THE INQUIRER Google does not recognise Froyo tablets Link

THE INQUIRER Lock it up and throw away the key Link

THE INQUIRER A snip at $3,500 Link

THE INQUIRER Throws a chip in the works Link

THE INQUIRER Asks users to help defend Google Link

THE INQUIRER Four critical patches listed Link

THE INQUIRER More than just filesharing Link

THE INQUIRER The FCC is not pleasing anyone Link

THE INQUIRER Liquid Metal smartphone leaked Link

THE INQUIRER The world is big enough for both Link

Ark boffins say 'black hole' net events already common International computer boffins are warning that the internet may 'collapse' at some point within the next decade. They propose the use of a new routing method based on hyperbolic geometry, and have devised what they call a 'hyperbolic atlas' of the entire net to aid in this plan.? Link

It's good to be your own bank The engineers and marketeers have got the servers out and polished up their sales pitches, and now it is time for Big Blue to bring in the bankers to close the deals.? Link

DoJ, SEC, OMG HP is facing a widened bribery investigation by the Department of Justice and US financial regulators, a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reveals.? Link

Shouty bloke SEEKS OFFICE Vid Ohio councilman Phil Davison made an unsuccessful pitch to become his local Republican Party's nominee to run for Stark County treasurer on Wednesday, in the process scaring the living daylights out of the interwebs.? Link

Put up or shut up Despite Oracle and NetApp dismissing their ZFS-based or related lawsuits against one another, NetApp is refusing to withdraw its threatening letter to Coraid and stop threatening 'all appropriate remedies for any infringement' of NetApp's patents.?Free Whitepaper - When legitimate sites threaten your network Link

There's totally a movie in that An Indian firm claims it was hired to carry out denial of service attacks against film download and torrent tracker websites at the behest of Bollywood movie distributors in India.? Link

Signs Content Delivery System deal with Cisco BT is upgrading its national network to reliably deliver TV on-demand, partly in preparation for the launch of Project Canvas alongside the BBC and other broadcasters.? Link

UK.gov to use Spending Challenge website ideas HM Treasury has said it will implement three ideas submitted by the public to its Spending Challenge website which include a government e-auction site.? Link

Facebook. Google. Apple. Hurrah! Open...and Shut It may not be that 'Every woman adores a Fascist,' as the poet Sylvia Plath once caustically penned, but it certainly seems that every market appreciates a monopolist.? Link

Only a matter of time until Google gets involved Military-funded researchers in the US have developed a backpack system containing cameras, lasers and inertial sensors which can be carried around indoors and generate a detailed, accurate 3D map of the spaces it moves through.?Reg Guide to Improving Systems Agility - Free Download! Link

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit today ruled (PDF) on a long-standing case involving used software on eBay, and it came to an important decision: if a company says you don't have the right to resell a program, you don't have that right. Could this mean the end of the resale market for all digital content? Yup. But the court says it had no choice. The case is Vernor v. Autodesk, in which Timothy Vernor made his living from selling items (including software) on eBay. Vernor had picked up some old copies of AutoCAD from an architect's office sale, complete with their serial numbers, and he put them up on eBay noting that they were not currently installed on any computer. Sounds legal, right? Read the comments on this post Link

Switzerland, a longtime haven for all kinds of financial shenanigans, has just expanded its reputation for 'discretion' to cover file-sharing as well. That's the conclusion of Logistep AG, anyway, as a Swiss court has just gutted its P2P surveillance business with a ruling that says gathering even publicly available information is illegal. Logistep has operated in Switzerland since 2004, doing what all of these firms do: trolling BitTorrent sites for movies, music, or software, then connecting to swarms and logging the information of everyone offering the file. Bits of the file are downloaded as proof that these aren't simply 'mistitled' files, and information like IP address, file hash value, and time of day are recorded in a giant spreadsheet. Content providers who rely on Logistep can take this information and submit it to local courts, seeking to identify and then sue individual file-swappers. Read the comments on this post Link

Android is on its way to taking the silver medal in mobile market share worldwide, and gold in North America?as long as the platform maintains its currently strong growth numbers. According to market research firm Gartner, the mobile world will be dominated by Symbian and Android devices by 2014, with RIM's BlackBerry and Apple's iOS projected to come in third and fourth place, respectively. Symbian will maintain its market dominance thanks to Nokia's sheer sales volume, while Android will outpace the rest of the competition because of the impending launch of 'many new budget Android devices' by the end of 2010 that will help the OS get into the mass market. 'Other players, such as Sony Ericsson, LG and Motorola, will follow a similar strategy. This trend should help Android become the top OS in North America by the end of 2010,' wrote Gartner. Read the comments on this post Link

