Microsoft Corp. today announced the availability of the Windows Upgrade Offer for consumers purchasing a qualifying new Windows 7 PC. The Windows Upgrade Offer provides consumers who buy an eligible Windows 7 PC the option to purchase a downloadable upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for an estimated retail price of just $14.99 (U.S.) during the time of the promotion, which will be redeemable when Windows 8 is generally available. The Windows Upgrade Offer is just the first of many consumer offers that will roll out in conjunction with the general availability of Windows 8.

"We've seen a great interest in Windows 8, especially given the availability of the Windows 8 Release Preview this week, and yet we know many consumers want a new PC now," said Tami Reller, chief marketing officer and chief financial officer of Windows at Microsoft. "The Windows Upgrade Offer gives people the flexibility to purchase the new Windows 7 PC they need today, with the knowledge they can easily get Windows 8 when it's available."

Corsair, a worldwide designer and supplier of high-performance components to the PC gaming hardware market, today announced the immediate availability of the Force Series 3 SSD Notebook Upgrade Kits. The kits, available in sizes of 120 GB and 240 GB, provide users with an easy, affordable way to upgrade their laptops to a solid-state drive (SSD) for improved performance, battery life, and reliability.

Corsair SSDs provide significant advantages over standard hard drives. The solid-state design enables SSDs to deliver faster data read and write speeds which can reduce software load and PC startup times. And because SSDs have no moving mechanical parts, they help laptops run cooler, run longer on batteries, and resist data loss from bumps.

Alienware announced that outstanding (pending) orders of M14x, M17x, and M18x gaming notebooks, which were placed before last month's refresh to the Core "Ivy Bridge" processor platform, will be upgraded for free, to Ivy Bridge. Such customers with pending orders are being notified by email that their selected models with previous-generation Core "Sandy Bridge" processors will be upgraded to their "Ivy Bridge" equivalents, at no additional charge, and with no delay in their delivery dates. This offer applies only to the Alienware line, and not other Dell notebooks.

Japanese cooling expert Scythe has today announced a new Screw Kit for upgrades to socket LGA2011. Thanks to this new Scythe Screw Kit for Intel LGA 2011 users are able to upgrade new as well as older Scythe CPU Coolers to achieve compatibility to the recently announced enthusiast platform based on socket LGA2011. It is possible to use the new Screw Kit with the CPU Coolers Mugen 3, Mine 2, Ninja 3, Susanoo, Mugen 2 Rev.B and Big Shuriken 2 to upgrade and establish compatibility. Required screws, wrench and manual are contained in the package of the Screw Kit.

Mentioned CPU Coolers are usually mounted with a Scythe backplate designed for various sockets. Socket LGA2011 mainboards are already equipped with an own pre-mounted backplate which is firmly connected to the socket. Scythe Screw Kit for Intel LGA 2011 is utilizing this backplate and achieves a solid as well safe mounting between socket LGA2011 and the Scythe CPU Cooler. Installation still requires the Metal Assembly Clips for socket LGA775, 1155, 1156, 1366 which are delivered with the mentioned CPU Coolers.

Investment firm Barclays Capital lowered its ratings on semiconductor majors Intel, Applied Materials Inc, Freescale Semiconductor Holdings Ltd, Microchip Technology Inc., and Spansion Inc., from "equal weight" from "overweight", meaning that these companies are no longer outperforming, and are doing average, with negligible growth. Towards the end of 2011, Intel adjusted its Q4 forecast, lowering it by $1 billion, blaming factors beyond its control such as HDD supply problems. Weakened PC sales growth is another major factor. On the other hand, DRAM and NAND flash memory maker Micron Technology got its rating upgraded to "overweight", as Barclays notes that the industries Micron is in, are on the verge of a boom. Reacting to this, Micron's shares shot up by 11 percent during trading early this week, sending its shares' valuation from $6.2 billion, up 9 percent to $6.88 billion.

