Not the first time this rumor has popped up, but Reuters is reporting that Verizon is in talks to pick up nationwide runt Alltel in a $27 billion deal that would make Verizon Wireless the biggest carrier on the block, with over 80 million subscribers, topping AT&T (67 million + 13 million). The deal's feasible—both use CDMA, and in a saturated wireless market where growth is mostly coming from theft and smaller carriers anyway, buying 'em outright might just be easier. (CNBC's reporting it too, check it for some more biz analysis.) And here's the WSJ take.[Reuters]

If you're buying straight from Apple, it seems like their prices will still be $399 and $499 for the 8 and 16GB models. Fortune's source also says that the phone will have GPS and be 2.5mm thinner, not thicker as previously indicated. And you'll know when the new phone is coming—Apple will cut off shipments of the old phone in order to clear up inventory and give a subtle hint that you should wait before buying. [Fortune]

Update: It looks like Scott Moritz is the same guy who made predictions before that didn't come true. He comes from thestreet.com, who, via Jim Cramer, made the prediction that the iPhone would get 1.5 years of free service. The rumor sounds less credible to us now.

[NeoWin via CrunchGear]

But many fans of Apple often seem to want more. They care little for honest opinion. They want to pick up the paper and see in it a reflection of their own nearly religious zeal for the thing they love. They don't want a review. They want a hagiography.

It's the "hostile media phenomenon" that brings the commentards to virtual doorsteps. Stanford psychologist Lee Moss explains the mind of a fanboy to Farhad this way: "You think there are more facts and better facts on your side than on the other side. The very act of giving them equal weight seems like bias. Like inappropriate evenhandedness."

So no, they don't actually want objectivity, or fair criticism of their beloved, whenever they cry that's all they're asking for. They want everyone to totally and completely agree with them that the object of their unabashed affection truly is the BEST. THING. EVER. They're allergic to shades of ambiguity, or as Farhad puts it:

When they come upon that difference — the gulf between what's in their heads and what's on the page — the audience tends to assume the worst: The reporter must be licking someone's balls.

Apple Announces iPhone 2.0 Software Beta Includes SDK & Built-in Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync

CUPERTINO, Calif., March 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(R) today previewed its iPhone(TM) 2.0 software, scheduled for release this June, and announced the immediate availability of a beta release of the software to selected developers and enterprise customers. The iPhone 2.0 beta release includes both the iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK) as well as new enterprise features such as support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync to provide secure, over-the-air push email, contacts and calendars as well as remote wipe, and the addition of Cisco IPsec VPN for encrypted access to private corporate networks.

"We're excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community with potentially thousands of native applications for iPhone and iPod touch," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "iPhone's enterprise features combined with its revolutionary Multi-Touch user interface and advanced software architecture provide the best user experience and the most advanced software platform ever for a mobile device."

The iPhone SDK provides developers with a rich set of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and tools to create innovative applications for iPhone and iPod(R) touch. Starting today, anyone can download the beta iPhone SDK for free and run the iPhone Simulator on their Mac(R). Apple today also introduced its new iPhone Developer Program, giving developers everything they need to create native applications, and the new App Store, a breakthrough way for developers to wirelessly deliver their applications to iPhone and iPod touch users.

With the iPhone SDK, third party developers will be able to build native applications for the iPhone with a rich set of APIs, including programming interfaces for Core OS, Core Services, Media and Cocoa Touch technologies. The iPhone SDK will allow developers to create amazing applications that leverage the iPhone's groundbreaking Multi-Touch(TM) user interface, animation technology, large storage, built-in three-axis accelerometer and geographical location technology to deliver truly innovative mobile applications.

Apple has licensed Exchange ActiveSync from Microsoft and is building it right into the iPhone, so that iPhone will connect out-of-the-box to Microsoft Exchange Servers 2003 and 2007 for secure over-the-air push email, contacts, calendars and global address lists. Built-in Exchange ActiveSync support also enables security features such as remote wipe, password policies and auto-discovery. The iPhone 2.0 software supports Cisco IPsec VPN to ensure the highest level of IP-based encryption available for transmission of sensitive corporate data, as well as the ability to authenticate using digital certificates or password-based, multi-factor authentication. The addition of WPA2 Enterprise with 802.1x authentication enables enterprise customers to deploy iPhone and iPod touch with the latest standards for protection of Wi-Fi networks.

