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Gizmodo • Tuesday December 1 (2009) @ 9:40 p.m.

Dreamhack, a 10,000-person LAN party that just occurred in Sweden, is a close second to a few buddies and some hot pockets in a basement. If you're into this sort of thing. [Dreamhack and Flickr]

Family Guy: Something, Something, Something Dark Side Trailer [Star Wars]

Gizmodo • Tuesday December 1 (2009) @ 9 p.m.

We've seen Family Guy take on Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Come December 22nd, Fox will release DVDs of Family Guy's Empire Strikes Back parody. Here's the first trailer. And yes, I'm still a sucker for knee humor.

What's Wrong With a USB 3.0 ExpressCard? [USB]

Gizmodo • Tuesday December 1 (2009) @ 8:48 p.m.

Well, there really isn't much you can do with USB 3.0 yet for starters. And people who still have laptops with ExpressCard slots don't strike me as the early adopter type. Oh, and then there is the AC adapter.

You see, in order to supply the full 900mA for each port you will need weigh yourself down with the optional AC adapter when out and about. Plus, the whole thing is so damned bulky in general that you are liable to break it sooner or later. At least StarTech is offering a lifetime warranty on it. Of course, with a product like this, StarTech probably won't be around long enough for you to get your $50 worth. [StarTech via EverythingUSB via Ubergizmo]

Comcast Buying NBC From GE is a Done Deal [Television]

Gizmodo • Tuesday December 1 (2009) @ 8:39 p.m.

Comcast's acquisition of NBC from GE is a done deal reports David Faber on CNBC. All that needs to be done is paper work at this point. The deal should be announced Thursday morning, says Faber.

This is hardly a surprise. After yesterday's news that GE would buy its NBC stake from Vivendi for $5.8 billion, the closing of the deal was basically a formality.

Now comes the next phase of hard work. The deal is expected to take a year to fully close, as the government scrutinizes it.

8 Gifts for Girlfriends Neglected By Tech-Addicted Boyfriends [Gift Guide]

Gizmodo • Tuesday December 1 (2009) @ 8:20 p.m.

Hey baby, look, we all have priorities. For me, my gadgety toys just so happen to fall a teensy bit above you on the list. Don't be offended! Here, look, I got you a present! Now, back to my iPhone.

BTW, if you hate the gallery format as much as the Grinch hated Christmas, click here.

23andMe: What better way to make up for neglecting your girlfriend than by giving her the most personal gift possible: a detailed analysis of her genetic code. She'll be able to learn about her descendants as well as get clued in on what sorts of diseases she needs to look out for in the future. And as an added bonus, all that data she'll get will require a good amount of time for her to go through. Time you can spend playing video games. $300-$500 [23 and Me]

Classmates.com membership: Nothing will make her appreciate your half-assed brand of boyfriending like a trip down ex-boyfriend lane, especially the high school sections. Look, you might not be able to make it through a dinner without dicking around with your phone, but at least you didn't get fat and never leave your hometown like these schlubs. Here's to being the most palatable of an unpalatable group! $39 [Classmates.com]

New Super Mario Bros Wii: Your girlfriend might hate Modern Warfare 2, but if there's any game that will turn a game-averse girl into a trash-talking controller jockey, it's this one. You can play together, alternating between helping each other out and throwing each other into bottomless pits. I'm sure there's a metaphor for your relationship in there somewhere, but I'll leave it to you to suss out. $50 [Amazon.com]

Don't Buy: Kitchen Gadgets: Even if she says she wants to get more into cooking, you probably don't want to give her a kitchen gadget as a gift. I mean, sure, you might think that her making a delicious meal for the two of you while you surf the web sounds great, but insinuating that that's how she should pass her time will probably earn you a swift kick to the hanging brains.

Asus O!Play: Getting a gadget for a gadget-wary girl might seem like an obvious blunder, but think about it: with this thing, you can stream downloaded movies and TV shows to your TV that you can watch together! As long as you are well prepared with some of her favorite movies and shows, you'll be able to sneak in some gadget-lust fulfillment in a way that you can enjoy it together instead of by yourself. A novel thought! $99 [Link]

TiVo HD: Look, you don't have to be super into gadgets to appreciate the quality of a TiVo HD when compared to the crap DVR your cable company provides. And this is, again, something you can use together rather than something she has to tolerate you paying attention to instead of her. $215 [Amazon.com]

Canon 7D: If there's a guaranteed way to get her into gadgets, it's buying her one of the best. And really, if she's into photography even a little bit, she'll love the 7D. It's a monster of a camera, one that'll have her taking pictures all the time. Looking for something a bit cheaper? Check out our DSLR buying guide. $1,900 [Link; Amazon.com]

Don't Buy: Dyson DC25: You don't want to get this for the same reason you don't want to get her a kitchen gadget, but even more so. You can be into cooking, but no one is passionate about cleaning. Seriously, if you value your relationship at all, avoid at all costs, no matter how cool you think the vacuum is. $500 [Link; Amazon.com]

Don't forget to recommend your own favorite girlfriend-pleasing gifts in comments-include pics and pricing if possible.

