With Sprint snagging the vast majority of the WiMAX limelight of late, we aren't going to complain with a similar network halfway across the globe yanking it back. Out of absolutely nowhere comes HTC's first WiMAX-enabled handset, the sure-to-be-delightful T8290. Reportedly, this bugger packs a 3.8-inch 800 x 480 resolution display, 802.11g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, GSM and WiMAX radios and is expected to launch soon on Russia's Yota. Granted, we can't take this as hard truth or anything quite yet, but the images that reside in the read link are more than convincing. Oh, and HTC -- given that you're passing on the US with the Touch HD, do you think it'd be possible to get this over here for use with XOHM? We'd really, really appreciate it.

Funny story -- we pretty much heard this exact same rumor floating around last August, but given the current economic situation, we're inclined to believe this one a good bit more. A recent Reuters report is pointing out that RIM (like practically every other company right about now) is ripe for the picking, and any outfit with a serious load of cash reserves could get themselves quite a bargain. Given that the Redmond mega-corp has shown interest before (and clearly has plenty of Greenbacks), we were particularly interested in Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek's quote: "I'm fairly certain [Microsoft] has a standing offer to buy [RIM] at $50 a share." If you'll recall, RIM's stock sat at $148 per share just four months ago, and now, it's hovering around $60. As expected, Microsoft had no comment on the report, but don't be surprised to see something go down if Wall Street keeps hemorrhaging.

So the BlackBerry Storm hasn't even made it onto Verizon yet, and in flies word that RIM is actually doing something other than resting on its laurels (and contemplating buyout offers from Microsoft). The Boy Genius has it from two independent sources that RIM is currently hard at work on a "super-phone" of sorts, complete with a 5-megapixel auto-focus camera, 1GB of memory and a "near-HD quality screen." In all seriousness, it's not too shocking to hear that the outfit is working up a formidable opponent to go against HTC's Touch HD / T8290, but it's not stopping there. We're also told that a second and third-generation Storm are already being whipped up in the design room, but it's pretty safe to say you won't be seeing those in the flesh for a good while. Regrettably, that's it for the details, but you can rest assured that we'll be keeping an ear to the ground for more.

Zepto managed to carve out a tiny niche for itself with its understated Nexus A15 gaming laptop, and it looks like it's now giving it some company with its new Nox A14 model. From the looks of it, this one is mostly identical to its predecessor, with the notable exception of a 14.1-inch 1440 x 900 screen and, consequently, a slightly smaller and lighter form factor. Otherwise, you can expect to get a Core 2 Duo P9500 processor, NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT 512MB, up to 8GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive (or 128GB SSD), a built-in 2-megapixel webcam, and a DVD burner or optional Blu-ray drive. If that's sounds about right, you can order one now for a starting price of £827 (or roughly $1,400), or a good deal more if you want any of those supposed "world's fastest" specs.

Look out Tesla / Lightning -- a new competitor just rolled out, and it's sitting pretty. Ruf Automobile has gone public with its stunning electric eRUF concept car, which is obviously based on a Porsche 911. The automobile packs a three-phase electric motor that puts out around 200-horsepower and 480 lb.-ft. of torque, and it can reportedly go from nothing to sixty in under seven ticks. The juice is provided by a Li-ion phosphate battery pack that produces 317-volts / 480-amps and is constructed from 96 individual cells, and combined with the power garnered by the regenerative braking system, it can cruise up to 180 miles before needing a ten-hour recharge. Production, pretty please?

It's pretty far behind the likes of Dell and HP in getting to the bottom of the whole defective NVIDIA GPU situation, but Apple has now finally come out and confirmed that some of its MacBook Pros are indeed affected by the problem. According to a just posted Apple support document, the specific models affected were all made between May 2007 and September 2008, and include all 15- and 17-inch models equipped with NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processors. As with other laptops, the problem shows itself in the form of distorted or scrambled video, or a complete absence of video on the screen or external display. If your MacBook Pro falls into that lot, and the problem occurs within two years of your original purchase date, Apple says it'll repair it free of charge, even if it's out of warranty. It's also issuing refunds to folks that have already paid to get their MacBook Pro repaired. Hit up the link below for the complete details.

