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During Harry Potter's 6th year at Hogwarts, Lord Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer a safe haven. Harry suspects perils may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle fast approaching. Together they work to find the key to unlock Voldemort’s defences and, to this end, Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague Professor Horace Slughorn, whom he believes holds crucial information. Even as the decisive showdown looms, romance blossoms for Harry, Ron, Hermione and their classmates. Love is in the air, but danger lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again.

The closed-ear GameCom 367 headset delivers an immersive audio experience with 50mm stereo speakers and specially designed earpods that redistribute pressure for maximum comfort. When you’re ready to fire off orders, unveil the hidden, noise-canceling mic boom to strategize clearly with team members. Responses coming in? Adjust audio levels using in-line volume and mic-mute controls. When you’re done, rotate and tuck the mic boom inside the headset—then let your score do the talking. As with any Plantronics headset, rugged, military-like design and extra-strength cables keep your hardware hardcore—game after game after game.

Because your hardware should be as powerful as your gaming skills, the GameCom 377 headset delivers rugged construction and vigorous sound. A lightweight frame and specially designed earpods redistribute pressure for maximum comfort, while the open-ear design lets you catch all the in-game sound effects without losing touch with your surroundings. When you’re ready to fire off orders, unveil the hidden, noise-canceling mic boom to strategize clearly with team members. Responses coming in? Adjust audio levels using in-line volume and mic-mute controls. When you’re done, rotate and tuck the mic boom inside the headset—then let your score do the talking.

Sydney Australia, 29th of October 2009
By Ho Wong

Alienware and gamers have had a love affair of sorts ever since the computer manufacturer started producing machines with both enough style and enough grunt to keep even the hardest gamers happy. Gamers were up in arms when Dell took over, fearing their beloved company will change but for the most part, things have stayed the same. Alienware's presence in Australia has been reasonably low profile and niche, but there now is a visible push from Dell in order to target not only the gamers but catch some of the public who would never have considered Alienware before. Alienware are releasing five new products - the 15" m15x laptop, a 17" m17x laptop, the Area 51 desktop, the Area 51 ALX desktop and a 21" monitor. We take a brief first look at the offerings.

All the products exude Alienware style with bold lighting, polished metallic surfaces and edgy cases. (All except maybe the AU$399 21" monitor, whose distinguishing feature is not its black rectangular look but its true 1080p). I won't go too much into the specifications of the new laptops and desktops as these are available online but each sports impressive specs that allows the gamer to squeeze some extra frames per seconds.

The new laptops (starting with the m15x from AU$2499) are stylish and are as much a fashion accessory as a piece of hardware. The metallic sheen of the cases and the lights (customisable through the control centre) which border the laptop and light the keyboard would even make Mac owners envious. One warning with the m17x laptop though: factor in a chiropractor's bill as this is one heavy beast. The laptops also can optionally switch between discrete GPU and integrated video, discrete being a must for the portable gamer. The m17x also has SLI GPUs as an option.

With the new desktops (starting with the Alienware Area 51 from AU$3699), Alienware has well and truly incorporated Dell's customisability. The customisation of the desktops include components above and beyond those normally available to other companies, like HP, and this sets Alienware apart. The basic models are beefier than run-of-the-mill desktops. Gamers, though, will have no hesitation upgrading the hard disk in the basic Area 51 (It includes only 500G for a primary drive). On the plus side, the option of a solid state is certainly welcome and is indicative of the type of customisation available. Alienware boast future-proofing and making these kind of options available go a long way towards this ambitious claim.

On price points, Alienware are now able to compete with better known offerings from HP and Sony. Prices used to be only for the extreme gamer, extreme in monetary terms too but these new products don't have this legacy - the prices of the models have dropped. A slight disappointment is the reasonably large discrepancy between the prices for US market and the Australian market which is difficult to explain away by shipping and the usual spiel about living in Australia. For example, the Area 51 is priced from USD$1999 while in Australia, it's priced from $3699. Why do we in Australia put up with paying so much more for things, even though the Aussie dollar is going so strong?

Alienware have a difficult balance to uphold in order to not alienate their extreme gamers niche but for now, there's enough to keep the core gamers happy and introduce Alienware to a new audience.

John Harrison Interview
Symantec Group Product Manager, Endpoint Threat Protection

Your career within Symantec has been wide and diverse, what would you say has been the highlight in your career? The highlight of my career is at Symantec where in the past year we delivered security solutions to the tens of millions of users to protect them against the web based attack. I feel like we are truly helping to protect enterprise and consumer users and leading the charge in terms of online protection.

Where do you see yourself in five years time? I really enjoy product management and security so I will be at either Symantec or some similar exciting company. It is scary and exciting to think about how the threat landscape will have changed by then.

With threats being discovered all across the globe, what are the logistics of managing STAR? We have to be effective with our resources and continue to be proactive and change the game in our threat protection strategies. If we don’t do this we will be in a purely reactive mode fighting threat outbreaks across the world.

