Games Gadgets n Technology

Gadget freaks have never had it so good. Cut throat competition between manufacturers of phones, consoles and other sundry devices only mean good tidings for consumers: Better toys, competitive prices and myriad choices.
Here’s a look at some of the devices that are really hot in the gadget world


MOBILE PHONES

No gadget list would be complete without mention of the new generation of mobile phones. In fact, experts believe that the mobile phone will eventually replace stand-alone music players as the portable device of choice. The more notable devices:
LG has positioned its Chocolate phone as the flagship handset for music. The reason for calling it “Chocolate”, however, escapes us completely.
Not positioned as a phone, but as a “portable computer” instead, the Nokia N80 includes an FM radio receiver and a miniSD memory card slot. It also boasts a Wi-Fi wireless connection that among other things will let users stream music and video directly off their home PCs via special software from Orb Networks.
With Blackberry Pearl, RIM seems to have entered the mainstream mobile phone fray with its new size and shape. Of course, the Quadband GSM/GPRS/ EDGE device is still primarily suited for business executives, but seriously, the device packs quite a punch and comes with e-mail and browser capability, voice dialling, a 1.3 megapixel camera, a media player, expandable micro SD slot, etc.
In fact, the BlackBerry Pearl is expected to be available in India from Airtel later this month at Rs 24,999

ZUNE

Microsoft’s media gadget, the 30GB Zune, most notably features a wireless connection which lets users immediately share songs with one another. Shared songs can be played three times and stored for up to three days before users are prompted to either buy the track or subscribe to the Zune service for unlimited listening.
The debate rages over how big a draw this functionality will be, but already Microsoft has succeeded in capturing a great deal of awareness over the product, something the Apple iPod is accustomed to having all to itself.


SANSA

From nowhere, SanDisk has emerged to become the second-biggest seller (after Apple) of MP3 players with its Sansa, boasting a market share of slightly less than 20 per cent. A budget alternative to the iPod, Sansa is a great combination of looks and functionality. The device features a user-replaceable, rechargeable lithium ion battery, a microSD expansion slot for additional memory, digital FM tuner, on-the-fly FM and voice recording – all housed in a pretty durable package.



SONY PLAYSTATION 3

After many delays, the much anticipated PlayStation 3 is finally on the market. The videogame console features not only the most advanced graphics display and processing power yet, it also has Internet connectivity, a 20GB or 60GB hard drive, and doubles as a Blu-ray DVD player.
But it doesn’t come cheap at $500 (Rs 22,200 approx) for the basic version and $600 (Rs 26,700 approx) for the more advanced unit. Additionally, available games for the system could run as high as $75 (Rs 3,300 approx). Almost everyone expects a major distribution shortage in the first few months after the console’s launch. The company expects to ship about 2 million devices by the end of the year.


NINTENDO WII

The dark horse of the next-generation consoles is Nintendo’s Wii.
Its demo wowed users at this year’s Electronics Entertainment Expo, generating the longest lines at the show to try out the innovative system. The greatest buzz is over the Wii’s controller, which essentially is a wand that players can wave around to control the action on the screen.
At $250 (Rs 11,100 approx), half as much as the cheapest PlayStation 3, there’s certainly a good chance that Nintendo might challenge Sony’s dominance.
The company plans to ship 4 million of the devices by the end of the year. Unlike the PS3, the Wii is not aimed at hard-core gamers, but rather at videogame newcomers, with both the lower price and easier-to-play games.



BLUE-RAY/HD-DVD PLAYERS

The first round of high-definition DVD players will hit retail shelves this year, although with steep price points.
Cooling the market a bit is the ongoing standards war, with Sony leading the charge for the Blu-ray format, while Microsoft and Toshiba rally the flag for the HD-DVD format. Also stunting immediate mass adoption are the prices, expected to average around $800 (Rs 35,600 approx).
The benefits of these next-generation DVD systems are fairly straightforward: better storage, clearer pictures and better digital rights management. But with the entertainment market moving increasingly toward digital delivery, the future of even the most sophisticated physical distribution format seems a bit limited.


IPODS

Whether it’s the new line of Nanos, the new-andimproved video iPod or the new Shuffle, Apple’s digital entertainment product break new ground each year.
Apple’s Nano line has undergone a makeover, featuring a thinner design, better display and battery life, and a range of five colours available in 2GB (Rs 9,800), 4GB (Rs 13,200) and 8GB (Rs 16,400).
Additionally, the revamped video iPod holds a whopping 80GB of capacity, good for 20,000 songs, 25,000 photos or 100 hours of video, and features a brighter screen.
Ah yes, the iPod Shuffle has been downsized.

