Microsoft has released a new DirectX redistributable package into the wild for virtually all versions of Windows, including Vista.  This is a DX9.0c / DX10 update that’s not going to show up on the Windows Update website, but it is an official release.”This download provides the DirectX end-user multi-languaged redistributable that developers can include with their product.  The DirectX redist installation includes all the latest and previous released DirectX runtime. This includes the bi-monthly D3DX,

After admitting that the SymProtect feature of its security products was at least partially to blame for registry corruption which occurred during both Windows XP SP3 and Windows Vista SP1 upgrades, Symantec promised a standalone utility to remove the corrupted entries, and it’s finally delivered on that promise.SymProtect, designed to protect Symantec’s security software from being hacked by malware, guards against unauthorized changes to the registry.Reese Anschultz, a senior Symantec manager, announced the

There’s no question, the 2008 Olympics, to be held in Beijing China, are serious business.  An of course, serious business needs serious compute, communications and storage power.  For this year’s Summer Olympic games, China certainly isn’t messing around.  In fact, the old American proverb, “go big or go home” seems to fit aptly.   Digital Beijing – The 2008 Olypmics Data CenterSource: Studio Pei-ZhuDigital Beijing – The 2008 Olypmics Data CenterSource: Studio Pei-Zhu “The

Yes, T-Mobile has sued Starbucks, and it’s over wi-fi, but it’s not over the fact that Starbucks is dropping T-Mobile in favor of AT&T. It’s over their new “free wi-fi” plan that was just unveiled this week.In the lawsuit, filed late on Thursday in New York state court, T-Mobile alleges that AT&T and Starbucks Corp are not living up to an agreement the three companies reached over how Starbucks should transfer from its T-Mobile partnership to a new partnership with AT&T announced earlier this year.T-Mobile

According to several sources close to the hard drive industry, Western Digital is working on a 20,000 RPM Raptor hard drive to combat the increasing pressure from SSD manufacturers.

The new drive will be very similar to the recently-released VelociRaptor, in that itll be a 2.5in drive with a custom 3.5in housing built around it. Details are incredibly light at this stage, given that the product is still in development, and we dont even have a release timeframe at the moment.

The trial for Advanced Micro Devices' five-year-old antitrust suit alleging that competitor Intel unfairly manipulated the chip market has been delayed until February 2010. The trial was previously scheduled for April 2009, AMD spokeswoman Hollis Krym, said Friday.

AMD is accusing Intel of using illegal subsidies in order to coerce 38 companies in North America, Asia, and Europe to use its products, in some cases threatening retribution if those companies used or sold AMD products. It alleges that Intel pushed major customers, such as Dell, Sony, Gateway and Hitachi, into making exclusive deals in return for cash, discriminatory pricing or marketing subsidies.

VIA Technologies held a launch party on June 5 in Taiwan to officially announce its new VIA Nano processor (Isaiah) and a new standard for small form factor motherboards, Mini-ITX 2.0. Nvidia's general manager of MCP business, Drew Henry, appeared at the show lending weight to previous reports the two companies will be teaming up on a new CPU-chipset platform in the near future. It seems highly likely that a VIA/NVIDIA deal has been struck and that is good news for both of them and bad for Intel as the Atom is getting some competition. It only makes sense for Both VIA and NVIDIA as Intel and AMD are the dominant forces in the industry.

Although VIA made it clear it was not announcing any cooperation with Nvidia or related products at the event, sources at PC vendors have revealed that Nvidia's first VIA CPU-based chipsets will be launched in the first quarter of 2009. The MCP79 chipset will support VIA's Nano processors and a bus speed up to 1333MHz. The built-in graphics core will support DirectX 10, the sources contend. Both VIA and Nvidia declined to comment any further regarding their cooperation, but industry watchers believe the appearance of Henry at the launch, and comments he made about VIA's Nano CPUs, point to a clear indication of the relationship between the two companies.

Video:Palit 9600GSO Sonic 768MB Review @ NeoseekerDiamond Viper HD 3650 PE 512MB Reviewed @ TheTechLoungeBFG 8800 GT OCX w/ ThermoIntelligence Video Card Review @ I4UBFG Tech GeForce 9600GT OC2 @ TweaktownSamsung 22″ Widescreen LCD Monitor 2220WM-HAS @ BmRSapphire Radeon HD3870 “Ultimate” Review @ boot dailyWater Cooled Sapphire Radeon HD3870X2 Atomic @ Modders-IncPNY Verto GeForce 9600 GT Video Card Review @ Legit ReviewsMotherboards and Chipsets:Gigabyte MA-790FX-DS5 Review @ Motherboards.orgProcessors:Intel

If you’ve been wondering if Intel’s 80+ percent market share of the microprocessor market amounted to a monopoly worth investigating, wonder no more. The Federal Trade Commision has started a formal review of Intel’s business practices to see if they run afoul of any anti-competitive laws. They’re sending out subpoenas to AMD and some of the many computer manufacturers that use Intel’s chips in their units as well. A.M.D. has waged a global legal and public relations campaign against Intel hoping to persuade

Last night, Google unveiled something called “Gmail Labs.” It can be found under your Settings tab in Gmail. Of course, typically, this will roll out gradually to users, so you may not see it, though it went live at 6 PM PDT Thursday night, so most should have it by now.Gmail Labs is a way for us to take lots of the ideas we wouldn’t normally pick and let you all (who use Gmail) decide whether they’re good or not. When you sign in, you’ll see a new page in Settings called Labs. It has a list of experimental