CrunchGear

Review: Alienware Aurora ALX
The Great Porn Purge of 2010
Bill in UK may disallow public wi-fi
The many hi-tech wonders of Adidas at this year’s World Cup
And here’s a video of a guy carving BioShock’s Big Daddy out of wood with a chainsaw
CONTEST! Win these handsome pump-action salt and pepper grinders
Nexus One hitting Verizon on March 23rd?
This LEGO Avatar helicopter would only be cooler if Michelle Rodriguez came with it

Posted: 27 Feb 2010 08:00 PM PST

Short version: The Aurora ALX is quite possibly the fastest computer I’ve ever used. It is in a word, amazing. The water cooling, thermally reactive venting system, and lighting combine to make a system that runs great, looks amazing, and has some innovative features that make you go “duh. why didn’t I think of that?” Of course performance has its price, and you will have to pay a premium price for this system.

Features:

Factory water cooling
Monolithic black case
Functional and useful interior lighting system
Active venting system
MSRP $4249.00 as reviewed

Pros:

Unbelievably fast
Gamer’s dream
water cooling is quiet and efficient

Cons:

System weighs about 80 pounds
Cooling system has a tendency to suck in dust and fibers
Costs more then my car

Full review: The Aurora ALX is unabashedly a gamer’s PC. It’s main focus in life is to run the latest software, and run it as fast as possible. The case makes no apologies about this, it doesn’t try to disguise itself as a business product, you can tell by looking at the case that it’s designed to go fast. The front of the case is smooth, with the alienhead logo prominently displayed at the top. When you push on the head, the front panel drops exposing the Blu-ray drive, gently lit by white LEDs. The bottom of the front gapes open, allowing air to flow through as quickly as possible. The top of the case is covered by a row of thermostatically controlled louvers, which open to allow more air flow as needed. It’s actually hard to get the louvers to open, since the factory installed liquid cooling system is so efficient. The side of the case are actually restrained. There’s a small window, lit from behind via multicolor LEDs (which you can control from in Windows). The whole design of the case is remarkably restrained, considering Alienware’s reputation for, shall we say, extreme design. One interesting feature is the addition of a small, pressure sensitive button on the back of the computer near the card slots. If you push this button (regardless of if the computer is on or not), several small LEDs light up and show you the area where you plug in the video, sound, and network connections. This is frankly brilliant, I don’t know how many times I’ve been crawling under a desk wishing for a flashlight while plugging everything in to get the thing up and running. These little LEDs are in other places as well. Taking the side of the case off reveals not just the extremely well routed wires and hoses, but also another one of these small buttons. Pushing on that button lights up the entire inside of the case, making it incredibly easy to see what you are doing while hooking up and routing said wires, connectors, and hoses. Again, a brilliant inclusion in design, that I wish more PC makers would use. After mentioning how much I liked these lights to my contact at Alienware, I was told that both sets of lights run off of a rechargeable battery.

Hardware configuration:
Intel Core i7 975 Extreme (3.33GHz, 8MB Cache)
Dual ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB video cards
6GB of RAM
2x 1TB Hard drives, running in a RAID0 configuration
Cosmic Black ALX case, with 875 watt power supply

You can see why this system is so fast after looking at the specs. To give you some hard numbers, running at 1680×1050 @ 120Hz, AAx8, and Ultra High on all options, the average FPS in the Far Cry 2 “Ranch Long” benchmark was 63 FPS. It peaked out at 139 FPS, and dipped down to 25 FPS at the slowest point. Crysis averaged 35 FPS during the “Island Time-demo”. Very respectable. From a purely organic viewpoint, I’m happy to report that any game I threw at the ALX ran perfectly, and incredibly smoothly.

The Good: the Aurora ALX is a great machine. It’s a gamers dream, and it’ll run anything you throw at it with no problem. The water cooling keeps the temps down while running quiet, and the thermal venting is really cool. The LED lights are cool, but you can shut them off if you are so inclined.

The Bad: The price. Let’s be honest, not a whole lot of people have $4500 to drop on something like a PC, particularly these days. If you do though, this is the machine to get. It’s also really really heavy. Liquid cooling and an 875 watt power supply do not make for a light weight computer. I also noticed that because it is liquid cooled, it seems to pull in more dust and fibers then an air cooled system.

