We posted an article one month ago that invited readers to do a little thought exercise. Here's what we said: "On the 5th of November we're going to post an article or two about video games, gadgets, technology, and general geekness ... the things about video gaming and technology that ought not be forgotten."

So here's our list of some video gaming and technology moments worth remembering. Hope this gets you thinking (and feeling nostalgic too!). And we look forward to your comments (and arguments). What do you remember and wish that the world will never forget?

Today is October 5. That means that November 5, Guy Fawkes Night, is one month away.

While we don't celebrate this day in the US (it's not even a public holiday in the United Kingdom - it's only a yearly celebration), many of us know of this day thanks to the DC Comics / Vertigo graphic novel (comic book) series V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd and its movie adaptation (with inimitable performances by Natalie Portman as Evey and Hugo Weaving as V).

Still, any "holiday" that gives people an excuse to light fireworks and go door-to-door begging for spare change sounds like something worth celebrating. So we at QJ.NET invite you to get into the spirit of things to remember, remember the 5th of November.

On the 5th of November we're going to post an article or two about video games, gadgets, technology, and general geekness - what moves us and affects us and touches us, and all the things about video gaming and technology that ought not be forgotten. Pretty much like the QuickJump QuickList articles in our Opinions & Analysis section at the front page and the other articles in the Opinions & Analysis sections of our many video game, science, and gadget blogs.

We invite you to plan ahead and consider what you want to remember on that day - because our articles obviously can't be the final word - that's what comments and the QJ.NET Forums are for. (Besides, now that we've turned off anonymous comments - and now that comments are smarter, funnier, and more meaningful - you have a good venue to share your reactions.)

We look forward to your thoughts. See you on the 5th of November.

Rob Mead at Tech.co.uk shared some of the "secrets" that were revealed at the Apple shareholder's meeting at Cupertino, California.

Third-party apps for iPhone. First, it seems that the iPhone will be open to third-party applications. Apple CEO Steve Jobs had said that the Apple iPhone wouldn't be open to third-party applications, that it would be a closed system based on Mac OS X (the goal was to make sure that the iPhone wouldn't be buggy). But it now seems that Mac developers are free to make apps for the iPhone.

Leopard delay. Steve Jobs also said that the delay of the launch of the Mac OS X Leopard operating system, the next version of Mac OS X, was partly due to the iPhone. According to Jobs, the issue isn't money; the issue is talent. It seems that Apple has dedicated a lot of time and talent to the iPhone, and there just wasn't enough left over for the Leopard. "I wish developing great products was as easy as writing a check," said Jobs. "If so, then Microsoft would have great products."

The smaller and innovative iPhone. It looks like there's a smaller iPhone on the way. Apple has made an application to the US Patent & Trademark Office for a sleek little device with a display on each side (patent number 0070103454). This "Back-Side Interface for Handheld Devices" has a rather interesting concept:

An electronic device uses separate surfaces for input and output. One of the surfaces (e.g. the bottom) includes a force-sensitive touch-surface through which a user provides input (e.g. cursor manipulation and control element selection). On a second surface (e.g. the top), a display element is used to present information appropriate to the device's function (e.g. video information), one or more control elements and a cursor. The cursor is controlled through manipulation of the back-side touch-surface. The cursor identifies where on the back-side touch-surface the user's finger has made contact.

In other words, the new iPhone is a dual-screen set-up with a touch screen. Hm. That reminds us of the Nintendo DS (over 40 million units sold worldwide).

Apple and the mobile phone market. Jobs also said that Apple really has to look deeper into the mobile phone market. In 2006, there were 135 million MP3 players and 200 million PCs sold. But in that same year, there were 1 billion mobile phones sold. That's a big market to explore.

If Apple thinks that the mobile phone market is worth exploring, then we at QJ.NET wish Apple the best. Several of us love our iPods, and if Apple's iPhone can do for mobile phones what the iPod did for "mobile audio and video," then we don't mind the Leopard delay at all.

   
 

Winnydows has updated her video-converting homebrew application, XviD4PSP. XviD4PSP is one of the most-downloaded video format converters for the PlayStation Portable, Apple iPod, and Microsoft Windows / PC.

It is also useful because different video formats have different compression levels, so you are able to reduce video file sizes.

