Nelson Wong Life Blog

iBUYPOWER’s Core i7-powered LAN Warrior

iBUYPOWER Launches LAN Warrior – Small-Form Factor PC
Built for LAN Party Battles

Liquid cooled Core-i7 based LAN Warrior has room for 2 dual slot video cards
and up to 24GB of DDR 3

El Monte, CA – April 28, 2009 – iBUYPOWER, one of the largest gaming system manufacturers in the world, is excited to announce its first small form factor (SFF) system – LAN Warrior. Unlike previous attempts at SFF gaming systems, the LAN Warrior offers enough firepower to stand toe-to-toe with even the most advanced gaming systems, with room for up to two full-sized dual slot video cards, up to 24GB of Triple Channel DDR3, and a 1000W power supply.

Enthusiasts will appreciate the LAN Warrior’s overclocking features and the SupremeFX X-Fi solution, which enhances the gaming experience with realistic sound-effects. iBUYPOWER also includes a carrying strap and harness system for taking the LAN Warrior on the road.

FULL SPECS BELOW

“We designed the LAN Warrior for gamers that need more power than a gaming laptop can provide,” said Darren Su, Vice President of iBUYPOWER. “With the space for 2 dual-slot video cards and a liquid cooled Intel Core i7 Processor, the LAN Warrior is just as powerful as systems twice its size.”

iBUYPOWER chose the sleek NZXT Rogue case for its 3 120mm ventilation fan ports (expandable to 5 120mm fans) to keep the LAN Warrior running cool during even the most intense battles. The LAN Warrior’s ESATA, Audio out, Card Reader, and two USB ports are all conveniently located on the system’s front panel. Additionally, the system’s removable power supply bracket and motherboard tray make future expansion a breeze. The case also features a lock on the front cable and pad lock loop on the back panel to protect the LAN Warrior’s components from theft.

The LAN Warrior starts at just $999 MSRP and is available now exclusively at www.iBUYPOWER.com. iBUYPOWER systems come standard with 1 year limited warranty and lifetime technical support.

About iBUYPOWER

iBUYPOWER Computer, an enterprise in association with American Future Technology Corporation (AFT), is one of the largest system builders in the PC gaming industry. Located in Los Angeles County, iBUYPOWER’s mission is to provide a complete computing solution to meet the needs of the surrounding community and customers nationwide. Currently, the company’s product lines include gaming desktops, gaming notebooks, workstations, media center PCs, peripherals and multimedia products.

Microsoft’s anticipated evolution of the XUI

How to Downgrade your iPhone 3G baseband from 2.30 to 2.28

They did it! No, it wasn’t the venerated iPhone Dev Team that figured it out. The folks at ModMyi have posted an iPhone 3G baseband firmware downgrade utility, developed by “pH,” that should give bricked iPhone 3G owners new hope. Thanks to pH and the “pHasebandowngrader” utility, the iPhone 3G baseband firmware version 2.30 can now be downgraded to the more unlock-friendly 2.28 baseband firmware! But only if you’re running bootloader 5.80…

But, why would you want to downgrade your iPhone 3G’s baseband? Because the newer 2.30 version of the iPhone 3G modem firmware (baseband) will not work with the only true software-based SIM unlock utility, known as “yellowsn0w.” The iPhone Dev Team’s iPhone 3G unlocking utility can liberate many iPhone 3Gs to work on any GSM network in the world, but will only work an iPhone 3G running baseband version 2.28.

To downgrade your iPhone 3G’s 2.30 baseband:

1. Download pHasebandowngrader here.
* Download to Desktop
2. Connect via SSH to your iPhone
* Open MobileTerminal
* Type “login”
* Default login/pass is root/alpine
3. Copy the downloaded “phasebandowngrader” folder to your iPhone’s “Applications” folder
* The folder MUST named phasebandowngrader with lowercase letters!
* Type “cd / Applications/phasebandowngrader/”
4. Execute pHasbandowngrader
* Type “./phasebandowngrader”
5. You should now be running iPhone baseband 2.30!

More complete instructions and warnings can be found in this MMI thread.

The pHasbandowngrader is only intended to be used on iPhone 3Gs that were accidentally flashed to the latest 2.30 baseband firmware. Those same users that are now looking to unlock their iPhone 3G to roam the globe can now downgrade their baseband and run the yellowsn0w utility (available from Cydia). Unfortunately, most newer iPhone 3G units have upgraded bootloaders that prevent baseband downgrades. So, if you recently bought your iPhone 3G, thinking you could unlock it for use overseas, you’re out of luck. Sorry.

But, if you’ve been waiting for the day when you would finally be allowed to downgrade to 2.28 and use yellowsn0w, consider this your lucky day!

Warning: pHasbandowngrader has only been tested with baseband 2.30 and commercially available iPhone OS versions. iPhone Devs out there that have updated to iPhone OS 3.0 will be testing pHasbandowngrader at their own risk

Acer Aspire easyStore Home Server

the Acer Aspire easyStore Home Server H340 (now, there’s a mouthful) popped up on the internet and of course, as soon as we got our hands on the manual, we plundered it to find out more about the features that Acer have packed into the product.

