ATI Radeon HD 5570 Gets GDDR5

The conventional wisdom about sub-$100 video cards is that they'll do in a pinch, as long as you don't plan on gaming much with them. But with its ATI Radeon HD 5570, which was released earlier this year, AMD tried to prove that wrong for the $79 price range—and came close to succeeding. You needed to make certain compromises—the usual, namely resolution and detail—but the card could net you decent-enough performance at lower and middle resolutions to basically meet sufficiently modest expectations.

AMD is betting that even more is possible. It's provisioned a new version of the 5570 that keeps the rest of the card's specs the same, but sports 1GB of GDDR5 RAM instead of the original DDR3—all for about the same price. (For an overview of what GDDR5 is and how it works, check out our article GDDR5 Memory--Under the Hood.) This card might not be eye-poppingly powerful, but it can handle DirectX 11 (which no similarly priced Nvidia card can currently do) and AMD's multimonitor Eyefinity technology for up to three displays—both nice features.

We wanted to see what sort of a performance this difference this made, and whether gaming with the "new and improved" GDDR5 would be even better than before, or the memory change really was just hype.

Compute Power

Tyent MMP-9090 Turbo Extreme Water Ionizer A Great Item To Use

Water quality can be extremely good or very poor depending on where you live. No matter what the quality though you will want to know why the Tyent MMP-9090 Turbo Extreme Water Ionizer is a great item to use. So here are some of the best reasons why this is a great item to use.

The control center that is available with many of these units will be fully automated. So you are not going to have to worry about making the adjustments unless you want to, but normally they will be able to take care of the adjustments right away so you will still have the best water quality available at all times.

You can discover the necessary that the voice feedback that is programmed in will help you avoid making mistakes. If you do decide that you want to take control of the unit on your own the voice feedback features can help you avoid the problems that can happen if you adjust something to far.

If you have a high water pressure area you could end up getting to much coming into your system at any point in time. If that is the problem that you have you will want to know that some of these are going to have a water controller that can automatically adjust to prevent to much from coming in at one time and ruining your system.

Filtered water is all that many people drink anymore, but those sink filter systems can look odd and can have expensive filters to replace on a monthly basis. However, with these systems you are going to have the filtered water right away without having to worry about the additional filter on your sink.

Advanced metals will help extend out the life of your unit to a more acceptable limit for the price that you are going to be paying. These systems are expensive and if you have to replace them frequently you will not be getting your moneys worth. However, with the advanced metals that you can find here you will have a longer life than what you might be expecting to have.

Many people do not even realize that these types of things exist, but they do and you will find the above reasons to just be the start of why you are going to want to use these. When you are looking at these you will want to consider the Tyent MMP-9090 Turbo Extreme Water Ionizer as one of your choices as well to provide you with the best water available.

Microchip Wins Top Technology Awards for its eXtreme Low Power PIC[R] Microcontrollers, mTouch[TM] Sensing Solutions and Analog Products.

EDN Magazine selected Microchip's PIC24F16KA nanoWatt XLP PIC microcontrollers as its Innovation Award winner in the "Microcontroller" category, marking Microchip's second consecutive win. Additionally, Microchip was a finalist in "Analog Signal An analog or analogue signal is any time continuous signal where some time varying feature of the signal is a representation of some other time varying quantity. It differs from a digital signal in that small fluctuations in the signal are meaningful. Path" category for its MCP (1) See Microsoft certification.

(2) (MultiChip Package) A chip package that contains two or more chips. It is essentially a multichip module (MCM) that uses a laminated, printed-circuit-board-like substrate (MCM-L) rather than ceramic (MCM-C). 651/2/5 operational amplifiers (op amps). EDN's technical editors nominate the most unique, state-of-the-art electronics products, and then let its readership vote for the candidates via an online balloting process. EDN then uses a combination of these audience votes, balloting of its Editorial Advisory Board, and voting by its editorial staff to determine the ultimate winner in each category.

"Microchip continues to gain industry recognition for the leading technology that customers have already come to expect, including highly integrated PIC microcontrollers with the world's lowest power consumption," said Ganesh Moorthy, Microchip COO. "Designers also prefer the flexibility of our open-source mTouch sensing solutions, and the synergistic convenience of our broad portfolio of low-power analog products. We are honored by all of these prestigious awards, and will continue to bring our customers the very best solutions for their embedded design needs."

The EN-Genius Network named Microchip's MCP2036 Inductive Touch-Sensing Analog Front End (AFE (Apple File Exchange) An earlier Macintosh utility that converted data files between Mac and PC formats. It also included a file translator between IBM's DCA format and MacWrite. ) its Product of the Year in the "Best AFE Sampling System" category. Award winners are selected from among the products reviewed by their editorial team during the course of the year, on the basis of technical merit and likelihood of market success.

Finally, two of the aforementioned Microchip products were also finalists in Design News Magazine's annual Golden Mousetrap Awards, which recognize engineering innovation and creativity in product design. The MCP651/2/5 op amps were named in the "Components, Hardware & Interconnects" category, while the PIC24F16KA microcontrollers were named in the "Power Management" category.

For additional information about the products in this press release, contact any Microchip sales representative or authorized worldwide distributor, or visit Microchip's Web site at http://www.microchip.com/get/9B9W.

About Microchip Technology

Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MCHP) is a leading provider of microcontroller and analog semiconductors, providing low-risk product development, lower total system cost and faster time to market for thousands of diverse customer applications worldwide. Headquartered in Chandler, Arizona, Microchip offers outstanding technical support along with dependable delivery and quality. For more information, visit the Microchip website at http://www.microchip.com/get/9B9W.

Note: The Microchip name and logo, and PIC are registered trademarks of Microchip Technology Inc. in the USA and other countries. mTouch is a trademark of Microchip Technology Inc. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective companies.

High-res Photos Available Through Flickr or Editorial Contact (feel free to publish):

* MCP651/2/5 Op Amps: http://www.microchip.com/get/PETD

* PIC24F16KA Microcontrollers: http://www.microchip.com/get/93WK

* MCP2036 Inductive Touch-Sensing AFE: http://www.microchip.com/get/00HR

RSS Feed for Microchip Product News: http://www.microchip.com/get/BDR6

The State of Oil Spill Cleaning Technology

Since the Exxon Valdez oil spill wreaked havoc on the Alaskan shoreline over 20 years ago, there have been few advances in technology for cleaning up after an accident. Here is an overview of the cleanup technologies on hand for the Deepwater Horizon spill.

The Deepwater Horizon saga playing out in the Gulf of Mexico is officially a Humpty Dumpty situation. On Sunday, President Barack Obama arrived in Louisiana to reaffirm the government's "all hands on deck" approach to combating the spill. All the king's horses and all the king's men are mustered in the Gulf, in the form of thousands of oil spill responders, a Coast Guard strike force a hundred vessels strong, 100,000 meters of containment boom, the Air Force's 910th Airlift Wing, the Secretaries of the Interior and Homeland Security and fleet of fisherman-cum-boom-layers, and one-third of the world's oil dispersant supply, just to name a few.

In addition to the massive accumulation of manpower in the region, federal and local authorities, working in conjunction with BP, which operated the now-collapsed rig, have deployed every possible technological response in an attempt to stem the oily tide, which is approximately 130 miles long and 70 miles wide, both beneath the sea and on the surface.

The Situation Underwater

At present, it is estimated that the three leaks, located 50 miles from the Louisiana coast, and 5000 feet below sea level, are spewing oil at a rate of 200,000 gallons per day. BP is trying to stop the flow with a three-pronged approach. Initially, a number of remote-controlled robotic submarines were dispatched to the gulf floor in an attempt to close a series of valves that would halt the leakage. Thus far, these efforts have proved fruitless, with one BP official telling ABC news, it's like trying to perform "open heart surgery … in the dark."

While the robots toiled undersea, BP also took other, less immediate steps, including positioning another rig over the leak site that will drill a "relief well" meant to divert the flow away from the Deepwater Horizon leaks. In the meantime, efforts are also underway to construct three massive cement-and-steel capping "domes." These will act like 40-foot tall, 70-ton vacuum attachments, which will cap the leaks and channel the oil up pipes to recovery tankers on the surface. But the domes are still days from being completed and have never been tested at such great depths.

And on the Surface

With its current leakage rate, experts predict, the Deepwater Horizon spill could eventually total nearly 20 million gallons of oil. For comparison, the amount of oil spilled by the Exxon Valdez in 1989 was 11 million gallons. To mitigate potential damage to the Gulf Coast and to prevent environmental devastation on the scale of that infamous Alaskan spill, spill responders are using every weapon in their arsenal.

The Cleanup: A Three-Pronged Approach

According to Elise DeCola, an oil spill specialist with the environmental consultancy Nuva Research, there are three ways to combat an oil slick on the open sea. The first tactic is the so-called mechanical approach, which comprises the use of a boom to corral and deflect oil and skimmers to collect it.

"That's the preferred approach because it's the only one that takes the oil out of the environment," DeCola says. "It's labor-intensive and it's equipment-intensive. With a successful mechanical recovery, you might get 20 percent of the oil that you encounter."

The second approach is to apply dispersants to the slick. These detergent-like solvents are typically deployed from sea vessels operating around the slick, or from aircraft overhead. Additionally, BP and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are attempting to apply dispersants below sea level using robotic submarines, though the efficacy of this tactic is still undetermined. When dispersants mix with the slick, it breaks the oil into droplets, suspending it in the water column to be dealt with naturally. "They've been applying these in the Gulf," DeCola says. "An off-shore blowout is the textbook case for using dispersants because you don't have to worry about misapplication or hitting a marsh area." As of May 2, more than 156,000 gallons of dispersant have been applied to the slick, with an additional 75,000 gallons available.

The final tactic being deployed in the Gulf is in situ burning. Oil is corralled using booms to thickness where enough volatiles are present to sustain a controlled burn. Once the oil is burned it forms a tar-like substance that can either be manually removed from the water, or left to decompose naturally, similar to dispersant-treated oil. The Coast Guard conducted an hour-long test burn last Wednesday, but unfavorably strong winds and rough seas have prevented any further in situ burning.

