Tech Olive

As we all know, many retailers offer a little piece of exclusive in-game content, discount or some other pre-order bonus to get your business. Bad Company 2 has been no exception. However, it seems that EA, the game’s publisher, is looking to offer the most for your money. By pre-ordering Bad Company 2 Limited Edition (digital download) from EA’s online store at $44.95 (use M93SW4PQQ2 checkout code for $5 off), you get access to the game’s online beta, limited edition bonus in-game items, and a free copy of Battlefield 2142.

We could’ve seen this coming from miles away, but a Florida resident by the name of Eva Hibnick has filed a legal complaint on behalf of all 31.2 million Gmail users. The complaint mentions that Google broke the law when they allowed their social networking service, Google Buzz, to share private data without the user’s consent, as well as not giving users the option up front whether or not to use Buzz in the first place.

Google has been making incremental changes to improve the privacy of the service ever since its release, but apparently that wasn’t enough.

Google has declined to comment for now, as they have yet to review the case.

via [SF Chronicle]

This is one huge SD card for sure, but it only holds a measly 256MB. Rather, it holds 60 4×6 printed photos. It can be yours when it starts shipping this April for £10 (or $16) from Spinninghat.com. Hit the jump for more shots of the album.

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It seems Disney isn’t missing an opportunity to milk another franchise for all its worth. Pixar’s newest upcoming animated blockbuster, Toy Story 3, is headed to theaters this June 16th with the game scheduled to release the previous day. So, you’ll have one day to play the spoiler-tastic game that is based on the movie’s story before the movie itself releases.

“With Toy Story 3: The Video Game, audiences will have multiple ways to experience and enjoy the Toy Story world,” said Craig Relyea, senior vice president of global marketing, Disney Interactive Studios. “Story Mode follows the film’s story and adventures, while Toy Box Mode gets to the playful heart of the Toy Story franchise. By combining the power of imagination with the Toy Story universe, the game appeals to the joy of play in all of us.”

[Press Release]

A small social networking site that you might have heard of, known as Facebook, has surpassed Yahoo to take over the second position as the most visited website in the world. Web analytics firm Compete.com brings us the proof. Facebook’s traffic for the month of January was 133.62 million visitors. Yahoo’s was 132.00 million. Of course, the guys over at Mountain View still have the gold medal for most visitors and they definitely won’t give up that spot easily.

via [Mashable]

With the release of Shattered Horizon‘s free, DLC map pack dubbed Moonrise, Futuremark has decided to offer a free weekend for any gamers wishing to try the game before buying it. The free weekend is scheduled to start this Friday, February 18th and will run until Sunday, February 21st. Pre-loading has started, so feel free to get a quick head-start for this weekend.

[Press Release]

Need an easy way to convert all of those old VHS tapes into digital videos? Buffalo’s PC-SDVD/U2G USB dongle makes it dead easy. You can connect your VCR to your PC via composite or S-Video and output those VHS tapes into DVDs or even iPod-formatted video. It’s been released in Japan so far, but has not yet reached the United States, but we should see it arrive here anytime.

via [Gizmodo]

EA has just announced that online servers for Lord of the Rings: Conquest and Mercenaries 2: World in Flames will cease their service on March 16th. EA is also planning the closure of many console-based game servers, so you may want to play it safe and go check out their Service Updates page for all the current information on server closings.

An upcoming indie game by the name of Max and the Magic Marker has received the demo treatment today and it doesn’t fail to impress. In short, the game is set in the imagination and on the drawing paper of Max. The game is a platformer in which you control Max and draw objects for him to climb on and interact with in order to pass obstacles and complete the level. Think Braid meets Crayon Physics. The game is packed with colorful, funny and — dare I say it — cute artwork. This is a game that should entertain any type of gamer. Head on over and grab the single-level, 23MB Unity-based demo. If you like it enough, buy yourself a copy of the game.

For those of you still grasping onto the release candidate of Windows 7, your time will come to an end very shortly. Microsoft sent out an email today reminding those still using the RC that they better think of other plans. On March 1, 2010, computers running Windows 7 RC will begin shutting down every two hours. Work will not be saved during these shutdowns. On June 1, 2010, Windows 7 RC will fully expire.

You can, in fact, continue to still use the RC in two hour increments, but you’ll also have to put up with a black background with an annoying message on the desktop, as well as periodic notifications alerting you that your copy is no longer genuine.