Bottom line: if you can afford it, buy it. The Aurora ALX is a great machine. I’ve really enjoyed my time “reviewing” it (meaing playing Far Cry 2, Crysis, and Borderlands) and will be sad to see it go back to Alienware. Particularly because my wife will expect me to help out around the house again since I’m not busy doing work.

Product Link

The Great Porn Purge of 2010

Posted: 27 Feb 2010 05:16 PM PST

Porn has been around forever. Sometimes celebrated, sometimes persecuted, porn has gone through various levels of social acceptance throughout history. A cyclical porn journey, as adult content becomes too pervasive and socially acceptable, there is always an effort by government and social groups to squash it. In recent news, Apple’s purge of the app store caused widespread disappointment when even the tamest sexy apps were removed. In similar news, Wal-Mart bought out video on demand company VUDU and made the decision to completely block the sale of anything pornographic – even if you’ve already bought the video, soon it will not be viewable. With adult content purveyors targeting technology like smartphone applications and video on demand as part of the constant struggle to monetize porno, could this mass effort to purge the world of porn seriously put a damper on porn industry profits?

Let’s go back, way back to the 1800s. Early porn was shared in the form of nudie postcards that could be purchased from the local optician (weird, yes), instrument maker, or art dealers. As these postcards became more and more popular, there was a huge movement to get rid of them. Although the masses loved this form of porn (sales were astronomical), the few elite that found it offensive had the power to end it. In 1802 Britain had a specific government task force whose sole purpose was to fight porn and the U.S. government took measure to remove any pornographic pictures circulated through the mail. This story epitomizes the power struggle between the majority of porn lovers and the minority of porn haters and their ability to regulate it.

With sexy iPhone applications dominating best-seller lists and porn sites like RedTube and Pornhub listed as part of the top websites on the Internet, there is clearly a large demand for adult content. If people are demanding adult content, why are government groups and corporations like Apple, VUDU, and Google trying to block it? Many ad networks including Google won’t even advertise on sites that have been deemed adult. Some say it’s to maintain a certain type of branding image, others say it’s simply an issues or being prude. In a society where a sex tape makes a career (cough cough Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian), and where everyone from school kids to public figures like John Edwards and the cast members of the Bachelor are involved in some sort of sex scandal, could this porn persecution be in response to a complete loss of control? We see Lindsay Lohan’s side boob on E! every night, but the entire state of New York won’t stock the new issue of Q magazine because it shows the bottom half of Lady GaGa’s breast? Hell, even the infamous Janet Jackson Superbowl “wardrobe malfunction” is back in court this week to decide whether the $550,000 fine is a sufficient punishment for the broadcasters who aired the footage. Perhaps corporations and government regulators are attempting to regain control in a world where sending nude text messages has become endemic and sex tapes are the norm. From a corporate standpoint, perhaps pulling sexy apps and banning on demand porn is an attempt to distance their brand name from such scandals.

The problem that the adult industry faces with Apple and VUDU’s porn purge comes in the form of profits. Smartphone applications and video on demand have been targeted by the adult industry as the future of the porn industry. In a world where free content outweighs the amount of purchased content, tapping into new technology for profit making purposes is essential to keep the adult industry afloat. Even if corporations and policy makers try to squelch it, porn is an industry based on demand. As long as there is a demand, porn will always be around. Porn will always exist in one form or another, but without profits, the quality will clearly suffer. And we don’t want that!

Guest columnist Lydia Leavitt writes about sex and, oddly enough, social media. For more information on the latest intimate technology, check out 69adget.com.

Bill in UK may disallow public wi-fi

Posted: 27 Feb 2010 02:00 PM PST

Good luck sorting this one out, short-sighted lawmakers. An upcoming piece of major legislation in the UK, called the Digital Economy Bill, would essentially force all public wi-fi points offline by requiring impossibly high levels of copyright protection by libraries and small businesses. The bill, which bears some similarity to the controversial DMCA here in the US, is ostensibly aimed at providing copyright holders the means of controlling their content online.

