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Sam's vote for Video Game of the Year: Anything, anything, that kills snakes!

By TIMES WIRES
Published November 20, 2006

Against all odds, Spike TV's Video Game Awards are back for a fourth go-round, and Samuel L. Jackson - fresh off his triumph over those blankety-blank snakes on that blankety-blank plane - is returning as host. The VGAs may be less embarrassing than they have been in past years, if only because the nominated games are so good. It's hard to argue with game of the year nominees The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Okami, Gears of War, Guitar Hero II and Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, every one a gem. But where are the PS3 and Wii games? Well, Spike's cutoff date was Nov. 7, but the network set up a "critic's choice" category for later releases (since only critics would have had a chance to play them). Those nominees include the Wii's The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Wii Sports, and the PS3's Resistance: Fall of Man, along with the multiplatform Rainbow Six: Vegas and the PC-only Medieval II: Total War. The show will be taped Dec. 8 and aired Dec. 13; you can vote on every category except critic's choice at www.spiketv.com/events/vga2006/. 

Recharge batteries wirelessly - maybe

There may be hope - however distant - for recharging nearly drained cell phone, laptop and other batteries without plugging them into the wall, a scientist said. Massachusetts Institute of Technology physics professor Marin Soljacic said he has figured out how to wirelessly recharge batteries, much like the way people can surf the Web untethered. In a presentation at an American Institute of Physics forum, Soljacic made the case for using specially tuned waves of electromagnetism that don't radiate like normal waves. The idea is that the recharge device and the receiver would be on the same acoustic frequency, similar to how a radio picks up only one channel at a time, so the energy would mostly go straight to the intended battery.

After your turkey, it's time for Black Friday

It's a few days before Black Friday, but a host of tattletale Web sites have exposed bargains shoppers can expect. According to www.BFAds.net, those deals include a Motorola RAZR cell phone for $19.99 at Circuit City and a $99.99 diamond bracelet at Sears. Other sites posting deals early for Black Friday - the day-after-Thanksgiving discount and shopping extravaganza - include BF-06.com, Dealtaker.com and Blackfriday.gottadeal .com. Black Friday is the unofficial kickoff to the make-or-break holiday shopping season. The day got its name because, historically, it generated a surge of shoppers that pushed some stores out of "the red" - debt - and into "the black" - profitability - for the year.

Zoo.com keeps your kids away from bad

InfoSpace Inc. has introduced Zoo.com, a search engine meant to help children ages 8-13 search the Internet while steering clear of sexually explicit content. The Web site, featuring fanciful jungle scenes, consolidates search results from Google, Yahoo and Wikipedia, as well as news results from ABC News, Fox News and Yahoo. It filters the results against a database of more than 50,000 "adult" words and phrases to reduce the risk of children's exposure to inappropriate material on the Web. Content pertaining to guns, violence and unlawful drugs is also filtered. If a search uses a preflagged word or phrase, Zoo.com returns no results and displays the notice, "Search cannot be completed."

Revamped MP3.com hosting music again

MP3.com is reopening its servers, nearly a decade after it helped usher in the online music era by letting largely unknown bands submit files for computer users to download. The site, acquired by CNET Networks Inc. in 2003, has recently undergone a redesign. The site now offers up to 100 megabytes of free storage space for audio tracks and unlimited space for videos. The company won't say how many independent artists or tracks have been uploaded to the site since it began accepting files a few weeks ago. The site weaves in tracks and videos by independent and unsigned bands for visitors to download directly from MP3.com. It gives at least some of the fledgling acts equal billing with similar artists from major labels.

Listen to the ultimate rock 'n' roll shirt

Posers can become performers with a high-tech T-shirt that turns the strumming of an air guitar into music. Motion sensors built into the shirt's elbows pick up the wearer's arm motions and relay them wirelessly to a computer that interprets them as guitar rifts, said Richard Helmer, an engineer who leads the research team from the government's Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization. With strong interest in the "wearable instrument shirt" since the prototype was revealed last week, Helmer, a 34-year-old part-time guitarist, is considering going into commercial production soon.

[Last modified November 20, 2006, 06:06:50]