Power Supplies Re-Tested - Part 3

Author: Gabriel Torres Date: July 3, 2009 - 10:57 AM PST We re-tested three more power supplies using our new precision power meter today: Antec CP-850 Dynex 400 W PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610 EPS12V More to come... Print Version | Send to Friend | Bookmark This Entry | Permalink | Comments (0) top

And The Training Goes On...

Author: Gabriel Torres Date: June 26, 2009 - 9:02 AM PST In August I will perform my test for 3rd dan black belt in Tae Kwon Do. Tomorrow some pictures I took last week. The person holding the board on the second picture is my new master, Edmilson da Silva (5th dan). click to enlarge click to enlarge Print Version | Send to Friend | Bookmark This Entry | Permalink | Comments (0) top

Power Supplies Re-Tested - Part 2

Author: Gabriel Torres Date: June 25, 2009 - 2:45 PM PST Today we updated five more power supply reviews. The new results didn't change our opinion or recommendation for these products: Antec EarthWatts 500 W Antec Signature 650 Corsair HX1000W Enermax Liberty ECO 500 W OCZ EliteXStream 1000 W It is a lot of work to update everything, but we think it is worthwhile. Tomorrow I will fix another batch. Stay tuned and thanks for the patience. Print Version | Send to Friend | Bookmark This Entry | Permalink | Comments (0) top

Power Supplies Re-Tested - Part 1

Author: Gabriel Torres Date: June 24, 2009 - 4:19 PM PST Since we bought a new precision power meter and we discovered some issues in our efficiency readings, we decided to re-test as many power supplies as we can. Our conclusions about the majority of power supplies remained the same, however some units were "downgraded", having their awards REVOKED. We updated the following reviews today: Akasa Paxpower 500 W - DOWNGRADED Seventeam ST-380PAS Seventeam ST-550P-AM ASP Thermaltake Litepower 450 W Topower PowerBird 900 W Zalman ZM600-HP It is a lot of work to update everything, but we think it is worthwhile. Tomorrow I will fix another batch. Stay tuned. Print Version | Send to Friend | Bookmark This Entry | Permalink | Comments (2) top

What WePC Dreams Are Becoming Reality?

Author: Gabriel Torres Date: June 23, 2009 - 2:20 PM PST In the eight months that WePC is online, everybody gave lots of ideas on how portable computers could improve. In this relatively short period of time we’ve seen some ideas we discussed here becoming reality. Read full article here. Print Version | Send to Friend | Bookmark This Entry | Permalink | Comments (0) top

Hardware Secrets @ Twitter

Author: Gabriel Torres Date: June 22, 2009 - 5:22 PM PST We've just created a profile on Twitter, so if you use this tool this can be another venue for you to follow our latest articles and news: http://twitter.com/hardwaresecrets Enjoy! Print Version | Send to Friend | Bookmark This Entry | Permalink | Comments (0) top

Efficiency Issues in our Reviews

Author: Gabriel Torres Date: June 16, 2009 - 10:48 AM PST Of course Murphy's Law is true and we always find something wrong after we publish reviews. There is definetely something wrong with the efficiency numbers from all our recent power supply reviews, either the built-in wattmeter in our load tester or our AC wattmeter is defective. We are investigating this right now in order to determine what is wrong and fix all reviews that may be affected by this problem. So far we also don't know which reviews were affected. We'll post a follow-up here as soon as we discover more. Thanks for the understanding. 4:50 PM PST Update: We discovered one transistor burned inside our load tester, which was biasing efficiency results. We also ordered a new wattmeter. We will redo all tests published recently, especially the one from Antec CP-850, as soon as the replacement transistor arrives. Sorry for this problem and thanks once again for the understanding. 06/17/2009 1:34 PM PST Update: Replaced the faulty transistor from our load tester and re-tested Antec CP-850. The results make sense now. I am now re-testing other power supplies to see if any other review was also affected by this problem. 06/17/2009 2:19 PM PST Update: Great news. Only the Antec CP-850 review was affected by this problem. I re-tested the power supplies we've reviewed recently and the results are just fine. Phew! At least some good news... 06/20/2009 1:09 AM PST Update: Due to the difference between the readings between the two power meters we have (Brand Electronics and Kill-a-Watt) as shown on Corsair HX850W review, I decided to buy a professional power meter, GWInstek GPM-8212R. This equipment is very expensive (USD 700) however it provides 0.2% precision and also allows to be calibrated via computer, so we can calibrate it from time to time to make sure that our equipment is 100% accurate. With the aquisition of this equipment we will be probably the reviewing website with the most accurate AC power and thus efficiency measurements on the web. I will keep you guys posted as soon as the equipment arrives. 06/23/2009 5:07 PM PST Update: The new power meter has arrived today. I've just updated our methodology, please take a look. I will try to update our recent reviews with the numbers collected by the new instrument. Print Version | Send to Friend | Bookmark This Entry | Permalink | Comments (12) top