Dr. Gerald Graham, a 30-year veteran in the oil spill business, says all three standard approaches remain essentially the same as they were at the time of the Exxon Valdez spill, incremental improvements have been made in all areas. Booms are more resilient in fast currents, for example, and dispersants are considerably less toxic than they once were. The biggest improvements, according to Graham, have come in information technology, and how responders collect and use data—oil spill response atlases, spill-trajectory modeling, satellite spill sensing, and using laser fluorosensors to detect spills from aircraft have all become commonplace in the years since Exxon Valdez.

Moreover, says Graham, the responders using these instruments are now trained professionals, whereas two and three decades ago, it was "a dirty job for someone who was about to retire. Nobody wanted to do it."

"It's still a lot of grunt work," Graham says. "It's still throwing personnel and equipment at the spill and dealing with Mother Nature and her whims."

Next-Gen Cleaning Tech

Extreme Spill Technology's "High Speed" Skimming Vessel Mechanical clean-up technology tends to work only in placid waters. Booms and skimmers can be rendered ineffective and unsafe in currents of more than 1 knot and waves exceeding 1.5 meters. According to David Prior, CEO and lead designer at Extreme Spill Technologies, his boat—the method for which has been successfully demonstrated for the Canadian Coast Guard—can not only handle rough seas, it can also travel at much higher speeds.

Case Western Reserve's Aerogel In February researchers at Case Western Reserve University unveiled a sponge-like material of their creation composed of 2 percent clay, 2 percent plastic and 96 percent air. Their lab tests demonstrate how the sponge (called Aerogel) when applied to polluted water is capable of absorbing the oil and leaving behind the water. It can then be squeezed clean so that the oil can be recycled.

2011 Ford Transit Connect Taxi Compressed Natural Gas Car Technology

Yellow car taxi with elegant design technology that will be new era of city transportation in the world! The 2011 Ford Transit Connect Taxi will go into production and arrive in dealerships in 2010 as a 2011 model, adding to Ford Motor Company’s leadership in the North American taxi market. We will make some detail review and price list including interior and exterior pictures gallery that can make you interesting to this new taxi car design concept. Creating the announcement at the 2010 Chicago Auto Show, Ford car maker also said it will launch engine prep packages on all 2011 Ford Transit Connect models – base and taxi – allowing conversion to efficient, clean-burning CNG (compressed natural gas) otherwise propane (LPG, or liquefied petroleum gas). The 2011 Ford Transit Connect Taxi, combined with an powerful engine modified by Ford to use CNG/LPG, is intended to meet that need. To further serve taxi operators, Ford will give required calibration specifications for the CNG or LPG conversion.


The 2011 Ford Transit Connect Taxi gives an excellent interior design package for people and cargo. Ford car Manufacturer Company is collaborating with Creative Mobile Technologies, LLC (CMT), to integrate premier payment processing and passenger information technologies in the Ford Transit Connect Taxi. Evidence of how this technology could work in the future is included in the Ford Transit Connect Taxi. The green taxi is not new at Ford car model concept that has been a leader in the taxi business for decades. Built on a dedicated commercial automotive platform and tested to Ford tough truck standards, the 2011 Ford Transit Connect Taxi – including gasoline-powered versions and those modified to operate on CNG/LPG – is planned to meet the extreme demands of taxi service.

Gerry Koss, Ford fleet marketing manager said that 2011 Ford Transit Connect already has proven that it provides tremendous versatility for commercial fleet use. The 2011 Ford Transit Connect taxi, combined with the capability for CNG/LPG conversion, further demonstrates its flexibility. Truly perfect taxi car for modern city transportation!

Jabra EXTREME – Bluetooth Headset Review

My first Bluetooth

came from Jabra. Because the phone didn’t have Bluetooth, I needed to use an additional Bluetooth dongle that connected to it via the 3.5 mm jack. The was the “traditional” design that Jabra used for many years. It wrapped around the ear and stayed completely stable no matter what you were doing. Yes, you looked like a bit of a dork while wearing the headset, but it stayed in place and was super comfortable.

In addition, it had a boom mike that brought the microphone close to your mouth for better sound quality. That didn’t much matter however, since Bluetooth technology was rather poor at the time. The Bluetooth signal was so weak and the sound quality was so unreliable that the headset was more “wow” than “usable”.

Since then I’ve largely opted for headsets that forgo the wrap around style. They tend to be small, less obtrusive and, thanks to improvements in the technology, they sound better. The updated design allows the headsets to be smaller but, at times, it makes them a bit less stable in the ear. As a result it is often helpful, or even necessary, to use an earloop to keep them secure.

This is the design Jabra opted for with their Jabra Extreme. It is a small, unobtrusive headset that brings powerful noise cancellation to an otherwise simple-looking headset.

Let’s take a look.

From Jabra-

Building upon Jabra’s renowned noise cancellation technology, Jabra EXTREME utilizes Noise Blackout™ Extreme, which significantly enhances its dual microphone system. This is supported by the new advanced automatic volume control which automatically adjusts to the envifronment and your conversation. These developments have led Jabra EXTREME to be remarkably 2x more effective in noisy environments (by 24DB) than the original Noise Blackout™.

What will further amaze end-users is the voice quality; while Jabra EXTREME eliminates ambient noise it retains natural sounding voice on both ends of the line ensuring your conversation is full of life rather than a robotic exchange of words.

