Alienware powers up 4GHz desktop

The new Area-51 ALX, introduced on Friday, uses overclocking, or the practice of pushing a processor past its factory speed setting, to elevate a standard Intel Pentium 4 chip to 4GHz. Because overclocking a processor can cause it to overheat, the desktop also includes a special liquid-cooling system devised by Alienware.

Purchasing the 4GHz Area-51 ALX desktop is an expensive proposition for most consumers, as the machine starts at about $4,200, according to pricing on Alienware's ALX Web site. But PC enthusiasts, such as game players, have traditionally been willing to pay more to get the latest, fastest hardware they can find. This has helped give rise to a number of high-end PC makers, including Alienware and Falcon Northwest.

The launch lets fans get a jump on getting a machine with a 4GHz chip. Intel recently pushed back introduction of a 4GHz Pentium 4 to the first quarter of 2005, having earlier announced plans to introduce it this year. The fastest current Pentium 4 runs at 3.6GHz.

Alienware says that thanks to its chip speed, the new ALX desktop is particularly well suited to multimedia applications such as 3D games, 3D content creation and digital video. The machine also incorporates PCI Express architecture, which boosts bandwidth to the graphics card and can be configured with up to 4GB of dual-channel memory.

In addition to the 4GHz Pentium 4 and a liquid-cooling system, the most basic Area-51 ALX desktop comes with 1GB of RAM, a CD-burner, ATI Technology's Radeon X800 graphics card, a 74GB Western Digital Raptor 10,000 rpm hard drive and a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS High Definition sound card.

Source: ZDnet

Oil eases as Saudi offers discounts

Brent crude futures for October delivery fell 33 cents to $40.90 a barrel in London. Trade was subdued, with U.S. markets closed because of the Labor Day holiday.

Saudi Arabia cut prices for October-loading crude to both the United States and Europe, following up on its pledge to give customers all the crude they want to try cool oil prices.

Prices for heavier grades were cut particularly hard, as the kingdom tries to make them more attractive for refiners who are put off by their high yield of low-value fuel oil.

The Saudi pledge has failed to bring prices down much as refiners are not keen to take heavy grades that make up most of the extra Saudi supply. They want lighter grades, which yield more high-value products like gasoline.

Prices are around $4 under a peak hit last month, after big-money speculative funds took profits from a rally that boosted prices 40 percent higher this year.

Source: CNN

Man accused of stalking with GPS

Ara Gabrielyan, 32, was arrested August 29 on one count of stalking and three counts of making criminal threats. He was being held on $500,000 bail and was to be arraigned Wednesday.

"This is what I would consider stalking of the 21st century," police Lt. Jon Perkins said.

Police said Gabrielyan tracked the 35-year-old woman, who was not identified, after she ended their relationship, showing up unexpectedly at a book store, an airport and dozens of other places where she was.

Police said Gabrielyan attached a cellular phone to the woman's car on August 16 with a motion switch that turned on when the car moved, transmitting a signal each minute to a satellite. Information was then sent to a Web site that allowed Gabrielyan to monitor the woman's location.

The woman learned how Gabrielyan was following her when she discovered him under her car attempting to change the cell phone's battery, police said.

Police allege Gabrielyan threatened over a six-month period to kill himself and the woman. An attorney for Gabrielyan could not immediately be reached for comment Saturday. He faces up to six years in prison if convicted.

Source: CNN

Million more in ADSL reach

A million more homes and businesses should be able to get broadband from today after BT lifted line limits and extended the reach of its broadband service.

Until today, anyone further than 6km from their DSL-enabled BT telephone exchange was probably unable to hook-up to the service. BT has ditched this limit and also increased the range of its 1Mb service from 4km to around 6km. Following successful trials in Milton Keynes and in the Scottish Highlands, BT is confident that just about anyone connected to a DSL-enabled exchange can get broadband.

In an email to ISPs BT Wholesale said: "The launch of Long Reach ADSL today means that all line qualification results for 512kbit/s products will be green regardless of the length of the line between the end user and the exchange."

Source: The Register