first

If this year's Halloween festivities haven't sufficiently freaked you out yet, we'd like to direct your attention to Contract Killer: Zombies, a gory first-person shooter that puts you smack dab in the middle of an undead apocalypse.

Fans of the original, non-zombified hit, Contract Killer, should recognize both the format of the game and the swipe-to-aim interface.

In Contract Killer: Zombies, you and your partner Evelyn trek through zombie-ridden streets in search of both survivors and supplies. As you conquer missions, you gain experience points and earn money, both of which lead to the buying of bigger … Read more

First Solar's board of directors ousted the solar company's chief executive, Rob Gillette, replacing him on an interim basis with Chairman Mike Ahearn while it searches for a permanent replacement.

Shares in the world's most valuable solar company plummeted more than 24 percent to $43.71--its lowest level since March of 2007--following the unexpected Tuesday announcement.

"It's an absolute and total surprise," said Mark Bachman, an analyst with Avian Securities LLC.

The U.S. solar company said in a brief statement that its board of directors has asked Ahearn to serve as temporary CEO … Read more

AT&T and Sprint Nextel both said that the new iPhone 4S helped drive record single-day sales for each carrier.

Sprint said it reached its best-ever day of sales by 10 a.m. PT. AT&T said that as of 1:30 p.m., it had activated a record number of iPhones on its network.

The new iPhone, despite the lack of a major redesign, continues to be a tremendous draw, significantly outstripping the demand for any other smartphones. The iPhone 4S drew lines at Apple stores around the country.

In addition, the iPhone also continues to be … Read more

When police in the District of Columbia decided to use an automobile GPS bug to surreptitiously track the movements of Antoine Jones, a suspected cocaine dealer, they set in motion a legal challenge that will end before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The court's fall term, which begins today, includes a review of Jones' attempt to overturn his conviction. His attorneys argue that such precise turn-by-turn tracking requires a search warrant signed by a judge--a step that D.C. police chose not to take.

It's one of a handful of technology cases that, in addition to a high-profile … Read more

Now there's an app to tell you how to make commercial buildings more energy efficient.

Startup FirstFuel announced today it has raised $2.4 million from venture capital companies Nth Power and Battery Ventures to commercialize a software system to remotely evaluate and measure commercial building efficiency.

What's unusual about the application is that it doesn't require a person to be dispatched to perform an energy audit or install meters to gather data. Instead, the company collects utility data on hourly energy consumption and combines it with weather information to create a profile of a specific building. … Read more

A study conducted by the Knight Foundation has found that "students who use social networking daily to get news and information" are more likely to agree that 'people should be allowed to express unpopular opinions'," than those who don't use social networks. And the more kids use social network, the more likely they are to hold that opinion. Fully 91 percent of those surveyed who use social networks daily agree with that premise compared to 82 percent of monthly users and 77 percent of those who never use social media, the study found.

The study included … Read more

Max Payne 3 has made our "most anticipated games of the year" list two consecutive years in a row. The highly anticipated title now has a release date of March 2012, and today we're getting a look at some of the action.

The Max Payne series was extraordinarily successful in the PC gaming scene when it debuted in 2001 and followed similar success when it was transplanted to consoles the following year. Known for its unique stylized graphic-novel storytelling aesthetic, many credit the Max Payne series from for bringing "bullet-time" into mainstream gaming. The franchise even spawned a 2008 film adaptation of the same name starring Mark Wahlberg.

Now, Rockstar Games is finally bringing the long-awaited follow-up to Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne to Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC next year. Having left New York City, Payne has spiraled even lower than ever before, finding himself working in private security in Brazil.

We'll have much more on Max Payne 3 in the months leading up to its release.… Read more

Films from Miramax premiere in Facebook, Fusion Garage's Grid 10 gets a date and a $200 price cut, and Gowalla announces version 4.0 of its app that focuses on stories and guides.

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded:

First Solar has been granted the right to use "Made in EU" or "Made in Europe" on its thin-film solar panels made in Germany, the company announced Thursday.

The credential was granted based on the Conto Energia 4 (CE4) feed-in tariff program established by the Italian government as a means of getting companies to source materials and commit to manufacturing more goods from within Europe.

Of course, that does not mean all panels made by the Arizona-based company now have European-made status. The credential only applies to the company's Frankfurt, Germany facility. That plant, which … Read more