Jabra EXTREME’s distinctive Ultimate-fit Eargel™ molds to your ear which ensures a secure and comfortable fit all day long. The Ultimate-fit Eargel™ also contains specially designed holes for optimum incoming sound, which adds to Jabra EXTREME’s superb overall sound quality.

Specs-

• Eliminates background noise with dual microphone technology
• All day comfort with Ultimate-fit Eargels™ and ear hook
• Adjusts volume automatically
• Convenient car charger and headset holder in one
• Easy to use with dedicated on/off slider and auto-pairing
• Multiuse™ – connect to 2 devices at the same time
• Up to 5.5 hours talk time and up to 10.5 days standby time

As I said above, the style of the is nothing to write home about; it doesn’t have a boom or anything fancy, and this headset won’t make you go “wow!”. No, it’s quite simple and unassuming. It is a far cry from the last Jabra I reviewed, the Stone, which had an amazing industrial design. It was a wraparound style, and it came with its own “stone” that doubled as the charging unit. This was especially important because the headset itself had a relatively short battery life. Yes, the Stone had an awesome design. It made you go “wow!” but what it had in the style department it lacked in the comfort and sound quality department — at least in my opinion.

The Jabra Extreme’s Design-

Measuring 1.9″ by 1.1″ wide by 0.7″ thick the Extreme is the anti-Stone. Simplicity in all its glory. The headset is made from gunmetal gray plastic with a perforated grille on the front and black on the back. The headset’s dual microphones are hidden behind the grille, but trust me… the quality of the sound guarantees they are there.

The buttons are unassuming. The middle button is branded with the Jabra name. It functions as the multifunction talk button. Next to it is the LED indicator. The volume controls are above and below it. They are small… really small… and at times they were difficult to use.

A feature that I LOVE, and that I am starting to see on an increasing number of headsets, is a dedicated on/off switch. This makes it easy to get the headset on and connected when a call is coming in. I am really happy to see this simple design change.

The headset weighs just three ounces, so it is quite comfortable over extended periods. It comes with–

• 1 Jabra EXTREME headset
• 1 AC charger, 1 car charger
• 1 USB charger
• 2 earhooks in different sizes
• 2 Ultimate-fit EargelTMI love the car charger Jabra ships with the device.

The two piece system is unlike anything I have seen before and it works great. The USB adapter fits into the car’s cigarette lighter/power port and a second piece converts USB to microUSB.

The whole thing fits together nicely and when in the car…

It keeps the headset charged and also within easy grasp.

Ultimately, when it comes to headsets design is nice but sound is what matters most. Jabra got it right here.

The headset has state of the art noise cancellation. As Jabra explains…

Building upon Jabra’s renowned noise cancellation technology, Jabra EXTREME utilizes Noise Blackout™ Extreme, which significantly enhances its dual microphone system. This is supported by the new advanced automatic volume control that automatically adjusts to the environment and your conversation.These developments have led Jabra EXTREME to be remarkably 2x more effective in noisy environments (by 24dB) than the original Noise Blackout (12dB). What will further amaze end-users is the voice quality; while Jabra EXTREME eliminates ambient noise it retains natural sounding voice on both ends of the line ensuring your conversation is full of life rather than a robotic exchange of words.Acoustic Shock Protection protects your ear from sudden blast of noise. In addition, a unique new Ultimate-fit Eargel™ has been developed to guarantee superior comfort for all day use.

Fortunately Jabra’s description isn’t an overstatement. The headset sounds good, and the noise cancellation works quite well when there is a lot of background chatter. Nothing compares to having a boom that brings the microphone closer to your mouth, but the built-in technology does a good job on both sides of the conversation. Add in the relative comfort of the headset (I would place it at good but not great), and you have a headset you can wear much of the time and use with ease.

Extra Features-

A nice feature of the EXTREME is the A2DP compatibility. This means you can stream music or podcasts to the headset when not using it for a call. Sure, you aren’t going to want to listen to tons of music with a headset in only on one ear, but for something like a podcast it is a nice feature to have.

The headset also features multipoint technology; this means it can connect to two different devices at the same time.

The headset also has something Jabra refers to as Acoustic Shock Protection. It keeps the headset from putting out sudden blasts of noise, thereby protecting the ear. Having experienced such a blast more than once I really appreciate this feature.

The Jabra Extreme has a rated battery life of 5.5 hours talk time and 10.5 days standby time.


You can see a promo video of the headset here…

In all, I like the Jabra EXTREME a great deal. When first released it was on the pricey side, but if you shop around you can get it for far less than the $99 MSRP.

MSRP: $99.99. It is currently available on Amazon for $54.99.

What I Like: Small and unobtrusive, sounds good, has a physical on/off switch, cool car charger, A2DP compatibility and other state-of-the-art technologies built in, decent price when you shop around

What Needs Improvement: Comfortable enough but not outstanding in that department

OWC Reveals 480GB Mercury Extreme Pro 2.5" SSD

Just yesterday Mushkin pushed the 2.5" SSD sector up a notch with a 240GB option, which is far larger than many standard hard drives that are shipping with notebooks today. Now, OWC is taking it to another level: 480GB. Yes, 480GB on a single 2.5" solid state drive. The bar has been raised in terms of capacity, that's for sure.