The iPhone 2.0 software provides a configuration utility that allows IT administrators to easily and quickly set up many iPhones, including password policies, VPN setting, installing certificates, email server settings and more. Once the configuration is defined it can be easily and securely delivered via web link or email to the user. To install, all the user has to do is authenticate with a user ID or password, download the configuration and tap install. Once installed, the user will have access to all their corporate IT services.

The iPhone 2.0 software release will contain the App Store, a new application that lets users browse, search, purchase and wirelessly download third party applications directly onto their iPhone or iPod touch. The App Store enables developers to reach every iPhone and iPod touch user. Developers set the price for their applications — including free — and retain 70 percent of all sales revenues. Users can download free applications at no charge to either the user or developer, or purchase priced applications with just one click. Enterprise customers will be able to create a secure, private page on the App Store accessible only by their employees. Apple will cover all credit card, web hosting, infrastructure and DRM costs associated with offering applications on the App Store. Third party iPhone and iPod touch applications must be approved by Apple and will be available exclusively through the App Store.

The iPhone SDK provides a reliable, fast and secure way to create innovative applications for the iPhone and iPod touch. In addition to the rich set of iPhone OS APIs, the iPhone SDK also provides advanced tools for creating native iPhone and iPod touch applications including: Xcode(R) for source code editing, project management and graphical debugging; Interface Builder with drag and drop interface creation and live preview; Instruments to monitor and optimize iPhone application performance in real time; and the iPhone Simulator to run and debug applications.

During the beta iPhone SDK program, a limited number of developers will be accepted into Apple's new iPhone Developer Program and offered the ability to get code onto iPhones for testing. The Standard Program costs $99 (US) per year and gives members an iPhone SDK and development tools; access to pre-release iPhone software; technical support; the ability to get code onto iPhones for testing; and distribution of applications via the new App Store. The Enterprise Program costs $299 (US) per year.

In addition to these new iPhone network and security features, the beta iPhone 2.0 software provides several new Mail features such as the ability to view PowerPoint attachments, in addition to Word and Excel, as well as the ability to mass delete and move email messages.

Pricing & Availability

Apple plans to release the final iPhone 2.0 software, including the iPhone SDK and new enterprise features, as a free software update for all iPhone customers by the end of June. Third party applications created for the iPhone will also run on the iPod touch, and iPod touch users will be required to purchase a software update to run these applications. The free beta iPhone SDK is available immediately worldwide and can be downloaded at developer.apple.com/iphone/program. The iPhone Developer Program will initially be available in the US and will expand to other countries in the coming months. Apple is accepting applications beginning today from enterprise customers who would like to join the private iPhone Enterprise Beta Program (http://www.apple.com/iphone/enterprise).

iTunes Movie Rentals launches today and will offer over 1,000 titles by the end of February, including over 100 titles in stunning high definition video with 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound which users can rent directly from their widescreen TV using Apple TV.

All in all, that's 601 movies short of their 1,000 title promise. As for "100 titles in stunning HD," Apple fell short here as well, but they at least came close offering 91 films that meet the standard (however, many of those films are not actually in 5.1 surround).

And when counting all the movies you can watch from iTunes—including both rentals and purchases—Macworld found that Apple is still short of any 1,000 movie goal, offering only 770 films total.

Hopefully, Apple will meet their 1,000 rental goal in March. Because while AppleTV's recent makeover was impressive, we'd like to be able to, you know, watch some movies on it or something. [macworld]

"To help Intel make their quarterly earnings so they could continue to sell motherboards with 915 graphics embedded."

Apparently, HP had made "significant product roadmap changes to support graphics for the full Vista experience," specifically conditioned on Microsoft's "100% assurance that [Microsoft] would not budge for Intel," according to one of the emails. But they did. (And thus ensues a bunch of placating emails and explanations to HP.)

Windows-chief-at-the-time Steven Sinofsky knew the 915s were not up to the task and that labeling machines carrying them wasn't a good idea:

"The '915' chipset which is not Aero capable is in a huge number of laptops and was tagged as 'Vista Capable' but not Vista Premium. I don't know if this was a good call. But these function but will never be great. Even a 945 set has new builds of drivers coming out constantly but hopes are on the next chipset rather than this one."

Absolutely ridiculous—hosing customers to fatten Intel's bottom line. Apple fanboy or not, one thing they wouldn't do is shit on their own OS (partially out of vanity, true) so that Intel could dump a bunch of aging chips. [The Docs (PDF), Seattle PI]

Microsoft Agrees to Acquire Danger Inc., Strengthens Mobile Consumer Vision Acquisition of popular software and mobile services company will enhance Microsoft's ability to broadly deliver compelling mobile experiences.

