See that gaming beauty up there? That faceplate is powered by a motor, and can lift up and down on command. Now as flashy as that is, there’s some serious gaming horsepower under that automatic hood, so the package comes with more than just good looks.

Over at PC Mag, Nicole Price Fasig has assembled a list of recession-friendly (sort of) gaming systems that still pack the oomph required to play the latest titles at high resolutions. Among them are the Acer Aspire Predator shown above, and the Gateway FX6800-01e, which earned the venerable Editor’s Choice.

Don’t get me wrong, none of these rigs are cheap in the common sense of the word – they’re cheap by comparison to similarly spec’d gaming PCs. Part of that means that the cheapest rig in the roundup just also happens to be the best, the Gateway FX6800-01e, which rings up at $1249.99 retail. That Acer up there just happens to be the most expensive in the roundup, coming in at $2199 retail.

You do get a lot of bang for the buck, to be fair, and if you’re looking for a new gaming rig and you’re not interested in building yourself, check out PC Mag’s roundup.

[ PC Mag :: Gaming PCs for Less ]

The economy’s not doing terribly well, and that’s not really news. Even so, if you still have champagne tastes and you’re only interested in the finest – or maybe more likely you have champagne tastes and you’re interested in looking at the finest because you can’t afford it, check out Splurge – a blog designed to make it easier for you to find ways to spend large sums of money…or at least wish you could.

The site highlights designer gear, rare wood furniture, gadgets and gear you didn’t know you wanted, and stuff to decorate your home that’s would probably add up to the value of your house.

For example, over at Splurge right now you can check out a winter-camo Nooka watch that’ll run you about $250, a $3400 wine credenza, an ice cube tray shaped like an AK-47 clip that makes ice cubes in the shape of rifle rounds (that’ll only run you about $15), and more.

If you’re interested in any of it, you can click to splurge and order the highlighted item. The blog is brand new, but the gear on the site is no joke – especially not the Alex Ross JSA Annual #1 Cover Original Watercolor. That one’ll run you $25,000.

[ Splurge ]

Looking for a way to get the same effect as this iconic image of Barack Obama (originally by artist Shepard Fairey)?

Well, some enterprising developers have created a PhotoBooth plugin that will allow you to take photos with your Mac’s iSight camera, run the image through PhotoBooth, and create your own Fairey-inspired photos! The images can be yourself, your friends, or your cat – anything you can get into frame with your iSight.

Interested? The Obamafy plug-in is free to download, and you can grab it and instructions on how to install and use it below:

[ Dubster.com :: Obamafy Photo Booth Plugin ]

If you don’t have a Mac, don’t have an iSight, don’t want to bother with PhotoBooth, or alternatively have a photo already that you’d like to Obamafy, you’re not out of luck!

There’s always Obamicon.me, a site that allows you to upload your own photo, and the site does the rest. You can customize the color balance, add a caption like “Hope,” “Change,” or make up one of your own, and finally you can post it to the site for the community to review and comment on or mail it to your friends.

It’s perfect for those times you want to Obamafy a photo of your best friend and send it to them! The service can also use your Webcam if you have one connected to your PC.

[ Obamicon.me ]

We’ve all heard about the uber-hyped Windows 7 by now, with Microsoft recently offering a public beta download of the forthcoming replacement for Vista. Initial impressions are very good, even as a beta version, and with good reason. Today we’re going to take a look at the five best new features of Windows 7.

Read more behind the jump.

Continue reading Top 5 Windows 7 Features…

CES is a huge show, and a number of announcements and product releases went under the radar regardless of how many shows you watched or articles you read or roundups you flipped through. Thankfully I stumbled on a blog entry over at DesignBoom that outlines some of the work that Design Partners has been doing for Logitech in bringing the next generation of G-series keyboards, mice, headsets, and peripherals to life, and how some of that work was shown off at CES this year.

I’m a huge fan of Logitech products, and if these promo images are any indication, the next G-series of products will look pretty good. I’m not totally sold on the very angular turn that the G series has taken (which explains why I prefer the G5 mouse over the G9, and the original G15 over the new G15 – well, that and I prefer blue keys over orange keys and the extra macro buttons) but the new G19 looks pretty slick, and I’d definitely pick one up if it looked like that. And it had blue keys.

[ DesignBoom :: CES 2009: Behind The Scenes - Logitech G-Series by Design Partners ]

If you follow my personal blog or know me outside of Gears and Widgets, you’ll know that I just finished building a new rig! It’s a beautiful Core i7-based computer with top of the line components, so I like to think I’ll be set for a good while – but now that I have the computer all set up the way I like with all of my favorite apps up and configured and running, what do I do to make sure that I don’t have to go through the hassle of setting it all up all over again if I get a new hard drive or something happens to the one in my new computer?

