Matt Buchanan

PS3 Owners Rock More HD Systems, Surround Sound Than Any Other Console

Nielsen’s survey of the state of console gamer HD setups reveals nothing too shocking, though I suspect the numbers are slightly inflated since participants were from the top 20 U.S. markets, over 18 and played at least one hour a week, skewing it toward more affluent, older and less casual gamers. The quick conclusions, followed…

Green Holiday Project: Make a Computer Box Reindeer

If you get a new computer for Christmas, you’re probably SOL on timing, since it’ll be about time to pack up the holiday fa-la-la-la junk, but you could always make a computer box deer to shoot in your backyard, especially if you hate your computer company. The reindeer’s admittedly square, squat and deflicted, but you…

Video Unboxing and Walkthrough of the OLPC XO Laptop

This video’s painful to watch at moments, because this couple is about the most indecisive pair of people on earth, like when they epically struggle to name the laptop. But you do get to see everything you get in the XO’s box, like a letter from Nicholas Negroponte, presumably thanking you for your charity (to…

Windows Media Player 11 Is Useful: It Cuts WoW Load Times By Up to 50 Percent

Windows Media Player 11 discovers a purpose in life—how awesome is that? (Seriously, who actually uses it for anything?) Apparently, European forums started reporting last month that running WMP 11 in the background noticeably cuts World of Warcraft load times, especially in stickier areas, though American slackjaws have just recently caught on. Game|Life confirms WoW…

Wii Nunchcuk-Controlled Robot Is Low on Looks, High on Function

The project is still in its pre-beautification phase, with wires and stuff exposed and everywhere, but Frank’s Wii nunchuck-controlled robot looks pretty promising. What’s neat is that his input system uses the accelerometer, instead of just the joystick and the pair of buttons, so he can move the robot around with wrist turns and flicks.…

Microsoft Releases Official Tool to Diagnose Zune Sync Problems

If your Zune’s been behaving like it deserves coal in its sleeve for Christmas, Microsoft has released a diagnostic tool that bundles up data for tech support to pore over to help them get your wares in order if update 2.3 didn’t do the trick. Basically, you download the tool, pop it open and try…

First Guy to Get Comcast TiVo in Boston Liveblogs the Ordeal (Sorta)

Steve Garfield got the email from Comcast that his long, thirsty wait for the Comcast TiVo was over, so he immediately called ’em up (after the online system gives you no way to order it), only to be told by the rep “I didn’t know it was coming out so soon. Let me check if…

Asus Eee PC Surf 2G Now Shipping from Newegg in a Rainbow of Colors

The Asus Eee PC 2G Surf launched on Friday alongside its bigger bro, the 8G, and today it’s shipping from Newegg. It only has half of the good stuff like storage and RAM, but it’s available in a handful of pastel Skittles colors with not-so-masculine names like sky blue, lush green and blush pink. We’re…

Hey, if you’ve got Xfire, I’m taking part in their “Gamers’ Holiday” panel that’s going to start in about 10 minutes (6 p.m. EST). It’s moderated by Zonk from Slashdot, and some of the people talking include one of NOTCOT’s founders, Jean Aw, and Razer prez Robert Krakoff. They’re also giving away free stuff like…

Activision: By Guitar Hero III/Rock Band Guitar “Agreement,” We Meant “Money”

Remember how Harmonix wanted to release a patch to let you use Guitar Hero III guitars on Rock Band for the PS3, but then Activision blocked it and Harmonix told everyone about it, and then Activision said Harmonix just didn’t wanna play ball, where it pretty much seemed like Activision meant Harmonix didn’t want to…

AT&T Year-End Report Card: C

AT&T, the supermassive telecom and largest wireless carrier in the US, is affectionately known by Giz readers as the Death Star. Why? Its reach is Empire-worthy and well, just look at that damn logo. 2007 was an appropriately big year that started off with a double-barrelled blast: AT&T snagged exclusive rights to the iPhone in…

Unborn Babies on Our iPod Creep Us the Hells Out

This is just weird, even for the giddy parents-to-be types who like to run around showing off copies of their ultrasound at work. A hospital in England is one (two?)-upping old-school 2D ultrasounds with 4D scans of your in utero spawn. The scanner (which is apparently not so new itself, per the comments) produces a…

Forget the $2500 Latitude XT, Get a Touchscreen Asus Eee PC for $465

Half the reason we like the Eee PC is that mods to it just keep getting further out there. The latest, and greatest, is a touchscreen. Jkkmobile’s 4G is loaded up with Windows XP, but not the tablet version, so it’s admittedly more of an interesting way to browse the web and play around with…

Intel Delays 45nm Quad-Core CPUs to Give AMD a Breather

Rather than continue hammering on AMD while they’re down, Intel is apparently taking AMD’s troubles as a little break of their own, delaying the launch of three 45nm quad-core Core 2 processors (Yorkfields) until Feb. or March, depending on AMD’s release schedule for its upcoming tri-core and Phenom processors. This kind of reminds us of…

Windows XP SP3 Release Candidate Now Available, Vista Haters Rejoice

A week after Vista SP1 RC hit, Windows XP SP3 Release Candidate is up on the download block. Release candidates are usually pretty close to the final version, though nervous Nellies might wanna hold back cause it’s technically still trial software. Rewarding your balls of stainless steel is a 10 percent performance boost, Network Access…

Half of Mac Users Pay to Download Music; 84 Percent of PC Users Thieving Assholes?

According to market research by the NPD Group—who give out monthly console sales figures and other fun statistical fodder for flamewars—50 percent of all Mac users paid to download music during the last quarter, while a seemingly laughable 16 percent of PC users did. Mac drones are also more likely to buy real live CDs…

Unlocked Open Source Anti-DRM Logo

While we’re not sure logos are the solutions to all the world’s problems (you’ve seen that video of a Microsoft-designed iPod box), we kinda like the idea of an anti-DRM logo to make it easy for consumers to quickly pick up on content that’ll give ’em more bang for their buck, since they’re not restricted…

Giz Explains: What’s the F is a Penryn?

Penryn‘s sort of a buzzword lately. If you don’t know what the hell that is, chances are, you’re not alone: Penryn is Intel’s latest generation of processors, manufactured with a 45-nanometer process that lets them cram more transistors onto the processor than ever before. They’re shrunken Core 2 Duo chips of this generation, with a…

Dell Gets All Defensive About Latitude XT Tablet Pricing

While we sorta groaned at the Latitude XT‘s $2500 base-model pricetag along with everybody else (cause it’s expensive!) we didn’t piss and moan too much because we knew that the DuoSense technology making it the only input device on the market that combines a pressure-sensitive pen with multitouch into a single surface is new, hot…

All Giz Wants: A Gaming PC With the Soul of a Console

As grown-up and burly as this generation of consoles has become, we still like doing some of our gaming on the PC, especially when it comes to first-person shooters. But our ultimate gaming PC isn’t what’s come to typify the phrase “gaming PC.” We don’t want some tricked out, neon Barad-dûr bullshit dominating our desktop.…