Patriot Memory's Box Office Media Player Review
Looking for the perfect "enthusiast" media box for your living room? The Box Office from Patriot Memory may be about as close as it gets. The only thing not included is an eye patch and a Jolly Roger.
DFI LANParty DK P55-T3eH9 Motherboard Review
As DFI’s newest member of it much vaunted LANParty series of motherboards, the DK P55-T3eH9 seems more than willing and able to step up to its legacy. But will this be the last ATX motherboard we see out of DFI?
DiRT 2 Gameplay Performance and Image Quality
Have we go a treat for you; a detailed evaluation of real-world gameplay performance and image quality in the first newly shipped DX11 capable game title, DiRT 2. Does DX11 take a nose dive in performance compared to DX9 and does it provide real-world gameplay benefits? The results may surprise you.
Nexus RX-6300 630W Power Supply Review
Nexus is a little known name in the PSU realm in North America, but it is starting to gain a bit of traction among computer hardware enthusiasts. Nexus' focus is the silent side of computing, but is now moving into higher power envelopes. Does Nexus supply the kind of power we have come to expect at high wattages?
LaRue Tactical here in Texas has put together a fund raiser for our soldiers that fell at Ft. Hood in November. Every penny of your money goes to the Chaplain's Fund Office in Fort Hood and is being used to help the families of those impacted by the murders. To top it all off you get a Special Edition "Texas" Beverage Entry Tool.
A new Zogby poll found that many people feel we should be more technologically advanced than we currently are. Speaking of, it is 2010, where the hell are all the robots and flying cars?
While some may be disappointed that we won't be entering 2010 living like the Jetsons, 21% believe we are more technologically advanced than they thought we would be by the start of this new decade. Another 37% say the current level of technological advancement is just about where they thought it would be by 2010.
Video games have surpassed movie sales in the U.K. by a huge margin. Making that achievement even more impressive is the fact that DVD and Blu-ray sales are figured into the total as well. 
In the 12 months leading up to the end of September, 1.73 billion British pounds (about $2.8 billion) were spent on video games, according to data-monitoring company GFK Chart-Track. The U.K. Film Council said 1 billion British pounds ($1.6 billion) were spent at the British box office during the same period, with an additional 198 million British pounds ($320 million) spent on films released on DVD and Blu-ray.
For those of you that don’t know this little trick, you can revive a drenched phone with a little dry rice and some patience. So, if you partied a little to hard and dropped your phone in your beer / Champagne last night, you still might be able to fix it.
Nobody wants to lose their favorite new electronic gadget to a dunk in the drink. One Lifehacker reader saved his phone after an astounding 30 minute soak by sending it to the dry-rice spa.
Asustek has denied recent rumors from anonymous sources that the company planned to close its Eee Stick and LCD departments.
Asustek Computer is reportedly considering closing down the departments that handle the development of its Eee Stick, LCD TV and monitor product lines due to unsatisfactory shipments and profits, according to industry sources.
If you learn anything from this story it should be to always file a police report. If this lady was smart, she would have had the police go to the address the crook gave Apple.
Alisa was robbed on the subway a couple of weeks ago, and now someone else has contacted Apple about replacing the phone due to a software malfunction. Alisa found out about this because her email account is still associated with it, but neither she nor the police can persuade Apple to return the phone to her once the other party sends it in for replacement.
Cases & Modding
ANTEC MX-25 Aluminum Hard Drive Enclosure @ PCShopTalk
Raidmax Skyline Computer Case @ Overclockers Club
ETC.
Logitech Squeezebox Radio @ TestFreaks
PC Perspective Podcast #88 @ PCPer
Memory/ Storage
SanDisk 32GB Extreme III SDHC Memory Card @ Legit Reviews
Video
EVGA GeForce GT 240 SuperClocked @ NVNews
Happy New Year! With any luck, all of you had a great time ringing in the new year last night. If you are like me and had a little too much fun last night, take some Alka Seltzer and plop yourself down in front of the TV and watch a bowl game and or a parade. If you are nursing your hangover at work today, have no fear, you can spend the first day of the new year with us. Happy New Year!
