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The Austin, Texas-based company on Tuesday sent an e-mail to people who have recently bought Dell products, asking them to try the new Axim X5 handheld, which uses Microsoft's Pocket PC 2002 operating system.

The e-mail offers a 10 percent discount in addition to a $50 mail-in rebate. When all the wheeling and dealing is over, consumers who have the e-mail offer will pay $175 for the entry-level device with a 300MHz Intel XScale processor, or $265 for the advanced model with a 400MHz Intel XScale processor.

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During his Tuesday speech, Ruiz also announced that the brand name of AMD's 64-bit desktop processor, codenamed ClawHammer, will be AMD Athlon 64. The chip will ship during the first half of next year.

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According to a document posted on one of Microsoft's Xbox online forums, Xbox Live will check for the presence of mod chips or unauthorized software when a console connects to the service. If such modifications are detected, Xbox Live will record the serial number of the unit and permanently ban that machine from accessing the Xbox Live network.

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"The "Mobile Cap," going on sale for 385 Norwegian crowns ($53) each, includes a light metal tissue that channels almost 100 percent of radio waves away from the head while allowing sound to pass through."

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Corporate hospitality has also been curbed. Two to three years ago, companies would hire bands like the B-52s or Barenaked Ladies to play at company functions. Now, except for Microsoft, most have curtailed evening events.

By Tuesday night, most of us will likely be hanging out in the Winnebago, surfing the Net.

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The results received from the Dual 120mm Monster Radiator were slightly better than the original 120mm Radiator that was included in the Space 2000+ Water Cooling Kit. I noticed that there was a 1-2 radius seperating both products during idle and load times, but where the Dual Monster 120mm Radiator shines is in overclocked environments. The system was running in overclocked mode (VCORE 1.8, FSB 147, Multiplier 12x) at 1.7 GHz and kept a steady system temperature of 33 degrees Celcius. The 80mm Radiator was some what of a disappointment although temperature results were respectable. The results were equivalent to an air cooling heatsink and this is due to the limited amount of water flowing through the radiator cooling the AMD Athlon XP 1800+ CPU core. The 80mm fan is no match for a 120mm fan or dual 120mm fans at lowering water temperature.

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FanStorm is a fan controller that helps manage airflow in your pc controlling up to 16 fans simultaneously. It uses a technology called "Pulse Width". This design does not produce heat, unlike traditional fan controllers that use a resistor. This technology also helps control heat automatically without the need to flip a switch or turn on a fan.

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The feature set on the MSI is up to their usual standards. The full retail motherboard will provide you with more brackets and extras than you can shake the proverbial stick at. With optional Gigabit LAN, Bluetooth and WLAN support, the GNB MAX can be specified to a disarmingly high standard.

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Vantec has once again proven with their Nexus they make fabulous products. I hope for some people they start to make some new faceplates and also enable an option to get a Fahrenheit readout.

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Overall, this cooler is highly recommended, you can't go wrong with the FalconRock. Rated for AMD processors up to the Athlon XP2 800 TBred, this cooler should be able to take most anything thrown at it in terms of heat.

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For its desktop Linux product, SuSE will enlist the aid of CodeWeavers, whose CrossOver Office software lets Microsoft Windows run on Intel-based Linux computers, said Holger Dyroff, general manager of the SuSE American division, during an interview at the Comdex Fall 2002 trade show on Monday.

SuSE plans to announce the product at the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo at the end of January, Dyroff said.

The $129 product also will include Sun's StarOffice package, a competitor to Microsoft Office, Dyroff said.

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The Vantec AeroFlow coolers are designed to fit both Socket 478 and 462 motherboards and are premium products for maximum air cooling. Also, these coolers use a great heatsink and the Tip Magnetic Driving fan which translates into quiet operation and excellent performance. Watch the Video to find out more...

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The kit provides superior results. Compared against the best air cooled heat sink in my personal arsenal, the Innovatek kit runs circles around it. The stock temperatures are very impressive, with only a two degree difference between idle and full load temperatures. As well, in an overclocked environment, the kit absolutely dominated, providing a huge 10 degree gap over the Heat Pipe. To test just how far the system could go, I was able to push the system to 1.85 GHz at a core voltage of 2.1 volts. Even that those speeds and temperatures, full load temperatures never broke the 60 degree mark. This represents an additional 150MHz above and beyond what the system could run at and still remain stable. I believe the CPU has actually hit its top end at this speed, since temperatures were still well within tolerable levels.

