The new Lara Croft: More agile than ever

Gamers can dream that Angelina Jolie will one day take her cinematic Lara Croft into the video game world. But for now, they'll have to make do with the lovely Alison Carroll, a competitive UK gymnast who looks downright sporting in her multiple-holstered, black-booted garb.

Carroll, 23, will be the real-life incarnation of the famed game heroine at promotions for the series' latest installment, Tomb Raider: Underworld.

Game creator Eidos Interactive says Carroll embodies the essence of Croft--"brawn, brains, and beauty" (and er, bustiness, perhaps?). The company says Tomb Raider: Underworld has upped the ante on Croft's athleticism, and the character will tackle her trademark high adventures with movements and skills reminiscent of a highly skilled gymnast.
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Lenovo gets flashy with Olympics-inspired drives

Computer maker Lenovo threw down some dough to become a sponsor of the Beijing Olympics, not only designing the Olympic torch, but sponsoring athletes and supplying computers for the games' data and media teams. But the Chinese company may make some money back by hawking items like Olympic-themed USB flash drives that sport hefty price tags.

While America got stuck with boring flash drives bearing only the Olympic rings, visitors to Lenovo's Chinese Web site fared better with five types of interestingly designed USB flash drives (site in Chinese).

Lenovo announced the Olympic torch design, also featured on a Lenovo laptop, in early 2008, though the design didn't impress first reviewers.The 4GB flash drive sells for the equivalent of around US$142.

Other patterns from Lenovo feature the adorable cartoon mascots of the Beijing Olympics: Beibei, JingJing, HuanHuan, YingYing, and NiNi. A medallion style is currently sold out on Lenovo's Chinese site, while a US$29 4GB stick, and a US$58 256MB oval-shaped drive, are for sale, with inexplicable price differences. The last of Lenovo's designs is a US$58, 1GB oval flash drive sporting the Olympic rings.
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Dreaded Blue Screen of Death strikes Olympics

The world watched in awe as China put on what some say was the best-ever Olympics opening ceremony ever. The proceedings culminated with the lighting of the Olympic torch by one of China's sporting greats, Li Ning, while hanging from a wire high above the crowd. Who would have thought that, at the same time, one of the stadium's projectors was displaying the famous Microsoft Blue Screen of Death (BSOD)?

Some eagle-eyed spectators caught it on camera, clearly showing the error message usually associated with serious software issues or hardware problems in a computer running Windows. Thankfully, this didn't mar the otherwise excellent show. Most people would have missed it with the explosion of sight and sound around them anyway. Still, it acts as a reminder to future organizers of high-profile shows like this: Writing your software in Linux or OS X could be a good option instead.

Via Gizmodo

Antec offers poor man's HTPC kits

Home theater PCs are all the rage. OK, well maybe not all the rage, but there are people who have them and I'm sure there are people who want to have them. These kits from Antec are for the have-nots. Called Multimedia Stations, the adapters allow even technically inept people to add a little or a lot of HTPC functionality to a standard desktop (though they require a couple of open 5.25-inch drive bays or at least a free USB port for the most basic adapter).

Pictured from top to bottom are the Multimedia Station Premier (US$119.95), Elite (US$99.95), Basic (US$39.95), and E-Z (US$29.95). The E-Z is a simple USB IR receiver that includes Antec's standard remote with the advantage being that it's portable, making it a good notebook accessory. The Basic kit slips into a 3.5-inch drive bay and again, is just a simple IR receiver with a standard remote. The Elite package adds a VFD display, volume control, and a deluxe remote and fits into a single 5.25-inch bay. Lastly, the Premier--which fits in two 5.25-inch drive bays--has an LCD, front media control panel with menu navigation, a volume control wheel, and media playback buttons.


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Intel's Nehalem chips to get "Core" branding

Intel's next-generation desktop processors will be branded "Intel Core" with an "i7" identifier for the first wave of products.

The i7 identifier will apply to the first crop of high-end desktop processors, according to George Alfs, an Intel spokesperson. Other identifiers will come later that will "complement" the i7, said Alfs.

There will be a separate black logo for the highest-end offering called the Extreme Edition. Model numbers will differentiate each chip.

"The Core name is and will be our flagship PC processor brand going forward," Sean Maloney, Intel executive vice president and general manager, said in a statement.

Intel is trying to simplify branding. In the past, "it's been Core Duo, Core Solo... Basically, we're going to simplify Nehalem down to just Core", Alfs said.

Currently known by the codename Nehalem, the desktop Core i7 processors are slated to ship in the fourth quarter and will be based on a new microarchitecture that will have faster chip-to-chip communication and be better at doing multiple tasks simultaneously--what Intel calls hyper-threading, among other improvements.
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