Stories by: Elias Plastiras

In case you didn't know, iiNet is being sued for not doing anything to stop its users from downloading stuff off the Internet. It's a case that could change the landscape of the Internet industry in this country if iiNet loses, as Roadshow, Universal, Paramount, Disney, Fox, Warner Bros. and Columbia, as well as Channel Seven, seek unspecified damages.

Remember the good old days, when your TV and amplifier sported wooden panels and gave you a sense of warmth and comfort? Well, the days of consumer electronics with wood features are back: ASUS, the tech company that is always up on the latest fashions, has released a laptop that incorporates bamboo panels for its lid and palm rest. The U6 Bamboo Series, as it's called, is actually not as tacky as it sounds; rather than being a throwback to the '70s, the laptop's wood looks quite tasteful. It also feels good to the touch, and, most importantly, doesn't compromise the usability of the laptop.

Following on from the success of the Eee PC, ASUS has taken the same concept and created an ultraportable laptop with slightly beefier specifications, more security features and better looks. Its name is the N10J, and it puts more emphasis on style than most laptops on the market. Its glossy, champagne-coloured panels, latch-less screen and chrome details should make it a hit with the ladies, but it should also appeal to plenty of guys.

Intel celebrated the launch of the Core i7 at a party in Sydney's Cruise bar. Intel boasted about releasing the fastest CPU on the planet, and provided some real-time demonstrations of video encoding and physics processing, with the Core i7 leaving the Core 2 Duo in its wake.

Major changes to Intel's CPU line-up are afoot with the introduction of Core i7 (codenamed Nehalem), which improves on the design of the Core 2. We won't beat around the bush: it looks like it's the CPU line-up to go for if you want to own the fastest PC rig on the block.

You would think that a big fat drive like Seagate's 1.5 terabyte Barracuda 7200.11 would be a slowcoach at pushing around data. However, unlike an athlete who has overindulged in the off-season, Seagate's most capacious drive to date has added plenty of muscle instead: it's one of the company's fastest, and most definitely quietest performers.

The Precision M6400 is a mobile workstation that offers the latest in fast hardware to crunch data for design, animation and engineering users. Residing in its aluminium chassis are an Intel Core 2 Extreme CPU, NVIDIA Quadro graphics, 4GB of RAM and 500GB of storage.

ASUS unleashes new laptops amid Calvin Klein's latest runway creations.

James Bond: Quantum of Solace comes out here in Australia next week, but audiences in the UK have been the first to see it. And there are many pirates among them! Torrent sites already have the movie listed in various forms and file sizes, and the most popular torrent sites are showing tens of thousands of people trying to download it.

It has only taken six months, but HP's Pavilion dv3000 has already been refreshed. The new and improved model, the dv3539TX (FZ917PA#ABG), has a more impressive design as well as tougher guts under the hood, making it faster than its predecessor by approximately five per cent.

Acer has gone all-out audacious with the Predator PC, which is aimed at hardcore gamers and fans of all things orange. It has more moulded plastic than a Honda Civic at La Perouse on a Sunday night, and the plastic on the Predator's case, like the plastic on a Honda, is just for show.