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CD Burners have come a long way since I started using PC's. There was a time when burning a CD took over 70 minutes and you couldn't even touch the PC while the write process was in action. Since then we have seen many different technologies hit the market one of them being BURN-PROOF which stopped those annoying buffer underuns during burning that lead to extra coasters on your coffee table. The burner we are looking at here is by Phillips, the company that actually invented the compact disc. It burns at a whopping 40 speed. Let's take a look.

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The only performance improvement you will gain in having installed a Baybus is the ability to change the voltage output on your fans. Normally the Baybus operates in full 12V output, and with this version you have the ability to turn the fan off completely, or operate it at 7V. When you operate the fans at 7V the noise is GREATLY reduced. So when your not running your rig at full tilt, you can give your ears a break and run the fans at 7V.

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If you're not much of an overclocker, then you're gonna be satisfied with the MSI GNB Max. It offers excellent hardware features and very good performance- Granite Bay's dual channel offers the best performance for a DDR based P4 solution at the moment. Our biggest complain with the board is the BIOS- and we're sure than MSI will update it and include some of the options that we've complained about.

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The Gigabyte GA-7VAX is a competent board. For those that do not need Raid it is an idea platform for 266Mhz or 333Mhz Based Athlons. If you have a KT333 based board already then there is no benefit in upgrading your board to this. DDR400 and 8x AGP would not be good reasons to upgrade your Athlon System as the Athlon is unable to take advantage of any "HighSpeed" Memory (DDR400 or DDR433) unless insanely overclocked.

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Regardless if you are upgrading from anything less than a KT333 board (perhaps even a KT266A board) then the KT400 is going to be a possible solution. If you were to purchase a new motherboard there is no point purchasing a KT333 board, as it will most likely have fewer features than a KT400 board and cost no less.

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The SiS655 supports Pentium® 4 FSB up to 533 MHz, AGP 8X interface, dual channel DDR333 memory controller and the SiS MuTIOL® 1G technology, connecting the SiS655 with the South Bridge SiS963. The SiS655 dual channel DDR333 memory controller fully optimizes the Intel P4-based system performance, doubles the memory bandwidth up to 5.4 GB at advanced 128-bit mode and concurrent 2X64 bit mode, and provides flexible DIMM configuration to enable the dual channel advantage. The SiS655 also supports Hyper Threading™ technology.

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The SiS755 provides a fast, powerful and affordable solution for the high-end performance computing market. Paired with the SiS963, a South Bridge peripheral interface, the SiS755 is loaded with powerful multimedia functions, including 5.1 Channel AC'97 2.2 Audio, 10/100Mb Ethernet, Home PNA2.0 and Dual ATA133/100/66 IDE Channels. The SiS755 supports six PCI slots and six USB 2.0/1.1 ports.

The SiS755/SiS963 combination utilizes MuTIOL® 1G technology to provide a fast and seamless connection between the North and South Bridge. The MuTIOL® 1G is a SiS proprietary data bandwidth transfer technology with 1GB/sec transfer speed and bi-directional 16-bit data bus at 533MHz operating speed.

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Like its predecessors, the Xabre600 supports both AGP 8X and DirectX 8.1 for fast and reliable performance. Uniquely, the Xabre600 is the most full-blown AGP compliant GPU on the market, supporting AGP 8X 533 MHz with 16 stages pipeline full side-band function. And the Xabre600 is faster with dual 300 MHz speed for both the engine and memory clock.

The Xabre600 also integrates a 256-bit 3D graphics engine and is loaded with new SiS proprietary technologies for a high-performance, cost-effective graphics solution for the mainstream gaming market.

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NVIDIA's own internal benchmarks reveal that the 8x AGP-compliant GeForce FX has 3x the raw frame rate power of the NV25 (GeForce4 Ti 4xxxx) and 3x the vertex processing. Sporting 125-million transistors and manufactured on a 0.13u process, it's arguably the most technologically advanced GPU available. It's manufactured using the same flip-chip technology as the R300.

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R300 changed all that and since July of this year ATi have held all the cards (excuse the pun). Meanwhile NVIDIA was struggling with one of the biggest technical challenges they've faced to date, the move from a 0.15micron process to a 0.13micron process using copper interconnects. This endeavour was apparently the only reason behind NV3x's delay to market and although it left them in the unfamiliar position of underdog they felt the time was right to tackle the move head on and get it behind them. The deed now complete they have emerged faster, leaner and ready to ramp up those speeds.

