DailyTech

"A new report released Wednesday in the Wall Street Journal indicates that Microsoft expressed interest in acquiring Facebook, the second largest social network, painting a more interesting picture of the waning talks with Yahoo.  Microsoft already owns a $240M USD, 1.6 percent stake in the company.  A full acquisition could be valued at $15B USD or more.

According to the reporter, Microsoft's bankers subtly inquired about Facebook's interest in a possible full acquisition.  The talks were first made public by All Things Digital, a website owned by publisher Dow Jones, which also owns the Wall Street Journal. Microsoft's spokespeople did not make themselves immediately available for comment on the report.  Facebook spokeswoman Brandee Barker also refused comments.

The report indicates that no current talks are going on between the two companies, as apparently Microsoft was rebuffed.  Facebook is one of the hottest internet properties, founded in 2004 by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg.  The site has over 70 million registered users and boasts high site loyalty and traffic volume.  Zuckerberg in the past has opposed selling the whole company, working instead to develop partnerships and move toward an initial public offering.

It is unclear exactly where the comments fall in the chronology of Microsoft's online dealings, but it appears that they were made before Gates comments on Wednesday.  Perhaps Microsoft only decided to go it alone after being rejected by Facebook, if the reports are to be believed."

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DailyTech

"People all over the planet depend on the GPS satellite positioning system for all sorts of things from navigating in their cars to keeping up with equipment and personnel. China says that it intendeds to have an operational GPS system covering all of Asia by 2010.

Despite the 2010 date specified, Chinese officials aren’t giving up much information. In fact officials from Japan say that it and China have had no talks concerning interoperability of the two nations GPS satellite systems. This is despite the fact that both China and Japan are members of the International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICGNSS) that was founded to ensure global interoperability of navigation satellite networks.

China has also not yet completed frequency coordination with the other ICGNSS member nations including the U.S., Europe, Russia and others. According to Space.com, Chinese officials said at the Toulouse Space Show that China’s global Compass/Beidou system would be fully compatible with the U.S. GPS, European Galileo, and Russian Glonass global navigation constellations."

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The Tech Report

"Bill Gates, who plans largely to abandon his duties at Microsoft starting this July, is still quite keen on pimping the company's software. As News.com reports, Gates claimed Vista is selling at a "rapid" rate during a speech in Tokyo, Japan.

According to Gates, Microsoft has sold 140 million copies of Windows Vista so far. The Microsoft co-founder stated in January that Vista had sold 100 million copies since its launch 11 months before, so it looks like sales of the operating system haven't waned since last year. With Service Pack 1 out the door, more businesses may make the jump to the new OS, too.

These apparently good sales results might explain why Microsoft decided not to extend Windows XP's general retail presence beyond the June 30 deadline. Makers of low-cost laptops will be able to keep offering the operating system until at least 2010, but folks shopping for regular PCs and notebooks should be stuck with Vista from July 1 onward."

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In 2010, AMD expects to introduce its third-generation AMD Opteron processor socket G34 platform, which will offer features including DDR3 memory capabilities and AMD's RD890 chipset for non-coherent HyperTransport 3.0, along with an additional HT link.

The company will also launch socket G34-based processor codenamed Sao Paolo in the first half of 2010, the processor will incorporate DDR3 memory, an additional HyperTransport 3.0 link and six-core design, while a 12-core processor codenamed Magny Cours will also leverage these features and launched in the first half of 2010."

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CPU3D: Special Mid-Week Deals 

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

 - Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6 - S775, Intel X48 + ICH9R Chipset @ £169.58
 - Sapphire HD 3870 512MB Ultimate PCI-E2.0 - 128.76 @ £128.76
 - AC Ryan Backy™ SATA Combo - 1xSATA-data, 1xMolex, 2xFan @ £6.21
 - Aeneon 1GB PC3-8500 1066MHz DDR3 Ram @ £26.49 

 - D-Tek Fuzion V2 CPU Waterblock @ £40.54
 - OCZ DDR2 PC2-9200 Flex II 4GB Series @ £105.00
 - XSPC Edge Acrylic CPU Waterblock @ £34.99

Digitimes

"Affected by the traditional slow season, April consolidated revenues of Universal Scientific Industrial dropped 19% on month to NT$5.33 billion (US$173.45 million), but still was up 14% on year. The company's accumulated revenues for the first four months of 2008 reached NT$23.54 billion, an increase of 21% compared to the same period last year.

The company's computer and component segments, including motherboards, port replicators, Abit and mobile PCs, contributed NT$1.65 billion to April revenues, accounting for 31% of total revenues and decreasing 26% on month, but up 5% on year.

The company's microelectronics technology and manufacturing segments contributed NT$1.47 billion, accounting for 28% of April revenues with a decrease of 4% on month, but an increase of 25% on year.

The company's communications segment, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, SIP and ADSL products, contributed NT$1.08 billion, accounting for around 20% of April revenues with a decrease of 26% on month but an increase of 44% on year."

LINK

Xbitlabs

"Nvidia GeForce 9 graphics card family keeps getting new members. Today we are going t talk about Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX from Gainward – a graphics accelerator that tends to be the fastest single-chip solution today, but which is not that very much different from a well-known GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB. Is it worth the $349 they ask for it?"

LINK 

Weekend Reviews from around the net ... original compilation supplied by TechReport.