An online Best Buy store listing reveals the specs and prices of Toshiba’s new, 14.1-inch Satellite-series E105 notebook. The advertised version sports a backlit keyboard, Intel’s dual-core 2.26GHz processor and 4GB of RAM. The laptop includes a 320GB hard drive and is just 1.2 inches thick while weighing in at 5lbs. Graphics processing for the 1280x800 screen is handled by the onboard GMA 4500 MHD chipset that brings with it an HDMI output; an FM tuner is also unusually built-in.Other specs include a dual-layer DVD-RW drive, Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR wireless connectivity and a Wi-Fi Link 5100AGN module. For security, there is a fingerprint scanner, and users can video conference thanks to a built-in webcam and microphone. Expandability is ensured via two USB ports, one of which is an eSATA/USB combo connection. Dedicated media controls and a 5-in-1 memory card reader are expected and included. The pre-loaded OS is Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit.The E105 is priced at nearly $1,200 on Best Buy and no specific release date is known.

General purpose GPUs (GGPU) powered by DirectX 11 could arrive as early as 2009, said ATI, owned by AMD announced at the Ceatec trade-show in Japan.

ATI also expects to complete its transition of its GPU manufacturing process to 40nm and GDDR5 memory by that time. These upgrades would unlock a new breed of eye candy and mind blowing graphics in games.

Along other expectations, it is also expected for Windows 7 to boost the sales of GPUs along with DirectX 11. Consumer applications for GGPU would also arrive at that time to unlock their true potential. The input and output technologies will also get a face lift, thanks to digital walls, televisions with higher than HD resolution, arriving next year.

ATI is also working hard on 3D stereographic technology, and predicts the arrival of holograms sooner than we think. This would mean any visual experience could be converted to holograms.

All this means that visual technologies are going to get a breadth of fresh air, but then again, DirectX 10 promised the same. Gamers report little to no noticeable visual differences between DirectX 9 and 10 modes in games such as Crysis, with the former mode providing better frame rates than the latter. So don’t throw away your DirectX 10 GPU yet. As we learnt from DirectX 10, it’s better to wait rather than be an early bird for a new graphics technology. Also, with Fusion being the future, it’ll be interesting to see how things shape up for future GPUs.

What do you think? Will DirectX 11 provide a significant improvement in our visual experiences when compared to DirectX 9 and 10?

Given that Digital Foci's IMT-062 was getting a bit long in the tooth, we'd say it's about time a suitable successor hit the streets. The IMT-063, or "The Executive" as its known around the office, is the outfit's very latest Image Moments 6 digiframe, which features a 5.7-inch 640 x 480 display, LED backlighting, a two-tone chrome finish, 450MB of internal storage space, support for a multitude of card formats and USB 2.0 connectivity. Better still, the frame will also play back audio and video files, and the auto-rotate orientation sensor will keep your curious youngsters occupied for hours. Look for this one to leave the shipping dock next week for $149.

The Google Chrome hype seems to live on despite it received mixed reactions from the industry. We praised it for its blazing speeds and a responsive UI, while others called it a total failure. We also highlighted some of the security issues of the browser, and hoped that it would improve in the future. Apparently, the guys at the Chromium Project are hard at work just trying to deliver that.

Google Chrome got its first major update late last night. This is the first time the minor version changed from 0.2 to 0.3. The update brings some bug fixes as well as enhancements to the overall user interface. But the major focus of the update was to resolve issues with various plugins.

According to the release notes for Google Chrome 0.3.154.0, the main problems addressed and fixed with this update are related to the Flash plugin. I had reported earlier about the issue on my previous review, and it seems like the developers listened to it. More specifically, the release notes highlight the following:

• Improve the performance and scrolling of plugins. This especially improves pages with multiple plugins playing video.
• Fixes plugins not playing when embedded in a third-party frame on a page.
• Fixes a problem where using Flash plugins could lock up Google Chrome and cause 100% CPU usage.