XviD4PSP runs on Windows Vista or Windows XP SP2. Yes, XviD4PSP is a homebrew application "for" the PSP and iPod, but you don't run it on the PSP or iPod.

If this is your first time to hear about XviD4PSP, we suggest you visit Winnydows' site. Additional info and minimal system requirements are listed at Winnydow's XviD4PSP page - YOU NEED TO READ IT (click on the "Read" link below).

Past versions (like XviD4PSP v4.106 Final and XviD4PSP v4.107 Final) had a lot of bug fixes and new additions, but "XviD4PSP v4.108 RC1 Update" has only one notable change, but it's a significant change.

• In XviD4PSP v4.108 RC1 Update, the quality of x264 encoding has been enhanced.

As was often the case in past XviD4PSP updates, we have aDcOoL to thank for reminding QJ.NET's PSPUPDATES writers about this update.

Download: XviD4PSP v4.108 RC1 Update

"The Efficient Mac User" at Low End Mac has listed 11 ways to optimize the performance of your Mac - whether it be a high-end or low-end unit. Yes, some items on that list are pretty simple and well-known, but they're all good basics that any Mac user should know, so we're putting them here as well.

The goal here is to save on RAM and processor resources - even by doing something as simple as turning off or removing unwanted applications and widgets.

QJ.NET also has a guide on troubleshooting OS X from July, 4, 2006 based on an article from Apple Matters. There is also an article on clearing up more hard drive space.

Remove unnecessary code. A significant number of recent software for the Mac are programmed to work with PowerPC processors and Intel processors. If you have a PowerPC processor and don't intend to migrate to an Intel Mac, or if you already have an Intel Mac, then you don't need the software code that lets your applications run on PowerPC! You can look for utilities like XSlimmer that will "slim down" the code on your software.

(For example, my friend Samantha has an Intel Mac, so she uses XSlimmer to strip away the PowerPC code in her applications - this makes her applications run faster. There's a bonus: it also reduces the size of the applications so she saves on hard drive space!)

Clean out startup items. Some applications entrench themselves in your Login Items folder, and that makes these applications automatically open each time you restart or login to your account. Go to Apple Menu > System Preferences > Accounts > Login Items to see a list of these startup items. Click on one item in the list and hit the minus button at the bottom of the list to remove that item. NOTE: Be careful about removing important or critical applications - just remove the ones you know you don't need.

Turn off Universal Access, Bluetooth, Speech Recognition, and Internet Sharing. If you don't use any of these, turn them off (go to the Apple Menu > System Preferences).

Clean out "Other" System Preferences items. While you're in Apple Menu > System Preferences, you can also remove Preference Panes in the "Other" section.

Know the build of your software. If you're using an Intel Mac, you may be better off upgrading your software or application (most likely there's a patch available online). For example, your software may be currently running on the Rosetta translator that lets PowerPC applications run on an Intel Mac. If your application has a patch that can upgrade it to an Intel or "universal" version, then your application won't need to call on Rosetta anymore.

Remove languages and translations. Utilities like Monolingual will remove language localizations that you don't need. As Ed Eubanks Jr. said in his article, chances are you're not using Catalan, Farsi, or Klingon.

More ways to optimize your Mac's performance - after the Jump.

Shiny Media (based in the United Kingdom), Xataka (Spain), Daily Gadget (Germany), Journal du Geek (France), and GamesBlog (Italy) asked their readers to vote for Europe's "gadget of the year".

Here's the list of winners. We're throwing in some of the Wii's other awards just to further drive the point home:

Nintendo Wii: Except for Italy, over one half of the voters from each country voted for the Wii.

• The Wii won the Game Critics Award for Best of Show and Game Critics Award for Best Hardware at E3 2006.
• Popular Science made it the Grand Award Winner in Home Entertainment on December 2006.
• Electronic Design magazine gave it the Consumer Design of the Year award in their Best Electronic Design issue.
  
• It got the Spike TV Video Games Award for breakthrough technology.
• It is one of PC World magazine's 20 Most Innovative Products of the Year.
• Gamespot gave it the Best Hardware award at their Best and Worst 2006 awards show.

Apple iPod nano: Italy voted for the iPod nano.