REDMOND, Wash. — Feb. 11, 2008 — Microsoft Corp. today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Danger Inc., the company responsible for the software and services powering many popular consumer handsets. The acquisition will align Danger's nearly 10 years of expertise in the mobile consumer space with Microsoft's vision to provide innovative and compelling mobile experiences to a growing base of customers.
"Microsoft is a global leader with our Windows Mobile software and expanding mobile services," said Robbie Bach, president of the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. "The addition of Danger serves as a perfect complement to our existing software and services, and also strengthens our dedication to improving mobile experiences centered around individuals and what they like."

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company provides services that allow people to keep in touch, stay organized and keep informed while on the go through real-time mobile messaging, social networking services and other applications ― all blended together on a single phone that is intuitive and customizable.

"Danger continues to provide an effortless and fun mobile experience for consumers," said Henry R. Nothhaft, chairman and CEO of Danger Inc. "Now by combining our uncompromised application software and powerful back-end service with Microsoft, we can expand our innovative service offerings even further and take mobility to a new level."

A Grasp on Consumers

Danger has connected with a customer base that is young and enthusiastic, Internet-savvy and socially inclined. The Danger team has a deep understanding of consumers and a hold on what people want from mobility, making it an ideal group to work with in delivering connected experiences. Adding Danger to the Entertainment and Devices Division will provide Microsoft with additional assets and resources that will accelerate the company's entry into the consumer space and complement the company's focus on delivering innovative technologies and services that connect people's entertainment and information.

Danger will further expand people's mobile options by bringing a variety of established partnerships to the mix. Microsoft software can be found on more than 160 mobile phones made by more than 50 hardware partners, which are offered through more than 160 mobile operators around the world.
Defining the Mobile Experience

Through focused efforts Danger has successfully delivered a software and services platform to the mobile mass market. Applications on Danger-powered handsets include HTML Web browsing, instant messaging, games, multimedia, social networking, Web e-mail and personal information management applications.

Combining these services with Microsoft's connected entertainment and experiences technologies, including MSN, Xbox, Zune, Windows Live and Windows Mobile, will provide Microsoft with the tools to accelerate its work to create industry-leading entertainment and communication experiences for consumers.

Best Product Placement - Iron Man
The Iron Man movie looks better with every second we see. But did the product placement pass you by? Keep your eyes peeled in the garage scene—Iron Man drives a Tesla Roadster. It's a nice car...but the guy can fly.

Best Lost Cause - HD DVD
This lame commercial plugging "what you watch after the game" was tossed in at the last moment. It's not even worth watching again, but here it is anyway.

Best High Concept - Audi R8 (Old Luxury)
Taking a lesson from The Godfather, a man wakes with an old (Bentley?) front end in his bed. Blood has been replaced with oil, and our longing with the R8.
Audi R8 Luxury Sports Car Super Bowl Commercial Ad

Best Laugh - ETrade.com (Clown Version Sequel)
The first baby stockbroker we met was kinda lame. But then we realized that the first ETrade commercial of the night was just a setup for a great payoff.
ETrade.com

Worst Punchline - Garmin
Little car, little military leader, little horse...and what about the GPS? Is it little or something?

Best Non-Commercial Commercial Moment - Football Terminated
You know that stupid Fox robo football player they've had for a few years as part of their graphics package? On three occasions, the Terminator came in and beat the shit out of him. And damn, it was fulfilling.

Strangest Cross Branding - Ford (regional commercial)
Ford pitches you a Fusion with a free iPhone...to use with Sync...a Microsoft product. And they use an iPod touch commercial style. Very weird. (And note: if this commercial existed before tonight, we're sorry. We use something called 'DVR' so we're a bit out of touch.)

Best Adolescent Humor - AMP Energy
There were sparking nipple clamps, I mean, c'mon.
Amp Energy

Lowest Kick To Disney's Balls - CareerBuilder.com (Follow Your Heart)
Singing crickets just don't have it as easy as they used to.
Career Builder Superbowl Commercial: Follow Your Heart

Best Overall Commercial - FedEx Pigeons
The fisheye POV shot from the carrier pigeon's enhanced eyewear sealed the deal. But GPS and nightvision can only do so much when you're a pigeon.
Fedex Super Bowl Ad: Carrier Pigeons Bad Choice for Shipping

"There are a few things to do, and it will be a while before that happens," Plextek's technical director Ian Murphy said to gaming site Eurogamer, "but yes, the product has been recovered from the liquidators and we are bringing it back to market."