German PC cooling and power manufacturer Be Quiet announced a free compatibility upgrade for all its customers. The upgrade gives users support for Intel's latest LGA2011 socket platform, and is particularly well timed, since some of the company's best CPU coolers were released only recently, such as its famed Dark Rock series, which are more than capable of handling 130W TDP processors, which LGA2011 Core i7 processors, are. The LGA2011 mounting kit can be availed for free (including shipping charges), by filling up a request form, and supplying Be Quiet with product serial numbers, or any proof of ownership of an LGA2011 motherboard. The request form can be filled here.

Duke Nukem Forever Gets Second, More Promising DLC Upgrade

Yes, everyone's favourite game they like to hate has received its second dose of DLC goodness. The first one was a bit of a ho-hum looking Hail to the Icons Parody Pack, but this second one, The Doctor Who Cloned Me, looks more promising, as it includes a "full new single player campaign", it's set in Area 51 (you know, where all the aliens live) features an evil would-be world dominator (how original) Dr Proton, new weapon types, new enemy types, bosses, more achievements and new interactive items. It also includes four new multiplayer maps. In short, if you liked DNF, then you'll likely enjoy this expansion pack, which costs $9.99. Teaser video follows the jump.

For those who upgrade between succeeding versions of Microsoft Windows, the upgrade installer can be cumbersome. There are way too many prompts and clicks. Microsoft is working to make the upgrade package of its next major version of Windows, for now referred to as Windows 8, streamlined to as few as 11 clicks. The new installer will be designed to perform most of its tasks without needing user input.

Microsoft will implement a new web-delivery method, where you purchase your Windows 8 license online, and the installer downloads your soft copy to you. It is pre-fed with your 25-character product key. Microsoft's next major Windows release is slated for 2012.

The original 8-bit Commodore 64 computer was very popular in the early 1980s, but the original company eventually closed down in the 1990s, having launched their 16-bit Amiga range in the meantime as the C64s successor. For a while now, replica C64 models, packed with the latest PC technology, have been made by Commodore USA, a different company that has purchased the original Commodore brand.

Since last summer, they have been selling a replica for $999 powered by an Intel CPU. This PC, called the C64x Ultimate (model number: C64x-UL) included a dual core Atom D525, NVIDIA Ion 2 graphics, 4 GB RAM and a 1 TB hard drive. A barebones version is available for $349 without a motherboard, just the keyboard and case, allowing the customer to add their own hardware into the retro box. However, Commodore USA has now upgraded their offering with a considerably more powerful CPU. This version is the C64x Extreme (model number: C64x-EX) which includes a 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7-2720QM CPU, mini-ITX motherboard and PSU, 8 GB DDR3 RAM, DVD writer (slot loading) 2 TB 7200 RPM HDD, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The back panel has the following ports: legacy PS/2, USB 2.0 x5 (one eSATA combo) USB 3.0 x2, Ethernet and three audio jacks. Video connectivity is looked after by HDMI, DVI-D and VGA outputs.

Noctua today announced its new NM-I2011 mounting kit for LGA2011. Continuing Noctua's tradition of supplying its customers with SecuFirm2 mountings free of charge, the NM-I2011 kit allows Noctua users to upgrade to Intel's upcoming LGA2011 socket for Core i7-3000 (Sandy Bridge-E) processors. The new mounting is backwards compatible with all Noctua retail coolers since 2005 and will be supplied to Noctua users free of charge after uploading a proof of purchase on the company's website.

"We feel that product quality and service quality should always go hand in hand, so we're determined to give the best possible support to our customers. Having provided free mounting upgrades for the last generations of Intel and AMD platforms, we're happy to announce that we will continue this tradition with the NM-I2011 kit for LGA2011", says Mag. Roland Mossig, Noctua CEO. "We always like to think of our coolers as safe long-term investments, and even if you bought one of our first models six years ago, you'll still be able to upgrade it to the latest socket technology free of charge."