That’s right – image that drive! Take an image and store it on a backup disc; maybe an external hard drive, something, but making that first critical backup can save you hours of having to install drivers, apps, and tweaking to get your system right back to where it was when you had that terrible crash or you bought that new drive.

The blog MakeUseOf has a great tutorial that outlines five different ways to clone and back up your hard drive; whether you’re moving from one drive to a bigger one or you’re just trying to take regular backups of your system, there are great ways to make sure you can easily and quickly take images and make clones of your hard drive for safe keeping. Some apps like Clonezilla and DriveImage XML that I’m familiar with are highlighted in the article, but some other winners I’m not familiar with like EASEUS and Paragon are highlighted as well.

[ MakeUseOf :: 5 Ways To Clone & Copy Your Hard Drive ]

One of my favorite tech review and benchmarking sites, ExtremeTech, has an excellent article up by one of (if not their most senior) editors: Loyd Case.

Watching segments with Loyd is one of my favorite things about the weekly Web TV show DL.TV, and more than once have I used his suggestions when building a new rig, deciding on components to buy, and as the deciding factor among several competing and conflicting reviews. So one of ExtremeTech’s top stories this week is Loyd answering “6 Questions You’re Afraid to Ask,” and they’re all worth reading.

From whether or not partitioning is bad in this day and age to whether more RAM is better than RAM with different clock speeds, Loyd tears into some questions that are common hot topics around forums and boards across the Web. Usually you’ll never come to a solid conclusion, byt Loyd tries to put you in the right direction and let you know what you should really be concerned about – if there’s anything to worry about at all. Definitely worth reading, and more than deserving of a bookmark if you find yourself coming back to some of these questions often.

[ Ask Loyd: 6 Questions You're Afraid to Ask ]

It’s no secret that extra money is hard to come by these days. Even the richest of the rich are pulling their flow from the markets and tucking it away into safer investments. American industries are looking for help from Uncle Sam. International markets are feeling the wave from the financial shift and you feel the pinch too. This doesn’t change the fact that you need a new laptop. Yet, as much as you want that mobility, you can’t bust the budget. So, how about a compromise?

Continue reading Scoring a Solid Laptop That Won’t Bust the Budget…

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to take in IT World’s 10 Things that Won’t Survive the Recession, and it made my head hurt so badly I can’t really explain. The bulk of the suggestions have a grain of truth about them, which is usually enough to gain them inclusion on lists like this, but let’s run down the list and explain how wrong – or right – the IT World editors are, shall we?

I’ll skip the ones where I think IT World is spot on, but focus in on the ones where I think there’s really something to say here. The whole rundown is under the jump.

Continue reading Spinning Gears :: 10 Things that Won’t (or Will) Survive the Recession…

I’m a huge fan of the Logitech G5 – I even passed over the arguably better Logitech G9 gaming mouse to get another G5 – it’s one of the best mice I’ve ever used. I even chose a G5 over the Razer Lachesis I was using prior to that (that’s a whole other story). The G5 is one of ExtremeTech’s best gaming mice, but the mouse selections aren’t limited to gaming – if you’re looking for some of the most portable mice, or some of the most ergonomic and comfortable mice to use, you can find some of those as well in the rundown.

In the “best general mice” category, you’ll find mice like the Logitech MX 1100 and the MX Revolution – mice that you’d want to use at the office or for long periods of actual interaction. Admittedly I’m a Logitech fan, but there are some Microsoft mice in there also. There’s also the gaming category, the laptop category (home to winners like Logitech’s VX Revolution and The Arc Mouse), and the ergonomic category, where you’ll find really strange mice like Zero Tension Mouse and the Quill Mouse.

[ ExtremeTech :: The Best Computer Mice in Every Category ]

What would be a best mouse rundown without a best keyboard category? ExtremeTech also released a best keyboards rundown, in the generic, gaming macro, gaming hybrid, gamepad, and media center keyboard categories. The Logitech G15 (shown above, and my personal favorite – although I preferred the original one with the blue LEDs to the new one above with the orange ones) is one of the highlights in the gaming macro category, as is the Microsoft Sidewinder X6.

In the generic category, check out the Logitech MX 5500 Revolution, currently reigning supreme on my office desk. If I didn’t have one though, I’d be interested in the Ceasar KB005. My girlfriend? She adores the also highly-rated Microsoft Natural Ergonomic 4000. Head over to the hybrid gaming or gamepad categories if you’re one of those folks who loves keyboard accessories to enhance your gaming experience, and media center keyboards if you have an HTPC you’d like to control from the couch (I’m a fan of the Logitech DiNovo).

[ ExtremeTech :: The Best Keyboards for Every Occasion ]