The Zone

There was a time when having a 10Mbps line was only possible if you either ran a University computer lab or had direct access to a University backbone. In a recent media event Time has brought this 10Mbps line to the not-so common folk of Mont Kiara (selected areas in Mont Kiara only!) and included a boost feature that allows for 50Mbps speeds. While some people may not be able to comprehend how fast and large an Internet pipe this is, all you need to do is picture a full 1080p HD movie streaming perfectly with no jerkiness and no lag, which is exactly what the Time people were doing in a live demo at their event. For a full review of what went down, check out our latest issue of HWM. Oh, and check out the actual speedometer readings above. We kid you not, as we even tried it on the usual speedtest.net site and instead got 40+ Mbps download to 40+ Mbps upload speeds.

Ever missed Windows 3.11? We don't but given the amount of time we spent hating it, there is no better alternative than this 3.11 emulator. Designed by Michael V, his website operates exactly as the old codger used to do - complete with lags and freezes. Head over to http://www.michaelv.org/ to experience this jump back in time!

When our beloved Minister of Information Communication and Culture, Dr. Rais Yatim made his comment on the prevalent state of Malaysians who are immersed in the social media movement, little did we know that the very same people would know fight back on Twitter itself. Creating a hashtag #yorais, parodying the Yo Mamma jokes, sentiments were voiced on the irony of the particular minister being so backward in his thoughts. It even 'trended' on the social messaging site, reaching a top spot of 3rd place, shoving tweets on the Haitian earthquake crisis as well as other news around the world. No official statement has been made so far, although he would have missed it for his world.

Twitter trend = http://www.whatthetrend.com/trend/%23yorais

Original statement to the media = http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/1/16/nation/20100116175608&sec=nation

If you take a closer look at the picture above, you'll see that there is an ATI card slotted into that motherboard along with an NVIDIA card. This unholy union is brought to you thanks to MSI's new high-end Big Bang Fuzion motherboard which allows you to mix and match between ATI and NVIDIA graphic cards. We kid you not as we have already tried it out on 3DMark06 and 3DMark Vantage and the setup does actually work. For a full examination of the board, check out our Lab Exam in the latest issue of HWM Malaysia.

We recently got our hands on an ATI Radeon HD 5970, which is currently the fastest, most powerful graphic card in the consumer market. The card consists of two HD 5870 GPUs in a single card, its just this time ATI have dropped their X2 naming convention and upped the numbering. Read the full review in our latest issue of HWM Malaysia. For a size comparison with another graphic card monster we recently reviewed, click the link.

Starting now until January 3rd, Steam is offering tremendous discounts on its wide games catalogue in time for the end-of-year holiday season.

Notable bargains include Braid for USD2.49, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl for USD1.99 and The Witcher for USD13.59.

Be sure to check back daily to nab those special deals while they're hot!

While Intel's rumored Larrabee GPU is definitely out for the count, Intel's DH55 platform is definitely in as we've just received the new DH55 chipset motherboard and DH55 Intel Core i5 processor. For those not in the know the DH55 processor utilizes a built-in GPU that Intel hopes will not only beat out other integrated graphics (ION, etc.) but improve upon their own integrated graphics. This means that rather than have the GPU chip built into the motherboard, it will be released with the processor. So far we've seen no difference in size so no new sockets required although it remains to be seen if every LGA 1156 socket will be able to support it. Wait for our full lab exam in the latest issue of HWM Malaysia (January 2010).

 Santa, get us these, pretty pretty please?

1) Razer Imperator

Why? Ergonomic form, adjustable thumb buttons, 3.5G laser sensor all makes for a fraggy gift for your foes!

http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-mice/razer-imperator/

2) Machinarium + Samorost2

Why? Play two of the best indie games for only USD10 from Amanita Design! Miss this, and you'll miss the bargain of the year, seriously.

http://machinarium.net/blog/2009/12/16/amanita-design-christmas-pack-machinarium-samorost2-for-10-60-off/

3) Steam titles

Why? Steam is selling titles for a very low price, and the only drawback is that you'll need to install that slow Steam application on your PC. S.T.A.L.K.E.R for USD2?? Bring it on!

http://store.steampowered.com/

4) Gaming seat

Why? Driving at 200mph in Forza 3 isn't much fun when you have to share the couch with your fat cousins. 

http://www.racingamechair.com/

Seagate's new SATA III 2TB hard disk drive has just arrived! The Barracuda XT offers 2TB worth of capacity, a 64MB cache and the new SATA III 6Gb/s connection. While there's nothing on the outside to differentiate the new connection (looks just like SATA II) the full analysis and review should reveal even more. Check out our review on the SATAIII hard disk drive in our latest issue of HWM (January 2010).

Nvidia finally rounds up its 200 series with the GT 240. We were fortunate enough to get our hands on one of the higher end GT 240 cards out there and got a pretty good score off of 3DMark06. For more info and testing check it out in our latest issue of HWM.

Microsoft Hardware recently held a Spicy launch for some new stuff. While Bluetrack mice have been on the market for quite some time, Microsoft Hardware are now launching more affordable Bluetrack mice targeted at the consumer market. Other stuff launched includes a Bluetooth ultra-thin keyboard and numeric keypad combo as well as a 720p webcam that works great in low-light conditions (notebook screen light only). For a full report on the event and the products released check it out in our latest issue of HWM.

Taking out the bulk from microscopes and allowing doctors in rural areas to quickly and correctly identify life-threatening diseases such as tuberculosis, or malaria and even dengue, an engineer has created and adapted a cellphone to substitute. Even more impressive is the fact that he has used only USD10 worth of off the shelf-hardware. Dr. Aydogan Ozcan, an assistant professor of electrical engineering has created the devices, founding a company called Microskia to commercialize the technology. More in-depth information here

After someone else's rather feeble attempt at blue laser mice that they said could track on glass, we were pleasantly surprised by Logitech's new Darkfield line of high-performance mice. The Darkfield mice utilize a new dual laser technology that allows it to track on thick glass and other reflective surfaces with ease. For those who still don't know about Logitech's Unifying Micro USB receiver check out the teeny tiny USB receiver in the picture. Check out the full report in our latest issue of HWM (December 2009).

Just when you thought Vista was bad....this was taken yesterday!!!

Starting November 3rd, North American gamers (and fellow parallel importers) will be able to pick up the new PS3 Slim system with a 250GB built-in hard drive for USD349.99 (approximately RM1,178). The functionality and form factor of the 250GB PlayStation 3 Slim remains identical to the previously launched 120GB model, while the larger hard disk capacity offers even more room to store your PSN downloads, videos, music and photos.