We want to wish all of you a Happy New Year! We hope all of you have a good time ringing in the new year tonight, be safe, make resolutions you can keep and we’ll see you all back here next year!
If you play World of Warcraft, you might want to avoid a life of crime because, although you think you are anonymous online, you aren’t. Making matters worse, Blizzard will hand your information over to the authorities in a heartbeat.
Blizzard did more than cooperate. It gave Roberson everything he needed to track down Hightower, including his IP address, his account information and history, his billing address, and even his online screen name and preferred server. From there it was a simple matter to zero in on the suspect’s location.
It would seem that some industry analysts believe the FTC’s case against Intel is rather weak and overblown. Overall the feeling is that any penalties by the FTC will be minor and that Intel's operational activities will be "unobstructed" after a ruling in the matter is handed down.
Freedman said his firm does not currently see any potential change in Intel's business practices that would impact the company's earnings potential. Broadpoint AmTech believes Intel has a "much stronger case than people realize" and that the company will receive a favorable ruling on the matter before the end of 2010.
What’s that you say? Apple won an appeal in that iPod hearing loss case? You’ll have to speak up, I can’t hear crap these days. Anyone seen my iPod Touch?
A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected a class-action lawsuit seeking to hold Apple Inc responsible for possible hearing loss caused by using its popular iPod music player. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco affirmed a 2008 district court ruling that the plaintiffs failed to show that use of the iPod poses an unreasonable risk of noise-induced hearing loss.
Social networks are now considered addictions? How can that be? Are there really people out there snorting Twitter or shooting up 140 characters or less? Sheesh, I thought calling video games an addiction was bad. 
SOCIAL networking has joined sex, drugs and alcohol as the latest addiction plaguing celebrities. With Australians spending a third of their time online perusing Facebook, however, it seems the everyday Aussie is not far behind in mirroring the trend.
Most of the stuff on the 35th annual list of words that should be banned are obviously obnoxious but the list is kinda short. What are some words you wouldn’t mind seeing banished from the English language?
Also ripe for exile is "sexting," shorthand for sexy text messaging, a habit that has caused trouble this year for public figures from politicians to star athletes. Similarly, list makers showed distaste for tweeting, retweeting and tweetaholics, lingo made popular by users of the popular Twitter networking website.
This video gives you a bit of a "behind the scenes" look at the Times Square ball. The video also mentions a free app called "Clink-Clink" that iPhone owners might be interested in. Thanks to Morris D. (and the time?) for the linkage.
Cases & Modding
LanCool PC-K56W Mid-Tower Computer Case @ BmR
NZXT TEMPEST EVO Computer Case @ Overclockers Club
RaidMax Skyline Mid Tower Case @ Hi Tech Legion
ETC.
Cooler Master Storm Sentinel Advance Gaming Mouse @ techPowerUP!
Video
PowerColor PCS+ Radeon HD 5770 @ Overclockers Club
A new study finds that women play longer and harder than men in online games…well, at least they do in EverQuest II. The study sounds a bit fishy, claiming that women gamers exercise more, weigh less, play well with others and play longer but brag about it less. Wait, there must’ve been a girl on the research team. 
In fact, women who played EverQuest II tended to exercise more and weigh less than the average American. Another shattered stereotype: The pimply teenage gamer. The average age of the 7,000 players in the USC survey was 31, and gamers in their 30s outnumbered those in their 20s.
A lawsuit has been filed in U.S. District Court against social-networking app maker RockYou for failing to keep customer data safe.
The suit seeking class action status was filed Monday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco by lawyers for Alan Claridge, of Evansville, Ind., who registered with RockYou in August 2008 to use a photo-sharing application. RockYou is a publisher and developer of online apps and services like "SuperWall" on Facebook and "Slideshow" on MySpace.
With absolute proof that terrorists are trying to blow up planes again, it is nice to see the TSA is putting its resources where they are needed…serving subpoenas on bloggers. 
