The Gadget Story

intel vPro

thegadgetshow@gmail.com (Jayesh.Bhagchandani) — Wed, 4 Apr 2007 23:13:00 -0700

Things are shaping up nicely for prospective laptop buyers holding out for Santa Rosa systems before they make the plunge. Intel just confirmed that the platform will be making its way into laptops in the second quarter of this year, and clarified that Centrino Pro is only part of the action, not the whole dealio. Intel also has come forward with a welcome feature addition for enterprise types: vPro, which Intel unleashed on the desktop side last year, will be included in Centrino Pro, allowing for remote management and upgrades of systems by IT folks, and improved virtualization. Of course, it'll also involve signing up for a smorgasbord of Intel-only parts, such as the 802.11n MIMO WiFi, but that's just the way Intel rolls.

Kodak's cheap inkjet claims all talk?

thegadgetshow@gmail.com (Jayesh.Bhagchandani) — Wed, 4 Apr 2007 23:12:00 -0700

We were pretty stoked to hear Kodak was planning on running full tilt at the current status quo of "loss leader" printer tactics, that has unwitting consumers picking up inkjet printers for a dime, and spending a fortune on printing supplies. Unfortunately, it looks like Kodak hasn't come upon any magical printing techniques to pull this off yet, since its new printers didn't do so good up against the likes of Epson, HP and Canon. Kodak is marketing its printers as capable of producing 10 cent prints, which would indeed be a great deal. Tests show that an $18 pack of paper and ink results in about 165 borderless prints, about 11.5 cents per print. Unfortunately, the prints were basically "draft" quality, maybe fine for certain budget-minded consumers, but hardly comparable to "lab quality" photos. To boost the quality you'll need pricier Kodak paper, which ends up at about 35 cents per print, and renders the whole exercise pointless. The testers recommend the $150 Epson Stylus Photo RX580, for super good prints and great speed. Might want to leave that $200 Kodak EasyShare 5300 on the shelf for the time being.

HP to launch new PC brand this year

thegadgetshow@gmail.com (Jayesh.Bhagchandani) — Wed, 4 Apr 2007 23:09:00 -0700

We were at an HP gaming event today, presented by Rahul Sood (former CEO of Voodoo, before HP bought 'em). Rahul wanted to let the world know what HP had all their peoples working on, since not much has changed around Voodoo's business since the acquisition. The answer? HP's launching a new high-to-mid tier PC brand in 2007, which will sit beneath the Voodoo brand and above HP brand in terms of price / performance. They didn't go into much more detail than that, but it's obvious HP thinks the PC gaming space will continue to be a money-maker. Let's just hope they don't resurrect, say, Packard Bell in that slot, or some other flagging PC business. We think it's about time for some fresh blood up in here, don't you?

Install Any SATA Hard Drive Into The PS3 (Because You Can?)

thegadgetshow@gmail.com (Jayesh.Bhagchandani) — Fri, 2 Feb 2007 07:15:00 -0800

Japan's Kurouto Shikou insists that the 60GB hard drive found in the PS3 is too small. (It's from Japan, of course it's small.) To that end they've designed a SATA and eSATA slot for the system that lets you install third-party hard drives. You have to remove the built-in hard drive before installing the slot, but afterward your options are limited to however much you can spend on hard drives. (They're fairly cheap, by the way.)

Will the PS3 recognize all that extra storage space (unlike the Xbox 360, which can only access 20GB per hard drive, despite the latest hacks), and does it make sense to go to all that trouble to install a larger hard drive in the first place? Maybe if you're dumping Blu-ray movies left and right, otherwise, right now, this looks to be more trouble than it's worth. – Nicholas Deleon

Product Page (in Japanese) [Kurouto Shikou via Akihabara News]

How to Crack a Windows Password With a Live CD

thegadgetshow@gmail.com (Jayesh.Bhagchandani) — Fri, 2 Feb 2007 07:14:00 -0800

Adam over at Lifehacker has a problem. His wife locks up all his porn on a Windows machine that only she knows the password to. That's why Adam came up with a guide to easily crack a Windows password using the Ophcrack Live CD.

