The Tech Report

After answering a listener mail question, we start the show by welcoming guest podcaster and TR blogger Jason Fox. Jason is a professional copywriter in Texas, and he has developed an annual tradition of reviewing each year's array of Superbowl advertisements on his personal website. Together with our U.S.-based panelists (Canadians don't get to broadcast Superbowl ads), Jason discusses his list covering the best and worst of this year's offering. See the links to each discussed ad below.

Moving on, we begin our proper tech discussion with Geoff's newly scoured ultraportable before bemoaning the Canadian bandwidth quota conundrum. We then quickly dive into the billion-dollar mistake that took Intel's Sandy Bridge chipsets off store shelves. Listen for what went wrong, what Sandy Bridge early adopters can do about it, and what this means for Intel in the year to come. As the episode draws to a close, the panel dives into our most recent reader poll, Geoff's exploration of how memory speeds affect Sandy Bridge performance, and a trio of PC gaming stories.

This is a monster episode. Between a detailed look at Intel's new Sandy Bridge processors (not to mention the slew of motherboards that come along with them) and all the news from CES to discuss, we've recorded one of our longest episodes in a while. Along the duration, you'll hear some listener questions answered, some industry news discussed, some product announcements considered, and future tech prognosticated. Simply put, there's a lot to love about this episode of The Tech Report Podcast.

This is a monster episode. Between a detailed look at Intel's new Sandy Bridge processors (not to mention the slew of motherboards that come along with them) and all the news from CES to discuss, we've recorded one of our longest episodes in a while. Along the duration, you'll hear some listener questions answered, some industry news discussed, some product announcements considered, and future tech prognosticated. Simply put, there's a lot to love about this episode of The Tech Report Podcast.

This episode starts with two listener mail questions: KJ has a follow-up question about AMD's Zacate accelerated processing unit, and Suspenders wonders if our hours and hours of computer usage ever result in repetitive strain injuries (RSIs). After going through the mail bag, Scott and Cyril discuss what TR version 3.0 means for the design and operation of our site. Geoff is up next with a roundup of 7,200-RPM laptop drives, which addresses value for money, performance, and capacity. Finally, Scott pairs up the latest GPUs, Geoff interviews Western Digital Program Manager Kevin Kalvert, and Nvidia's GeForce GTX 570 gets a quick and to-the-point evaluation from Damage Labs.

We kick off this episode of the TR Podcast by discussing Netflix's internet-streaming-only plan, Scott's desire for an à la carte> TV world, and Jordan's record-breaking single DVD Netflix plan. We also look at the arrival of Rage on the iPhone, months before an actual console or PC release. We then delve into some good old-fashioned hardware discussion. Geoff and Cyril play tag-team with our next story: Nvidia has released the GeForce GTX 460 SE into the wild, and Cyril has the card's specs, while Geoff has the skinny on the benchmarking results. Speaking of benchmarks, Cyril goes on to bring us performance numbers from his excursion to Austin, where he got to test AMD's next-gen Brazos mobile platform and Zacate accelerated processing unit. We also take the time to explore AMD's mobile roadmap, detailing who will manufacture Zacate's successor. Later, Geoff gives us an in-depth look at two new Xonar sound cards from Asus. He details the hardware, our testing methods, the results, and declares a surprising (and very budget-friendly) favorite. Finally, Cyril gives us the low-down on BitFenix's new Survivor enclosure, explaining what excited and disappointed him in this this compact, LAN-party-friendly case.

This episode is all about gaming, graphics, and mobile computing. Jordan and Geoff kick things off with listener mail, with Geoff delivering some sound SSD advice to a listener and Jordan recommending his favorite iPhone earbuds. Then, as Call of Duty: Black Ops rocks the entertainment industry with a record $360-million release day, so does it rock the podcast, with Scott talking at length about his take on the new shooter. Cyril, who's back from AMD's Austin campus, chats with Scott about the ins and outs of AMD's new Brazos ultraportable platform. Scott goes on to give us a detailed rundown of the surprise release from Nvidia, the GeForce GTX 580. The podcast finishes with a whirlwind of other GPU news, including an overclocking report about the Radeon HD 6850 and GeForce GTX 460 and a look at the availability and pricing of AMD's new Radeons

We've got a lot to discuss on this episode of the TR Podcast, starting with two listener mail questions. KJ wants to know how AMD's Zacate will stack up against Intel's Consumer Ultra-Low-Voltage offerings, while Chris asks if Geoff ever found a better MP3 player for swimming. Shortly thereafter, Scott reviews the newly rebooted Medal of Honor before getting into the meat of this episode: AMD's new Radeon HD 6850 and 6870 graphics cards. Scott gives us the skinny about the new Barts silicon, morphological AA, how these cards stack up against the Nvidia competition, and more. As we reach the tail end of this episode, Geoff brings up AMD's latest efforts in the domain of fan-speed controls, Cyril discusses Asus' dual-core, Ion-based Eee PC, and our editors all voice their thoughts on Apple's new—and expensive—MacBook Air models

With our elite panel of Scott, Geoff, and Cyril (plus audible cameos from Geoff's dog, Snookums), we cover a wide range of topics on this episode of the TR Podcast. After some listener questions from Twitter, we tackle Geoff's old-fashioned yet sensible affinity for buying music CDs, and Scott revels in finally playing the famed C-130 level of Modern Warfare. We then digress momentarily to note the loss of Intel's Greg Wagnon, a superb PR guy who helped Scott with Intel Xeon products for years. Moving on to the reviews, Cyril breaks down the Asus N82Jv 14-inch notebook, another mobile computer with great graphics and disappointing battery life, and Geoff pits two Asus X58 motherboards against each other and identifies the winner (which received our TR Recommended badge). We go over a pair of Nvidia stories before wrapping things up with two gaming-related reviews: Geoff's take on the Cyborg Rat 7 adjustable gaming mouse, and Cyril's look at the first Corsair gaming headset.

After two weeks of conference hopping, first at Intel's IDF and then at Nvidia's GPU Technology Conference (GTC), Scott has the scoop on what's coming next year in the PC hardware world. We'll find out why next year is the "golden age" of CPU design, what makes Sandy Bridge a completely new CPU, what AMD is doing to counter, and what Nvidia has planned for the long term.

While Scott is hard at work deep in the recesses of Damage Labs, Geoff and Cyril join us for a classic panel episode of the TR Podcast. We begin this episode with a quick reminder about our latest, MSI-sponsored giveaway. Then, it's on to our latest TR system guide, the nuances of which Cyril and Geoff dissect. The podcast quickly kicks into high gear with some news. Our readers have voiced their opinions about USB 3.0 in our latest poll. Zotac's latest Zboz is a sexy CULV barebone that includes both USB 3.0 and Blu-ray. After over a decade of rumors and delays, Gearbox will complete and release Duke Nuken Forever, a game Cyril and Geoff are both anticipating—and one Jordan is too young to be excited about. We move on to an assortment of the latest Apple news, including a stunning iPhone game demo from Epic, a new version of iOS, and a new and curiously button-less iPod nano. The show continues as we discuss Cyril's review of the AMD Nile laptop platform (as embodied in Toshiba's Satellite T235D), Geoff's disappointment with modern notebooks in general, new mobile graphics processors from Nividia, and Google's instant search.