By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Guide

The mystery is solved. David Kernell, the son of Democratic Tennessee state lawmaker Mike Kernell handed himself in Wednesday and was indicted for hacking the email account of Alaska Governor and Vice Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin.

A couple of weeks back, a local TV station reported the FBI searched a students apartment, largely believed to be the residence of David Kernell. Several FBI agents arrived at the Commons apartment complex in Knoxville, Tennessee around midnight where students were having a party. They showed their badges, took names and then asked everyone that didn’t live in the unit to leave. Witnesses say 20-year-old David Kernell and his friends fled the scene once the FBI arrived and that agents spent between an hour and a half and two hours taking pictures of the apartment.

Following this report, several media outlets reported that Kernell may not be the culprit. The user name “Rubico” was traced to David Kernell and despite the fact that Kernell’s father confirmed his son was the person the blogosphere was talking about, speculation from the proxy site the hacker used in the attack suggested the younger Kernell could be innocent.

The Tennessee State student was indicted today and if convicted faces a $250,000 fine, a maximum of five years in the clink and three years of supervised release.

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By Aaron Heibert - Source : Tom's Hardware

Memory controllers built into the upcoming Core i7 processors could change the way some enthusiasts push their systems beyond spec. Vendors such as Corsair, OCZ, Kingston and other companies market what is referred to as “enthusiast” memory. Enthusiast memory generally has ratings that go beyond JEDEC specifications.

Enthusiast modules need more voltage to run at their rated specifications. On high-end boards geared towards this type of thing, it is generally not a problem however, it could be a potential issue once the Core i7 (Nehalem family) starts cropping up on shelves.

In a report from Custom PC, The P6T Deluxe board from Asus due out soon has a sticker covering its DIMM slots that reads:

“According to Intel CPU spec, DIMMs with voltage setting over 1.65V may damage the CPU permanently. We recommend you install the DIMMs with the voltage settings below 1.65V.” According to Iain Bristow, spokesman for Asus, “the sticker had been placed on the motherboard after Intel’s recommendation.”

Memory controllers inside the Core i7 processors support DDR3 memory. JEDEC specifies a standard voltage of 1.5V for that memory type, so this 1.65V limit would leave little leeway for over voltage within specification. This will sure cause enthusiasts to scrutinize over which modules they purchase more carefully. Currently, many enthusiast models go far outside the JEDEC standard of 1.5, coming in around 1.9V to reach rated specification.

Let us not forgot that manufacturers have always recommended against over voltage and clocking in some form or another – but it does not mean you cannot do it. We are pretty certain that this shouldn’t cause a big issue in the long run. The only real difference is that novices will now be more prone to burning out their processors instead of their boards / memory first. Depending on which model of processor is being used, it could be a more costly mistake.

The pioneer overclocking crowd will surely push everything as far as possible to deliver the down-low. For now, there is really no big concern as we take the back seat and wait for actual results.

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By Kevin Parrish - Source : Tom's Guide

YouTube is going for the gold - or rather for your wallet - by selling music, games, music and more directly from its online store.

That’s right, YouTube is turning into another e-commerce outlet to help pay for those massive bandwidth bills despite Google’s financial backing. While the video-sharing website previously depended on revenues provided by advertisers, the company is now seeking ways to broaden its revenue, starting with selling retail products through external partnerships.

According to an article over on Reuters (story), YouTube will be partnered with other e-commerce websites such as Amazon and iTunes. Gamers checking out an uploaded YouTube video of Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway can click a link and be directed to Amazon’s online store. Amazon will thus share its revenue with YouTube once the consumer purchases the game. The same concept also applies to music, movies and more.

Surprisingly enough, last week YouTube launched a revamped version of its video uploader, allowing account holders to upload 1 GB movies over the previous 100 MB limit. This move may tie in to the company’s plan to use InVideo advertising or the possibility of implementing a pre-roll advertising system (10 to 20 second commercial appearing before the video). There’s also the Video ID system that YouTube hopes will bring in more revenue: content owners will know when users upload their videos to YouTube, thus the exposure brings the consumer to the product, and thereby the advertiser shares the love with YouTube.

Shishir Mehrotra, YouTube director of product management, talked about YouTube and its use of advertising in a recent interview. "There’ll be lots of different solutions for lots of different problems," he stressed. "We’ve tested a lot of things already, and we’re going to be testing more in the future. Some will work, some won’t."