The company's new Mercury Extreme Pro SSD range is now available, with units ranging from 60GB to 480GB in size. According to the company, these feature "sustained data rates of 285MBps," with an ultra-efficient block management and wear leveling technology that "prevents write speed degradation commonly experienced by other brands' SSD."

• One of the fastest Internal SATA 2.5" SSD with available data rates up to 285MB/s.
• SandForce DuraClass™ technology with Ultra-efficient Block Management & Wear Leveling offers highest endurance, performance, and power efficiency in a SATA SSD.
• SandForce® Processor maximizes read and write performance to greatly extend the endurance and overall reliability of the drive.
• Up to 100X greater data protection than what the highest rated enterprise class conventional hard disk drive (HDD) provides.
• Best in class error correction (ECC) and SandForce RAISE™ (Redundant Array of Independent Silicon Elements) technology provides RAID like data protection and reliability without loss of transfer speed due to parity.
• Intelligent "recycling" for advanced free space management
• Highly secure… all data automatically stored in AES-128 encrypted format.
• Designed and made in the US from imported parts.

Nine Finalists Announced in Dimension 3D Printing Extreme Redesign Contest

MINNEAPOLIS, Apr 13, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Dimension 3D Printing, a brand of Stratasys Inc. (SSYS 25.45, +0.70, +2.83%) , today announced the nine finalists in its sixth annual "Extreme Redesign" challenge.

Extreme Redesign: The Ultimate 3D Printing Challenge, is a global design-and- 3D-printing contest for high school and college students. The nine finalists were selected from an international pool of entries by a panel of experts from within the design and engineering fields. Designs fall into one of three categories: High School, University, and Art and Architecture. The three first place category winners will receive $2,500 scholarships. The remaining finalists will each receive $1,000 scholarships.

In addition to the student scholarships, each instructor of a first-place winning student will receive a laptop computer for use in the classroom. This year's contest also features a new "Green Bonus." This award will recognize one student in each category whose design best displays innovation in areas such as energy efficiency and environmental sustainability. The Green Bonus winner will receive a $250 gift card.

High School Category Finalists

-- Robby Ridzy, Medina County Career Center, Brunswick, Ohio: Gutter Guide

-- Maxwell Krist, Eckstein Middle School, Seattle, Wash.: Electricity Usage Meter

-- Korrina Reed, Milford H.S., Milford, Ohio: Fragrance Bracelet

University Category Finalists

-- Donald Nicholson, Columbus State Community College, Columbus, Ohio: EZwriter

-- Ross Warrel, London South Bank University, London, England: Squirrel

-- Dale Herzog, Quinsigamond Community College, Worcester, Mass.: Robo-Prosthetic Development Platform

Art and Architecture Category Finalists

-- Chris Green, Utah State Univ., Logan, Utah: Helical Staircase

-- Trevor Clarke, Fullerton College, Fullerton College, Fullerton, Cal.: Roy

-- Amir Naeem, Fairfield Ludlowe High School, Fairfield, Conn.: Horus Research Center

Winners Announcement

The category and Green Bonus winners and will be announced on Tuesday, May 11th at www.DimensionPrinting.com.

"It was a highly competitive pool this year, thanks in part to a major increase in entries," said Jon Cobb, Stratasys global vice president of marketing. "Congratulations to all of the students who entered the challenge -- especially those who have made it through to the final nine. We would like to thank our panel of judges -- Ian Kovacevich (Enventys), Scott Schermer (S.C. Johnson), and Leslie Langnau (Design World magazine) for helping us with the difficult task of evaluating and ranking the designs."

Dimension, a brand of 3D printers by Stratasys, offers computer-aided-design (CAD) users a low-cost, networked alternative for building functional 3D models from the desktop. The printers build models layer-by-layer using ABS plastic, one of the most widely used thermoplastics in today's injection-molded products. Dimension 3D printers allow users to evaluate design concepts and test models for form, fit, and function. Online at: www.DimensionPrinting.com.

Stratasys, Inc., Minneapolis, manufactures additive fabrication machines for prototyping and manufacturing plastic parts under the brands Fortus 3D Production Systems and Dimension 3D Printers. The company also operates RedEye On Demand, an online service for part prototyping and production. According to Wohlers Report 2009, Stratasys supplied 43 percent of all additive fabrication systems installed worldwide in 2008, making it the unit market leader for the seventh consecutive year. Stratasys patented and owns the process known as FDM.(R) The process creates functional prototypes and manufactured goods directly from any 3D CAD program, using high-performance industrial thermoplastics. The company holds more than 250 granted or pending additive fabrication patents globally. Stratasys products are used in the aerospace, defense, automotive, medical, business & industrial equipment, education, architecture, and consumer-product industries. Online at: www.Stratasys.com.

Dimension, uPrint, Stratasys, and Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) are registered trademarks of Stratasys, Inc.

Attention Editors: If you wish to publish reader contact information, please use: info@DimensionPrinting.com, 952-937-3000, 1-866-721-9244, www.DimensionPrinting.com.

Epson Endeavor Pro7000 Extreme Edition Core i7 desktop computer

Intel’s Core i7 processors promises raw power. And this powerful processor has been featured in the latest Extreme Edition of Endeavor series desktop computer by Epson labeled as Pro7000. Endeavor Pro7000 Extreme Edition features Intel Core i7-980X processor. Whether it would be gaming or multimedia tasks, Pro7000 desktop PC offers you with the best of performance.

