Just weeks after my 12 month warranty ran out on my 42″ Philips Plasma TV (model number 42PF7321D/37) ran out I had problems with my TV. I'd get blue dots on the screen after the unit was on for a little but and it didn't matter what input was being used. I lived with the issue for months as when I called Philips they said that it was a bad screen and that it would cost more to fix it than it would be to buy a new TV set. I found out that my warranty was extended since it was purchased on a Credit Card offering such a program and recently had a service technician come out to my home to give me an estimate. To make a long story short he called up Philips and they told him the problem was that the TV was over-volted from the factory and that several of the settings had to be reduced for the dots to go away. A few minutes later I was left with a $200 service bill and a TV that was working properly since it was set wrong from the factory. If anyone else has blue dots on their Philips Plasma TV then I highly suggest reading the thread below as it will save you time and money. Philips needs to issue a recall if they incorrectly set the voltages on certain plasma models.

If you are curious what the blue dot problem looks like check out the pictures that are posted in the forum thread below or this YouTube video that someone else made with the same exact problem.

So just how did the Yahoo! email account of Sarah Palin, John McCain’s running mate, get hacked? It wasn’t by brute force, or because the password was obvious (like if she used her own name, Palin). No, it was social engineering that done her in. According to hackers posting to the /b/ board (or Random board) at 4chan.org, they didn’t hack her password, they reset it. Using the Yahoo! Mail option to reset or recover one’s user name and password (above), they were able to reset her password. As she is a public

Video:ATI Radeon HD 4670 Video Card Review @ MotherboardsMemory and Storage:Lexar Professional 8GB 300x UDMA Compact Flash @ techPowerUpATP ToughDrive Camo 4GB and EarthDrive 2GB USB flash drive review @ Elite BastardsPower:Enermax MODU82+ 525W PSU @ CPU3DCooler Master Silent Pro M600 @ InsideHWCases, Cooling & Misc.:Cirago Mini Bluetooth Headset HS-450 Review @ OCCSennheiser PC350 Gaming Headphones Video Review @ Tech LobbyCirago HS-450 Mini Bluetooth Cell Phone Headset Review @ Tweaknews.netGriffin PowerDock

NVIDIA Announces Workforce Reduction SANTA CLARA, CA – SEPTEMBER 18, 2008 – NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA) today announced a workforce reduction to allow for continued investment in strategic growth areas. As a result, NVIDIA expects to eliminate approximately 360 positions worldwide, or about 6.5 percent of the Company’s global workforce. The reduction is expected to be completed by the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2009 ending October 26, 2008. NVIDIA will provide employees affected by this reduction

PerfectStroke key system for the ultimate keyboard feel. Bluetooth wireless and Li-Ion powered. Stylishly sleek with its elegant charging base and backlit controls, the diNovo Edge makes a bold statement. An ideal partner for any high-end computer, the ultra-slim Logitech diNovo Edge delivers the ultimate in feel and response. The revolutionary TouchDisc with hyper-speed scrolling and pixel-perfect control makes trackpads obsolete. A slim recharging base doubles as a keyboard stand. Work longer thanks to the longer-lasting Li-Ion batteries, and more securely via Bluetooth wireless technology. Combine it with the world’s most advanced mouse, the Logitech MX Revolution, for a premium desktop experience! This deal ends Wednesday at 12:00pm ET.

ATI has just released Catalyst 8.9 for Windows Vista, Windows XP and Linux platforms on amd.com, so be sure to get them if you need them. The drivers have the usual game patches, but also has new display modes for HDTVs, Overdrive support for CrossFireX users, and OpenGL 3.0 extension support. Not a bad little monthly driver build from the guys up in Canada. The game issues that are resolved are listed below.

# Company of Heroes: Setting the in-game options to maximum levels no longer results in the game exiting to the desktop after the game has completed loading.
# DiRT: Setting shadows to ultra quadCF no longer results in a performance drop being noticed.
# Assassins Creed: Brightness and saturation distortion is no longer observed during game play with ForceAA enabled.
# Grid: Enabling CrossFire and starting a new game no longer results in flickering bands being noticed across the display device.
# Jericho: Corruption is no longer noticed when AA is enabled and the in-game option Advanced Smoothing is enabled.
# Age of Conan: Playing the game for a short period of time no longer results in flickering corruption being noticed.

Who’d of thunk it, but your old, first generation, non-3G, iPhone is actually worth big bucks. A quick glance at eBay and Craigslist show that 8GB iPhones–many advertised as “unlocked,” “jailbroken,” “unlockable,” and “use on any GSM network”–are selling for between roughly $200 and $400. Not everyone is comfortable with using eBay or with the responsibilities that come with selling goods to other consumers. For this crowd, and for those who are looking to make a quick buck without the time-consuming hassles

AMD today launched a new corporate brand campaign under a new tagline, The Future is Fusion. The campaign is intended to focus on how the unique AMD combination of technologies, coupled with close relationships with computer manufacturers and a deep understanding of customer needs, results in exciting next-generation capabilities and experiences at work, at home, and at play.

The adoption of the Fusion brand and the accompanying global campaign, which is expected to run through the end of the year, are among several steps AMD is taking as part of a broader transformation designed to sharpen its focus around its core microprocessor and graphics technology businesses. AMD recently signed an agreement to sell its Digital TV business to Broadcom as part of its efforts to better focus resources on its core computing and graphics businesses.

Find an ATI Radeon HD 4670 Video Card Review from Motherboards.org and other reviews from around the web by visiting our forums!

The market for video cards in the under $100 price range is rather crowded at the moment with 9600GT, 9600GSO, HD 4670 and the 8800GT all coming in nearly the same price as you can see from the chart earlier in the review and that's the main issue with this card release. Previous mainstream cards like the HD 2600 and HD 3450 did not have the competition from other cards in this price point. The HD 4670 is a great card for what it was designed for. The ability to run every game out there especially those supporting DX10.1 means that the HD 4670 will play games with the full features turned on if you want to. ATI says that the HD 4670 consumes less than 75W under full load, meaning that it nearly offers the performance of the HD 3850 in almost every situation without the extra power that the HD 3850 requires to operate properly.

No matter what you think of AMD’s ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series of video cards, you’d be crazy not to love what AMD did with the pricing of the first two cards (Radeon HD 4850 and HD 4870) from the series. As a result of AMD’s aggressive pricing, NVIDIA felt compelled to lower the price of its latest GeForce video cards, the GeForce GTX 260 and the GTX 280. Today, we have a look at MSI’s Radeon 4850 offering.  To see how well the new MSI R4850 512M performs, we’ll pit it against a Radeon HD 4870, a Radeon HD