Uno Electric UniCycle

Just when you thought you'd seen it all, a Canadian teen-scientist comes up with the "Uno" an electric side-by-side two wheeled unicycle.

Images via Motorcycle Mojo

The motorized unicycle which actually features two wheels side-by-side, uses gyroscope technology and a control systems that both keeps the rider balanced over the tires and manages the suspension. When the rider leans into a turn, the inside wheel lifts and the outside wheel lowers, so both stay firmly on the ground. The bike was originally based off of the frame design of a Yamaha R1 sport bike and is powered by amped-up wheelchair motors and 36-volt batteries that can push the Uno to speeds of up to 40 MPH.

Images via Motorcycle Mojo

The Uno's inventor Ben J. Poss Gulak says that the bike beats out the Segway in terms of speed, and delivers better maneuverability than Bombardier's Embrio unicycle concept.

For more on the Uno checkout their site at the-uno-tomorrows-transportation.com. For more pictures checkout MotorcycleMojo.com

AMD To Launch HD 4800 Series On June 18th

VR-Zone reports that AMD has confirmed the marketing name for RV770, the Radeon HD 4800 series and will be shipping RV770 GPUs to AIB by end of this month. AMD is set to launch the Radeon HD 4850 on June 18th with retail availability on the same day.

AMD has just confirmed the marketing name for RV770 yesterday which is no surprise to anyone, the Radeon HD 4800 series. RV770PRO is Radeon HD 4850, RV770XT is Radeon HD 4870 and R700 is Radeon HD 4870 X2. AMD will be shipping RV770 GPUs to AIB by end of this month and you can expect different card designs from the manufacturers at launch. AMD is set to launch the Radeon HD 4850 on June 18th and it is definitely a hard one with retail availability on the same day. Radeon HD 4870, however, will be launched a week later on June 25th with retail availability in July due to GDDR5 availability. Radeon HD 4870 X2 will come later in Q3. As for the clocks, we won't be revealing them yet but the RV770XT core clock is not going anywhere above 800MHz.

Late last month Geek-News.Net readers got a sneak peak at the 4800 series specs thanks to TG Daily. Look for benchmarks, reviews and more details to be headed out your way soon!

Craigslist Sues eBay

In a reversal of fortune Craigslist has filed a lawsuit against eBay. The suit accuses eBay of unlawful and unfair competition and copyright infringement, among other things.

Just last month Geek-News.Net reported that eBay was suing Craigslist for implementing new policies that eBay said unfairly diluted its economic interest in Craigslist by more than 10 percent.

Earlier this month eBay posted the court documents outlining exactly why it filed suit against Craigslist. So in turn Craigslist made the documents relating to the countersuit publically available. The 26-page document portrays a completely different picture on how eBay acquired its minority stake in Craigslist. They also allege eBay used its Craigslist board position to harm Craigslist while simultaneously using information gleaned from Craigslist to help their very similar classified ad services called Kijiji.com.

Craigslist is seeking permanent injunctive relief against eBay, its officers, agents, representatives, employees, attorneys, and successors. It further seeks an injunction against eBay using the Craigslist mark or name in advertising alleging eBay infringed Craigslist's trademark by placing ads for Kijiji on Google using Craigslist's name and that eBay interfered in its business, conducted phishing attacks and broke its duty to shareholders.



Craigslist is asking the court to return eBay’s shares to Craigslist and that the court order eBay to divest interests in Craigslist. Craigslist is also seeking a court order for eBay to pay general, special, actual and statutory damages for Craigslist damages and eBay’s profits and other damages the court deems just.

Dell Might Not Dump XPS After All

Yesterday we reported that "Dell was dumping XPS" to focus on its Alienware line, today it seems reports from the Wall Street Journal concerning Dell's XPS lineup were incorrect.

Dell spokesperson Anne Camden said they must have missed the memo concerning any changes to its XPS line stating, "XPS gaming systems will remain an important part of our gaming product portfolio. We don’t plan an early phase-out of these systems as the WSJ incorrectly stated, and in fact will continue to refresh them to keep them on the front edge of gaming."

It looks like the seasoned veterans over at the WSJ made a bit of a goof.

Microsoft Introduces The WorldWide TeleScope

Microsoft Research recently released a new, free online tool designed to bring the world of astronomy to the masses. Microsoft describes the WorldWide Telescope as a "Web 2.0 Visualization Software Environment".

