Countless people are trying to predict what 2009 could hold for the world of technology. Of course, it's all just guesswork -- these pundits aren't working with a crystal ball. So we decided to find someone who was.

We take a look at some of the hottest games heading for shop shelves this year.

Who wants scads of commercial PC games for free? No, I don't mean the kind you download illicitly, silly. I'm talking about older but as well a few newer games, including a few award-winners that publishers have made available over the years and on the house.

MSI, the makers of the much vaunted U100 'Wind' netbook, have announced a new version of the machine featuring both an SSD drive and a conventional hard disk.

Palm is set to preview this week its latest incarnation of mobile operating system - Nova - in a bid to re-ignite the company as a smartphone leader. Latest developments say that Palm will also release a new device that runs Nova as well. The unveiling is expected during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2009, which starts on Thursday, January 8 in Las Vegas.

Google has added a new feature to enable users to find and access their Google documents straight from the desktop.

Fewer than 60% of European Web users run Microsoft's Internet Explorer, a French-based metrics company reported yesterday, while more than 31% have switched to Mozilla's Firefox.

IPNetInfo is a small and focused network tool that can be a big help if you want to get information about an IP address, the string of numbers that computers use to locate each other on the Internet. Give this free tool an address you see in a URL, e-mail header or other location, and it will quickly return available registration information for it.

Here's a quick trick to cut down on printer consumables.

Steve Jobs may [[artid:919734384|not be coming to MacWorld Expo]]in San Francisco next week, but that hasn't stopped the Apple rumor-rama from charging ahead at full speed.

The RIAA has called off some of its pit bulls, but don't expect a kindler gentler trade org to emerge in 2009.

Steve Jobs may [[artid:919734384|not be coming to MacWorld Expo]]in San Francisco next week, but that hasn't stopped the Apple rumor-rama from charging ahead at full speed.

The RIAA has called off some of its pit bulls, but don't expect a kindler gentler trade org to emerge in 2009.

If databases were judged like beauty pageants, the latest upgrade to FileMaker Pro would be crowned Miss Universe, contend executives at FileMaker.

Seagate has begun volume shipments of a new desktop hard-disk drive that offers 1TB of storage space across two disks.

IPNetInfo is a small and focused network tool that can be a big help if you want to get information about an IP address, the string of numbers that computers use to locate each other on the Internet. Give this free tool an address you see in a URL, e-mail header or other location, and it will quickly return available registration information for it.

Cisco has won much attention from consumer news sites since the New York Times reported Monday that the networking giant at CES this week is expected to unveil a digital stereo system that can move music wirelessly around a house, among other consumer offerings. But analysts and pundits say there are hurdles that Cisco must overcome in a market where Cisco is an unknown brand. Pundits also point to similar offerings from Sonos, Logitech and Apple.

The Web development frameworks Rails and Merb have decided to end their rivalry and join forces in a single project, they said last week.

A Sun Microsystems executive has provided a glimpse into the company's future plans for open sourcing JavaFX, its recently released technology for building RIAs (rich Internet applications) for the desktop, mobile devices and other platforms.

Microsoft developers overlooked a critical bug in the Internet Explorer browser because of a lack of adequate testing tools and training, a company official acknowledged last month.

Hackers are targeting Twitter users in a bid to steal personal information, says Sophos.

Palm is set to preview this week its latest incarnation of mobile operating system - Nova - in a bid to re-ignite the company as a smartphone leader. Latest developments say that Palm will also release a new device that runs Nova as well. The unveiling is expected during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2009, which starts on Thursday, January 8 in Las Vegas.

Back before Thanksgiving I predicted that Blu-ray sales would suffer during the holiday season due to the high cost of both the player and HDTVs combined with the current economic recession, among other reasons. But after seeing the report from the British Video Association declaring Blu-ray sales have risen almost 400 percent for the 2008 holiday season over the same period of time last year, it is clear that I was wrong.