Shadowrun Online is still in development, but there are big plans to tie the game to tabletop Shadowrun's big summer campaign, Lockdown. The developers let me try an early build of the game, and talked to me about all things cyberpunk.

Prison is a sad, cold, horrible place to be. What reminds you of home more than a hot, home-cooked meal? Nothing. Since these prisoners can't go home— Maybe ever—they have to bring home to the cell block.

A movie-goer's concept of prison economy is likely that it's a cigarette-fueled barter system. That may be part of it, but it only scratches the surface. The truth is a violent world of sex, drugs and... postage stamps?

If you think the cell phone explosion of recent years has somehow been kept at bay by prison walls, you would be greatly mistaken. Technology, like water, permeates every crack. Today on Lockdown, we're talking phones in jail.

Heading to the place where a prison's homicide evidence is kept, you might expect to see a few sharpened objects—maybe a bludgeon or two. You would be underprepared.

Prison Hacks are the big house's answer to Gizmodo's homemod. Prison is designed to be uncomfortable—it's prison, after all. But even incarceration can't lock up the spirit of human ingenuity. What prisoners do with extremely limited resources is incredible.

Do prison inmates surf the Internet? Do they have gadgets? Do they make gadgets? Do they make weapons? Where do they get their porn and booze?