In the market for a new 19-inch LCD monitor? Check this one out, the BenQ FP92W. The widescreen monitor has a fast response time of 5 seconds which in turn reduces the ghosting on moving images. The FP92W also boasts of a high contrast ratio and high brightness which supposedly improves the visual experience. The monitor is available in stores around the city and retails for Rs 13,999. For more information, visit www.benq.com

The PlayStation 2 was literally heaven for RPG gamers, but now with the PlayStation 3 launching soon, we look at some of the last RPG titles to be launched for the PlayStation 2....


LOU KESTEN

It's been a good ride for the PlayStation 2 and much of the PS2's success can be attributed to its remarkably diverse software lineup including its overwhelming supremacy of the RPG genre.

VALKYRIE PROFILE 2: SILMERIA

Valkyrie Profile 2 actually a prequel to the 2000 cult favourite begins with the valkyrie Silmeria being exiled from Valhalla and forced to share the human body of a wimpy princess named Alicia. Outsiders think Alicia's gone nuts, and Odin, king of the Norse gods, wants Silmeria dead all while an apocalyptic battle is brewing between the gods and the humans. As Alicia flees her persecutors, Silmeria has the power to free doomed souls called 'einherjar', who then fight alongside the princess/goddess. The level of invention goes beyond the story line: The 2D dungeons are cleverly designed, while the 3D battles are fast-paced but allow plenty of opportunity to strategise. Each of your fighters is controlled by a different button, and you can mash them all at once or time them to execute powerful combos. Valkyrie Profile 2 is a complex and challenging experience that will find an appreciative audience among players who've grown weary of RPG clichés.


VALKYRIE PROFILE 2: SILMERIA

Rating: 4/5

Developer: Tri-Ace

Publisher: Square Enix

Platform: Sony Playstation 2


RPG fans have depended on Sony machines since 1997, when Square moved its beloved Final Fantasy franchise from Nintendo to the PlayStation. Almost every major RPG series since has been PlayStation only, from blockbusters like Dragon Quest and Kingdom Hearts to cults titles like Shin Megami Tensei and Shadow Hearts.

SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI: DEVIL SUMMONER

A title like that should tell you one thing: You're in for some serious weirdness. The setting is 1920s Japan, where Western influences are beginning to crowd out Eastern traditions. The hero, Raidou, works at a cut-rate detective agency, and his first case looks like a simple kidnapping before evolving into a much grander conspiracy. As Raidou unravels the mystery he's under constant attack by demons, which he can capture, control and even combine into more powerful monsters. In each battle you can select one demon to fight alongside you, and you can switch between allies with different powers, adding a strategic element to otherwise generic combat. Devil Summoner doesn't quite meet the high standard set by its predecessor, last year's brilliant Digital Devil Saga, but its likeably bizarre story has enough twists and turns to satisfy anyone looking for an unusual adventure.

SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI: DEVIL SUMMONER

Rating: 4/5

Developer: Atlus

Publisher: Atlus

Platform: Sony Playstation 2


Until the PS3 arrives, we're still being treated to some good RPGs on the PS2. The just-released Final Fantasy XII is the colossus, of course, but there are some alternatives. AP

TALES OF THE ABYSS

Those clichés we mentioned before are in full effect in the latest instalment of Namco's endless Tales series. Let's start with a teenage protagonist who has no memory of his childhood but could be the key to saving the world. Abyss does throw a few interesting twists into the story mainly by making the hero, Luke, so insufferably bratty that it pains you to think he could be the messiah but for the
most part it will seem awfully familiar to any RPG. The battles seem overly simple at first, but ramp up nicely in difficulty, and there are plenty of places to explore and missions to accomplish. Abyss is well put-together, but it's tough to find time for a merely adequate RPG when there are so many more innovative games out there.


