This is Chris Christman’s submission for the HP Magic Giveaway. Feel free to leave comments for this article as you see fit – your feedback is certainly welcomed! If you’d like to submit your own how-to, what-is, or top-five list, you can send it to me. Views and opinions of this writer are not necessarily my own:

Hot females in pop culture aren’t hard to find. Finding one who could beat the crap out of anyone who gets in there way? Harder to find. Finding one who can beat the crap out of anyone and isn’t a two-dimensional cardboard cut-out of a character? Even harder. That’s why I’ve come to bring you a list of the top five butt-kicking females. There are a few rules to the list:

• They have to come from some facet of pop culture… be it comics, movies, books, or TV.
• The characters themselves must also have some depth to them. They must kick butt, and be interesting.
• They have to be considered hot by a marginal part of the population.

And, without further ado, here are the Top Five Most Butt-Kicking Hotties.

1. Chun-Li – The Street Fighter Series What a way to start. Chun-Li is one of the first females I remember ever seeing in a fighting game as a child. She was also the first female character I was proud to play as. People who hadn’t played the game much would laugh, but they wouldn’t laugh long. Hit ‘em with a little Spinning Bird Kick or throw the Hyakuretsu Kyaku at them, and they soon realize that they just lost to a chick. A hot chick. A hot asian chick. Need I say more?
2. Felicia Hardy AKA Black Cat – Spider-Man Comics Like many great characters, she evolved over the years to become more sympathetic. She started out as a simple cat burglar, but she evolved into a character simply after Spider-Mans affection and was more of a hero really. However, one thing was always the same from the start of the character up till now: she was freaking hot. Skintight black costume, well-endowed, sultry, and seductive as hell.
3. Uma Thurman – Kill Bill Uma Thurman can either look really hot or just awkward. Quentin Tarantino manages to make her kick some major ass and look damn good while doing it. Once she gets into that Bruce Lee jumpsuit, you know two things. One, she is about to kick some ass. Two, she is going to look that damn good for the rest of the movie. And there is just something about a woman on a warpath that is just so alluring.
4. Milla Jovovich – The Fifth Element For a lot of guys, their idea of a hot woman is usually the same as their idea of a voluptuous woman. It usually involves big boobs and sometimes a big butt. Milla Jovovich tore that idea apart when she appeared in The Fifth Element. No man can resist her when she shows up in the outfit consisting of a few white straps. She is small, slender, and sexy as all hell. Plus, if you had any doubt in your mind about falling in love with her at first, as soon as she turns on that adorable charm, you are in. Then she starts beating the hell out of people. And not just in a, “Hey suck my fist!” kind of beating. I’m talking lethal, tactical, planned out assaults on groups of people who, by just looking at them, shouldn’t even have to worry about her. What else is there to say? “Multipass.”
5. Devon Aoki – Sin City Ah, little Miho. Deadly little Miho. As far as looks go, Devon Aoki has it all. She has that foreign appeal. She is small and cuddly. She has a perfect face. She is in great shape. Devon Aoki is so freaking hot and irresistible. And those little pout-y lips just top everything off. And that’s all without mentioning her skills in that movie. She is a trained assassin. She doesn’t need to speak. She controls every situation without uttering a single word. Before you even know you’ve entered a fight, she has already made sure that you have lost. She can kill a man with any assortment of weapons, and you can guarantee she will look damn-good doing it. She is the force behind the Girls of Old Town. Sure, Rosario Dawson’s Gail was the leader, and she played an important role, but take another look at the movie. Devon Aoki is the only woman who manages to keep everything together despite everything that is going on. She takes out the crooked cops. She saves Dwight. Twice. She is the kind of person you know you can depend on, no matter the situation. She’s one of the deadliest women on film and she is too damn hot.

So there you have it. The five hottest, most badass females. The list ran the full spectrum of pop culture, from video games and comics to movies. I’m sure I’ve left a few of your personal favorites off the list, and I’m sure some of the ones on my list aren’t ones you necessarily agree with. So let me know what you think in the comments below. If you disagree, let me know what your top five is. Thanks for reading!

• Will TV Ever Die? No!
• What’s Your Favorite Commercial?
• Gnomedex Green Screen Challenge: Your Commercial Could be on TV!
• How to Broadcast a Wireless Audio / Video Signal from PC to TV
• Would I Go Back to Television?
• What’s the Best HDTV to Buy?
• Where to Get Blu-ray DVD Movies for Cheap
• My First Cable TV Appearance (1997)
• How to Watch Live TV on Your iPhone: Slingbox
• MPAA 13, Piracy 0: Three More Allegedly Illicit Sites Sued

This is Matt Wilkinson’s submission for the HP Magic Giveaway. Feel free to leave comments for this article as you see fit – your feedback is certainly welcomed! If you’d like to submit your own how-to, what-is, or top-five list, you can send it to me. Views and opinions of this writer are not necessarily my own:

Several years ago, I thought it might be a fun project to develop a presentation that could be delivered to non-technical PC users about the basics of PC security. I’m not talking about a simple “Dumbing-Down” of a very complicated topic, but rather an approach that would allow the average PC user to gain a better understanding of the everyday threats their PC faces. In other words, give them a fighting chance at keeping malware at bay.

The catch phrase “Internet Karate” quickly came to mind, combining the famous Martial Art with using the Internet. Karate is a means to defend yourself in the physical world — Internet Karate is a way to defend your PC from the never ending parade of bad guys that would otherwise attack and overwhelm it.

So I set out to develop a presentation that met these criteria:

• It can be delivered in less than two hours, which leaves plenty of time for Q and A.
• Keep it as non-technical as possible, while still keeping it as informative and engaging as possible to the target audience.
• Make it as interactive and fun as possible; get people interested in a topic that would normally bore them to tears.
• Not to push any specific security products or brands; warn people about the many fake security products out there.

Like most people, speaking in front of an audience is a personal phobia, and I freely admit that I am using this project as a means to overcome that phobia. But more importantly, I am doing this as my little contribution to combating malware. My philosophy is that the more educated people are about PC security, the more likely they are to stay on top of it. I have personally profited from malware — though not in the way that malware developers themselves do — but rather by earning cash from rebuilding PCs that have been gutted by malware. I like to think of it as my own little way of giving back (I don’t charge anything to present the material, but I don’t turn down lunch if offered).

I’ve delivered the Internet Karate Presentation to several groups since I first developed the material, and it’s been very well received. Keep in mind, if you are a registered user on geeks.pirillo.com, the material is anything but earth shattering. Nor is it particularly hard for anybody with web access to find out on their own (remember one of my goals is to get people interested in it) . I am not claiming to present anything revolutionary with Internet Karate, just to package a complex (and dry) topic in a way normal people can understand. If I could, I’d cultivate a small army of like-minded IT professionals that would offer similar presentations to small audiences in their particular neck of the woods (think “Dojo”).

If you’ve been in the IT game anywhere near as long as I have, I’m willing to bet that people often turn to you for advice on all things technology and computer related. This is your audience calling you. As far as groups go, there are PTA’s, professional organizations, church groups, community colleges, public library programs, the possibilities are endless.

Now, without further adieu, I bring you Internet Karate. (Requires Google Account)

• PC or Mac for Education?
• Mac Vs PC Again
• How to Have a Chris Pirillo Live Gadget on your Windows Desktop
• Parallels Review
• A Final Line on Malware Protection
• Vipre Protects Your Computer From Malware
• How to Disable the UAC in Windows Vista
• How to Install Your Favorite Windows Software
• What Does Windows 7 Bring to the Table?
• Free Firewall (or a Bargain) from Sunbelt