As of Q1 2008, the video sharing website was not profitable according to its wiki listing (site). In fact, its 2007 revenues were classified as "not material" by Google. After acquiring YouTube in November 2006, Google has been testing the waters with YouTube advertising to see what floats and what sinks, knowing full well that the site would initially not earn any cash. But now the company is "turning up the dial on monetization" as foretold by Google’s content business director Dave Eun.

The launch of the online YouTube store should bring in the bucks, but will it be enough to keep the site afloat? Only time will tell if consumers catch on to the new service. The innocent YouTube we’ve all come to know and love over the years has probably seen the last of its days.

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By Aaron Heibert - Source : Tom's Guide

The decline in economy, stocks at all time lows, companies closing their doors or being bought out by larger entities. It’s all chaos right now, at least for some people.

Online marketplace giant Ebay has announced that it is cutting 10 percent (roughly 1,600 jobs) from its workforce.

Ebay claims this is the largest round of dismissals ever. About 1,000 full-time employees will be asked to leave, the remaining amounts will consist mainly of temporary and part-time workers. Ebay will also be closing the lid on any open positions currently available.

John Donahoe, Ebay chief executive, claimed in an interview that the cuts are not a reaction to the weak economy. Donahoe, who took over as CEO from Meg Whitman back in March of this year said Ebay’s leadership had been considering the cuts since mid-summer. The layoffs will enable Ebay to be “more responsive and nimble” and bring opportunities to reinvest in development and growth in areas such as PayPal. Quoting Donahoe:

“This is trying to position our company in the right way for the medium to longer term. I would say it is not a reaction to the short-term macro environment, or short-term pressures,”

This is the second round of cuts for Ebay this year – the first being rather small at 125 positions in Europe and 70 positions in San Jose, California – eBay headquarters. eBay anticipates restructuring charges to come in at $70 million to $80 million in relation to the job cuts. The end result will be $150 million in annual cost savings.

Donahoe did acknowledge that the weak economy is hurting Ebay’s business. Third-quarter revenue will be at the lowest end of their expectation scale – however being higher than previously expected back in July. Ebay shares fell $2.05, 11 percent, to $16.89 in afternoon trading. The shares have lost roughly half of their value this year alone.

On a side note, eBay mentioned on Monday that they will be purchasing Bill Me Later. Bill Me Later is a privately held company that lets online retailers give shoppers credit without detailed applications forms. The purchase is for about US$820 million in cash and US$125 million in outstanding options. Ebay plans to incorporate its Bill Me Later purchase into PayPal by the end of the year and its options available to consumers by the second half of 2009.

Ebay may be eyeballing this purchase as a means to attract buyers into larger purchases through the site in a safe and convenient manner. President Scott Thompson claims that people who use Bill Me Later tend to make much larger purchases according to statistical data.

Ebay has also purchased the Danish classified-ad site dba.dk and vehicles site bilbasen.dk for roughly US$390 million in cash. The acquisitions will add to eBay’s stable of classifieds sites such as Kijiji and Gumtree. According to Donahoe, eBay went after Bill Me Later and the Danish sites now because it is “a good time for smart investors that focus on the long term move. In times like this, strong companies have a potential to get stronger.”

Could the layoffs be due to a combination of the economy and the extra large purchases made by Ebay?

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By Michael Brown - Source : Tom's Hardware

The IEEE P1901 Working Group once again failed to reach a consensus on a draft standard for broadband-over-power-line networking at its most recent meeting in Madrid, Spain. The joint proposal put forward by Panasonic and the HomePlug Powerline Alliance, however, remains the odds-on favorite to win the next round of voting, scheduled for November 4 through 6 in San Francisco.

In an interview after the vote, we asked HomePlug Powerline Association (HPA) president Rob Ranck why he thought the proposal failed to pass muster with the working group.

“Well, some people voted against the proposal for technical reasons,” Ranck said, “and others voted against it for non-technical reasons. If a proposal doesn’t pass after two votes, the group returns to the down-selection process. At that time, new proposals can be put forward and proposals that were eliminated earlier can be brought back.” When we asked Ranck if he thought some of the working-group members’ “non-technical” reasons for voting against the Panasonic-HPA proposal were political in nature, he replied “Well, you used that word, I didn’t.”