But while an ISP may detect a violation by one of its subscribers and send a nastygram to the appropriate party, it’s difficult to do that when your “subscriber” is a pub or café that offers free wi-fi to customers. If someone buys a cup of coffee, downloads a few songs, and then leaves and never returns, who is at fault? According to the Digital Economy Bill, the café.

The question critics pose to the DEB’s framers is simply: how is justice done in this situation? Clearly the café is not really at fault for providing a simple service. On the other hand, if small businesses, universities, and libraries are exempted from copyright oversight legislation, they are at risk (theoretically) of becoming pirate havens. While to the informed internet citizen, the idea of a bunch of hardcore pirates all sharing a 2Mbit DSL line, sucking down bottomless cups of coffee and seeding zero-day Blu-ray rips might seem ludicrous, I assure you: the people in charge are by no means informed internet citizens. So something’s got to give — but the industry’s ignorance is an immovable object, and while you can’t stop progress, you sure can slow it down.

Again, to the advanced internet user (under which heading falls much of this site’s readership), such backwards legislation much seem unwise — with a streak of expediency. What with the applicability (if not the fundamental legal base) of copyright being shaken by all manner of P2P, media company inertia, and skyrocketing bandwidth, it seems simply impractical to pass any sort of lasting legislation — upon shifting sands, as it were. Not that a law should be passed which fails to address obvious copyright violations, but its scope and application should be limited to where it is sure-footed, and as the landscape evolves, further steps can be taken.

Should this bill become law, backpedaling will be sure to occur in five or six years, when the flaws in such unilateral proscription produce their inevitable unsavory results. I’m not familiar with the rest of the DEB, but if it is anywhere near as short-sighted in other matters as it appears to be in this one, it’s sure to make trouble for UK citizens and lawmakers alike down the road.

[image: Joe Mabel, Wikipedia]

The many hi-tech wonders of Adidas at this year’s World Cup

Posted: 27 Feb 2010 01:30 PM PST

Will Spain repeat its Euro 2008 success?

Greetings from lovely Seattle! I’m here on the West Coast for two reasons. One, Thursday was Adidas’ World Cup Media Day in Portland, and I was invited to check out all the hi-tech wonderment that the company has in store for this World Cup year. Needless to say, being a bit of a soccer fan, I was very excited to attend—I met the guy from Univision, Fernando Fiore, so I’m pretty sure I’ve accomplished all there is to accomplish in life. Two, then I took the choo-choo train to visit Devin. We’re at a café and everyone has their laptop out. It’s very Seattle.

But let’s talk about this Adidas thing for a minute.

The World Cup begins this June. It’s in South Africa, the first time the tournament has ever gone to Africa. (It’s in Brazil in 2014, in case you’re keeping score.) Team USA doesn’t have a chance in hell of winning the thing, so you’d be well advised to pick a "second team" to follow. Someone like Spain or Argentina or, dare I say, England.

Adidas will be all over the World Cup. The official ball of the tournament, the Jabulani, has already been talked about here, but a brief reminder is in order. I think the flashiest "spec" I can mention is that it’s the roundest ball ever created. You never really think about how much engineering goes into producing a ball like this, but man alive! As mentioned a few weeks ago, the ball is composed of eight 3D, thermally bonded panels. That last part, the thermally bonded business, is key, as that means the ball isn’t merely stitched together on a sewing machine or whatever. That would lead to leaky seams, which would lead to a water-logged ball, which would lead to Spain’s Xavi Hernandez missing a free kick right on the edge of the penalty box. We don’t need that.

But let’s move on from the ball for now. Adidas will also create the full kits ("jerseys") of 12 countries, including hosts South Africa; traditional European powers like Germany, France, and Spain; South American tricksters Argentina (also known as Leo Messi + 10 other guys); and Team USA’s immortal sporting enemy, Mexico.

Take a look at this video, showing France’s Nicolas Anelka scoring against Ireland in a World Cup qualifier from this past November. Be sure to pay attention to his back:

You see those weird little criss-cross straps? That’s called TechFit, a type of elastic compression layer that, according to Adidas’ own numbers, helps increase a player’s vertical leap, speed, and endurance. That’s because the straps store energy that would otherwise be lost as the player moves about. The number increase—players’ power increases by 5.3 percent, vertical leap by 4 percent, sprint speed by 1.1 percent and endurance by 0.8 percent—may not seem like a lot, but when you’re dealing with top-class athletes performing in high-pressure situations, numbers like that help immensely. Imagine David Villa being able to strike a ball 5.3 percent harder than he normally would, or Michael Ballack being able to jump 4 percent higher to nick that header, or Leo Messi running 1.1 percent faster—it’s crazy.

