Techknology’s Blog

Big-name sequels charting well in their first month of sales? No way. Also clown-in-your-cake surprising is Fallout 3’s staying power (the game first launched in October!), for which we use the only portion of Left 4 Dead that didn’t also claw its way into the top 20 to give a hearty thumb-up.

Check out the full list:

World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King / Blizzard / $38 (Average)
The Sims 2 Double Deluxe / EA Maxis / $19 (Average)
Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War II / Relic / $49 (Average)
World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest / Blizzard / $37 (Average)
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin / Monolith / $50 (Average)
Spore / EA Maxis / $45 (Average)
World Of Warcraft / Blizzard / $18 (Average)
The Sims 2 Apartment Life Exp. Pack / EA Maxis / $20 (Average)
Fallout 3 / Bethesda / $47 (Average)
World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Expansion Pack / Blizzard / $28 (Average)
Call Of Duty: World At War / Treyarch / $46 (Average)
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 / EA LA / $30 (Average)
Left 4 Dead / Valve / $46 (Average)
The Sims 2 Deluxe / EA Maxis / $3 (Averge)
Civilization IV / Firaxis / $21 (Average)
The Sims 2 Mansion & Garden Stuff Exp. / EA Maxis / $18 (Average)
StarCraft Battle Chest / Blizzard / $20 (Average)
Spore Creepy & Cute Parts Pack / EA Maxis / $18 (Average)
Diablo Battle Chest / Blizzard / $34 (Average)
The Sims 2 Pets Exp. / EA Maxis / $19 (Average)
As usual, these sales pertain only to retail stores and probably just pull up next to the Internet playing their loud music in a sad attempt to make online retailers feel jealous.

So, what’d you buy last month?

For those that are looking to help the folks at Mozilla test out the latest version of their popular Firefox browser, you’re in luck! At long last, Beta 3 of Firefox 3.1 is up for download, and you can get it here.

The new version is, as usual, a free download and is available for Windows and Linux. So, be sure to give this a test and let us (and Mozilla) know what you think!

A Kentucky man has been accused of convincing an 11-year old girl to send nude photographs of herself to him while the two of them played video games online together. Specifically, they both were Sony PlayStation 3 gamers playing online using the PlayStation Network to play Warhawk sometime last year, media reports indicate.

Anthony Scott O’Shea, 24, allegedly received nude photos of the unnamed girl over a several week period before she began feeling shameful about the incidents. The girl also “performed” for O’Shea via live web camera from her home.

He now faces charges ranging from promotion of child pornography, online solicitation of a minor and sexual performance of a child, according to the Houston Chronicle.

“This is another venue these guys are getting to use now that hasn’t been seen before,” Sgt. Gary Spurger of the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office said in a statement. “They’re on PlayStation or Xbox playing online games.”

It’s possible O’Shea spoke with the girl about possibly meeting in real life so they could “engage in sexual activity,” though exact details about the topic are unknown. He also “kept pressuring her for more pictures” over the couple of weeks they communicated online with one another.

O’Shea admitted to contacting the girl and receiving images, which he apparently shared with other people online, police authorities indicate. He will now be transported to Houston, Texas, to face the charges.

Predators are using social networks and online video games to target children, which has forced police authorities and the F.B.I. to launch online anti-predator operations.

Yesterday was Chuck Norris’ birthday, and I forgot to send him wishes. So let me apologize before Mr. Norris shows up at my door. And kicks it in.

It’s not that I didn’t know it was his birthday, the guys over at Manvite sent me advance warning. And I seriously meant to post something. But I got distracted. So sorry, Chuck.

I tried to Google “Chuck Norris” to get some info for a post, but apparently Google doesn’t search Chuck Norris, Chuck Norris searches… well, you know.

Although I did find his Wikipedia page and it says that Chuck was born in 1940. Which would make him (holy shit) 69. Proving that even time is afraid of Chuck Norris.

Top 10 Chuck Norris Facts:
1. If you have five dollars and Chuck Norris has five dollars, Chuck Norris has more money than you.

2. There is no ‘ctrl’ button on Chuck Norris’ computer. Chuck Norris is always in control.

3. Chuck Norris destroyed the periodic table, because he only recognizes the element of surprise.

4. Chuck Norris can kill two stones with one bird.

5. When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris.

6. There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Chuck Norris has allowed to live.

7. There is no chin behind Chuck Norris’ beard. There is only another fist.

8. Chuck Norris’ hand is the only hand that can beat a Royal Flush.

9. When Chuck Norris does a pushup, he isn’t lifting himself up, he’s pushing the Earth down.

10. Contrary to popular belief, America is not a democracy, it is a Chucktatorship.

I played around with it for a little bit and I must say it was pretty sweet, even though it was running XP and not Linux it was still pretty neat. Anyway check the pics…

Think your quad-VelociRaptors in a RAID 0 array are hardcore? Try ‘hardly impressive,’ at least when compared to the scintillating setup Samsung put together consisting of 24 — TWENTY FOUR — 256GB SSDs running in RAID. The goal? To show the world how awesome SSDs are via a YouTube video.