If those dissenting members were hoping that the previously rejected proposal put forth by the Universal Powerline Association (UPA) would win, they were likely disappointed. The UPA’s competing proposal is based largely on power-line networking technology developed by the Spanish company DS2; and the P1901 working group did re-examine it during the down-selection process, but ultimately voted once again to eliminate it from consideration.

Asked if he was confident that the Panasonic-HomePlug proposal would be ratified during the next vote, Ranck replied “We’ve been close twice now, but confident is one of those words I’m hesitant to use. I am optimistic, I will say that. If we can get the people who are voting against it for technical reasons to support it, we’ll be okay. I’m not sure we’ll ever convince those members who oppose it for non-technical reasons.”

There are three elements to the power-line networking standard, which the IEEE P1901 working group refers to as “clusters.” The Access cluster refers to power-line networking outside the home, where electrical utilities use the power lines to for meter reading and to monitor the health of the electrical grid. Internet service providers can also use the electrical grid to deliver broadband Internet access (typically in rural areas beyond the reach of more conventional services, such as cable TV service and DSL). The In-Home cluster refers to power-line networks inside the home. And the Coexistence cluster governs how similar technologies can operate within the same environment without interfering with each other.

IEEE rules require that any proposed standard win approval from 75 percent of the working group, which is a very high hurdle (one that explains why the IEEE 802.11n wireless networking standard remains stuck in Draft 2.0 mode). In the Madrid vote, 69 percent of the IEEE P1901 working group voted in favor of the Panasonic/HomePlug proposal for the In-home cluster and 48 percent voted in favor of that group’s Access cluster proposal.

After those two proposals failed to win 75 percent majorities, however, 80 percent of voters abstained when it came time to ratify the Co-existence proposal put forth by the HomePlug Powerline Alliance and CEPCA (CEPCA is another consortium whose members include nearly all the Japanese consumer-electronics manufacturers, including Panasonic, Sony, and Hitachi).The abstentions were something of a forgone conclusion since there was no standard to coexist with.

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By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Guide

The fate of Real Network’s RealDVD software hung in the balance yesterday as the court debated the suspension of sales imposed on October 3.

The company launched the software on September 30 and on the same day was sued by six of the major movie studios. RealDVD is a program that adds an extra layer of copy protection, while somewhat crippling DRM. Media backed up with RealDVD can only be played on one machine, effectively limiting the portability of standard DRM, which makes you wonder why you’d want to use it in the first place.

The six big entities argue that RealDVD circumvents copyright law; there’s nothing to stop people from renting movies, ripping them and returning them. Real Networks argues that while this is true, they would only be able to watch the movie, not do anything else with it. It’s pretty easy to see why the studios have their panties in a twist but it’s also pretty easy to see what Real Networks is getting at.

Yesterday a federal judge heard from both parties in Real Networks bid to lift the ban on it’s software. Judge Marilyn Patel denied the company’s request to lift the restraining order because she wasn’t sure RealDVD didn’t violate copyright laws.

"I am extending the temporary restraining order because I’m not satisfied in the fact that this technology is not in violation," Patel said following the three-hour hearing. "There are serious questions about copyright violations. There are questions about violations of the (Digital Millennium Copyright Act), and violations of these companies’ agreement."

While Patel said she was extending the temporary ban, she also said she wouldn’t be available for another hearing until after November 17, which leaves Real Networks at a bit of a loose end.

The RealDVD website currently reads:

“Due to recent legal action taken by the Hollywood movie studios against us, RealDVD is temporarily unavailable. Rest assured, we will continue to work diligently to provide you with software that allows you to make a legal copy of your DVDs for your own use.”

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By Kevin Parrish - Source : Tom's Guide

Strangely enough, viewers actually liked the eccentric relationship between Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld, even better than the yawn-a-thon "I’m a PC" commercial that replaced them.

According to a study conducted by Video Measures (story), the TV spot featuring the comedian and Microsoft’s head honcho wasn’t all that bad despite complaints of its awkwardness (story). In fact, viewers liked the commercial so much, they’ve watched it 4.5 million times more than "I’m a PC." The commercial’s curious popularity stems through viral views, the act of sharing video clips by way of email, IMs, blogs, YouTube and other Internet-related means.

"Looking at each campaign’s first week-and-a-half in market, the Seinfeld/Gates ads drove more than 3.2 million viral video views, whereas “I’m a PC” saw barely half of that," reports the website. "After two weeks, Seinfeld/Gates was still collecting more than 700,000 views per day, while the "I’m a PC" clips had tapered off to less than 50,000 views per day."

