Everyone has stories from the book of experience that is their life, with some more interesting than others. Allan Campbell operates KitGuru.net, a website focused on reporting computer technology news and product reviews. KitGuru is an interesting endeavor, but it's only the most recent chapter from the 39-year-old's life that began with a career in the Ireland newspaper industry where he used hot metal typography, a dying art. Benchmark Reviews present our interview with Allan Campbell, beginning with a few chapters from other parts of his life...

Over the past several years of testing desktop graphics hardware, I've enjoyed a unique perspective of the internal happenings that remain hidden from the public. Much like politics, there is the truth, and then there's what you've been convinced into believing. I've watched their tactics, and witnessed their desperate attempts to sway consumer opinion. As competition for sales within the desktop graphics segment provokes fierce competition, it also raises the stakes for the companies involved. NVIDIA's Fermi GF110-powered GeForce GTX 580 sets the standard, but will AMD's VLIW4 architecture Cayman GPU save the Radeon HD 6970? In this editorial article, I'll share my opinion of what appears to me as the last stand for desktop graphics between the AMD Radeon and NVIDIA GeForce video cards.

Our recently published guide Turning PC into Apple Macintosh: Hackintosh described my experience building a Hackintosh, and my thoughts on the concept as a long-time Macintosh computer user. The article was very popular and generated a lot of comments from our readers, some with recurring themes that I want to address here, as well as report on the longer-term use of the machine.

There's change in the wind, and nobody's really sure which way it will blow. 3D technology, once the land of red and blue, has matured through the years and now offers several new platform choices - some of which won't even require eyewear. Not many people will give NVIDIA the full credit of bringing 3D technology into the mainstream, but if there was a pioneer to be named they've certainly earned the title. Developed on years of stereoscopic vision research, NVIDIA released their first retail product at the tail end of 2008, branded GeForce 3D Vision. The past two years have grown this technology into a central feature, exclusive to their GeForce graphics product line, further evolving into a triple-display capability they've dubbed 3D Vision Surround. From many perspectives, it's appeared that NVIDIA has been the name behind 3D technology, especially in terms of 3D gaming, but the truth is that it's become a rather crowded market.

To most people, the sudden industry interest in 3D technology is considered a fad. It's an eccentric marketing ploy for the fringe enthusiast, merely feeding a niche market. It's too expensive, or it's too immature, or it's too proprietary. If this has you believing the skeptics and naysayers, then 3D technology is already doomed to fail. Fortunately for entertainment enthusiasts there's a difference between pessimism and reality, and I'll use this editorial to explore the very real possibility that we'll soon live in a world based around 3D technology. Some optimists believe that 3D is already on its way to being a mainstream technology, but realists should expect it to come in phases, based on supply and product demand. I think it will begin with 3D cameras, and their byproducts: 3D photos and 3D video.

The computer hardware industry accounts for a significant portion of worldwide consumer electronic sales, which results in a proportionate amount of marketing and advertising effort expended to help push sales. After four years of aggressively working our way up the ladder, Benchmark Reviews has grown to better understand the industry around us. You probably have an interest in the legitimacy of product reviews, and there's a lot going on behind the scenes that impacts the independent evaluations you've come to trust. In this editorial article Computer Hardware Reviews: Inside the Industry, I share my eye-opening observations and personal experiences with you for the benefit of extending an understanding to others.