Furthermore, Murphy said that he believes that the damned handheld will succeed this time because "the only reason Gizmondo was not a success last time round was because it was not fully brought into the market." He could have said that "the only reason Gizmondo was not a success last time round was because it wasn't painted in bright pink and decorated with lolcats" and it would have had the same effect on us. Absolute puzzlement.

We are still asking ourselves the same questions: How can anyone expect that a previously-failed, ultra-hyped product is going succeed in a second introduction against all probability? Specially, how is that going to happen when mighty and actually credible companies—like Nokia, Sega or Atari—have tried and failed miserably?

And what's worse: how can any company get associated with a man that was convicted for fraud in his teens; fined more than a quarter million dollars in 2005 for issuing rubber checks as a car dealer during the 90s; and arrested for illegal guns possession and impersonating a law enforcement agent this year in the US? What is going to make things different from the first time?

It all will remain a mystery for the time being. However, we stand corrected: that company exists and they are going ahead with a plan to revive a handheld console that exploded in a puff of smelly smoke. [Plextek via Eurogamer]

The original article appeared in Realtid.se, a gossip online mag that according to our sources in Sweden lacks any kind of credibility and "should be avoided at all costs." In the article, Carl Freer talks about launching a new Gizmondo with a wider screen and a possible co-op with an unnamed telco where customers will be offered a Gizmondo for free, just for signing up for a data transfer subscription.

Freer, long-time friend and associate of famed Ferrari-crasher, fraudster and fellow ex-convict Stefan Eriksson, was recently arrested in the US for impersonating an "anti-terrorist agent" and illegal possession of guns. He was also previously convicted in Sweden for fraud and fined $265,000 in Germany in 2006 for writing bouncing checks as a car dealer during the '90s.

The Realtid report spread then to two other, more serious newspapers: Veckans Affärer and the Dina Pengar. The latter quoted both Realtid and Veckans Affärer, tying up all the speculation with the last piece of the puzzle, a flash animation hosted at Gizmondolive.com. According to one source, the Dina Pengar article "is not good. They are just quoting other sources and try to put two and two together and end up with three."

Whois shows Gizmondolive.com was registered by Domains by Proxy, Inc., an anonymous web domain registration system designed to hide the identity of the real owner of the site. At this time, the owner of Gizmondolive.com remains unknown. Meanwhile, Gizmondo.com, the actual domain in which any of this would have actually happened, remains parked and in the property of Gizmondo Europe Ltd. (which presumably is owned by the company's debt liquidators.)

So yes, the November 2007 quote by Freer is allegedly real. As another source, Swedish IT journalist Joacim Melin, puts it: "in plain English, he [Freer] is probably bullshitting to attract any kind of venture capitalist" just like they did with the original Gizmondo. The rest, however, is just castles in the air and speculation at this point.

Our guess, looking at the evidence, is that the site was made by some joker following up the November 2007 quote. But who knows, maybe the next Vapormondo will have "psychic powers," as they say. In either case, with the history above, don't count on this happening. And good riddance, is all I can say.

UPDATE: In addition to all this, reader Sean sent us this flash template, which apparently was used in the the Gizmondolive.com animation and further shows that it's probably the job of a prankster.

[Realtid.se, Dina Pengar and ekonominyheterna - In Swedish. Additional sources: MoneyWeek]

1. Booth Babes
Are we such simple people? Are we so easy to manipulate that all it takes for us to decide that a product is worth writing about or purchasing are some out-of-work strippers in skimpy outfits handing out 64MB thumb drives? Yes! It seems to work. D-Link, a boring company, consistently had loads of pasty, sweaty show goers swarming around its booth, ogling their whorishly dressed booth attendants and grabbing at free handouts that aren't worth the jostling it takes to get them.

2. Gimmicky Booths
If a company is too classy to put half-naked women with no dignity in front of their booths to draw in foot traffic, it's pretty likely that they have some less offensive gimmicky crap in their booth. Cheesy fake game shows? Yes, that'll make me take your company seriously. Magicians? Wow, I am optimistic about your company's potential in the CE marketplace. I am interested in sharing this with our readers, as it seems like something that they should take seriously. Oh, wait, no it doesn't! You seem to have fooled me with your magic! Luckily, I have the sense of mind to ignore you and try to move past without being sucked into your tractor beam of the lowest common denominator.

3. Digital Picture Frames
Variations of these things are shown by the most companies at the most booths. Why? Digital picture frames are the worst gadget out there, tacky garbage that I can't imagine anyone would ever buy. But they do! These companies are all putting them out because you people are buying them by the truckload! They're essentially little flat-panel TVs with no tuners and a crappy frame wrapped around them. They then sit there, sucking up energy 24 hours a day, ruining our environment and making your living room look like the Fox News studio on the slowest news day in history.