TALES OF THE ABYSS

Rating: 2.5/5

Developer: Namco Bandai

Publisher: Namco Bandai

Platform: Sony Playstation 2

Watch out Pranoy Roy, Rajdeep Sardesai and Barkha Dutt. New technology from researchers at US-based Northwestern University provides individual users with an automated, personalised newscast that is completely virtual – including a virtual anchor.
Invented by Kristian Hammond, co-director of Northwestern’s Intelligent Information Laboratory (InfoLab), and graduate students Nathan Nichols and Sara Owsley, ‘News at Seven’ collects, edits and organises existing news stories based on a user’s interests, then passes the formatted content to the virtual anchor that’s based on video game characters.
Using Web resources like Google and YouTube, the system utilises the text of news stories to retrieve video, images and blogs related to the content.
“It’s a completely personalised and automated news report using Web resources,” explains Hammond. “The system can create a news package based on someone’s interest; then deliver it on demand. It is the first step in creating a world in which information is automatically gathered, edited and delivered to people based on their interests and needs.”
Once it has assembled the materials, the system edits the news stories, replacing abbreviations and other phrasings that are appropriate for written text but not meant to be spoken.
News at Seven virtual anchors then present a performance that combines techniques of modern news programming with features made possible by the fact that the system is completely virtual.
With further research and development, the creators of News at Seven hope to offer a commercially viable replacement to the typical televised news show, offering instead a show tailored to a user’s specific interests. A brand new news package could be delivered daily or even every half hour. To view a News at Seven newscast, visit: www.youtube.com/profile?user=NewsAtSeven

SAN FRANCISCO: Yahoo is making it easier to choose between e-mail and instant-messaging tools by bringing the two together in its Mail program.
Yahoo Mail, which counts 250 million active users, plans in coming months to incorporate the Yahoo Messenger instant-messaging program inside the e-mail service, Yahoo executive Brad Garlinghouse announced.
Consumers will be able to run the two programs in one Web browser. There will be no need to download Yahoo Messenger software.
Yahoo’s melding of e-mail and instant messaging follows the lead of rival Google, which merged its Google Talk instant-message chat service with its Gmail e-mail program. But Yahoo’s audience is roughly 10 times larger than Google’s base of e-mail users, according to industry data.
In the first public demonstration of the combined service at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco, Garlinghouse and a colleague showed how, when a user opens up and addresses an e-mail, an icon appears if he or she is online.
Clicking the icon instantly transforms a conversation from the delayed, “read-it-whenyou-have-a-chance” way people use e-mail into the immediate back-and-forth of an instant message conversation.
The existing version of Yahoo Messenger also offers Web-calling capabilities.
Yahoo is considering how and whether to incorporate these calling features inside the merged Yahoo e-mail and instant messaging system, a spokeswoman said. REUTERS

LONDON: Patients are not the only people turning to the Internet for medical information.
Searching the World Wide Web with engines such as Google may also help doctors to diagnose perplexing medical conditions, Australian researchers said on Friday.
“Our study suggests that in difficult cases, it is often useful to google for a diagnosis,” said Hangwi Tang, of the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane.
To test how good Google is, Tang and his colleagues selected three to five search terms for 26 difficult-to-diagnose illnesses reported in a medical journal and did a Google search.
The disorders ranged from cirrhosis and the degenerative brain disorder, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, to cat-scratch disease, infective encephalitis and obscure conditions such as Henoch-Scholein purpura, Churg-Strauss syndrome and extrinsic allergic alveolitis.
After recording the top ranked answers that seemed to fit the symptoms and comparing them with the correct diagnosis, they found the Google searches came up with the right answer in 15 out of the 26 cases – an accuracy rate of 58 per cent.
The researchers did add a caveat, however: The results from Google are only as good as the knowledge base of the searcher – a caution that especially applies to patients who try to self-diagnose their problems.
“Web-based search engines such as Google are becoming the latest tools in clinical medicine, and doctors in training need to become proficient in their use,” Tang said in the study published online by the British Medical Journal.

That’s what 19-year-old pro gamer Tom Taylor, aka Tsquared, has to say about being a professional gamer...