Other minor changes include enhancements to the UI (mostly in the options dialog) and some more streamlined search results with suggestions.

While this update is only availble to the developers, you can also take part in the developer community testing by opting to be a developer (you don’t actually have to develop anything). Just download this utility and choose Dev from the two options. Then click the Wrench > About Google Chrome, it will automatically detect the update and download it.

At this point, you're probably wondering what section of the Storm's UI you haven't seen. Enter a few new sneak peeks, this time showcasing the purported BlackBerry Application Center. Granted, these shots are from the Vodafone edition, but we don't suspect the Verizon version will look much different. Reportedly, the Application Center will be available on v4.7 Storm devices, and carriers themselves will be responsible for hosting the data and sending updates; additionally, the download / installation will be handled by the browser in the first release, meaning that the software cannot restart the app or download intelligently. Give the read link a look for a few more tidbits / pictures.

The reams and reams of spam found with every check of our inboxes here at Engadget HQ have quashed the surge of emotions we used to experience when that new-mail notifier started blinking. So, we went looking for something to help get our e-mail groove back, and we've found it: the USB webmail notifier. It's a little box with the iconic envelope design on the front that lights up in green, blue, or red when you receive mail. The color indicates either the location of the received message, for those of you who rock Outlook for work and Gmail for personal, or the volume, for those who need some encouragement to clean out that inbox. It is somewhat less useful than other multi-purpose USB indicators we've seen, but its simplicity, and its $17 price tag, make it our choice to bring back that lovin' feeling.

We've already had a pretty clear indication that Motorola's Q11 was nearing a release in Brazil and, according to ZumoBlog, everything is now set to finally get official tomorrow. That, however, hasn't stopped the site from getting its hands on the phone today, and it's thankfully snapped a few pics of it to give folks a peek at what's in store. Of course, the pics of the Q9 lookalike don't exactly tell the whole story, as the big news is added WiFi and GPS, and, unfortunately, a lack of 3G. Still, if that's a trade-off you can get behind, you can keep watch on the site for a promised video hands-on, and set aside the $899 it'll cost you to get an unlocked version of the phone.

When the SATA HDD Stage Rack launched last October, we figured it would just be a one-off gizmo that all of four or five people would pick up. A year later, we're staring at a smattering of iterations from a number of companies. Sharkoon's own attempt at beefing up this apparent product category looks to be a pretty solid product, as the SATA QuickPort Duo gives owners the ability to slam in two 2.5- / 3.5-inch internal SATA hard drives and connect them up to a PC via USB 2.0 or eSATA. Unfortunately, the €47 ($64) price tag is a touch on the high side, but it is the Cadillac of the bunch, you know.

Sprint's Xohm WiMAX network will have its formal debut on October 8th, according to an invitation sent to the media. Company executives along with those from WiMAX developer Intel will host an event that day in Baltimore's Bond Street Wharf Park to unveil the service, which is planned as one of the first truly national 4G wireless Internet services for the US. Follow-ups expansions are also known to be in effect for nearby Washington, DC as well as Chicago in the near term and will spread next to Dallas and New England cities in the weeks following the rollout.

The long-range service should include several devices and services on launch that primarily focus on computer use, including desktop and notebook modems as well as some portable computers and handhelds with WiMAX built in, such as Nokia's N810 WiMAX edition, at least one ASUS Eee PC model and some Toshiba notebooks. Plans will be unique through the choice of either contract-free monthly subscriptions or the ability to purchase time in blocks as small as a day.

Sprint hasn't provided an explanation for the delay, though Gearlog now claims to have a source which asserts that the network is already active and that a mix of conflicting executive schedules and concerns over Jewish holidays prevented the planned September launch date.

