InsaneTek

Say goodbye to Windows Genuine Advantage and hello to Windows Activation Technologies. WAT now covers Windows Vista and Windows 7 anti-piracy tools. Microsoft reports that one piracy exploit has caused over 1 million crashes in non-genuine Windows installations and that Vista is much less pirated than XP. I don't know how much Microsoft uses pirated copies of its own software but I know that I can't tell the difference between a pirated and genuine version of Windows 7.

The new update to WAT breaks over 70 current exploits for Windows 7 activation. It can be voluntarily applied to any of the Windows 7 products starting February 16th. Every 90 days it will inspect the computer for tampered licensing files. Before doing that it updates itself with the latest anti-piracy definitions much like an anti-virus. The interesting part about this anti-piracy scheme is that in the event that Windows 7 is found to be non-genuine, there will be no reduced functionality for the customer. The desktop wallpaper changes to a plain color with a watermark and periodic reminders pop-up to annoy the living hell out of you.

I'm just hoping the acronym doesn't stick. I don't want to be bothered explaining what WAT is to people.

The Cryo-Z has been out for a year and a half and has never been updated for compatibility with the latest Intel sockets so OCZ's reseller Frozen CPU designed custom mounting hardware to finally add compatibility for 1156/1366 sockets. The new mounting collar is very easy to install and instructions are provided on Frozen CPU's website. Unfortunately I couldn't find a place to order the mounting collar separate from the Cryo-Z. I sent an email to Frozen CPU to find out if they plan to allow purchasing the collar separately. I'll update this post when I get a response from them.

UPDATE: You can order the mounting collar separately for $25 from Frozen CPU by phone at 1.877.2.GET.COOL (1.877.243.8266).

Here are 7 easy steps to safely test Chromium OS on your netbook using a 3GB+ USB flash drive:

1. Download the pre-built .img file from here.
2. Download Image Writer for Windows here.
3. Open Image Writer and select the chromiumos.img file you downloaded and the drive letter of your USB drive.
4. Click "Write".
5. Remove the USB drive from your computer.
6. Plug the USB drive into your netbook.
7. Turn the netbook on and log in to Chromium with the username facepunch and password facepunch.

Thanks to Hexxeh for building this image file. You can find instructions for OSX and Linux as well as an FAQ on his website.

You can find a Chromium OS hardware compatibility list here.

Note: You may need to use a wired network connection because many wireless cards are not supported currently. There is a modified version with wifi drivers available for Dell Mini 10v users but it has some quirks and the download is super slow (<20kb/s for a 7.5GB file).

G.Skill announced new 8GB (2GBx4) and 12GB (2GBx6) memory kits today. The 8GB capacity will be available for their entire product line and the 12GB capacity will be available on their PI product line. Only 3 of the models from the complete list are listed as compatible with the AMD platform.

The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) starts in January and manufacturers are gearing up their USB 3.0 product announcements for release in 2010. OCZ and Symwave are the latest to announce their partnership on upcoming USB 3.0 storage devices. USB 3.0 offers speeds faster than internal 3Gb/s SATA devices which will be an interesting combination with OCZ's SSD product line. Normal mechanical hard drives don't really come close to saturating the bandwidth capacity of 1.5Gb/s SATA or 3.0 GB/s SATA but solid-state disks are rapidly approaching a barrier and USB 3.0 products will allow solid-state drives to push farther than ever before.

One week ago on November 19th, the source code to Google’s Chrome OS was released.  The open source version of the OS was released under the name Chromium OS.  For those unfamiliar with the product, Chrome OS was announced July 7, 2009 as a web-based OS designed for speed, simplicity, and security and targeted at the rapidly expanding netbook market.