In addition to its 3.33GHz Intel Core i7-980X processor, it offers you with 3GB of PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM. And together, they offer you with incredible robustness and stability.

Extreme Edition features superior graphical support by ATI Radeon graphic card. It offers you with ATI Radeon HD 3450 which inject 256MB of VRAM. Endeavor Pro7000 might not prove to be a sheer gaming or multimedia machine, but it is surely a powerful computing machine that your regular desktop computer.

With Pro7000 desktop PC, you need not worry much about its storage space as it offers you with 250GB of SATA HDD which runs at 7200rpm. And the best part about this Epson Endeavor desktop computer is the fact that it is upgradable. Based on your requirement and budget, you can enhance its RAM up to 12GB. In addition to it, it also offers you with number of Hard Disk capacity configurations.

You can also choose to equip it with Blu Ray recorder, and select the graphical support from ATI Radeon HD 4650 512MB, ATI Radeon HD 5750 1GB, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275 896MB, ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB, NVIDIA Quadro FX1800 768MB graphic cards. The basic version of Endeavor Pro7000 is being sold at 261,870 Yen (2100€).

Logitech Extreme 3D Pro Joystick (Silver/Black)

From Logitech

Product Description

When the pressure is on, your stick performance is the difference between victory and total oblivion. The Extreme 3D Pro twist handle joystick will never let you down. The 12 programmable buttons and 8-way rubber hat switch give you optimum control, personalized to your taste. Whether youre dropping bombs at a distance or firing guns in a dog fight, the stable and precise Extreme 3D Pro will have you dominating the enemy in no time.
Product Details

* Color: Black/Silver
* Brand: Logitech
* Model: 963290-0403
* Released on: 2005-10-10
* ESRB Rating: Everyone
* Platform: Not Machine Specific
* Format: CD
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Dimensions: 8.50″ h x 9.25″ w x 10.50″ l, 2.85 pounds

Features

* Product Type – Joystick
* Quick and easy access to fire weapons
* Product Type – Replacement Lamp
* Rapid-fire trigger allows shots in quick succession
* Shipping Weight: 1.50 lbs

Editorial Reviews

From the Manufacturer
When the pressure is on, your stick performance is the difference between victory and total oblivion. The Extreme 3D Pro twist handle joystick will never let you down. The 12 programmable buttons and eight-way rubber hat switch give you optimum control, personalized to your taste. Whether you’re dropping bombs at a distance or firing guns in a dog fight, the stable and precise Extreme 3D Pro will have you dominating the enemy in no time.

* Dominate the skies or the ground with the control of 12 well-placed, fully programmable buttons and a rapid-fire trigger
* Home in on your target with the deadly accurate direction control of the twist handle
* Smooth and accurate throttle settings are a major bonus whether you’re entering the fray or bugging out

What’s in the Box
Joystick with USB cable, CD-ROM with gaming software, setup guide, warranty and registration card

Customer Reviews

A very good joystick: well made and comfortable to use4
The Logitech Extreme 3D Pro Joystick is a good all-around stick. For those wanting to use, say, Flight Simulator for educational purposes, the Extreme 3D is a good choice.

In fact, this type of stick is much more realistic than models with “Force Feedback”: the stick movement on a genuine modern helicopter in flight feels smooth and fluid, like power steering on your car. Force Feedback may be fun, but I don’t think it’s very realistic for many of the scenarios it’s currently used in.

Specifically, here’s what I rated it by:
* Quality of components and assembly: The action of the stick is smooth. No flimsy play in the controls. The hat switch and trigger pull have a positive feel with close tolerances.
* Comfortable handgrip: like the overall product, the design and machining of the grip is off high-quality, without any annoying seems or sharp ridges.
* Smooth throttle control: this is a small detail, but compared with some of the other models out there, it’s notable.
* Stable base that allows you to either rest it firmly on a table or in your lap.
* Subtle movements are reflected in the game.
* Overall appearance – it looks as good as it performs.

Things to NOTE:
* This is definitely a right-handed joystick.
* It plugs into a USB port
* I used it with Microsoft Flight Sim 2002 running on an XP Pro system: Installing the software that came with the joystick was effortless and when I opened Flight Sim, all of the buttons were already mapped to the appropriate functions.

Great joystick at a decent price.5
I bought this joystick for gaming on my Mac and was a bit disappointed when the box arrived and it said PC only… However, I plugged it in to my iBook and it worked just great on Battlefield 1942 even without installing any drivers (I’m using OSX). I also can use it on my PC without any problem. It comes with a drivers CD for Windows.

It improved my game 100% when flying planes in Battlefield, I would definitely recommend this to anybody who plays games in which flying is involved. It’s pretty sturdy and quite large, and very comfortable to hold, though it’s definitely for right-handed gamers only.

It has a separate throttle control (a lever that you push forward or backward) that’s quite sensitive, and the handle twists left and right to control the rudder (as well as moving 360 degrees like any other joystick). There are 13 buttons so plenty of choice when mapping your controls.

Personally I much prefer this joystick over one that comes with force feedback – the vibration works against what you’re trying to do and makes playing harder. You can’t beat this joystick for the price.

