[H]ard|OCP

Apple Pushing Partners For DRM-free Music?

According to Mac Rumors, Apple sent out notices to its iTunes partners letting them know they will soon be able to offer DRM-free music. Obviously this is still just a rumor but this is one rumor that I hope turns out to be true.

Many of you have reached out to iTunes to find out how you can make your songs available higher quality and DRM-free. Starting next month, iTunes will begin offering higher-quality, DRM-free music and DRM-free music videos to all customers.

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OCZ Unleashes the VBoost USB 2.0 Flash Drive

OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, today announced an exciting new addition to its award-winning lineup of flash drives. VBoost USB 2.0 Flash Drives are optimized for Windows® Vista™ ReadyBoost™. Vista ReadyBoost enables the OCZ VBoost to double as supplemental cache memory for faster retrieval and storage of system data and applications. By providing an instant supply of additional memory, this drive is a cost-effective alternative to expensive RAM upgrades.

Sony Apologizes For Dead Goat

Sony has apologized for hosting a party that featured a dead goat and nude women. Although no formal complaints were filed about the topless women, it seems that not everyone was happy with the headless goat. I swear, I’m not making this up.

The theatrical dramatization, which according to reports, also featured topless women feeding grapes to partygoers, was supposed to be in keeping with the video game's Greek mythology theme. But according to media reports from Europe, animal rights groups were outraged and video game critics said the scene was symbolic of the industry's blood lust.

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[H]ardware Round-Up II

Video

10 GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB Video Card Comparo @ MadShrimps

Cooling

ChillTec Thermoelectric CPU Cooler @ Legit Reviews

XIGMATEK 082 Cooler @ techPowerUP!

ETC.

Logitech Blue G5 Laser Gaming Mouse @ GotFrag

The Arrival of TeraFLOP Computing @ Bit-Tech

Using Antennas With Your HDTV?

Apparently people are buying antennas, the type used for decades on older TVs, for use on new HDTVs. This could be particularly handy for those of you that spent all your money on a HDTV and didn’t have anything left over for HD cable.

Local TV channels, broadcast in HD over-the-air, offer superior picture quality over the often-compressed signals sent by cable and satellite TV companies. And the best part? Over-the-air HD is free. "Eighty-year-old technology is being redesigned and rejiggered to deliver the best picture quality."

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E-Gold Indicted For Fronting Fraudsters

Security Watch says that E-Gold has been indicted on various charges including money laundering, conspiracy and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.

According to an indictment, handed down by a Washington federal grand jury and unsealed on April 27, E-Gold is a preferred method of payment by investment scammers, credit card and identity fraudsters, and online sellers of child pornography. E-Gold allegedly conducted funds transfers on behalf of such customers knowing that the funds were the proceeds of unlawful activity, thus violating federal money-laundering statutes.

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Bloated 17-inch MacBook Pro Battery

This is one of those things that, even if you aren’t a MacBook Pro owner, you really have to see to believe. Personally, I have never seen a battery swell like that without exploding. Make sure you hit the link to all the pictures.

This swollen, bloated MacBook Pro battery comes to us courtesy of Engadget reader Brade, whose ridiculously broken cell continued expanding even days after it was pulled from his system

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Critical Photoshop Plug-In Flaw Found

Just a heads up to all you Photoshop users out there, security researchers have found a "highly critical" flaw in the portable-network graphics plug-in for Photoshop Creative Suite and other versions of the software that run on Windows.

The portable-network graphics, or PNG, plug-in vulnerabilities were discovered in Adobe Photoshop Creative Suite 3 (CS3), Photoshop CS2, and Adobe Photoshop Elements (Editor) version 5.0 for Windows, according to a report released Monday by Secunia, which cited a researcher named "Marsu" with the discovery. Marsu tested a public exploit against versions of the software running Windows XP SP2.

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[H]ard|OCP [H]otDeals

Welcome to another edition of [H]ard|OCP [H]otDeals! We have some super hot CPU deals going on in the forum today like this Athlon 64 3200+ socket 754 for $36. Need a 939 processor instead? Try this Athlon 64 3400+ for only $40. What’s that you say? You need a socket AM2 processor? This Athlon 64 X2 3600+ is only $59 and all three come with free shipping. Other hot deals include this Lite-ON 20X SATA DVD burner for $32.99 and this Xbox 360 HD DVD player for $187.99 with free shipping. And remember, with every purchase of a new RatPadz XT you get a free pack of BFG Teflon Slick Pads for your mouse. Get in on the deals while they last!

State of the Silicon Union - Q207

If you want to know where we think the industry is headed, what might happen when we get there and why, I highly recommend you give our editorial “State of the Silicon Union” editorial a read.

Much of the time, the writing is on the wall, and typing an editorial that takes a broad view of the CPU, GPU, and motherboard chipset world is sometimes about as worthwhile as tits on a boar hog. At this time, though, I think that many in the enthusiast crowd may not be seeing the big picture, hence the point of talking about it here.

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Twelve Nations Put On Piracy List

Twelve nations were put on a copyright piracy watch list today including China, Russia, Argentina, Chile, Egypt, India, Israel, Lebanon, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine and Venezuela. According to the article, the administration says it is concerned by a range of issues including "deteriorating protection for patents and copyrights."

The Bush administration on Monday targeted China, Russia and 10 other nations for extra scrutiny in the piracy of American movies, music, computer programs and other copyrighted materials. The 12 nations were put on a "priority watch list" in the area of copyright piracy, which costs the American industry billions of dollars in lost sales annually.

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[H]ardware Round-Up

Mobile

Asus G2P 17" Core 2 Duo Gaming Notebook @ PCPerspective

Cooling

Thermalright HR-03 Plus VGA Cooler @ OCIA

ETC.

Fanatec HeadShot Controller @ Overclockers Club

Hiper Type R 580W PSU @ AltGamer

Logitech QuickCam Ultra Vision Webcam @ ThinkComputers