• The Definitive Wii Game List

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  Must have Wii Games

Here are the ingredients:

Playseats Evolution (black) $299

Playseats Evolution shifter add-on $39

Logitech G25 racing wheel $229

50 watt Aura bass shaker x 2  $80

Generic 100 watt subwoofer amp $100

G25 kit includes some fairly esoteric features from a major brand vendor like Logitech, notably a clutch pedal and full shifter kit.

 

I’ve always loved racing simulations, and now I’ve assembled a rig that does them justice. Some of my current favorite racing sims are:

• Dirt
• Richard Burns Rally
• Race 07: The official WTCC Game
• GTR 2
• rFactor
• Live for Speed

Via My Racing Simulation Rig

C# for Sharp Kids – Part 1 – Getting Started

C# for Sharp Kids – Part 2 – Learning to Communicate

C# for Sharp Kids – Part 3 – The C# Language

C# for Sharp Kids – Part 4 – Programming with the .NET Framework

C# for Sharp Kids – Part 5 – Beyond This Book

• Ars Technica 2007 holiday gift guide
• X-treme Geek
• Scientific American’s 20 Gadgets We Love
• Core77’s 77 design gifts under $77
• Information Addiction Christmas Shopping Guide
• Coding4Fun Holiday gift gide
• ThinkGeek Holiday Gift Center
• Red Hat Magazine’s Geek Gift Guide
• Engadget: for him, for her, for son, for daughter, for dad, for mom
• MAKE magazine open-source hardware gift guide
• Uncle Mark’s 2008 gift guide and almanac (pdf)
• Federated Media 2007 Holiday Gadget Guide
• Brando: USB freaking everything
• Popular Science’s Gifts by Geeks, for Geeks

Via Gifts for Geeks: 2007 Edition

Now Up To Six Simultaneous Users On TokBox Video Chat

According to Hitwise data. Websites which social-network users visit after logging into their profiles…the most clicked-on category of sites was search engines, with 11.6% of all downstream visits. Web-based e-mail services were next with 8.5%. Blogs came in third in popularity at 6.1%, claiming more than four times the number of visits to traditional news sites, which logged 1.5% of downstream visits.

Which of the 172 web categories tracked by Hitwise get the most hits from 18- to 24-year-olds. Here’s a shocker: Porn is not No. 1. I’ve actually been puzzled by the decrease in visits to the Adult Entertainment category over the last two years. Visits to porn sites have dropped from 16.9% of all site visits in the U.S. in October 2005 to 11.9% as of last week, a 33% decline. Currently, for web users over the age of 25, Adult Entertainment still ranks high in popularity, coming in second, after search engines. Not so for 18- to 24-year-olds, for whom social networks rank first, followed by search engines, then web-based e-mail — with porn sites lagging behind in fourth. If you chart the rate of visits to social-networking sites against those to adult sites over the last two years, there appears to be a strong negative correlation (i.e., visits to social networks go up as visits to adult sites go down). It’s a leap to say there’s a real correlation there, but if there is one, then I’d bet it has everything to do with Gen Y’s changing habits: they’re too busy chatting with friends to look at online skin. Imagine.

Via  Facebook: More Popular Than Porn – TIME

Here are a few sites that you may find it interesting:

• Vlad Studios
• InterfaceLIFT
• Flickr wallpapers pool, wallpaper exchange pool, most interesting last 7 days
• Mandolux
• Digital Blasphemy
• eBoy
• Veer
• Panoramic Photography by Brad Templeton
• Library of Congress Panoramic Photographs
• Game Wallpapers new school, dual-screen
• Desktop Gaming old school
• Deviant Art multi-display
• SquidFingers repeating patterns
• Citrus Moon repeating patterns
• k10k pixel patterns
• Damask wallpaper patterns
• Dual, Triple, Quad monitor backgrounds
• Pixeldecor repeating patterns

For abstract backgrounds, best luck with Flickr and InterfaceLIFT.

Via Your Desktop Is Not a Destination

• BioShock - Prettiest Game To Date. Full Stop. Amazingly deep story that’s not too hard to follow. Unbelievable sound engineering – you must play it with headphones or a nice 5.1 surround sound.
• Gears of War - Most “immersively urgent” Game to Date. I’m literally on the edge of my seat with this game. The camera work is fantastic and the human models are the best I’ve seen in any game, including Halo 3
• Halo 3 - Most Balanced Game. There’s something about Halo’s Multiplayer Matching. I noticed it in the Halo 3 Beta, and it’s even better in the Final Release. The folks I was matched against were not kicking my ass as completely as they usually do. I attribute this to being matched to folks within my skill range. It’s very nice.

In the last couple of weeks, I have spent time to build my own PC.

Requirements

1. Silent or Near-Silent

I plan to use this PC as my entertainment center connected to my TV and use it as DVR which means it will be sitting in my living room and probably like <10 feet from my couch….SO IT HAS TO BE AS SILENT AS POSSIBLE!

2. Low Power Consumption

Running it as DVR also mean it will be running 24×7 (unless I have a way to put it to sleep in the middle of the nite :>). So low power consumption is important to me. <$5/month will be acceptable :>

3. Small Footprint

Who doesn’t want a powerful server hide inside a computer as small as an gadget? I want something smaller than Micro-ATX.

4. Pretty on the outside

I don’t know about you. But I just hate those Computer Case Mods in the market. I still don’t understand why people will like to put a glass over the case and show people how messy the inside of their computer is.  And even worse they will put LEDs inside to force people to see it even when the lights turn off!  :<

Here is my Shopping List

• AMD Athlon X2 BE-2350 Brisbane 2.1GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor
• BIOSTAR TF7025-M2 AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 7025 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
• Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
• G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
• Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
• picoPSU-120, 120w output, 12v input DC-DC Power Supply with Power Kit
• NOCTUA NF-S12-800 120mm Silent Fan
• NEXUS REAL SILENT CASE FAN DF1209SL-3 – 92mm Fan
• Zalman FAN MATE 2 – Fan Speed Controller
• WinTV-PVR-150 MCE  TV Tuner
• Remote Control & Receiver for Media Center PC
• Remote Keyboard for Media Center PC
• Windows Vista Media Center
• Costco’s Kirkland Organic Milk  :>
• Local Art & Craft store for paper, foam board, magnets etc…

Parts

CPU	AMD Dual-Core 64-bits BE-2350 45W!!!This CPU is not good for Overclock however.
MotherBoard	BioStar with on- board Nvidia 7025
Memory	G.Skill DDR2 800 (2×1GB)
Hard Drive	WD3200AAKS 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3Gb/S
PSU	Fanless 120Watt Power Supply
Fan 120mm	Silent FanOne of the Best
Fan 92mm	Silent FanOne of the Best
Fan Filter
Fan Speed Controller	To further lower the noise!
Case	Milk Box
Remote Control	Media Center Remote & Receiver
Remote Keyboard	Media Center Keyboard
TV Tuner	The Best
OS	Vista Ultimate & Vista Media Center

Finished Product

Outside	Fashion Show :>
Inside	The 45W AMD CPU is JUST 5-15F above room temperature
Performance	Memory & Hard Disk almost max out. CPU is close to 5. Adding a Video Card will make the score much better. However, it won’t fit into the milk box :<
Power Consumption	Idle at 32Watt Wow!