The Pentium G6951 dual-core LGA1156 processor may not have made any headlines when it was known to be almost identical to the Pentium G6950, until now. Intel designed the G6951 to support "hardware feature upgrades" by purchasing them and enabling them using a software, so users with this processor installed can upgrade their systems by enabling that are otherwise locked for the SKU. The $50 upgrade fetches support for HyperThreading Technology, enabling four threads on the processor; and unlocks the disabled 1 MB of the L3 cache (Clarkdale has 4 MB of L3 cache, of which 1 MB is disabled on the Pentium SKUs).

There isn't much value in buying a $99 Pentium G6951 and the $50 Upgrade Card upfront, but later down the line, companies can opt to mass-upgrade system performance without touching any of the hardware inside. The service works by the purchase of an upgrade key that the user has to feed into the software, which is then verified by Intel's activation server, following successful verification, the software unlocks the processor's features. This is a one-time process, portable between software reinstallations.

SPARKLE Computer Co., Ltd., the professional VGA card manufacturer and supplier, today launched the SPARKLE GeForce GT240 1024MB GDDR5 Graphics Cards with 1024MB GDDR5 big capacity and high speed memory, delivering world-class HD graphics performance for mainstream gamers.

Taking the performance increase into account, SPARKLE GeForce GT240 1024MB GDDR5 Graphics Cards features 40nm chip process from TSMC, this new process let SPARKLE GeForce GT240 1024MB GDDR5 Graphics Cards to be the first batch graphics cards on market to adopt the NVIDIA new 40nm graphics chip. Thanks to advanced 40nm process, now It features much higher transistor density than before, bringing a greater number of stream processors than its predecessor.

Today marked the first day of the Windows 7 upgrade deal for most european countries. Much like the US variant, customers in the EU were able to preorder Windows 7 Home Premium for 50 € or UK Pounds. According to the Hannoversche Allgemeine Newspaper the entire stock of the new operating system has been sold out within hours in the german speaking region. Large etailers like Amazon.de only had 1500 from the 10000 pieces of the german version - which sold out 7 minutes after the start at 9:00 AM - while others only managed to get 500 or less. Other german etailers like Alternate, OTTO, Neckermann managed to hold out a tad bit longer, but all of their servers - including the ones from Amazon Germany where brought to their knees so that many potential buyers missed out on the deal. Amazon UK on the other hand allowed pre-orders for about 6 hours until listing the item out of stock. Overall, most etailers all over Europe are sold out, while some traditional stores may have some left. It should be noted, that Microsoft actually planned to offer this deal from July 15th until August 9th.

A very plausible rumor doing rounds has it that Microsoft may sell "family-pack" licenses for its Home Premium (and perhaps Home Basic) variants of the upcoming Windows 7 operating system. The license allows users to install and use a copy of the OS in three PCs in the same household, while being priced significantly less compared three individual copies or paper licenses. Last week, a blogger noticed an interesting term in the license agreement of a pre-release version of Windows 7 Home Premium which read:

b. Family Pack. If you are a "Qualified Family Pack User", you may install one copy of the software marked as "Family Pack" on three computers in your household for use by people who reside there. Those computers are the "licensed computers" and are subject to these license terms. If you do not know whether you are a Qualified Family Pack User, visit go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?Linkid=141399 or contact the Microsoft affiliate serving your country.

Today, an American e-tailer started accepting pre-orders for Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade "Family-Pack" (manufacturer product code GFC-00236). It is priced at US $144.99, a mere $25 more compared to its single-user retail price of $119.99. If this sort of a pricing scheme stays on with the full-version retail pack too, it would sweeten the deal many fold. Three fold to be precise.

With Microsoft close to the finalization of Windows 7, MSI today also announced that from June 26 onwards it will support the Windows 7 upgrade offer that gives consumers the opportunity to pre-book Windows 7 upgrades online for a small processing fee. Once Windows 7 is officially released, Windows 7 upgrade DVDs will be sent out to consumers by Microsoft so they can upgrade their Vista operating system to the latest Windows 7. This offer will apply to owners of specific new and used laptops and all-in-one PCs under the MSI brand with legal Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium, Business and Ultimate operating systems. The offer is legit till January 31, 2010. You can find more information on the MSI Windows 7 upgrade offer here.

ASUSTeK today also announced that it will be starting an upgrade program that will allow users who have purchased a qualifying ASUS desktop PC, notebook, EeeTop PC or Eee PC to upgrade their existing Windows Vista OS to the better and yet to be finalized Windows 7 operating system. From June 26, 2009 through January 31, 2010 owners of the below listed ASUS products may visit this webpage here, complete the registration process and wait for their upgrade kit after the general availability date of Windows 7 which is October 22nd. The ASUS Windows 7 Upgrade offer will be free in the USA, while users from other parts of the world will have to pay a nominal shipping and handling fee. Below is the full list of ASUS products that are eligible for the Windows 7 upgrade program.

Trying to deliver even more options for third party netbook makers, Super Talent today made their fifth significant announcement of the week, by introducing the world's fastest upgrade SSDs for the ASUS Eee PC netbooks. The SATA Mini 2 PCIe SSDs are Super Talent's second generation product focused on enabling better performance for ASUS Eee PC users and feature a SATA-II (3Gbps) interface. They are compatible with all Eee PC models 900, 901, 901A, 901 GO, and S101. The products are available using both MLC and SLC flash memory. The MLC version delivers sequential read speeds up to 150 MB/s and sequential write speeds up to 100 MB/s, and is available in 16 GB, 32 GB, and 64 GB capacities at very affordable prices. The SLC version is available in 16 GB and 32 GB capacities and features sequential read speeds up to 170 MB/s and sequential write speeds up to 130 MB/s. Super Talent will showcase these products at the 2009 Computex Taipei show, no availability date was announced though.

Microsoft impressed many by releasing the evaluation version Windows 7 Release Candidate ahead of the formal launch of its Windows 7 line of client operating systems. Polish website CentrumXP.pl caught early glimpses of what the jewel-cases of the some of the variants of Windows 7 could look like, along those of the Anytime Upgrade packs that let users promote their Windows 7 variant to a higher variant. The case design resembles that of Windows Vista, along with variants retaining the box color scheme from those of their predecessors. The Windows logo looks frosty-white, and gets some of the motifs from the default user login background Windows 7 RC sports.

We all regard PC games, as an entertainment medium, but spend hundreds to even thousands of Dollars regularly, to keep our PCs up to date, to be able to play the latest PC games. Imagine a medium that rids us of that, and we are able to consume PC gaming like any other content, like the TV or radio. Well, that the potential a new on-demand gaming platform holds - to make you never have to buy/upgrade a gaming PC again.

Called OnLive, the on-demand platform consists of a web service, an internet connection, and a thin-client, called "micro-console" that connects your input (game controllers), and output (monitor/TV/HDTV). You control the game - whichever you're subscribed to and playing - the client relays your input to the OnLive servers, that do the processing, including graphics rendering, and send back output to your client. The client then displays the output. Sounds familiar? Cloud computing? Exactly, but for PC gaming. The platform is conceptualized to be advanced-enough to handle any of today's games, Crysis included. The work-model of this platform is what makes it tick with any game, and is far more future-proof than the present mode of PC gaming (where people own expensive hardware that are in requirement of upgrades, the costs of buying games, buying gaming services separate).

For standard definition television quality, a broadband connection of at least 1.5 megabits per second is required. For HDTV resolution, a connection of at least 5 mbps is needed. The service uses patented algorithms that work to counter lag caused by network constraints. The technology is already gaining attention from major publishers, including EA, THQ, Codemasters, Ubisoft, Atari, Warner Bros., Take-Two, and Epic. People can buy or rent a game to play it, the usage fees are expected not to be much more than the subscription fees for Xbox Live.

Tech ARP has managed to get a hold of a copy of a draft document, preliminarily named the Windows 7 Upgrade Program. It is said to have been distributed to Microsoft's OEM partners on 10th December giving them a month to provide feedback. Obviously nothing is set in stone yet, but Microsoft provided similar upgrade programs for Vista and XP. The extract follows: