I am an avid PC gamer and one of my all time favorite PC games was the original Max Payne. The shooter had an original story, great graphics, and some very innovative game play with its Bullet Time feature. The game was so popular it spawned a feature film recently that honestly sucked, not Marky Mark’s finest work.

Rockstar has announced that Max Payne 3 is coming this winter, we can probably expect the game in time for holiday shopping. Payne is still out for revenge for the death of his family in the third installment from the franchise.

When I was a kid, my doctor’s nurse would always bust out of the door to the exam room with an arm full of paper folders with all my medical records inside. More often than not she gave the doctor the wrong folder resulting in more agonizing wait time before I found out if I had to get a shot or not.

Today when I take my son to the doctor the nurse comes out with a small tablet computer in hand with access to all the medical records in the office. A new rugged tablet computer for health pros has been launched by GammaTech called the Durabook RT10. The machine is fully rugged and can withstand drops of up to four feet and features Intel Health technology.

Saving a few watts by using a more energy efficient hard drive isn’t high on the list of priorities for most businesses and your average computer user. The savings in electricity for most of us won’t offset the cost of replacing a hard drive. However, for large data centers saving a few watts per hard drive can equate to millions of dollars.

Hitachi has announced its latest energy efficient hard drive aimed at the enterprise market called the Ultrastar C10K300. The drive spins at 10,000 RPM and connects to servers via an SAS interface. The drive has a 2.5-inch form factor helping to save space in crowded server environments.

Lenovo unveiled its new mobile phone, named the X1. The X1 is a 3.2-inch WQVGA display, slide-out phone which uses Tri-Band and EDGE networks. Some other features are built-in GPS and a MicroSD slot for memory expansion.

As far as dimensions, the phone is a close match for the iPhone. The new X1 has a sleek look with a feather touch interface on the front panel and smooth edges. It’s a shame this phone will only be available in China for the moment.

The folks over at Samsung have been busy. The new Samsung SCH-U490, aka the Samsung Trance will soon be unveiled. The phone features touch and context sensitive keys for navigation and media playback, microSDHC expansion slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack, 1.3 megapixel camera with video recorder, speakerphone, and 1GB of internal memory.

The bulkier but more feature-packed replacement for the Juke will sport Bang & Olufsen speakers, 128MB dedicated for apps, and microSD expansion up to 16GB. The Samsung Trance will be heading for Verizon as under the name Samsung Trance in the second quarter of 2009.

Throat microphones have enjoyed some popularity with the military and police, but they haven’t caught on with civilians yet. The Sanwa Throat microphone might be the one that catches the average user’s attention. At least Sanwa hopes so. It doesn’t hurt that it looks like a high-tech choker. Just bedazzle it and the ladies will dig it. It isn’t threatening looking.

It puts the microphone against your throat, eliminating most of the background noise and working in conditions where the background noise is loud. No word on pricing or availability yet. Even though it looks silly, it could catch on in a big way.

This is a pretty neat application. It allows iPhone users to plant a virtual tree from their phone while simultaneously activating the planting of a real tree. Originally showcased at TED, the app is now available to the masses on iTunes.

The real trees are planted by the Conservation Fund, and they will begin with the restoration of a vulnerable wildlife habitat along the Gulf Coast. It’s sponsored by Ecolife Apparel, makers of cotton “green” underwear, and was developed by iPhactory.

When you think about the homeless, you likely think about wool blankets, shopping carts and cardboard box shelters. Add the cell phone to that list. According to advocates who work with the district’s homeless, the proportion of homeless people who own and use a cellphone is 30% to 40%.

It seems bizarre, but the gadget once considered a luxury, is now being used by the homeless to keep up with food stamp programs, housing applications and checking emails. There’s also the obvious need for the 911 feature. It makes sense, as a pay as you go phone with 200 minutes can cost about $20 or $30. It’s a lifeline.

This is either pure genius, or pure “I’m broke as &%#&, but that ain’t gonna stop me from making an arcade stick.” I can’t decide which. Though I can sympathize. Sometimes you just don’t have a cool case for your mod.

In that situation I usually just wait to do my mod, until I’ve found a good case rather then assault my mom’s fake tupperware. But hey, that’s just me. The controller is compatible with the PS2 as well as picnics everywhere.

Ron Tajima must be the laziest dad ever. His newest Roomba project involved his son. Specifically putting his son on the contraption to be carried away like a robot sacrifice offered up to our metal masters.

He calls it the Cradloomba. Child Services calls it the “This requires a visit to your residence right now” bot. While I call it genius. Is there anything the Roomba can’t do? It’ll help you recognize that abusive relationship, gives free pet rides, now it will clean your floor and let junior floor surf at the same time.

The Boy Genius Report has some details on the next iPhone from a source “pretty high up in AT&T’s food chain.” So what do they say? Well, that the next iPhone is due in June for one(not much of a prediction) and that it will feature 7.2Mbps 3G speeds (likely. We told you about that yesterday.) and U-Verse support.

BGR thinks we may even see a full QWERTY-keyed iPhone. As usual take it with a grain of salt. It sounds good, but nothing is confirmed.

We’ve seen some awesome Lego creations, and this one is just as cool. Philo Hurbain built this 3D scanner because he was looking for a way to model complex Lego parts for use in the LDraw CAD program.

Even the drive components and sensors are made from Lego pieces, except for the probe needle, which is apparently a sewing needle. The “brains” of the device is the Mindstorms NXT. Below, you can watch the device in action as it models a Lego frog.

The jawas aren’t the only ones abducting droids and tinkering with them. The modder known as Frenkie created this awesome R2-D2 case mod, using an old garbage can and a lot of mad skillz. He really did an awesome job and got almost all of the details.

The droid has a webcam, speakers, LEDs, all the nerd-stuff we like. You can make one of your very own for roughly $150. Hit the link to see how it was made from start to finish.

We have some disappointing news about the Dell Adamo. Turns out that the Adamo’s battery is not able to be replaced by the user. Just like another laptop you may know and love. The hell you say?

Well, it is replaceable, it just has to be sent into Dell for the procedure, thereby inconveniencing you and making them some more money.(We assume.) We don’t know how much the company is going to charge for that.

The latest combination gadget from Brando is the Rota-Rota USB hub that combines three swiveling USB ports, readers for most flash memory formats and…two thermometers? It does have a nice vintage car style thing happening.

Sure, you may have some extra USb ports already. Maybe even a card reader, but I bet you don’t have a thermometer on your desk. C’mon, it must be important to know how hot or cold it is on your desk, to some of you right? For $15 you can have your answer.