Of course, there’s something of a trade-off, as the TechFit does fit a little more snugly than traditional kits (Adidas’ name for those are Formotion kits), and not every player would want that. And for those wondering, FIFA has given its full blessing to the TechFit technology, so no worries there. FIFA still won’t allow video replay, but what are you going to do?

I don’t know, TechFit seems to be the most "whoa, neat" thing that’ll be at the tournament, England’s performance post-John Terry notwithstanding.

The last bit I’ll draw attention to is the players’ cleats. One of the all-time stories in World Cup history is when Germany beat Hungary 3-2 in the final of the 1954 World Cup. Germany and Hungary were pretty big rivals at the time, and Germany was looking to avenge an 8-3 loss that had occurred in the first round of the tournament. Adidas’ founder, Adi Dassler, was the German team’s equipment manager, and had provided the team with new (at the time) cleats with removable studs. Did those new cleats help the German team overcome its rivals? You’d certainly have to think so.

So, this year’s cleats! One of the fancier shoes that Adidas’ players will be using is the Predator X. (I love the names for these things.) Apparently Zidane helped to design them, so you know they’re quality. Obviously it’s lightweight—that’s a given—but one thing worth mentioning is something called the Powerspine. It’s a small strip that runs down the mid-foot area that helped stabilize your feet. That helps reduce the occurrence of injuries, like a torn ACL. The last thing the World Cup needs is someone like Kaká or Frank Lampard going down to injury in an early round game.

So yeah, I’m pretty psyched for the tournament, and it’s neat to see how much science and engineering goes into creating all the various pieces of equipment used by the teams. Presumably I’ll be watching many of the games at Nevada Smiths in New York, so come on down if you’re of age.

And here’s a video of a guy carving BioShock’s Big Daddy out of wood with a chainsaw

Posted: 27 Feb 2010 11:41 AM PST

Take a trip to the American Mid-West and chances are you’ll run across some sort of convention with a grizzly man carving random animals outside the main entrance with a chainsaw. There will likely be teenage boys onlooking, too. I can’t tell you why this man has dedicated his life to the chainsaw arts, but he’ll likely carve anything you’ll like as long as it’s a perched bald eagle or black bear.

Then there’s the guy in the video above. He must be some sort of rare hybrid woodsmen and gamer who fell in love with Big Daddy from BioShock. There likely isn’t many like him so he should be treasured and encouraged to carve more iconic video game characters. Let me suggest that his next chainsaw carving be of Gordan Freeman smashing a headcrab with his crowbar.

CONTEST! Win these handsome pump-action salt and pepper grinders

Posted: 27 Feb 2010 11:00 AM PST

There hasn't been a whole lot of advancement in the salt and pepper industry – UNTIL NOW!

Yes, the "Pump and Grind Salt and Pepper Mills" cost $20 apiece and allow you to season your favorite foods with one hand.

Made from restaurant-grade stainless steel, these may be the last salt and pepper apparatuses you'll ever have to buy. Did I say “buy?” I meant, “win!” For free! You can win both — a $40 value — courtesy of Vat19.com.

HOW TO ENTER:

Just enter a comment on this post and we’ll pick a winner at random. Contest available to US residents only, please.

Entries will be counted until 11:59 PM Eastern time Sunday night and announced Monday morning. Make sure that the comment you leave contains a valid e-mail address so we can get in touch with you for your shipping address.

Pump and Grind Salt and Pepper Mills – One finger pump action mills [Vat19.com]

Nexus One hitting Verizon on March 23rd?

Posted: 27 Feb 2010 09:18 AM PST

The last we heard the Nexus One was navigating its way through the FCC and Verizon was targeting a "Spring 2010" launch. But now there's a rumor floating around that states quite clearly that March 23, 2010 will be the launch date. Interesting...