Making money online for free!

As you all must be aware there are a lot of websites on the internet that claim to give you thousands of dollars per month.Most of them are not free to join.You need to buy their program before you can start making money and some of them also turn out to be scam.Here is one nice program with which you can earn some decent bucks without spending a penny.

Just sign up and download the viewbar.You are paid for the time you spend on active browsing(maximum 5 hours).But you can earn more money by referring other people to join the program.You earn 30$ when someone joins under you.So start today.

GO HERE:
www.agloco.com/r/BBGW0999

Halo 3

The gameplay of Halo 3 largely builds off of the previous successful renditions of the franchise. It is a first-person shooter that, once again, follows the character Master Chief and his struggle against the Covenant and the Flood. The game's action takes place largely on foot, but there are vehicles available for the player to use at certain points in the game. As with the other Halo titles, the multiplayer portion of the game is one of the game's most celebrated features, and is the primary reason for the series' enormous success.

The balance of weapons and objects in the game has been adjusted to better adhere to what Multiplayer Designer Lars Bakken describes as the "Golden Three Things of Halo". These are weapons, grenades, and melee attacks; all three of which are simultaneously available to a player at all times while on foot (unless they are dual wielding).

The idea of "balance" (at least in multiplayer) is that each specific weapon or piece of equipment has specific areas where it is most useful, and others where it falls far short. No matter what combination of weapons a player chooses (players are famously limited only two choices of weapons in Halo), there will be situations in which they have an advantage, and others in which they have a disadvantage. The result is that there is no one weapon/vehicle that is overwhelmingly the best overall choice for whatever type of situation they may encounter (unlike the M6D pistol in the original Halo).

The new default controller layout will see the Right Bumper become the "action" button (pick up, reload, board vehicles, activate switches, etc), with the X button being used for deployment of equipment: the portable grav lift, the Bubble Shield, the trip mine, the radar jammer and the power drainer. When dual-wielding, weapons can be individually reloaded using either the left or right bumper.

Other buttons are unchanged, but B (melee attack) also will be used to take a stationary gun turret off its tripod for mobile use, becoming one of the game's "support weapons", as well as other context sensitive functions.

As with previous games however, players can still choose to change the default control layout in their game profile to a number of pre-sets

Campaign

Only a very limited portion of the Campaign mode has been shown thus far. At E3 2006, in "Et Tu, Brute?" and again at E3 2007. There are several distinct types of environments that players will have to traverse in Halo 3; lush jungles, built up towns and sparse desert environments have all been seen.

AI behavior of both enemies and allies in the campaign will be greatly enhanced in Halo 3. Marines' driving and gunning skills on the Warthog, Grunt flanking maneuvers in battle, and Brute "pack mentality" have all been mentioned by Bungie as examples of using the power of the Xbox 360 for more than making the game look better. Enemy AI will also have new non-combat behaviors, rather than just sitting around waiting for players to kill them, to make them feel more "alive" and realistic

Meta-game

Halo 3 features a "campaign meta-game" in which a player is awarded a score for completing a level in the single-player campaign. No other information is available save for a reference to the Achievements associated with them.[9] It implies, as with the previous Halo games, that campaign levels can be replayed freely, and that single-player Xbox Live Leaderboards will be associated with the "meta-game". It has also been said that not only can players attain awards such as medals in campaign, but even more armor permutations.“ The latest batch of images also lift the veil on a pair of Armor Permutations in Halo 3. These multiplayer-only, cosmetic changes to your armor are a way to add diversity, spice and flavor to Halo 3's multiplayer shenanigans. The C.Q.B. (Close Quarters Battle) and E.V.A. (Extra Vehicular Activity) variants of Spartans are two of the numerous permutations players will be able to unlock in Halo 3.

Co-operative play



Halo 3 will feature four player online cooperative gameplay over Xbox Live, a first for the series. Split-screen co-op is still limited to two players per console, though they can join another two players via System Link or Xbox Live.

