An anonymous reader writes "MP3newswire.net has just released part III and part IV of their iPod Killers for Xmas list. Standouts are a $1200 24K gold-plated player from Jens of Sweeden, a 137 Gig unit called the Xclef, Sony's first true MP3 player, and iRiver's MPEG-4 video jukebox. If you missed them, here are parts I and II."

Mr. Christmas Lights writes "NASA just retired the last of the KC-135 'vomit comets' which were used for reduced (and zero-g) gravity research by flying a parabolic trajectory for about 25 seconds of Zero-G. Two of these planes (originally Air Force aerial tankers) were used with the first one being retired in 2000. /. readers will be happy to know that among the various achievements was 'at least 285 gallons of vomit' .. although unknown how much when it was used for filming the Apollo 13 movie. NASA is replacing the KC-135's with a DC-9. There is some personal significance for me in that my father flew this airplane in the 1970's for the (real) Apollo astronauts ... he commented that maintaining the Zero-G profile was accomplished not by using the sensitive G-Meter, but by hanging a nut from a string in the cockpit ... if it drops, push forward, if it raises, pull back - simple but effective. There is a recent commercial offering in this area where for a measly $3,000, you can go for a ride in Gravity One ."

Mr. Christmas Lights writes "The Denver Post has written the last three days (Tue, Wed, Thu) about how computer viruses have crippled the Colorado Department of Motor Vehicle's computers since last Friday. This has prevented them from issuing new/renewed licenses, so they are providing 30-day extension stickers. The 'dozen experts' have decided that 'fresh software' is the best way to remedy it - probably means re-installing Windows, but have they considered Linux? Colorado seems to be having its share of problems - today's article mentions the Zinc Whiskers issue several months ago that knocked the the Colorado secretary of state offline for a couple of weeks. And it could only get worse as the JPEG exploit starts showing up in the wild."

Mr. Christmas Lights writes "sudo has been free software for over 20 years and 'allows a system administrator to give certain users (or groups of users) the ability to run some (or all) commands as root or another user while logging the commands and arguments.' (Previous /. stories include how you can use it to distribute root access and also how Microsoft patents sudo - ummmm, have they heard of prior art?!?) While it will continue to be freely available, Todd Miller (the sudo maintainer for the last 10+ years) has decided to offer commercial support. For those thousands of Sysadmins out there who have benefited from sudo, here's your chance to thank Todd for a wonderful tool and also help support further development of sudo."

Mr. Christmas Lights writes "According to this CNN article, Todd Krampitz's liver transplant operation was a success. What is significant about this is how he used a multi-media campaign to get a donor - this included billboards stating 'I need a Liver. Please help Save my Life' that all pointed to his web site at ToddNeedsALiver.com where you can read more. Certainly a novel use of the World Wide Web."

Mr. Christmas Lights writes "While zinc whiskers, small metallic fibers which grow on surfaces that have been electroplated with zinc, aren't a problem for Christmas lights, they can cause serious problems for computers. The Denver Post reports how they caused computer outages for the last three weeks in the Colorado secretary of state's office. This basically halted business and elections document filings. Zinc whiskers are becoming more of a problem as computers electronics get smaller. NASA has a good reference site which includes a interesting PDF summary paper complete with pictures. /.'ers with computer rooms might want to check this out."

Mr. Christmas Lights writes "There is a Search Engine Optimization contest that just started up. For those that don't know about SEO, it's basically the process of optimizing a web page and links to insure a high ranking on search engine, with Google being the main search engine of interest. There are countless debates on the best approach. Note that there are 'white hat' and definitely 'black hat' methods (using the later can get you banned by Google - a risk some people seem willing to take! ;-)" Read more on this contest below.

