Archive for May, 2008

The Toughpower Cable Management 650W Power Supply is a truly unique power supply. Specs wise, you’re looking at a fully functional ATX 12V 2.2 power supply completely SLI compatible. At 650W you should be fairly set with any of the current and next-gen graphics cards available on market as it has two PCI Express connectors. Tough luck for those of you running quad-SLI rigs, but as few games actually support SLI successfully, you already know what you’re getting yourself into. The ability to power up to 6 SATA devices should be more than enough even for the most advanced PC enthusiasts and the Toughpower Cable Management 650W Power Supply doesn’t discriminate against AMD or Intel processors.

What’s really unique about this power supply is its embedded socket and modularized cable management system. Instead of the standard power supply layout that includes a variety of cables hanging out of your new power supply, this device allows you to pick and choose what cables you plug in, avoiding a serious amount of clutter. The box also comes loaded with nearly all the cables you would need to use all the slots (short one PCI Express cable). While this doesn’t add anything to performance, with an increase in the desire for many people to keep their system looking clean as they line it with LED’s and other devices, this will make things a lot roomier. Plus, if you damage a cable, you can easily get a replacement without having to toss the entire power supply.

The Toughpower Cable Management 650W Power Supply is a lot quieter than many of the other power supplies that I’ve had a chance to test out. This can be attributed to it’s noise canceling silicon padding. The look of the device isn’t compromised for functionality either, as it has a sharp black mirror finish. While you may not be showing off your power supply at the next LAN party, you’ll stay confident knowing exactly how slick it looks.

The downfall for this product is really the price. At $169.99 you’re paying a lot for a good deal of functions that don’t increase benefit how your system runs. While the functionality that the Toughpower Cable Management 650W Power Supply does offer is top notch, you can find similar 650W 2.2 power supplies capable of handling what this can for a fraction of the price. What Thermaltake does have to offer is exceptional service and a commitment to quality that few other manufacturers can match. With your entire system relying on a power supply to not only run but to prevent it from frying, having a brand name in this situation puts a lot of people at ease, and so it should.

You can find more detailed specs on the Toughpower Cable Management 650W Power Supply by Thermaltake at their website listed below. This power supply was provided by them for our reviewing purposes.

Power Supply Provided By Thermaltake

In what appears to be the most blatant rip off that a company with so much going for it could possibly do, Asus has released the Eee Stick. Matching none of the colors of anything baring the Eee line, the Eee Stick looks like 2 Wii Nunchucks that work wirelessly through a USB port.

Converting computer gamers into using something other than their trusty keyboard and mouse has always been difficult, so by Asus slapping a $70 price tag on these bad boys, it doesn’t look like they’ll be changing that anytime soon.

If you’ve got $400 to spend and you’ve already purchased your Eee PC and a PS3, then perhaps you’d be interested in the Sony Rolly. What apparently is the most shortsighted and expensive gadget to hit the shelves since gas prices were under $3 per gallon, this 2GB MP3 player boasts one unique ability.

IT CAN DANCE.

Apparently, it has it’s own unique choreography software installed with it to give you some custom dance moves depending on the song playing. Don’t expect this device to serve any other purpose though, as it’s missing a headphone jack and it also has less storage space then your cellphone probably does.

If you can look past the Emo kid in the picture here, what you will see is the ultimate gadget guru accessory, the 8-bit tie. Originally listed as an April Fools joke, apparently enough people found the tie as interesting as I did and through sheer geek peer pressure, the tie has come into existence.

The tie comes in both blue and red, so whether you’re going to need to blend in to the underwater work environment you’ve been moved to or get powered up to ask your boss for the raise, they’ve got you covered.

Source: ThinkGeek

It’s confusing to see newer and smaller companies try and enter into the mini-laptop market especially with companies like Dell and HP already staking their claim. But apparently that hasn’t stopped 3K Computers from releasing their brand new RazorBook 400.

The major selling point for this specific mini-laptop seems to be that it’s actually lighter than the Eee PC, but lays claim to being shock resistant. I doubt that means that it will actually survive many falls however. Here are the specs so far for you to judge:

• 7" LCD TFT display
• Boot up time of under 8 seconds
• Shock-resistant
• 4GB SSD
• Flexible suite of pre-installed productivity software
• Weighs less than 2 lbs

With nearly everyone carrying a cell phone, the need for a wrist watch to tell time has clearly dropped. That, however, doesn’t mean they aren’t still fashionable to wear.

If you’re the retro type who just so happens to have thrown away your game n watch wrist watch, this Cassette Face watch might be right up your alley!

Unfortunately, you won’t be playing any music on your watch, cassette or mp3, so you’ll be rocking out to the mix tape in your head while you show off your awesome new time piece.

TDK has just launched a new line of SSD Flash Memory Chips. These models are merely 1.8" and are equipped with AES encryption known as DDS HS1.

They’ll be running at a read speed of 100mb/s and writing at 50mb/s, pushing SSD to the point where we’ll soon be seeing these types of memory chips replacing standard hard drives very soon.

While you won’t be purchasing these chips on your own, the new TDK Flash Memory Chips will be making their way to devices rather soon in 16 GB, 32 GB, and even 64 GB varieties.

My obsession with these mini-laptops continues.

Dell has just released screen shots of their newest laptop that might give the current reigning champions like the Asus Eee PC and the Cloudbook a run for their money.

This device was seen being carried around by none other than Michael Dell during a recent convention, and with the power Dell holds over the general audience, we may actually see them taking charge in this field due to the familiarity people have with them.

With all the newer models of mini-laptops coming forward with Atom based processors, it looks like Dell picked the perfect time to make the jump.

RIM has decided to take the plunge and build a clam-shell flip-phone version of their popular Blackberry device. It doesn’t look like you’ll really be missing anything from the pictures we’ve had a chance to see as the phone still sports the Blackberry’s standard SureType keyboard and what seems to be a really sharp looking LCD screen.

If you’ve been looking for a Blackberry but have been turned off by the huge size or awkwardness of the smaller devices, this might be reason enough for you to take the plunge.

We’ll keep you updated with additional information as we find more out about the launch of the new Blackberry Kickstart.

Looks like we’ll be nearing the end of the DVD era within the next five years. Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, has pretty much put the time of death on the DVD at around five years from now in a further push to bring digital distribution into the light as the main form of service for a company the relies primarily on DVD distribution up to this point.

What does that mean for thee future of Netflix? Either a partnership in developing an home set top box, or their own version. Either way they’ll have to convince the average user to make the switch, or perhaps 5 years will be enough time for that to have happened on its own.