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Today’s introduction of the NV30 core marks the beginning of NVIDIA’s next generation DirectX 9 product. The NV30 is the successor to the NV25 core, the chip running today's GeForce4 Ti cards. For comparison's sake, the R300 and the NV30 can be considered as part of the same generation, although the R300 got its foot out the door much sooner than the NV30. Until now, the Radeon 9700 Pro has had no competitor. The delays of getting the NV30 part to production have set NVIDIA back pretty far. In fact, NVIDIA has basically missed a product cycle. Today, NVIDIA is finally announcing their next generation card, one based on the NV30, the GeForce FX. We will take a look into the GeForce FX here, but please keep in mind that this is a preview of the technology. The cards themselves are not quite ready for retail shelves and we will likely not see retail product until February of 2003.

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At this point, you can bet that NVIDIA's top priority is getting the GeForce FX on the market. Those of you that have been loyal in using NVIDIA's products may continue to patiently wait for the initial GeForce FX performance results, which I'm sure NVIDIA appreciates. On the other hand, NVIDIA realizes that every day that passes without the GeForce FX on the market is another day they can lose potential customers to ATI.

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Other items of note are that the GeForceFX can push 8 pixels per clock cycle. This is similar to the ATI's R300 but, as it is for both cards, the true performance will come from the core and mem frequencies, and in the advanced DX9 features (CineFX for NV30). Also, of note is that NVIDIA stated that GeForceFX is compatable with Linux, Windows, Mac OSX, and XBox. I found it rather interesting that XBox was intentionally added to the list. Perhaps an XBox 2 is in the works?

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"Segways are fuel efficient and run on two electrically charged batteries, each equipped with five gyroscopes that keep it balanced and upright. Most are programmed to top speeds of 12 miles an hour and can go about 15 miles on a single charge."

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Notebooks with 16-inch screens are still rare--and fairly expensive. HP's laptop undercuts rival 16-inch models from Toshiba and Sony, company representatives said.

The Presario 3005US is priced at $1,899 before a $100 mail-in rebate--$900 less than Toshiba's Satellite 1955-S803, and $200 less than Sony's Vaio PCG-GRV550.

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Ballmer told CNET News.com that over the next three to four years, the cost difference between building a tablet PC and a traditional notebook will evaporate, making the addition of tablet-related abilities into all portables a natural.

"There will be a zero cost (difference) for tablet," Ballmer said Sunday at a Microsoft party at the swank Aureole restaurant in the Mandalay Bay Casino here. The party took place just as Comdex Fall 2002 was kicking into gear.

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By contrast, some of the new machines will start for around $1,000, said Narayan, while Gateway will bundle one with a 42-inch plasma screen TV, which alone sells for $2,999. Korean giant Samsung is also expected to ship Media Center PCs soon.

A computer loaded with Media Center can be hooked up to a TV so the PC's hard drive functions as a digital video recorder. Conversely, digital pictures stored on the PC's hard drive can be viewed on the TV screen.

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"Dell's Axim will feature a 65,000-color screen, wireless and Bluetooth capabilities if you stick a CompactFlash Type II Card into the Axim's expansion slot, and you also get a backup battery that you can charge up in the Axim's cradle ... while the Axim itself is charging. It will use the Pocket PC operating system. And it will be priced much cheaper than Hewlett-Packard's iPaq Pocket PC handheld, which can cost anywhere from $500-$700."

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Honesty & Integrity:
If you think [H]ardOCP has been not been founded on honesty and integrity over the last five years, then you might as well stop reading now, as what I have to say will not pertain to you. We are an enthusiast site that existed before we were called "enthusiasts". We have watched the community grow and we have grown with it. Our readers are our peers and our number one concern, and never think any different.

There is a situation that we need to discuss that has been brewing since we posted the Intel 3GHz review on the 13th at 9pm CST. After two days of talking and listening to our readers and our peers that we have full trust in, it is evident that we have done something that is inexcusable.

After researching this fully for two days, I have been able to pull together 100% factual evidence that a single set of benchmarks in the 3GHz article were changed after publication of the article. The 3DMark benchmark was changed from "17829" to "17329". The fact of the matter is that we did not note this change. It is standard operating procedure that anytime a portion of an article is changed, outside spelling and grammar, it is noted and explained as to why the change was made. This was not done.