Specifications

The manual confirms the specifications of Acer’s new baby:
Processor: Intel® Atom™ Processor
Chipset: Intel 945GC Express Chipset and ICH7R
Drive storage: Up to four 3.5-inch hot-swappable SATA hard disk drives (HDD)
Memory: Up to 2 GB DDR2 MHz unbuffered SDRAM
Ethernet: High performance (10/100/1000) Gigabit Ethernet port
I/O ports: 2.0 ports (1 front and 4 rear), Gigabit Ethernet port, eSATA port, recovery/reset button, USB
Power: 200 W, 100-240 V AC
Server operating system (OS)
support: Windows Home Server Home computer OS
support: Windows Vista 32-bit and 64-bit Edition Windows XP 32-bit and 64-bit Edition
Digital media
player support: Any DLNA certified device
Digital media file support:
• Music: MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC, AC3, FLAC, APE, OGG, VOC, AIFF, AU, MID
• Video: WMV, ASF, MOV, AVI, MPEG, 3GP, SWF, FLV, RMVB, RM, RA, RAM, MP4, MPG, MPE, M2V, TP, TS, MLV, MKV, DIVX
• Photos: GIF, PNG, BMP, JPG, JEPG, ICO, TIFF, DXF, WMF, EMF, PICT, EPS, CDR
Physical
dimensions: WxHxD: 200 x 180 x 212 mm
Weight: (without HDD): 4.5 kg
(with 1 HDD): 5.1 kg
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Paul van Dyk iPhone App

HP MediaSmart 2.5 Update Now Available

Yesterday, HP released the iStream application for the iPhone and also for the iPod Touch.

Today, in fact, in the last few minutes, HP have released the HP MediaSmart Server 2.5 Update to the web.

In order to get it click on the Check for updates link on the HP Updates tab in the Settings area on your Windows Home Server Console.

HP Update – before

It should then check for the update, and if it is found, you will see the MediaSmart Server Update 2.5 selected. As you can see, it’s just under 218MB in size.

MediaSmart 2.5 Update Available

A full review will follow shortly, but for now go and start the download :

And remember, this update is only available for the EX485 and EX487 owners!

Viliv S5 unboxed

Darth Vader’s Helmet Art Gallery

The concept is simple: 100 of the best underground artists and designers working today were given a scale Darth Vader helmet to customize as they saw fit. Some of the most notable artists involved with the project include: Shag, Peter Kuper, Attaboy, Gary Baseman, Tim Biskup, Dalek, Paul Frank, Ron English, Jeff Soto, Michelle Valigura, Frank Kozik, Wade Lageose, Joe Ledbetter, Alex Pardee, Suckadelic, Cameron Tiede, Mister Cartoon, Marc Ecko, and Amanda Visell. Plus, new artists are added to the lineup from time to time.

Since it’s conception in 2007, the Vader Project has been displayed at various Star Wars conventions around the world, but the exhibit at the Warhol marks it’s first appearance in a museum setting. So, if you can’t make it to Pittsburgh in time, hopefully the project will come to you sometime in the not-too-distant future.

HP iStream iPhone App Available Now

The highly anticipated HP MediaSmart Server iStream application for Apple iPhone is now available, at least in North America it seems. Users can download the free iPhone application directly in iTunes (search for “HP MediaSmart” to narrow the results), or using the App Store application directly on the iPhone itself.

The HP MediaSmart 2.5 software update has not yet been spotted in the wild but we are hoping it won’t be long now.

HP MediaSmart Server iStream
Your digital media is just a fingertip away!
Customers owning a HP MediaSmart Server EX485 or EX487 can now enjoy their digital media on their iPhone or iPod touch. The HP MediaSmart Server iStream is a free application that allows you to stream the photo, music and video libraries* stored on your HP MediaSmart Server (EX485/EX487) to your iPhone or iPod Touch.

Key Features and benefits
• As the heart of your digital life, the HP Media Smart Server (EX485/EX487) is your all-in-one solution for managing your digital media.
• As an owner of the HP MediaSmart Server (EX485/EX487), use the iStream application to stream your personal digital media from the server to your iPhone or iPod Touch.
• Forgot to sync your library? No problem! With the iStream application, your entire photo, music and video* libraries can be accessed anywhere you have an internet connection – no more worrying that you haven’t sync’d to your iPhone or IPod Touch.
• Enjoy all of your favorite pictures, listen to your entire music collection and watch your favorite video* knowing that all of your files are protected on your HP MediaSmart Server (EX485/EX487).

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The Pirate Bay Trial: The Official Verdict – Guilty

The verdict in the case of The Pirate Bay Four was announced. All four defendants were accused of ‘assisting in making copyright content available’. Peter Sunde: Guilty. Fredrik Neij: Guilty. Gottfrid Svartholm: Guilty. Carl Lundström: Guilty. The four receive 1 year in jail each and fines totaling $3,620,000.

The court said that the four defendants worked as a team, were aware that copyrighted material was being shared using The Pirate Bay and that they made it easy and assisted the infringements. It categorized the infringements as ’severe’. The judge said that the users of The Pirate Bay committed the first offense by sharing files and the four assisted this.

While the court did not agree with the plaintiff’s exaggerated estimates of losses, it still set the damages at 30 million SEK ($3,620,000). This a hugely significant amount and the court has ordered that the four should pay this amount between them.

The judge also stated that the usage of BitTorrent at The Pirate Bay is illegal. Rest assured, other torrent sites hosted in Sweden will be keeping a close eye on developments.