Thanks to GameSpot for its preview of Insomniac's PS2 title Ratchet And Clank: Up Your Arsenal and a similar hands-on look at Naughty Dog's PS2 game Jak 3, as Sony's big platform-action titles for Xmas 2004 get shown in detail for the first time. Notable changes for Ratchet And Clank 3 include "a fully loaded multiplayer game as well, for online or offline play. The broadband-only mode will support up to eight players, with voice support via the PlayStation 2's USB headset" - the preview calls it "a nice bit of addictive madness that had some surprising echoes of Battlefield 1942." Contrastingly, Jak 3 apparently "does a lot of what Jak II did in terms of gameplay, in that it takes the bulk of its predecessor's mechanics and builds out" although we're assured the title "is being tweaked to address player concerns with Jak II's gameplay."

Gamaroo writes "EuroGamer.net has up an interesting editorial by Kristan Reed in regards to the lack of hits that result from so many game releases near the Christmas shopping season, and the resulting post-Xmas lull. As Reed stated, 'Note to publishers; we can't afford to buy 20 games in the run up to Christmas. Even 10 would be a struggle, and the truth is gamers are forced to play safe and go for the games they know are going to be good.' He goes on to state that, 'Of the eight or so games that Microsoft put out exclusively on Xbox, just one of them (Project Gotham Racing 2) actually sold in decent numbers. Of Sony's extensive line up, literally all of them flopped; leaving its summer hit Eye Toy: Play to fly the flag for its first party strategy.'" It's worth noting that the editorial refers to the UK charts/sales figures, so Xmas release dates differed somewhat from the States.

Thanks to the Hollywood Reporter for its column discussing major videogames originally due to launch in time for Christmas 2003, but which didn't quite make it. In the course of discussing these titles, which include James Bond 007: Everything Or Nothing, the article notes: "Game publishers, in general, recognize that the Christmas rush... is a huge marketing problem. This past Christmas, they say, there were too many good games coming out at the same time and quite a few didn't sell well." A spokesperson for Microsoft elaborates on this: "My prediction is we'll be spreading out the releases and shipping some in early September and others in January and February of 2005... But we can only do that with really great games that can stand on their own." Is weak sales when launching outside the holiday season a genuine problem, or just a self-perpetuating myth?

jkcity writes "In an interview with Nintendo's Perrin Kaplan on IGN Cube, she claims: 'We basically won 2003 [in the U.S.] and moved ourselves to the number two spot, and Microsoft's Xbox to number three', also noting: 'Year-on-year we were up 68.5% [in December] based on units sold. We sold about 1.1 million GameCubes in December... For the whole year we were up 35%. Our competitors were both in the negative.' But an analyst quoted in an [overly harsh?] BBC News story is less impressed, suggesting the console 'did not do as well as I would have expected'." Elsewhere, a Reuters story notes that PlayStation 2 sales in the U.S. "fell 27 percent to 2.94 million units in November and December from four million units a year earlier", but the console still seems to be outselling the GameCube's increased Xmas volume.

Thanks to Reuters for their story indicating that the UK videogame software market swelled to a new high of 1.26 billion UKP (2.29 billion USD) in 2003. The piece points out the increasing success of publisher Electronic Arts, "which notched up five of the top 10 selling titles, and the top four overall", and the original ELSPA press release notes that soccer title "FIFA 2004 was the overall [sales] winner." However, Gamesindustry.biz weighs in by revealing that "total [console hardware] units sold over the crucial Christmas period were down by over 10 per cent year on year", and pointing out that "the overall picture clearly indicates that hardware sales have peaked a year earlier than some analysts predicted - meaning the next two Christmases will be even more challenging for retailers, with discounted software likely to be rife as they battle for market share." The dominance of the PlayStation 2 at UK retail is supreme, though, as: "Over the crucial last four weeks, the PS2 outsold the Xbox by 2.69 to one, and the sixty-pounds-cheaper Cube by 4.81 to one."

