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Are “Geek Squad” Agents Stealing From Your Computer?

Posted by Lolita Beckwith Categories: PC / Laptop,

Geek Squad Stealing PornWe love the folks over at The Consumerist,  a website devoted to letting disgruntled shoppers stick it to The Man. Now they’ve gone all “Dateline/Primetime Live” on us, conducting an undercover 3-month sting operation. Their mission? To see if a Best Buy Geek Squad Agent would stoop so low as to steal porn, music, etc. off of a customer’s PC brought in for repair. The sting was in response to rumors that this happened to actual customers in numerous cities. To create bait, a computer was loaded with porn—and rigged to film any wrongdoings as they actually happened. While most of the Geek Squad-ers presented with the porn-laded PC passed the test,  one dishonest techie failed miserably, filmed stealing pornography and transferring it to his company-issued thumb drive. Rumor has it there is even a Geek Squad “central server”, where the Agents share their illicit booty (no pun intended). Click here to view video of the actual theft, and to learn how to protect your files when bringing your computer in to be fixed. Because you know if the Geek Squad is doing it, your neighborhood repair shop could be too.

Read More | The Consumerist

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Bleeding Edge TV 169: AMD Explains How Quad Core Chips Should Be Made

Okay, we have been hearing a lot about dual core and quad core processors coming out of both the and camps. Now that has released the Octo-core Mac Pro, people are wondering about the benefit of having all these cores at their disposal. In this video, we speak with AMD about what they believe is the fundamental difference between the way they do Quad Core chips as opposed to the way Intel does it. Check out the video to see how AMD feels quad core computing should be done.


Bleeding Edge TV 168: AMD vs. Intel: Chipset War

While hanging out in the AMD Performance Lab, Pat Moorhead sat down with us to give us a head to head look at a basic Intel G965 chipset up against the AMD 690 series chipset, focusing on gaming performance. These are the off-the-shelf computers you would buy at low cost for $500-800 or so, using integrated graphics chips. You gotta see this side-by-side comparison to see just how amazing the results of the AMD-ATi merger are.

Oh, and obviously, these tests were done in an AMD lab. However, just like it was mentioned in the Performance Lab video, if you want the scripts to do any of these tests yourself, all you have to do is ask. Drop an email to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and they will hook you up.


Bleeding Edge TV 167: Inside AMD’s Performance Testing Lab

While we were out visiting AMD, they gave us the opportunity to enter their Performance Testing Lab, an area guarded by dual steel doors that seemingly required both a key and special knocking code in order to enter. Once inside and sure that our lives were safe, we spoke with Mark Welker about how AMD tests their chip technologies across different platforms, software, and games. He talks to us about benchmarks, what they mean in the real world, and how they can be gamed to show what you want them to show. Even better, Mark gives out his corporate email address and offers to send the performance testing scripts to anyone who asks so that people at home can do it themselves. Just drop him an email at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and tell him Gear Live sent you. Check the video for the full scoop.


Bleeding Edge TV 165: AMD LIVE! Digital Home Cinema

We were able to get a first-hand look at the new AMD LIVE! Digital Home Cinema concept while hanging out with the AMD crew. For those who may have missed it at CES, the AMD LIVE! Home Cinema is pretty much a specialized HTPC that aims to replace just about everything in your entertainment center, save for game consoles. It can run Linux or Windows Media Center, and is even a digital cable tuner that is CableCARD compatible. Powered by an AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processor, it aims to provide an immersive theater-quality media experience with high-definition video, integrated 100 watt per channel surround sound audio and Internet capability, all in a device fit for your entertainment center. Check the video for a full walk-through.


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