It's extremely simple. All you have to do is stick in the CD, pick the account you want to crack, and it'll start churning away. Useful if you have to break into a departed co-worker/wife/child/lover's machine. Or your own machine if you're an idiot and forget your password.

p.s. I made up that story about Adam. He keeps his porn on his own machine. – Jason Chen

Screenshot Tour: How to crack a Windows password with Ophcrack Live CD [Lifehacker]

Lets eat less

thegadgetshow@gmail.com (Jayesh.Bhagchandani) — Fri, 2 Feb 2007 07:13:00 -0800

If you grow weary of those cumbersome USB flash drives you've been lugging around (most weigh about 10g), here's one that sheds nearly all of its weight. The Transcend JetFlash T2K weighs just 2 grams, and is available in your choice of capacities from 1GB ($15.90) to 4GB ($48.30).

Judging from the size of microSD cards the size of a baby's fingernail, we knew this was coming. The T2K isn't so small you would lose it in your pocket, but it's not big, either—it's just 1.6 inches tall and a mere 3mm thick. Can they get smaller than this? Probably. – Charlie White

Product Page [Transcend, USA]

Nba Sidekick

thegadgetshow@gmail.com (Jayesh.Bhagchandani) — Fri, 2 Feb 2007 07:11:00 -0800

If you're a fan of NBA sensation Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat, you might be interested in D-Wade's limited-edition Sidekick 3 that he designed himself. He's been an avid user of the Sidekick since 2004, and designed this Sidekick 3 to look like the interior of a luxo-sport automobile, further personalizing it with his own number 3 showing up on the 3G smartphone in glittering gold.

It has the innards of the stock Sidekick 3, but D-Wade has chosen a swank white, tan and gold exterior with a special basketball-textured back for easy gripping. Just don't slam-dunk it, D-Wade. No pricing information was available, but this looks like it would command a sizable premium over an ordinary Sidekick 3.

It's got back, too. Take a jump shot for a gander at its basketball-like dorsal side:

Free Wi-Fi for Vista users

thegadgetshow@gmail.com (Jayesh.Bhagchandani) — Fri, 2 Feb 2007 07:09:00 -0800

Looking for a reason to make the leap to Windows Vista? If you spend your days sipping lattes while surfing the Net, this deal may push you toward early adoption. T-Mobile is offering three free months of Wi-Fi access for Vista users at any of its HotSpot locations. (Hot spot operator The Cloud is running a similar promotion in the U.K.) If you are paying month to month for Wi-Fi at your local Starbucks or Borders, it amounts to a savings of $120 over the three months (the offer ends April 30). That's half the sticker price of Windows Vista Home Premium.

Disclaimer: Spending more time at Starbucks may result in spending more money given Starbucks prices.

Update: Engadget did a little searching and found a way to glom onto T-Mobile's free trial without having to pony up for Vista first. Unfortunately, Google has yet to spit out the answer for knocking back a Venti mocha latte without first paying $8.

Apple Making Future iPods Hot Unpluggable

thegadgetshow@gmail.com (Jayesh.Bhagchandani) — Fri, 2 Feb 2007 07:03:00 -0800

One of the small things that's bugged me about my iPod is that every time I sync it I have to use iTunes to unmount it. Well, it appears Apple is doing something about that as it's filed a patent for a hot unpluggable media storage device. The patent talks about rendering a peripheral (I'm guessing an iPod unless it's something else) from a host computer without having to prep it. Small upgrade, but this means future iPods may be plug and play and not require software

The Linux Foundation forms, issues call to arms

thegadgetshow@gmail.com (Jayesh.Bhagchandani) — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 21:42:00 -0800

The open source community fired its latest shot over the bow of the SUSE-loving SS Microsoft today, announcing that the two leading bodies of Linux proponents -- the Open Source Development Labs and Free Standards Group -- have been folded into a new, seemingly corporate-sponsored organization that promises to "promote, protect, and standardize Linux." Christened The Linux Foundation, the new consortium will not develop or distribute any products, but instead is tasked with three primary objectives: to enable the independence of select developers by funding their work, while at the same time providing legal support and advice for members of the community; to act as a neutral forum for collaborative projects or for members to air their grievances; and to help Linux gain market share with respect to Windows. All of the commercial interests which previously belonged to the OSLD and FSG will also play a leading role in the newly-formed body, leading some critics to argue that it was actually heavy hitters like IBM, HP, Fujitsu, and Hitachi pushing for this merger in the hopes of growing the $14.5 billion infrastructure that has reportedly developed around Linux. Still, none other than Linus Torvalds himself has thrown his weight behind the foundation -- which now pays his salary, mind you -- suggesting that the original goals of the OSDL and FSG had largely been met at this point, and that standardization is a laudible pursuit. Both groups' memberships still need to approve the proposed merger, but if all goes according to plan, you can expect to see the LinFo begin its work sometime in early February.