Professional video gamer Tom Taylor, aka Tsquared, is the envy of every young video game player. But he wants to debunk the myth that wielding a joystick for a living is all fun and games.
The self-taught player, who has been playing competitively since aged 14 and turned pro at 16, dropped out of school to concentrate on building a career in gaming.
Taylor, 19, now earns $1,20,000 to $1,50,000 (Rs 53,50,000 to Rs 66,88,000 approx) a year between prize money reaped playing Halo 2 and Gaming-lessons.com, an online site he founded last year to teach people gaming skills – and he is about to almost double the hourly tutoring rate he charges.
But he says he has had to be disciplined to succeed, sometimes playing games for up to 12 hours a day ahead of competitions and sticking to an exercise regime and good diet to keep a mental and physical edge.
“A lot of people think playing video games isn’t a lot of work. It doesn’t leave a lot of time for vacation. In five years, I’ve never had any downtime for myself,” Taylor said.
But putting in the hours has paid off for Taylor.
In June 2004, he signed a $2,50,000 (Over Rs 1.11 crore!) contract with Major League Gaming and, as team leader of Str8 Rippin, he is one of the league’s top-ranked players.
He appears on Stuff magazine’s list of the 20 most influential people under the age of 30 and, after the MLG National Championships later this month, he’s raising his video game tutoring rate to $115 (Rs 5,100 approx) an hour from $65 (Rs 2,900 approx).
Taylor is also shifting to a different screen soon with USA Networks, which will start airing coverage of the MLG 2006 Pro Circuit. The TV series chronicles the eight-month competition that culminates in Las Vegas where gamers battle for the title and a $2,34,000 (over Rs 1.04 crore) purse.
Florida-based Taylor, whose handle started out as T and evolved to T2 – Tsquared – says he now finds himself at home just seven to 10 days a month between travelling for competitions, training, media appearances or personal reasons.
But while his work schedule has decimated his personal time, he admits the publicity has its benefits.
“I guess it works to your advantage,” he said when asked if his profile with women has been enhanced by his fame.
On an average day, Taylor plays two to three hours of video games – usually from 11 pm. That time investment jumps to 10 to 12 hours ahead of tournaments.
If not training, then it’s a couple hours teaching game lessons, blogging and returning fan e-mail.
Taylor works to keep a mental and physical edge with running, weight-lifting and eating well. He also limits energy drinks to competitions.
While Taylor says no age is too old to be a pro gamer, he admits the average competitor is college-aged.
“You’ll notice that there are not too many people over 30 placing well at the tournaments,” said Taylor, who isn’t spending much time worrying about his life post-pro gaming.
“I try to focus on what’s ahead of me when I’m in tournaments instead of daydreaming about what’s going to happen 15 years down the road,” he said. REUTERS

SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft declared its longawaited Vista operating system finished.
“This is a good day,” Microsoft co-president of platforms Jim Allchin said at a press conference less than an hour after Vista was given final approval by the software giant.
“It is rock-solid and ready to ship. This is a significant milestone for Microsoft.”
Vista would be available worldwide in PCs on January 30, 2007, Allchin said. “We’ve made some big claims about Vista and I truly believe we will deliver them,” he said.
Microsoft originally targeted a 2005 launch for Vista, then pushed the release out to 2006 before announcing in March that Vista would again be delayed. There was also speculation among analysts that Microsoft would find it difficult to meet its early 2007 target.
Vista was more secure from hackers, performed more reliably, was more energy-efficient, and worked with more devices and applications than the Windows XP OS it was replacing, Allchin claimed.
The OS will be available in 18 languages by its official release next year. However, Allchin said, Vista eventually would be available in 100 languages.
“There is no question this is the most reliable system we have ever shipped,” Allchin said. “We’ve done more testing than on any other product.”
Power management software built into Vista reduced energy consumption and provided a “quick on-off experience” that users craved, according to Allchin.
Microsoft said it beefed up security on Vista to thwart attempts to break into the PC or infect them with malicious software such as viruses or worms.
“This is an escalating situation,” Allchin said of protecting computers from online attacks. “The hackers are getting smarter and there is more at stake.”
Testing of the OS included letting an army of outside computer security specialists attack it at will, according to Microsoft. A common lament among Windows users has been vulnerabilities exploited by hackers. “Customers will not only feel safer when they are running Vista, they will be safer,” Allchin said. It has been five years since Microsoft introduced the Windows XP OS that Vista will replace. Windows is used by approximately 90 percent of the world’s PCs with 70 percent of them running on Windows XP. AGENCIES

Read this if you’re planning a holiday and don’t mind sleeping on couches that are on offer for ‘free’...

