nVIDIA has been at the top of their game for the last few years, delivering value priced mid-range cards and beefy high-end GPUs that dwarf most of ATi’s offerings. With their sense of market control in check, nVIDIA has begun it’s foray into more software applications in order to increase their video card profits. With their excellent 3d graphics rendering software, Gelato, nVIDIA is also getting into film production.

A small sample of their progress on the new short film created with version 2.2 of the Gelato final-frame rendering software, and is available on their web site. While simply a sneak peek at the power and capabilities of the software, this film, titled The Plush Life, seems to be on the right track. Later this month, nVIDIA will release the final film produced on their rendering platform with the power of their GPUs.

Here is a direct link to the video, available for download.

The rootkit developed by famous security researcher Joanna Rutkowska known as “Blue Pill” was once unstoppable, with claims that the malware was 100% undetectable and therefore extremely dangerous and useful for hackers (so why did she make it then- it’s like making a nuclear bomb just to see if you could). Now, Tom Ptacek and some close research buddies have found a way to detect the rootkit, and have challenged Joanna to a Secure-off aka SecureDown. This is all kind of like how the agents were impossible to beat until Neo came along, i.e. Tom Ptacek = Neo and Joanna/Blue Pill = Agent Smith.

In response to the offer of a showdown

Rutkowska posted a message saying she was ready for the challenge. But she stipulated that the challenging researchers—Ptacek, Nate Lawson of Root Labs, Symantec researcher Peter Ferrie and Matasano’s Dino Dai Zovi—fund two people, full-time for six months at $200 per hour, to develop the rootkit to a state of readiness.

Since the “Blue Pill” operates in the hypervisor level of the computer host, it is much harder to detect than a simple rootkit on the hard drive. Of course, most security enthusiasts think that this undetectable rootkit is a scare tactic or exaggeration, I somewhat agree. Even though hardcore system protection analysts can see right through this problem, an average novice computer user would have a lot more trouble realizing exactly how this rootkit even works (find out more about the Hypervisor Level in computers).

Either way, the challenge date between the two teams for rootkit supremacy is set to be at the Black Hat Briefings on August 1 or 2, loser goes home. Read the rest of the story here.

Seriously does it get any sexier than this? The iriver Life Unit designed by the famed Niro Nakamichi has got to be one of the sexiest gadgets I’ve seen this year. It speaks volumes about a company that can make a hot product without looking like other “apples”.

The updated teaser site doesn’t reveal stuff we really want to know like price and release date but it does give a glimpse into what the Life Unit will do. In a nutshell - EVERYTHING.

We’re talkin’ center of your home entertainment hub here. Slot load CD/DVD player, LCD screen that’s detachable and turns into a PMP device! It’s got wireless capability for streaming, a port that charges and syncs with iriver players, a sic touchscreen remote control that unfolds into a 78-key QWERTY keyboard, a radio, a TV tuner, and last but not least; custom designed Nakamichi audio system.
Hell, they should have made it into a phone too. Many more pictures after the jump. (more…)

Media centers seem to be all the rage nowadays, as high definition movies and television shows, as well as higher quality picture and music have started to invade the market. While some recent additions to the media center families, like AppleTV and distinguished models from several startup companies have been impressive, none have really captured the idea of replacing a Tivo, computer, amplifier, receiver, Netflix deliveries, media players, DVD player, and catch-all computer … until now.

As Alienware describes it, the Hangar 18 can do just about anything:

* Watch - Watch, pause, and record your movies, TV shows, photos, and internet videos on your widescreen TV in high definition
* Listen - Listen to all your favorite songs and artists with Hangar18’s onboard 5.1 surround sound amplifier
* Share - Wirelessly stream all your media to other PCs, mobile devices, and media extenders throughout your home.
* Download - Download content from all over the internet to one secure location to store and share with your home and others.