Read- Press release [Via TG Daily]
Read- NY Times coverage [Via ZDNet]

Apple planning to charge Tiger users for Boot Camp?

thegadgetshow@gmail.com (Jayesh.Bhagchandani) — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 21:40:00 -0800

It was perhaps one of the most significant events the PC industry has seen in the last decade: Apple opening up its hardware to Windows operating systems through its proprietary Boot Camp software. Not only did it allow Mac owners running Intel-powered machines to dual boot XP at will, it did so completely gratis (well, save for the cost of a Windows license). Unfortunately, the honeymoon may soon be over for Tiger users accustomed to the free boot loader: according to a report on MacScoop, Steve and friends plan to begin charging about $30 for the software once OS X Leopard is released and Boot Camp leaves beta for the greener pastures of commercial. For those Macheads planning to upgrade to Leopard, this wouldn't be an issue, of course -- the new OS will offer Boot Camp as one of its standard features. Still, if you're planning on keeping the old Tiger and your draft-N router around for awhile longer, it sounds like there's a good chance you'll need to squirrel away about $32 for the future: $30 for Boot Camp, and two bucks for the privilege of unlocking your wireless card's dormant 802.11n functionality.

[Via Slashdot]

Parallels to turn it around, help Mac OS onto generic PC boxen

thegadgetshow@gmail.com (Jayesh.Bhagchandani) — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 21:40:00 -0800

With the popularity of software like Apple's Boot Camp and SWsoft's Parallels, it's no secret that people want to run Windows and Mac OS on the same box, but who says that it has to be an Apple box? Well, Apple does, and the company has staunchly defended itself from the porting of OS X into the mad world of PC generics (not with total success, of course). But with mounting pressure from users and increasing software support from VMware and SWsoft, Steve Jobs might have to let go of his tight grasp on his shiny blue OS -- or at least turn the other way as OS X makes its way onto those vile, inferior, and cheaper x86 machines without his blessing. On that front, there's good news on the horizon: it turns out an upcoming version of Parallels just so happens to "make it easier to run Mac OS on a non-Apple computer," by some unknown but welcome means. VMware's own upcoming virtualization software for the Mac has been hamstrung by the trouble VMware has gone through trying to get Apple's blessing, and SWsoft's Parallels has been "crippled" in particular ways to make it more difficult to get Mac OS onto a non-Apple machine, but it seems like it's only going to get harder for Apple to have it both ways, and Intel's inclusion of virtualization in its own chips just compounds the "problem." Michael Dell has also reconfirmed his desire to pre-load Mac OS onto his own boring boxes "if customers wanted it and Apple would license it on reasonable terms," but that tantalizing offer doesn't seem to have swayed Apple yet.

Srorm Worm

thegadgetshow@gmail.com (Jayesh.Bhagchandani) — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 21:39:00 -0800

Many home PC users may have been infected after a large-scale sustained Trojan horse attack that took place over the weekend, security vendors believe.

The Trojan, named "Storm Worm" by antivirus vendor F-Secure, first started to spread on Friday as extreme storms engulfed Europe. The e-mail claimed to include breaking news about the weather, in an attempt to get people to download an executable file.

Over the weekend there were six subsequent waves of the attack, with each e-mail attempting to lure users into downloading an executable by promising a topical news story. There were e-mails that purported to carry news of an as-yet-unconfirmed missile test by the Chinese against one of its weather satellites, and e-mails reporting that Fidel Castro had died.

Each new wave of e-mails carried different versions of the Trojan horse, according to F-Secure. Each version also contained the capability to be updated, in an attempt to stay ahead of antivirus vendors.

"When they first came out, these files were pretty much undetectable by most antivirus programs," said Mikko Hypponen, director of antivirus research at F-Secure. "The bad guys are putting a lot of effort into it--they were putting out updates hour after hour."

As most businesses tend to strip executable files out of e-mails they receive, Hypponen said he expected that companies would not be overly affected by the attacks.

However, F-Secure said that hundreds of thousands of home computers could have been affected across the globe.

