Xbox Finally Outsells Nintendo's Wii in February

Microsoft's Xbox 360 console has topped NPD's list of monthly console sales for the first time in two years.

Each month, NPD Group releases the numbers for monthly console sales and the Xbox 360 hasn't been at the top of NPD's list for a very long time. However, February was a great month for Microsoft, even if it wasn't exactly a great month for the market in general. NPD reports that console sales in February were down 15 percent compared to February of last year.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 sold 422,000 units during February, while the number of Wiis sold came to 397,900 units. Sony came in third place with the PlayStation 3, although it's not as bad as it sounds. The PlayStation 3 sold 360,100 units, a 30 percent increase on the same period last year.

Nintendo's DS topped the list for handheld consoles (613,200 units), while the PSP sold just 133,400 units. Top game for the month was Bioshock 2. Second place went to Nintendo's New Super Mario Bros. and Modern Warfare 2 placed third.

Warid Down by 2.6 Million Customers, Ufone at 3rd Slot Again

Cellular phone subscribers’ base has witnessed a significant contraction by 2.22 percent in January as the result of ongoing data correction process.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s (PTA) latest statistics show a decline of 2.17 million users in the overall sector, which reduced the teledensity of the country by 1.4 percent to 58.20 percent by the end of January 2010.

Warid remained the worst effected operator as it lost 2.65 million customers in total in January, taking it back to 4^th slot in terms of subscribers.

The number of total subscribers in Pakistan now stands at 95.4 million after reducing from 97.57 million in a month.

More details in below graph.

Tech Support Rating: Apple, Dell, Lenovo Top List

Consumer Reports surveyed over 7,000 of its readers and declared its list of companies that provided the overall most satisfactory tech support for laptop and desktop computers.

While many Tom's Hardware readers are used to doing their own troubleshooting and support of their own computers, the quality of post-sale support is often a huge differentiator between a good computer experience and a bad one.

Consumer Reports, an independent and non-profit publication,released its latest ratings for computer tech support for laptops and desktops. The magazine's findings were based on an annual survey of over 7,000 desktop- and laptop-owning subscribers to Consumer Reports from January 2009 to January 2010.

Respondents were asked to review a manufacturer's ability to solve their problems, the communication and knowledge of phone support staff, how long they were placed on hold, and the quality of the company's online support.

Based on responses from owners of 3,685 laptop computers, Apple scored 86 points out of 100. Second place Lenovo earned a 63; third place Toshiba had 60; fourth place Dell has a 56; and HP/Compaq has a 53. Trailing far behind was Acer/Gateway/eMachines with 39.

The running selection for desktop brands was narrower with only four brands. Based on responses from owners of 3,711 desktop computers, Apple took top spot at 87 points out of 100. Dell scored 55 for second place; HP/Compaq scored 53 for third; and Acer/Gateway/eMachines grabbed another 39.

GeForce 196.78 Beta Driver Runs GeForce GTX 470

Details of the GeForce GTX 470 leaks out thanks to a beta driver system dialog screen.

With Nvidia's GF100-based GeForce GTX 470 and GTX 480 cards launching in just over two weeks, it should surprise no one that details of the new GPUs have been leaked from a beta driver release.

Softpedia cites Czech website PCTuning as identifying beta GeForce drivers version 196.78 as supporting the GeForce GTX 470. The driver system dialog screen revealed a few key details.

According to PCTuning's findings, the GeForce GTX will have 448 CUDA cores or SIMD units and come equipped with 1,280MB of GDDR5 on a 320-bit interface. The memory clock is at 1GHz, but the effective speed is multiplied to 4GHz for a memory bandwidth of 160GB/s.

Stay tuned as more Fermi details release over the next couple of weeks. For those of you who missed it, check out Nvidia's showing of a GeForce GTX 480 pitted against an ATI Radeon 5870.

Battlestar Galactica MMO Game in Development

The end of the modern day Battlestar Galactica was a sad day for sci-fi fans, but those who are into online gaming can relive some of the good memories this as Bigpoint and Unity are currently developing a browser-based Massively Multiplayer Online Game based on the TV series.

The game will be straight-forwardly titled Battlestar Galactica Online, which is described in the press release as follows:

Players will be able to choose to play as cylons or humans in a constant struggle to control the universe or just survive its perils. A blend of tactical space combat, exploration, and mission-based gameplay will provide a diverse experience. The dramatic missions will define the game's overall storyline, enabling the player to delve into mysteries of the Battlestar universe. Battlestar Galactica Online will create a new standard for web games, with beautiful 3d graphics and innovative game mechanics bringing a new level of game play to browser based MMOG. Assets from the television production will be integrated into the game to deliver an even more authentic experience.

While the prospect of a browser-based game means that we won't be expecting graphics that'll stress even the modest versions of modern GPUs, but the tech demos from Unity3D show that browser gaming can go well beyond Bejeweled