ASUS Eee Top “Hands on”

EeePCNews have posted a video of a pre-production touch screen equipped ASUS EeePC:

GeForce Release 178.24 WHQL

GeForce Release 178.24 ^WHQL

New in Version 178.24:

Driver download here

• Adds support for newly-released GeForce 9-series motherboard GPUs.

• WHQL-certified driver for GeForce 6-series, 7-series, 8-series, 9-series, and 200-series GPUs.
• Adds support for GeForce 9800 GTX+, 9800 GT, 9500 GT and 9400 GT GPUs.
• Adds support for NVIDIA PhysX acceleration on all GeForce 8-series, 9-series and 200-series GPUs with a minimum of 256MB dedicated graphics memory (this driver package installs NVIDIA PhysX System Software v8.09.04).
• Experience GPU PhysX acceleration in several full games and demos today by downloading the GeForce Power Pack.
• Adds support for 2-way and 3-way NVIDIA SLI technology with GeForce GTX 200-series GPUs on Intel® D5400XS motherboards.
• Supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI™ technology on DirectX 9, DirectX 10, and OpenGL, including 3-way and Quad SLI technology.
• Supports CUDA™.
• Supports NVIDIA GeForce 3D Stereo Technology.
• Supports Folding@home distributing computing application. Download the high performance client for NVIDIA GPUs here and join the NVIDIA team: #131015.
• Supports GPU overclocking and temperature monitoring by installing NVIDIA System Tools software.
• Includes several 3D application performance improvements. The following are examples of improvements measured with v178.24 WHQL versus v175.19 WHQL driver:
• Single GPU increases up to 11% in 3DMark Vantage (performance preset)
• Single GPU increases up to 11% in Assassin’s Creed DX10
• Single GPU increases up to 15% in Bioshock DX10
• Single GPU increases up to 15% in Call of Duty 4
• Single GPU increases up to 8% in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
• 2-way SLI increases up to 7% in Bioshock DX10
• 2-way SLI increases up to 10% in Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts DX10
• 2-way SLI increases up to 12% in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
• 2-way SLI increases up to 10% in World in Conflict DX10

Chrome Beta Gets Updated

A new version of Google’s Chrome browser  as the release notes indicate in all caps, the update is intended for the “Dev channel ONLY.” You can check out more here

The new update puts a heavy focus on plugins, not the least of which includes addressing an issue where using Flash plugins could lock up the Chrome browser and shoot CPU usage up to 100 percent. The new version also fixes plugins not playing when embedded in a third-party frame on a page, and improves support for pages with multiple plugins playing video.

Several other changes have been made, such as adding a command line switch to start the browser in incognito mode, fixing a problem with videos stopping after 1 second, adding better support for Windows Media player, and a whole bunch more.

Play PS3 BioShock, Get a Peek at the Sequel

There is a 15 second trailer (rapidshare ~ 31.7MB) for the sequel. The trailer opens with a title card that reads “Atlantic Ocean” and pans away from a Big Daddy stuffed animal being held by, what looks like, a grown up Little Sister as she looks off into the water. Pillars then begin to form around her and the title screen reveals the name “Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams.”

Netherland Companies “Hit Hard”Due to Economic Crisis

An increasing number of large Dutch companies are suffering from the economic fall out from the credit crisis. Yesterday alone, four companies reported profit declines or production cuts as a result of the worsening economy, the Financieele Dagblad reports.

TNT, the post and parcel delivery company, said it would cut costs at its air freight division because of pressures on profits and turnover. Supermarket wholesaler Sligro said it expected profits to be lower than originally expected this year. Meanwhile both steel producer Corus and truck maker DAF Trucks said they would be cutting production due to declining demand.

Over past few days, electronics giant Philips, coatings group Akzo Nobel, chip machine maker ASML and printer and copier concern Océ have all said they were facing problems as a result of the economic downturn sparked by the financial crisis.