Basically its a virtual telescope that combines tens of millions of images of galaxies, nebulae, planets and other celestial objects to allow you to explore the stars and some of the most interesting spots in the universe right from your PC.

The terabytes of images were collected from various sources including the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), and the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS).

Users must first download an application to use the free service. Then you can opt for guided tours, conducted by astronomers or teachers, or check things out on your own.

eBay Tries Out PayPal Only In Australia

eBay Australia is laying down the law with payments, its PayPal or nothing!

Starting June 17th eBay plans to institute a new payment arrangement that would do away with direct deposits, personal cheques or money orders to purchase items - all in the name of enhanced security. Essentially this move forces all of its Australian users to use PayPal, a move that has angered users and prompted antitrust scrutiny.

Many critics think that the move in Australian is a precursor for a global move. "It's a test case," Ina Steiner, editor of Auctionbytes.com, told the Mercury News. "I'm sure they're very much considering rolling it out to other countries."

eBay is denying the claims that it might try the same approach here in the states. "In the U.S., we are not mulling, planning, or otherwise seriously considering a move to PayPal-only," wrote spokesman Usher Lieberman on the company's eBay Ink blog. "There are U.S. market-specific reasons why PayPal-only is something we simply cannot do in the U.S."

However nothing has been mentioned of them not trying to do the same thing in other countries.

If you read eBay's accepted payments policy you'll notice they've already made provisions to disallow any forms of online payments other than PayPal.

Not permitted on eBay.com
"Payment through online payment methods not specifically permitted in this policy."

It would looks as though eBay is trying to place a strangle hold on its buyers and sellers all in the name of "security".

eBay says it wants to reduce disputes and restore trust in its marketplace with the PayPal-only plan. Because eBay and PayPal can share information on each transaction, eBay says use of PayPal allows it to stop fraud more efficiently than outside payment services.

How it plans to do so is a mystery, especially considering the high numbers of fraud that current occur with eBay and PayPal both.

For more check out these articles:

• eBay rules turn users off
• EBay denies PayPal-only plan for U.S.
• Mayday! eBay raises white flag over forced PayPal in US
• eBay mulls PayPal only payments

Dell Dumps XPS To Focus On Alienware

According to the Wall Street Journal Dell is taking a surprising leap and dropping several of its most popular XPS models to focus on its recently acquired Alienware line.

Dell purchased Alienware back in 2006, since that time the company has seen sales drop due in large part to competition with high end Dell XPS systems. Dell had maintained a mostly hands off approach to Alienware allowing both companies to compete in the gaming market simultaneously.

Dell is also going to end the tie-in with World of Warcraft and its XPS machines. Arthur Lewis, who joined Dell with the Alienware purchase, as the head of its gaming PC division, says that Alienware is going to be updating its boxes, which have had the same look for a long time, by using new materials for the exterior of the systems.





Alienware has also said that it will be bringing a low-cost (by gaming PC standards) gaming system to market in the next few weeks powered by AMD/ATI.
The new Alienware system will be priced at $1,699 according to CNET. The machine will use a quad-core Phenom X4 9550 processor running at 2.2GHz. Graphics for the machine will be via ATI’s dual GPU HD 3870 X2 video card. The system is reported to use an Asus mainboard with the AMD 790FX chipset.

Price is one of the places Alienware is criticized the most. Anyone with even a limited amount of computer building experience can build a system far cheaper than they can buy from Alienware. However according to Marc Diana, Alienware product marketing manager for desktops, customers are still flocking to them. “We're seeing huge demand from customers." Diana says.

Intel E6850 for $99 +Shipping

**Update**
The page has been pulled so
the deal is now dead!

Dell Home right now has the 3.0ghz Intel E6850 for $99 plus shipping after $120 instant savings. This is a hot deal on a great cpu! Price is supposedly good until 5/15/2008

• Speed: 3.0GHz
• FSB: 1333MHz
• Cache: 4M shared L2 Cache
• Socket LGA 775
• 65W Dual-Core Processor
• 65 nm

Intel E6850 Reviews:

• Virtual-Hideout
• TrustedReviews.com
• Xbitlabs

Microsoft Will Sell $25 Windows XP To Subnotebook Makers

IDG News Service reports Microsoft is launching a program to promote the use of its Windows OS in ultra low-cost PCs, one effect of which will be to limit the hardware capabilities of this type of device.