• All we can say is Apple's popular digital audio player has won too many other awards to mention. (It doesn't need to - the iPod is the current undisputed market leader when it comes to portable audio and video.)
  

Nokia N Series phones: These got lots of votes from Spain.

• The "N Series" or "Nseries" is popular for its variety of multimedia features. Most notable are the high-resolution screens, FM radio, 3D graphic support for games (something we very much admire), variety of music codecs, and high-resolution camera. Just look at the Nokia N73.

Not everybody likes vinyl skins, but if you like to express yourself by blinging up your gadget, then you might want to know about Wrapstar's latest press release. According to their press release, a Wrapstar vinyl skin is pre-cut and ready-to-apply (so even the clumsy ones among you can get it right). A Wrapstar vinyl skin is also easy to remove - if you get tired of it, you peel it off and it won't leave icky goo behind.

Range of vinyl skin choices. They have DS Lite skins, PSP skins, and iPod skins. Patterns range from manly skins for the tough guy and flamboyant skins for the raging diva queen. Desert camouflage skins, dalmatian print skins, Union Jack skins, and Japan flag skins...

       

Availability. They're already selling in Game stores throughout Europe and Scandinavia. North American and Australian readers can get them from Amazon.co.uk. Amazon ships all over the world (you can visit their delivery pages for more info).

"We don't know the meaning of life, but we're pretty sure that we were put here in this world to enjoy ourselves."

Are we right? So thank goodness for gaming, and have a great new year, everybody!

Thanks for spending 2006 with us. We wouldn't be here without you. We're thankful that you make us your "quick jump" into what's happening in the gaming world. In 2007, we'll do our best to be an even better one-stop-shop for your news needs.

That's our Number One New Year's Resolution.

Also remember that sometimes happiness is something you have to make yourself (that sounds biologically painful and improper, but it's true). So we're going to do our best to generate happiness for our readers this year. We've got some big plans for you, the QJ.NET community. For example, you know that you can now filter news on the "BoB" (the "Blog of Blogs" or QJ.NET main page) if you're a member, and becoming a member of the community is fast and easy. Some changes are taking place at the QJ.NET Forums. We'll continue introducing more improvements this year.

By the way, our other two New Year's Resolutions are easier to keep. We'll be more carefull with spelingg. We'll also edit out bad puns (that'll be tough because new year resolutions go in one year and out the other). Have a great 2007, dear readers!

There are lots of ultimates in Marvel - like the ultimate soundtracks for the DVD animated films "Ultimate Avengers", "Ultimate Avengers 2", and "Invincible Iron Man" that are now available on iTunes. And they're live orchestra wonders composed by Emmy-Award-winning composer Guy Michelmore. Some highlights:

• According to the press- release-type-thing, the "Ultimate Avengers" soundtrack includes a choir singing Old Norse lyrics of Thor's mighty battles (that's better than old Thor's thee thou thine).
• For a Wakandan part in "Ultimate Avengers 2", Guy Michelmore brought in a gospel choir (whose families originate from West Africa) to chant in Swahili and West African languages.
• "Invincible Iron Man" blends Eastern (the movie has flashbacks in China) with Western (New York in the 30s and 40s).

Guy Michelmore is also working on the score for the Doctor Strange animated film. That will also be released on iTunes before that film goes to DVD.

WiiSaber is a clever little Cocoa application for the Mac from isnoop. Earlier, isnoop had made an application called the MacSaber, and what it did was used the Mac's "sudden motion sensor" - every time the Mac was moved, it would make Jedi lightsaber noises and keyboard backlight effects (vigorous movement resulted in Jedi lightsaber clashing and striking noises).

The WiiSaber application lets you use your Wii remote to make lightsaber noises.

So go, lock yourself in your room and start swinging your Wiimote around.

This is WiiSaber v1.0 Beta 1. isnoop says, "I plan on adding more features including more visual response and multi-controller capabilities soon, so check back again later." We can't wait. Meanwhile, we're entertaining ourselves by making deep breathing noises and pretending to use Force lightning on each other.

And here's the YouTube vid uploaded by thescott18. He mentions the force feedback (the vibration or "rumble" feature - he's not talking about feedback from the Force).

Download: [WiiSaber v1.0 Beta 1]