The Zone

Maxis is holding an Anime & Games Festival down in Sungei Wang Plaza, which will last till tomorrow. So if you're around the area, go check it out: there're a few activities and promotions going on. In the meantime, enjoy the rest of the pics. :)

To drop or not to drop? That is the question? When we were told that the  Twinhead Durabook is durable enough to resist shock, drops, and water spillage, we couldn't resist putting the rather beefy notebook to the test.

So did the Twinhead Durabook notebook survived our torture tests? Find out in next month's HWM issue. :D

LG has teamed up with Google in a move that allows preinstalled Google software on LG mobile phones. Users can then use their extra accesibility to search, check their Gmail, update thier blog and even use a cut-down version of Google Earth (how is this possible, we're not sure).

Coming to Europe, America and Asia as early as the second quarter of 2007, will include a dynamic user interface, including one-click access, and the liberal use of Java for mobile. 

"“Building on our efforts to set new standards for wireless handsets, we are excited to partner with Google to offer extra value to consumers with enhanced mobile Internet experiences,” said Mr. Paul Bae, Vice President of the Product Planning Team at LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “LG’s mobile devices, combined with Google, will provide consumers with easy access to their favorite Internet services even without a PC and make it easy for them to stay connected while in motion.”"

We hope that the collaboration will make better phones, instead of rehashing the Chocolate brand over and over again, though.

Hitachi Data Systems just announced the appointment of Johnson Khoo as its new managing director for Malaysia, and to commemorate the event they held a drifting session!

Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Like WTF does data systems have to do with drifting??? But it was undeniably cool and getting a light taste of drifting felt great! The only drifting I've ever done was in racing video games, and the experience was both nerve-racking and cool at the same time.

They got an experienced drifter, Sean Khoo, from drift.com.my to be our driver. He was pretty cool, since he took us on a wild spin a number of times. Halfway through the session they had to switch tyres as bits and pieces of the tyres were already being spat out by the harsh tarmac.

Check out the video of the drifting session after the pics below! :D 

Win the TV when you subscribe to the magazine!

Want to win this? Then make your way to PCFair07 this April 13 - 15 at KLCC! Purchase any PowerColor graphic card (PCI-e or AGP) from any dealer at PCFair next weekend, drop by the HWM booth, and you'll not only entitled to a free T-shirt but you'll be in the running to win a PowerColor X1950Pro card! (PCI-e version only) 

So if you pick up a PowerColor X1950Pro card at PCFair next weekend, you stand a chance to win another PowerColor X1950Pro card to pair your existing  X1950Pro card and make it an X1950Pro CrossFire system! Now how sweet is that? :3

See you guys down at PCFair07! 

This morning I wasn't able to listen to the NVIDIA's GeForce update briefing, so I missed out on some good stuff ;_; However, DailyTech has a summary of the launch dates and prices. Some sites have apparently gotten their review units of the latest cards, so we should get ours soon.

Check out Hardware Zone's 8600GTS preview, which they posted a couple days ago. Not exactly mind-blowing results, though, but they should prove to be a decent card for mid-range consumers who want to brag of owning a DirectX 10 card...even though no games at the moment supports DirectX 10. Still, I'd rather go for an X1950Pro for now.

Still crossing my fingers for ATI's R600 though. :3

 I don't know what came to this redneck's noggin at the time where he was installing his new big screen projection TV! Like a stereotypical yank, he actually hacked a slot into his plasterboard walls to make it fit flushed against the wall. Did he achieve the effect of having a flat-screen display?  We probably don't think so as the speaker system for the TV alone betrays the mod.

Read it all here @ gamerdeals.net

Heya people! What a wonderful, gloomy and hot morning it is and while most of the exhibitors from last weekend's PC Fair is either dozing off or repacking their booths for the next one to come, I am proud to present to you a collection of deliciously cute and beautiful women that was spotted over the weekend. Let's face it, no R600, no cutting edge stuff, what are we supposed to photograph then?

Not only do you get to oogle and drool over these pics, but you can also vote for your fav darling via the comments box and we'll give you something in return!