1. VMware releases public beta of Fusion 2.0
2. Ars Technica uncovers Troll treasure: an in-depth look at Qt 4.4
3. tkArena's guide to Windows Photo Gallery
4. Shacknews reports Spore & Mass Effect (PC) to require online validation every 10 days
   to function and shares Fallen Empire: Legions hands-on impressions
5. FileShack has new Far Cry 2 introduction movie

Systems

1. TechSpot on AMD Phenom X3 processor family performance
2. DriverHeaven reviews Phenom 9850 & 8750 and Athlon 4850e and AMD's 780G chipset
3. Phoronix reviews Tyan Thunder n3600M
4. AnandTech reviews Nvidia's 780a chipset: integrated graphics and SLI in one
5. HotHardware's Nvidia nForce 780a SLI motherboards roundup: Asus & MSI
6. AMDZone and Elite Bastards review Asus Crosshair II Formula
7. APH Networks, FiringSquad, [H] Enthusiast, Legit Reviews, Neoseeker,
   Overclockers Club, and PC Perspective review Asus M3N-HT Deluxe
8. HardwareZone previews MSI's P45 "Eaglelake" motherboards
9. DriverHeaven, Hardware.Info, and NordicHardware review Asus P5Q3 Deluxe
10. Modders-Inc reviews Sapphire Pure Hybrid CrossFire 780G Innovation motherboard
11. [H] Enthusiast reviews EVGA 750i SLI FTW
12. Guru3D reviews ECS GF8200A Black Series
13. techPowerUp! reviews 4GB OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400 ReaperX HPC dual channel kit

Multimedia

1. APH Networks review Gigabyte GeForce 8800 GT TurboForce 512MB
2. TweakTown reviews Auzentech X-Fi™ Prelude 7.1
3. SysOpt reviews Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 and 7000
4. t-break reviews 32GB Corsair Flash Survivor™ USB memory drive
5. I4U reviews Asus R300 GPS navigation device

Power, casing, and cooling

1. AnandTech's exclusive: 850W Antec Signature PSU
2. TweakNews reviews Cooler Master Real Power Pro 850W PSU
3. CPU3D reviews Antec NeoPower 650 PSU
4. bit-tech reviews Corsair VX550W PSU
5. TweakTown reviews NZXT Tempest case
6. Benchmark Reviews on NZXT Alpha case
7. Overclockers Club reviews Thermaltake M9 case
   and Thermaltake BlacX hard drive docking station
8. TweakNews reviews VL System M-Play Blast LCD case display & remote control
9. Icrontic's first look at OCZ Cryo-Z phase-change CPU cooler
10. Benchmark Reviews on Xigmatek Achilles S1284 HDT CPU cooler
11. TweakTown reviews ThermoLab Micro Silencer CPU cooler
12. Hardware Canucks review CoolIT Pure CPU cooler

HardOCP

ASUS M3N-HT Deluxe Motherboard

"The M3N-HT Deluxe board is a feature complete solution, requiring an AMD AM2/AM2+ processor, DDR2 memory, a video card, drives, and a PSU for an operational system. ASUS chose to integrate the following ports in to the M3N-HT Deluxe: 1 ATA-133 IDE port and 6 SATA II ports (RAID 0, 1, 0+1 and 5 capable) on the NVIDIA controller; 1 eSATA port on the Marvell controller; 10 USB 2.0 capable ports (4 in rear panel, and 3 onboard headers supporting 2 ports each); 2 IEEE 1394 capable ports (2 onboard headers); 1 x NVIDIA GigE Ethernet port in the rear panel; ADI 8-channel HD audio CODEC featuring an S/PDIF RCA and optical output ports; HDMI and VGA video output ports in the rear panel; and PS/2 keyboard port support in the rear panel."

LINK

EVGA 750i SLI FTW Mothebroard

"The EVGA 750i SLI FTW uses NVIDIA’s 750i SLI chipset. It is a DDR2 compatible chipset and the board is compatible with NVIDIA’s SLI technology. Due to the fact that this particular board only has dual PCI-Express x16 slots it is incapable of 3-Way SLI. So people looking for 3-Way SLI compatibility for their 8800GTX or 9800GTX’s should look elsewhere. However since this board has two full speed PCI-Express x16 slots it is more than capable of running Quad SLI with either dual 7950GX2 or newer 9800GX2 graphics cards. The 750i SLI FTW supports the latest Intel ® Core™2 Extreme Quad-Core / Core™2 Duo / Intel® Pentium® Extreme and Intel® Pentium® D processors. As with most motherboards made today, few components are required to complete a working system. All that is needed are an LGA775 processor, DDR2 memory modules, power supply, video card, and drives."

LINK 

CPU3D Review: Coolermaster Hyper Z600 CPU Cooler

Designed with passive cooling in mind for total silence, the size of the Coolermaster Hyper Z600 CPU cooler is monsterous. It weighs in at a massive 1Kg and features 6 nickel plated copper heatpipes, and a copper base with a mirror finish. There are mounting backets  included which allow the addition of 2 extra 120mm fans for increased cooling performance.

" The cooling performance of the Coolermaster Hyper Z600 is very good for a passive CPU cooler. What really makes this cooler shine is the total silence ... of course it has no fans ! "

Read the rest of the review ... HERE.

Digitimes

"Intel will officially launch its 4-series chipsets at Computex 2008, while motherboard makers will start shipping products in the third week of June, according to sources at motherboard makers.

Initial 4-series chipset shipments will consist of the P45 and P43, for which the previously reported PCI Express compatibility bug has been fixed already. However, the G45 and G43 IGP versions will be delayed for another 2-3 weeks while Intel works to correct issues with VC1 hardware decoding and to increase the graphics core frequency to 800MHz.

Enterprise-based Q45 and Q43 chipsets are also to see a 2-3 weeks delay due to system instabilities found in the current B2 versions when VT-d is active. A3 versions of the chipsets are expected to start shipping in the second week of July.

Intel declined the opportunity to respond to this report saying it cannot comment on unannounced products."

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