Every year I have a giggle to myself as I remember the Y2K panic…were that many people really that naive? Well, as we know, the world did NOT come to a screeching halt and all computers worldwide did NOT turn into HAL. If you’re going out tonight, have a great time…but have someone drive who is not going to be drinking. Trust me, it can ruin your life (and the lives of others). If you’re staying in, also have a great time. And if, like me, you’re working so that others might have a great time, enjoy yourself as much as possible!

TechwareLabs gets us going with the Jetway Ecomo EM100BV Netbook

iXBT Labs examines the Gigabyte EP45-UD3LR Motherboard

TweakNews checks out the Ultra X4 Fully Modular 850 Watt Power Supply

TrustedReviews takes a look at the LG 47LH3000 47in LCD TV

techPowerUp goes inside the Vidabox vCase3 HTPC Case

MadShrimps spends some time with the Swiftech Apogee XT High End CPU Water Block

LanOC weighs in on the Plextor PX-B320SA 8X Blu-ray Disc Drive

TweakTown hooks up with the ASUS RT-N13U SuperSpeed N Wireless Router

Legit Reviews offers up some HIS Radeon HD5750 iCooler IV Video Card Benchmarking

bit-tech explains How to Build a DVD Server

BigBruin wants you to Win a Pentax Optio E80 10MP Digital Camera

PCShopTalk gets its hands on the SteelSeries XAI Laser Gaming Mouse

And to finish us off, Technic3D gives a listen to some Teufel Concept B 200

Not that it comes as any great surprise, but the sun is long gone again. At least it’s not actively snowing!

Futurelooks kicks it off with the Cooler Master Storm Series Sniper Black Edition Gaming Case

TrustedReviews gets into the OKI MC360 – Colour Laser MFP

bit-tech offers some ideas on How to Spend Your Christmas Cash

Technic3D chills out with the Xigmatek Balder

MadShrimps goes inside the LanCool PC-K58 ATX Mid Tower Case

BCC Hardware checks out the Thermaltake TR2 RX 750W Modular Power Supply

Motherboards.org examines the ASUS Z8NA-D6C Server Motherboard

Benchmark Reviews gets its hands on the Razer Imperator Laser Gaming Mouse

ThinkComputers sits down with the ASRock ION 330HT Nettop

Legit Reviews shares its thoughts on the In Win Ammo 2.5-inch HDD RFID Enclosure

Hardware Secrets points and shoots the Nikon Coolpix S640 Digital Camera

CCE Reviews rocks out with the Hisoundaudio AMP3 Pro. 2 MP3 Player

Finally, TweakTown presents its FINAL FANTASY XIII Hands On Preview

Usually, I get up and after I get the coffee going I come sit at the computer to catch up on what I may have missed in the world, and also to do a post here. Today, I walked in the office and sat down, and was almost immediately blinded! Normally, my first reaction would be to close the blinds and block it out, but I’m happily squinting against the glare. When you live where I do, actual sunlight that shows up any time between November and March is a rare commodity, to be treasured and sought out at every opportunity.

ThinkComputers starts us off with the Thermaltake TR2 RX 750W Modular Power Supply

TrustedReviews gives a listen to the Orb Audio People’s Choice – 5.1 Speaker System

bit-tech takes on Aliens Versus Predator

MadShrimps chills out with the Larkooler Universal High Performance Complete CPU / VGA / Chipset / Mosfet Liquid Cooling Kit

Bjorn3D gets its hands on the Razer Abyssus Gaming Mouse

Legit Reviews examines the ASUS P7P55D Premium Motherboard

techPowerUp tries on a pair of Head-Direct HiFiMAN RE252

GamePyre shares its thoughts on the Western Digital Caviar 2TB Green Drive

TechReviewSource spends some time with the Canon Pixma MP560

TweakPC presents its G.Skill Falcon II SSD Review and Performance Test (note the little US flag for automatic translation)

TweakTown goes inside the Scythe FenrisWolf Mid-Tower Chassis

LanOC hooks up with the Thermaltake BlacX Duet

To close out this selection, TechwareLabs sits down with the Jet-Way ION-TOP HTPC

OK, so Christmas is over. Now we have a few days to get settled down again before it’s time to celebrate New Year’s. I’m still torn about what to do…I’ve got two different friends playing in two different bands locally who would like me to see them, my “home” tavern is of course having a party with live music, and a friend from high school is having a party at her house. It’s entirely possible I’ll end up staying home, because for the almost-dating (but not really), New Year’s Eve is entirely too much pressure if you’re together, and too depressing if you’re not.

Futurelooks gets us going with the Tritton Technologies AX 180 Universal Gaming Headset

TrustedReviews takes a look at the Denon DBP-2010 Blu-ray Player

RBMods checks out the Nexus RX-6300 PSU

Tech-Reviews gets into the Stratospherix NetPortal 1.2 iPhone App

TweakPC presents Silent PC – Components for a quiet PC (click on the little US flag for English translation)

TestFreaks puts together its Best of 2009: Netbooks

TweakTown examines the HIS Radeon HD 5750 iCooler IV Video Card

Benchmark Reviews spends some time with the Gigabyte P55A-UD6 SATA-6G Motherboard

LanOC shares its thoughts on the Seagate FreeAgent Go 1Tb

ThinkComputers goes inside the NZXT Gamma Mid Tower Case

And to finish us off, Phoronix gives you ATI Linux 2009 Year In Review

The bonus (and anti-bonus, let’s be honest) to having a pretty extended, almost completely divorced family is that Christmas lasts for a minimum of two weeks for me. My sister is picking me up in a few minutes to head up north to my dad’s house for his party. Luckily, this isn’t the one where we do major present-exchanging, so it should take less time. But still, there are eleven adults and eight children, and he lives just over 80 miles away. Hope y’all are having a lovely weekend recovering from the festivities!

TechwareLabs gets us going with the SanDisk 8GB Memory Stick PRO Duo

TrustedReviews checks out the Canon PIXMA MP990 – All-in-One Inkjet Printer

Benchmark Reviews shares its thoughts on the Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD6 Motherboard

LanOC examines the Patriot DDR3 Viper Series Tri-Channel Kit

ThinkComputers hooks up with the QNAP TS-439U-RP Rackmount NAS

bit-tech takes a look at the ECS A785GM-M Black Series

TweakNews chills out with the Zalman CNPS10X Extreme CPU Cooler

Motherboards.org spends some time with the XFX and GIGABYTE RADEON HD 5970 CrossfireX

techPowerUp gets into the ASRock ION 330HT-BD

TestFreaks presents its Best of 2009: Playstation 3 Games

And to finish us off, DragonSteelMods reports on the Top 10 PC Games of the Holidays for 2009