Ultra Products 2x256MB PC3200 XL, ECS Factory Tour, and more!

Anyone looking for a new notebook? Heard of a little machine called the Dell Inspiron XPS Gen 2? Andrew "The Mobile Man" Ku had the pleasure of reviewing one of these babies last month. However, the focus of the review was centered around it's horsepower and gaming ability. This time Andrew is back in action, examining the media aspect of Dell's expensive lappy. Is it good enough? Is it overkill? Only one way to find out. Oh yeah, and we've also got some news from the tech world :) Goodnight folks!

SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT ENTERS INTO STRATEGIC LICENSING AGREEMENT WITH AGEIA

AGEIA PhysX, the World's Most Advanced Physics Library, to be Included in Software Development Kit for PS3

Tokyo, July 21, 2005 – Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) announced today that it had entered into a strategic licensing agreement with AGEIA Technologies™, Inc. (AGEIA), a physics tool and hardware developer based in California, U.S.A, effective July 20, 2005. Through this agreement, SCEI obtains sublicensing rights of the AGEIA PhysX™ SDK (also known as NovodeX™), a physics library developed by AGEIA.

The AGEIA PhysX SDK is the leading next-generation solution for creating compelling in-game physics and has been widely adopted by various game engines, such as the Unreal Engine 3 by Epic Games. Its multi-threaded capability makes the AGEIA PhysX SDK ideally equipped to leverage the power of the Cell processor. The licensing agreement allows for SCEI and AGEIA to optimize the AGEIA PhysX SDK for utilization in PLAYSTATION^(R)3, and will be included in the Software Development Kit for PLAYSTATION 3. Frontline support will be provided by SCEI.

"A licensing agreement with AGEIA is a strategic move for us" said Masa Chatani, corporate executive and CTO, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. "With AGEIA PhysX SDK provided as part of Software Development Kit for PS3, we believe that numbers of content with entirely new forms of physics expressions optimizing the power of the Cell processor will be developed."

"This agreement between SCEI and AGEIA marks a significant landmark in the development of advanced physics-enabled games," said Manju Hegde, founder and CEO of AGEIA Technologies, Inc. "The capabilities of the AGEIA PhysX SDK combined with the power of the Cell architecture will give developers the tools necessary to introduce dynamic physical properties within games that will leapfrog game interactivity as we know it today."

Ultra Products 2*256MB PC3200 XL @ Overclockers Online

"These memory modules have certainly put Ultra Products on the map for high speed, low latency DDR kits. The quality of the product does comes at a reasonable price. This 2*256MB kit retails for 95 dollars at Tiger Direct. At this price, you won't find very many other 2*256MB kits at this clock speed. In addition, Ultra Products guarantees performance of PC4200, which is something not all competitors will do."

Cooler Master Centurion Micro ATX 540/541 Casing @ Hardware Zone

"Cooler Master is the latest company to do some downsizing and it comes in the form of a mini tower version of their Centurion casing lineup. The Centurion Micro ATX 540 and 541 carries great value and a tough body but it's not without flaws."

ECS Factory Tour @ Hardware Secrets

"We visited ECS factory located in ShenZhen province (the correct pronunciation is "tchen-jen"), in mainland China. This trip was a unique experience in several ways and we think it is worthwhile to ta..."