Microsoft plans to sell a somewhat crippled version of XP to the makers of low-cost PCs like the Eee PC and XO laptop for only $25. The major catch the PC vendors that make ULPCs must limit screen sizes to 10.2 inches and hard drives to 80G bytes, and they cannot offer touch-screen PCs…the systems can have no more than 1G byte of RAM and a single-core processor running at no more than 1GHz.

Besides limits on the screens and hard drives, to be eligible, the systems can have no more than 1G byte of RAM and a single-core processor running at no more than 1GHz. The program makes an allowance for some chips, including Via Technologies' C7-M processors, which run between 1.0GHz and 1.6GHz, and Intel's upcoming Atom N270.

The program is outlined in confidential documents that Microsoft sent to PC makers last month, and which were obtained by IDG News Service.

Microsoft has said it plans to stop selling new Windows XP licenses after June 30, but it has made exceptions, including for the use of XP Home in ULPCs.

Mozilla Shipped Xorer Worm With Firefox Vietnamese Language Add-On

Mozilla Corp. warned users on Wednesday about a worm that slipped into Firefox's Vietnamese language add-on and went undetected for months.

The malware-infected file has since been pulled from Mozilla's servers however according to Window Snyder, Mozilla's chief security executive, the download count for the add-on since last November has been 16,667.

The Vietnamese language pack for Firefox 2 contains inserted code to load remote content. This code is the result of a virus infection, but does not contain the virus itself. This usually results in the user seeing unwanted ads, but may be used for more malicious actions.

"The Vietnamese language pack for Firefox 2 contains inserted code to load remote content," said Snyder. She confirmed the information in a post to the company's blog on Wednesday. "Everyone who downloaded the most recent Vietnamese language pack since Feb. 18, 2008, got an infected copy."

According to messages posted on Bugzilla a computer used by Jasper Thai, the author of the Vietnamese add-on, had been infected earlier with the Xorer worm. When Thai created the add-on, Xorer hitched a ride by installing itself in the extension's code.

Xorer can spread via removable media -- including floppy disks -- and network shares, several security vendors said in their online malware databases. "Its effects can range from simply annoying to destructive," noted the write-up by Panda Security. Snyder said that infected users were being shown unwanted ads when they surfed with Firefox.

Although Mozilla scans Firefox add-ons, including language packs, for malicious code before making them available for download, its antivirus scanner missed Xorer because it had not added a signature for the malware until mid-April. Thai had wrapped up the Vietnamese pack nearly two months earlier, on Feb. 18.

Snyder has said that Mozilla would boost the number of times it scanned files for malware. "We are also adding after-the-fact scans of everything to address this sort of case in the future," she said.

TorrentSpy Lawyer Says "We Won't Pay $111 Million Court Order"

Just a day after a U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper ordered TorrentSpy to pay $111 million, one of the largest fines in copyright history, Ira Rothken the lawyer for the torrent-tracking search engine said the $111 million judgment won't get paid.

Nevis-based Valence Media, the owner of TorrentSpy, filed for bankruptcy protection in England last week "and has no appreciable assets," attorney Ira Rothken said. "This was a Hollywood publicity stunt."

TorrentSpy and the Motion Picture Association of America have been in an ongoing legal battle since last year when the MPAA sued the search engine in Los Angeles federal court. The suit accused the site of facilitating copyright infringement of Hollywood movies. The MPAA won a default judgment last year after TorrentSpy refused to turn over internal documents, and on Wednesday a federal judge levied the $111 million penalty and ordered the site never to return online.

"It certainly is not a lesson for other search engines to look at what the rules are as they relate to dot-torrent files," Rothken said. "There was no analysis of the copyright."

Elizabeth Kaltman, an MPAA spokeswoman, said "We will pursue enforcement of the judgment."

The legality of torrent-tracking services has never been litigated on the merits in the United States, said Charles Baker, a Houston IP lawyer who defended Grokster and is Limewire's attorney in a case accusing the peer-to-peer software maker of facilitating copyright infringement.

The MPAA, he said, wants "other torrent owners and operators to look at the $111 million figure and say, 'I'm getting out of the business.'"

The TorrentSpy case, Baker said, "is another example of the studios eating these guys to death. They haven't tried the merits of the case."

While the MPAA may be claiming victory it isn't the clear cut win they'd really like to see. Since the case was a default judgment it doesn't set much precedence for future cases. Had the case actually been heard and an actual ruling been made then they'd have further grounds for more cases.

Is Free Starbucks Wi-Fi Coming To AT&T iPhones?

Earlier today the AT&T iPhone page noted that "Access to AT&T Wi-Fi hot spots" was included in all iPhone subscriber plans, with additional details that spelled out the extent of that access. "Unlimited Data (e-mail and Web), 200 SMS text messages and access to AT&T's more than 17,000 Wi-Fi hot spots, including Starbucks all for use in the U.S. *"Wi-Fi available at U.S. company operated Starbucks locations equipped with a hot spot."*





However by 5 p.m. EDT Thursday, all mention of Wi-Fi hotspot access had been removed from the page. When contacted by Computerworld.com an AT&T customer service representative was unable to explain the change.

Just last week iPhone users at MacRumors.com had discovered that they could access AT&T's wireless access points in Starbucks coffee shops and other locations, including some Barnes & Noble bookstores, by entering their iPhone telephone number.

Within 24 hours AT&T had turned off the free access and users reported that they were being asked to now enter a username and password where one previously wasn't needed. The closing down of the service could in part be due to some users using tools to fool the hotspot into thinking their laptop browser was still an iPhone. (more info)

Earlier today, AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel issued a blanket "no comment" when asked about the Wi-Fi information on his company's iPhone page.

Sun Launches Open Source Solaris

Sun and the OpenSolaris community are launching the first official release of Sun's open-source version of the Solaris operating system. Interested developers have had early preview versions to play with for some time, but the official release opens to door for corporate customers as well.

OpenSolaris is based on the Solaris kernel and uses many of its features like the Zettabyte File System (ZFS) and Dynamic Tracing (DTrace), which offers predictive self-healing capabilities. Initially, the OpenSolaris project will provide the core kernel, libraries and commands that are currently distributed with the Solaris OS. Over time, it is expected that additional parts of the Solaris OS will be made available through the project.

Download the latest version OpenSolaris 2008.05 in a single CD combined live/install image: a core operating system, kernel, system libraries, a desktop environment and a package management system.

The majority of OpenSolaris code is released under the Common Development and Distribution License (CDDL) Version 1.0.

Source based on existing open source projects will continue to be available under their current licenses. Some binary components are covered under the OpenSolaris Binary License and some are covered under other open source licenses. Specific download pages provide license information associated with the available component pieces.

For more information check out the OpenSolaris homepage

TorrentSpy Ordered To Pay $111 Million

U.S. District Judge Florence -Marie Cooper in Los Angeles, ruling in a case brought by the Motion Picture Association of America, said site operator Justin Bunnell and associates must pay the maximum $30,000 for "each of the 3,699 infringements shown."

From the Copyright Act:

"...the copyright owner may elect, at any time before final judgment is rendered, to recover, instead of actual damages and profits, an award of statutory damages for all infringements involved in the action, with respect to any one work, for which any one infringer is liable individually, or for which any two or more infringers are liable jointly and severally, in a sum of not less than $750 or more than $30,000 as the court considers just."

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) said the judgment sends a strong message to copyright violators. “This substantial money judgment sends a strong message about the illegality of these sites,” said Dan Glickman, Chairman and CEO of the MPAA. “The demise of TorrentSpy is a clear victory for the studios and demonstrates that such pirate sites will not be allowed to continue to operate without facing relentless litigation by copyright holders.”

The TorrentSpy site shut down in March, after it lost its case against the MPAA, saying the legal climate was too hostile to continue. TorrentSpy did not lose on the merits, but defaulted after it failed to produce internal records.

TorrentSpy's lawyers filed a document in court Monday saying Valence Media and its owners Justin Bunnell and Wes Park had sought bankruptcy protection in a United Kingdom court and requesting that the judgment be stayed.

No U.S. case has squarely addressed the legalities of BitTorrent tracking services, although this case and the case against Isohunt founder Gary Fung, which is nearing a resolution, will likely have strong impacts on future rulings.

Great PayPal Alternative, Revolution Money Exchange Reviewed

A few months ago we covered a story on the new online payment site Revolution Money Exchange (R.M.E.), that is trying to create competition for PayPal and Google Checkout. After three months of use I can say the site seems to be headed in the right direction. Not just with verifying users through their SSN (more on that later) but also with added security and lower fees.

