Chad Weirick
Chad Weirick
Recent posts
MediaDefender, a company that provides anti-piracy solutions, has been accused of setting up a fake pirate site called MiiVi.According to reports from around the web, the site offered unlimited free movie downloads once users downloaded their software package.The software package is said to contain spyware that supposedly reports existing...
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It seems that the end of the road is coming up for both Dempsey and Paxville Xeons. Given the excellent performance and efficiency of the Core based Xeons, it’s not very surprising to see these NetBurst technology put out to pasture. “Intel plans to announce the phase out date for its Xeon 5000 series (Dempsey) 2-way server processors in...
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Have you ever dropped off your PC for repairs and wondered if the techs might be looking over your private media collection? If so, you’ve not alone. The Consumerist decided to do a little research on the subject, using the Geek Squad techs as their test subjects. Instead of just using logfiles for evidence, they actually have video of...
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A new disc technology has been devised that will allow each upcoming Blu-ray or HD DVD disc to potentially store as much as 500GB. The secret is in the inside, as in the fact that the data is no longer being stored on the outside of the disc, but rather on internal nanostructures. “A partnership between the University of Berlin, Budapest...
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AMD has reportedly invested $7.5 million USD into trouble chip design firm Transmeta. You might recall the name Transmeta from a few years ago, when their Crusoe chip was garnering some media attention. This doesn’t mark the first time that both companies have worked together, in fact AMD considers Transmeta to be a “key ally” and has even...
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It's being reported that anti-piracy watchdog, MediaDefender, may have set up a trap for potential pirates: “Several days ago, anti-piracy watchdog MediaDefender launched MiiVi.com, a decoy piracy site claiming to offer "fast and easy video downloading." It displayed copyright by "MiiVi, Inc," and mentioned no affiliation with MediaDefender,...
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Creative has extended the support for their OpenAL wrapper, dubbed ALchemy, to include functioning with their Audigy series of cards. ALchemy allows software products that utilize EAX to operate under Vista without compromises in features or quality. “In Windows Vista, Microsoft has decided to remove the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL)...
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Just about everyone has at least heard some tale of neglect with video games and/or the internet to blame. It seems that the American Medical Association (AMA), even after declining to call gaming an addiction (at this time), wants to study the subject further: “The call to examine gaming and Internet addiction may spawn from the widely...
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The good news is that a new technique involving lasers may speed traditional magnetic hard drives up by as much as 100 times!The bad news is that we might have to wait a decade to even see a prototype. Hopefully some heavy hitter in the storage arena will see the promise in this technology and put it on the R & D fast track. “This optically...
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We’re not necessarily talking about gamers who need to eat more Subway sandwiches here, but rather people who are gaming fanatics. Enough to dedicate large blocks of time and money to thier hobby. So who are they and what are their defining characteristics? A recent survey says that the so-called “Heavy Gamers” make up about 2% of all gamers:...
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A new study shows the effects of gaming on reading and study time amongst students 10-19 years old. Not surprisingly these students shaved a little time off their studying and reading time to get in a few extra minutes with their favorite games. Surprisingly they didn't often sacrifice much time with their families. for gamesHow much time...
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Bonnie Australian lass, Tamara Broome, met an American lad on World Of Warcraft, the current king of MMOs. So what’s the big problem? One of them is a minor! No, I don’t mean their primary or secondary tradeskills in WoW!! Minor with an “o” not the kind who complains about the lack of gold veins near Goldshire. In a strange twist, it’s...
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Despite competitors having talking points about how the iPhone battery isn't replaceable, that's not entirely the case. It's true that the user isn't able to buy a battery and swap it out on the road as they can with many existing phones, but Apple can do it for you, for a fee of $85.95 plus applicable taxes: "If your iPhone requires...
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If you own a tinfoil hat, now might be a good time to go grab it. Apparently Windows Vista has no less than 20 features/services that harvest information: "Are you using Windows Vista? Then you might as well know that the licensed operating system installed on your machine is harvesting a healthy volume of information for Microsoft. In...
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It seems that AMD has cancelled their upcoming Lima CPU, which was slated to be a relatively low-end single core offering: “AMD will continue to ship single-core processors. However, all single-core processors will carry the Sempron brand. With Lima out of the picture, Sparta will be the next new single-core AMD processor. AMD expects...
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If you’re an avid YouTuber, then you might want to pay close attention to this new way to spread viruses. New methods of virus distribution tend start with just one or two people doing it, but copycats come out of the woodwork at a stunning rate. The new method shows viewers a web site URL during...
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Almost any time that a new product is released with enough hype to virtually guarantee a first-day sellout, there will almost always be someone there who plans on putting the item(s) on auction. They might not be too vocal about who they are since they don’t want any competition, but there’s a fair chance that they’re there. So...
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It seems that Samsung may be in the process of revising the specs and prices for their upcoming UMPC, the Q1 Ultra. Sadly, it might be that the specs are going down and the price is going up. If you've already pre-ordered one of these, you may want to re-evaluate your purchase. "The first signs of worry for the Q1U-EL came in early June....
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An interesting twist to the Benoit family tragedy has surfaced: apparently the Wikipedia entry for Chris Benoit was changed, noting the death of his wife for his failure to appear at an event, 13-14 hours before the bodies of the family were discovered in their home in Georgia by local authorities. Police claim to have the individual allegedly...
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A recent survey ranked YouTube number one when it came to online video sites. There was some pretty stiff competition too, especially from companies that might seem like they should have cornered this segment years ago, such as Time Warner/AOL: "YouTube's share of the U.S. online video market was 60.2 percent in May, according to Hitwise....
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Many sites have reviewed the new iPhone, but only a handful have been brave enough to try taking one apart. Here's what the crews of AppleInsider & iFixit discovered and noted: The logic board is also currently a source of mystery. It splits into two sections, but the largest portion -- which contains the flash memory, processor, and...
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Microsoft has been eagerly awaiting the first crop of true DX10 titles to be ready, and it stands to reason that once these amazingly gorgeous titles ship Vista will become the new standard OS for many gamers. Until then, MS has been busy making a few titles only work on Vista, such as Shadowrun.But the question of whether or not this is...
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