For plot reasons, instead of having each player be a Spartan like in previous Halo games, player one will play as Master Chief, the second player will be the Arbiter and the other two players take the role of newly created Elites (N’tho ‘Sraom and Usze ‘Taham) each with their own backstories. Each player has identical abilities although the weapon starts will be different depending on whether the player is Master Chief or an Elite.

Multiplayer

Like most multiplayer Xbox 360 titles, Halo 3 will use a customized version of TrueSkill ranking system for its online matchmaking facilities. Halo 3's matchmaking system will be based on two different ranks, skill and experience (Rating Points or RP). Skill will simply be the TrueSkill rank of the player in a given playlist, and experience (RP) is a linear measure of experience (1 point for each win in the online playlists). Overlaid by a Military rank; so, a player with a designation of a "General" will have played for a longer time than someone who is a "recruit". This is in order to make the system more fair and to reflect the effect of experience on players' profiles. The RP system also has a mechanism built in to dissuade players from excessive quitting from matches, which became a problem for some players in Halo 2. When players quit from a match before it has finished, they will lose 2 RP. So players that regularly quit games, leaving their teammates stranded, may eventually end up having negative RP.

UNSC Service Tags (consisting of one letter followed by two numbers) will be used instead of small HUD emblems to identify allies in games. In addition to the customization of Service Tags, players can now choose three different colors (as opposed to two in Halo 2) for their armor in multiplayer (primary, secondary and detail), as well as three for their multiplayer emblem.

Spartan armor in multiplayer is now customizable in physical appearance as well as color. In addition to the standard Mjolnir-armor look, players can choose to swap out helmet, arm and body sections indipendently to the new armour variants; CQB (Close Quarters Battle), EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity) and other, unannounced variants. Bungie has not confirmed whether or not the player can be an Elite, but in the June 08, 2007 Bungie Weekly Update it was said,

"Well, it would be kind of weird for us to add so much customization for appearance and forget about one of the major MP characters, wouldn’t it? We’ll have more news about the existence or otherwise of an Elite model fairly soon."

In late 2006, due to a "significant chunk" of Halo 2 players being female, Bungie was considering to have a female voice for the Spartan character in multiplayer as an additional option.

The UI (user interface) has been redesigned the from Halo 2, making it easier to generate a custom game in Halo 3 multiplayer. Which can now be saved and shared online with the File Sharing Features.

Players will now be able to "advertise" their custom games via Xbox Live Public; making it easier to find a multiplayer match to a player's taste without having to link up with friends. During an E3 2007 demo of Halo3 the people from 1UP noticed a forge option in the main menu. Forge was the name of the Map editor in Marathon and many people believe it to be the secret feature mentioned in the 07/23/07 bungie podcast.

A new feature dubbed the "A-hole button" can be used to mute annoying players in the game quickly and easily from the in-game scoreboard view.

People sifting through the code, as well as those who glitched their way into the Custom Game UI, of the Halo 3 Beta have found that the strength of gravity is indeed a customizable option in multiplayer games, confirming statements made by Bungie employees.

Weapons

Halo 3 introduces a new-to-the-series class called "support weapons". These are a group of exceptionally large, powerful and cumbersome two-handed weapons that, when carried, change the view to a third-person perspective and cause the player to move more slowly. The only two weapons in this class that have been revealed thus far are the Machine Gun Turret and the Missile Pod, both of which were available in the public beta.

The now-iconic Assault Rifle which appeared in the original Halo as the MA5B but was absent from Halo 2 is returning for Halo 3 retooled into the MA5C. Developer Bungie hopes it will fill the role as the "ultimate spawn weapon", allowing players to hold their own in a fight straight away (unlike the SMG in Halo 2) but not be so powerful as to overshadow all of the other weapons (like the M6D in Halo). In hopes of fulfilling this, it has a smaller magazine and slower rate of fire than its previous iteration but a longer range and greater accuracy.