As I am Editor-in-Chief of HardOCP.com this is 100% fully my responsibility to make sure issues such as these do not occur. The change in the benchmark without notation is fully my responsibility and I did not fulfill my responsibility to you. For that I apologize.

Our detractors have been posting stories that have reached from one end of the spectrum to the other every since they smelled blood in the water. I assure you that we do not post lies, and we have never intentionally posted numbers or benchmarks that we have known to be wrong. Doing that is simply not in our character. We do not accept bribes and we do not play favorites. While this site has become my livelihood, it is never viewed as "for profit" business. Our first and foremost objective is to supply solid information to our readers. At this point, if you question our competency, I can understand as we have given you a reason for doing so. Please do not let this be a mark against our integrity and honesty.

I assure you that this will not happen again.

Kyle Bennett
Editor-in-Chief [H]ardOCP.com

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"Supercomputers harness the collective power of a large number of processors. Scientists apply this power to predict the weather, conduct experiments or simulate nuclear explosions; companies use it to design and test products such as automobiles and airplanes"

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Meanwhile, a team from Cornell University last month unveiled a device that converts the energy stored in radioactive material directly into mechanical motion, which in turn moves the parts of a miniscule machine to generate electricity. This type of battery could supply power for decades, said Amit Lal, a professor at Cornell's electrical and computer engineering department and the lead researcher.

Lal said that medical device makers and cell phone makers have shown interest in commercial applications of the atomic battery, adding that consumers may see the new batteries in cell phones in about three to four years.

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OCAddiction.com is giving away an Abit Siluro GeForce4 Ti4200 on FRIDAY the 15th with no hoops to jump thru, no games to play, and no “key words” to look for, simply drop us an email!! We have all of the details at the top of our front page for your readers to get entered.

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Cooler Master is one of the few names that comes to mind when I think of quality name brand computer products. Manufacturing computer products since 1992, Cooler Master has been recently creating a line of cases that provides the quality of the Cooler Master name and the affordability of a lower end case. Today we're looking at the ATC-710-SX1 case, which resembles the Chieftec cases that everyone is so familiar with. Let's take a look and see how this case works out...

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A once faithful nV partner, Gigabyte are now moving forward and building on the success of their R8500 part by releasing the Maya II, a Radeon 9700 Pro. With manufacturers such as Abit and Albatron doing well in the graphics sector this could be an essential product for a company that hasn't always been thought of as having the enthusiast in mind. Indeed, when we think of Gigabyte we think of stability over speed, features over overclocking and suchlike. However recent reviews have shown Gigabyte in a new light and this now just might be the R9700 to own!

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" This was a grave intrusion into a vital military system computer system at a time when we, as a nation, had to summon all of our defenses against further attack. Online vandals have often used military systems as hacking targets. The Pentagon, for example, has cited as many as 250,000 attacks in a single year. The attacks do succeed, on occasion"

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Remember that NVIDIA GeForceFX features 8 rendering pipelines with 2 TMUs on each one, DirectX 9 support, 256/128-bit DDR SDRAM memory controller, AGP 8x and a lot more technical innovations. I would like to point out that some Pixel and Vertex Shader features the GeForceFX can offer are even better than provided by the target DirectX 9.0 platform. Additionally, the next-generation VPU from NVIDIA offers some very efficient memory controller to provide even higher memory bandwidth compared to the rivals and predecessors.

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CodeCreatures score is improved by 20% at 4X AA for 9700 series products
NASCAR 2002 framerate is up as much as 18% across the entire RADEON products line
NHL 2002 performance is up as much as 35% across the entire product line (largest gains on RADEON 7500/8500)
Performance on legacy (dx6 and dx7) apps is improved by as much as 15% for RADEON 9700 Series products

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"What we have done here specifically is to select the set of polymers with the right properties that can function at very fast speeds. Basically, we are cramming a lot more electrical data onto an optical light wave in one second."

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"Kingston responded to increasing requests from the enthusiast market for a line of high-performance memory modules, exclusively tailored for those consumers who tweak their systems thereby pushing them to the limit. HyperX modules are designed for consumers who like to maximize the performance of their systems to allow for the optimization of memory parameters. With HyperX memory modules, gamers and PC enthusiasts can take full advantage of their system's performance with the increased performance provided by the Kingston HyperX modules."