4. Press Manipulation and Blog Wars
We get suckered in to covering CES like it's the second coming every year; we brought something like 14 people this time around. For what? So we can cover stuff we normally would pass on in hopes that we can get it up three minutes before Engadget. Companies cocktease us and make us go and do pointless liveblogs of their boring press conferences only to announce minor upgrades of the same garbage they released last year. This is worth 14 round-trip airline tickets and a dozen hotel rooms for a week?

5. Panasonic's 150-inch TV
This is probably the "biggest" announcement of CES, and it's a product that .000001% of the population will be able to afford if and when it's released five years from now. If that isn't a damning enough summation of why CES is irrelevant, I don't know what is. Isn't this show supposed to be about consumer electronics that will be released this year? This thing is neither, it's basically a big billboard from Panasonic saying "Our Dick is Bigger Than Sharp's Dick," and because we on the internet love pictures of over-the-top things, we shoot our loads all over it. Fuck the 150-inch TV.

6. Marketing Speak
The way people talk here is like 1984 if Big Brother was more interested in LCD TVs than suppressing the people. Is the Jook wireless streaming dongle really "revolutionary?" No, not even a little. Is it true that "There's a fine line between art and technology [and] it's called Opus, from LG"? No. That doesn't even make sense, and it offends me that you think I'd take such an idiotic statement seriously. You can't walk five feet on the show floor without hearing some horrible line of moronic marketing speak come out of the mouth of an overly perky 5-foot-tall PR girl in a pantsuit, and it makes me want to stab myself in the ears.

7. Designer Tasers
How are violent weapons with a sassy case one of the most buzzed about gadgets here? How are Tasers even considered gadgets? These things have clearly been erroneously put in the hands of cops and security guards everywhere who see them as a great alternative to handling situations verbally, and now we're supposed to give them to people who see leopard print as a pretty hip fashion choice? Commodifying serious violence isn't funny or cute, and just because you slap the shittiest MP3 player ever in a hip holster for a pink Taser doesn't make it a gadget I'd want to see people carrying around.

8. Knockoffs, Accessories and Other Cheap Crap
Half the stuff at this show is utter junk, created by money-obsessed vultures who would kick their own mothers in the teeth to figure out a way to trick consumers into paying a 5000% markup on something that nobody wants. It's booth after depressing booth of Wii weapons, nano knockoffs, iPod accessories and any number of other things that are pumped out at alarming rates with no thought being put into innovation or usefulness. When you disregard the top, most visible 1%, pretty much every consumer electronics company eschews good engineering, good design and imagination for getting derivative garbage out to market as fast as possible. It's a marketplace overflowing with lazy ripoff artists, greasy-haired shysters just looking to make a quick buck with the least amount of effort possible. And that's not even mentioning the environmental impact of manufacturing thousands upon thousands of tons of plastic crap every year, a good chunk of which ends up in landfills.

9. MyVu Video Glasses
While marketing weasels love to talk about bringing people together with technology, a lot of the crap shown here at CES encourages just the opposite. Take the MyVu video glasses, for example. If the folks behind this stupid device had their way, we'd all be in our own little worlds all the time, unable to see anything but the video we're watching. Hell, all sorts of "innovations" promote the same thing: don't talk, text message. Don't hang out in real life, hang out in Second Life. Don't travel to the Grand Canyon with your family, check it out on the Travel Channel in HD. The way these things are headed, we'll all be plugged into our own private media centers all the time, with our only human interaction happening when we need to update our credit card info with the home office.

10. CES is Leaving Las Vegas
Apparently, CES might be leaving Las Vegas for greener pastures in the future. This makes me sad. Let me tell you my favorite part of Vegas. In our hotel, the Imperial Palace (the crown jewel of the strip), they have a Dealertainers Pit in its casino. The Dealertainers are celebrity impersonators that deal blackjack. They aren't the best or most accurate impersonators in the world (the J. Lo impersonator is Asian, for example), but they have heart. We befriended the Bette Midler Dealertainer last year, falling in love with her off-color jokes and sassy demeanor. One of the first things I saw when checking in at the hotel this year? Ol' Bette, looking a whole lot older and a little bit less sassy. But she was here. And if I can't depend on seeing Bette, then what's the point of coming to CES in the first place?

[Photos 1, 2, 3 and 6 by Curtis Walker]

We're very excited about these new products and we think our customers will be too, so we wanted to kick off 2008 by getting them into our customers' hands as soon as possible. They're both available starting today.