What puts Symantec ahead of other companies? From my perspective it is our Security Technology and Response. Any company can make a product and call it “security software” or a “security hardware.” What differentiates us is our approach to providing the core security technologies, the threat intelligence and the threat content that protects our consumer and enterprise customers.

For the average computer user, what are you top tips in managing your security?

1. Keep ALL your software up to date. Including 3rd party multimedia and reader plug-in.
2. Deploy a comprehensive endpoint security product. Traditional signature based antivirus is NOT enough. Use and turn on all features.
3. Keep your security product subscription current. At 20,000 signatures a day, even 1 day can put you at risk.
4. Be cautious and suspicious. Download software updates directly from vendors websites.
5. Adopt a good password policy. Different and strong passwords.
6. Prevention is the best cure - use proactive technology.

What are your thoughts on the future of internet security? Security isn’t going away – with financially motivated cybercriminals, they will continue to try new things to infect and take advantage of users.

What has been your most challenging “internet threat”? The malicious advertisements, or malvertisements, since they are so transient and may only appear every 1 out of 1000 times on a page. It makes tracking them difficult.

With the internet now moving towards portable devices, what do you believe will be the next challenges for developers of internet security? Helping to ensure the developers of these new platforms build in security from the beginning.

What is the biggest flaw of internet users? Many users today post too much personal and private information online today without thinking about the repercussions of 5, 10 or 20 years from now. It may impact them when they are applying for a job 10 years from now or having their identity stolen today.

We’ve seen a variety of dangers in the years from viruses to bots and the like, what do you think the next threat will be to users? It is really hard to say since the changes have been occurring so frequently. With the financial motivation there will be new ways to separate users from their money.

In your professional opinion, do you think there will be a day when the operating system will no longer need internet security software? I would like to think so, but realistically I don’t think it is possible again tying back to the financial motivation. As we close one hole, the hackers/cyber criminals look for another.

PC versus Mac versus Linux. Do you believe there is one operating system that is superior to the other? No, especially the way that the browser has essentially become the operating system for today’s web applications.

Your computer at home, PC or Mac and why? I am a Mac guy primarily for my nature and landscape photography (www.jharrisonphoto.com). For me, working on macs with my images just works easier. It really is just a tool to allow me to get creative!

Walking into the realm of science fiction, do you think that a virus or the like actually be beneficial if you could rework it? No, the idea of automatically doing something without the users permission (either for good or bad) isn’t good.

Is there such a thing as the perfect virus? So far we haven’t seen one and let’s hope it stays that way.

With so many different digital threats in the world, how can users or governments catch the perpetrators? I think the primary goal today is to keep them out, not to catch them since it is so difficult. It is a big challenge considering the lack of boundaries the internet has and often the hacker can be so far away from where the actual drive-by download or server is hosting up misleading applications. It is going to take some joint cooperation to catch the perpetrators.

Have you ever had a virus or the like on your personal computer? Only on my test systems in an infection network. I have had a fake antivirus application pop-up, but since I didn’t install it, I was safe.

The theme was Summer and the host was Nintendo as the game giant allowed people to come in and try five new games. Peter Rowsthorne and Maude Garrett from Nickelodeon Australia were the MCs of the night, with Rebecca Gibney as a special guest, but the stars of the show were the games. Nintendo has always been known to have very strong first-party development, making it difficult for third-party developers to compete, but in recent years, they have to in order to participate in the success of all-conquering Wii and DS. From what we saw that night, Nintendo are back to their strengths as can be seen by the games shown and the fun had by all on the night.

New Super Mario Bros Wii

The star of the show no doubt was New Super Mario Bros Wii. Shown on four massive LCDs, this is a game everyone was looking forward to. The game is based on the original Super Mario Bros, employing familiar levels, characters and powerups but with 4 players simultaneously playing. I was quite sceptical about how the four players would work but Nintendo have dissolved those doubts. The players can play competitively or cooperatively and Nintendo have put in a lot of thought to include features that allow for both styles. The game is controlled by the Wii remote and even uses the accelerometer in some cases. An intelligent zooming camera system, similar to Smash Bros allows the 4 players to constantly be on screen. The gameplay and control is simple enough for people to just jump in and play and the difficulty level seems just right, not being too difficult but difficult enough that you need to be alert. Couple this with the four players (and the chaos that ensues), this is going to be one winner. I can envisage Wiis flying off the shelves when this game releases.

Wii Fit Plus

The original Wii-fit has come and is still doing well, but Wii Fit Plus has just been released. Wii Fit Plus comes with even more yoga, strength and balance exercises as with the original but Nintendo seems to have really taken a step back and had a good hard look at the different minigames. They really gone up a notch in terms of quality, variety and fun. For example, Golf swings was something I would not have thought about, but it is included in Wii Fit Plus. Flying as a bird through an obstacle course is another inclusion. Some favourites like the Hula-hoop make a welcome return though. Also, you are now able to create your own program of exercises AND yes, you can weigh your favourite canine. Wii Fit has spent a lot of time at the top of the Australian charts and fortunately for Nintendo, it certainly seems that there's still loads of life left in this franchise.

Professor Layton and Pandora's Box

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