Although it isn't set to launch until midnight tonight, Star Wars: The Old Republic already has over a million people on its servers, analyst Doug Creutz says.

The new, highly-anticipated MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online game) has a launch date of December 20, but those who pre-ordered the game were given the chance to hop online early and begin the battle between the Republic and the Empire one week before everyone else.

Creutz, who is an analyst at Cowan & Company, estimates that the game already has one million people playing on EA's 140 servers. He adds that he is "fairly comfortable" estimating as many as 1.5 million could be playing prior to the game's North American and Europe.

Interestingly, that number is based on the number of people playing World of Warcraft: there are 491 servers supporting 4 to 4.5 million players across North America and Europe. Based on the "relatively high density" of players online in The Old Republic, Creutz and his firm project 1-1.5 million players

The gift giving season is upon us, and this year millions of Canadians are likely crossing their fingers for gadgets, games and gear instead of sweaters, bath soaps and glassware.

If this rings true for you or your loved ones, the following is a look at some of the year's most worthy tech toys.

From smartphones to smart TVs, tablets to high-tech accessories, there's no shortage of stellar gadgets and gear to pick up for the holidays. The following are a few highlights of the year, ranging in price from $40 to $4,000.

Year of the tablet

No other tech product category garnered the most buzz in 2011 than touchscreen tablets.

Many have tried, but Apple's iPad 2 (from $519) remains the reigning champ. And for good reason — between its intuitive interface, smooth iTunes synchronization and more than 500,000 downloadable applications ("apps"), this 9.7-inch device is still the one to beat.

Tabs that run Google's Android platform offer many compelling features, too, including the versatile

A new Canadian survey conducted by Vision Critical for Orville Redenbacher found 40 per cent of Canadian parents are "dissatisfied" with the amount of quality time they spend with their children.

Perhaps this isn't much of a shocker as the survey also found 85 per cent of Canadian households have a video gaming system, with children spending an average of 2.1 hours per day playing (solo or with siblings or friends).

Part of this disconnect might be because mom and dad aren't quite up to speed on the latest technology trends, be it gaming, texting, tweeting, BBMing or video chatting. Or they have no interest in it. Or perhaps these devices kids rely on for entertainment and social interaction are more of a solitary activity, thus leaving parents out of the equation.

Sound familiar?

This week I was on a local television show called Daytime Toronto (Rogers) to discuss what parents can do to better connect with their tech- or game-obsessed kids. Now, I'm no psychologist, mind you, so

As a tech geek and movie fanatic, I jumped at the opportunity to visit Weta Digital in New Zealand, the renowned special effects studio responsible for the groundbreaking visuals in movies like Avatar, Lord of the Rings, Tin Tin, King Kong and Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Out this week on DVD and Blu-ray, Twentieth Century Fox's Rise of the Planet of the Apes tells of a scientist (played by James Franco) who, while attempting to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease, accidentally gives his beloved chimpanzee, Caesar, much greater intelligence.

This sci-fi flick -- which serves as a prequel, of sorts, to the original 1968 Planet of the Apes -- was one of my favourite movies of 2011, and seeing how Weta Digital created the visual effects was a huge treat, to say the least.

If you don't mind the odd spoiler (you might want to watch the movie before continuing), read on for eight things you might not know about Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Weta Digital (co-founded by Academy

If you're looking for the happiest place, just head east: Halifax has been dubbed the happiest city in all of Canada, based on what it tweets.

A group at web design company tbk Creative took it upon itself to go through one million English-language tweets and hunt down words like "glad," "happy," "joy" and "pleasant." After counting up the number of times those words appeared, the group came up with the results you can see in the infographic on the right.

The one million tweets equal about a full month of activity on Twitter, and according to OpenFile Halifax, timing could be a good reason why the capital of Nova Scotia came out on top in the survey. October and November saw lots of reasons to be happy in Halifax, from landing a major ship-building contract to an assortment of festivals and special events.

tbk Creative does add some caveats to the results, pointing out that it was merely looking at any instances of the word, not taking context into account (if you said you were

The home of the Maple Leafs, the CN Tower and Canada's favourite mayor is also home to the most "social" airport north of the border.

Toronto Pearson International has been recognized as one of the top 25 social airports in the world and is the only Canadian mention to crack Facebook's list at number 21.

Los Angeles International Airport tops the list, meaning that more travellers check in via social media at LAX than they do at any other airport in the world. American airports occupy the top six spots with Sydney, Australia (7) and Bangkok, Thailand (9) squeezing into the top 10.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, Chicago O'Hare International, San Francisco International and Dallas/Fort Worth International airports round out the top five respectively.

Facebook compiled its data between August 2010 and November 2011 using third-party location services. Below is the complete list of Facebook's top 25 social airports.

1.    Los Angeles International Airport
2.  

A recent online debate hosted by Juggle.com raised an interesting question on a very poignant issue: should social media do more to prevent cyber-bullying?

And while there were valid contributions to both arguments, 53 per cent of those involved believe social networking sites have an obligation to provide a safe environment.

The emergence of sites such as Facebook and Twitter have given bullies a new forum, stretching the issue from the schoolyards and hallways onto the internet.

The burgeoning online medium is gaining plenty of bullying attention; the State of California expanded its anti-bullying law to social networking sites last week, modifying an existing law that prohibited bullying others on their cell phones and computers. And while social sites appear to facilitate the bullies in their efforts, the big players are doing what they can to fight back.

Facebook

Three days before Canada's third annual Anti-Bullying Day, the social media giant launched a new set of tools aimed at

With the days to Christmas counting down, it might be getting harder to find that perfect gift. Tablets are in high demand this holiday season and there are plenty of budget friendly options beyond Apple's best-selling iPad that fit just about every need.

One of the things many people are looking for in a tablet is better keyboard functionality. A touchscreen keyboard just doesn't cut it for certain users and many have looked into external keyboards that can be attached to the tablet. Asus has taken that idea one step further with the Eee Pad Slider.

RELATED: Click here for more gift ideas for the techie in your life

The Asus Eee Pad Slider combines the functionality of a tablet and netbook into one. Users can have a flat tablet with a standard keyboard that conveniently transforms the screen into stand up position. It's part of the Eee Pad line that Asus offers, which gives users a blended tablet-keyboard experience. Unlike other tablets in the line, including the Transformer and