Once a user downloads the executable file, the code opens a backdoor in the machine which that it to be remotely controlled, while installing a rootkit that hides the malicious program. The compromised machine becomes a zombie in a network called a botnet. Most botnets are currently controlled through a central server, which--if found--can be taken down to destroy the botnet. However, this particular Trojan horse seeds a botnet that acts in a similar way to a peer-to-peer network, with no centralized control.

Each compromised machine connects to a list of a subset of the entire botnet--around 30 to 35 other compromised machines, which act as hosts. While each of the infected hosts share lists of other infected hosts, no one machine has a full list of the entire botnet--each has only a subset, making it difficult to gauge the true extent of the zombie network.

This is not the first botnet to use these techniques. However, Hypponen called this type of botnet "a worrying development."

Antivirus vendor Sophos called Storm Worm the "first big attack of 2007," with code being spammed out from hundreds of countries. Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, said the company expected more attacks over the coming days, and that the botnet would most likely be hired out for spamming, adware propagation, or be sold to extortionists to launch distributed denial-of-service attacks.

The recent trend has been toward highly targeted attacks on individual institutions. Mail services vendor MessageLabs said that this current malicious campaign was "very aggressive," and said that the gang responsible was probably a new entrant to the scene, hoping to make its mark.

None of the anti-malware companies interviewed said they knew who was responsible for the attacks, or where they had been launched from.

Tom Espiner of ZDNet UK reported from London.

Cisco fesses up to iPhone WIP300 GPL failings, is "taking steps"

thegadgetshow@gmail.com (Jayesh.Bhagchandani) — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 21:38:00 -0800

Apple isn't the only one having trouble messing with intellectual property as it relates to its iPhone product. Cisco was apparently reprimanded in October by a certain Armijn Hemel over unreleased code which, under the GPL-license that the phone submits to due to its Linux underpinnings, is required to be made available publicly. After the chat in October, Cisco fixed a few of its other products that Mr. Hemel pointed out were in violation, but still hasn't come clean with certain bits of WIP300 iPhone code. "For someone talking about Apple using Cisco's property," said Hemel, "actually they're infringing on copyright themselves. So it's just a double standard." In a response on Saturday, Cisco's prolific blogger John Earnhard states: "Based on our investigation, Cisco is taking steps to resolve a single issue raised regarding this product's compliance with the GNU General Public License, or GPL." No word on when this will all be patched up, or whether Cisco's fixes will be sufficient, but for the moment it sounds like the GPL kids are going to get their way. Will the curse of the iPhone live on? Tune in next week for Pirates of the iPhone: Apple and Cisco At World's End.

[Via The Inquirer]

Read - Cisco's iPhone violates GPL, expert says
Read - Cisco responds

Apple reportedly (still) readying LED-backlit MacBook Pro

thegadgetshow@gmail.com (Jayesh.Bhagchandani) — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 21:36:00 -0800

They may not have made an appearance at Macworld, but Apple's rumored LED-backlit MacBook Pros look to be slightly less of a rumor today, with AppleInsider reporting that "faithful industry sources" have confirmed the switch to the brighter, less power-hungry technology. Supposedly, Apple's 15-inch MacBook Pro will be the first out of the gate, getting the LED transplant sometime in second quarter of this year, with the other models in the line presumably to follow soon thereafter, although exactly soon remains to be seen. Not surprisingly, Apple appears to be timing the release of the new-and-improved MacBook Pro to coincide with the spring launch of Leopard, letting them show off the OS's snazzy new features in the best possible light.

Rogers set to carry the iPhone in Canada?

thegadgetshow@gmail.com (Jayesh.Bhagchandani) — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 21:35:00 -0800

The rumors are flying, but so far it's looking good for our Rogers / Apple / poutine fanboy friends up north. Will Pate, after hearing a rumor of the iPhone being headed for Rogers Wireless sometime in 2007, dug into the matter a little bit, and got this response from Rogers: "You were wondering about iPhone..Lots of speculation out there. Beyond the fact that Rogers is the only GSM carrier in Canada, we have not issued any statements as to whether or when the iPhone would be available at Rogers." And there you have it, completely vague, but near tacit assurance that Rogers will indeed be carrying the iPhone, since it happens to be the only GSM gig in town. At least that's what our iPhone-addled brains are reading into the situation, we suggest you draw your own conclusions on the matter.