Yeah, I figured I'd get that answer. What does this mean for the Keynote? Are they getting the proc bumps out of the way just to make room for the sexy new designs and devices made from scratch? Only The Steve knows. And whatever the answer, one thing is clear. These releases are only the tip of the iceberg.

WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT TO RELEASE ITS HIGH-DEFINITION DVD TITLES EXCLUSIVELY IN THE BLU-RAY DISC FORMAT BEGINNING LATER THIS YEAR Decision Made in Response to Strong Consumer Preference for Format

(January 4, 2008 - Burbank, CA) - In response to consumer demand, Warner Bros. Entertainment will release its high-definition DVD titles exclusively in the Blu-ray disc format beginning later this year, it was announced today by Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO, Warner Bros. and Kevin Tsujihara, President, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group.

"Warner Bros.' move to exclusively release in the Blu-ray disc format is a strategic decision focused on the long term and the most direct way to give consumers what they want," said Meyer. "The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger. We believe that exclusively distributing in Blu-ray will further the potential for mass market success and ultimately benefit retailers, producers, and most importantly, consumers."

Warner Home Video will continue to release its titles in standard DVD format and Blu-ray. After a short window following their standard DVD and Blu-ray releases, all new titles will continue to be released in HD DVD until the end of May 2008.

"Warner Bros. has produced in both high-definition formats in an effort to provide consumer choice, foster mainstream adoption and drive down hardware prices," said Jeff Bewkes, President and Chief Executive Officer, Time Warner Inc., the parent company of Warner Bros. Entertainment. "Today's decision by Warner Bros. to distribute in a single format comes at the right time and is the best decision both for consumers and Time Warner."

"A two-format landscape has led to consumer confusion and indifference toward high definition, which has kept the technology from reaching mass adoption and becoming the important revenue stream that it can be for the industry," said Tsujihara. "Consumers have clearly chosen Blu-ray, and we believe that recognizing this preference is the right step in making this great home entertainment experience accessible to the widest possible audience. Warner Bros. has worked very closely with the Toshiba Corporation in promoting high definition media and we have enormous respect for their efforts. We look forward to working with them on other projects in the future."

OLPC prez Walter Bender said that Intel's efforts to build an XO Laptop with one of its chips were "seemingly half-hearted" and that its brass was more interested in OLPC for PR reasons:

"The only thing they were interested in was ... helping them make marketing statements about how Intel's approach to learning was different from OLPC's approach to learning," Bender said. "They weren't interested in how we can learn together and make something better for kids."

On the other hand, the market being flooded with ton of cheap laptops (which might be better than XO) for developing countries ultimately goes toward OLPC's goal to bring computers to everyone, so it's a bit off to say it is the One True Way, even if Intel really is a child-hating, PR-feeding douche. That said, we hope OLPC gets its act together soon. The only thing worse than a train wreck is one carrying the hopes and dreams of millions of children. Or something like that. [CW]

Update: A Best Buy employee sheds light on why this is happening:

Our tipster says that the site is used to give employees "a place where they can order large purchases that are shipped to home and the sale shows up on the store's sales report." It's also used to honor in store only prices, and will let them ship stuff to customers without a raincheck.

However, the stores aren't obligated to match the online prices, because different regions have different pricing structures, whereas their website has one price for everyone. The only time they have to honor prices, he claims, is if it's in the weekly circular ad.

Thanks tipster!

The company does more than bottle beer, though they are the country's oldest brewer that's been running since 1890. It's also the world's second largest bottler of Coke all while it operates Oxxo, Latin America's largest convenience store chain with over 4,300 locations.

Of course, while Femsa had no comment about the transaction, their shares jumped 7.5 percent after Bill Gates purchased about 3% of the company. I myself am wondering how the hell my portfolio is short on Tecate stock. [reuters via I4U]

Smartphones running Symbian, Linux and Palm OS all fall behind Apple's iPhone. This is ever more stunning because the iPhone is only available via one carrier, in contrast, the other platforms can be procured from various cellular networks. This dramatically increases their market penetration. From the perspective of a business model, these figures are simply astronomical. Who's running scared? Apparently, Symbian is:

Every year, Symbian publishes detailed figures demonstrating how they are the biggest, baddest platform in the world. Guess what? This year, they didn't release the detailed figures on their Symbian Fast Facts webpage. Why not? Take a look at the image—the numbers are no longer working in their favor.

