Review: Forza Motorsport 3 for Xbox 360

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Forza Motorsport 3: The quintessential racing simulator

There's enough depth, variation and substance in Forza Motorsport 3 to keep every gearhead, tuner, painter, speed demon and online race nut busy and happy for a long, long while.

Packed with so much content that it's a two-disc affair, Forza Motorsport 3 (FM3) squeezes 10 times the polygons that the previous version offered. This means more itty-bitty shapes making up the shape of a car to go from car-shaped representation to photo realistic replica. The attention to detail and texture is evident everywhere, even as the game zooms along at 60 frames per second. When watching playback videos of races, you'll easily confuse them for race footage on your favorite sports channel.

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Apple melds trackpad and mouse with Magic Mouse

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Apple’s history of mouse making comes with a few hits and many misses. The company’s penchant for sleek and intelligent industrial design seems to fall short when developing such oddities as the hockey-puck mouse and the recently discarded Mighty Mouse, whose tiny scroll ball easily gooped up with dust and dirt. That, plus Apple’s stubborn refusal to add a right-click button, hasn’t made their mice very popular but this may likely change.

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ReviveLITE iPhone/ iPod Portable Charger - Review

ReviveLITE iPhone/ iPod Portable Charger


Scosche’s ReviveLITE charger is an ideal add on for traveling iPhone and iPod users who want a quick and convenient means to charge their i-devices without wires.

Borrowing the shiny plastic aesthetic of the square MacBook wall charger but smaller and without the requisite cables, the ReviveLITE quickly unfolds to reveal a cradle and comes with a number of adaptors to accommodate an assortment of iPods and iPhones. Plug the ReviveLITE into a wall, pop in the iPod or iPhone and your device gets the juice it needs.

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Microsoft launches Security Essentials

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla From the better-late-than-never files, Microsoft has taken to guarding its own backyard with MS Security Essentials Beta. Antivirus and anti-spyware applications are a part and parcel of the Windows computing experience. Aside from the bloaty Nortons and beefy McAfees of this world, many users have been relying on free applications like Avast! Home Edition, Ad-Aware, and AVGFree to keep their systems secure. Changing the face of freebies somewhat, Microsoft recently launched Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE), a free application evolved from its subscription based Windows Live OneCare suite of antivirus, antispyware and firewall programs. MSE is compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista and the upcoming Windows 7. "This new, no-cost offering will give us the ability to protect an even greater number of consumers, especially in markets where the growth of new PC purchases is outpaced only by the growth of malware," claims Microsoft. Microsoft appears to be taking protection seriously. The company constantly monitors malware as seen on its protection center website (microsoft.com/security/portal). Ease of installation and on-demand update capabilities, plus the fact that it is tightly integrated with the Windows OS, makes Microsoft Security Essentials an attractive option. Currently offered as a beta download, to date there is no indication that MSE will be bundled with retail versions of Windows 7 or continue to be made available as a free optional download. As for upsetting antivirus and anti-malware software makers by offering a free competing product, the likes of Windows Defender and Windows Firewall from Microsoft have been available for free since 2005, so coexistence with commercial antispyware and firewall solutions is expected to continue without much conflict (or cries of MS monopoly).

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