Google planning on getting into ebooks in a big way

thegadgetshow@gmail.com (Jayesh.Bhagchandani) — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 21:33:00 -0800

We've been having life-changing ebook experiences of one form or another promised to us for what seems like forever, but it really could be just around the corner this time, honest -- though the whole life-changing thing is still debatable at this point. It turns out Google is pressing forward with its Google Book Search service, and planning to roll out full-on ebook sales "sooner rather than later," with downloadable books available to computer screens and mobile devices. Of course, with Sony already in the game, and Amazon prepping downloads of its own, it's not like Google will be doing this all by its lonesome, but some innovative features like the proposed rental and single-chapter purchase schemes could garner interest in the Google offering, not to mention the whole "Google world domination" thing. It seems like the primary obstacle at this point for Google is the publishing associations that still haven't decided they're so hot for Google throwing up the contents of books online for open searchability, but we have a feeling they'll come around soon enough, or Google will just go ahead with the licensees it already has -- which with buddies like Penguin, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster already warm to the book searching, probably won't be insubstantial.

BlackBerry worldphone coming to Sprint

thegadgetshow@gmail.com (Jayesh.Bhagchandani) — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 20:10:00 -0800

It looks like the long-rumored GSM / CDMA hybrid variant of the BlackBerry 8700 series might find itself a home on Sprint later this year. We didn't see it in the alleged 1H '07 product pipeline earlier today, but a tipster noticed a document describing Sprint's marketing partnership with the Super Bowl floating all willy-nilly on the official Super Bowl XLI site -- and lo and behold, it reveals that a "global BlackBerry" is waiting in the wings featuring EV-DO, GSM, and a GPS receiver, to boot. Granted, we don't know that this will be an 8700-based product, but we can say with some certainty that there are hybrid 8700s kicking around, so it's a logical move. Don't get us wrong, we're pulling for an 8800 here, but we're trying our best to stay realistic until we see something a little more solid than an ominous silhouette on Super Bowl paraphernalia

Copper Treo 680, we hardly -- no, we never knew ye

thegadgetshow@gmail.com (Jayesh.Bhagchandani) — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 20:09:00 -0800

We hope all you orangey-coppery Treo fans got your phones, because it's come to our attention that the 680 in Copper (i.e. the creamy-pukey-orange Treo) is "no longer available" according to Palm's site. Bummer dude. Maybe the Moto tactic of releasing your phones in as many colors as possible just isn't working anymore (by the way, did you hear they're laying off 3,500 people?), perhaps you should try renovating your handsets, Palm? We know you've got it in you. Somewhere.

The Broken Blu-Ray

thegadgetshow@gmail.com (Jayesh.Bhagchandani) — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 20:06:00 -0800

It's still early on to tell whether this is actually true, but HD DVD cracker muslix64 is back, and with the help of another anti-DRM cracker, Janvitos, claims to have also broken the Blu-ray's implementation of AACS. Although their protection does not yet account for BD+ copy-protection, they claim to have been able to implement the same key-grabbing known-plaintext attack as muslix64 used to crack HD DVD in order to successfully to crack Blu-ray without even using a disc or drive (apparently they just used a raw encrypted data file and nothing more). Unfortunately they haven't yet posted code for us to test this out, so we'll have to take their word for it for the time being.

Microsoft made the Zune because partner hardware "sucks"

thegadgetshow@gmail.com (Jayesh.Bhagchandani) — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 20:05:00 -0800

Thanks to yet another Microsoft antitrust suit in Iowa, subpoenaed emails have revealed a moment of candidness and clarity at Microsoft in 2003 when Jim Allchin (Co-President, Platforms & Services Division, depicted left) and Amir Majidimehr (Corporate Vice President, Consumer Media Technology Group) had an email thread that basically summarized the portable media device playing field then, and for the most part, now. Some choice quites from the email back-and-forth:

Jim: title "sucking on media players"; regarding a current Creative player (probably a Nomad, perhaps a Zen Touch): "My goodness it's terrible... What I don't understand though is I was told the new Creative Labs device would be comparable to Apple. That is so not the case."
Amir: "Now you feel our pain." He suggests giving cash bonuses for partners that come up with decent devices. In the instance that doesn't work: "it is time for us to roll up our sleeves and do our own hardware."

And of course so they did, with great hype and great failure to immediately capture market share, the Zune was born many years later -- far too late by most accounts, but hey, you've gotta start somewhere. Still, it's funny to think that for these guys rolling up their sleeves and doing their own hardware means taking an off the shelve portable media OS (PMC 2), getting Toshiba to make a modified Gigabeat, and cutting some seriously anti-consumer deals with major labels.