Full details and more pictures inside!
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Sorry if you haven’t seen all of these movies, but I am sure that you will enjoy this shirt if you have seen some of them. Also, if you haven’t seen these movies, and do not know the main character’s names, then you should be fine. I don’t feel bad about spoiling these films, since the bulk of the titles have been released years ago.

This if from a threadless.com T-shirt design by the way. Here is the link.

For the past few weeks I’ve been hearing nothing but bad news for Spider-Man 3, which I had hoped the stories to be false. Well they’re not, so I want to save everyone out there ten bucks this weekend by giving you my top ten reasons to avoid this movie like men should avoid rape. But first a little unnecessary backstory of my own, inspired by the film:
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On the surface, the streaming web video site Nabolister appears to be like any other carbon-copy of YouTube and Google Video. After first seeing the low quality/low bandwidth homepage and the cartoony video player controls, Nabolister seems casually expendable, another poorly done web site. Of course, that all changes after following the links across the top of the web site, most notably the link to the movie section.

Nabolister, which will undoubtedly get taken down very quickly, seems to think that streaming the full-length versions of copy-written movies is completely legal. Most of the movies are DivX encoded DVD rips or DVD screeners, and all can be found through certain sites across the internet, but this site lets people who are inept at P2P and Bit Torrent transfers see their pirated movies with ease.

Here are links to some of the films that will surely raise some trouble from their respective studios:
300
The Departed
Schindler’s List
Disturbia

They even have TV shows!
Battlestar Galactica
Family Guy
House MD
24

Have a Zune? If you join ZuneReactor, you can get an unlimited supply of media for an annual fee of $39.96, or even pay the current introductory price of $29.46! As always, don’t jump aboard this site of lecherous pirates without doing some research, unless you love throwing money at people (send me some).

As if this site didn’t already seem illegitimate, all of the links that should lead to the list of artists, shows, and movies that they have to offer just direct the browser towards the “buy it now!” page. As a matter of fact, the site kind of resembles the misleading nature of gym memberships, porn web sites, and school.

Even if I did have a Zune, I probably wouldn’t trust this site without seeing a list of available media and first-hand hearsay from satisfied customers. But seriously, this site sounds great, no doubt a product of smart advertising from money-hungry web-hooligans:

Download as many songs, HD-quality movies, and tv shows as you want for your Zune MP3/Video Player, plus get unlimited access to all the latest Zune downloads as soon as they are released. With ZReactor, all the best content for your Zune is just a click away. Get an unlimited access pass and start downloading your favorite videos, music, themes, pictures, and more for your Zune in just a few minutes.

Sounds scandalous. At the very least, if the site is legit but has a subpar selection of media, you get a copy of Zune Converter Pro for free. Can anyone attest to this site’s quality?

This week in ridiculous tech

Yeah, in case you may be wondering, I have watched the entire Back to the Future trilogy recently, and may be a little obsessed with the movies, but this will pass in time. In celebration of this event, I would like to release the post of Linux Dood of the Week (inspired by none other than Mac Girl of the Week and thought up by our very own Adam “Stuntman Mike” Kovic). This week’s dood is happily upgrading your ram as we speak, and will soon be in your fridge stealing your food.

Also this week in technology: GameSpy’s contemptible server service that is ruining my online fun with Command and Conquer 3. Please fix this EA. I really do dislike being disconnected from my game or not being able to see a lobby or room in order to start a game. Maybe the Linux Dood can help you guys fix your servers.

More after the jump!
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So there’s a new full length movie streaming site on the block, MovinFlicks.com. Like their predecessors, they are offering current movies for your downloading pleasure and at DVD quality ta boot. The legality of viewing films on such a site is pretty cloudy, but if you’re feeling dangerous give it a shot. Personally, I can’t wait to load up Little Man in all its crap-tastic Wayans Brothers glory, slaughter the brain cells I escaped Vegas with last weekend and cry myself to sleep.

[Via Gizmodo]