Leaked onto The Inquirer, ATI's brand new HD 2600 was snapped and installed by a chinese forum member over at PCInLife. While its surprising that it did not apparently have an external power connector, despite the claims made by ATI that it sucks juice like mad, it only needs a single slot cooler to keep things cool. Pics over at Engadget showed that ATI's catalyst driver correctly id'ed the card, and while it had only 256MB of GDDR4 memory, we sure hope that the higher end cards can wipe the smirks from NVIDIA's 8800GTX camp.

Heya, how’s everyone? Hope you guys enjoyed the long May Day weekend break. We’re all back in the office and it’s back to work, work, work.

I wanted to update the blog last Thursday about my trip to China but due to technical errors I was unable to do so. I’ll later update that day with part 1 of the trip, so don’t be surprised to find a new backdated entry when browsing the blog entry archives later. :3

In the meantime, enjoy some pictures of NVIDIA’s latest high-priced big boy card to rule all current video cards in the market – the NVIDIA 8800 Ultra. It’s basically an overclocked 8800GTX with a slightly higher overclock of 615MHz for its core clock and 2.15GHz memory clock (effective).

So how much will it cost you? Well, pretty much nearly a whole new desktop system. The Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) is US$829. That’s right, a whopping US$829 for a slight bump in clock speed and readjusted fan cooler. Sure it may boast better overclockability but for a reported increase of only just 10% – 15% over the standard 8800GTX, the 8800 Ultra doesn’t really sound like it offers much value for money, considering that when it arrives in Malaysia it'll probably cost more than RM3K.

But if you absolutely want the best performing card in the market and/or you live in a gold-plated mansion, the cost of an 8800 Ultra may seem like peanuts to you.  Expect availability of the 8800 Ultra card by May 15th 2007 in limited quantities.  

One thing I really love about this job is the opportunity of traveling overseas for events and media familiarisation trips. Case in point, last week electrical goods giant Haier brought a bunch of us IT journalists and writers to check out their headquarters in China.

To be honest, most of the members of the media (including yours truly) on the trip never really thought much of the Haier brand until we saw the scale of their operations in China and worldwide did we realize the magnitude of their corporations; fly-by-night factory they aren’t. You will read more about them in next month's HWM special feature. In the mean time, check out the pics I took of the Canton Fair after the jump!

Are you a Xbox 360 gamer? If you are, we want you. Consoul 2007 is Malaysia's first and largest "Bring Your Own Xbox 360" LAN Party ever and its gonna be one hell of a party! 

Organized by Gamer's Hideout and GameAxis, it's going to take place on the 26th and 27th May 2007 at the Lower Ground Floor of Cineleisure Damansara. The event is all about getting to play with your like minded fellow 360 gamers in the flesh and having a good time. But wait, that's not all. There will be a Gears of War and Command & Conquer 3 tournament as well, with cool prizes obviously for grabs. If that's not enough, there will be a crazy Lucky Draw with tons of great prizes on offer too. So, what are you waiting for?

Details of the event can be obtained from www.gamershideout.com.my

I'm now at the HP Mobility Summit in Shanghai, where HP is now showing off their latest lineup of notebooks, iPAQs, and mobile video solutions. One of the main stars of the show were their new HP Pavilion HDX notebook, aka "The Dragon". More pics after the jump!

 (pix from raise.flavert.com)

For all you fellow muslims that can't go anywhere without your treasured PSP, here's an interesting app that you'll probably find very useful - Al-Quran for the PSP! According to Kotaku, the developer of the app is a one student named Ikhwan Nazri Mohamad Asran from the Information and Promotion Bureau of Usrah Institution, Multimedia University Cyberjaya.  

Al-Quran for the PSP is still in the Beta stage, but apparently you can pm momochi zabuza from the pspfans.net forums to get your hands on a copy. (Link here). According the official website, the app should be available for free download after the 19th of May 2007.

Now, who said that all game consoles/portables are evil? If it takes a portable game console for the kids today to not neglect their religious duties, then we're definitely up for it. For once, it's nice to see the PSP being put to good use with noble deeds. (The PSP homebrew scene in Malaysia is really all about software piracy. Period.) 

PS: The same folks behind the nifty Al-Quran for the PSP app also have a Islamic PSP-zine that you can download for free. The Raise (now in its 3rd edition) can be downloaded from raise.flavert.com