News

Hercules released new drivers for the following videocards Hercules 3D Prophet 4000XT, 3D Prophet 4000XT TV/OUT, 3D Prophet 4500 64MB, 3D Prophet 4500 TV/Out.

New drivers v. 15.20 for Windows XP you can get here.

MBProbe is a program which monitors voltages, temperatures and fan speeds using hardware monitoring chip(s) available on many modern motherboards. Supports a wide range of monitoring chips from Analog Devices, Genesys Logic, National Semiconductor, Winbond, and many others. If you are interested in this utility click here or if you want to download non-beta status MBProbe v. 1.30 click here.

Want to know more about your PC? This utility allows you to get system summary and hardware configuration that can be output to a text or html file. One nifty feature is the possibility of working with remote machines in LAN with no need to install software on a remote client. The program has nice graphic interface and is easy to use. If you are interested in learning more visit Ultimate Systems, if you want to download the program click here.

Nvidia showcased its new DVD player/decoder software at IDF that is developed to use with PCs equipped with videocards based on Nvidia chipsets.

Features of the new product:

• API support for DirectShow, DirectDraw, DirectSound, DirectX
  
• Support for Dolby Digital, Dolby Surround, DTS, LPCM
  
• Digital output to S/PDIF
  
• nView support to work with dual monitor configurations
  
• DVC (Digital Vibrance Control) to set the color settings for the monitor
  
• AFC (Advanced Frame Capture) to capture quality screens from video playback
  
• Auto-Resume allows resuming playback from the moment where you stopped it

Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS) technical support released new AGP driver version for motherboards based on the following chipsets: SiS630, SiS635, SiS633, SiS645, SiS650, SiS730, SiS735, SiS733, SiS740, SiS745.

Driver version 1.09 http://203.66.2.110/ftp/Drivers/agp/agp109.exe”>get it.

Adobe announced new version of one if its most popular graphic applications Adobe Photoshop 7.0. I will not go in detail as to innovations that Adobe has made to its product, what is worth to mention is the fact that version 7 will have more features to ease the life of web graphics design. Want to learn more get the information from http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/newfeatures.html\"> Adobe.

Elsa a well-known graphics card manufacturer has filed bankruptcy claim. The rumors that have been around the web came true. Elsa's negotiations with eight creditor banks over the weekend were fruitless, an attempt to find an external source of finance brought no result either. Elsa filed for bankruptcy due to its inability to cover 30 million Euro debt due in February and yet another upcoming 10 million Euro debt due in March. It is upsetting seeing the graphic card competition shrink.

If you enjoy installing unofficial beta driver and own Nvidia based card then following links are for you.

Detonator v. 27.50 Win 9x/Me

Detonator v. 27.51 Win 2000/XP

Interested to see what the future of DDR looks like? Take a look at VR-ZONE.

Microsoft released a patch that corrects driver loading problem for PCI devices when resuming work from standby mode under Windows 2000.

If you are using this OS and experienced problems with standby mode Windows 2000 then get the patch here.

Mitsumi tech support released firmware for its Mitsumi CR-480ATE CD-RW drive. Firmware version 1.0D can be downloaded from this ftp address.

NPD Intellect posted ten best selling game titles for the period of 3-9 February 2002:

1. Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
2. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
3. The Sims: Hot Date
4. The Sims
5. RollerCoaster Tycoon
6. Zoo Tycoon
7. Backyard Basketball
8. Serious Sam: Second Encounter
9. Empire Earth
10. Civilization III

As you can see the leaders are Sims and Tycoons that seem to have settled among the best selling games. Also Serious Sam:SE rocketed up into the top 10 table being released just about a month ago. If you are interested in seeing review for this game click here.

NPD Intellect posted results of best selling software for the period 3-9 February 2002. Here is the top 10 selling software titles:

1. Norton Antivirus 2002 8.0
2. MS Windows XP Home Ed Upgr
3. VirusScan 6.0
4. Norton Systems Works 2002 5.0
5. QuickBooks 2002 Pro
6. MS Windows 98 2nd Ed Upgr
7. MS Office XP Student & Teacher Ed
8. MS Windows XP Plus Pack
9. Norton Personal Firewall 2002 4.0
10. Norton Internet Security 2002 4.0

Symantec should start paying people to write viruses to stay on top permanently .

Ever wondered how much time you spend in front of PC doing several tasks. This program will give provide with graphical summary of what program you used and how much time you spent using it. If you can find this utility useful take a look.

Electronic Arts seems to have bought all the recent licences from movie makers to produce games. This time it is the Lord of the Rings that they are planning to release. If you are interested in seeing all three screenshots available at the time visit EA.

P.S. Latest title from EA I personally played was Harry Potter and the Sorceress Stone. Despite the fact that it was in top 10 selling games in January, I found the game for ages 7-15. The game is based on the Unreal engine. I would assume that Lord of the Rings will also be based on a new improved version of this engine.

Tribes 2 World Championship starts on the 25th of February. 400 participants broken into 16 teams will take part in the championship that will last for 100 days. For more information visit Planettribes

If you own Video Blaster WebCam 3 USB or Video Blaster WebCam Plus, get the latest drivers from Creative version 20-02-2002.