All in all, things aren't looking too perky for Apple's competitors. Sure, RIM may be flying high at the moment, but if this growth continues even at a fraction of the rate it is currently, RIM won't be high and dry for long. Android, in you we trust. For a fantastic run through the figures, and a more detailed look at the likely ramifications of Apple's impending dominance, checkout the full report by hitting the link. [Roughly Drafted Magazine]

Jobso (or Jobs , since he's in Vikingingland at the moment) was in Norway to watch Al Gore pick up his Nobel Peace Prize. While he was there, he also hooked up with the boss of Telenor, yes, that is a Norwegian telecoms company, to discuss a potential iPhone launch in the Scandinavian country (the other candidate for Norway's iPhone gig being Netcom). Talks have been postponed until after Christmas, as Apple is currently more interested in the iPhone's sales in Britain, France and Germany.

And finally, according to a Telenor spokesman, "Apple might be deciding on which unit to launch." I think they mean 3G, or not 3G, that is the question. [VG]

New York Times bestsellers and hardback new releases will go for $9.99, with classics going as low as $1.99. Through the service, which is an extension of the Amazon store, you also can subscribe to newspapers (New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post) and magazines, which are automatically sent to Kindle when they drop on the wire.

Talking about the hardware itself, it'll hold 200 books on board, though you can supplement with unspecified memory cards. It'll get up to 30 hours of reading per charge and weighs 10.3 ounces. So, why does such a potentially disruptive device look so very plain? They wanted it to look like "an austere vessel of culture." The moniker Kindle is from the same line of thinking, "the crackling ignition of knowledge." But, thankfully, it doesn't get warm itself.

Some obvious questions are left though, mostly about the "always-on" connection—is the EV-DO-based Whispernet service included in the $399? If not, what's the pricing on that? And what are its limits, since you can go out onto the real web? Odds are, Bezos himself will reveal the answers tomorrow.

The goals here are pretty lofty: "Amazon believes it has created the iPod of reading." We really, really dig Jeff's vision, "that you should be able to get any book—not just any book in print, but any book that's ever been in print—on this device in less than a minute," so we hope about as much as he does that this little beige slab lives up to all the wonderful that they're promising. [Newsweek]

...the hacked phone was never an nbc or writer decision. it was done out of convenience since that was the only way to shoot a phone with all of its features. if u look closely, in both spots you can see "NO SERVICE" in the upper left corner of the phone.

Maybe the hacked iPhone is just part of the joke, an inside snicker of SNL writers. Maybe the hack makes for an simpler, more customizable production prop. Or maybe, since we knew Apple and NBC weren't getting along before, this is a not-so-subtle kick in the groin from one corporation to another. Hit the jump for a bigger version.

Beautiful.

The problem appears to occur only for users who are upgrading from old OSs, which is just one more reason that any computer owner should pony up, backup their files and do a clean install on any new operating system. Whether or not the software "works" either way, clean installs tend to be less buggy over the long run. The Apple-using segment of the Gizmodo crew has performed both types of installs without incident—but you know how it goes—you'll be the unlucky one. [apple via fortune]

Update: As many comments have already pointed out, the error seems to be caused by Application Enhancer (APE), or as Apple refers to it, "enhancement" software. Here's the fix. Happy installing.

Our readers were upset. AT&T wrote us quickly after the story hit, attempting to clarify their position and do general damage control. They explained that the TOS was a result of their corporate mergers and that they "do not terminate customer service solely because a customer speaks negatively about AT&T." Still, the statement didn't mean much because the TOS still gave them the right, and even implied the intent to limit customer freedom of speech.

Now AT&T has written us again, informing us that the TOS will change:

We are revising the terms of service to clarify our intent. The language in question will be revised to reflect AT&T's respect for our customers' right to express opinions and concerns over any matter they wish. And we will make clear that we do not terminate service because a customer expresses their opinion about AT&T.

But first, the bricking. Was this done on purpose? Lam doesn't think so. Jacqui at Ars believes that the firmware was completed weeks ago, and the bricking is unintentional. It doesn't matter what the intent was: They didn't go out of their way to stop it, which is almost as uncool. Principles aside, this situation won't affect lots of us, since the majority of us don't have a reason to unlock. But bricking it entirely is something they should work really really hard to avoid, even if it costs them some revenue share from AT&T. My main concern is for the safe development of Apps that so far have done nothing but made the iPhone better.

"Users who make unauthorized modifications to the software on their iPhone violate their iPhone software license agreement and void their warranty." That photo above is what Lam's iPhone looks like now. Does this mean Lam's warranty is in the shitter? Because he didn't unlock my iPhone and nothing he did can't be fixed with a system restore. Going after the hacks, which have changed the iPhone from a good product to a great phone? That's idiotic.