After this I could never go back to just using a mouse and keyboard. Takes the gaming experience to the next level.

A Fine Joystick5
I received this joystick as a Christmas gift for use on my computer
. The initial set up and installation was quick and easy, and I immediately used it on “Pacific Fighters”. The stick is comfortable to hold, or it can be placed on a table or desk. The rapid fire trigger is especially helpful in combat games, and the swivel feature is an added plus. There are several programmable buttons which can be customized by the user, and the throttle control is very smooth to operate.

I highly recommend this joystick. It performed exceptionally for me on “Pacific Fighters”, and I’m looking forward to trying it out on “Axis and Allies” and “MVP Baseball 2004″. With this joystick, you’ll be able to play your favorite computer games with ease and comfort.

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com

Tuniq Tower 120 Extreme CPU Cooler Review

Introduction



This time we tested a CPU cooler from Tuniq, Tower 120 Extreme. This cooler has a tower design with five U-shaped heatpipes and with its fan installed inside the heatsink. Will it show a good performance? Check it out!

The box is beautiful and has a robust structure: there is an external box, made of card paper, and a thicker (and harder) one inside, with a plastic transport handle.



Opening the box we were gladly surprised to find, besides the cooler itself, a very complete book-style user manual (instead the common B&W one-sheeter) and a box where the installation hardware is organized in a foam with matching holes, as you can see in Figure 2.



In Figure 3 we can have a general view of the cooler. At first look it seems like there is no fan, but looking carefully you can see the fan inside the heatsink.

Mouse Computer announces 5 Core i7-980X Extreme Edition Desktops

Mouse Computer Japan introduced this morning 5 Core i7-980X Extreme Edition Desktops with:

2 Business oriented models including the Lm-i900X2 and MDV-ADG9120X sold respectively at 199,500 and 259,980 Yen (1600 – 2100€), including obviously a i7-980X CPU, bust also 12GB of RAM (PC3-10600), 500GB of HDD, a GeFroce GTS250 (1GB of VRAM) a DVD Multi and Windows Home Premium 64Bit for the Lm-i900X2, while the MDV-ADG9120X has 1TB of HDD, a GeForce GTX285 (1GB of VRAM), a Blu-Ray Burner and Windows 7 Professional 64bit.

3 Gamers oriented models including the :
– NEXTGEAR i710GA1-MAMB with a i7-980X Processor Extreme Edition, DDR3 6GB PC3-10600, 2 Intel X25-V 40GB SSD in RAID 0, 1TB SATA II HDD, a DVD Super Multi, a GeForce GTX285 (1GB of VRAM), Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit for 259,980 Yen (2100€)
- MASTERPIECE i1500BA6 with a i7-980X Processor Extreme Edition, DDR3 12GB PC3-10600, 2 Intel X25-M 80GB SSD in RAID 0, 1TB SATA II HDD, a Blu-Ray Drive, 2x GeForce GTX285 (1GB of VRAM) SLI, Windows 7 Home Professional 64Bit for 389,970 Yen (3130€)
- MASTERPIECE i1500BA6-ATI with a i7-980X Processor Extreme Edition, DDR3 12GB PC3-10600, 2 Intel X25-M 80GB SSD in RAID 0, 1TB SATA II HDD, a Blu-Ray Drive, 2x ATI Radeon HD 5850 (1GB of VRAM) CrossFire, Windows 7 Home Professional 64Bit for 379,980 Yen (3050€)

Google Desktop Extreme 2.1

Google Desktop Extreme is one of the thousands of gadgets available for the Google Desktop Search application. But what are the gadgets anyway? The gadgets are plug-in components that enrich your Desktop experience and performs the most incredible and handy tasks that you can imagine and more.
At this point, if you’re not a user already, you might be wondering what is Google Desktop Search. Let me explain that to you and then we come back to the Calendar. This tool is developed by the people from Google, which is quite a reference of its quality, and is a desktop searching engine that allows you to perform searches within your computer as you were searching something on the Internet.
Back to the Desktop Extreme, first thing to say is that you need to have Desktop Search 5 or above running on your system to use this gadget. On the side bar of the Desktop Search you’ll find a round button with an addition sign on it. When you press it, a gadget search window will open and you can browse the huge list to find the one you want. In this case, you just can type in Extreme and Google Desktop Extreme will be listed. Then you press the “Add” button below the gadget thumbnail and that’s it, you’re done! Easy, right? Optionally, you can download the installation file from the Google Gadgets web site and then execute it by double clicking on it. A short installation will take place and the gadget will be ready to go.
Immediately, you will see a new magnifying glass like icon on your tray from where you can perform searches and display the Settings dialog box. From there you can set up some options regarding to the search process, view and behavior of the plug-in. There’s also a quick link to donate if you feel like it.
The basic idea after this gadget is to enhance the searching abilities of the standard Google Desktop Search. When you search with this gadget a window will show the results as you enter your search criteria, in real time. Also, it can classify your results according to categories such as documents, music, video, etc.
All these cool features are accessible for you free of charge, and no matter if you are a Windows, Linux or Macintosh user.

Advantages

* Enhanced search abilities.
* Easy to use.
* Good interface.

Disadvantages

* Adds another icon to the tray.
* Doesn't hide the basic Desktop Search bar.
* Only available in English.

