GeForce 9800GTX Reviewed

We're still over a week away from the 9800GTX's release date, but the first review has already hit the web. If you're not fluent in Chinese, you may find the translated version easier to digest. What's not so easy to swallow is the incremental performance gains over the 8800GTS 512MB, which shares the same G92 core. Of course, that could change with a driver update and final shipping silicon, so stay tuned.

GeForce 9800GX2 Preview

TweakTown continues to receive anonymous surprise packages, and this time the un-named donor sent along a 9800GX2. Like the 9800GTX benchmarks we saw above, the GX2 didn't make mince meat of the competition, at least not in Vista. XP numbers were more flattering. Take a glimpse here, and then see how it fared while overclocked here.

YouTube Blocked. Again.

Video sharing site YouTube.com is no stranger to causing a ruckus in foreign territories, and this time it's China that's blocking access. The communist government took exception to dozens of videos showing protests in Tibet and foreign news reports covering the Lhasa demonstrations. China has over 210 million internet users, and is expected to surpass the U.S. as having the biggest online population.

Flickr Video Beta

According to Dan Farber of CNet, Flickr fans will soon get to play with video. The long anticipated service will debut in beta form next month, but will not replace Yahoo Video. Yahoo acquired Flickr back in March 2005, but Kakul Srivastava, director of product management at Flickr, says the audiences for the two services are different.

Reason 342 Not to Buy a Mac

What does an exploding Mac look like? Have a look for yourself here! According to AppleTell.com, the pictures show a MacBook Pro after it spontaneously combusted, emitting flames and setting a desk on fire. No one was hurt, and James Bayliss, the part-time AppleTell contributor who owns the MacBook Pro, will be receiving a new one from Apple. Catch an interview with James regarding the scorched Mac here.

Wii Allergic to Smoke

Ack! If you can't be convinced to quit smoking for your own health, consider dropping the habit for your Nintendo Wii. The Boston Herald reports second hand smoke could be damaging the console's laser, a problem recently exposed with the release of Super Smash Brothers Brawl. Because of the large data demands, the new game ships on a double-layer DVD, requiring smoke and debris free precision from the Wii's laser. If you're experiencing disc read errors while trying to play the game, fill out Nintendo's repair form to have the company clean your console.

Creative X-Fi Driver Update

On Friday, Creative released a new driver for X-Fi owners, version 2.15.0006. The update applies to both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Vista and XP. Fixes in the new release include:

• Resolves the issue for systems with 4GB of RAM
• Resolves the Digital I/O detection issue when restarting your computer

Grab the update here.