As the government reviews how an alleged terrorist was able to bring a bomb onto a U.S.-bound plane and try to blow it up on Christmas Day, the Transportation Security Administration is going after bloggers who wrote about a directive to increase security after the incident.
Engadget has posted a list of the ten gadgets that defined the decade. The list includes Windows XP, the iPhone, the Xbox 360 with honorable mentions to dozens of other devices.
As 2009 winds down and we try to come up with new and clever ways of referring to the early years of this century, there's really only one thing left to do: declare our ten favorite gadgets of the aughts and show them off in chronological order. It's arguable that if this wasn't the decade of gadgets, it was certainly a decade shaped by gadgets -- one which saw the birth of a new kind of connectedness.
HP ink costs more than human blood? Jeez, no wonder why that HP Photosmart printer / scanner / copier was only $29.99 on Black Friday, ink refills cost two times more than the printer.
As this graph shows, printer ink is rather expensive, and costs more than things like human blood or a barrel of crude oil.
Cases & Modding
Aerocool BX-500 B Series Tower @ Pro-Clockers
ETC.
Best Of 2009 Awards @ HotHardware
SteelSeries XAI Laser Gaming Mouse @ PCShopTalk
Ubuntu 32-bit, 32-bit PAE, 64-bit Benchmarks @ Phoronix
Motherboards
ASUS Maximus III Gene @ PureOC
Power Supply
Kingwin Lazer Series 1,000W PSU @ PC Perspective
This has to be the highest paying temp job in the world. Just take the helm from Steve Job for a few months, make sure nothing blows up while you are "in charge" and you get $14 million in stocks.
This year for Tim closes with a $12.3 million stock award plus a $100,00 salary raise (up to $800,000 from $700,000) and a fat cash bonus of $800,000. Total compensation for 2009? $14 million. Steve Jobs took his usual $1 salary and a $1 bonus.
Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft, and Robbie Bach, president of the Entertainment & Devices Division at Microsoft, will deliver the 2010 International CES pre-show keynote address at 6:30 p.m. PST on Wednesday, Jan. 6, at the Las Vegas Hilton, Hilton Center.
Admission to the keynote address will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis to accredited members of the media and analysts with official CES badges, and badge holders. Credentials can be picked up in the CES pressroom at the Las Vegas Convention Center, room S229, between the Central and South halls, or in the Venetian Lower Lobby. Attendees may only pick up their own badge. Seating begins one hour before the address. Members of the media and analysts are encouraged to arrive at the center well before the opening to help ensure their admission.
If you are in the middle of burglarizing someone’s house, stopping to play video games is probably a bad idea.
The 22-year-old woman told Joliet police that she was away from her house for about 30 minutes. When she returned and opened the door to her apartment a man ran out. "The victim's Nintendo DS was on, and it appears the suspect had been playing it," Deputy Chief Mike Trafton told the News.
Blood Bowl Teaser Hits Hard @ Kotaku
Capcom takes its Fight Club to Las Vegas @ Joystiq
Steam Holiday Sale Continues @ Steampowered
Two Worlds II 'MoveShots' Are Moving Pictures @ Shacknews
The numbers are in and it seems online spending in the U.S. actually rose five percent this holiday season.
U.S. online spending rose 5 percent to $27.12 billion from the start of November through Christmas Eve even though individuals spent slightly less than they did last year, according to data released by comScore on Wednesday.
The good news: Modern Warfare 2 made more money than any game ever. The Bad news: It was equally popular with pirates.
"In just five days of sell through Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has become the largest entertainment launch in history and a pop culture phenomenon," Activision CEO Bobby Kotick said commenting on the game’s success. This is, of course, reflected in the number of pirated copies being traded on BitTorrent.
Cases & Modding
Aerocool BX-500 B Series Tower @ Pro-Clockers
Motherboards
Gigabyte P55A-UD6 Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets
Tyan S5502 Server/Workstation Motherboard @ TechwareLabs
Video
HIS Radeon HD5750 iCooler IV @ Legit Reviews
Yesterday it was Geometry Wars on Project Natal, today it is Half Life 2. Thanks to HeikkiX360 for the heads up.