There are more new weapons, most in order to expand the "Brute Sandbox." The Brute Spiker, a sub machine-gun like weapon with a vicious double blade on the front, and the Spike Grenade, able to stick to any surface and release a controlled explosion of deadly spikes.There is also the Spartan Laser that can be used to instantly destroy players and vehicles with one hit, but has a low battery and requires a three second charge.

When a player is carrying a second weapon in Halo 3, the secondary weapon will be stored on the character's back (for larger, two-handed weapons) or on a leg holster (for smaller, one-handed weapons). This makes it impossible to "hide" a powerful secondary weapon and surprise unsuspecting foes.

Vehicles

Halo 3, like its predecessors, will also feature a strong vehicular component. Vehicles, and their countermeasures (rockets, mines, etc.), are tightly integrated with Halo gameplay. Many of the series' vehicles are returning in the third installment. Vehicles cover a wide range of types, including light reconnaissance vehicles, large, heavily armoured tanks, troop and vehicle transport craft, plus various atmospheric and spacecraft, though not all are usable by the player.

The Mongoose ATV that had been originally designed for Halo 2 but was cut out, finally makes an appearance in Halo 3. Within the games' story, it is a human vehicle in addition to the Scorpion tank and Warthog offroad vehicle. It is a small quad-bike vehicle and, like the Warthog, the driver is unable to fire any on-board weapons, and as such is nearly defenseless. A second player can ride on the back of the vehicle, however, to provide some offensive capability. There will also be a new variant of Warthog, with a rear compartment that can carry more troops instead of a gun. It can be seen briefly in the E3 2007 video.

There is also an entirely new Brute vehicle, dubbed the "Brute Chopper". Unlike other vehicles attributed to The Covenant in the game, that entirely hover or fly above the ground, it has a single large and heavy wheel on the front with a hovering driver seat behind. It has been referred to as a "vehicle smasher," able to destroy other vehicles with a single hit. Insofar it has only been seen in the E3 2007 Trailer.

The Banshee and Wraith have been altered in terms of gameplay. The Banshee now has the ability to fire its Fuel Rod Gun in multiplayer matches, an ability which was formerly restricted to Campaign and the multiplayer component of the PC version of Halo: Combat Evolved, but can no longer point directly down. The Wraith is now a two-man vehicle. One player drives the vehicles and fires the main cannon, while the other player fires the smaller plasma turret. The plasma turret was formerly exclusive to AI in the Halo 2 campaign.

The game will not begin right where Halo 2 left off. The new comic mini-series, Halo: Uprising, will bridge the story gap between the ending of Halo 2, and the beginning of Halo 3.[21]

When the game begins, Master Chief is back on a thoroughly conquered, Covenant-controlled Earth, and Cortana is still a prisoner of Gravemind. Covenant ships are hovering over an excavation site a few miles from the ruins of New Mombasa and have uncovered a large artifact in this site. The Arbiter, along with the remaining Elites and some portion of the Grunts, have allied themselves with the human forces after splitting from the rest of the Covenant in Halo 2.

The achievements show the story mode will be divided into nine main levels, which gives some information about the game's length and an indistinct view of the story arc. It also shows skulls, which can be found it levels after completing the game on normal difficulty or higher.
There will be three different versions of Halo 3 for retail sale: the Standard Edition, which contains the game disc and a manual; the Collector's Edition, which contains the game disc, manual, interactive Xbox 360 bonus disc with several featurettes, and Beastarum, which is a "hard cover, bound collection of information and art covering the species, cultures and civilizations of Halo 3." according to Bungie; the Legendary Edition, which contains the game disc, manual, interactive bonus disc, Beastarum, Legendary DVD containing special content exclusive to the Legendary Edition, and a scale replica of the Master Chief's Helmet as a case for the three discs.Version Standard Collector's Legendary
Price (USD) $59.99 $69.99 $129.99
Game Disc &Manual YES YES YES
INTERACTIVE XBOX360 DISC NO YES YES
Beastarum NO YES YES
Legendary DVD NO NO YES
MasterChiefHelmetReplica NO NO YES

Halo 3 beta footage

Making of Halo 3

Halo 3 Trailer E3 2007

Shrek the third

Shrek the third Review by IGN

Shrek the Third is the X-Men: The Last Stand of Shrek movies: overstuffed with characters, short and fast-paced, and overdone just enough to convince some that it's time for the series to take a rest.