Dubbed (by Jane) as "the Bill and Jerry Show," the commercial places the dynamic duo in a modern-day household packed with kids, weary parents and grandma rolling around in the background, vaguely referencing that the PC could be integrated anywhere. Although somewhat weird in nature (especially when watching Jerry clip his toenails off the side of the daughter’s bed), the commercial proved entertaining at best. However, Microsoft decided to replace the commercial altogether; some reports claim this was due from a lackluster response, other claim that it was Microsoft’s plan all along and in accordance to its contract with Seinfeld.

Replacing the Bill and Jerry show was the uber-boring "I’m a PC" spot, thus lacking the dynamic interactions seen between Bill and Jerry and the family. The ad is actually a counter-attack to Apple’s amusing "PC vs. Mac" but fails horribly in its presentation and annoying repetition. Video Measures’ story only confirms that the original Bill and Jerry commercial actually captured the attention of the consumer in the long run.

Bottom line: the Bill and Jerry show needs to return despite what critics say, and despite the complaints of online bloggers. Sure, it’s good to see Jerry Seinfeld back on the television again, but maybe if Microsoft integrated puppets into the Bill and Jerry show, perhaps critics and bloggers wouldn’t be so darned negative.

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By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Guide

U.S. telecommunications company, Verizon Wireless, and Canadian smartphone manufacturer, Research In Motion, yesterday announced what the rest of us already knew, the first touchscreen BlackBerry is here. Well, almost.

A couple of weeks back, Verizon displayed a page on it’s website offering users the chance to be among the first to know about the upcoming BlackBerry Storm. While there wasn’t much to say on the page, leaked documents sent out to Verizon retail outlets detailing talking points talking points and tips about the Storm in preparation for the launch.

Marketed as a consumer smartphone rather than an extension of an executive’s right hand, the storm is kicking up quite a fuss among those seeking an alternative to the iPhone. With it’s 3.2 inch screen, pre-loaded Facebook, Microsoft Word and PowerPoint the Storm seems like the perfect a mix between work and play and experts say RIM is smart to get it out in time for the holiday season.

However, Apple and the iPhone already have a certain reputation in the consumer market. RIM and the BlackBerry also have a reputation, and it’s one of business and suits. It seems like the company is expecting customers to accept a complete image overhaul in time for holiday sales. When people think BlackBerry, they automatically think work and it’s going to take them a while to get their heads around the fact that RIM handsets are a lot more than emails and spreadsheets.

Another concern is that with the clamshell BlackBerry Pearl already out the door and the Bold expected before the year’s end, RIM may find itself the manufacturer of handsets competing with each other. RIM and Verizon still don’t have a more specific ETA for the Storm, other than “in time for the holiday season.”

There’s also the issue that in trying to compete with the iPhone, the company is competing with another highly anticipated new player in the game, T-Mobile’s G1. However, with T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon all offering their own touchscreen device, each with it’s own applications store, it could be a case of users just buying the handset that corresponds with their existing network. This of course would depend on how competitive the networks are with their price plans and data packages but it’s a definite possibility.

Register your interest on Verizon.com by clicking here.

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By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Guide

MySpace and Hewlett Packard have announced a deal which will see printing functionality added to users profiles on the social networking site.

The agreement will see a HP-branded button added to users personal profiles, blog entries, comments, messages and pictures to allow them to share their online content offline.

MySpace CEO and co-founder, Chris DeWolfe and Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president of Printing and Imaging at HP explained that with members of all ages and over 4 billion images across the MySpace network the company believes adding a feature to help users unlock that online content and share it with others offline is an important addition to the social network.

Expected to launch in November, it is unclear whether the printing feature will be restricted for users printing their own personal photos, or whether they will be able to print the pictures of just about anyone on the network. We imagine the latter would raise all kinds of issues involving privacy, among other things.

It’s also a little vague on the issue of printing photos from your friends’ profiles. While similar issues could be raised, MySpace already has a feature that allows users to set their pictures to public, private or only viewable by friends. Profiles also have a similar public/private setting as well as a diary, friends only or preferred list for blogs. Adding the print feature as optional and allowing users to activate it for certain albums or photos could be the answer to really letting users share pictures online and offline.

