This trick might actually work with more cards than just my Nvidia Geforce 6600 GT card manufactured by MSI. The default fan noise is so irritating that I was looking for ways to either turn it down by software, bios upgrades or replacing the fan. I preferred the software method over flashing the bios over buying a new fan that could replace the old one. After consulting google with search terms like geforce 6600 fan speed, reduce fan speed geforce and similar strings I finally found a forum entry that was about the problem I faced.

A guy suggested to use the freeware RivaTuner which he said was able to reduce the fan speed of my video card by altering the fan speed directly. This was the solution I was looking for. I quickly downloaded and installed Rivatuner. The only thing left was to lower the fan speed and make the changes permanent.

continue reading "How to reduce the fan speed of the Nvidia Geforce 6600 GT"

Some scene guys apparently released a driver for Windows XP that makes it capable to connect and detect the Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive that was released a few days ago in the United States. I do not own a Xbox 360 nor the HD-DVD add-on (of course) but this could be great news for some of you guys out there that do own both. All you need is to get hold of the driver which was released under the name XBOX360.HD-DVDRom.UDF.Reader.v2.5.WindowsXP-BluePrint.

You can access the complete release information at the official xbins.org website. Is it legal to use and download those drivers ? I honestly do not know the answer to this. I can only project that it will surely be released to p2p networks, usenet and offered on irc channels to everyone who knows how to use those channels. I can’t seem to find a reason why it could be illegal though.

continue reading "Xbox 360 HD can be connected to your pc"

Many users just buy blank CDs and DVDs without thinking much about the manufacturer who created them - most want it cheap which has the result that their system has to cope with different media. They notice that their system burns some CDs and DVDs faster without knowing why. Your burner might have the specification to burn DVDs with 8x speed but your burning software offers you only 4x. This article explains why that is the case and what you can do to never make this happen again.

The firmware of your burner has information on various manufacturers and their products including the maximum speed of the media. If a CD or DVD is used and no information can be found the burner will not use the maximum speed but a slower speed and increase that over time - this means of course that the process takes longer even though the burner and the blank disc are capable of faster speeds.

continue reading "How to Speed up CD and DVD burning"

Combimouse, a crossbred of keyboard and mouse looks pretty strange to say the least. On the one hand we have a patented and award winning design and on the other hand we have the users who will surely think twice before they give this a try. Let us see how this works. You can type normally and once you need to use the mouse you use your right hand to touch a certain spot on the right unit to activate mouse mode. This means there is no way to hit the keys accidentally while using mouse mode or move the cursor while typing.

continue reading "Combimouse now that’s an evil keyboard"

What is wrong with those movie and music companies ? Why the heck are they increasing the pressure on people who are actually buying their overpriced items instead of those who copy them in large scale ? Their newest invention is apparently an embedded radio transmitter chip that can be remotely tracked by those companies making it possible to follow a DVD, Blue-Ray or HD-DVD from factory to consumer.

Players would then be able to check the RFID chip on the disc and refuse playback if a criteria was not met, meaning if it has been copied or someone wants to playback the dvd in the wrong region. Will this help in the fight against piracy ? Not likely, is it ? The range of the RFID chip makes it impossible to track the DVD down unless your tracking device is close. (it is short range communication).

continue reading "One Chip to track them down"