'A lot of demand' from IT sector

God alone knows it's going to be difficult, but we promise we will keep an absolutely straight face as we report that Dutch escort agency Society Service has set up a special service for geek virgins looking for that elusive first sexual encounter.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

"If it ain't the latest, it ain't the greatest" -- a consumer war cry we're all certainly very familiar with. Not so for Dell users apparently. According to the BBC, users "swamped" Dell's feedback site with a demand for the return of the ol' XP pre-load. In response, Dell has reversed their Vista-only policy which loaded Microsoft's latest onto nearly all Dell machines destined for home use. Why the outcry? It's not exactly clear. Analysts cited XP's familiarity and its ability to work with all the peripherals people have amassed. So, if you've been holding out for a Dell with XP, now's your chance... you know, in case you somehow missed it for the last 5 years.

[Thanks, Josh]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

For years, plenty of folks (including the Government Accountability Office) have been pointing out that the way the FCC measures broadband competition is very flawed. It simply assumes that if a single household in a zip code is offered broadband by provider A, then every household in that zip code can get broadband from provider A. In an extreme version of this, say provider A offers broadband to a single household, and provider B offers broadband to a different household and everyone else has no broadband at all. Under the current FCC measurements, that's an area that has full broadband competition. See the problem? For some reason, the FCC hasn't done much about this measuring problem, but it appears that the Commission is finally recognizing it has a problem and saying it needs to change the way it measures things. Commissioner Michael Copps points out: "Our statistical methodology seems almost calculated to obscure just how far our country is falling behind many other industrialized nations in broadband availability, adoption, speed and price." Of course, who knows if what comes next will be any better, but at least admitting you have a problem is the first step...

Filed under: Storage

You've seen it announced and in the wild, and you've probably been wondering if the $400 or so required to procure the 1TB beast was indeed worth it. Thankfully, TomsHardware has the guidance you've been yearning for, as it opened up its test bench and welcomed Hitachi's 7K1000 with open arms. The 935.5GB of usable space brought smiles to all involved, provided the highest transfer rate of all 7,200RPM drives that it was benchmarked against, and it was even said to "outperform the Seagate Barracuda 7200.10." Truthfully, it was difficult to find any negatives on the behemoth in terms of sheer performance aside from its (forgivable) inability to keep up with the 10,000RPM WD Raptor and its toasty nature, but the reality set in when the review crew began to evaluate the value presented in such a dense, albeit expensive, HDD. Frankly, reviewers claimed that picking this drive up over a pair of cheaper 500GB drives "wouldn't make a lot of sense," but if you're in dire need of cramming 1TB of, um, PowerPoint presentations onto a single unit, it's far from a bad option.

[Via DigitalMediaThoughts]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Displays, Gaming, Laptops

Unfortunately for Hori, the forthcoming 12.1-inch Monitor EX just pales in comparison to the barrage of real Xbox 360 laptops from Ben Heckendorn, but just in case your DIY skills (or lack of funding) is barring you from acquiring such genuine products, we suppose this will do. Similar to the unsightly screens that have already been made available for other consoles, this version does manage to up the ante by cramming more screen real estate between the bezel, handling 720p content, and accepting signal via VGA. Furthermore, you'll find built-in stereo speakers beneath the display in case you're not keen on using headphones, and you should be fully prepared to locate another AC outlet just for this sucka. Reportedly, Japanese users can look for a ¥36,750 ($308) pricetag when it lands in July, but unless plans change and a darker hue is announced, this will probably look fairly awkward when paired with the Xbox 360 Elite.

[Thanks, Steve]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

The skin is the largest organ of the human body. It protects against environmental influences and pathogens, regulates body temperature, and protects the body against dehydration. In humans, the skin renews itself completely approximately every month by constantly shedding the dead cells on the skin surface and replacing them with new cells which have moved up from the basal layer of the epidermis.

Knee osteoarthritis affects 30 million people worldwide, causing pain and joint stiffness and in severe cases restricted mobility. The limited ability of this tissue to repair itself means that surgical intervention is usually required and over 600,000 surgical procedures are performed each year in the US. Researchers have now developed an economical tissue engineering approach which could offer new possibilities for restoring damaged or lost knee cartilage tissue.

Scientists have shown for the first time that knowing the structure of the surface layer of a multi-layer carbon nanotube is not enough to predict its electronic properties. The contribution of inner layers is crucial, and this has serious implications when it particularly comes to fabricating electronic devices such as transistors and molecular interconnects.

A recent study shows that exposure to Agent Orange, and other defoliants, has led to genetic disturbance in New Zealand Vietnam War veterans which continues to persist decades after their service.

Human rights case

The wife of the Chinese dissident jailed with the help of Yahoo! is suing the company in the US courts.