An anonymous reader writes "Some online and offline videogames make special changes for the holiday season. There's the Planetside Christmas decorations, where Sony has embedded the holidays into their futuristic online war, and also a Christmas mutator for Unreal Tournament 2003. What other holiday changes are people seeing in their gaming today?" Phantasy Star Online has also instituted some neat changes for Xmas.

runlvl0 writes "Once again, NORAD is tracking Santa Claus on his annual trip around the world via the NORAD Tracks Santa website. Oddly, as of 1900 GMT, Santa is taking a spin over the Persian Gulf. I guess that he's glad not to have to worry about "no-fly zones" this year." NORAD has been keeping an eye on our favorite present deliverer for a few years now. Elsewhere, pixelbeat writes "Michael Still created a lovely Tux in Xmas tree lights. The complete process from gimp to the final 707 lights was documented."

zzxc writes "Last year, slashdot mentioned Alek Komarnitsky's 2002 Christmas Light display with the ability to turn ON and OFF each zone of lights. This year, he has added the ability to pan and zoom the camera in the web control, which works from 5-12 MST. You can select zoom from 1-5x, pan horizontally and vertically by selecting the angle, as well as turn each zone of lights ON or OFF. He also has sensors that tell you the current temperature, humidity, if it detects stars (vs clouds), and more. However after last year's 22,000 web controlled lights, he's "burnt out", putting up less than 4,000 lights. Last year, his lights pulled 78.6 amps of current. This year, he is only pulling about 14.7 amps. Also, last year his home T1 line was completely saturated by all the press attention. This year, he's ready. (Note that this is not referring to X10 wireless video cameras, but to power control devices using the x10 protocol.)"

Thanks to CNN Money for their article discussing gifts for the obscenely rich videogamer, as they buck the trend of budget-conscious holiday game shopping and try to pick "the nifty gifts the uber-wealthy will receive this holiday season from their uber-wealthy friends." Picks include Tsunami Visual's TsuMo Deluxe, a $20,000 arcade game which has an adapted version of Crimson Skies as a game option, and Hanaho Games' $5,000 ArcadePC Deluxe, an officially Capcom-licensed 50-game arcade machine which is apparently "extraordinarily popular among professional athletes." If money was genuinely no object, what gaming goodies would you buy for yourself and your friends this holiday season?

Musrum writes "Hubbards, the New Zealand based makers of fine breakfast cereals, have launched 'Cafe au Lait', which they describe as "light coffee flavored flakes". This is great, just the thing for Xmas morning, wonderful coffee flavour, not too sweet. What took them so long? The packaging meets all known requirements for political correctness. Brain Health Warning: Do NOT read the enclosed 'Clipboard' newsletter unless you are inured against extreme examples of twee-ness."

tomhudson writes "According to zdnet, emachines, the company geeks like to make fun of, finally has a toy we'd all like to get for Xmas -- an Athlon64 on the cheap :-)"

Thanks to GamerDad for their article discussing recommended board games to buy or play this Christmas. The writer argues: "Particularly in the last ten years, board games have evolved and changed, so that they are a far cry from the games of old", and goes on to recommend anything from the Lord Of The Rings board game ("one of the most unique board games of recent years"), to Dvonn ("A game that could best be compared to the abstract strategy of checkers.") What are you going to be buying novice board gamer relatives this Xmas?

Alien54 writes "Well, more exactly, be advised that if you are giving a Dell for Xmas, not only will it probably come preloaded with spyware, but their tech support lines will refuse to tell users how to remove it, and will not give people advice on where to find some good tools to remove it. As seen in the latest newsletter from SpyWareInfo, Dell sent an internal memo to its tech support minions which says in part: 'NOTICE: Use of spyware removal software may conflict with user license agreements of other applications installed on your system. Please consult your user license agreements for further information. Dell does not endorse the use of spyware removal software and cannot provide support on these products.' This means we do not take callers to download.com or doxdesk.com, nor do we recommend spyware removal programs, nor do we advise callers on the use of spyware removal programs. This includes using phrases "We don't support the removal of spyware, but I use..."'" (Read on below.Update: 12/03 06:36 GMT by T : And for an update, too.)