It seemed obvious, didn’t it?  With the new in-store activation process, not only would it take longer, it would also be prone to the same sorts of server issues as last year, when customers would go home and be unable to activate.  Only this time, it would in the store.  Ah, the joys of early adoption.It seems that not only was the process taking a long time, now the servers have crashed, meaning that AT&T is sending people home unactivated.  As AT&T said:We have had reports that

Intel on Monday is expected to launch its latest mobile platform, Centrino 2 , which will deliver speedier performance and faster wireless connectivity to laptops. After multiple refreshes, the new platform is Intel's first major Centrino upgrade after its predecessor was launched in 2003. The new platform will deliver better performance on laptops with faster, more power-efficient Core 2 Duo chips running between 2.26GHz and 3.06GHz.

The platform will include Penryn chips manufactured using the 45-nanometer process, with three of the new processors running at 25 watts for better power-efficiency compared to 35 watts in earlier Centrino notebook processors, Ong wrote. A big Centrino 2 advantage is improved graphics, said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst at Insight 64. The new GM45 integrated graphics card supports DirectX 10 to handle 3D graphics and high-definition content. It also is capable of off-loading the processor by taking on heavier graphics loads.

Video:BFG 8800GT OCX & 9600GT OCX Thermointelligence Review @ Hardware CanucksSamsung 2263UW LCD Monitor @ Overclockers OnlineSapphire Radeon HD4850 (512Mb DDR3) @ CPU3DMotherboards and Chipsets:ECS A740GM-A Motherboard on AMD 740G Chipset @ Digit-LifeProcessors:Overclocking Pro’s and Con’s @ TechwareLabsMemory and Storage:OCZ DDR3 PC3-16000 Platinum memory @ NeoseekerVizo Luxon Advanced hard disk enclosure review @ Elite BastardsCorsair Dominator CM3X1024-1800C7DIN DDR3 @ t-breakKingston 2GB DDR3-1600 HyperX

Talk about cannibalizing sales from Windows Vista. It’s bad enough Microsoft has to worry about XP doing that, but … All right, all right, obviously we’re just kidding. And yes, you read that right. Windows for Workgroups (WFW) 3.11 is still being sold. Microsoft is selling it in the Embedded Channel. However, in a blog post on Thursday, Microsoft announced that as of November 1st, that venerable old OS would go the way of the dodo.As John Coyne announced in the blog post: for those that were not aware, we

Asus and Gigabyte recently had a spat about power consumption a couple months back that got some people wondering which motherboard was really the most energy efficient. We took a look at the real numbers to see who comes out on top and the results might just shock you. Read on to see which motherboard maker comes out on top when we try out ASUS's EPU and Gigabyte's DES equivalent.

OCZ Technology just announced the expansion of its gaming peripherals under a new Alchemy line, with the introduction of the Elixir keyboard series for highly advanced functionality in game-play. Featuring a wealth of user-friendly features combined with an ergonomic and sturdy design, the Elixir keyboard will deliver a unique combination of performance and vale to gamers as they blaze through the latest PC titles. The Elixir keyboards feature a MSRP of $29.99. While we are on the subject of OCZ, we would like to note that one of our sources gave us wrong information this week and that OCZ has not laid off people in sales and marketing. OCZ said that they have actually hired people in sales and marketing recently. Our apologies to OCZ for not verifying the rumor before commenting on it. We have since removed our comments from the news post in question.

The new Alchemy line from OCZ is designed to offer gamers quality gaming solutions that deliver both exceptional performance and value, said Eugene Chang, Product Manager of the OCZ Technology Group. Just because gamers have a budget doesnt mean they shouldnt enjoy premium gaming features, and our first Alchemy solution the Elixir gaming keyboard is designed with quality ergonomics and offers efficient game-play with programmable macro keys.

OCZ Technology Introduces Elixir Keyboards under the new Alchemy line of Gaming ProductsSunnyvale, Calif.—July 10, 2008—OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory and components, today announced the expansion of its gaming peripherals under a new “Alchemy” line, with the introduction of the Elixir keyboard series for highly advanced functionality in game-play. Featuring a wealth of user-friendly features combined with an ergonomic and sturdy design,

This morning Lian Li announced the PC- K1 and PC-K1 Pro computer cases under the Lancool brand. Both of these Lancool series cases have a steel inner-core, making them 40% stronger than all-aluminum chassis, but also considerably cheaper, and while the frame is heavy(7.2kg), it is not so heavy as a standard metal chassis. The design looks pretty sweet and hte case is aimes at the DIY gamer.

There are many unique touches that make Lancool products stand out as an executive upper-class chassis. Those features include an all aluminum chassis exterior, giving the case the traditional hair-line brushed finish with black anodizing, while the internals have finely honed edges to keep up high safety standards. The PC-K1 Pro has an all white interior finish, ideal for reflecting light with LEDs. There is one 14cm Blue LED fan in the front, and one 12cm Blue LED fan at the rear of the chassis maintaining the high quality but incorporating a colorful option for the gaming enthusiast.

Seagate today unveiled the industrys first 1.5-terabyte desktop and half-terabyte notebook hard drives to meet explosive worldwide demand for digital-content storage in home and business environments. The debut of the Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB hard drive, the eleventh generation of Seagates flagship drive for desktop PCs, marks the single largest capacity hard drive jump in the more than half-century history of hard drives a half-terabyte increase from the previous highest capacity of 1TB, thanks to the capacity-boosting power of perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) technology. Shipments of the Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB are set to begin August 2008. Momentus 5400.6 and 7200.4 hard drives are to begin shipping in Q4 calendar 2008, so don't expect to order one next week.

Momentus 5400.6 and Momentus 7200.4 hard drives are the fourth generation of Seagates laptop family to use PMR. The Momentus 5400.6, a 5400-rpm drive, combines a powerful Serial ATA 3Gb/second interface and capacities ranging from 120GB to 500GB with an 8MB cache. The Momentus 7200.4 hard drive, with its 7200-rpm spin speed and a Serial ATA 3GB/second interface, delivers true desktop performance. The power-efficient 7200-rpm drive maximizes battery life and comes in capacities ranging from 250GB to 500GB with a 16MB cache.

Seagate announced three new consumer-level hard drives today, which it claims are the “industry’s first 1.5-terabyte desktop and half-terabyte notebook hard drives.” The company claims that it is able to greatly increase the areal density of its drive substrates by utilizing perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) technology. Wikipedia states that PMR is “capable of delivering more than triple the storage density of traditional longitudinal recording.”Credit: WikipediaSeagate’s latest desktop-class hard drive,