Dailytech 

"A big shakeup is breaking from eBay that will turn frequent buyers and sellers' worlds upside down

EBay today announced changes to its auction fee structure and is introducing new feedback rules to try to make its system friendlier to both buyers and sellers.  The company is cutting the listing fee by up to 50% and compensating by increasing its commissions on sold items.

The biggest shakeup will occur for sellers of low-priced items.  For items under $25, eBay is raising the commission from 5.25% to 8.25%.  This threatens the relatively strong market for used video games and music CDs.

One important change to sellers is that the gallery feature, which previously had an attached fee, is now entirely free.  The premium listing features Gallery Plus, Picture Pack, and Feature Plus will continue on with discounted fees."

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Betanews 

"As online advertising continues to put the squeeze on newspaper publishers trying to get ad revenue, Google is looking for innovative methods to cash in on one side of the ad market it has not had much luck penetrating: print.

Google's Print Ads program allows buyers and sellers of advertising to work together through Google, as a way to meld their print campaigns with their online campaigns. But for Google to make this program lucrative, it needs to find some way to make print ads -- especially in newspapers -- more interactive than they've ever been before."

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CPU3D Review: VIZO Mini-Ninja Notebook Cooler

VIZO introduces the Mini-Ninja notebook cooler. It's made from solid Aluminum and features adjustable USB-powered twin fans. What's more, it's suitable for notebooks with screen sizes of 12" to 15". Our CPU3D review team tests it with our Toshiba Satellite Pro U200 notebook.

           

 "... The VIZO Mini-Ninja notebook cooler does a fairly good job of actively cooling your notebook. "

 Read the rest of the review ... HERE

Xbitlabs

"The new Gigabyte G-Power II Pro cooler boasts universal design, requires elementary installation procedure, is compact at the base, noiseless at minimum fan rotation speed and very quiet at maximum fan rotation speed.

 ... So, finally, Gigabyte launched their best fighter: G-Power II Pro (GH-PSU22-LB) cooler. According to the company, this solution represents a great combination of highly efficient performance, low noise and stylish looks and should definitely sin some fans in the market fairly soon."

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HardOCP

"Antec is one of the most recognizable names in the industry when it comes to power supplies and chassis. Today we have a look at two units that are now considered "mid-range" offerings. So what makes an Antec 650w Blue?

... Power your system with 650 Watts of high efficiency power. The NeoPower 650 Blue’s advanced modular cabling allows you to use only the cables you need while keeping your case free of clutter from the ones you don’t. It’s equipped with a super quiet 120mm fan that lights up your case with internal blue LED illumination while keeping it cool. The NeoPower 650 Blue delivers reliable output to your devices with three 12 volt rails, making for an extremely stable system. Don’t feed your power hungry system with anything less than NeoPower."

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Digitimes

"Nvidia is planning to launch the next generation nForce 790i chipset in the second quarter this year. The chipset adopts Nvidia's C73 northbridge and MCP55 southbridge, and will support Intel processors with FSB up to 1600MHz, according to sources at motherboard makers.

The chipset will also feature 3-way SLI and Hybrid SLI technology and support DDR3 memory. Motherboard makers generally expect DDR3 memory pricing will start to drop in the third quarter of 2008. The nForce 790i is positioned by Nvidia as a high-end product and so the motherboard should attract high-end gamers who will be willing to pay a premium for DDR3 memory.

The nForce 790i will be released in two versions, nForce 790i Ultra SLI and nForce 790i SLI. The difference between the two is that the former has better overclocking ability and will support SLI memory modules up to DDR3 2000, the sources detailed."

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The INQ

Firefox is within a few percentage points of pulling ahead of Internet Explorer in some countries. Its share is 45.4 per cent in Finland, 42.4 per cent in Poland, 41.2 per cent in Slovenia and 40.3 per cent in Hungary.

Market penetration of Firefox has also moved into the 30's percentiles range in Estonia, Greece, Germany, Latvia, Romania, Austria and Croatia as well as throughout Oceania, that is, Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific."

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DailyTech

"PlayStation 3 with 120GB to 160GB hard drive coming soon. Last week, a Best Buy memo indicated that the 80GB PlayStation 3 would be discontinued from the retailer’s supply.

If true and applicable to other retailers in North America, it could mean that only a single SKU of PlayStation 3 would exist on the market. According to an Ars Technica source, it may not be long until yet another PlayStation 3 model comes to market.

“Sony is, in fact, phasing out the 80GB PS3. Sony is going to stay with the two-SKU approach though, and the prices look to stay the same,” the source told the website. “The Spiderman 3 pack-in will disappear as well once the 80GB unit is gone. In order to maintain a similar value proposition to the 80GB/Spiderman 3 bundle, I expect to see a storage increase to 120 or 160GB at the same price point, plus the new Dual-Shock 3 controller...”

In response to reports of the discontinuation, Sony provided the official “no comment” to Wired’s Game|Life, saying, “I caught up with all of the posts and news last night, and as you know, we don't comment on rumors and speculation.”

The DualShock 3 is the much heralded controller that brings vibration force feedback to the PlayStation 3. It was release in 2007 for the Japan market, but has not yet been announced for any other territory."

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CPU3D: Deals of the Week

Here's this week's list of special deals from our sponsors ... Also check out our discussion forums for further deals. Click HERE.

 - Specialtech.co.uk have in stock XFX 512MB '625Mhz' 8800GT Alpha Dog @ £169.99
 - And also there's the NEW XFX 384MB 8800GS PV-T88S-FDF4 @ £117.97
 - Komplett.co.uk has got a LG Blu-Ray DVD burner @ £189.00

Dailytech

"QTrax is shaking up the world of online music with big claims -- but are its platinum hits really just fool's gold?

Support from all major record labels?  Check.  Entirely free tracks supported by advertiser revenue?  Check.  These are among the claims made by QTrax which was reborn as a legal online music service today.  The news and the press buzz around the release have left many wondering if QTrax is a savior for downloaders and the online music community or a false messiah of epic proportions.

New York-based QTrax's basic premise is to offer a new face to an old piece of software.  The original QTrax was a Gnutella-based P2P client which allowed users to trade music.  It gained a modest following during the days of Napster.  Its use would certainly be classified as illegal copyright infringement by the RIAA."

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