NEW YORK: Jim Stone, a 29-year-old US citizen, has been travelling non-stop since March of 2004.
He’s travelled in a pickup truck and – at other times – on a motorcycle. He’s trekked through much of the US, Australia, New Zealand and Europe, but he’s slept in a hotel just one night over that stretch of nearly 1,000 days.
That’s because Stone is part of a growing online network of people who’ve gone a step beyond hotels and hostels in their travel planning: They sleep on each others’ couches.
A number of Web sites have sprung up to match travellers with hosts who have a spare couch to offer.
Sites like hospitalityclub.org, couchsurfing.com, globalfreeloaders.com and place2stay.net are often free, serving only as middlemen and offering tips on how to find successful matches.
The sites aren’t money-makers. They’re largely the creations of 20-somethings bitten by wanderlust – and they often depend on volunteers to help manage the Web operations.

THE IDEA

One of the biggest is hospitalityclub.org – a site founded in 2000 by Veit Kuehne, who was then a 22-year-old business student.
Kuehne wanted to use the Internet’s reach to help encourage cultural exchanges through travel. The result was the site that grew from 1,300 members in 2002 to two lakhs by September 2006.
From his home in Germany, Kuehne said hospitalityclub.org funds itself through online ads. “We’re not really soliciting donations yet,” he said.
Kuehne doesn’t get a salary from the site and was living off savings till recently. He plans to spend the winter in India working on the site and benefiting from lower living costs.
Stone however, uses another site, couchsurfing.com, which has over 1,28,700 members – from across the globe.
Couchsurfing.com – launched officially in January 2004 – got its indirect start, when US-native, Casey Fenton, found a cheap airplane ticket to Iceland.
When looking for a place to stay, Fenton chanced upon the student directory of the University of Iceland.
He sent e-mails to about 1,500 students, asking for a place to crash and within a day received dozens of responses. Through staying with a local, Fenton said he was able to see “their” Iceland rather than the tourist’s view.

BUT, IS IT SAFE?

Sites do offer some safeguards to help members: Members can vouch for each other and leave references for someone they’ve stayed with or hosted.
But Web sites warn that they are not liable for any possible dangers that could arise between host and traveller.
“We can’t guarantee what will happen,” couchsurfing.com’s Fenton said. “We’ll do as much as we can to provide data (about the person), but beyond that, there’s not much we can do.”
Lesage, a photographer and a volunteer administrator for couchsurfing.com, said the best way to stay safe is to read closely the information available on members’ profiles. He also sets a general three-day limit for how long people can crash on his couch.
As for Jim Stone, he hasn’t had a permanent address since 2004.
“I haven’t found another lifestyle that I enjoy this much,” he said. AP

London: The popular reality TV show “Big Brother” plans to expand into virtual reality with a new edition in the online world of Second Life, television programmer Endemol said on Monday.

Second Life is a three-dimensional virtual world with more than 1 million registered users and its own economy and currency. It was created by San Francisco-based Linden Lab.

Endemol will select 15 international Second Life contestants to spend at least eight hours a day inside a specially constructed glass-walled house for one month. As in the real-world version of “Big Brother,” the contestants will be voted off until only one remains. The winner will receive a virtual island within Second Life, worth about US$1,675.

A number of real-world companies have entered Second Life in recent months, drawn by its rapid growth and large pool of tech-savvy consumers, including Toyota Motor Corp, Adidas and Sony BMG. Reuters also recently launched its own news bureau in Second Life.

Haier recently launched their M2000 model cell phone in India. The dual-band GSM device is different from other cell phones in the sense that it has no buttons. Instead, it relies on its 1.8-inch touch-screen to do the job. The M2000’s features include handwriting recognition, an MP3 player, an organiser, integrated hands-free and an impressive battery life of 150 hrs standby time with 2 hours and 50 minutes talk-time. Surprisingly, the M2000 does not have a camera or Bluetooth. For more details on this fashion-conscious gadget that’s currently available in pink and black and retails for Rs 6,900, visit mobile.haier.com.

Will offer thousands of searchable recipes, advice, videos and other tools for help in the kitchen.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -- Yahoo Inc. is going into the food business.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company said Wednesday it was offering Yahoo users thousands of recipes, advice from regional celebrity chefs, video cooking guides and easy-to-use Web tools to help cooks answer the daily question: What's for dinner?

The Web media giant is looking to create a new lifestyle business in a category that, while well-established in Internet terms, is largely fragmented among food industry players and niche recipe sites, with few big independent media players.

Yahoo Food will be served up to the U.S. market initially. Early in 2007, it aims to move into other English-speaking countries like Australia, Britain and Canada, then expand into other global markets, officials said.