Nokia is allegedly preparing to globally launch Nokia Tube on October 2nd, said to be announced at an event in London, an insider tells Pocket-lint. The insider reveals that an impending announcement is due to occur simultaneously with Comes with Music, under the XpressMusic sub-brand. The potential launch date lines up with an earlier promise from Nokia that would have them offer touchscreen phones by the end of the year.

In July, Nokia hinted at a mid-range touchscreen device that would be competitively featured and positioned, citing a low price point that would make the device more attractive to users.

Sony Ericsson this morning launched into more aggressive competition in mobile music with the advent of PlayNow plus. The feature is one of the few carrier-independent unlimited music services that works entirely from the device itself but is also tailored to overcome resistance to subscription services: in an improvement on Nokia's Comes With Music service, Sony Ericsson says it will not only let users keep their most frequently-played music at the end of their subscriptions but that permanent copies will come in MP3 format; listeners can offload the music to another phone, a PC, or a dedicated media player without copy restrictions.

The handset creator also bundles some community features absent from the Nokia offering, such as recommendation sharing between fellow PlayNow members and a tie-in with Sony Ericsson's TrackID radio identification feature that shows the most frequently tagged songs.

Also like Nokia, Sony Ericsson is initially tying the service to a particular phone and is releasing a special PlayNow plus version of the W902 Walkman phone with both a bundled subscription and 1,000 preloaded songs on its 8GB memory card. The phone appears in the fall on Sweden's Telenor and will be joined by more phones and more countries next year.

The new launch represents an increasing turn by cellphone designers towards launching their own music stores as alternatives to typically less successful carrier-run stores, with Apple and Nokia both having established their own services. Music labels themselves, particularly Universal, are also known to have pressed for alternatives music service models in an attempt to encourage regular, legal music use with cellphone owners.

Dell is preparing to update its display line with a second model that hints at a wider revamp of its line, a Taiwan-area leak of a prototype shows. The S2209W would be unique among 22-inch displays in its use of a 16:9 ratio, 1920x1080 resolution. The image is both much sharper than the 16:10, 1680x1050 displays that dictate most 22-inch LCDs and also better-suited to HD movies, which would output at full resolution and without the black bars that come from a non-native aspect ratio.

Hints are also given that the display will be much more color-accurate than normally below-par 22-inch panels. The source claims the S2209W is a good match for professional Eizo displays, which are often calibrated and equipped to match the colors used by visual editors.

No immediate signs have surfaced of when the display will ship, though Dell Europe has already posted a driver page with software from late August. The 22-inch screen has the same all-black, rounded visual design of the identically wide S2409W and suggests a relatively near-term release as well as a larger campaign to replace many of Dell's home displays with 16:9 models. The screen would also likely ship at a price below the $349 Dell charges for its 24-inch LCD. 

A new LG media phone has been spotted, and will be out on the market by the end of the year, according to a BGR report. The LG Xenon handset sports a 2.8-inch, 240x480 LCD screen, which slides over to unveil a full QWERTY keyboard. It is apparently going through testing at AT&T, which will be the exclusive provider of the handset. The quad-band phone features 3G UMTS and HSDPA data support as well as assisted GPS and Wi-Fi.

An accelerometer and a proximity sensor are also said to be onboard. The sensor, in addition to the lack of a visible dedicated keypad, would indicate the LCD is a touchscreen, with the proximity sensor turning off the touch screen as users lift the handset to their ear, like with Apple’s iPhone. Photos or videos captured by the integrated three-megapixel camera can be stored on the 100MB of internal memory or on a microSDHC card.

The handset interfaces with computers and gets charged via a USB 2.0 port. Bluetooth 2.0 is part of the spec-sheet, although it will not support wireless headsets or headphones.

There is no word on pricing information.

Microsoft this afternoon confirmed that it would have a functional version of Windows 7 for developers at the company's Professional Developers Conference on October 28th. The build, referred to as a pre-beta build, will be handed out to attendees of the event keynote by company Windows Senior VP Steven Sinofsky. Specific details of what will be revealed aren't mentioned, though Microsoft says its public presentation will talk about the kernel, or operating system core, as well as Windows 7's interactions with hardware and networks and the user interface itself.