The difference between Chrome OS and all other operating systems available today is that Chrome’s data comes from the “cloud” which is a magical place that stores all your information. There are no software updates or application installs. It isn’t clear what Google’s plan is for local storage but there will be open-source options if it isn’t officially supported. Google is not including drivers for normal hard disk drives either. Chrome OS will rely solely on solid-state memory for increased speed. This won’t be a large problem because the target for this operating system is the netbook market where most devices already include a sufficient solid-state drive. Chrome OS uses a customized Linux kernel that doesn’t check for things like floppy drives and legacy options not found on netbooks. Combined with a solid-state drive this allows Google to improve OS boot time to less than 7 seconds.

The interface of Chrome OS looks just like the Google Chrome web browser with some additional UI for apps and system configuration. There is no desktop or place to drag and drop files. Everything you do is inside of a browser. You are able to open Microsoft Office documents with Office Live, update Facebook and Twitter, watch Hulu or Youtube videos, read ebooks, and many other things. The UI is clean and unobtrusive with only enough things to do what you do with a normal operating system on a day to day basis.

Google has a long way to go with this product but by the time netbooks are shipping with it installed in the second half of next year it should be as familiar as the computer you are reading this on.

I’ll have a guide on how to install Chromium onto a bootable USB drive tomorrow so you can try it for yourself.

Here is a quick video explaining what Chrome OS is:

Well it was only a matter of time. MSI and Rivatuner teamed up a couple months back on a piece of MSI branded software called MSI Afterburner which allows overclocking of video cards while inside Windows. MSI has just released an Nvidia 240GT model that allows adjustment of voltage and claim it can improve core clock by 30%.

[City of Industry, CA] World renowned graphics card and mainboard manufacturer, MSI, formally releases the world's first graphics card to support over-voltage functionality with the N240GT series. Including the N240GT-MD512-OC/D5 and N240GT-MD1G, this series allows the user to adjust both the voltage and the overclocking configurations via the Afterburner overclocking software to increase GPU clock up to 30%*! Additionally, this series utilizes an advanced 40nm GPU, supports the DirectX 10.1 gaming standard, and offers a native HDMI output for awesome 3D support and high-definition entertainment. The N240GT-MD512-OC/D5 uses extremely fast 512 MB GDDR5 graphic memory and implements military class components to offer an incredible cost-performance value to customers.

My soldering skills are going to get very rusty if this becomes normal.

Arctic Cooling used to be a VGA cooler company and that was pretty much it. Their VGA coolers can be seen on a large number graphics card manufacturer's products like ASUS, Club3D, HIS, PowerColor, Sapphire, and many more. These days Arctic Cooling is into a lot of related products like CPU coolers, fans, power supplies, and PC cases. So when I got an email about a product announcement from them I assumed it was another cooler or case accessory. I would have never thought Arctic Cooling's latest product would be a universal wall charger for USB devices. The Arctic Cooling C1 is a single-port model and the C2 is a 4-port model. Both come with a 2-year warranty and come with 4 AC plugs that cover about 150 countries.

Main features:

• 4 interchangeable plugs for America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia
  
• Ideal for USB-powered devices
  
• 100V to 240V full range input
  
• Short Circuit / Over Current / Over Power Protection
  
• Compact, light weight

I keep telling myself I need to get one of these things for all the USB devices I have but instead I let my MP3 players collect dust because I'm too lazy to find the charger. :sadface:

WiLife's Powerline NetCam System @ Toms Hardware
VIA Forum 2006 @ Digit-Life
Sharkoon Swift-Case Combo 3.5" @ Techpowerup
Seasonic S12 Energy Plus: Efficient Power for Connoisseurs @ SilentPCReview
Thermaltake Toughpower W0116RU @ Tweaknews.net
OCZ Tempest Heat Sink Fan Cooler @ LegitReviews
OCZ V12 CPU Cooler @ Hardware Secrets
USB Flash Drive Roundup - October 2006 @ Hardware Secrets
Mt. Rainier: Is It Necessary? @ TheTechZone
Icy Dock's eSATA HDD Enclosure @ SilentPCReview
AMD X2 AM2 4200+ EE @ Neoseeker