Shrek the Third brings back the voices of Mike Myers as Shrek, Eddie Murphy as Donkey, Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona, Antonio Banderas as Puss In Boots, Julie Andrews and John Cleese as Queen Lillian and King Harold and Rupert Everett as Prince Charming. Joining them are: Justin Timberlake as Artie; Eric Idle as Merlin the magician; Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph and Cheri Oteri as Snow White, Rapunzel and Sleeping Beauty respectively; Amy Sedaris as Cinderella; John Krasinski as Lancelot; Ian McShane as Captain Hook; and Larry King and Regis Philbin as the ugly stepsisters Doris and Mabel, respectively. The CG-animated toon was directed by Chris Miller and co-directed by Raman Hui, with Aron Warner producing. Jeffrey Price & Peter S. Seaman and Miller & Aron Warner wrote the script from a story by Andrew Adamson.

The sequel finds Shrek poised to become the king of Far Far Away after King Harold dies. He and his wife Fiona are forced to stand-in for the king and queen, enduring respective makeovers in order to make them appear more regal. Alas, you can dress him up but you can't take him out. Poor Shrek can't even christen a ship without mayhem ensuing, but it's not just his clumsiness that makes Shrek wary of becoming king. He simply doesn't want the responsibility. That, however, will find Shrek no matter how much he tries to avoid it. Shrek dreams of returning to his swamp home with Fiona, but unless he can find a replacement he will be stuck serving as king. The only other possible heir is Artie, a distant relative of Fiona's.

As Shrek, Donkey and Puss embark on a quest to find Artie, Fiona reveals to Shrek that she is pregnant. Shrek is understandably shaken but this revelation only makes him all the more determined to locate Artie and convince him to succeed King Harold. The trio make their way to Worcestershire high school, where the students speak in an anachronistic mixture of medieval speech and contemporary slang. Shrek sees a burly jock on the athletic field and immediately assumes that this is his man but that heroic-looking figure is actually Lancelot. Artie is the stringbean that Lancelot and his pals use as target practice in their jousts. Shrek has his work cut out for him if he's going to turn the meek Artie into the man who would be King Arthur.

Meanwhile, the nefarious Prince Charming arrives at the Poison Apple tavern where he woos the other fairy tale rogues -- including Captain Hook and Rumpelstiltskin -- to join him in his planned conquest of Far Far Away. Fiona's baby shower -- attended by the fairy tale princesses Snow White, Rapunzel, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty -- is disrupted by an attack from Charming and his army, who swoop down on Far Far Away on flying broomsticks and terrorize the inhabitants. Fiona and the princesses escape into a network of catacombs but the rest of the residents are not as fortunate. Shrek, Artie, Donkey and Puss make their way through the woods until they arrive at the home of Artie's former teacher Merlin, who now lives a Ben Kenobi-like hermit existence.

Merlin agrees to help transport the gang back to Far Far Away. Unfortunately, his sorcery ain't what it used to be. Upon being returned home, Puss and Donkey find they have switched bodies! Shrek learns that Charming plans to change the outcome of fairy tale history by putting on a play wherein he slays the beast threatening the kingdom and saves the day. And that beast is Shrek, who is imprisoned beneath the theater. This leads to Fiona and the other princesses to save the day, a climactic action set-piece that turns more than one fairy tale convention on its head.

