HardOCP

"The Lion Square incorporates a nickel-plating copper base, four copper heat pipes, aluminum wave fins, and a 9 cm LED inner fan. ASUS claims that this Lion Square can keep your processor safe for up to 180w. Even good for your Phenom guys!

... Last time we looked at processor heat sinks from ASUS we found them to perform well as long as you didn’t expect any world record performances. For anyone who may have thought ASUS would give up and focus on their other initiatives, you severely underestimated its resolve. ASUS is not a company to try something once, do just OK, and give up. That ASUS innovation brings us one of its newest coolers, the ASUS Lion Square. Feature complete with four full length heat pipes, loads of compatibility and an included fan, ASUS has given this Lion some sharp teeth. Is it enough to de-throne the Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme, the reigning king of cooling?"

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Intel's latest Centrino 2 platform finally arrives. It offers better battery life, faster 1066Mhz FSB and possible WiMAX included. Packed with new technologies and new features, Intel's Centrino 2 should be a big hit for notebook users including me ... mmmm, time for an upgrade :)

Digitimes

"Intel unveiled its Intel Centrino 2 processor technology products for notebooks, powered by five new Intel Core2 Duo processors. Close to 250 consumer and business notebook PC designs are on the way. Intel also introduced the world's highest-performing dual-core mobile processor, the Intel Core2 Extreme processor running at 3.06GHz.

Rounding out a mobile-focused summer for the company, Intel said it also plans to unveil eight processors within 90 days that will include first-ever mobile quad-core products and second-generation products for ultra-thin and light notebooks. In total, Intel will bring 14 new processors into the marketplace as notebook sales continue to outpace desktop PCs.

Formerly codenamed Montevina, Intel Centrino 2 processor technology and Intel Centrino 2 with vPro Technology improve notebook performance and battery life via new processors and chipsets, faster draft 802.11n wireless (with WiMAX arriving later this year), and new business-class manageability capabilities.

Intel is introducing five dual core processors based on Intel's reinvented transistors (high-k metal gate formula) and advanced 45nm manufacturing process. These processors come with a faster 1066MHz front side bus and up to 6MB of L2 cache, and three versions reduce laptop processor wattage about 30%, down to just 25 watts. Also featured is Deep Power Down Technology that turns off processing components such as core clocks and cache memory when the laptop is idle for greater energy savings."

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Tweaktown

"Silent cards are becoming quite the rage and everyone wants good performance without any noise. In the past, the design used to be reserved for low-end cards, but these days we seem to be able to get a good performing card that outputs not a single dB.

In the highly competitive market that is the 9600GT, we will today see if ASUS are able to do anything that helps them stand out from the pack and if it’s a card worth looking at."

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Hacking computers have never been so easy ... hacking the CPU that is. Kaspersky, the guys behind that famous anti-virus software will demontrate to us that CPU erratas can be exploited.

Dailytech

In October the threat from the errata in processors that previously caused no harm will grow significantly. Security researcher and author Kris Kaspersky says that he plans to demonstrate how a hacker could take control of a computer running any operating system by exploiting errata in a CPU.

Not only will Kaspersky demonstrate how such a hack can be made, but he says that he will offer the code freely to anyone—presumably including malicious hackers. The exploit is said to be executed by using instruction sequences and a knowledge of how Java compilers work to allow the hacker to take over the compiler.

Kaspersky says that different errata in different processors will allow different attacks to be launched on computer systems. Kaspersky told PC World, “I'm going to show real working code...and make it publicly available. Some bugs just crash the system; some allow a hacker to gain full control on the kernel level. Some just help to attack Vista, disabling security protections."

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This is one of the largest copyright infringement lawsuits in recent times ... and it looks like Google have been let off in regards to the viewing habits of YouTube users ... The case continues.

More from the BBC

"Viacom has "backed off" from demands to divulge the viewing habits of every user who has ever watched a video on YouTube, the website has claimed. Google had been ordered to provide personal details of millions of YouTube users to help Viacom prepare its case on alleged copyright infringement.

Google, owners of YouTube, will now hand over the database but without data that could identify users. Viacom has a $1bn (£497m) copyright infringement lawsuit against Google. A class action by other organisations including the English Premier League has also agreed to the new terms.

"We are pleased to report that Viacom, MTV and other litigants have backed off their original demand for all users' viewing histories and we will not be providing that information," said a statement on the YouTube blog.