“While one SSD gives you an amazing 220MB/s access speed, we could actually use more of them together to build something extreme,” Samsung narrated in a YouTube video. “Through RAID, we could theoretically combine 24 in tandem to make the world’s most power consumer computer. Now that would prove SSD awesomeness.”

Even without the massive collection of SSDs, Samsung’s testbed impresses with two quad-core QX9775 processors, two HD 4870 X2 videocards in a CrossFire configuration, a custom 4GB 800MHz FB-DIMM, and two 1000W power supplies. But with the SSDs hooked up, Samsung’s setup is nothing short of astonishing.

After playing around with stripe sizes, Samsung managed to break 2000MB/s (2GB/s). But Samsung didn’t just strut its stuff with synthetic benchmarking. The video shows all of Microsoft Office opening in just 0.5 seconds, or instantaneously. This was followed by opening up all of the system’s Start menu programs (53 in all) in a mere 18 seconds. Want more? Try copying a 700MB DVD rip from one location to another in 0.8 seconds.

Four-monitor support in a single-slot, low-profile, half-length videocard? You betcha. That’s exactly what AMD’s offering up with the release of its professional ATI FirePro 2450 multi-view graphics card.

“The ATI FirePro 2450 offers the reliability professionals expect and the efficiency IT departments require. IT managers want a card they can test once, deploy virtually anywhere, and count on to run reliably,” said Janet Matsuda, senior director, AMD Professional Graphics. “The low power consumption enables cool, energy-efficient operation, as well as superior reliability and longevity. The compact form factor can be deployed in nearly any system. This accelerator is perfect for customers who need more than two displays, such as in financial services and process control.”

The FirePro 2450 comes equipped with 512MB of GDDR3 memory, variable speed fan sink, maximum resolution of 1920 x 1200, DirectX 10.1 and OpenGL 2.1 support, native PCI-E x16 and x1, and support for up to four independent DVI or VGA monitors.

According to AMD, the new card consumes less than 18W on average for 2D business usage, and no more than 32W when fully stressed.

The ATI FirePro 2450 is available now with an MSRP of $499.

According to a new study by Nielsen-Online, social networks and blogs are now the 4th most popular online activity. Collectively referred to as “Member Communities,” Nielsen says these are visited by over two-thirds of the online population, putting them “ahead of personal email.” It’s also the fastest-growing sector out of the top four, which also includes search, portals, and PC software and email.

“Social networking has become a fundamental part of the global online experience,” says John Burbank, CEO of Nielsen Online (PDF). “While two-thirds of the global online population already accesses member community sites, their vigorous adoption and the migration of time show no signs of slowing. Social networking will continue to alter not just the global online landscape, but the consumer experience at large.”

Facebook, which ranks as the most popular social network, draws three out of every 10 people online each month across the nine markets tracked. And it’s not limited to any single age group. According to Nielsen, the biggest increase in visitors during 2008 came from the 35-49 demographic.

The report, titled “Global Faces and Networked Places,” attributes some of the growth to the prominence of mobile phones, noting a “big increase over last year” in the number of users visiting Member Communities through their handsets.

Surprised by any of this? Hit the jump and sound off.

Amidst a jungle of ugly cases, iBuyPower has been managing to release some pretty impressive computers as of late. And, on top of offering all the latest processor that AMD and Intel have to offer, it looks like they’re pushing systems with Nvidia’s GeForce 3D Vision as well.

The Gamer Fire 640 will come with an AMD Phenom X3 720, 4GB DDR3, a 500GB HDD and a GeForce 9800GTX+, while it’s close brother, the Gamer Paladin F830 will come with an Intel Core i7 920, 6GB of memory, and a GTX 260 GPU. Both of these machines will come with Vista Home Premium 64-bit, and both will come with an Nvidia GeForce 3D Vision.

These machines run nearly $1,200 a piece, and are available for order right now. So, if you’re looking to check out the next step in 3D gaming, these guys are offering a pretty reasonable bundle to bring it to you.

The person accused of hacking former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s Yahoo email account will now face an additional three charges, the U.S. federal government has announced.

University of Tennessee student David Kernell, son of a Democratic Tennessee legislator Mike Kernell, reportedly accessed Palin’s email account and then posted her account details online, prosecutors said. After posting Palin’s account information online, at least one person reportedly used the new password to gain access to the email account.

The FBI launched an investigation into the security intrusion after it was first revealed in mid-September.

Kernell was able to gain access to the account after successfully guessing the “secret” questions Yahoo uses as part of its password recovery system. He then posted screenshots of email messages, photos and a contact list on Wikileaks.org, a web site that hosts leaked government and corporate documents and information.

In addition to the sole charge of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Kernell now stands accused of wire fraud, obstruction of justice and identity theft. Kernell pleaded not guilty to all the charges. His trial was pushed back from May until October because of the new charges filed in the case.

If convicted, he’ll face 18 to 24 months in federal prison and will have to pay a fine ranging from $4,000 up to $40,000.