Hot News of the Week: March 23rd to 27th

Four of Best Six Games of the Year are on PC

The PC vs console battles never end. While some people insist one is superior, others are happy to believe that it’s a matter of personal preference. Similar but a little more interesting is the battle that surrounds PC vs console. The Game Developers Conference Choice Awards were announced this week and the results dealt a serious blow the PC doom and gloom theory. Four of the top six games were on PC. As awards that are voted on only by other developers, the GDC Choice awards are definitely special. Taking home the top prize of Best Game of 2008 was Fallout 3.

Alien Found on Google Street View?

This week those with an interest in the supernatural were all a flutter about the possibility that the Google Street View camera may have spotted an alien and caught it on camera. Aside from the fact that I am in no way a believer, the notion that aliens actually look like what Steven Spielberg imagined in 1982 has me raising both eyebrows. What do you guys think? Hit up the original article for comments from the Head of Strange Phenomena Investigations.

Windows 7 Gets Touchy With New Logo Program

A new Windows Touch logo will brand PCs and inform consumers that the hardware and all of its components are optimized for Windows 7’s touch technologies. On the latest Windows 7 Engineering blog, the development team detailed the requirements needed to qualify for the logo, which include 43 separate tests for quantitative aspects of the device, such as accuracy, sample rate, and resolution. “For Windows 7, touch support is engineered by building on our advances in input technology we began with the TabletPC work on Windows XP.  Touch in Windows 7 requires improvements in hardware, driver software, core Windows user experience, and of course application support,” added Sinofsky. “By having this support in an open platform, consumers and developers will benefit from a wide variety of choices in hardware, software, and different PC form factors.”

Pirate Bay Launches Anonymous VPN

Any of you who’ve been following the Pirate Bay case will be interested (glad?) to hear that a new VPN has launched by the people behind PB in the hopes of protecting users from the new piracy law set forth in Sweden. Dubbed IPREDator, the name stems from the controversial Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED) in Sweden, which will allow copyright holders to retrieve personal details of suspected copyright infringers. Virtually "hiding" those individuals using BitTorrent, the upcoming VPN will offer anonymous transfers while charging a $6.80 monthly fee in the process. 

FileFront Closing Down at End of March

Recessions really bite the big one. If it’s not layoffs, it’s liquidation, administration and chapter 11 to beat the band. Long time gaming file download repository FileFront announced Wednesday that it will be closing its doors at the end of the month, marking another victim of the ongoing recession. Filefront is in its tenth year of operation.

$2,000 Car Does 56 MPG: The Tata Nano

Buying your first car involves a lot of saving and for a lot of people, a loan. While some of us are okay with public transport and walking (Dublin is one of them there walking cities), other people are stuck with barely running motors only fit for the scrap heap. Earlier this week, Tata Motors unveiled at the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower in Mumbai, India a petrol-powered four wheel vehicle that will cost 100,000 rupees, which at present time equates to $1,988.

The 2-cylinder engine delivers around 35 hp @ 5,250 RPM and a torque of 35 ft. lbs. @ 3,000 RPM and enables the car to have a top speed of 65 mph and negotiate inclines with a gradeability of 30 percent. The Tata Nano is currently being manufactured at the company's Pantnagar plant in Uttarakhand in limited numbers. The new dedicated plant, at Sanand in Gujarat, will be ready in 2010 with an annualized capacity of 350,000 cars. No word on US availability but it’s great to see cars like this being made. And who knows, with a max speed of 65 mph maybe it will become a popular pick for teenaged drivers.

AMD May Unveil 40nm Radeon HD 4750 Soon

German website Schottenland.de is currently listing a 40nm AMD Radeon HD 4750, offering details on the RV740 GPU and other specifics. This could mean we'll be seeing a refresh soon. Looks like it won't be long before desktop Radeon GPUs with 40nm processing will hit the market, and apparently it starts with the Radeon HD 4750. Looks like it won't be long before desktop Radeon GPUs with 40nm processing will hit the market, and apparently it starts with the Radeon HD 4750! Check out the original post for the details and click here for the Schottenland.de listing.

Nintendo Wii Finally Gets Expanded Storage

Praise your respective higher powers, the Nintendo Wii finally gets a better memory. At the Games Developer Conference this week, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata revealed the storage solution for the Wii--the integrated SDHC slot. Available now for download is the new SD Card Channel that essentially adds the ability for the Wii to run Channels that are stored on an SD card. What’s more, the console now will recognize SDHC cards up to 32 GB--up from the previous maximum of 2 GB. I don’t know about anyone else but I’m hoping this means downloadable content for the Wii in the near(ish) future. Hit the link for more!

IE8 Users Revert to IE7

No matter what browser you use, when an updated version is released you’re supposed to want to update to the harder, better, faster, stronger version of what you had before. IE8 was released last week and while a ton of people rushed to update, not all of them wanted to stick with the new version of Internet Explorer from Microsoft. NetApplications reports that as of 8:00 am Monday, IE8 held 1.86 percent of the browser market, down from a high of 2.59 percent on Sunday. Ouchies. At time of writing IE8’s market share stands at 1.17 percent. As a side note, it looks like IE6 is accounting for nearly 18.9 percent of the market. Why haven't you folks updated?

Tesla Model S is the Electric Car of Our Dreams

While none of us here have a Telsa Roadster, we all secretly lust for one for the sheer performance. Of course, the sticker and limited practicality keep us from owning one. Enter the Tesla Model S sedan.

The Model S will have an anticipated base price of $57,400. The price will effectively become $49,900 after a federal tax credit of $7,500. Going from naught to sixty in just 5.5 seconds, the Tesla Model S will have a 300 mile (484 km) range from its 8,000-cell “removable” battery pack and a 220V outlet will fully charge the Model S in four hours. The standard battery pack is expected to last between 7 to 10 years (the vehicle is under warranty for 3 to 4 years), and battery pack replacements are said to be below $5,000. If the 5.5 second dash isn’t quick enough, Tesla said that there will a sport model that will make it to 60 in under 5. For those who want double the traction, there’s also an all-wheel-drive model in the works.