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By Kevin Parrish - Source : Tom's Guide

Analyst says Sony is crazy if it thinks it can sell the PlayStation 3 for $399 this holiday season.

Although the company claims that the PlayStation 3 console is selling better than expected, Sony has yet to enter the holiday season where other next-gen consoles will likely cut prices. Of course, there’s also that looming gaming beast called Gears of War 2 seen in the horizon as well, expected to propel sales of Microsoft’s cheaper Arcade edition of the Xbox 360, currently selling for $199.

"We still urge Sony to consider a possible hardware price cut this holiday season,"says analyst Jesse Divnich of electronic Entertainment Design and Research. "If September hardware sales fall below our estimate (under 200,000 units), it could be an indication that the Xbox 360 price cut played a bigger role on hindering PS3 sales than what we originally expected."

There’s no question that the Xbox 360 is Sony’s biggest adversary: the company believes Nintendo’s Wii console is in a league of its own despite its domination in the gaming market. But because the console lacks any real blockbuster, exclusive titles like the Gears of War and Halo series, Sony has discovered that it has a lot of work to do to climb out of the red. It doesn’t help matters that the PlayStation 3 currently lacks a competitive online community like Microsoft’s Xbox Live and achievement system.

But in order to see any kind of boost in revenues this holiday season, Sony will need to drop the price of the console. Because Microsoft just dropped the price of all three Xbox 360 consoles, Divnich expects the Xbox 360 sales to rise, possibly give the Nintendo Wii a run for its money.

Edge Magazine recently contacted Sony in regards to dropping the PlayStation 3 price, however the company seems firm on keeping the current pricetag (story). "As previously discussed we aren’t making any price moves this holiday season. In my opinion, we have the best line up of any PlayStation generation going into this holiday and consumers will be very receptive to it," stated Patrick Seybold, director of corporate communications at SCEA in a recent email. Seybold is usually tight-lipped about any insider secret, so this comment comes as no surprise.

However, the lineup he refers to features the releases of a few high-profile games including the oh-so-lovable LittleBigPlanet, Resistance 2, SOCOM, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift and more. Sony will eventually unleash the virtual community system dubbed PlayStation Home, however that looks to hit the console by the end of the year or early next year, depending on how the beta process fairs with the testers. Yet despite the foreseen goodies, the console’s pricetag might spell its utter defeat this holiday season.

"The $399 price point is simply too steep to entice the casual and mainstream markets, regardless of how great Resistance 2 and LittleBigPlanet may be," added Divnich, however he doesn’t think the exclusives will pull gamers away from picking up the Xbox 360 and a copy of Gears of War 2.

Look for reviews of these games - including Gears of War 2, LittlebigPlanet, Resistance 2 and SOCOM - over at Tom’s Games in the coming weeks.

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By Devin Connors - Source : Tom's Guide

Apple’s "Employee Number 1" sat down with the UK site Telegraph recently. Among recollections of times past and opinions on the present, the Woz was not necessarily kind to the company he founded with the "other Steve."

While it’s always nice to see icons of an industry reminisce about their origins, it did not seem like Wozniak was mindful of Steve Jobs and Apple while talking about the tech industry, web 2.0 and Apple in general. "Last week Apple’s shares tumbled nearly 20pc after two analysts downgraded the stock...While many company founders would steer well clear of commenting on valuations," said the Telegraph. "Mr Wozniak says the downgrade was "correct": an admission which could wipe further millions of the shares which have fallen by from a high of $179 in August to just over $100 on the close last week."

Wozniak also talked about the iPod, saying the device may be at its zenith and will approach a drastic downturn in the near future. "The iPod has sort of lived a long life at number one. Things like, that if you look back to transistor radios and Walkmans, they kind of die out after a while. It’s kind of like everyone has got one or two or three. You get to a point when they are on display everywhere, they get real cheap and they are not selling as much." While the truth may hurt Apple in some regards, Wozniak’s opinion isn’t exactly radical. When a product reaches maximum market saturation, is it really a surprise to see it tumble, or be replaced with something better?

When it comes to the iPhone, which will undoubtedly live on even if the iPod falls from grace, Steve is not a fan of how the device’s software has shaped up. "Consumers aren’t getting all they want when companies are very proprietary and lock their products down. I would like to write some more powerful apps than what you’re allowed."