As cute as it is to see these storybook staples satirized, it's become old hat thanks to the earlier Shrek films and several subsequent animated knock-offs. Also, this film is so rife with characters that you never quite connect with any of them. McShane's Captain Hook was underutilized, as was Idle's Merlin. Artie is the only new character that you truly get to know but his "from zero to hero" schtick is as tired now as poking fun at fairy tales. The king's death is a bit too glib for its own good, especially when you're supposed to be moved by his passing (it is Fiona's father after all). There's a bizarre use of Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die" that comes out of left field. Why use that song rather than an original score? It felt like a VH1 moment for kids' parents.

On the plus side, this is the best-looking Shrek film yet. The filmmakers have attained a level of photo-realism in the animation here that is truly remarkable, from the texture and motion of characters' skin and their range of expressions to natural elements such as water, fire and foliage. On this level, Shrek the Third stands far above the first two films.

While Shrek the Third offered several good laughs (for both kids and adults), the overall endeavor has a "been there, done that" vibe that begs the question whether this series needs to go Far Far Away for awhile.

Bugatti Veyron

Apple iPhone Reviews

Here are excerpts of the major reviews of the Apple iPhone:

CNET editors' review
Excellent
8.0
out of 10

The good: The Apple iPhone has a stunning display, a sleek design, and an innovative multitouch user interface. Its Safari browser makes for a superb Web surfing experience, and it offers easy-to-use apps. As an iPod, it shines.

The bad: The Apple iPhone has variable call quality and lacks some basic features found in many cell phones, including stereo Bluetooth support and 3G compatibility. Integrated memory is stingy for an iPod, and you have to sync the iPhone to manage music content.

The bottom line: Despite some important missing features, a slow data network, and call quality that doesn't always deliver, the Apple iPhone sets a new benchmark for an integrated cell phone and MP3 player.

Read Full Review here-
http://reviews.cnet.com/smart-phones/apple-iphone-4gb-at/4505-6452_7-32180293.html#more


PcMag review:

It's the best portable media player ever. It's possibly the most fun we've ever had with a handheld device. It browses the Web like a champ. Yet as a voice phone and a messaging device, it's a loser. The iPhone is full of contradictions.

Fun new interface for navigating multimedia. Huge screen looks amazing. Terrific Web browser. Syncs well with PCs and Macs. YouTube function is great. Functions flow seamlessly into each other. Built-in speaker for voice calling and music.

Poor business e-mail and PIM connectivity. Bad audio quality on phone calls. Tons of "GSM buzz" on nearby speakers. Virtual keyboard hard to type on. No phone functionality with iPod speaker docks. No FM radio.

Full Review;http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2082435,00.asp

Sorry!

Sorry Guys! I could not get online last month,therefore I could not upload any new stuff.But now I am back online.So do check up every now and then for new updates.Thanks.

Spiderman 3 review from IGN

In Hollywood, conventional wisdom suggests that it doesn't matter what you do with the first two-thirds of a story as long as you have a strong ending. While the commercial success of any major film series demands that the opposite be true, front-loading a franchise with its best writing, acting and filmmaking in order to draw in that elusive "everyone" demographic, Spider-Man 3 simultaneously confirms and refutes that a series -- much less a single installment -- need be defined by the sum of its parts. And while some audiences may register skepticism over the possibility that a third film can suitably tie up all of the loose ends, not to mention tie-in all of writer-director Sam Raimi's ambitious ideas, IGN can confirm that Spider-Man 3 is indeed the trilogy-closer that fans have been waiting for.

Instead of the year-plus barrier that separated the first two films, Spider-Man 3 takes place almost immediately after the events of the second film. This serves an important purpose: Harry (James Franco) learned at the end of Spider-Man 2 that Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is Spider-Man, and he isn't wasting any time trying to take down the person he believes killed his father. In the meantime, Peter has grown comfortable in his relationship with Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst), not to mention the idea that his alter-ego is an icon and hero to millions. Mary Jane, however, is struggling as an actress after receiving scathing reviews for her appearance in a new musical, and has trouble relating to Peter's newfound confidence.