The peer to peer money exchange site launched nearly four months ago. At the time, chairman Ted Leonsis said, "We want to become for social networks what PayPal is for eBay."

Revolution Money Exchange has been aggressively courting new members with a $25 sign-up bonus which was a great incentive for us to try them out.

Signing Up:

Obviously signing up is the first step in the process, as with any other site you begin with your first and last name and then create a username and password. At this time you must also create a security question, this is important as you will later need to use this question to be able to log into your account.



In the second step you simply input your address, this must be your home address. This information will be used in the verification process. In the third step you will need to enter your correct date of birth and SSN this too is part of the verification process. You will also need to create a unique PIN number, again this will be needed later in order to access your account for transferring funds.




Collect Your $25 Sign-up Bonus:
Update - they no longer offer the $25 sign-up bonus

As previously stated in order to promote Revolution Money Exchange and generate traffic they have been giving away a $25 free sign-up bonus. The $25 bonus will be credited as a pending transaction to your Money Exchange account within twenty-four hours of your account approval. To accept the $25 bonus and have it transferred into your Money Exchange account for immediate use, you must login into your account and accept the $25 bonus within 30 days from the date we notify you of the availability of this bonus at the e-mail address you provided during your account registration.


Once you login and accept the funds they are yours to do with as you wish. In my case I had my funds almost immediately. I attached my bank account, I use and recommend using a secondary account with limited funds for both R.M.E. and PayPal, and withdrew the funds the next day. As with PayPal it usually takes a couple days for the funds to be available from your bank.

Security:

First and foremost I have to say Revolution Money Exchange's security is far greater than anything PayPal or Google Checkout has. Unlike either of the two whereas you only use a login ID and password to gain full access to an account, Revolution Money Exchange requires users to input a security question at login and a specialized PIN number for transferring funds. This double blind type security makes it very difficult for any wrong doers to cheat you out of your money.

I will say I found it a little tedious to begin with as there are a few extra steps involved but when looking at it from a security stand point and thinking of the numbers of people that have been phished over the years I can see how it could be beneficial.

While a phisher might be able to get my login id and password they'd have to go the extra mile in order to actually get my security question and there is almost no way at all that they could get my pin number.

Verifying Users:

The one area people question me about the most is the need to add your SSN. I'll admit at first I was skeptical, that's why I did the leg work and checked the company out before I signed up. I'll be the first to admit the only reason I originally signed up was for the $25 bonus. But I wasn't going into it blindfolded, I've seen too many scams over the years for that. So I did the research, the information I found is covered in my original blog post. From all my ongoing research I have yet to find anything that points to any negative activity, fraud or scams. As best as I can tell everything is on the up and up.

When you sign up for your MoneyExchange account they create and account for you at First Bank & Trust in Brookings, SD (Member FDIC). They in turn ask for your Social Security Number, which is then used to confirm your identity against other information you provide. This helps keep identity thieves from using your personal information to open a MoneyExchange account in your name. It also makes it harder for potential scammers to open accounts!

I'm still on the fence about this aspect of R.M.E. While I can see its a good way to keep out scammers, faking SSNs is something that is a lot harder to do than just being verified at PayPal, I feel it makes more people less likely to sign-up, therefore making it a bit harder to find people that use the service. From my point of view this creates a big catch-22.

Fees:

Sending and receiving funds on Money Exchange is free (as it is on PayPal for funds between two PayPal members) as well as transferring money to your bank account. A transaction fee applies for check withdrawals, check stop payments, paper statements, ACH returns, and overdrafts. See Schedule of Fees and Accountholder Agreement for more information.


My Conclusion:

As I've said I've used Revolution Money Exchange for a few months now, all in all the only two issues I have are not actually with the company itself nor are they with the site. Both seem to live up to my expectations. Transactions are handled smoothly and efficiently and the site never seems to have any downtime.

The first issue I faced was with eBay. According to eBay's Accepted Payments Policy you technically can not use R.M.E. for transactions. There is some ongoing debate about this however I've been told that sources at eBay have said they will not back R.M.E. as a payment option. Now obviously if both the buyer and seller agree to use R.M.E. then there is little that can be done, however should disputes over none payment arise you might be in a little trouble.