Gates signs the Vista

thegadgetshow@gmail.com (Jayesh.Bhagchandani) — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 20:04:00 -0800

You have to be seriously freaking into Vista if you're even thinking about the Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate Limited Numbered Signature Edition (seriously, we didn't even think Microsoft was capable of a title like that), but at least the price is on target ($259) and they claim it's signed by the man himself, Billy G. Something tells us it's just an embossed signature print or something along those lines, but either way it's down to you and 19,999 others prepared to get their fanboy on with the latest, greatest version of Windows.

[Thanks, ZRX]

thegadgetshow@gmail.com (Jayesh.Bhagchandani) — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 20:01:00 -0800

It's the Wii laptop! We spent the last few weeks (including much time spent over the holidays evading relatives) slaving over this bad boy and finally it's complete. Check out the features:

16:9 widescreen LCD, 7-inch diagonal.
Stereo sound
Gamecube controller port
Built-in short range Sensor Bar
Ports for using original Sensor Bar and A/V output jacks (for use on external display)
Built-in power supply and compartment for power cord
Dimensions: 8.5 x 7.7 x 2-inches

Starting next Tuesday we'll be doing a multi-part How-To with detailed instructions for building your own Wii laptop, as well as loads of photos of the construction process. But for now check out the gallery for more detailed photos of the unit, and click on to see some video of the Wii laptop in action.

[Big ups to our man Ben Heckendorn! -Ed.]

For The Video

LG's KE850 PRADA official: iPhone says, wha?

thegadgetshow@gmail.com (Jayesh.Bhagchandani) — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 20:01:00 -0800

Check it Apple, LG just went official with their iPhone look-a-like LG KE850 Prada phone which they proudly tout as the world's "first completely touch screen mobile phone." Er, unless you consider the ones from Motorola, HTC, and others. Still, this is more than likely a dig at the iPhone which they can rightly make since the KE850 will hit select mobile shops and PRADA stores in the UK, France, Germany and Italy at the end of February and parts of Asia before March is through. Sadly, the KE850 is a non starter for the US market since this version is limited to tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900 with EDGE data. It's smaller than its fruity peer at just 98.8 x 54 x 12-mm resulting in a more compact, 3.0-inch display presumably with that 240 x 400 resolution we heard about earlier. In case you're keeping track (and we know you are), the iPhone goes quad-band GSM with EDGE and WiFi in a 115 x 61 x 11.6-mm shell sporting a 3.5-inch, 320 x 480 display. Also, the KE850 seems to lack any significant on-board storage opting instead for microSD to boost capacity. Like the iPhone, it packs a 2 megapixel camera (with Schneider-Kreuznach lens) and LED flash and Bluetooth 2.0. However, there's no mention of multi-touch capabilities, an on-screen keyboard, or the accelerometer and proximity sensors found on the iPhone. The KE850 PRADA's UI is Macromedia Flash-based and opts for a minimalist, white-on-black display as opposed to the more, shall we say, OS Xish GUI we've already seen floated. Feature-wise, the KE850 comes with a video player supporting MPEG-4, H.264, and oddly, H.263 normally used for video conferencing; a document viewer supporting Microsoft's PPT, DOC, XLS formats, PDF and TXT; an audio player with support for MP3/ACC/ACC+/WMA/RA formats; and a "music multitasking function for messaging," whatever that is. How much? €600/$778... that's how much. Still, a compelling choice for those who can't wait for the iPhone's Q4 European introduction or 2008 Asia launch. Click-on for more pics

Revived, Ominpresent AT&T to Customers: "I Am a Benevolent Master"

thegadgetshow@gmail.com (Jayesh.Bhagchandani) — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 21:57:00 -0800

Are you waking up in the middle of the night in cold sweat, worrying that your new iPhone with its $2k ultimate price tag is going to rape your checking account? Well fear not, true believers, the switch to AT&T (we might as well dispense with this Cingular business) may actually save you money!

If you've got an AT&T landline (so last year) in addition to a wireless account, you now have unlimited calls to and from any other AT&T customer, completely gratis. However, your padres who have an AT&T home line on a local network not owned by AT&T aren't part of the package, though your end of the call is free. The name of this gracious new perk to lure us into Ma Bell's loving arms? AT&T Unity.