All Giz Wants is our annual round-up of favorite gift ideas, including amazing attainable objects and a few far-out fantasies. We'll be popping guides catered to different interests several times per day for the next week, so keep checking back.

Steve Ballmer Rendered in BSODs [Image Cache]

Gizmodo • Tuesday December 1 (2009) @ 8:19 p.m.

Hundreds of photos of BSODs arranged into the visage of Steve Ballmer, a stabbing, probing, flicking tongue protruding from the gaping maw in the center. Here's the tongue—oh God—up close, so you can see some of the photos:

I kinda want to see a Steve Jobs made out of kernel panics and beach balls now. [Poorly Drawn Portraits via Fake Steve]

Augmented Reality Twitter App Shows You Exactly Where Your Friends Are Tweeting [IPhone Apps]

Gizmodo • Tuesday December 1 (2009) @ 8:19 p.m.

Augmented reality Twitter isn't new to the App Store, but their official geolocation service is just a few weeks old. How? Hacks! Twitter 360 is the first augmented reality Twitter app to support the official API, and it looks fantastic.

Previously, the only way to grab location data from Twitter was to scrape through user profiles or to rely on some kind of third-party geodata service, with which Twitter users could upload their current locations as individual Tweets. It worked, sort of, but it was janky and awkward. Now that Twitter lets you embed your location in each tweet without taking up any characters, things are different.

Most new iPhone Twitter clients support the GPS tagging feature, so there's no shortage of location data to play with, and Twitter 360 is one of the first apps to really take advantage of it. You can basically watch your Twitter friends leave a trail of narcissistic word nuggets all over town in real time, rendered on a map or through your iPhone's camera. It's fascinating, if, you know, you're into loose acquaintances' latitudes and longitudes. (Which is an acceptable thing, in this 2009.)

Twitter 360 is $3 and only available for the iPhone 3GS, since a compass is necessary to properly orient the tweets on screen. And the app itself is executed well enough, though its function are fairly narrow—if you can stand to wait, I'm sure free multipurpose AR apps like Layar will get support for Twitter geolocation soon enough. [iTunes]

Dual-Sided Blu-ray/DVD Discs: What the Hell Took So Long? [Rant]

Gizmodo • Tuesday December 1 (2009) @ 8:01 p.m.

HD DVD made dual-sided HD DVD/DVD combo discs in 2006. They even announced a dual-sided HD DVD/Blu-ray disc in January 2007. So why the fuck did it take three more years to make a Blu-ray/DVD combo?

Stuff like this is indicative of the problems with the Blu-ray format. Not only did they launch the format with players not fully supporting basic stuff like Ethernet ports for over-the-internet updates, it took them almost two years to get suppliers onto the Blu-ray 2.0 format, which more or less made them catch up with HD DVD's feature set. Blu-ray didn't just put the cart before the horse, they rolled the cart down a hill, waited a year, and asked the horse politely if it could go find the cart.

I don't want this post to be just a chance to re-hash all the old issues with Blu-ray, but really. Three years. It took three years for you guys to get your act together and realize most of the people—the mainstream, not Gizmodo readers—now don't really see the need to buy new players, new discs and new TVs just to watch movies in high def. Hell, one in five people can't tell the difference between SD and HD.

Don't get me wrong; this is a wonderful idea. With combo discs you can eliminate the need for standalone DVD releases, thereby saving shelf space AND putting Blu-ray discs in the hands of people that wouldn't necessarily have purchased Blu-ray. Once these unwitting customers collect enough Blu-ray combo discs, they just might buy a cheap BD player and convert. Really, it's a great sales tactic and something that will ease the transition for the less technologically inclined.

But answer me this, Blu-ray consortium: why did it take you three extra years to pull this off?

Gadgets Deals of the Day [Dealzmodo]

Gizmodo • Tuesday December 1 (2009) @ 8 p.m.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday have come and gone, but that doesn't mean that the Dealz well is dry. Be sure to sign up for a VIP membership to Zappos.com that guarantees you free overnight shipping for life. FOR LIFE.

