We’ll still never know if that supposed Windows 7 build from around a week ago was actually the one Microsoft planned on shipping out to OEMs, but either way, those rumors have been put to rest by the software giant today. Exactly three months before Windows 7 is expected to hit store shelves and be snapped up by–well, at least a few groups of consumers out there–the Windows 7 OS has been RTM’d. For those less savvy with technical jargon, that’s “released to manufacturing,” which means that a final version

We got the Intel X25-M 160GB SSD built on the 34nm process (SSDSA1MH160G2) drive in this morning and have tossed up a number of pictures and benchmarks in the forums to keep you guys entertained.

Compared to its previous 50nm version, the new Intel X25-M on 34nm offers decreased latency and faster random write Input/Output Operations Per Second (IOPS) than its 50nm predecessor. Specifically, Intels new SSD provides a 25 percent further reduction in latency, for quicker access to data, operating at 65-microsecond read latency compared to approximately 4,000 microseconds for an HDD. Random write performance has increased 2x for the 80GB and 2.5x for the 160GB to further separate the X25-M from other SSDs. By delivering up to 6,600 4KB write IOPS (8,600 IOPS for the 160GB) and up to 35,000 read IOPS, the X25-M continues to set the bar for SSDs, while leapfrogging HDDs which only operate at several hundred IOPS for traditional HDDs. This provides for markedly faster system and application responsiveness. Overall, gamers, media creators and technology enthusiasts should experience faster PC responsiveness. The Intel X25-M on 34nm therefore widens the performance gap even further over HDDs on all fronts, including latency, sustained reads and writes and random read and writes.

There’s hardly anything that gets us at HotHardware more steamed than spyware, and we can only imagine how infuriated over 100,000 BlackBerry users in the UAE are after being fooled with a spyware-infused update. In a story that’s sounds too bizarre to be true (but is, in fact, true), Etisalat–a major cellular operator in the United Arab Emirates–pushed out an update to its 145,000 BlackBerry customers that actually contained spyware.The application was reportedly developed by SS8, and it promised BlackBerry

AMD will be posting a brand new set of ATI Catalyst drivers to their website shortly that will feature a number of changes and enhancements for Radeon users. The first tid-bit of news is that the ATI Catalyst v9.7 driver package will be AMD’s first official Windows 7 / Windows Vista Unified WHQL-certified driver for the Windows 7 RTM edition.In addition to being unified, these new drivers should also offer increased performance to Windows 7 users. Due to enhancements in Windows 7’s memory management scheme and

Companies that allow employees to sign into Facebook on the clock are losing 1.5 percent of total employee productivity.So says a survey by Nucleus Research Inc., which interviewed 237 randomly selected office workers about their Facebook use. Admittedly, that’s not the most scientific sample, but it does give a snapshot.Of those interviewed:• Seventy-seven percent had a Facebook account. • Of those with Facebook accounts, nearly two-thirds accessed Facebook during working hours. • Those who

January 2009 marked HotHardware.com’s 10th year of existence. Over the years we’ve gone through many site revisions but today we’re giving you what I feel you’ll find is our best site engine yet.  It’s hard to believe actually that we’ve been on the net this long – long before the word “blog” was hip or even understood and well before the many of the computing, tech and gadget sites that exist today.  And what have we learned over the years?  I’d like to think we’ve honed our coverage for you

With Blizzcon generating all sorts of buzz right now, SteelSeries has selected the perfect time to introduce its new Blizzard Entertainment co-branded gaming surface. The new mousepad, which was obviously designed specifically for gamers, is titled StarCraft QcK Limited Edition, and it’s actually just one of a series of new surfaces with stunning artwork from the famed StarCraft universe.“StarCraft and its expansion have together sold more than 11 million copies worldwide, and we believe StarCraft II will prove

Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer, has asked Chinese police to investigate a case in which an employee reportedly committed suicide after being pressured over the loss of an iPhone prototype. Sun Danyong, 25, was tasked with sending 16 fourth-generation iPhone prototypes to Apple this month, but Apple only received 15 when the package arrived, according to Chinese media. Sun reportedly leaped from his apartment window last week, though police are investigating whether he may have been murdered, the Shanghai Daily said.

Allegations of trouble with Foxconn workers in China have bitten Apple before. The U.S. company and its relationship with Foxconn was brought to light three years ago when a British newspaper wrote about allegedly poor pay and long hours for iPod assembly line workers. Apple conducted its own review of the facility but found few violations of its supplier code of conduct. “We are saddened by the tragic loss of this young employee, and we are awaiting results of the investigations into his death,” Apple said in a statement. “We require that our suppliers treat all workers with dignity and respect.”

AMD today announced the shipment of its 500 millionth x86 processor, a milestone enabled by the company's 40 years of innovation. From the world's most powerful supercomputers to mission-critical enterprise servers, high-performance gaming PCs and HD-capable laptops, users have come to rely on the innovation, stability and power of AMD processors and platforms at work, home and play. I remember back in 2006 when NVIDIA shipped their 500 millionth processor.

Advanced Micro Devices is an innovative technology company dedicated to collaborating with customers and partners to ignite the next generation of computing and graphics solutions at work, home, and play.

AMD's first DirectX 11 graphics chip won't appear in products you can buy before November, despite being showed off at a trade show more than a month ago. AMD first showed off its DX11 GPU – codenamed 'RV870' – at the Computex show in Taipei, Taiwan early in June. I guess this doesn't matter as game maker Codemasters has already said this month that DX11 games like DiRT 2 are also going to be delayed.

DX11 will be part of Windows 7 – due in October – and is expected to be retrofitted to Vista with a Service Pack update shortly afterwards. Windows 7 will make use of the framework, using the API's CPU-on-GPU workload shifting to accelerate processor-intensive tasks. DX11 also brings tessellation and with it the promise of much more complex geometries – essentially, more detailed models than we've seen before.