Star Wars: The Old Republic launches today in the U.S. and Europe

One of the most anticipated games of the year is launching today as Star Wars: The Old Republic is now available for the PC in North America and Europe. Fans of the series have been looking forward to this day since the title was originally announced by BioWare and LucasArts over three years ago.

The Old Republic is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) based in the Star Wars universe. Rumored to have a development cost of over $135 million, it could be one of the most expensive games ever made. Those who pre-ordered the title online were granted early access in waves based on pre-order date.

The game is set in the Star Wars universe 300 years after the events in Knights of the Old Republic and over 3,500 years before the plots from the films. Players can choose to side with the Galactic Republic or the Sith Empire, each with different classes of characters to choose from. There are eight different classes; four per faction, with the classes of one faction mirroring those of the other, just with different names. Each class also has two different advanced classes to select from as you advance your character through the game.

Furthermore, each class has their own starship and will be accompanied by up to seven companions based on the storyline: five default companions and two secret companions available through other measures. These companions can perform various tasks for the player including crafting, gathering and mission-related acts.

Subscription pricing has been set at $14.99 per month, $41.97 for three months or $77.94 for six months. This places it in the same price-point as WoW, Rift and Eve.

Nokia to release two Lumia 800 updates to fix battery woes

Nokia just recently released its new, make-or-break Windows Phone 7 powered Lumia 800 smartphone, and it's already becoming apparent that many users are suffering battery-related problems.

After receiving ever-increasing complaints on its official forum, the Finnish company has now released a statement saying, "We understand that some people have expressed concerns about battery life on the Nokia Lumia 800.  Early investigations show that the majority of people are enjoying the full Nokia Lumia experience without any problems.  A software update in early December will include improvements to power efficiency, while a second update in early January introduces further enhancements to battery life and battery charging."

Nokia also said that anyone concerned should contact his or her local Nokia representatives at the earliest opportunity for further assistance. The phone, released just last month is marked as their flagship model, powered by the new Windows Phone Mango operating system.

Affected users are understandably unhappy, with average standby times massively reduced from those quoted on the specifications for the phone. While they await the updates, Nokia has releasedsupport information on its forum to help users optimize battery life as much as possible -- though providing tips such as turning your phone off when you are not using it is certainly not going to impress handset owners.

A forum poster by the name BrentNewbury summed up his experience in a response to Nokia's tips, "it would just be nice to see a more understanding response like 'Nokia are aware of the problem and are currently investigating the issue. We apologise for the inconvenience', rather than (and this is paraphrased) 'You're using the phone wrong, you need to turn off every feature that makes your £400+ device, a smart phone.'"

In some respects, it mirrors the battery issues faced by Apple with its new iPhone 4S release, although according to several reports its hotly tipped iOS 5.0.1 patch did little to resolve the problem, sending them back to the drawing board to resolve it with an upcoming iOS 5.0.2 update.

Hercules to release 720p Webcam

It would appear that Microsoft isn’t the only one who is making new 720p webcams, as Hercules has announced the Dualpix HD 720p.

The Hercules Dualpix HD 720p lives up to its name as it shoots in 720p HD resolution video with 1280 x 720 resolution at 30 frames per second with 16/9 format.

As for photo resolution, it has 5 megapixels in interpolated mode, and it has a 1 megapixel CMOS sensor for quality images, even in low-light conditions. There is also a high-quality built-in microphone for good sound as well.

The Autofocus lens allows a wide viewing angle, which is, according to my source: “Awesome! Now you can be seen from head to toe”.

It uses USB 2.0 Video Class (UVC) interface for high-speed transfers for “driverless installation” for Windows XP SP2, Vista, and Windows 7.

There is only one problem. Both Microsoft and Hercules are claiming that they have the first webcam that operates at 720p. Microsoft is saying the Lifecam is the first, but all I got to say is this: webcams have come a long way from the low-res, low frame rate things they were a while ago.

Well, I believe that the first 720p webcam to hit the market can claim that one, and the Hercules Dualpix HD720p will be out next month for $60.

Intel to release Thunderbolt developer kit this quarter

Intel's Thunderbolt interconnect was first announced back in February and so far it's being offered only by Apple in its new MacBook Pro laptops. Companies like Promise and LaCie were among the first to announce compatible desktop storage products to take advantage of the faster transfer speeds, and are just now being followed up by a few others with video I/O and processing boxes at the National Association of Broadcasters trade show taking place this week.

Looking to further accelerate the release of new Thunderbolt compatible products Intel has announced that a developer kit for the technology will be available this quarter. The move might also serve as an incentive for laptops makers to speed up adoption of the interface. Sony is one of the backers of Thunderbolt, but has not yet talked about plans to implement the technology in its products, while HP already uses USB 3.0 but says it's evaluating Thunderbolt as well.

Thunderbolt currently supports the PCI Express and DisplayPort protocols and is being developed as a way to reduce the proliferation of ports on modern computers. This means it could eventually replace the plethora of interfaces currently used, from USB itself to HDMI, LAN, and so on. The dual-channel, high-speed interconnect can transfer data between host devices and external devices at speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second.

Paramount Pictures to release movie via BitTorrent

The Tunnel, a long-awaited horror movie, is coming to a BitTorrent tracker near you. Set in the abandoned tunnels under Sydney, Australia, the movie will get its world premiere online for free via BitTorrent on May 19, 2011."Our experience with Paramount has been positive, and we're impressed with how forward-thinking they've been on considering our specific project," producer and editor Enzo Tedeschi told TorrentFreak. "From day one we've maintained that The Tunnel is not supporting or condoning piracy, but instead trying to incorporate a legitimate use of peer-to-peer in our distribution strategy internationally."

Paramount – like most Hollywood studios – has shown much hostility to BitTorrent over the years. It's therefore quite surprising to see such an abrupt change and to learn that Transmission Films and Paramount Home Entertainment Australia, who work together on film acquisitions, have confirmed they will be backing what they describe as "the film that captured the imaginations of internet users globally." Talk about a step in the right direction.

Created many decades ago, the tunnels under Sydney were originally intended to house a rail network. Construction was discontinued and they later became US General Macarthur's headquarters during the World War II. After that, they were abandoned. A film crew decided to go down there recently and...

Mozilla releases Firefox 4 Release Candidate 1

Mozilla has released Firefox 4 Release Candidate 1. The new build comes less than two weeks after the Beta 12 release. There's no major changes here: the company is just working on "general stability, performance, and compatibility improvements." For more information on what's changed throughout the development of version 4.0, check out the release notes.

If you're already running a previous build of Firefox 4 you should see an automatic update soon. Alternatively, you can download RC1 directly for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux 32-bit/64-bit. The RC supports 79 languages.

Mozilla was originally planning on having Firefox 4 out by the end of last year, but it has had to delay the release multiple times. The company has fixed more than 7,000 bugs in the 12 betas. After this RC build there will likely be at least one more, followed by a final release.

Mozilla has been struggling to get Firefox 4.0 out the door. As a result, the company has announced that in 2011, not only will we see Firefox 4.0, but we will also see Firefox 5.0, Firefox 6.0, and Firefox 7.0.