There is a good side to all this, provided we can get Apple to make firmware that doesn't brick iPhones. The press release also mentions the feature updates via the firmware, like the Wi-Fi Music store. This is historically how the PSP firmware updates were made as "must haves" for owners. Unlocking an iPhone isn't nearly as appealing if it means you don't get the benefit of new features. So, if anything, the unlocking cat and mouse game should push Apple to make a lot more innovation, and quicker. A good thing, when you consider that the best iPhone innovations in the last few months are not the web apps or official Apple updates, but the third party hacks.

Apple has discovered that many of the unauthorized iPhone unlocking programs available on the Internet cause irreparable damage to the iPhone's software, which will likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed. Apple plans to release the next iPhone software update, containing many new features including the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store (www.itunes.com), later this week. Apple strongly discourages users from installing unauthorized unlocking programs on their iPhones. Users who make unauthorized modifications to the software on their iPhone violate their iPhone software license agreement and void their warranty. The permanent inability to use an iPhone due to installing unlocking software is not covered under the iPhone's warranty.

AT&T FREE Msg: Good News, your messaging package now includes text, picture & instant messages all for the same price of $19.99 per month. No action required

It's the exact same story that pathetic local news stations use for scare stories between "Your New Carpet Could Give You AIDS" and "Highway Killings: More Common Than You Think." But it's even worse, as it's in a "respected" newspaper and it's a good five years beyond when this could even questionably be considered newsworthy.

It goes through the same formula that all these stories do: first, it uses an example of "l33t 5p34k" that is full of numbers, is pretty much unreadable and no one actually would ever use. This is to shock people into feeling like they're out of the loop. It then interviews a bunch of kids "in the know" about it, who then show that, well, it's really just a jokey set of misspellings that people say when around fellow dorks. Then, they interview some dude with his panties in a twist about how the English language is going down the tubes because kids are saying lawl to each other.

Let me break this down for you: Back when you were doing the Lindy Hop and wearing zoot suits, you had a set of slang too. It freaked your parents out. It was a way for you to bond with your peers and have a shared language. It did not destroy the sanctity of the English language when you said stuff like 23 Skidoo and bee's knees. This is the exact same thing, but because it comes from the internet, something else that's new and terrifying, you think it's even more disastrous. Well, guess what? It's not. You're an alarmist idiot. Now go back to complaining about how the Wendy's menu used to be a lot better before they banned trans fats and leave reporting about tech culture to people who know wtf they're talking about. [WSJ]

The picture was taken by Neil at iGadget Life, we want it back while he was holidaying it up in Turkey, Marmaris. Doing what any of us would have done, he took hundreds of shots of the retail establishment and bought both, his new summer and winter wardrobe collections from there, spending far too much money in the process. So, we made the last bit up, but it is an educated guess no less.

The Google style house moves a long way from our past encounters of Google in the fashion world, namely the similarly unofficial Goggle cologne, which could have got you women if you were able to find any. Well guess what? If the Google store in Turkey does not have any you can slap us sideways, laugh at our hair and call us every Tuesday to say, "The Google store does not stock Google cologne." Jokes aside, we echo Neil's sentiments; it is unlikely the big G's legal team will have much of a laugh with this one. [iGadget Life via The Raw Feed]

He survived but was pretty banged up. He had substantial burns on both his ears, both his eardrums were ruptured, his inner ear bones were dislocated and he also had a broken jaw in four places. Here's what the doctors had to say in the New England Journal of Medicine about this case:

Because of the high resistance of skin, the lightning is often conducted over the outside of the body (an effect known as a flashover); however, sweat and metallic objects in contact with the skin can disrupt the flashover, leading to the internal flow of current. Although the use of a device such as an iPod may not increase the chances of being struck by lightning, in this case, the combination of sweat and metal earphones directed the current to, and through, the patient's head.

Don't start thinking that iPods attract lightning strikes, though, at least not the way tall objects and trees do. According to Dr. Marianne Cooper of the University of Illinois medical center in Chicago, "It's going to hit where it's going to hit, but once it contacts metal, the metal conducts the electricity." So it just wasn't that dentist's lucky day.

[New England Journal of Medicine and Associated Press]

Wait for What?
Look, I'm not saying wait for version 2.0. You don't need new hardware to love the phone; version 1.1 should do it. Wait until Apple updates the software. That was a hard to write, since I'm thumbing through my own iPhone like a teenager wi