(Credit:
Acer)
Two owners of Acer Predator gaming PCs reported recently that the desktops got so hot the external casing melted. Accordingly, Acer issued a voluntary recall Thursday.
The recall affects approximately 215 Predator desktops sold by Acer between May and December 2008, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
There have been at least two reported incidents of the PCs short-circuiting, causing both internal components and the exterior casing to melt. Fortunately, there were no injuries as a result, according to Acer.
Acer says the problem is caused by the insulation on the PCs' internal wiring, which can "become bent or stripped," leading the wires to overheat.
Anyone who bought one of these Predators during the period listed above can call Acer for a free repair. See the CPSC Web site for more details.
If you think the biggest problem with a camera phone is the poor quality of the photos, a member of Congress might make you think again. Earlier this month, Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) introduced a bill in the House of Representatives that would ban camera phones from having a silent mode when taking a picture.
The Camera Phone Predator Alert Act (H.R. 414) would "require any mobile phone containing a digital camera to sound a tone whenever a photograph is taken." What's more, the bill would prohibit such handsets from being equipped with a means of disabling or silencing the tone. Enforcement would be through the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The text of the bill is short, and King's office has not released any public statements. Yet, the reasoning behind the legislation is clear. The text states that "Congress finds that children and adolescents have been exploited by photographs taken in dressing rooms and public places with the use of a camera phone."
At the time of this writing the bill has been referred to the House Energy and Commerce. The Camera Phone Predator Alert Act has no co-sponsors.
One technology more than any other has stood out as a success story for the U.S. military in Iraq: unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs.
The best-known of the UAVs, the MQ-1 Predator, has evolved from its early use as simply a reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft to become a highly valued weapon in its own right. Armed with Hellfire missiles, it can both track enemy combatants and fire on them. A more recent version of the Predator, called the MQ-9 Reaper, was specifically put into service as a "hunter-killer" drone.
The Pentagon has been so impressed with the use of UAVs in combat zones that it has made a high priority out of training and assigning new pilots for the aircraft (though not without some controversy). While the Predators carry out missions in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, and are handled by ground crews there, the pilots generally operate from thousands of miles away, in places like Creech Air Force Base in Nevada.
In Sunday's installment of the CBS news magazine 60 Minutes, correspondent Lesley Stahl traveled to Iraq to talk to Gen. Ray Odierno, the new top commander there, and other senior U.S. military personnel about the role of UAVs.
During last spring's fight for Sadr City, for instance, UAVs including the Predator and the RQ-7 Shadow proved instrumental in finding and destroying insurgent targets. Cameras on the aircraft help commanders on the ground see and map out a wide area of operations with their "persistent surveillance" capability.
Stahl's report shows rare footage of the weaponry in action as the military pursued "fleeting and perishable" targets.
U.S. officials credit the high-tech aerial systems as among the top reasons that violence in Iraq dropped so dramatically this year. And earlier this year, although still a young technology, the Predator and the Shadow were among the half-dozen UAVs recognized with an exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution.
The Predator--with its "snowmobile" engine and unobtrusive presence--has also become a favored tool of the CIA. Take a closer look in the January 2003 video below, from the 60 Minutes archives.
The many faces of Acer's Predator gaming PC.
(Credit: CNET UK)If you're anxious to get your hands on that crazy-looking Acer Predator gaming PC, Acer informs us that U.S. customers still have time to save up. It won't be available here until mid-third quarter (aka "around August").
Can't wait? You can always head to the U.K. if you want it sooner. Our CNET UK compatriots report that they'll get it next month. CNET UK's Rory Reid also outlines three different tiers for the Predator, and he has pricing, at least converted to pounds from Euros. Using Rory's numbers to convert from Euros to American dollars, the prices look thusly:
- Predator Sniper - $2,670
- Predator Trooper - $3,140
- Predator Crusher - $4,710
Prices and product names, and even the specs listed on the Predator Web site may change by the time it arrives in the States. Assuming those numbers more or less hold, the Predator seems to fit squarely in what's become the semimainstream $2,000-$5,000 arena for gaming PCs. That's not quite high-end enough to really compete against the likes of Falcon Northwest and Voodoo PC when those boutique shops really start showing off, but it places the Predator squarely against the Dell XPS 730 and the HP Blackbird 002.
(Credit:
Acer)
One look at the Acer Predator design, and we were sold. Seemingly inspired by the iconic masked aliens from the movies, the angular body kicks girlish, curvy designs in the rear and (almost) makes gamers feel like real men-at-arms.
Under the panel lies a Core 2 Extreme processor, three-way SLI graphics support, TV tuner, and up to 8GB of system memory (for 64-bit operating systems). Though there is currently only a desktop on display, from the teaser site we gathered that a line of Predator notebooks seems likely. Availability, pricing, and other details are unknown so far.
(Source: Crave Asia)
These are three of the six UAVs now on display at the Smithsonian Institution (from top to bottom): the RQ-3A Darkstar, the MQ-1L Predator A, and the X-45A Joint Unmanned Combat Air System.
(Credit: U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. J.G. Buzanowski)
With names like Predator, Dragon Eye, and Darkstar, they sound downright intimidating. And it's true that in the hands of the Air Force, unmanned aerial vehicles like the Predator (and its grimly named younger sibling, the Reaper) can put you in a world of hurt via laser-guided Hellfire missiles.
But in a lot of ways still, UAVs aren't so far removed from the realm of the model airplane. The main reason: by and large, they're not autonomous, but rather fly under the control of a very human pilot on the ground--sometimes nearby, sometimes very far away. And some are small enough to hold in your hands; in fact, the 5-pound Dragon Eye used by the U.S. Marine Corps runs off a very modest electric motor and can be launched with a bungee cord.
One thing all the systems have in common is that they bring a new high-tech element to military operations, helping troops acquire ground targets, avoid roadside bombs, see beyond the next ridge, and even on occasion capture enemy combatants. (That would be the RQ-2A Pioneer in the 1991 Gulf War.)
In Washington, UAVs have already found friends in high places, like Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Now they've also found a home in the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum. For more on that, and on the drones in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, see News.com's photo gallery, "Photos: UAVs land in the Smithsonian."
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