Tech Olive

Tonight is the closing date for our first ever Tech Olive reader survey. We will continue to accept submissions (which also enters you for a chance to win a Limited Edition White Razer Destructor) until 11:59pm (EST) tonight. So anyone that has not yet filled out our survey, please get it done tonight!

The entire survey consists of about 10 questions and shouldn’t eat more than 10 minute of your valuable gaming time. So, head over to our survey page and help us make Tech Olive better!

Image Credit: Seattle Municipal Archives

Microsoft’s most recently published game, Gears of War, is now available for download on Games for Windows Live for $20 (or 1600 MS points). You can also grab BioShock for $20 and Max Payne for a cool $10.

via [Big Download]

So, we’ve all had time to ponder the implications of Hulu’s new paid subscription service. Here’s what you get for $10/month essentially:

• HD Streaming of entire seasons of numerous TV shows (including discontinued shows).
• Streaming to your iPad or iPhone.
• Streaming to Samsung, Sony, and Vizio TVs and Blu-ray players (coming soon).
• Streaming to your PS3 or Xbox 360 (coming soon).
• Ads are still prevalent.

So, the real question is, are you getting Hulu Plus? Vote and discuss!

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While details surrounding the game’s reveal are a bit thin, BioWare has announced Dragon Age 2 with a new landing page, and there are some details for fans to latch onto along with some concept art and a promise of a trailer debuting August 17th.

Key Features:

• Embark upon an all-new adventure that takes place across an entire decade and shapes itself around every decision you make.
• Determine your rise to power from a destitute refugee to the revered champion of the land.
• Think like a general and fight like a Spartan with dynamic new combat mechanics that put you right in the heart of battle whether you are a mage, rogue, or warrior.
• Go deeper into the world of Dragon Age with an entirely new cinematic experience that grabs hold of you from the beginning and never lets go.
• Discover a whole realm rendered in stunning detail with updated graphics and a new visual style.

Epic Vid of the Week is a weekly series that showcases an awesome video that we or our readers discover. Some you may have seen before and others you may have not. If you’ve discovered any videos that are worthy of an Epic Vid of the Week title, let us know!

Remember kids, eat your vegetables….

Hey-Oh! The first beta of the new Firefox 4 is up and ready for usage. It seemed like yesterday when Firefox 3.0 came about and already we’re seeing Firefox 4.0 at full beta throttle. Sadly, this first beta is Windows only. If you’re a Linux or Mac OS X user, sorry about your luck, but hopefully they’ll have something for you shortly.

EDIT: This first beta is out for all three platforms, but only Windows users get the new UI.

As always, use the beta version at your own risk. Most of your add-ons probably won’t work and you might encounter a few bugs here and there, but if you’re feeling ambitious, feel free to hit up the download link and let us know what you think!

[Download Firefox 4 Beta 1]

As promised, NASA’s free-to-play MMO released on Steam today for a total cost of $0.00. Head over to Steam’s store page and start downloading the game for yourself and lets us know what you think of the game!

With the recent announcement that Starbucks would be bringing free WiFi to all of their U.S. stores, only one thing was on my mind: “it’s about freaking time.” If a $4 latte wasn’t enough to make you think of highway robbery, maybe spending $4 more for a measly two hours of web time hit the spot. Thank goodness that won’t be the case anymore starting July 1st.

So why isn’t there more free WiFi like this? And if there is, why is it not hassle-free? Heck, why aren’t there enough WiFi hotspots in the world to begin with? A part of me wants to just say, “give it time,” and eventually you’ll find more places where there’s free WiFi, but it just seems like we’re overdue.

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The Bargain Bin is a weekly feature that helps out gamers in the tough economy. How does it help? Once a week, it offers a great and cheap game ($10 or less) to keep you going until your next paycheck.

Cover the windows, lock the doors, turn off the lights and keep your crowbar handy. Today, the Bargain Bin offers you a fantastic deal on a pack of all three Penumbra games.

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Want to see the Earth as it looks right now and have it show on your desktop? Well, you can with a little nifty application called Desktop Earth. It automatically downloads snapshots of the Earth from NASA every few minutes and turns it into a desktop wallpaper. It shows the night-and-day cycle, as well as clouds. It also has a few different options like the frequency of updating the wallpaper and how much cloud cover you want, as well as what to show on the night cycles. Despite it being an actual program that runs in the background, it really doesn’t take up a lot of resources. Give it a try!

[Desktop Earth]