The most powerful gaming laptop ever: Alienware M17x

Author: Gabriel Torres Date: June 9, 2009 - 4:55 PM PST Alienware, now part of Dell, is a company focused on high-end gaming systems and last week they released what they are calling “the most powerful 17” gaming laptop in the universe”. And they are not kidding: this laptop features three graphics processing units, a feature not found even on most desktops. Read full story here. Print Version | Send to Friend | Bookmark This Entry | Permalink | Comments (3) top

Will the USD 299 Netbook Fly?

Author: Gabriel Torres Date: June 9, 2009 - 4:52 PM PST A company called Always Innovating is promising in the past couple of months the release of a netbook with detachable keyboard and 10 to 15 hours of battery life for only USD 299. What is the catch? Read full story here. Print Version | Send to Friend | Bookmark This Entry | Permalink | Comments (0) top

Security, CAPTCHA and D-Link Routers

Author: Alberto Cozer Date: May 29, 2009 - 12:49 AM PST Two weeks ago D-Link announced the introduction of a CAPTCHA to confirm configuration changes on some of its wireless routers. According to D-Link, the objective is to prevent that users whose machines have been owned by malware have the DNS settings in the router changes without the user's knowledge. Changing the DNS settings on a wireless router allows that the access gets redirected to a site a hacker chooses. For instance, by redirecting legitimate access it's possible to make you believe that you're accessing a legitimate online banking website when you're actually entering your account number and PIN into a hacker's system. There are as many DNS redirection uses in attacks as there are cheese in France and it all depends on the hacker's creativity to fool the user. A CAPTCHA is a challenge presented by a system to ensure that it's a human that is interacting with this system. Usually these challenges are based on the interpretation of something, normally being the answer to questions such as the number of vowels in a word or synonyms for that specific word. These challenges are quite common on free e-mail or online storage websites to prevent hackers from automating the creation of users accounts on these websites to store piracy.   The first thing I thought when I read the release was the if the user's workstation is already taken by malware, this very same malware has absolutely full control over the workstation and could change the DNS configuration of the user's workstation itself, without the added complexity of drilling down a wireless router configuration that could be any brand! Furthermore, why has only D-Link introduced this feature and other manufacturers didn't do the same? The answer is not obvious. The access to a router's configuration depends on proper authentication of an administrative user. If any malware is able to gain administrative access to a router up to to point of being able to change the DNS setting, something is gotta be wrong with access control to the router. D-Link claims that some malware capture the keystrokes and thus would be relatively easy to obtain the password. Well, keystrokes capture software are relatively common in the wild and this is precisely why "virtual keyboards" are so easy to find on several websites and a lot more effective than the deployment of a CAPTCHA, specially if we take into consideration that wireless router microcodes are supposed to be a lean piece of software. For me, the story only makes sense if we imagine that it's feasible to workaround the traditional router authentication and somehow obtain directly access to the configuration pages, possibly exploiting a more severe (and more expensive to be fixed as well) vulnerability on the router operating system. Even worst if this vulnerability can be remotely exploited despite the fact that remote management from the Internet is not enabled on the router. Theory os conspiracy? Perhaps.  Notwithstanding, until fully understanding what is behind this story, if I have to chose between a D-Link router and the router from another brand I think I will go with the later. If D-Link's idea was to introduce a feature just for marketing purposes, that might actually work against them if more geeks like me start to think the same way I do. By the way, a CAPTCHA is not not a security feature. It serves to differentiate a machine from a human being. If a system is only secure while it ensures only human beings can get access to it, this system is not secure at all. Maybe the security of this system is all based in the fact that human beings commit mistakes or are not as fast or as persistent as a piece of software handcrafted by a hacker.  Print Version | Send to Friend | Bookmark This Entry | Permalink | Comments (0) top