The news indirectly confirms reports of a delayed beta, which allegedly would push back the release of a first feature-complete Windows 7 testing version until mid-December. No reasons for the still-unofficial delay have been mentioned, although the schedule is still rumored to involve a fast-track release that may actually ship Windows 7 later in 2009 rather than the publicly stated early 2010.

Microsoft is so far known to be developing a multi-touch interface for Windows 7 but is also experimenting with an Office-influenced interface and is widely believed to be using Windows 7 as lower-key update rather than a major architectural refresh, as with Vista.

IBM and others have already boasted about their plans to develop sub-32nm processors, but it now looks like Big Blue is aiming to blow past its competitors in a pretty big way by taking things all the way down to the 22-nanometer level. That rather significant leap is apparently possible thanks to a new technique that IBM developed with Mentor Graphics and Toppan Printing dubbed Computational Scaling, which employs some new mathematical techniques and other head-scratching measures to overcome the current limitations associated with etching circuits onto processors of this scale. While it of course sees the 22nm processors being used in even smaller laptops and an array of other devices, IBM seems to be especially interested in using the chips in its cloud computing initiatives, where it seems to think the chips' greater efficiency could make a particularly big impact. As you might have guessed, however, it's not yet clear exactly when that might happen.

When the N95 was released, it was all but universally adored. Even today, nearly two full years after it was first revealed, it's still one of the most respected in Nokia's lineup. From the get-go, we knew the N96 was more evolutionary and less revolutionary; after all, the two handsets even look alike. The general consensus this time around is about what we expected: the N96 is a fine phone, and a worthy successor, but probably not worth the high price it's currently demanding. Oh sure, the call quality was stupendous, battery life was satisfactory and the multimedia playback was superb, but some critics were a bit displeased with the fit and finish given the premium price tag. All in all, don't go into the links below expecting any huge surprises -- the N96 is a nicely revamped, high-priced N95, and if that's what you're looking for, there doesn't seem to be any underlying issues that should hold you back from indulging.

Everyone seems to be loving Google Chrome, the new open-source browser by Google, but very unfortunately Mac and Linux users are still missing the Chrome goodness as no native version of Google Chrome is available for them yet.

Luckily a new project called CrossOver Chromium is here to bridge the gaps between Google Chrome and Mac and Linux users.

CrossOver Chromium is a Mac and Linux port of the open source Google Chrome web browser created by CodeWeavers. Although users have been able to run Google Chrome on Mac using Windows Virtualization and through Wine on Linux but what makes CrossOver Chromium unique is its ability to run on Mac and Linux without any third party software.

As its developers say, Google Chromium should not be run as the default browser on any of the systems as this project is just a proof-of-concept and is not intended to replace the actual native versions of Google Chrome for Mac and Linux which will be available shortly by Google.

CrossOver Chromium is available for Intel based Macs and Linux systems. It can be downloaded through the CodeWeavers project page (link given below). Thanks Christina.

CrossOver Chromium

The day I bought my new Apple Macbook Pro, I knew my life wouldn’t be easy anymore.

There are some things in nature which can’t be changed and one of them is the difficulty we PC users face in switching to a totally new operating system like Mac OS X. Mac OS is no doubt very flexible and efficient but a nightmare for new Windows users.

Below is a list of all those tips and tricks which I learned in time to get myself used to the Mac OS. Mac newbies and beginners will definitely find these tips helpful.
1. Take an Instant Screenshot

The easiest and fastest way is to use a combination of the keys: Command + Shift + 3.

There is also a utility called Grab which can be found in Applications → Utilities → Grab. It even allows you to set a timer or take screenshot of a select portion of your screen.
2. Forcefully Eject a CD/DVD

You will need to use this trick when you accidentally inserted a blank disc or ejected while the disc was being used and the disc icon disappeared from desktop.

