I’ve pulled yet another disappearing act, sorry. There is family stuff going on that requires my presence out of town periodically for a few days at a time, but it should be getting better soon. My niece and her husband found out yesterday the three children they’ve been fostering since last April are officially going to be their adopted children, most likely by the end of the month! I couldn’t be more excited, since my niece is more like my little sister…she and I are closer in age than her mother and I. So while I apologize for my absence (again), I must say I was very happy to have been present for that particular phone call from the case worker!

Futurelooks starts us off with the MSI H55-GD65 Gamer Series LGA1156 ATX Motherboard

TweakTown spends some time with the Kingston HyperX PC3-17066 (2133MHz) 4GB Kit

Guru3D goes inside the VidaBox vCase3 Premium mATX HTPC chassis

Bjorn3D checks out the ASUS TUF SaberTooth 55i

TechRadar takes a look at the Philips BDP7500

bit-tech takes on Napoleon: Total War

Motherboards.org sits down with the Kingston 128GB V Series Notebook Upgrade Kit

OverClock Intelligence Agency gets into the Thermaltake V3 Black Edition Mid Tower Chassis

Legit Reviews chills out with the Thermaltake Contac 29 Direct Touch CPU Cooler

TrustedReviews tries on a pair of Sennheiser RS 170 Wireless Headphones

TechReviewSource shares its thoughts on the Sony VAIO EB12FX/T

RBMods gives a listen to some Arctic Cooling E361-WM Headphones

TestFreaks gets its hands on an ASUS U3S6 USB 3.0/SATA 3 6Gbps PCIE Card

Hardware Canucks presents its NVIDIA GeForce GT 240 Roundup (EVGA, Gigabyte, MSI & Sparkle)

And to finish us off for now, Legion Hardware shares its Radeon HD 5870 Crossfire CPU Scaling Performance Part 1

It happens sometimes. I sit here staring at a blank screen for several minutes and nothing leaps to mind. So…reviews. I’ll try to make this one a touch longer than normal, since if I get to a second post it will be very late. New equipment at work makes for much longer hours to program it.

TweakTown gets us started with the Gateway EC14D07u Ultraportable Laptop

Bjorn3D examines the Cooler Master 750 Watt GX PSU

Here are three takes on the WD SiliconEdge Blue 256GB SSD:
HotHardware
Legit Reviews
TweakTown

bit-tech weighs in on Nvidia’s Next Generation Ion Platform

TechRadar checks out the Firestone Audio Spitfire

Tech-Reviews gets its hands on the SteelSeries Kinzu Optical Mouse

PCShopTalk goes inside the LUXA2 LM100 Mini HTPC Case

TrustedReviews spends some time with the CyberPower Infinity i7 Phoenix Gaming PC

YouGamers takes on Mass Effect 2 (PC)

HardwareHeaven presents its CeBIT 2010 (Day Two Coverage)

Legit Reviews takes a look at the Masscool MP-1370S ‘Media Mate’ Media Player

Pro-Clockers shares its thoughts on the Gigabyte H55M-S2H Budget 1156 Motherboard

TechwareLabs sits down with the WikiReader

HotHardware has Some Fun With A 6-Screen ATI Eyefinity Configuration

RBMods shares its two cents’ worth on the AMD Phenom II X2 555 BE

PCSTATS gets into the Gigabyte GV-567OC-1GI Radeon HD 5670 Videocard

OverClock Intelligence Agency explores the Crucial Ballistix Tracer Red PC3-12800 Memory Kit

And to finish us off, Overclockers Online chills out with the XtremeGear HP-1216B HSF

But in my considered opinion, after spending 3 1/2 hours on it (including 1 1/2 hours on the phone with their support agent), TurboTax is crap. Oh, I’m sure it’s fine if you only have to fill out the EZ form, but if you have any complication whatsoever you’re up the proverbial creek without the proverbial paddle. And if all you have to fill out is the EZ form, why on earth would you pay for software when you can pick up the forms for free at the post office? I won’t go into it, but let it suffice to say if a GPS was as easy to follow as their software, I would end up in Saskatchewan when I was trying to go to Brazil.

