It's holiday season once again and while everyone is dodging each other for that latest and greatest smartphone or tablet, Google would like to remind you that there are other options. Options such as their Chromebook, which they've now commenced a fresh push on, including an updated interface and some much more competitive, and festive pricing.

Google are slowly changing their Chrome OS to be more like a Windows laptop, or as user-friendly as an iPad. In May, Google introduced a file system and laptops with working SD card slots, which is a huge upgrade from the once only cloud-based launch. While Chrome OS and Chromebooks are still cloud-heavy, you can now side-load files and even download them to an easily accessible file area on the system.

Where Chromebooks make it easy, is beyond the usual Google/Gmail sign-in, there's no setup. Nothing. Nada. Zip. For those with a Gmail account, you just sign in like you do on an Android-based tablet or smartphone (something I utterly love) and from there, it'll sync your data, contacts, e-mail, photos (from Google+ and others). It really is a no hassles, easy setup process.

Whilst most people are enjoying Battlefield 3, there are some issues. Usually I hate issues on big AAA titles, but I forgive DICE for this. Battlefield 3 really pushes most boundaries of games these days, scale, graphics, audio, detail, etc. It's hard to release a game that looks this good, on consoles too, without some bugs.

But, DICE are preparing a major PC patch full of tweaks and improvements. A post on the EA blog explains it a bit more:

There are going to be as many as 50 Intel Ultrabooks to be launched at CES in January next year. According to Shawn DuBravac, director of research for show organisers the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), he expects a truck load of ultrathin laptops to be unveiled in Las Vegas. DuBravac told journalists at a CES Unveiled even held in London:

Up to this point, there has only been a few manufacturers who have announced Ultrabooks, as most of them are awaiting the 22nm refresh of Ivy Bridge before releasing their devices. Intel CEO Paul Otellini is set to give a keynote speech in Las Vegas, where Ivy Bridge is likely to be officially released alongside a large amount of new Ultrabooks.

I found this video on my stumbles through the [sometimes] strange corners of the Internet, where YouTube user 'n0w1kn0w' posted a video with the title "You have 30 days to pay me $5,000,000...", the video is below, watch it first and then read more below:

Now, it starts off all boring - at one point I thought he was building a mobile bomb that he was going to place in some Government building and then keep it there for 30 days waiting for his $5,000,000, but then the video gets quite serious with n0w1kn0w visiting a pyramid in Egypt, and rolling his remote control car into it.

The video is quite well done and I like the music (usually YouTube videos like this have really bad music tracks). But, lets think of it logically. Let's say he found something secret that The Powers That Be didn't want us to see, proof of aliens? A scroll? A device? Let's assume he found something, that YouTube video would be ripped off the Internet and he'd be thrown in the biggest, darkest hole you could imagine.

Norwegian-based start-up FXI, has unveiled their new prototype, codenamed 'Cotton Candy', a cloud-client on a USB stick. Cotton Candy sports a dual-core 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A9, as well as a quad-core ARM Mali-400MP GPU, 1GB RAM, MicroSD reader, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, USB and HDMI outputs.

This is virtually the same hardware that powers one of the best smartphones on the market, Samsung's Galaxy S II. What is different with Cotton Candy is software. It acts as a cloud-client on-the-go. You could be running a PC with Windows, Linux, or a Mac, an Embedded device or just a TV, you'll be able to plug the Cotton Candy stick into a USB port of a PC or into the HDMI port of a TV. After you've plugged it into the device, that device turns into a portal to the cloud, allowing you to carry your own personal OS on you at all times, whilst having the experience that is identical no matter the device you're next to.

Google's Android OS powers Cotton Candy, so it will turn any device into a larger Android-powered device. Applications will have the ability to both send and receive data to and from the cloud, with control of Cotton Candy through a mouse or keyboard, and if they're not available, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth peripherals, or even a mobile phone.

I've been playing Battlefield 3 a few hours here and there and I just love it. It's an amazing achievement from DICE and the new DLC pack Back to Karkand is set to kick some serious ass. A new gameplay trailer is out and it looks like it's been done on PC this time.

In the video above, Strike at Karkand is shown off, with the streets recognizable from the fan-favorite Battlefield 2. If you pre-ordered Battlefield 3, you'll get Back to Karkand for free, if not, it will set you back $15. Back to Karkand DLC includes four maps, Gulf of Oman, Sharqi Peninsula, Strike at Karkand and my personal favorite, Wake Island. New weapons, vehicles and special assignments are also featured.

PS3 Battlefield 3 gamer? You're in luck, you'll get a week of gaming in before we all do. PS3 gamers gave a week early access to Back to Karkand.

Nintendo has a grand PR stunt for the launch of Mario Kart 7 which launches on December 4 on the Nintendo 3DS portable gaming console; real-life replicas of the classic Mario Kart and Luigi Bumble V Kart. Yes, real-life replicas!

The replicas were built by West Coast Customs, who are known for their awesome work on the MTV series "Pimp My Ride." Mario's shiny red go-kart comes complete with its glider attachment for flying. Luigi's go-kart includes a cool rear propeller that's used for underwater navigation. In the below picture is Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America:

The karts will sit on display at the LA Auto Show, November 18-27 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. But, there's a really good thing coming from Gamespot here. A competition for the chance to take one of these bad-ass looking go-karts home! The competition is through GameStop's PowerUp Rewards program, where a PowerUp member must make a purchase or trade in a game at GameStop in the month of December.

With all of the X79 news coming out on the 14th you may have missed the Revisiting the Legend: OCZ Vertex LE article that was posted. Our friends at MyDigitalDiscount.com uncovered a batch of drives in a warehouse and are blowing them out.

TweakTown has teamed up with My Digital Discount to offer a coupon code to get the legend for right around $1 per GB on the 240GB model. The coupon code, TT30off240LE is still in effect but only a few drives remain.

The Vertex LE is one of the fastest SATA II drives ever released and was ahead of it's time. It featured 3Xnm flash with 15K P/E cycles, a rarity these days in a world filled with 25nm flash rated at just 5K P/E cycles. After the coupon you can't find a better deal and the 285MB/s read, 270MB/s write speed is pretty nice too:)

Earlier today we made our way over to the Antec Taipei office where we got given access to an exclusive video preview of the upcoming Eleven Hundred Gaming Series computer case.

The Eleven Hundred is the flagship model in Antec's gaming series of cases which brings with it full E-ATX and XL-ATX motherboard support and support for up to three-way SLI and four-way CrossFireX. It's a stylish looking case which immediately indicates great quality as we have come to expect from Antec cases in the past. It looks just like a typical Antec product with included traditional features we've seen in the past, but it's also mixing in a blend of new features.

On the top of the case is a 200mm exhaust fan with a blue LED and in total the case supports up to nine fans in total for some pretty extreme cooling potential. In the past we've seen Antec including the power and reset buttons towards the front top of their cases, but this time around with the Eleven Hundred they are move to the top front of the case, which is a much better position especially for when the case is sitting on the ground.

The on-going flooding problem in Thailand is only getting worse for the technology industry, with hard drive pricing skyrocketing past what most people would have been able to dream of two weeks ago. People are expecting pricing to rebound soon, but they are wrong, very wrong.

Seagate CEO Stephen Luczo was talking to Bloomberg, where he labels "nonsense" estimates that drive production will return to "pre-flood levels" by next summer. He adds: