The internet suffered a number of slowdowns as people the world over rushed to verify accounts of Michael Jackson's death. Search giant Google confirmed to the BBC that when the news first broke it feared it was under attack. Millions of people who Googled the star's name were greeted with an error page rather than a list of results.

“It's true that between approximately 2.40PM Pacific and 3.15PM Pacific, some Google News users experienced difficulty accessing search results for queries related to Michael Jackson and saw the error page,” said Google spokesman Gabriel Stricker. It was around this time that the singer was officially pronounced dead. Google's trends page showed that searches for Michael Jackson had reached such a volume that in its so called “hotness” gauge the topic was rated “volcanic”. The BBC news website reported that traffic to the site at 0400 BST was 48% higher than average.

Nvidia's GT200 generation will get a 40nm refresh, and from what we hear, the new chips will all become DirectX 10.1 compatible. This refresh should be coming in end of summer or early September time and naturally, 40nm means higher clocks and less thermal dissipation.

This comes a few years too late as ATI has introduced its first DirectX 10.1 capable chips in the summer of 2007, but knowing Nvidia, they will be able to convince the market that DirectX 10.1 time is just happening. Nvidia will also preach that it will take a while until DirectX 11 hits off and they are probably right about that one. We've heard GT210 and GT220 brands associated with the new products.

Rumors are growing louder that Intel will be launching new SSDs based on the firm's 34nm NAND chips within just a couple of weeks. Previous reports had said Intel planned to come out with its new 34nm flash memory drives in Q4, but that timetable has been nudged up.

We've been told that with these new 34nm NAND SSDs, users can expect higher performance, higher capacities, and most importantly, lower prices. Amongst the 34nm offerings hot off the production line will be a 320GB drive, plus 160GB and 80GB capacity too. But there very well could be more. Our sources tell us new capacities will be big enough to replace the HDDs in most, if not all laptops. Intel is said to be really optimistic about SSD prospects in 2010, especially considering the smaller and cheaper process node along with SSD specific optimizations built into Windows 7.

Microsoft will begin shipping Windows 7 on October 22.  But today through July 11 in the United States and Canada, you can pre-order the Windows 7 operating system for as little as $49.

Like Vista, Windows 7 will be available in several flavors.  Windows 7 Home Premium is the edition most Vista users will likely want to upgrade to, but Windows 7 Professional (which includes an XP virtual machine) may be a better upgrade for some business users. 

The Home Premium upgrade discounted price is $49, but increase to $119 after the pre-order sale ends. The Professional upgrade pre-order price is $99, but will cost $199 post-discount.

We’ve been using Windows 7 (the Beta and the Release Candidate) for a few months and are very impressed by how solid it is even in the testing phase.  If you’re a Vista user and don’t plan on buying a new PC in the next year or so, get in on this 50% off sale before it’s over!

With Microsoft Windows 7 set to be released in October 2009, rumors are flying rampant in the video card industry as DirectX 11 graphics card will also be launching at the same time. Read on to see one of the first white papers on DirectX 11 released by AMD.

Coolermaster Sileo 500 Chassis Series Case Review @ Hi Tech Legion and other reviews from around the web can be found by visiting our forums!

Stating the obvious here, computer cases are unique in their own ways. Some aim to be flashy and decorative, and others aim to be quiet and reliable. There are some products out there that are a mix of these qualities, decorative and quiet, for example. Also, people know of the different sizes of cases. I know most people out there have a certain preference. There are full towers, mid towers, and mini towers. Some are made up of steel, aluminum, and a mix of both. With this case, I would categorize it as quiet and reliable. The Sileo 500 Chassis Series by Cooler Master is the product I have for you. Cooler Masters Sileo 500 Chassis Series is aimed to be quiet and reliable. It is a mid tower case, with it being silent as you go about your life, surfing the internet or doing your work.”

As the solid state drive expands further, we’ve got yet another company stepping in to grab a slice of the sweet, lucrative pie. Hitting just days after Super Talent’s own MasterDrive SX line, Active Media’s new Predator GT SSDs sound pretty menacing, and they should perform quite admirably. In fact, the company is announcing two new drives, the 64GB and 128GB Predator GT SATA-II. Both units promise to deliver 220MB/sec sequential reads and 0.1ms access times, and each come housed in a brushed aluminum housing

The more well-known industry trade shows, like CES, Computex, and E3, are not necessarily the only venues where technology journalists can get a gander at the latest-and-greatest offerings from a bevy of tech companies. Pepcom is a Florida-based company that holds mini tech trade-shows for the media throughout the year, and its most-recent event was the Digital Experience Rock ‘N’ Bowl held in New York City on June 24. (Each of Pepcom’s events has a theme, which helps create a somewhat of a party atmosphere.

Seriously Gateway, don’t spill all of your surprises at once! For the third time in the past 24 hours, Gateway is introducing a new machine. This time, it’s the company’s first-ever 11.6″ netbook, the LT3100. As netbooks continue to inch closer and closer to ultraportables, this 11.6″ version weighs in at 3.14lbs. and arrives with an AMD Athlon CPU, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, a full-size keyboard and an Ultrabright high-def (1366×768) widescreen display.Specifically, you’ll find an Athlon 64 L110 CPU, ATI’s Radeon X1270

NZXT is best known for their enthusiast PC cases but they have recently released a few notebook coolers that may be worthy of your attention. See what we thought in our hands on review of the NZXT 15″ Cryo S notebook cooler.