The decision will be welcomed by privacy activists, many of whom expressed concern over a US judge's order for Google to provide the data in early July. "

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Hexus

"Intel officially launched its Centrino 2 platform earlier today and various manufacturers are lining up with their dual-core Centrino 2-based laptops.

However, if dual-core just doesn't do it for you, and ordering from down under isn't an option, head on over to Kobalt Computers. The UK-based etailer is offering a pair of Centrino 2 laptops, the 15.4in Nexus and the 17in Mojave, the latter of which is available to pre-order with a quad-core QX9300 processor.

Though the 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300 is yet to be officially announced by Intel, Kobalt Computers lists the part as a £434 upgrade, with an ETA of September or October.

The Nexus and Mojave laptops feature DDR3 memory, GeForce 9 series graphics cards and OCZ SSDs. As with all of Kobalt's laptops, they'll be available with full laser etching and paint options.

Kobalt Computers lists the laptops' key specifications as follows:

Mojave

• Intel® Centrino® 2 platform based on PM45 + ICH9M chipset
• Up to Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Q9100 3.06GHz (1066MHz FSB, 6MB L2 Cache) or Intel Core 2 Quad QX9300 2.53GHz (1066MHz FSB, 12MB L2 Cache)
• Up to 4GB DDR3-1066MHz  Memory (future support for 8GB)
• Up to 500GB Samsung M6 5,400rpm 8MB Cache or 128GB OCZ SSD II Solid State Drive
• 17” 1920x1200 WUXGA  X-Glass Screen TFT Screen
• NVIDIA® GeForce® 9800M GT /  9800M GTX"

Hexus

"Lian Li is on the charge, and then some. It's literally raining chassis on us, ranging from giant HTPCs, almost-giant HTPCs, proper HTPCs and a pair of mid-tower chassis, too.

It may have been only five days since the K1 and K1-Pro chassis were announced by Lian Li's Lancool brand, but Lian Li has found room for two more midi-tower chassis; the PC-7F and PC-60F.

CPU3D Review: Thermaltake Armor+MX Mid Tower Case 

Affordable gaming chassis is one of those things that's on every mainstream gamer's mind. Themaltake has now introduced the Armor+MX Tower case. It has a blend of unique and useful features that could appeal to even some of the enthusiasts out there. It also offers excellent thermal performance and spacious interior design.

           

  "...Thermaltake delivers a case with flashy aesthetics, but also packs in outstanding thermal performance."  

Read the rest of the review ... HERE.

Another story to confirm that Intel gets to support SLI for X58 motherboards ... It'll be an interesting Q3 and Q4 2008.

Digitimes

"Nvidia has recently reached an agreement with Intel and received a Quick Path Interconnect (QPI) license enabling the company to design chipsets for Intel's next-generation platforms, according to sources at motherboard makers.

Nvidia will only launch solutions for entry-level and mid-range motherboards supporting socket 1160 CPUs (Lynnfield) initially. Whether this is because Nvidia is not very optimistic about the potential of the high-end market in the early stages, or a restriction imposed by Intel to make sure it gets to enjoy the lion's share of the enthusiast socket 1366 CPU (Bloomfield) market is unclear at this stage.

Both Intel and Nvidia declined to comment regarding their future products or strategy. In other news, Nvidia has announced that motherboards based on Intel's X58 chipset (Tylersburg) supporting Bloomfield CPUs will be able to support SLI technology through the inclusion of its nForce 200 chip (BR04). This is a similar arrangement to the one currently seen in Intel's Skulltrail motherboards.

This is a significant licensing win for Intel, making it the only one of the three main x86 chipset makers who will be able to offer support for both SLI and AMD's Crossfire multi-GPU technologies (not mention its own Larabee technology when it eventually launches too) although it is possible not all board makers will choose to pay the extra cost for the nForce 200 chip."

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Fibre optic ... it seems to be the way forward, but does that mean the death of ADSL ?

BBC

"BT is to invest £1.5bn in fibre optic cables, giving up to 10 million UK households access to faster broadband. The plans would bring 40% of homes in reach of an ultra-fast service by 2012. BT is also planning to put fibre-optic cable into about 1 million homes, making the service even faster for those customers.

However, the communications group has made clear it will only make the move if regulator Ofcom allows it to get a decent return on that investment. Remaining customers would be offered broadband speeds of between 40 and 60 megabits a second (mbps), it said.

In order to pay for the project BT has said it will suspend its £2.5bn share buy-back programme in July - by which time it will have returned more than £1.8bn. "

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