In another part of the city, escaped convict Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church) races to find a cure for his daughter's illness, landing himself in the middle of a science experiment while trying to evade capture by the police. His transformation into the Sandman makes him a natural adversary for Spider-Man, but Peter takes the pursuit personally when he discovers that Marko may in fact be responsible for Uncle Ben's (Cliff Robertson) death. Unfortunately, a mysterious creature that feeds off negative energy finds the erstwhile hero during a moment of weakness and attaches itself to him, sending both Peter and Spider-Man into a dark and dangerous spiral of revenge and violence.


With so many different story strands working together toward a hopefully concise conclusion to both film and franchise, it's easy to worry about how all of the pieces can and will fit comfortably together. Indeed, even as a champion of the first Spider-Man (considering it the best comic book movie of all time), I worried that there were too many characters and just too much going on in this third installment. But with few exceptions, Sam Raimi, his brother Ivan and screenwriter Alvin Sargent have masterfully crafted a collection of characters, scenes and sequences that only seem disjointed. Raimi has previously stated that he prefers classic villains like Sandman to the fan-friendly choices like Venom, but he's successfully managed to combine their respective appeals -- the former's compelling simplicity, the latter's effects-heavy spectacle -- in a way sure to satisfy both camps.

It's in this capacity that Spider-Man 3 sustains -- if not surpasses -- that perfect balance of real world and comic book physics (a balanced successfully achieved in the earlier films). Raimi, who has projected his longtime affection for Three Stooges-style camp into almost all of his films, spares no effort here injecting goofy, humanizing undertones into various sequences in order to relieve some of the mounting melodramatic tension. An early quip about J. Jonah Jameson's (J.K. Simmons) heart medicine seems superfluous, but it exemplifies the director's enjoyment of silly and borderline sophomoric punch lines. But this is also what makes the film fun, playful and appealing to more than just Spidey's core audience of fan boys and comic book followers -- not to mention the reason why this series can be considered the most faithful representation of "comic book reality" committed to celluloid.

That said, there are a handful of scenes that really don't work, including a dance number (yes, you read that right) and an exposition-heavy set-up for the film's climax (delivered via a newscaster and his on-the-scene reporter). Additionally, the decision to include characters like Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard) feels more like a fan service red herring than a genuine development in the overall story. It is in these moments that Raimi's latitude as author of the franchise is a little too broad. But, then again, that's a little bit like criticizing the director for continuing to do what got him the job in the first place -- namely, combining the sublime, the silly and the spectacular in almost perfect measures.

In retrospect, it's almost exciting to consider how effectively Raimi introduces each storyline and then slowly weaves it into the fabric of the overall film. For example, Harry's hatred of Spider-Man might be a lingering plot point if the film either addressed it in a single scene or left it unexplored until the end. But Raimi and Co. offer a solution that allows new plot developments to breathe. There's also the matter of Eddie Brock/Venom (Topher Grace), whose intricacies will not be explained in this review, but who slowly becomes integral to both the building drama of the narrative and the emotional complexity of Peter over the course of the three films.
After all, how would this nerdy kid respond if he finally found acceptance as Spider-Man, as he begins to here? Peter's ability to handle that situation and to recognize that he might be the only person able to apprehend his uncle's possible killer creates a palpable emotional turmoil that plays directly into the comic book origins of both the hero and his adversaries. By the time he faces them down in the film's climax, Raimi creates the opportunity not only for a physical triumph but an emotional catharsis that ties together all of the preceding, sometimes seemingly disconnected scenes.

As a person who typically has little trouble differentiating his likes from his dislikes, I was surprised by my initial conflicting feelings -- especially given my lifelong love for the character and enthusiasm for the franchise. The trailers alone were so jam-packed with story developments and new characters that it seemed an entire film would not be enough to fully explore all of them. But what truly is most amazing about Spider-Man 3 (no pun intended) is that all objections are answered and all developments are resolved, even if at times it feels like they will never converge.

