Yearly Archives: 2008

Supercomp Music Station SES 668

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The SES668 Music Station is essentially an iPOD dock with killer looks. The dome-shaped design looks good and the use of silver highlight on a jet black body adds that extra style some thing missing on most cheap docks. On the top of the speaker sits the dock receptacle. The receptacle accepts multiple connectors thus allowing the use of almost all generation of iPODS, expect for the newer wider body Nano. The base connector is large enough to hold most iPODS in place. On the corners of the squares, are the buttons for powering on and volume control, and one is dummy button. The buttons are hard to press with distinct clicks, however one can keep them pressed to increase/decrease the volume. The volume control isn’t smooth and boosts in huge steps. The dock requires 12 V and it is powered via an adapter that runs off the mains. There is no option for alternative power source like batteries, if the mains are down. The iPOD can be charged via the dock and the USB connector allows it to be connected to a PC for data transfer. The dock also has an auxiliary input thus allowing an alternate sound source. On the performance front, dock didn’t perform as per our expectation. Bass is non-existent and the drum beats often sound flat, highs are not reproduced at all and the midrange is completely muddled. Also there is no way to control the playback from the dock, and you will have to use the iPOD. Though affordable priced at $34, the SES668 Music Dock isn’t the right solution for your iPOD. We suggest that you up the ante and invest in JBL or Bose if you care for music quality, else stick to the stock earphones.

Specifications: USB charging, USB data transfer, Auxiliary input, mobilephone compatibility and CD/DVD player.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Tagan BZ800 SMPS

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tagan-bz800

Tagan is a relatively new name in the market for desktop power supplies. Enter their new BZ series,a funky product line, meant for discerning users and gamers and offering some show to what is usually just go.The BZ series do things radically differnt as far as visuals go. They’re modular, with pipe-like connector cables complete with circular pin arrangement(called piperock by Tagan) that ensure incompatibility with any other power supply. Then there cool looking LED-lit circular strips around each modular socket on the PSU that illuminate when a cable is plugged in. The cables are color coded as per the LED color. This ensures no mistakes while plugging in cables. If you have a transparent side window, the ensuing lighting is definitely one to get the drool out as intended. Add to that a large cooling fan(135 mm) with blue LEDs and the BZ800 is definitely lit to kill! There is a pair of branded nylon gloves free publicity for Tagan if you should chose to wear them around. The outer body itself is reasonably well built, but the gauge of sheet used isn’t as good as the CoolerMusteredRealPower 1000W or the Corsair HX series.
On the technical front the BZ800 sports six 12 volt rails. There is a Turbo mode which disables the power limitations on the 12 V rails allowing them to overdraw power , in case you should need it. Four PCIe (two 6 pin and two 8 pin) power connectors mean SLI/Crossfire is possible with the latest cards. With a combined load capacity of 64 amps on the 12 V rail (768 W) the BZ800 is no different from other recent power supplies, which concentrate on beefing up the 12 V rail that typically powers CPUs,graphics cards, hard drives, optical drives and case fans.
We fired up our nuclear reactor of a rig,consisting of our Core 2 Quad Extreme QX6850 CPU, ASUS Striker Extreme, two WD Raptor 80 GB HDDs, a500 GB WD caviar HDD, two DVD RW drives and an x-Fi Elite Pro. Just to make things interesting, we took our quad core to 3.6 GHz,and ran a gamut of benchmarks. Not once did it seem that the BZ800 ran out of juice, and performed well right through.
At $200 the Tagan BZ isn’t cheap by any means, but for a high-end power supply (which it most certainly is), the price isn’t too bad. The only better option we’ve seen is the CoolerMaster Real Power 1000W Pro-which is much costlier. Incidentally, the fact that the BZ800 is 80+ certified means your power bills will be in check. If you’re looking for an extreme PC or a super duper gaming rig, and need a powerful PSU with loads of visual appeal, you can’t go wrong with this.

Specifications:
800 W continuous power, max power (12 V)-768 W (64 A), 8x SATA connectors, 2×6 pin PCIe connectors, 2×8 pin PCIe connectors, 6x peripheral connectors (4 pin).

Popularity: 33% [?]

Army of Two : The Game People Play

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EA Games Army of Two

Introduction
Army of two is an in style video game developed by the giant ElectronicArts Corporation, Montreal. It was released in the market with the compatible version of Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on 4th March, 2008 in North America. Army of Two is also popularly known as Ao2 or AoT. It is a third person shooting video game that revolves around two private military organizations who hire top level mercenaries to complete the job more efficiently and faster than the government military organizations. The time span of the story is from 1993 to 2009.
Army of Two is a collective third person shooting video game with a plan on cooperative and matched strategies. The theme of the game is somewhat similar to ‘Gears of War’. The players will start with the game’s integrated ‘Partner Artificial Intelligence’ or with the other players to fight through political commotion, war and a conspiracy so cleverly and accurately placed that it can destroy the entire world. The characters of Army of Two are popular as they work just like human beings.
The story
The story of the game starts in Somalia during 1993 once Tyson Rios and Elliot Salem were working in the 75th Ranger Regiment of US Military. They were put to a short training lesson, the course headed by their comrade Pedro. After that, they were consigned to work with Philip Clyde, who is a private military contractor. The name of his company is Security and Strategy Corporation (SSC). SSC orders the team to assassinate Abdullah Mohammed Alim. When this mission is complete, the SSC CEO Ernest Stockwell orders Philip Clyde to invite commander of the 75th Ranger Regiment Lieutenant Colonel Richard Dalton to join the private security company for a desk job, which he agrees. Afterwards, he requests Ernest Stockwell to include Salem and Rios to be included in the company as contractors. During the next year, three of them enter the private sector. The spicy conversation between these comrades is added taste of this game. You Testfreaks are to figure it out.
After that, the story revolves around almost throughout the world including Afghanistan, Iraq, USS Constellation, China and Miami.
The controls and Gameplay
The gameplay is fairly smooth. The weapon customization is the best part of AoT. The choice is intensive. The arms that are available for customization are shotguns, pistols, submachine guns, light machine guns, rocket launchers, grenade launchers, sniper rifles and assault rifles. Some equipments like under-slung grenade launchers, extra-large magazines, grip handles and new barrels can be substituted to give the armor a new look and function. The players can upgrade their armor as the game progresses by purchasing from the market. But one has to be careful while purchasing as the team who finishes the game with more amounts of cash wins the game. The face masks can also be tailored with the main characters of the play.
Earlier, a firing range for the newly obtained arms was available. But due to the lack of standards, it was removed from the later versions.
Graphics
ElectronicArts used the popular graphics formula – the UE3. The character mode is top class, even during the cut scenes (which cause problem mainly in the other games). EA did not pay attention to the textures as like other games. Sometimes, it looks like a PS1 game. The appearance of water during the 5th mission is pathetic.
Overall rating
Army of Two is good but not at par with the best programs available in the market as per my opinion. Consider to borrow it from some of your friends or from the parlor. Test is yourself and then consider for the purchasing. The FreakScore is 8.00.

Popularity: 15% [?]