One of the best reasons for experienced World of Warcraft players to buy the Burning Crusade expansion pack is the introduction of a new race --- they call themselves Draenei. And they arrived on Azeroth via a nethership called the Exodar, which crashed and now serves as their home capitol city. To get a look at this new race, I created a Draenei warrior named Leakramwink. Here are just some of the sights you will see in and around the new capitol city of Exodar.

One of the best reasons for experienced World of Warcraft players to buy the Burning Crusade expansion pack is the introduction of a new race --- they call themselves Blood Elves. For those of us playing mostly on the Horde side of things, these are the first attractive characters we have been able to play. That is unless of course you have a thing for the Undead. Not wanting to miss an in-game experience I created a Blood Elf hunter named Kenirk. Here are just some of the sights you will see in and around the new capitol city of Silvermoon.

No matter how well designed an operating system purports to be, there are ways to tweak it for performance. Here are 10+ tweaks, tricks, and hacks you can apply to Microsoft Windows Vista to make it run like a champion and perform to your particular specifications.

One of the more entertaining things to do in the Burning Crusade, the latest expansion for the World of Warcraft, is traveling from one area to another. This is a vital exercise for any adventurer because that is the only way to open up new areas for questing. I recently took Elkwinkarma, the Technologia Guild leader, on a horseback riding trip from the Hellfire Peninsula to Shattrath City located in Terokkar Forest. While the ride does have its hazards, it also makes for some great sight seeing. Fortunately, and somewhat mysteriously, the screenshots of me running for my life didn't turn out so well so they are not part of the travel log.

We make it no secret that many TechRepublic staffers and members play The World of Warcraft. So it will come as no surprise that we were quick to snap up copies of the latest expansion pack for that popular MMORPG. The Burning Crusade expansion includes a complete new continent, additions to the old continents, and several new instance dungeons. Intrepid Warlock Elkwinkarma, leader of TechRepublic's Technologia Guild and never one to shy away from an adventure, took some screenshots of what he saw when entering the new continent known as Outland. Let the new adventures begin.

The holiday season is approaching fast. In fact, it seems to approach faster every year. For those of you in the giving spirit around the office, it can be difficult to find that special gift for the person on the other side of the cubicle wall. It cannot be too expensive and it should reflect a certain amount of lightheartedness and fun. I mean, after all, gift giving in an office environment is really about generating smiles and feelings of goodwill with your co-workers.
With that spirit in mind, TechRepublic has acquired several inexpensive yet tasteful and useful desktop toys for review. One of these fine gadgets or gizmos should appeal to even the most difficult to buy for in your office.
Next on our gift list is the TheOne, a binary watch, which comes to us courtesy of KlearGear.com.

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Mark W. Kaelin

The holiday season is approaching fast. In fact, it seems to approach faster every year. For those of you in the giving spirit around the office, it can be difficult to find that special gift for the person on the other side of the cubicle wall. It cannot be too expensive and it should reflect a certain amount of lightheartedness and fun. I mean, after all, gift giving in an office environment is really about generating smiles and feelings of goodwill with your co-workers.
With that spirit in mind, TechRepublic has acquired several inexpensive yet tasteful and useful desktop toys for review. One of these fine gadgets or gizmos should appeal to even the most difficult to buy for in your office.
Next on our gift list is the Power Station, which comes to us courtesy of KlearGear.com.

© CNET Networks, Inc.
Mark W. Kaelin

Throughout the storied, yet relatively short, history of computer gaming, there have only been a few games to capture the imagination of players and achieve a significant audience that were not part of the pre-release publisher hype machine. These games were unexpected gems that remain fan favorites even after their time in the spotlight has faded.

One of my favorite games in this category is XCOM UFO Defense from Microprose, which was released in 1994. This game mixed resource management strategy and tactical squad-based strategy into a single game. The game was tremendously addicitive and often frustrating in that fun way games, good ones, can often elicit.

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Mark W. Kaelin

The holiday season is approaching fast. In fact, it seems to approach faster every year. For those of you in the giving spirit around the office, it can be difficult to find that special gift for the person on the other side of the cubicle wall. It cannot be too expensive and it should reflect a certain amount of lightheartedness and fun. I mean, after all, gift giving in an office environment is really about generating smiles and feelings of goodwill with your co-workers.
With that spirit in mind, TechRepublic has acquired several inexpensive yet tasteful and useful desktop toys for review. One of these fine gadgets or gizmos should appeal to even the most difficult to buy for in your office.
Next on our gift list is the Nabaztag, which comes to us courtesy of KlearGear.com.

© CNET Networks, Inc.
Mark W. Kaelin

The holiday season is approaching fast. In fact, it seems to approach faster every year. For those of you in the giving spirit around the office, it can be difficult to find that special gift for the person on the other side of the cubicle wall. It cannot be too expensive and it should reflect a certain amount of lightheartedness and fun. I mean, after all, gift giving in an office environment is really about generating smiles and feelings of goodwill with your co-workers.
With that spirit in mind, TechRepublic has acquired several inexpensive yet tasteful and useful desktop toys for review. One of these fine gadgets or gizmos should appeal to even the most difficult to buy for in your office.
Next on our gift list is the Wolf King Warrior, The Ultimate FPS Gaming Pad courtesy of KlearGear.com.

© CNET Networks, Inc.
Mark W. Kaelin