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Forsaken World unveils new Bard class
Ready for another Forsaken World class spotlight? If not, well, too bad! Perfect World Entertainment has just released a new blog entry highlighting the Bard, which the developer describes as one of the more complex archetypes for its upcoming free-to-play fantasy MMORPG. With phase one of the game's closed beta coming next week, you've got just enough time to wrap your head around the Bard's eccentricities before testing them out for yourself. The class looks to be a hybrid DPS/buffer spec, as, according to the blog, Bards "have the ability to both increase everyone's combat and defensive abilities as well as drop massive twisting cyclones of music notes that shred enemy targets." Sound interesting? Head on over to the official website for more details, and don't forget to sign up for the beta while you're there.
Samsung, Seagate show off ReadyDrive HDD prototypes
No surprises here: we've known since last WinHEC that Samsung was working on a so-called ReadyDrive hard drive that sports a 128MB flash buffer for enabling lower laptop power consumption, and just as we suspected, they've unveiled a working prototype of the technology at this year's conference. Also on hand with their own ReadyDrive was Seagate, who, like Samsung, plan to release their model when Vista finally starts shipping, as only the next-gen operating system will have the proper ATA driver command sets to allow for such a large buffer. PCMag was on the scene for one of Samsung's demos, and claim that a laptop running an office apps script only needed to access the hard drive every three to four minutes, which could result in ReadyDrive-equipped laptops sipping up to 40% less juice than models with those outdated, perpetually-spinning HDDs.
Sirius announces sleek new Sportster4 radio
To prove that there is still life in the world of consumer electronics outside of videogames and laptops, Sirius broke up today's monotony by announcing an updated version of their Sportster series of Plug and Play satellite radios with 44-minute buffers. The Sportster4, which is small enough to easily transport between home and car, maintains the same recording capacity and features as its predecessors, but adds a new vehicle dock that includes an auxiliary input for your MP3 player. Additional niceties include 30 presets, bundled remote, favorite artist alerts, and game reminders to keep you updated on score changes. Look for the Sportster4 later this month for around $170, with accessories like boombox docks soon to follow.