Among Web users, the U.S. food reference category is dominated by cable television's Food Network, suppliers such as Kraft Foods (Charts), BettyCrocker.com and Williams-Sonoma (Charts) and specialist cook sites like Cooks.com and Epicurious, according to U.S. data from audience measurement firm Hitwise Inc.

Other than the Food Network, independent media companies are not big players online. AOL Food, a division of CNNMoney parent Time Warner (Charts), is active but has a tiny market share, according to Hitwise. Gadget review company Cnet Networks Inc. recently relaunched Chow.com.

"This is very much of an extension of Yahoo's media business," Deanna Brown, general manager of Yahoo Lifestyles, said in an interview. "It's a very compelling experience for Yahoo advertisers."

It's a category Brown knows about as well as anyone. She founded Epicurious in 1995. She went on to launch AOL Food. A year ago, she was hired to develop Yahoo's lifestyle business.

Media partners include Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., (Charts) Wolfgang Puck, Everyday with Rachael Ray, Food & Wine, Epicurious, allrecipes.com, Cook's Illustrated, Eating Well, Taste of Home, and Reader's Digest.

Yahoo offers a searchable recipe database, personalized features that remind Yahoo users of their prior searches for recipes or articles on the site, and a potentially vast social network of people united by common interests around food.

It's Yahoo (Charts), so search underpins the workings of the site. The technology indexes thousands of recipes via a partnership with allrecipes.com. Users can search by ingredient, cuisine, foods for special occasions, or by taste or mealtimes.

Food joins technology as the first of two in a line of new lifestyle businesses that Yahoo is developing to both drive greater usage of its network of sites among existing customers and woo attractive new online demographics - the hungry, in this case - that its blue-chip advertiser base covets.

Yahoo Tech and Food are the first new Yahoo media properties launched in five years. Since it was introduced earlier this year, Yahoo Tech has grown to become one of the top three U.S. properties in the gadget review category.

"We think we will go to No. 1 with some promotions we are doing over the holidays," said Scott Moore, Yahoo's vice president of content operations, based in Santa Monica.

"In the next six months, we will have several launches, new categories or extensions of existing categories," he said.

Moore estimates Yahoo Tech already attracted about 2.5 million monthly users. "One of the reasons we did Tech was not that it was a big user category, but it is massive with advertisers," he said.

When a handful of politicians, trustees and parents heard Rockstar Games, the maker of the controversial "Grand Theft Auto" series, was creating a game about dealing with school bullies, many feared it would glorify gun violence in the schoolyard.

But this is not the case: "Bully" is no "Columbine simulator," as one activist has said (without playing the game).

This "Teen"-rated title game does contain some violence, as well as foul language and crude humor -- so it's not for children -- but those overly concerned about this Sony PlayStation 2 game need not be.

In fact, after spending some time at Bullworth Academy, the many missions proved varied and challenging, the colorful and over-the-top characters and dialogue highly entertaining, and the openness of this campus quite liberating.

"Bully" follows a troubled teenager, Jimmy Hopkins, who's been expelled from every school he's ever attended. So it's no wonder his mother and new stepfather decide it's best he spend a year at the toughest boarding school in the country.

Fifteen-year-old Jimmy must survive his stay at Bullworth by climbing up the social ladder (among the Jocks, Greasers, Preps and Nerds), avoiding bullies or confronting them with some moves or pranks of his own, and outsmarting the corrupt Bullworth faculty and student body, including the principal, teachers and prefects.

"Bully" borrows elements from "Grand Theft Auto" by letting you roam around a huge map and take on dozens of missions as you work your way up to ruling the school. You also can use transportation, such as a skateboard or BMX bike.

As you protect yourself from bullying students who don't like the new guy, you can use fisticuffs (and unlock new fighting techniques throughout the game) or a slingshot (the training mission has you pegging off the football team while perched in a tree) or other weapons you may find on the grounds, such as a garbage can lid (used like a Frisbee to knock down baddies), a fire extinguisher, baseball bat and so on.

The game contains no blood and you cannot kill anyone. Victims, who usually instigate these attacks, lie moaning on the ground when defeated.

The game makers also provided a benefit to attending classes: Not only do you get to play minigames (such as a word game in English or a "Dance Dance Revolution"-style rhythm game in chemistry) but you also can unlock new skills, items and missions. Hey, you can even use your newly learned verbal skills on getting the girl.

