Windows 7 might be getting all the attention lately, but Windows XP is having a quiet little renaissance of its own -- not only have sales of the venerable OS been extended until 2010, Microsoft is selling an ultra-secure version to the Air Force. The custom build ships with over 600 settings bolted down, and a security patch turnaround of just 72 hours compared to the standard edition's 57 days -- all because Steve Ballmer personally stepped in and approved the project at the Air Force's request. The effort's to standardize and preconfigure the OS...Read More »

The knee-jerk reaction to Verizon chief Ivan Seidenberg's recent inflammatory interview -- saying he doesn't know "what Sprint thinks it is" in response to Boost's blowout $50 all-you-can-eat calling and texting plan -- was to call him out for slamming competition (because, let's be real, no one likes executives hating on affordable stuff). His belief was that Sprint simply didn't have the network capacity to support a plan priced that aggressively because it'd bring too many new subscribers on board, and drama over on the iDEN airwaves suggests he may not have been too far off...Read More »

Well, what do we have here? The folks at Crackberry seem to have gotten their hands on a pic of the BlackBerry Curve 8520, a.k.a. "Gemini." From what we can see and from what they tell us, there's an optical trackball, dedicated media player buttons, and and a "rubberized" body. Lack of 3G is a big bummer, and we're sure the non-classic trackball is gonna ruffle some feathers, but the hardware's enticing enough for us to give it a look over. Intrigued?Filed under: CellphonesBlackBerry Curve 8520 "Gemini" image surfaces originally appeared on Engadget...Read More »

You can be sure this won't be the last PSP rumor to surface before E3, but the word going around now is that the so-called PSP Go! (or PSP2, or PSP Slide...) won't rely primarily on some internal memory for storage as previously speculated, but on something like Sony's new Memory Stick HG-Micro format, which is about 40MB/s faster than a standard Memory Stick Duo card. That word apparently comes from some "sources close to PSP development" that have spoken to PC World's Game On blog, who seem to also be suggesting that...Read More »

Revenge served coldly A former technology director who was fired from a regional organ donation center in Texas has admitted to breaking into her former employer's network and destroying more than $94,000 worth of data.…Whitepaper - Thinking beyond tape Full published article at: Read More »

There's not exactly a ton of details on this one, but it looks like Deutsche Telekom CFO Timotheus Hoettges caused a bit of a stir at the company's recently shareholder meeting, where he reportedly suggested that T-Mobile UK would likely have to merge with another carrier or face the possibility of going bust. Specifically, Hoettges said that "in our view consolidation is a means to take excess capabilities out of the market," adding somewhat ominously that "nothing is unthinkable on our side." Of course, that immediately brings up the question of which carrier T-Mobile might merge with, and MarketingWeek...Read More »

You know how your voice always sounds better in your own head than it does on tape? Apparently, someone in Japan agrees with you. To that end, they've put together a little microphone with a silencer -- so the next time you come home at 3 am, all hopped up on Saki and intent on generating a sorrowful wail alongside the backing track of what was once a hit for the Carpenters, make sure you're packing the Mute Mic. This bad boy is designed to muzzle your song-hole, ensuring that whatever sound you do generate remains...Read More »

We're hearing that the Alias 2 is on track for a release in less than two weeks from now -- May 11, to be exact -- which would mean that we're just a few short days away from seeing the very first E Ink handset launch in the States. Yes, that's right, we said it -- after all the heated debate over the technology powering the Alias 2's configurable keypad, our tipster tells us that new information floating down from corporate confirms that the device is using E Ink, which would explain why it's able to maintain state even...Read More »

Master Control Program shakes fist in anger The OpenBSD developers are channeling Tron to celebrate the release of version 4.5 of their open source operating system.… Full published article at: Read More »

In some ways, augmented reality is an elegant solution to the main problem with VR: while there are some areas where insane levels of immersion are required, this stuff ain't cheap -- relegating solutions like CirculaFloor to academics, the military, and the extremely well-heeled. But how about those who just want to see wild graphics while they, you know, "party?" Canon's Mixed Reality Aquarium headset transforms any area you inhabit into a giant fishbowl. Not the sort of thing that you'll want to do more than once, probably -- although, to the company's credit, this is...Read More »