The second issue is actually the lack of people that take R.M.E. Now this might simply be a case of me not doing as much trading as I have in the past therefore not finding them to be as prevalent. It could also be that the people are unaware of R.M.E. or they could be turned off by the SSN issue. However this is something that given time should remedy itself.

The same goes with Revolution Money Exchange and retailers or e-tailers, I haven't seen many that actually accept them as a form of payment. Not yet anyways! The RevolutionCard was recently part of a Buy.com promotion (see link) however that's a different part of the company.

All in all I can say this, I've never once had an issue with pay-pal. I have heard tons of horror stories but never once has anything bad happen on my end. So that said why change to R.M.E? Well I'm not to happy with the fee structure at Pay-Pal. I'm also not happy that eBay force feeds me those fees. While I've only used R.M.E. for a few months, granted that's typically longer than most people that right reviews, I won't go so far as to say they are the perfect answer however it is nice to have an alternative

NVIDIA Launches Hybrid SLI Technology

PC users love the visual realism that high-performance graphics processors give their PCs, but would rather do without the noise and power consumption typical of modern entertainment and gaming PCs. Starting today, however, they can have the best of both worlds, thanks to the new NVIDIA platforms based on the company’s Hybrid SLI technology. These new platforms are the foundation for a new breed of PCs that deliver a richer visual experience while reducing energy consumption and costs, fan noise, and even heat. The new technology is available immediately with new NVIDIA nForce 780a SLI and GeForce 8 Series based motherboards.

Hybrid SLI Overview
View Video Clip

"Hybrid SLI will give consumers the extra GPU performance they need for the increasing numbers of visual PC applications such as today’s PC games," said Drew Henry, general manager of platform business at NVIDIA. "And it will give gamers and PC enthusiasts the quiet and power savings they demand. Hybrid SLI components could very well pay for themselves over the life of the PC."

The visual capabilities of typical PCs are driven by either integrated graphics on the motherboard or by higher performance, discrete graphics cards, like NVIDIA GeForce® GPUs. Unfortunately, the most common integrated graphics chips lack the performance and features needed by many popular modern 3D applications, games, and movies. Discrete graphics cards deliver a far superior visual experience, but consume more energy.

Hybrid SLI-enabled motherboards eliminate this problem by putting a GeForce GPU directly on the motherboard. This GeForce GPU has better DirectX compatibility and HD movie playback capability than the most common integrated graphics chips found in today’s PCs, but consumes less energy than a discrete graphics card. But that’s only the start.

Unleashing graphics performance when needed, and switches to low-power operation for everyday computing.
View Video Clip

Designed for PC enthusiasts and hard-core gamers, the HybridPower feature completely powers down the discrete graphics cards and switches graphics processing to the motherboard GPU in applications where major 3D horsepower is not required, such as e-mail and Web surfing. Users will appreciate the lower energy consumption, quieter PC operation, and less heat. When additional 3D horsepower is needed, it can be manually transitioned back to discrete graphics cards using HybridPower technology, which are then powered up and ready to rock the 3D world. Hybrid SLI technology can save hundreds of dollars in energy costs over the life of the PC for high-end, enthusiast-class PCs, and deliver additional graphics performance for more mainstream desktops via these two features.i

For mainstream users, a Hybrid SLI technology feature called GeForce Boost allows the user to add an additional graphics card for even more graphics horsepower. By combining the performance of the motherboard GPU and graphics card discrete GPUs, GeForce Boost increases overall graphics performance up to 50% for today’s visually intensive applications and home entertainment.

"NVIDIA continues to deliver outstanding innovation for AMD CPUs. We are especially excited that HybridPower, a feature of NVIDIA Hybrid SLI, will be introduced exclusively on AMD CPU-based platforms," said Leslie Sobon, director, product marketing, AMD. "The AMD Phenom X4 quad-core processors, together with this motherboard’s HybridPower features, deliver powerful performance and energy efficiency, an important combination for AMD."

Get an average of 55% more performance on Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare!
View Video Clip

The Hybrid SLI-enabled desktop PC motherboards are designed to create a balanced PC with GeForce GPUs and AMD Phenom processors. Eight models, including a newly available nForce 780a SLI motherboard, are available:

• nForce 780a SLI, nForce 750a SLI, nForce 730a, and nForce 720a
• GeForce 8300, GeForce 8200, and GeForce 8100

Currently available Hybrid SLI-enabled discrete graphics cards include:

• NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2 and NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX (both HybridPower-capable)
• GeForce 8400 GS and GeForce 8500 GT (both GeForce Boost-capable)

Hybrid SLI-enabled PC motherboards for Intel processors and Hybrid SLI-enabled notebooks will be available in Q3 of 2008. For more information about NVIDIA Hybrid SLI technology please visit www.nvidia.com/Hybrid_SLI.