So if you're going into the film with any trepidation about whether Raimi can combine all these disparate elements and still satisfactorily conclude the movie, much less the series, reserve your judgment until the last web has been slung. Because this is the first time that two films and two-thirds into a trilogy, you still haven't seen anything yet. Spider-Man 3 has a great ending, and more importantly, it is a great ending for both a standard three-film arc and the best comic book trilogy in film history.

Portable GameCube Advance

Via gizmodo:

At first glance, we thought the Portable GameCube Advance was the product of console miniaturizer Benjamin Heckendorn, who has shrunk some of our favorites into nearly portable packages.

But the Portable GameCube Advance is really the work of a random email tipster...surely not just a Photoshop rendition...but an entirely ready-to-go product complete with external OLED display and MP3 playback that will be in stores any day now.

Car Wheel Alarm Clock

Via Gimodo

Do you live life in the fast lane? Do you go to bed fast, wake up fast, eat cereal fast, drive to work fast, buy a new Calvin pissing on Ford sticker fast, come home fast, let out the dog fast, eat dinner (fast food) fast and do it all over the next day as rapidly as possible?

The Car Wheel Alarm Clock is made for speed demons such as yourself. Instead of a buzzer waking you up in the morning, the tire spins, burnout in your bedroom style. A female voice says "the exorcism wool [ning]!" as you quickly wonder if there was a problem with Google translate.

Despite our sarcasm, this clock is bound to be a great gift for someone...but they probably won't be over the age of 12. Though who am I to judge?

HP's HDX Pavilion 20-inch gaming notebook

Via engadget:

Remember that 20-inch HP HDX Pavilion laptop from yesterday? Well, more shots of the massive gaming laptop have turned up from different angles to give us a better idea of how this top-end laptop looks. This new angle puts the HDX closer in style to the traditional laptop form factor than its main "inspiration," the Dell XPS M2010. Still, the sheer size of the screen coupled with the remote means that this is a laptop with one helluva identity crisis: is it best to think of it as a portable home entertainment system, or a maxed out machine for those with very wide laps? A capable gaming machine it may be, but we have a feeling this won't be the only area where it draws interest. Hopefully, as the unveiling of Santa Rosa nears, HP will grace us with an official press release and we'll be able to get a better idea of the HDX's currently unconfirmed specs.

Asus G1S and G2S gaming notebooks with Santa Rosa

Via engadget:

The Santa Rosa bonanza continues with the "leak" of information on two new Asus laptops. The Asus G1S and G2S are updates on the G1 and G2, and will come with Santa Rosa Core 2 Duo processors up to 2.2GHz. Both models get bumps in screen resolution, with the 15.4-inch widescreen G1S moving to the G2's 1680x1080 resolution, and the 17-inch G2S going for 1920x1200. Powering those multiple megapixel displays is an Nvidia GeForce 8600M with 256MB of video RAM, which gives these models the DirectX 10 compatibility which all the kids seem to want these days. Rounding out the specs is all the usual high-end laptop gear -- 2GB RAM, 160GB and 200GB HDDs, DVD burners, Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth -- which is just what you'd expect with the €1700 and €1900 ($2300 and $2560) pricetags. The source says that these numbers will hit on May 21, and judging by the Euro pricing information, we'd guess that they'll remain Europe only for now.

Canadian museum to feature motion sensitive displays, personal digital keys

Via engadget:

A Canadian Human Rights Museum due to open within the next four years is to include a range of technology not usually suited to museums, including a motion sensitive display wall and a digital "human rights key" which documents the visitor's trip. The details on the technology are a little sparse, although the CanWest News Service likened the motion sensitive display wall to controlling a Wii. As there doesn't appear to be any control device involved, we'd say the implementation will be closer to that of the Precrime program, but as the building won't be ready for another four years -- by which time there'll probably be a whole new console technology for museums to emulate -- we'll just have to wait and see. The "human rights key" is equally vague, and could be as simple as a USB key that downloads information from the exhibits. Not that we've got anything against human rights, but for the sake of the kids visiting the museum, we'd hope that the key is a little more stacked out than just a USB key. Then again, if Engadget ever drafted a piece of human rights legislation, several sections would be put towards appeasing the robot population, so what do we know?

