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Episode #20 of the DogHouse Podcast is available on iTunes or direct download! Show notes can be found at http://podcast.doghousesystems.com

PC Gaming

Clark Petri reviews “World of Goo”

Congratulations to Chuck Stanley for being the winner of the Dirt 2 Contest!  We also spend some time talking about the game and we look forward to the upcoming race which will include Chuck, John, Keith, Sina, Jeff, and Scott Johnson!

Technical Corner

We go over a great 3 part question from one of our listeners in this extended Technical Corner.

Under the Hood

The winner of the “Name the Segment Contest” is announced.  Grats to Brandon for the winning entry of “Under the Hood”  Brandon wins 2,000 J!NX gold and Left 4 Dead 2.  We also have a runner up, Daniel for “Voiding your Warranty with Cornelius”.  Daniel wins a copy of Left 4 Dead 2!

In this segment, Jeff discusses lapping your CPU.
The forums have been updated and the layout should be much easier to navigate.  Special thanks to Jeff on helping us revamp the forum and we encourage everyone to check it out and be a part of the growing community!

We are getting closer to announcing the Armor TL giveaway.  Stay tuned!

Dear Pacman,
Thanks for all the good times. Happy 30th birthday and many more to come.

When and where did you first play pacman?

I kinda dig the idea of using gameplay footage as the official trailer, you get an honest feel for the game before it releases. On that note, the game looks fairly similar to its previous monster release, Modern Warfare 2. Hopefully this time they are allowing dedicated servers and an anti-hack that works….well anti hack would be nice at this point. Enjoy the clip! (Facebook readers goto: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSfWHD8tZQY )

EXPLOSIVE ARROWS!?!?

Google TV was annonced this week. What is Google TV you say?
Gizmodo reports:
“It’s a software platform…
You know how the Nexus One is a piece of hardware by HTC that runs Android, a piece of software by Google? That’s how Google TV will work. At its heart, Google TV is a platform. It’s software. Hardware makers will need to step up to use it in their devices.

…that Logitech, Sony and DISH will support…
Right now, there are three places we’ll see Google TV: a set top box by Logitech, Sony televisions (and one Blu-ray player) and an upcoming DISH box. They all share the following common specs: An Atom (or better) processor, discrete GPU, HDMI-out, Bluetooth, IR (with a transmitting “blaster”), Wi-Fi, and Ethernet, all while supporting a keyboard and a pointing device, as well as more traditional remotes such as Logitech’s Harmony universals. From what we understand, all of these products will be available at Best Buy in fall of 2010 (though it’s possible DISH may be later).

…that works with your existing cable/satellite box…
Equipped with an IR blaster to change channels, Google TV can sit on top of your existing infrastructure. So while new hardware is in the works, it should be compatible with whatever you’re using now—cable or satellite boxes, with all relevant subscriptions.

…that works just like a Google search…
When you start any Google TV device, you’re greeted by a simple search bar. You type what you’d like to watch. That can be a television station, allowing you to select and tune that channel. Or it can be a show, which will point you to places you can find the show—be that through a cable subscription channel, Netflix or somewhere on the web.

…that combines the web with TV…
So say you want to watch something that only exists on Amazon’s streaming service. You’ll be taken to Amazon’s webpage through Chrome, where the video will stream. Random websites might look crumby on your television, of course, which is why Google asks that sites optimize for Google TV (full SDKs available in 2011). With this mix of web and television, you can also view multiple sources of information in multiple panes. So you can watch the Sox game on one part of your screen while reading Paul Konerko’s realtime stats in another.

…that combines your TV with your phone…
Thanks to required Google TV hardware specs like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, you’ll be able to load a webpage on your Android phone and beam it to your TV. You can also use your Android phone’s voice recognition, effectively making it possible to change channels or search for shows just by talking.

…that runs apps…
Oh, Google TV includes complete access to the Android App Store. And Google suspects that most any app will run fine on the platform, though those designed with cellphone-specific hardware in mind might not work with 1:1 compatibility. But when the SDK is available in 2011, we can expect Google TV-specific apps, too.

…that supports Flash…
I’m pretty sure the audience cheered at this part. And when Google says Flash, they mean the videos and the games.

…that still has some tricks up its sleeve…
As of yet, Google has barely scratched the surface of what this seemingly unparalleled integration of TV and web can do, but they demoed one wow-worthy function: firing closed captioning through Google Translate—translating a program in real time. Just try to tell us that’s not neat. (We will translate any negative comments into a language we don’t understand—in real time.)

…that is not Chrome OS.” “

http://gizmodo.com/5543822/what-is-google-tv

Little bit late but here is the teaer from Activision on the new Call of Duty. Release date is set for November 9, 2010.

Facebook readers go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98BSroF_2sw&feature=player_embedded

MWF2 PC map expansion is now available, steam is offering it at $14.99.

Google Chrome

This is probobly what SHOULD have been their google superbowl placement advertisment. Hats off to google, very nice. It worked on me, i’m downloading Chrome now.

Facebook readers go here:
http://gizmodo.com/5531741/chromes-unconventional-speed-tests-are-incredible

Very cool article on PC PRO this morning.

“Intel has provided the first hands-on demonstration of a laptop running its Light Peak technology, at the company’s inaugural European research showcase here in Brussels.

Light Peak is an optical interconnect that can transfer data at 10Gbits/sec in both directions. Intel hopes Light Peak will one day replace the host of other PC interconnects, including USB, DisplayPort and HDMI.

Intel has fitted Light Peak into a regular USB cable, with optical fibres running alongside the electrical cabling. Intel provided a visual demonstration of how data is passed through the cable, by shining a torch into one end of the cable, with two little dots of light visible to the naked eye at the other end.

The demonstration laptop was sending two separate HD video streams to a nearby television screen, without any visible lag. The laptop includes a 12mm square chip that converts the optical light into electrical data that the computer understands. The technology hasn’t yet been integrated into the screen, which explains the ugly black box sitting between the two devices.

Intel’s chief technology officer, Justin Rattner, claimed that the bandwidth afforded by the optical technology is practically unlimited. “Light Peak begins at 10Gbits/sec, simultaneously in both directions,” he said. “We expect to increase that speed dramatically. You’ll see multiple displays being served by a single Light Peak connection. There’s almost no limit to the bandwidth - fibres can carry trillions of bits per second”.

Rattner said the technology will find its way into everything from home PCs to server farms. “The potential of that headroom will lead people to rethink the design of their systems,” he said. “We’ve very, very excited about the potential of Light Peak.”

An Intel spokesman said Light Peak hardware should start to become available to manufacturers by the end of this year.” - PCPRO

Looks like Intel will be making another commericial soon, this one is my favorite though:

What about Diablo 3!?!?