Top Deals:
• 16" Toshiba Satellite A500-ST6622 2.1GHz Laptop for $623.20 with free shipping (normally $779).
• Creative Labs HS-980 Fatal1ty Professional MKII Gaming Headset for $54.99 with free shipping (normally $99.99)
• Free Zappos VIP Membership (Guaranteed Free Overnight Shipping Forever) for $0.

Gaming:
• Xbox 360 Elite 250GB Modern Warfare 2 console + 12 Month Live Gold Card for $399.99 plus free shipping (normally $439.95).
• DJ Hero Renegade (Jay-Z & Eminem) Turntable Bundle [Wii] for $159.97 plus free shipping (normally $189).
• Don King Presents Prizefighter (360) for $7.99 (normally $15).
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (360) for $7.90 (normally $17).
• Batman Arkham Asylum (360/PS3) for $39.99 plus free shipping (normally $58.99).
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes (PC) for $16.90 (normally $25).
• Creative Labs HS-980 Fatal1ty Professional MKII Gaming Headset for $54.99 with free shipping (normally $99.99).
• Go Play Lumberjacks (Wii) for $9.98 (normally $19.99).
• Go Play Circus Star (Wii) for $9.98 (normally $17.99).
• Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (360/PS3/Wii/DS) for $12.98 (normally $19.99).
• Rhythm Heaven (DS) for $9.98 (normally $29.99).
• Scribblenauts (DS) for $19 (normally $29.99).

Personal Portables and Peripherals:
• 64GB Apple iPod Touch (3rd Generation) for $339.99 plus free shipping (normally $365).
• Creative Labs Vado HD 4GB Pocket Camcorder 2nd generation for $99.99 with free shipping (list $179.99).
• Visual Land V-Touch 8 GB Video MP3 Player for $58.36 plus free shipping (normally $104.40).
• Archos 7 160 GB Internet Media Tablet for $209.99 plus free shipping (normally $411.48).
• Sony Walkman NWZ-E345 16GB MP3 Player for $57.40 plus free shipping w/ Google Checkout (normally $99).
• Disney Hannah Montana 1GB Mix Stick MP3 Players for $12.99 plus free shipping (normally $25).
• TomTom ONE 130 3.5" Portable GPS Navigation (3.5in) for $76.00 plus free shipping (normally $99).
• Nikon 7266 Action 10 X 40mm Binoculars for $57.87 plus free shipping (normally $75).
• Viewsonic 10-inch Digital Photo Frame w/ 2GB Internal Memory for $69.99 (normally $98).

Hobomodo:
• Free Zappos VIP Membership (Guaranteed Free Overnight Shipping Forever) for $0.
• Free food every other day until December 24 at Whataburger.
• Definitive Jux Free 12 Track Sampler (Explicit) for $0 (download here).
• Scraps (iPhone) for $0 (normally $2.99).
• We The Kings: Make It Or Not MP3 for $0 use code: WETHEKINGS
• Priscilla Renea: City Love MP3 for $0 use code: CITYLOVE
• American Greetings: Free Photobook or 11 x 8 Calendar or 25 Photo Paper Holiday Cards for $0 .
• Free Photo with Santa at WalMart for $0 (use this form).
• Free Subscription to Flying Magazine Subscription for $0 (use this form).

If a deal looks too good to be true, investigate the store and see if it's a good, reputable place to buy. Safe shopping!

[Thanks TechDealDigger, Dealzon, Logic Buy, GamerHotline, Cheap College Gamers, CheapStingyBargains and TechBargains.]

Via Mobile-ITX Platform is Half the Size of the Pico-ITX, Still Powerful [Motherboards]

Gizmodo • Tuesday December 1 (2009) @ 7:59 p.m.

Via's Pico-ITX motherboard was small and powerful to begin with, but their new Mobile-ITX platform is about half the size and supposedly still packs a punch while keeping power consumption low.

Because of that low power consumption and tiny package, the Mobile-ITX should be great for always-on devices and even smaller gadgets. As far as whta features it brings to the table, it looks like there's support for "core CPU, chipset and memory functionality and I/O that includes the CRT, DVP and TTL display support, HD Audio, IDE, USB 2.0, as well as PCI Express, SMBus, GPIO, LPC, SDIO and PS2 signals." Wowza. Quite a lot for such a small fellow. [Hot hardware via Engadget]

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