 275, 280, 285), ATI Radeon HD 4000/3000/2000, GeForce 9/8/7 series, etc. A word of caution however, would be that the cooler doesn't pack VRM heatsinks, or heatsinks for NVIO display processors featured on G200(b) and G80 based graphics cards. It will reach retail in about a month's time, and is expected to be priced at 30 EUR (US $40.5).

Spire introduces PacificBreeze II universal notebook cooler. The universally compatible PacificBreeze II is designed for multiple application and comfort. The top aluminum surface works like a heat sink and enables fast heat dissipation, it also provides a sophisticated look. The gentle slope improves typing comfort, raises the laptop screen and reduces neck strain. The PacificBreeze accommodates laptop performance, comfort and is affordable. Trust the brand with the industry experience and 3-year warranty, Spire - Powered by Innovation.

Spire Cooling is thrilled to inform you about their soon to market new TherMax cooling solutions. The SP676S1 TherMax and SP679S1 TherMax II cpu coolers are ready to cool all processors built on the new Intel 1366 Core i7 platform in combination with the Intel LGA775 and AMD AM2 platforms giving the consumers huge scope to use these coolers. Another welcome feature to build a completely silent system are the Anti-vibe rubber fan corners, these will absorb any vibration from the fan motor. The two models look similar but the specs in sizes of the fan and the materials used say it all:

The 'newly-wed' Activision-Blizzard is reportedly planning a music store and content delivery service to directly compete with Apple's iTunes service. For now nothing is even close to concrete, Activision-Blizzard is considering launching its own download store on its Guitar Hero game platform for now. Says CEO Robert Kotick: "When you think about the potential for what we will be able to do together, there have not been many viable alternatives to iTunes." in an interview to Reuters. He adds: "If you're downloading a song to play on your 'Guitar Hero,' there's no reason why you can't download the performance also. So there's all kinds of things you can think about."

Vivindi currently owns the World's largest music publication company, Universal Music. This could serve as a content source for this delivery platform.

SpiralFrog today launched its free music downloads service, whereby users in the United States and Canada can sign up for a free account and then chose from roughly 800,000 music tracks and 3,500 music videos to download. The catch? All media downloaded via SpiralFrog is ad-supported and can't be burned to CDs. Interestingly, most of the media is being provided by Universal, the largest record label in the world, after it declined to renew its contract with iTunes. As a result of this, none of Universal's music will be playable on Apple's iPods, presumably because Universal is feeling a little sour towards Apple. Joe Mohen, SpiralFrog's founder, said the following:

We believe [SpiralFrog] will be a very powerful alternative to the pirate sites, with SpiralFrog you know what you're getting ... there's no threat of viruses, adware or spyware.

The company hopes to have over two million tracks available within the next few months, and it's worth taking a look at the service if you listen to much music, even if only to see if you like a song or not. Unfortunately if you don't live in the USA or Canada you cannot use the service, although you can sign up to be kept informed about how the service is progressing in your country.

EMI tested the idea of DRM (Digital Rights Management software) free music by offering their DRM-free music to Apple's iTunes Plus store and Microsoft's Zune store a few months ago. Finally, other music groups are following suit. Industry giant Universal Music Group is planning to offer an unknown amount of their vast library to Real's Rhapsody, Wal-Mart, Amazon, and even Google. However, they are not offering any DRM-free music to Apple's iTunes Plus store at this point. We will start seeing these restriction-free tracks in January 2008, if all goes well. In January, Universal will closely monitor sales, increases in piracy, and other factors before "going all in".