Glitterati: $10,000 Clothing With Palladium and Silver Nanoparticles Destroys Viruses, Germs and Smog

These two pieces of clothing have magical properties thanks to nanotechnology: apparently they can help prevent the flu, protect against smog, shield against pollution and attract beautiful women, who will feel an irresistible desire to hug anyone who wears them.

Never mind that this last extraordinary feature will be clearly balanced by the fact that you will be wearing a silver nanoparticle-coated gold-colored dress, with anti-bacterial and anti-stain powers. Or the fact that women may not appreciate your accurate explanation on how your palladium nanoparticle-dipped jacket gives you Deadly Gases Protection: +43.

Although this kind of materials are not new, it's "one of the first times that nanotechnology has entered the fashion world", according to fiber science assistant professor Juan Hinestroza at Cornell University.

If you think these nano-fabrics will somehow help you in World of Warcraft, don't count on buying them anytime soon: one square yard of these materials will cost you about $10,000. They were created by Hinestroza and his postdoctoral researcher Hong Dong. The dress' top part fabric was made by dipping positively charged cotton into negatively charged silver nanoparticles, which is the stuff that repels stains and has antibacterial qualities. The jacket includes a hood, sleeves and pockets with fabric treated with negatively charged palladium crystals, which apparently can oxidize smog and help against allergies and contamination.

Via medgadget

Vista's Aero interface blamed for truncated battery life

Considering just how many copies of Windows Vista that Microsoft has moved, it's not too surprising that a few (potentially rightful) whiners are calling the new operating system out for glaring issues. Not too long after users were complaining over sluggish file movements and bogus ads, it seems that the Aero Glass interface is the latest target of concern. Reportedly, the battery life of laptops is being diminished by having the eye candy cranked up, all while Microsoft claims that the OS touts "improved power management capabilities." Of course, Core Duo users cried this same river when trading more horsepower for minutes, but engineers from HP and Lenovo have actually concocted their own power settings after finding the canned options unsuitable. Still, it seems to make perfect sense that flipping on a glitzy interface that obviously requires more juice to run correctly would negatively impact the battery life, but until we start strapping potent fuel cells into our portable machines, this unfortunate trend is likely to continue.

The Pacemaker: 'world's first' pocket-size pro DJ system

Watch out NuMark, 'cause there's about to be a new product on the scene to challenge your iDJ line of mixers -- and not only does this one rock 120GB of internal storage to obviate the need for a pair of iPods, it's actually small enough to fit in your pocket. The upcoming Pacemaker from European start-up Tonicum -- set to be unveiled tomorrow -- promises to contain all the necessary features for bringing your mixing skills on the road, including a crossfader, dual 3.5-millimeter stereo jacks, direct-to-hard drive recording, and a multifunction touchpad for adjusting bend and pitch, among others. No bells or whistles like an FM tuner or color screen on this patent-pending player, but with both Mac and Windows support, we have a feeling that the Pacemaker is going to develop a small but dedicated following

Microsoft shows off DigiDesk workstation of the future

Via Engadget:

Everyone's got their own idea about how we're gonna get our work done in the future, and except for the camp that envisions us toiling away in the silicon mines for our robotic overloads, most of these concepts seem to have converged around a few of the same elements. Well Microsoft was showing off its Center for Information Work's take on the ideal workstation at Convergence 07, and the so-called DigiDesk does indeed incorporate many features we've seen before, including a multi-touch display (we know, we know), document digitizer, speech recognition engine, and ability to resize objects on the fly a la Jeff Han's famous TED presentation. Of course Redmond conveniently neglected to tell us when we can expect to to find the DigiDesk at our local Office Depot, meaning that like most of these neat-o concepts, a YouTube vid (after the break) is probably the closest you're gonna get to this tech for a long time.