speed

Logitech acquires SightSpeed

Logitech announced Tuesday that it has paid about $30 million in cash to acquire SightSpeed, a maker of cross-platform video chat and calling software. It's a logical acquisition for Logitech, which includes video cameras among its large portfolio of peripherals for PCs.

Berkeley, Calif.-based SightSpeed was founded in 2001 and has 25 employees. SightSpeed's video communications solution is based on the session initiation protocol (SIP) and offers 30 frame-per-second video and an integrated instant messaging service. SightSpeed supports 640 x 480 video windows at any speeds above 1.5 Mbps, multiparty conference calls and in-call file sharing. … Read more

eMachines budget PC struggles to beat competition

If you don't have a sack full of $100 bills to spend on a desktop computer, don't worry! All is not lost; the world of budget PCs are a great option for you. Vendors are champing at the bit to release round after round of sub-$500 PCs. After all, some people just want a computer for basic applications: MP3 playback, word processing, Internet surfing, etc.

The eMachines ET1161-03 is just one system in its budget line that won't break the bank. It features a 2.3GHz AMD Athlon 64 dual-core processor, 3GB of RAM, an integrated … Read more

Oregon Trail Facebook app to be replaced with dating service

My CNET colleague Jeff Sparkman tipped me off to an odd twist in the world of Facebook application acquisitions. As of Wednesday night SpeedDate.com, the purveyor of the Web video-based online dating service snatched up the rights to the Oregon Trail Facebook application, which will soon be replaced with the service's existing speed-dating application.

That's right--instead of trying to cross 15-foot wide rivers and avoid dysentery, you'll be looking for love with your Webcam.

Early Thursday, users of the service got a message: "Next week, Oregon Trail's name and functionality will be changed to … Read more

iPhone vs. T-Mobile (Android) G1 Speed Test

Our sister site News.com has posted a speed test that pits the iPhone 3G against T-Mobiles new Google Android-based T1.

Bonnie Cha writes:

"In this quick Prizefight, CNET TV's Brian Tong and I pit the two against each other in a 3G speed test, clocking the time it takes for each device to load CNET News from start to finish. Now, there are a couple of things to remember. Both smartphones use different Web browsers, and there are a number of factors that might affect 3G speeds, such as the area you live in and how many … Read more

Cost Central has the FreeAgent Desktop - Hard drive - 500 GB - external - 3.5" - Hi-Speed USB for $108.20, after $71.79 savings, plus free shipping.

Cost Central has FreeAgent Desktop - Hard drive - 500 GB - external - 3.5" - Hi-Speed USB for $108.20, after $71.79 savings, plus free shipping. >> Regular price is $179.99 >> Sale price is $108.2 >> Savings $71.79 (39.89%) >> Click here for deal

Top defrag utility: IOBit Smart Defrag

One of the remedies I often recommend for a sluggish system is to defrag the hard drive. For those unfamiliar with the term, defragging involves reorganizing your hard disk by placing files closer together so your operating system can find them more quickly. Your Windows operating system comes with a disk defrag utility of its own, but anyone who has ever used it knows it takes an unbearably long time to do the job. Fortunately there are excellent free defrag utilities you can download to make your system run better immediately.

One of my most recommended free defrag apps is … Read more

WooMe wants you to watch other people date

Social dating site WooMe has launched a new video service that is so amazingly hard to watch it's bound to be a hit. It's called WooMe.tv, and it takes recordings from the site's speed dates and hosts them for all to see.

Not every video is available. Both users must opt in to have the session shared post-date, and only then does it go into the public directory. What makes it an attractive proposition is that the videos are only 60 seconds long (or less), so you can watch two or three of them in rapid … Read more

Speed Racer is Elvis

Have you ever seen the movie Viva Las Vegas? In it, Elvis Presley plays a racecar driver in a city-to-city race, in between songs. The music isn't to my tastes, but the cars, a collection of mid- to late-1950s sports-racers, many with considerable history, are. And the plot, such as it is, was familiar. Point-to-point race over the open road, good guys versus bad guys. I hadn't seen Viva Las Vegas before viewing it on TV about 20 years ago, as Elvis never made my musical radar screen, but I had seen Speed Racer cartoons. Instant flash of recognition!

Viva and the Speed Racer cartoons share the same basic action-filled "plot." There is even some similarity in cars. And Speed Racer looks more than a little like an anime version of Elvis in his prime, even though he doesn't sing. Which might be for the best.

A gearhead classic that was underground for many years is now readily available over the counter. That's C'etait un Rendezvous by Claud Lelouch, better known just as Rendezvous. It's expensive, intense, and worth every penny. There is no real plot, merely action of the "kids, don't try this at home" variety.

CNET Live - Episode 71

It's an all-call show as we gave away a free BlackBerry Curve. On eof the perks of watching the live version of the show every Thursday at 4 PM Eastern. However there's still lots of good info for the podcast and on-demand viewers. Here are the notes.

Watch the show on CNET TV.

Things we Crave

Plastic Logic eReader

Stealth helicopter camera

First Look

iPod Touch 2nd Gen.

Free Download of the week

Best of the Web

Your calls

A few more ways to sync your iTunes across several computers, … Read more

Featured Freeware: SpeedFan

SpeedFan isn't overly complicated, but if you don't understand the information it offers, I strongly recommend you research it before proceeding. If you do know the difference between your Vcore and Vsb, it presents some useful system details. SpeedFan's tabbed interface isn't hard to navigate, but let's face it: most users won't be able to make head or tail of the data this utility provides. The program's system-tray icon tells you the temperature of your PC's hard drive, and you can receive information on voltage and fan speeds.

The utility can display … Read more