While Wozniak is as excited as ever for "the next big thing," his overall outlook on the tech industry seems to be pretty bleak, even going as far to say that there will be another, smaller tech bubble burst, which he attributes to "investment houses’ over-valuation of web 2.0 and social networking websites." In the current economic climate, a "Tech Bubble 2.0" seems more likely with every 8 percent loss on the stock market.

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By Devin Connors - Source : Tom's Hardware

During Ceatec in Japan this past week, ATI said that it expects to see DirectX 11 GPUs based on a 40 nm manufacturing tech sometime next year.

DX11 is expected to bring several substantial advancements over DX10, including the introduction of Shader Model 5.0, as well as GPGPU support and multithreading support, both of which are essential for the graphics industry and the myriad of multi-core graphics cards that exist today. Also, hardware tessellation will be supported by DX11. Hardware tessellation has been supported by ATI cards going back to the 2000 series, but has never been popular with PC game developers. Tessellation, which allows for a low-polygon model to see a real-time increase in polygon density with minimal performance loss, was part of the GPU ATI designed for the Xbox 360, and with DX11, may finally be a feature utilized by PC game developers.

While DX11 is expected to improve visuals over DX10, according to Ars Technica, the bulk of improvement is reserved for "...improving GPU computational capabilities and efficiency in a variety of environments." Now that the software will be in place, we may see the GPGPU become a widespread trend.

While a specific date is not yet clear, we will see a 40nm GPU form ATI sometime in 2009. This means that we will most likely see DX11 cards based on an older manufacturing tech for the time being. While we will wait for 40 nm, ATI did say that GDDR5 will be its dominant memory standard starting next year.

ATI is also looking forward to other advances in the field, including GPGPU support, OpenCL (Open Computer Language), support, and an increase in the number of programs that can utilize GPU computing capabilities effectively. "The push here is to drive the idea of the video card as a computing platform in its own right, out of the supercomputer/HPC arena and into the home," observed Ars Technica.

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By Michael Brown - Source : Tom's Hardware

Just in case the whir of fans and the occasional tick-tick of a hard drive doesn’t provide enough clues that that yes, your PC really is powered on, Lexar Media is now offering its LED-laden Crucial Ballistix Tracer SDRAM in DDR3 trim.

Red and green LEDs mounted between the DIMM sticks’ black aluminum heat spreaders and above the top edge of the black PCB light up in sequence based on memory activity. Eight blue “ground effects” LEDs mounted closer to the bottom of the module, near the pins, cast their glow on the DIMM sockets.

But there’s no need to break out your old Morse code book; you won’t be able to divine much, if any, insight on what your PC is doing based the Tracer’s light show.

The modules operate on 1.8 volts of power and by default run at 1,333MHz with 6-6-6-20 timing. Since the word on the street is that Intel’s upcoming Core i7 architecture won’t tolerate DIMM voltages higher than 1.65V, we pinged our Lexar contact to ask about future compatibility. We got the following long non-answer:

“We’re working closely with Intel and other motherboard manufacturers,” said the Lexar spokesperson, “to ensure we have Crucial memory products that support the upcoming platforms and technology. We haven’t finalized our products to date, so we’re not able to share specific product details at this point in time. We’re confident we’ll have Crucial products that support these new, upcoming platforms.”

A 2GB kit (two 1GB DIMMS) sells for $109.99; a 4GB kit (two 2GB DIMMS) goes for $199.99. We enjoy bling as much as any performance-rig builder; but based on the comments above, we wouldn’t recommend anyone invest in new memory today if your intent is to migrate it to a new Core i7 motherboard down the road.

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By Kevin Parrish - Source : Tom's Guide

You have to be a hardcore gamer to shell out money for a title that is as expensive as a console.

Believe it or not, RedOctane plans to release a Deluxe Band Kit version of its upcoming game Guitar Hero World Tour (link). Due to hit store shelves on October 26, the bundle comes packed with the game, USB microphone, wireless drum kit (with kick pedal, sticks and five drum pads), the wireless guitar and more. In addition, the bundle will also feature a limited edition T-Shirt, Dual Gig Bag and key chain (woohoo).

So what is the cost of this massive musical beast? A whopping $239.99, $40 more than the cheapest Xbox 360. Still, with Guitar Hero’s massive following, there’s no doubt that RedOctane will see a shortage of this bundle before the end of the year, especially if there is a limited quantity.

