So news is making its way around the internets that at the Wedbush Morgan Securities Management Access Conference, Atari founder Nolan Bushnell proclaimed the end of PC gaming piracy as we know it, thanks to a "stealth encryption chip." The magic chip he's referring to that "will, in fact, absolutely stop piracy of gameplay"? The TPM chip -- what's been on motherboards for years, that apparently Bushnell just found out about. While the tinfoil hats in the house will likely attribute TPM (Trusted Platform Module) and other onboard crypto-chips to the eventual downfall of privacy and personal computing, to date we've yet to see piracy stunted or civil liberties breached because of the little bugger. FUD you later, Nolan.

[Thanks, Carl]

At long last, Dell's ultraportable Latitude D430 is getting official, and just so it doesn't have to brave the new world alone, the Precision M4300 mobile workstation is tagging along. The 12-inch D430 will of course boast a widescreen WXGA display, up to 2GB of DDR2 RAM, Intel's GMA 950 integrated graphics, an Intel Core 2 Duo (or Solo) processor, an optional 32GB SSD, 802.11n WiFi, optional fingerprint reader, magnesium alloy casing, Strike Zone hard drive protection, and a slew of ports to boot. The beefier M4300 comes stocked with up to 2.4GHz of Intel Core 2 Duo power, a 15.4-inch display, up to 4GB of DDR2 RAM, NVIDIA's 512MB Quadro FX 360M graphics, up to 160GB of hard drive space, and 802.11n WiFi. Both units are available to configure as we speak, and while the 12-incher starts at $1,509 sans many luxuries, the M4300 rings up at $1,750 before you start bumping up the specs.

While CES graced us with laptops aplenty touting SideShow capabilities, Asus is bringing the secondary display love over to the desktop realm with its latest lineup of motherboards. The M2N32-SLI Premium Vista Edition and P5B Premium Vista Edition each come Vista-ready and support Asus' own ScreenDUO technology, which "provides a second display panel to enable the user to conveniently view important information without having to start up the PC." Users purchasing the boards actually get the secondary display in a bundled package, but there's no word on if (or how) you can connect your own screen in the future. Nevertheless, the boards also feature AI Remote, AP Trigger, TPM support, and the firm's Accelerated Propeller to reportedly "shorten boot times and program initiation" while in Vista. Asus is lookin' out for both the Intel and AMD camps, as the M2N32-SLI provides socket support for AMD Athlon 64 FX processors, while the P5B plays nice with Intel's Core 2 Quad chips, and although pricing information isn't readily available, these mobos should be hitting shelves shortly to coincide with the Vista release.

[Via 64-Bit-Computers]

It appears Asus' long-standing U5 series is finally getting an entirely overdue refresh, but late is indeed better than never. The freshened up U5F sports a layout and enclosure quite similar to its W7J sibling, and is built around the Sonoma platform. Beneath the hood you'll find an Intel Core 2 Duo T5500 processor, 12.1-inch XGA monitor, 512MB of RAM, 80GB hard drive, Windows XP Home, built-in WiFi / Bluetooth, a dual-layer DVD burner, and Intel's 945GM integrated graphics set. Aside from the VGA output, audio in / out, couple of USB 2.0 ports, and gigabit Ethernet jack, you just might notice Asus' own "Splendid video intelligence technology" kicking out "improved contrast, brightness, and color saturation," and the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) should keep the snoopers at least somewhat at bay. This 3.1-pound ultraportable machine doesn't yet carry a pricetag, but should be making its way to Chinese retailers real soon, but be sure you're really down with those intimidating palm rest stickers before throwing down your loot.

Not a fan of hardware DRM enforcement and trusted computing models? Well, you might want to plug your ears (or pay close attention, depending on how you treat this kind of news), because IBM announced that they'll be marketing future chipset solutions with SecureBlue -- their new take on secure computing hardware (with a specific bend toward locking down DRM for the end user). But SecureBlue's not only necessarily for computers; they also seem to want to launch the technology on "low-cost, relatively low performance electronics." In other words, you might start seeing SecureBlue "protecting" your computer from viruses and malevolent (or unsigned / unapproved) software just like it might also be powering the next wave of lower-power consumptive DRM-enabled portable audio players. Honestly we don't really know exactly what and how, though, since IBM didn't really seem to want to get incredibly verbose or specific on the matter. But you know how these things work, so expect to be hearing the SecureBlue name -- at least a little -- in the coming months.