Pranks, such as throwing a firecracker or stink bomb, will land you in hot water if caught by the staff. The same goes if you're caught skipping class, breaking into a locker, trespassing in areas of the school you're not allowed in or staying out past curfew. If you're still out of bed at 2 a.m., you pass out from exhaustion.

Hoopla aside, "Bully" is a fantastic debut title from Rockstar Vancouver, but one main issue is the frequent and sometimes lengthy load times. This, however, is likely due to the technical limits of the aging PlayStation 2 platform.

Overall, "Bully" is a fun, fresh and lengthy single-player adventure for teenagers and adults.

While the game isn't as controversial as many feared it would be, it will still push a few buttons for its rebellious attitude. But, after all, this is what Rockstar Games does -- and well at that.

The long-awaited upgrade to Microsoft’s Web browser is here, introducing the masses to features available for years in rival products.

My initial thought to Microsoft’s game of catch-up was “no big deal.” But after trying out Internet Explorer v7 – the first major release since 2001 – I found a number of improvements to like.

The most noticeable change in IE is a redesign that replaces menus like “file” and “edit” with task-oriented buttons for printing, searching and the like.

Just as Google’s folder-less approach to e-mail took getting used to, Microsoft’s new interface initially will seem odd. But, in no time, I started questioning the old ways – why, for instance, was “print” under “file” and not “view”?

Microsoft’s new features include the display of small, thumbnail versions of all open pages at once. It catches up with rivals, Opera and Firefox, in letting you save related tabs in groups to reopen at once. But IE7 lacks Firefox’s and Opera’s ability to reopen a tab you’ve accidentally closed.

Search still Firefox-ed

When it comes to search, Firefox is tops; offering the easiest ways to add search engines and organise them within your search box. In addition, as you start typing in your search, Firefox offers suggestions to finish the query.

All three now support Really Simple Syndication, or RSS, a technology for notifying users of new entries on their favourite news sites and blogs.

The three Web browsers also have easy ways to clear private data, such as cookies and browsing history, and to restore open pages the next time you use the browser.

IE7 now lets you enlarge and shrink images along with the text, a feature Opera had before. And IE7 matches Firefox’s and Opera’s ability to automatically shrink Web pages when you print so margins don’t get cut off.

Not so Active X anymore...

Microsoft introduced a number of security features: Active X controls, which are used to make Web sites more functional, but can let in spyware and other malicious programs, are disabled by default. But there’s a nice touch: Microsoft built in exceptions for well-known, trustworthy sites so most people will never have to turn Active X on – only to forget to shut it off.

Other features include displaying the special codes behind non-English Web addresses, preventing a scam artist from substituting the “a” in the Latin alphabet with the “a” in Cyrillic, so users might think they are visiting the real PayPal site, for instance.

Firefox 2, meanwhile, sports a universal spell checker. Misspelled words are underlined in red, whether you’re composing an e-mail or a blog entry. With Opera 9, you get support for an emerging file-sharing mechanism called BitTorrent along with widgets – Web-based applications for checking weather, sports results or anything else. Plus, Opera lets you easily block individual images – like an annoying graphic – from specific sites, rather than being forced to block all or none.

There are things to like about each browser, and I recommend that IE users at least upgrade to version 7. They may find features to like in Firefox or Opera, but the gap is much narrower now, so IE7 may be satisfactory.

I’ll stick with Firefox, however, because IE7 and Opera 9 don’t offer enough novel features to break inertia. Firefox 2’s improvements are minor but show that its developers aren’t resting and waiting five years for the next breakthrough.

Japanese electronics giant, Sony, displayed the world’s lightest B5-sized notebook PC ‘Vaio typeG’, weighing only 898g on 1 November.

The notebook which boasts of a carbon-fibre, light-weight, robust body sports a 12.1-inch LCD display. Other features of the typeG include integrated Intel 945GMS graphics, 80GB HDD, 1.5GB RAM, fingerprint reader, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The laptop range will go on sale next month at a price of 1,64,800 yen (Rs 63,200) for the basic model.

The MPS 1002 – a 1GB MP3 player from Mitashi – sports stereo speakers as well as headphones. The player, which supports MP3 and WMA music formats, also boasts of an FM radio tuner and comes complete with a voice recorder function. When connected to a PC via USB, the player can also be used as a flash-based file-storage device. For more information on the 1002 that retails for Rs 4390, visit www.mitashi.com.