(Part 2of7)
PREMIERE DATE: 9/9/2004
Mike Mignola, SFF gaming, LAN
Party

Tech Topics
Microsoft's Longhorn OS to put
the squeeze on gadgets.

Free iPods For All?
It sounds like it ought to be
filed in the 'Too Good to Be
True' bin, but that offer on
freeipods.com might actually
work. Not to be daunted by themore

(Part 2of7)
PREMIERE DATE: 9/9/2004
Mike Mignola, SFF gaming, LAN
Party

Tech Topics
Microsoft's Longhorn OS to put
the squeeze on gadgets.

Free iPods For All?
It sounds like it ought to be
filed in the 'Too Good to Be
True' bin, but that offer on
freeipods.com might actually
work. Not to be daunted by the
spammy nature of a promised
free iPod on the Internet,
Alex and Kevin both signed up
for the deal. They were
required to enroll in an
affiliate program offer (such
as Blockbuster's online rental
service), and then each get
five of their friends to sign
up for freeipods.com. But,
amazingly enough, Kevin did
indeed receive his $250 worth
of gift certificates. (Alex,
sadly, is still 'pending.') So
can this be the one craaazy
Internet deal that actually
works? 'We'll wait and see,
but so far so good,' said
Alex.

TSS Live Calls
Sean from California wonders
what the advantages would be
to using the Firefox Web
browser instead of Internet
Explorer.

According to Kevin and Alex,
the answer can be summed up in
one word: security. IE has had
a number of infamously
exploitable holes, some that
can even allow programs to be
installed on your PC by a
Website. While XP Service Pack
2 has added safety measures
and Firefox features like
pop-up blockers, Firefox is
still worth checking out. The
browser (a beta for AOL's
Mozilla) is loaded with
features and is very speedy.
'Why not try it'? said Kevin.
'It's free!'

Duff from Beloit, Kansas has
loaded the Windows XP SP2 onto
his PC, and he noticed it came
with its own firewall. He
wants to know whether he
should disable the Norton
Internet Security 2004
firewall he previously
installed and go with SP2's
instead.

Kevin said he wasn't a big fan
of Norton's firewall, but that
if Duff was already happy with
it then he should just
continue using it. Alex said
he uses the SP2 firewall with
no problems, but cautioned
Duff not to use more than one
firewall at the same time,
which could lead to some
confusion when it comes to
opening and closing ports.

Hell Yeah!
Mike Mignola, creator of the
Hellboy comic book, came by to
discuss everybody's favorite
demon super hero.

Alex started out by asking him
whether he had ever met The
Screen Savers' guest from the
previous day's show, Stan Lee.
In fact, Mike had just met him
at a panel discussion at the
last Comic-Con in San Diego.
'There I was, sitting next to
the guy who's the entire
reason why I got into the
comics business,' Mike said.
He also revealed another brush
with fame he experienced when
he was invited to talk with
Francis Ford Coppola while the
legendary director was making
Bram Stoker's Dracula. He
arrived to see a table set up
for three. 'I distinctly
remember thinking, Who the
hell is the third guy?' It
turned out to be George Lucas.
'That ranks as one of my
weirdest experiences,' he
said.

Alex then asked Mike about the
origins of Hellboy ('After 10
years in the comics business,
I wanted to make something
about everything I like.') and
if there would be a Hellboy
movie sequel. Mike reported
that he had indeed written a
new storyline with director
Guillermo del Toro and that
the studio was pleased with
it. While he wouldn't reveal
the plot, Mike did say that
the sequel would be closer to
the comic books in spirit,
dealing more with mythology
and folklore. 'Hopefully, this
will be Guillermo's next movie
after the one he's currently
working on in Spain,' Mike
said.

For more Hellboy info:
http://hellboy.com/
http://www.darkhorse.com/zones
/hellboy/index.php

LAN Party Mayhem
The new season of The Screen
Savers LAN Party (sponsored by
nVidia) kicked off in high
style with Unreal Tournament
2004 and special guest Jeff
Timmons of 98 Degrees. 'I'm
big on the sports games, like
Madden, so this is a new
experience for me,' said Jeff.
'I think I've played 20
matches, and I've had about
two kills.' (Jeff is a singer,
not a killer. Check out his
new solo album at
jefftimmons.com.)

Next Thursday, we'll be
playing another round of
Unreal Tournament. Just click
here to learn more about the
LAN Party and how to sign up.

Smaller Can Sometimes Be
Better
Do Small Form Factor (SFF) PCs
mean you have to put up with
wimpy gameplay on graphically
demanding video games? Not
necessarily. Kevin and Alex
showed us three SFF systems
that can still kick digital
ass with good frame rates.

For complete details, our own
Lawson Wong from The Screen
Savers Lab pits the three
contenders against each other:
the Monarch Hornet Pro, the
Voodoo Doll AMD FX, and the
Falcon Northwest Fragbox 2.
Which will win the
frames-per-second derby
playing Far Cry, Doom 3, and
Return to Castle Wolfenstein:
Enemy Territory?

Sarah's Download of the Day:
Delete All Data!
Need to clean up your hard
drive in a hurry? Sarah's
found a program that does the
job handily. And it can even
fit on ye olde Floppy Disk of
Death!

Category Autos & Vehicles

Tags TSS, The, Screen, Savers, Techtv, Tech, TV, zdnet, Kevin, Rose, Alex, Albrecht, Sarah, Lane, Yoshi, DeHerrera, Dan, Huard