Futurelooks kicks it off with the OCZ Technology 60GB Agility Series SATAII SSD

TweakTown counters with OCZ Technologys Vertex 2 Pro 100GB Solid State Disk

Pro-Clockers goes inside the Thermaltake V3 Black Budget Case

TrustedReviews tries on a pair of Audio-Technica ATH-ANC7b Headphones

HotHardware presents its NVIDIA ION 2 Preview, Optimus Enabled

FrostyTech stays chilly with the Scythe Grand Kama Cross SCKC-2000 Heatsink

TechRadar points and shoots the Canon PowerShot A490

RBMods examines the Verbatim InSight Portable HDD 500GB

BCC Hardware shares its CeBIT Coverage – Day 1 Gallery

OverClock Intelligence Agency gives a listen to some Arctic Cooling Arctic Sound E352 Earphones

Benchmark Reviews hooks up with the CyberPower AVRLCD UPS Battery Backup for PCs

ThinkComputers sits down with the Cooler Master NotePal ErgoStand

techPowerUp checks out some G.Skill ECO Kit 4 GB PC3-12800U CL7-8-7

I think I’ll end this one with a motherboard extravaganza:
TechwareLabs – Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H AMD 890GX
bit-tech – Asus M4A89GTD Pro/USB Motherboard
Legit Reviews – Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H – AMD 890GX Chipset
Bjorn3D – AMD 890GX
Hardware Secrets – ECS A890GXM-A
Hi Tech Legion – Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H USB and SATA 3.0
PureOverclock – ASUS P6X58D Premium
Legion Hardware – Asrock P55 Deluxe3
InsideHW – ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3
PCSTATS – ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 AMD 890GX
Au-Ja – ECS A890GXM-A (AMD 890GX, socket AM3)
Motherboards.org – ASUS P6X58D Premium
Hardware Canucks – ASUS RoG Maximus III Extreme LGA 1156

First, let me say congratulations to Finland! Also to Slovakia…you played your hearts out, and no one can ask any more from you. That was a fabulous game! And now, we are a little less than three hours from the gold medal game. Will Canada win and increase their count? Or will the USA win and upset their gracious hosts to the north? I’m looking forward to another amazing game.

Au-Ja starts off with the MSI R5770-PM2D1G – AMD ATi Radeon HD 5770 revistited

If you don’t mind, I’ll turn that into a video card roundup:
bit-tech – ATI Radeon HD 5830 1GB
Technic3D – Asus EAH5870
iXBT Labs – ATI Radeon HD 5750/5770
Au-Ja – AMD ATi Radeon HD 5830
InsideHW – Radeon HD 5830

Hardware Secrets checks out the JVC Picsio GC-FM1 Camcorder

TrustedReviews points and shoots the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ10

Bjorn3D chills out with the Noctua NH-D14

Phoronix goes inside the SilverStone Fortress FT02

TechRadar takes music on the road with the Altec Lansing inMotion Classic

TweakNews examines the Thermaltake TR2 RX 750W Modular Power Supply

Legit Reviews weighs in on the Toshiba HG2 43nm 256GB Solid State Drive

techPowerUp gets into the Soundgraph FingerVU 706

RBMods gets its hands on the Roccat Arvo Gaming Keyboard

DragonSteelMods tries on a pair of Mionix Keid 20 Gaming Headphones

And to finish us off, TestFreaks finds its way with the Motorola T805 Bluetooth GPS Receiver

I was beginning to think we’d be celebrating another milennium before my workers’ comp. hearing got scheduled, but much to my amazement the letter came today. It’s going to be near the end of March. Not bad, altogether, considering it will be exactly four months and 14 days since I got hurt. With any luck at all the mediator will see how silly it is that they denied my claim and I’ll be getting my knee fixed. I’m not holding my breath, but I am holding on to hope.

LanOC gets us going with the Seagate BlackArmor NAS 110

RBMods checks out the Asus EAH5750 Videocard

High Tech Reviews goes inside the Aerocool BX-500 PGS Series B Case

TrustedReviews spends some time with the Wired2Fire Hellspawn Gaming PC

Hardware Secrets examines the OCZ ModXStream Pro 600 W Power Supply

PCSTATS gets its hands on the Gigabyte Ghost GM-M8000X Laser Gaming Mouse

FrostyTech gets chilly with the Zalman CNPS10X Flex Heatsink

TweakTown submits its video review of the RaidSonic Icy Box IB-318 and IB-250 USB 3.0 HDD Enclosures

Legit Reviews weighs in on the ASUS P7H57D-V EVO Motherboard

bit-tech takes on Star Trek Online

TechRadar talks about the Editors Keys Vocal Booth Pro

HotHardware shares its thoughts on the WD 1TB Caviar Green Hard Drive w/ Advanced Format

iGadget Life tries on a BlueChip BH08N Bluetooth Headset

Modders-Inc. gets into some G.Skill ECO DDR3-1600 (PC3 12800) Memory

And to close out this selection and get me watching the Finland/Slovakia game, TestFreaks hooks up with the UNITEK 2 Port USB 3.0 PCI Express Card