Okay, that’s not exactly what the folk over at Wired are saying, but they do suggest that you’re missing out on some some good stuff if you’ve ignored these:

10. Astro Boy: Omega Factor (Sega, Game Boy Advance)
9. Baten Kaitos (Namco, GameCube)
8. Gradius V (Konami, PlayStation 2) (also Neo Contra)
7. Bejeweled 2 (PopCap, PC)
6. Sly 2: Band of Thieves (Sony, PlayStation 2)
5. Phantom Brave (NIS America, PlayStation 2)
4. Technic Beat (Mastiff, PlayStation 2)
3. Otogi 2: Immortal Warriors (Sega, Xbox)
2. Metroid Zero Mission (Nintendo, Game Boy Advance)
1. Katamari Damacy (Namco, PlayStation 2)

But if you want to know why, you’ll have to read the story.

The last 12 months have seen a dramatic growth in almost every security threat that plague Windows PCs. The count of known viruses broke the 100,000 barrier and the number of new viruses grew by more than 50%.

That doesn’t include phishing trips and bot nets. And, says the BBC, these are not the work of boy hackers. This is organized crime. (Of course! Who do you think hired the boy hackers?)

Although “HOT LESBIAN ACTION” made the list of most frequently sent junk e-mails, or spam, porn ads slipped down the list of top junk e-mails in 2004, replaced by, among others, those hawking online Vioxx prescriptions.

And you can’t even get Vioxx any more…

“The efforts of VoIP providers to keep individual states from regulating their services received another boost Tuesday, when an appeals court agreed with a lower court decision that ruled VoIP is a data service and, as such, can’t be regulated by states.

The two-page decision was issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in St. Louis. The original decision in support of VoIP provider Vonage was issued in October of 2003 by Federal District Court Judge Michael J. Davis, after the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) told Vonage it would have to pony up fees to support the state’s 911 services. The PUC also told Vonage it would be required to obtain telephony company business licenses to do business as a telephone operator in Minnesota.”

Thus and more spake TechWeb.

I have a soft spot for Quake. When we launched Gamecenter for CNET I called the early shots of the game “dark and gloomy” and was not a popular gal (believe me), but man oh man take a look at it now. The faces are razor sharp, the darkness is balanced, and the resolution is stunning.

Of course, you’ll have to wait, but isn’t that what gaming is all about? And someday, maybe even Bill’s Lab of Doom will be the Lab of Quake? Nah…….

Full Screenshot One
Full Screenshot Two

Dateline… Right Now! After undoing all their shoes to gain additional computing power, scientists have determineed that Friday, April 13, 2029 will not be the day that we all get hit by a 1,300 foot asteroid. Rest easy, Earth. You’re not going to end up in the corner pocket.

The folks at Extreme Tech put it best, “Matrox Graphics Inc. quietly introduced its latest Parhelia graphics card bringing the technology into the PCI Express age. The $349 card will be available in the first quarter of 2005.

The Parhelia APVe supports dual-display plus HDTV output from a single graphics card, as well as dual-DVI outs plus standard definition TV (SDTV) output. The 128MB Parhelia APVe is PCI Express x16 compatible and features dual 400 MHz RAMDACs with independent lookup tables for fully symmetric dual-head output at resolutions up to 1920 x 1440 per display and resolutions up to 1920 x 1200 per digital flat panel. HDTV output is supported in both 1080i and 720p resolutions via an included YPbPr analog component cable.”

Any takers out there?

News of the Day Dept: Infoworld had a quick piece about the Santy worm and its onslaught against PHP scripts. According to the article, “The worm is taking advantage of search engines, including Google, Yahoo and AOL to identify exploitable Web pages, IDG News Service reports. Jonathan Singer, research associate for security solutions and services with The Yankee Group, advises IT managers to look to security providers such as Symantec to find appropriate responses.”

Meanwhile….

In another story, it seems that the CEO of PeopleSoft resigned. That was fast. Anyone shocked? Didn’t think so.