Week Seven of Free Stuff at Futurelooks!

When it comes to contests, the only thing that is worth anything at the end of the day is a product you can hold in your hand and tell people about. For Eight Crazy Weeks, I’ve been helping to give away some pretty darn cool products.  Some of them, like the computer cases, are too large to hold in your hands which is OK because everyone loves getting a huge honking box in the mail.  Well, let the giving continue!

Futurelooks has just launched Week Seven of Eight Crazy Weeks of Giveaways.  This week up for grabs is an LG DVD Player, X-Arcade Retro Gaming Trackball Controller, and a copy of Lord of the Rings Trilogy Special Edition on DVD. Any one of these prizes would be perfect for regifting to someone you love…not that you would do that.  Don’t forget to enter the BONUS DRAW as well too.  For more information on how to win this week, you can check out the Official Week Seven Contest Page.

Stephen Fung DOT NET Update - US Turkey Day Edition

First off, happy turkey day to all our Yankee brothers and sisters across the border. I know that some of you are probably already camping out in front of your favourite stores to snag some of those “Black Friday” deals. If you’re wondering if what you’re camping out for is worth it, head on over to Shopping Price Engine and punch up a few of your chosen deals to see if they camping out in the freezing cold overnight. Canadian shoppers do the same thing every December 26th. We call it Boxing Day.

Being Bribed By AMD…

Last week, AMD flew myself and some other media outlets down to Lake Tahoe to check out the launch of their new “SPIDER” platform. I’d never been to Lake Tahoe before so I was really looking forward to checking it out. Although it was sunshine for the two days that we were there, it was too cold for Bikinis and not cold enough for Snow Bunnies. Instead, the crowd was more “geriatric” in nature and there was extreme danger of “Cougar” maulings. It looked to be the perfect spot for Las Vegas Casino retirees to end up at.

Despite the lack of a party crowd, the view was certainly to die for. I have never seen such a view that was so breathtaking that it looked almost unreal. It was like my little Canon SD850is could do no wrong. Besides the view and the limo pick up from the airport, we also got treated to a full dockside BBQ complete with steaks and this peach cobbler that made me go back for seconds, thirds and fourths. It made me do it, damn it!

Hardware? Oh right! They’ll be shipping out my “Spider Platform” in a week or so which will include a couple of their new 3800 series GPU’s, a 790 series board, and a Phenom processor. The event did allow us some hands on testing of their hardware platform, but I would prefer to install my own “un-optimized” OS and do some comparisions on home turf before passing judgement. However, as you’ve probably heard from the reviews of the Phenom processor, it hasn’t been the “Phenomenom” that a lot of AMD fans were hoping it to be. However, there were some really great features of this new platform that should give it some mass market appeal. I think it was smart to play the platform card to smooth over the bumps with the CPU side of the launch.

All Set For CES 2008!

This week, I got my “International” press badge for the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Just FYI, the only thing that makes it “International” is the little red ribbon. Yay! I’ve actually been ready since I got back from COMPUTEX this past summer. I had my room and flight booked before they jacked the prices up. It’s hard to believe that they can charge $250 US a night for even the Imperial Projects just because CES is in town. What a rip!

CES 2008 will also mark the return of the “Night Before CES” party. Last year was Futurelooks’ first time sponsoring the event and I’m really looking forward to sponsoring it again. The event will take place on January 6th, 2008 at the Absolut Vodka Suite inside the Caesar’s Palace Hotel and Casino. If you’re going to be in the neighbourhood, contact me and I’ll put you on the list.

More Free Stuff at Futurelooks!

 

This week marks Week Six of Eight Crazy Weeks of Giveaways over at Futurelooks! Up for grabs is a Thermaltake Water Cooling System and a VGA Cooler. Don’t forget to sign up for the Newsletter for the bonus draw sponsored by Saitek.  Last week we gave away one of these. Beats silly eBooks any day of the week

Off to Lake Tahoe for the AMD Launch!

I’ll be off to Lake Tahoe tomorrow to witness the official launch of AMD’s new processors.  After being handed their asses for the last few quarters since the Conroe Launch, it’ll be interesting to see how AMD responds with their “Phenom” processor.  AMD will also be showing off their new graphics chips.  Hopefully, something will surface that will be able to do battle with nVidia as they seem pretty much unstoppable these days.

Since AMD has never invited me to attend before, I’m guessing that whatever they have up their sleeves is going to be big enough to give “ChipZilla” and nVidia a run for their money. It probably cost them at least $3000 to fly me in, rent me a limo, feed me, and put me up in a five star Hotel, not that I’m complaining. However, I’m really hoping to be dazzled. 

At World Cyber Games, they made some mention about taking a serious look at “Performance Per Watt”, which sounded like sort of a cop out to me.  They also showed off some powerful new tools for enthusiasts and beginners alike to allow them to tune their PC’s to perfection as well as a sneak peek at their Quad Core CPU.  They’re going to need a bit more than that to impress people and I know a lot of AMD fans are hoping that this is the news they’ve been waiting for.  I hope I get some free CPU’s and Video Cards to take home

Speaking of Free Stuff…

 

On another note, it is another week of CRAZY GIVEAWAYS over at Futurelooks.  This week, Ultra Products is stepping up to giveaway an Ultra Grid ATX Case, X3 600 Watt Modular Power Supply, and a USB Buddy Hub.  Go win some stuff!

I better get to bed or I’ll miss my flight.  Stupid 6:30 AM flight! I’ll catch up with  you guys if I can snag some WiFi during my stopover in Phoenix.