Just Go to Applications → Utilities → Disk Utilities, select your CD/DVD and click Eject or restart your Mac and while it reboots, hold down the mouse or mousepad button.
3. Setup a Proxy for your Network

Open System Preferences and look for Network under Internet & Network. Then select your network device from the menu (AirPort for WiFi, Ethernet for LAN) and click Advanced button.

In the menu that splashes in, select the Proxies tab, define your settings and hit OK.
4. Completely Quit an Application

In a Mac, applications don’t completely shut down by clicking the [x] button like they do in Windows. They just move out of focus but keep running in the background.

To completely shut down or quit an application, select it and use the combination: Command + Q. If the application is stuck or is not responding, make use of the Applications → Utilities → Activity Monitor.
5. Install an Application

Download the Apple Disk Image (.dmg) of the application to be installed and extract to your desktop (this will make a virtual drive). Open the virtual drive and copy the application file and paste into the Applications folder.

To cleanup, simply move the virtual drive and the downloaded .dmg file to the trash bin.
6. Arrange the Icons on Desktop

Lets say you have been playing around with the icons on your desktop and you jumbled them all by mistake.

The easiest solution is to use the combination: Control + Mouse Button to open a context menu and select Clean up to make all icons align properly in the grid.
7. Search for a File or Folder

Use Spotlight, built-in search assistant. It can be located on the top right corner of the task bar.

8. Change Icon Size

If you are on a Macbook Pro, you can use the mousepad gestures (pinch/expand) to change the icon size on the desktop, in a folder or virtuall anywhere.

However if you want to do it manually, use the combination: Control + Mouse Button to open the context menu, click Show View Options and choose your settings.
9. View all Open Applications and Folders

Suppose you opened a dozen applications and folders and do not know how to switch to a particular one instantly, don’t worry!

Just press F3 command key on the keyboard and it will show you a grid view of all open applications and folders, then you can switch to any application or folder by clicking on it. Easy eh?
10. Change Startup Disk Options

This is one reason I love a Mac. You can change the startup disk options from a GUI instead of a BIOS like in Windows.

Just go to System Preferences and look for Startup Disk in the System tab. Here you can change which OS/Disk you would like to boot at startup.

I am still a Mac newbiew so if I missed any important Mac tips please share in the comments below. Suggestions are also welcome.

And exactly when you thought Google Chrome was going to take over Firefox, ChromiFox jumps in to save the day.

ChromiFox is a bright and soft blue theme for Firefox 3 which brings the charms of Google Chrome to Firefox. For users who love the Chrome interface but simply cannot live without Firefox, ChromiFox is the ultimate deal.

A lot of users have fallen in love with Chrome because of its design. ChromiFox will help such users emulate the Chrome UI in Firefox allowing them to make use of all Firefox features.

The theme is created by the developer of Camifox and is still in a BETA.

It works on all platforms i.e. Windows, Mac and Linux. The user must sign in to the Firefox addons site first to download the theme.

Download ChromiFox

Well, not really -- the actual experiments that could result in potentially disastrous "micro black holes" won't happen for another month (and probably won't end anything except the lives of a few protons), but as rumored, CERN's flipping the switch on the four billion dollar Large Hadron Collider this Wednesday to test the superconducting magnets that control the proton beams. After a clockwise test, they'll send protons counter-clockwise, and after that -- smashy time. Of course, there are still paranoid lawsuits pending to shut all this down, and we wouldn't mind another rap video or two, but after two decades of work, it's probably time to boot this thing up, death threats or no. Let's make it a good last month of humanity, people.

The Google Chrome hype just seems to get bigger and bigger. A lot of users seem to be appreciating and complaining about it at the same time.

While some users are frustrated by the bugs, others are annoyed why Google does not provide a direct installer for Google Chrome.

To help users run Google Chrome out of the box, the folks at Portable Freware have already come up with a new portable version of Google Chrome.

It behaves as though it is a natively installed program (i.e. it saves history and cache in the default Local Settings path) and can be run on Windows without any need for installation. Just download the ZIP, extract and run.

Download Portable Google Chrome ( Rapidshare )