DOWNLOAD GOOGLE DEKSTOP 2.1

Hardcore Computer Reactor Extreme PC

$9K Liquid Cooled Gaming Rig Makes Big Splash

The ancient art of overclocking is more delicate ballet than exact science. The goal is to force your hardware to perform at much higher speeds than the manufacturer intended, while compensating for the immense amount of heat generated — heat that can cause system instability, and ultimately deep-fry your PC's innards. Beat the heat and your overclocked PC will frag faster and live longer.

This usually means air-cooling with loud fans, water-cooling, or some combination of the two. Hardcore Computer is trying something a bit different — submerging all of the fancy, expensive PC components in 4.5 gallons of industrial cooling fluid.

This is the DNA that makes up the Reactor PC. Weighing in at just over 100 pounds, this behemoth is clad in 2.5 mm of aircraft aluminum. The tank that contains the fluid is comprised of a plastic similar to a NASA astronaut's visor, plus it's bullet proof, should your gaming lair come under small arms fire.

We received a Reactor test unit packed with variety of high-performance parts, including an Intel Core 2 Extreme processor overclocked to 4 GHz, 4 GB of ram, and three 64-GB solid state drives for wacky-doodle fast (and expensive) data-transfer rates.

Gamers will be interested in the slot loading DVD burner (or optional Blu-ray reader), and the three Nvidia GTX 280s running in SLI. In addition to seeing impressive scores on benchmarking software, we ran the all-important Crysis test, and saw an average of 40 to 45 frames per second with every setting pumped to the absolute maximum. And there's still room to push the pre-overclocked components even further.

For the tinkerers, haxz0rs and IT-minded in the audience, the Reactor is built with high-performance server-grade technology in mind. This includes a pair of 650-W power supplies that provide a total of 1300 watts of juice, plus redundant backup — if one dies, the other will keep on churning. A pair of hot-swappable drives, weighing in at 1 TB each, let you switch your battle plans out for family vacation videos without ever shutting off your PC. Wifi is even built in, complete with two funky antennas that would normally be considered eyesores but somehow look right on the rig.

A substance called Core Coolant is the bloodstream of this gaming monolith. It's a biodegradable, dielectric, non-toxic cooling oil created by Hardcore Computer, and it's is responsible for chilling your key components. Like the typical liquid-cooled setup, a pump circulates the fluid through the Reactor's chassis and into a radiator, where the warmer fluid is made frosty and sent back into the tank.

The key difference between an air- or water-cooled setup and the Reactor is unparalleled heat transfer: You can overclock every piece of your machine without fear of a catastrophic burnout. Fans are positively archaic; air simply can't disperse the amount of heat generated by a gaming rig — it's often in the area of 158 degrees F. Liquid-cooled systems are more efficient, but while the maze of tubes might draw heat from the CPU and graphics cards, plenty of other thermal-generating components are left at risk, typically resulting in system instability.

Submerged cooling isn't perfect. The most obvious issue is the size and weight of the thing, with 4.5 gallons of fluid sloshing around in there. And no matter how careful you are, you'll want to keep a roll of paper towels handy, because there will be a bit of unavoidable splashing when you inevitably pop the lid and start poking around inside the machine. Luckily, Core Coolant (which is clear, odorless, and has the consistency of mineral oil) is safe enough to drink, according to the company. (Please don't drink the Core Coolant.)

But the biggest caveat with the Reactor is that you're buying into an ecosystem. While many of the components can be swapped with off-the-shelf parts, the motherboard and power supplies are packed into custom shells. That means when you want to upgrade the motherboard (maybe to check out that nifty Core i7 CPU from Intel) you'll have to contact Hardcore Computer directly to pick out a new one.

And finally, there's the price.

The configuration we tested came in at a hefty $9,790. But the models start at a reasonable $3,670.

How is that reasonable? A bit of painstaking calculation (method: Google + newegg + napkin) reveals that the DIY price for the components in the starter model comes to roughly $1,000. Essentially you pay about $2,700 for service, a warranty, Core Coolant and a chassis that will support a substantial amount of abuse, overclocking and general tinkering. With the right amount of research, a savvy enthusiast could customize a build to fit their budget and overclock individual components until their performance dwarfs far more expensive machines.

But really, outside of a few supercomputers and aquarium tanks filled with mineral oil, we can almost guarantee you'll be pressed hard to find a PC like this anywhere else.

For more photos of the Reactor PC, inside and out, check out our photo gallery: Soak It To Me: Inside Liquid-Suspended Gaming PC

WIRED Unsurpassed overclocking performance. High quality components at a price that's semi-reasonable. Those LEDs are optional.

TIRED Weighs as much as a '72 Buick and is twice as ugly. Potentially very messy — don't spill Core Coolant on tile floor, it gets slip 'n' slide slick. If Hardcore Computer ever flounders, how will you upgrade those custom parts?

Processor: Core 2 Extreme QX9770

Power Supply: 2 650W Server Grade PSUs

RAM: 4GB of DDR3

Graphics Card: 3x Nvidia Geforce GTX 280 in SLI

Hard Drives: 2x Samsung 1TB Spinpoint F1, 3x Samsung 64GB SSDs

OS: Vista Ultimate