“Guitar Hero has set the standard for music-based gaming and with Guitar Hero World Tour and the game’s groundbreaking Music Studio, we are once again delivering unprecedented innovation that has the potential to revolutionize consumer generated music, much in the same way that video sharing hubs have driven user generated video,” said Dusty Welch, Head of Publishing for RedOctane. “With the introduction of our advanced high-quality new wireless instruments, in-depth customization options and advanced online functionality, the game enables music fans and gamers globally to share in the most social and expressive music experience ever.”

Recently Activision and RedOctane released the details of the game’s forthcoming soundtrack that utilizes well-known hits from bands such as Blonde, The Doors, Jane’s Addiction, Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Nirvana, No Doubt and more. Spanning across 86 tracks, the soundtrack comprises entirely of master recordings and will even feature new song by The Smashing Pumpkins. According to Activision, Motorhead and The Sex Pistols re-recorded tracks for the game, and Sting even jumps on-board to offer his solo version of Demolition Man, originally recorded by The Police.

Currently the Deluxe Band Kit is only offered through RedOctane’s online shop. However, GameStop and other retail outlets will offer the Standard Band Kit for $189.99 when the game ships later this month.

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By Kevin Parrish - Source : Tom's Guide

For parents, a gift has finally come down from the heavens, answering pleas of mercy and desperate prayers nationwide. What’s the name of this sacred gift? Let it be known as... MyKey.

Believe it or not, the day will finally come when parents can not only restrict the insane levels of music blaring from the car radio, but make sure that their youthful driver keeps the throttle revved under 80 mph or lower. This device, a key embedded with a special computer chip, will also activate an annoying reminder if passengers don’t buckle up. Unfortunately, this holy grail of parental control won’t be available until late next summer via Ford Motor Co.’s 2010 line of vehicles. Still, it’s something to look forward to... unless you’re a teenage driver, of course.

"Our message to parents is, hey, we are providing you some conditions to give your new drivers that may allow you to feel a little more comfortable in giving them the car more often," said Jim Buczkowski, Ford’s director of electronic and electrical systems engineering.

Currently the company already uses anti-theft technology to prevent its line of automobiles from starting without recognizing the inserted key; MyKey will use this technology as a foundation to build upon "through the magic of software," claims Buczkowski.

He also revealed that the company felt that capping the speed limit to 70 mph was too limiting even though that is the existing freeway speed limit in most states. Setting the limit to 80 mph gives way to margins of error like avoiding accidents, disorderly conduct involving teenage goofiness or developing a severe case of lead foot. According to an article over on Yahoo (story), parents will not only be able to set the 80 mph cap, but activate an alarm that will alert the driver at 45, 55 or 65 mph.

Sounds like a devious plan to annoy teenage drivers? You bet it is, and the seat belt alarm can be just as aggravating, chiming for six seconds every minute. The alarm shuts off after five minutes however to prevent evoking a serious case of road rage.

Ford Motor co. will begin using MyKey in the 2010 Ford Focus, then move on to the entire Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury lineup. Other vehicle manufacturers may begin to develop similar technology for their cars, but until then, consumers are locked in to purchasing Ford products if they want to have this level of control over teen driving.

The big question is this: how will the teens react to MyKey? Naturally, they will rebel against it. "I’m not opposed to the speed limit aspect," said Michael Parrish, freshman at Hoggard High School in Wilmington, North Carolina. "That’s how one of my friends died... speeding while drunk driving. He crashed and was decapitated. But if you plan on restricting my radio levels, I’m just going to plug in my earphones and listen to my MP3 player instead."

Another student wasn’t quite so optimistic. "I wouldn’t want my parents to have that much control over how I’m driving," 16-year-old Danisha Williams of Detroit, Michigan told Yahoo. "If your parents are holding your hand, you’re never going to learn."

Her comment is not surprising. Ford conducted a market research and discovered that 75-percent of the parents questioned loved the speed limitations, whereas 67-percent of the teens hated the idea. Still, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, more than 5,000 teenagers die each year due to car crashes in the United States alone. Perhaps this MyKey technology will reduce that number... if they’re driving a Ford, that is. Then again, perhaps the threat of the MyKey technology will turn teenagers away from driving altogether, thus locking parents into the never-ending task of chauffeuring their kids everywhere.

Maybe MyKey isn’t a blessing, but a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

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