It’s a reminder that you should always ask questions about the claims made by companies, especially those trying to sell you something. Computer chip maker Intel passed off a pre-recorded video as a live demonstration at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Before a gathering of the press and industry representatives, the company's Manager of PC Client, Wooley Eden, used a racing game to demonstrate the prowess of their new Ivy Bridge graphics for Ultrabook computers. The game suffered a noticeable pause at the beginning and a closer look at a video of the event taken by BrightSideOfNews.com reveals that Intel’s Manager of PC Client Wooley Eden merely pretended to play the game, playing a video of it instead. Eden openly joked at the end that his driving wasn't real and was actually being controlled "backstage" although that wasn't very clear. 

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If you've managed to complete your holiday shopping only to find that you forgot to pick up a box of gift tags don't fret, just fire up your printer. A number of craft blogs are offering free downloadable templates and lovely designs for easy printing and cutting. I find when I buy gift tags from the store there's never enough to go around and often you get some really bad designs mixed in with the good ones. With these free templates you know exactly what you're getting and can just print them off as needed. 

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It was one of the year's most anticipated gadgets, but don't expect to find it under the Christmas tree this year. The PS Vita is the next version of Sony's handheld PlayStation video game system. Although it enjoyed a launch into stores this weekend in Japan, Sony has announced today that for the United States and Canada, the release date won't be until February 22nd. Two versions of the PS Vita will be offered, but only one, a Wi-Fi model for $249.99, will be sold here in Canada. The more expensive Wi-Fi/3G version will be sold in the US for $299.99. Games for the system will vary between $9.99 and $49.99 each.

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It's not often we can associate fun with a financial institution, but PNC has done just that with a holiday model train adventure. each year the company studies the inflation rate for all the items mentioned in the Twelve Days of Christmas, you know, turtle doves, french hens, maids a' milking and the like. As you ride their online train you'll be taken through a number of puzzles and games that express the results from that study. The impressive visuals alone make it worth the ride. 

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BirdBox Studios has released a fun little interactive holiday short on YouTube this week. Using your mouse you can click to make a series of choices, choosing one of three hedgehogs to sing a carol and then picking out their music, clothes, or other props. Depending on the choices you'll make you'll arrive at a very different ending and it's worth going back and playing the short again and again, just to see each of the funny outcomes. 

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Two major features of Apple's iCloud service are now available in Canada, a month after their initial launch in the United States. iTunes Match promsies to scan your music library and provide high quality replacements for songs not purchased from the iTunes Store, while TV In The Cloud allows users to re-download television shows bought previously and share them across all devices owned. Both services aim to make it easier for consumers to abandon the world of CDs and DVDs in favour of digital downloads.

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Two new online music services are set to launch here in Canada very soon. Rara.com has managed to gets its licenses in place so it can launch in 18 different countries this week, managing that rare launch that happens in both Canada and the US. Deezer.com, a service that has been active in Europe for several years, will follow with a launch in the new year and actually do so before any planned launch for the US.

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The use of social networks in political protests continues to be a source of consternation for authorities trying to keep their control. Unsure how to properly respond some overreact. Last January when the government of Egypt was faced with street protests matched with online support, they took the extreme measure of shutting down internet service country-wide. Now evidence is surfacing this week that authorities in Russia may have adopted spam tactics and Botnet systems to disrupt Twitter messages supporting protests in Moscow’s Triumphal Square. [More]

I’m lucky to be part of a wonderful culture here in Canada and that’s something I try to show off through what I wear on App Central. Each season I hunt for cool Canadian T-shirt designers. There’s no deal here, I just search through their catalog for something that catches my eye (and I’m pretty particular) and then, well, buy it and wear it on TV. They only find out about it when I tweet the fact or write about it here on my blog. It’s an easy way to express the creativity of our little world north of the border here.

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After much hype and many delays, Microsoft’s new dashboard software for their Xbox 360 is now available for download. It’s the most significant change made to the video game system since 2008 and one that aims to make it more of a digital entertainment system, where watching online movies, TV shows, and music is just as important as playing video games.

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