Santa Monica High School Team Wins National Science Bowl

The Associated Press reported yesterday that four California high school students from Santa Monica High School in Santa Monica, Calif. used a complex mathematical function called a Maclaurin series to come up with the correct answer — "two-thirds" — Monday to win the Energy Department's annual National Science Bowl.

The team beat 66 other schools and won a trip to the International Youth Science Forum in London this summer.

"We felt that if we were going to win it, it was going to be this year. Our team was just really solid," Dimitry Petrenko, 18, the team's earth sciences specialist, said after the win.

Petrenko and his teammates, Alexandre Boulgakov, 16, Marino Di Franco, 16, and Ian Fels Scheffler, 17, planned to celebrate by going out to dinner.

"Each of our guys really knows their stuff," said coach Ingo Gaida, a biology teacher at Santa Monica High School. "It's not like they're just studying for the competition; they just really love their subjects."

A team from Mira Loma High School of Sacramento, Calif., placed second, winning a trip to a nuclear science facility in France. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology in Alexandria, Va., placed third and will get a trip to an accelerator facility in Virginia. Fairview High School of Boulder, Colo., came in fourth place.

More than 300 high school students on 67 teams participated in the competition. They represented 42 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The top 16 finishers each received $1,000 for their school science departments.

Grand Theft Auto IV Sales Top $500 Million

The Associated Press: Grand Theft Auto IV video game tops $500M in 1st-week sales

Video-game publisher Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. said Wednesday that sales of its popular and eagerly anticipated title "Grand Theft Auto IV" reached more than $500 million in its first week of availability.

The company said it has sold more than 6 million units globally since the game was released April 29.

The New York-based company said it sold 3.6 million units on its opening day alone, worth a retail value of $310 million worldwide.

"Grand Theft Auto IV" follows the criminal exploits of protagonist Niko Bellic, an immigrant-turned-gangster who travels from Eastern Europe to Liberty City, the game's fictional locale based on New York City. As Bellic, players can hijack cars, earn cash for criminal activities, shoot innocent bystanders and visit strip clubs.

Critics say the extreme violence in "Grand Theft Auto" video games could be harmful to children, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving has complained that the latest version includes the ability to drive while intoxicated.



Grand Theft Auto IV $49.99 after Google Checkout


Grand Theft Auto IV: Special Edition $79.99 after Google Checkout

Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) Released to Web and Windows Update

After a few delays due to data corruption issues between XP SP3 and its retail point-of-sale software Windows finally released SP3 to the to Web and Windows Update. Microsoft has also resumed automatic distribution of Windows Vista, Service Pack 1 (SP1), which had been halted because of a similar problem.

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Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) includes all previously released updates for the operating system. This update also includes a small number of new functionalities, which do not significantly change customers’ experience with the operating system. This white paper summarizes what is new in Windows XP SP3.

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DOWNLOAD: Network Installation (316.4MB) | ISO CD Image File (545MB).

Microsoft still is not offering either service pack to Microsoft Dynamics RMS customers, having put in place a filter on Windows Update to prevent distribution to those customers. The company is still working on a fix it expects to have available later this month, it said.

Half Price Rock Band Songs

Source Major Neslon
MTV Games and Harmonix have teamed up with McDonald’s to drop the price on select Rock Band tracks in the United States and Canada. Each week until June 1st, you can grab two new tracks for 80 points each. To help you budget your time and money, here is the schedule of tracks:

5/6/08-5/12/08 :
Crushcrushcrush - Paramore
Rock 'n Roll Band - Boston

5/13/08-5/19/08 :
Shockwave - Black Tide
Sugar Magnolia - Grateful Dead

5/20/08-5/26/08:
We Care A Lot - Faith No More
All the Small Things - Blink 182

5/27/08-6/2/08:
Gimme Three Steps - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Dirty Little Secret - All-American Rejects

The lower price will start tomorrow at 0200 PT. But I wanted to give everyone a heads up as soon as I found out about this promotion.