The sixth-generation iPod nano's design marks the largest divergence from the nano line since the device was introduced in 2005. The new device is also the first iPod nano to have a touchscreen interface, and the last iPod with a screen to get a touchscreen interface (not counting the languishing iPod classic, as that would just turn it into an iPod touch). As of now, the nano no longer has the telltale circular click wheel that helped to make the iPod so iconic. However, the new iPod nano differs from its touchscreen iDevice brethren in that it doesn't run iOS, or at least not a version of iOS that any of us are familiar with so far. In reality, the sixth-generation nano is kind of a mutant?a cross between the old iPod and the new, where you can move things around with your finger but can still only play music and perform a few other functions. What to make of this electronic chimera? Read the comments on this post Link

We know that the iPad is (mostly) great for video playback, as long as you can be bothered to convert it to the right format or buy your movies and TV shows from Apple. But what if there were a way to play not just H.264 MP4 files with AAC audio (yes, the Apple spec is pretty specific), but to play any file? Thanks to VLC for the iPad, there is. VLC is a port of the popular and excellent desktop application. The open-source project is famous for playing video files that will kill lesser applications, and it is set to make its iPad debut early next week. Romain Goyet, the CTO of the developer behind the app?Applidium?was kind enough to send the final version to me for testing. Read the comments on this post Link

As the demo for God of War: Ghost of Sparta on the PSP begins, you're on a ship sailing toward Atlantis. You fight on the boat, you land, and you fight on the land. It gives you a feel for the new weapons?a spear and a shield?as well as the new attack, a charging move that lets you pick up and throw down an enemy to punish him on the ground. It looks stunning on the PSP, with water effects and a steady frame rate. The problem is... well, haven't we seen all this before? Yes, you fight an epic boss across a series of confrontations, and at one point you drag a stone to a pressure-sensitive switch to open the way forward. There are quick-time events, some enemies are more powerful than others, and you can of course kill those in very violent ways. There are also hidden red orbs to find, if you don't mind doing a little exploring. The demo only lasted about 20 minutes or so, and you can play it now if you're a PlayStation Plus subscriber, but you honestly already know what you'll find. That's not a terrible thing?if the game was on store shelves this afternoon I'd head to the store and pick it up. The God of War games have a very specific formula to them, and this does very little to break out of it, at least in the section shown here. We need to get rid of the usual demo and video dog-and-pony show of showing a boss, having  the character and the boss run at each other, and then the demo is over and we're told to buy or wait for the full game. Seriously. Read the comments on this post Link

Nyko's Wand+ controller isn't reinventing the wheel, it's simply doing what the wheel does for a little less money and without two pieces. In fact... let's get away from this metaphor before I hurt myself. The Wand+ is Nyko's take on the Wiimote, albeit with the Motion Plus technology built-in. There is no dongle, there is no extension on the controller?it's just one standard-sized Wiimote that does everything the Motion Plus does. We tested the controller by playing Wii Sports Resort and it worked flawlessly, just as well as the official controllers. Isn't that the mark of greatness when it comes to third-party accessories? Even after switching back and forth between the Wand+ and the first-party controller we couldn't feel a difference in accuracy or responsiveness. It does feature a few design eccentricities: the power button is now on the right hand side of the controller, the A-button is square and a little larger, and the plastic has a smoother feel than the standard controller. To my hand all these things are actually advantages over the official controller, but that's more preference than fact. This is simply a comfortable, attractive Wiimote. At $39.99 MSRP it's even $10 cheaper than the standard Wiimote with a Motion Plus dongle at most retailers. If you're tired of losing your Motion Plus attachment, or you don't like the added length of the dongle, this is a good alternative. It's neither flashy nor an amazing leap forward. It simply does everything as advertised. There's nothing wrong with that. Verdict: Buy Read the comments on this post Link

Judging by the National Science Foundation's latest grants for Internet development, our universities are packed with scientists who think that the 'Net is woefully unprepared for the future, and are anxious to tackle the problem. In fact, these people can't wait to untether cyberspace from its current rules and architectures. Take, for example, Professor Lixia Zhang of the University of California at Los Angeles. She started out driving a tractor on a farm in Northern China, then got to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the early 1980s. Now she studies the Internet Protocol at UCLA, where she questions whether IP will carry the Internet to where it needs to go in the coming years. 'Users and applications operate in terms of content, making it increasingly limiting and difficult to conform to IP's requirement to communicate by discovering and specifying location,' Dr. Zhang's NSF award statement explains. It's time to get past IP's host/location based assumptions with a new Internet architecture that she calls Named Data Networking (NDN). Read the comments on this post Link

The gaming industry had its worst August in the US since 1996 this year, but Microsoft has much to be proud of, with both the best-selling hardware and software. That's not to say the PlayStation 3 is in bad shape, as NPD Analyst Anita Frazier points the PS3 'has now enjoyed 13 consecutive months of year-over year hardware sales increases and that momentum is reflected in the content and accessories categories as well.' Let's take a look at the hardware sales: Data source: NPD Group Madden did some big numbers in August, and the gap between the sales on the 360 and PS3 shows just how much ground Sony has made up in the past year. Nintendo continues to put a good number of first-party titles on the board. Madden NFL 11 on Xbox 360 with 920,000Madden NFL 11 on PS3 with 893,600Super Mario Galaxy 2 on Wii with 124,600Mafia 2 on Xbox 360 with 121,600New Super Mario Bros. on Nintendo DS with 110,400New Super Mario Bros. on Nintendo Wii Mafia 2 on PS3Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on Xbox 360NCAA Football 11 on Xbox 360Wii Fit Plus on Wii Things should look very similar next month, when Microsoft releases the sure-to-explode Halo: Reach to retail, along with a new version of the Xbox 360. Sony has the Move and its accompanying games to look forward to as well. Nintendo? Price drops on the DS line of hardware are coming, but don't expect much more sales momentum until the 3DS is released. Read the comments on this post Link

Just as products based on ARM's much anticipated Cortex A9 are finally poised to hit the market, the company has announced yet another, even higher-end core design: the A15. Codenamed 'Eagle,' the A15 architecture is ostensibly aimed at netbooks and tablets, but a look at the spec sheet leaves no doubt that ARM is absolutely gunning for the server market that Intel and AMD currently dominate. Indeed, even going by what little ARM has revealed about the A15, it's very hard to imagine this thing in a smartphone when it launches at 32nm in 2012 or 2013. This is a laptop and server part, and ARM will use it to take the fight to x86. Read the comments on this post Link

In July, some Frontier Communications union employees complained about being forced to work mandatory paid overtime to help the transition of acquired Verizon DSL and landline users to Frontier. The workers were asked to work 70 hour weeks, in part, to help dig through the backlog of orders and trouble tickets in markets with a long history of Verizon neglect (like West Virginia). Those workers should be happy to know that Frontier has ended their 'Extended Service Difficulty' status and has announced they've returned to business as usual:Frontier Communications notified its employees that effective midnight last night, the long-term service difficulty status ended, along with the mandatory overtime requirements for technicians and other support teams. These employees returned to their normal work schedules today. . . The Company implemented this emergency status on July 9 when a backlog of more than 3,000 orders and trouble reports were identified as carryover from the Verizon acquisition and as part of the heavy summer workload.Of course with that work backlog taken care of, the company can now get back to their imaginary nationwide fiber to the home deployment.read comment(s) Link

Yesterday T-Mobile officially unveiled the HTC G2, the first ever phone to be able to take advantage of HSPA+ speeds. T-Mobile's HSPA+ network is theoretically capable of 21 Mbps, though you'll see speeds closer to 10 Mbps at best, which of course is still impressive. According to T-Mobile, the phone will be available for pre-order 'in limited quantities later this month.' For those of you who don't want to wait, Best Buy has announced they're now taking pre-orders for the device, which costs the smartphone-standard $200 -- assuming you sign a two-year contract with T-Mobile. According to the Best Buy press release, users can pre-order starting today, but the phone won't actually be available in stores until October 6. read comment(s) Link

Earlier this year HBO unveiled HBO Go, a new walled-garden broadband video platform that offers HBO content to users online -- if you already pay for HBO on traditional cable and if your ISP has struck a partnership to carry the service. That latter catch, pioneered by ESPN for their ESPN3 service, has been taking flak for disrupting the traditional consumer content access model. HBO has now launched a similar service for HBO-owned Cinemax dubbed Max GO, and just like HBO Go, the service requires you pay for the TV-version of Cinemax, and have an ISP willing to pony up the cash for the privilege of offering the service. Eager to get any edge they can against cable TV competitors, Verizon is of course first out of the gate to strike a deal to offer access to the service.read comment(s) Link

The other day, a rumor bubbled forth that Verizon would be making Bing the default search on all Android phones. That's certainly the case for phones like the Samsung Fascinate, which not only comes loaded with annoying bloatware (including Verizon's $10 a month VZ Navigator service), but comes with Bing as default -- and no way to change it. But while Microsoft may have given Verizon a big bag of money to lock down Bing as the default on many handsets, it won't be that way on all Android gear. 'We have a relationship with Microsoft and Bing is the search engine on our multi-media phones but we have never said it would be exclusive on all of our devices,' Verizon tells Engadget. Of course precisely what Verizon defines as a 'multi-media phone' isn't clear.read comment(s) Link

As users in our Canadian Broadband forum are discussing, Canada's Quebecor this week launched a new wireless service under the Videotron brand. Videotron can of course now offer its cable broadband customers 'quadruple play' service, and the company is offering a new voice plan starting at $32.95 for those who also bundle home phone, broadband and TV services. Of note: during the Q&A session for the service's launch, a Videotron executive suggested that Apple is working on an AWS-compliant iPhone -- and that users should 'expect an announcement in the coming months' on an iPhone launch on the new Videotron network. read comment(s) Link

AT&T touts network improvements under hail of criticism fiercewireless.com Qualcomm studying use of MediaFLO technology to mitigate network traffic fiercebroadbandwireless.com 'Internet censorship is trade barrier', says Google exec theregister.co.uk Internet video: broadband service provider threat or opportunity? fiercetelecom.com Broadband Update: A call to support 'Network neutrality' examiner.com Jailbreakers find hole in Apple's iOS 4.1 just hours after release broadbandgenie.co.uk No Verizon, not antenna, is iPhone 4's big problem msnbc.com Mobilicity Sues Rogers Wireless Over Competition Law cellular-news.com Acer: Apple products are 'mutant viruses' electronista.com Windows Phone 7 launching 11 October pocket-lint.com read comment(s) Link

Threatening job losses or reduced investment if regulators do X (X being anything from new consumer protections to price controls) has been a staple in the incumbent telecom lobbyist playbook for years. The threats are never actually tied to reality, and in fact the data used to push these memes is often completely made up by paid PR magicians. Still, that doesn't seem to matter in Washington DC -- and according to The Hill, ISPs are headed to Congress next week to again threaten job cuts if faced with net neutrality rules:The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) will fly in the leaders of more than 15 companies to meet with House Commerce committee leaders, including Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Rick Boucher (D-Va.), and FCC commissioners. The CEOs will come from companies such as AltaCom, Tellabs and Alcatel-Lucent, among others, according to Danielle Coffey, vice president of government affairs at TIA.The problem is, carriers have already been cutting CAPEX and slashing jobs for a variety of reasons, none of which have a damn thing to do with net neutrality or even regulatory actions. In fact, outside of a few vague regulatory threats about high wireless bills and ETFs, the FCC has been a marginally-impotent entity in the telecom sector, completely unwilling to make tough decisions that could truly impact carrier economics. All the same, AT&T and Verizon have already frozen their next-gen broadband deployments for several reasons, including the sour economy, their hope of cashing in on USF 'reform' and broadband stimulus, and the simple fact they continually place short-term investor satisfaction above long-term company health. They've also been busily slashing tens of thousands of jobs, predominately thanks to the slow but steady death of the landline. These fairly myopic job loss predictions never bother to include the potential jobs saved by protecting an Internet that isn't dominated by the nation's wealthiest carriers (AT&T, Verizon), striking prioritization deals with the nations' wealthiest ad and content empires (Google). It's not entirely clear how these kinds of threats keep working for companies who are continually slashing jobs and CAPEX; perhaps that's just one of the mysteries of our time.read comment(s) Link

Intentionally muddying the line between core and last-mile fiber is a misleading tactic many ISPs use to confuse consumers into thinking DSL or cable are as robust as fiber to the home (tip: they aren't). But while these ads are misleading, very rarely does a company intentionally lie about running fiber to the home nationally when they don't. As we noted yesterday, Frontier CEO Maggie Wilderotter this week told The Oregonian the company 'deploys fiber to the home all across the country,' a claim that's stretching the truth. Frontier tried to clarify in a follow up statement to the paper:We do offer Fiber-to-the-Home or premise in cases of businesses in a number of our communities. Prior to the acquisition close we had about 10,000 locations with FTTH capabilities in the 8 West Region states we serve. We offer high speed internet and voice services over the network under our Frontier brand name. In all our new neighborhood development projects (green field locations) we build with FTTH capabilities.Our mistake: we were wrong yesterday in saying they offer FTTH nowhere. They actually do offer it to a scattered number of small businesses and perhaps the odd housing development. Still, scattered greenfield deployments isn't the same thing as claiming you're deploying fiber to the home 'all across the country,' and Frontier has been very busy in recent weeks trying to downplay the reality that the fastest speed available to the majority of Frontier customers is a paltry 1.5-3 Mbps.read comment(s) Link

According to the latest J.D. Power And Associates study on wireless call quality, Verizon Wireless again performed very well, coming in first place in three of the six geographic regions (Northeast, West, Mid-Atlantic). Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon wireless tied for first in the Southeast, U.S. Cellular came in first in the North Central Region, and T-Mobile came in first place in the Southwest. One consistent dismal performer in all regions continues to be AT&T, who came in last place (or tied for last) in every geographical region except one (SBC's home country of North Central), where they tied for mediocre. That's probably not what AT&T wants to hear on the same day they launch a new PR barrage highlighting how much money they've been spending on their wireless network.read comment(s) Link

Ever since AT&T finally decided to address how iPhone demand was crushing their unprepared wireless network (particularly in NYC and San Fran), the company's been essentially giving the same speech. In it, AT&T repeatedly insists they're fixing the problem, ramping up investment, and adding backhaul capacity and towers. AT&T this week continued that campaign, sending out an e-mail to users entitled 'A Special Message From AT&T,' that promises users the same things they've been promising since the i-pocalypse began: We've already upgraded our cell sites to enable faster mobile broadband speeds when paired with expanded backhaul, and we plan a similar upgrade at the end of the year that will enable even faster speeds. We're not stopping there. We are also adding thousands of new cell sites, expanding mobile broadband coverage to millions of customers, installing enhanced fiber backhaul, and increasing the capacity of our data network.As Techcrunch notes, users who have received this message have been heading to AT&T's Facebook Page to send AT&T 'special messages' of their own, many of which aren't particularly sweet. Says one user:AT&T is to iPhone What Ice Cream Trucks With No Air Conditioning are to Delivery in the Sahara Desert.You might recall that this is essentially the same thing that happened last year at this time in response to AT&T's damage control efforts. In fact, this year's damage control efforts so closely mirror last years -- we're seeing some of the same videos re-posted with new date stamps. While AT&T absolutely has made progress in many markets, research shows dropped calls and spotty coverage continue to be a problem.read comment(s) Link

A boxing game is spearheading attempts to get middle-aged men in Teesside to get more regular exercise. Link

Telecoms watchdog Ofcom aims to address the fact that switching broadband providers is viewed as 'too much hassle'. Link

A malicious program that falsely promises free access to sex movies is racking up victims around the world, warn security firms. Link

Apple says that it will publish the guidelines it uses to determine which programs it sells in its App Store to appease critical developers. Link

Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia appoints Microsoft business manager Stephen Elop as its new head after a profits slump. Link

Intel is to launch its first chip with built-in graphics, while established phone chipmaker ARM releases a fast new chip. Link

Google speeds up its internet search engine by launching a new product called Instant that displays results as soon as users type in queries. Link

A kind of 'auto-tune for data' developed by a European team may help increase the capacities of long-haul fibre optic cables. Link

Premises across Europe, including a Swedish university, have been raided by police in a piracy crackdown Link

The UK's Information Commissioner has reprimanded ISP TalkTalk over recent unpublicised trials of its anti-malware system. Link

The open-source OpenStack project promises to provide a new way for developers to embrace cloud computing. New updates to the project show a great deal of momentum. Link

Company's core service for businesses--a bundle that includes hosted Exchange and SharePoint--has had several outages over the past couple of weeks. Link

In launching Google Instant, the company made the curious decision of using Bob Dylan, Steve Jobs' hero, as the star of the launch ad. Link

New tool announced Friday aims to help users learn more about how to keep kids safe online. Link

Both Mini and Smart released sketches of electric scooters the companies plan to show at the 2010 Paris Motor Show. Link

Grand Theft Auto fans hoping to get their hands on the franchise for their Macs will soon have that ability. Link

Google exec reportedly says Froyo isn't optimized for use on tablets. But future versions of the mobile OS are likely to be. Link

Ferrari Chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo talks about a future Ferrari supercar. Link

The DOJ and SEC widen investigation into whether Hewlett-Packard subsidiary paid bribes in Russia to help win multimillion dollar contract. Link

Television maker taps Netflix instant streaming for its line of 2010 HDTV models. Link

Nokia said it was replacing embattled CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo with Microsoft's Stephen Elop, as the handset maker seeks to reverse steep declines in earnings. Link

In an uncharacteristic about-face, Apple loosened its control over software development for its iPhones and iPads as the company feels heat from a U.S. antitrust investigation and rising competition from mobile devices powered by Google's Android software. Link

Hewlett-Packard disclosed Thursday that a probe by U.S. authorities of possible bribes the company paid in Russia is now wider than previously reported. Link

EBay CEO John Donahoe said China has become one of the fastest-growing markets for the company's PayPal, with total transactions on the online-payment system rising 88% there in the first half. Link

KDDI said it will replace its top executive, who has run the company virtually since its inception from a merger a decade ago, as Japan's second largest mobile phone carrier by subscribers struggles to compete. Link

Chinese business-to-business platform Alibaba.com is working on a business strategy to promote its clients' wholesale products to online merchants like those on eBay's marketplace. Link

EBay won a lawsuit over Craigslist's move to cut the e-commerce giant's stake in the online-classifieds group, but a judge's ruling also means eBay is unlikely to regain a board seat. Link

Google introduced a predictive feature to its widely used Web search engine that speeds up the time it takes to find and deliver results. Link

Vodafone announced a major restructuring of its divisions, placing all the minority stakes the company holds in other mobile operators into a single unit to be managed separately. Link

Next month, Billboard will launch a new ranking for undiscovered artists and a subscription service to help them get noticed by managers, promoters and labels in search of up-and-coming talent. Link

Whether their strikingly original fashion sense has given them star power or their precocious devotion to politics caught the President's attention, these young bloggers are using the World Wide Web to change the way we look at the world. Link

For the first time since the Vietnam War, the Medal of Honor will be awarded to a living soldier for his heroism in battle.Obama spoke with Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta on Thursday to inform him that he had earned the honor for his service in Afghanistan in 2007. Link

History of the silver screen. Link

Gartner now forecasts Android to overtake RIM's 2nd top spot as phone-maker, Apple to be third, then RIM in fourth spot Link

We had heard in mobile app research a forecast that there would be 25 billion downloads by 2015, and along the same vein, Nielsen has released the results of a survey of some 4,000 mobile users about their application downloading habits. Link

Valve has released the Portal 2 Coop trailer shown at PAX in HD. You can check out the trailer above. Portal 2 is an upcoming first-person action/puzzle video game, developed by Valve Corporation. It is the sequel to the critically acclaimed 2007 video game Portal and was announced on March 5, 2010, following a week long alternate reality game based on new patches to the original game. Link

Most athletic pig? People aren't the only record holders. Guinness also keeps track of some pretty amazing animals. Link

... Link

Massively-multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games offer an experience single-player titles just can't match. Many of us here at Tom's have been sucked into several of these picks. We take a look at 20 virtual worlds that pulled us in and wouldn't let go. Massively multiplayer online role-playing game - Single-player video game - Games - roleplay - Video game Link

Three systems represent our builders' best performance and value hopes for budget, mainstream, and high-end users. Last quarter's marathon demonstrated how each system compared to its predecessor, and today we find out how these compare to each other. Business - Sport - Construction and Maintenance - Marathon - Do-It-Yourself Link

The third and final build in this quarter's System Builder Marathon is a direct answer to your feedback. Paul went as low as he could go in compiling the parts for his $400 Gaming PC. Is gaming still within the realm of possibility at this price point? Personal computer - Video game - Games - Xbox 360 - Hardware Link

In this quarter's System Builder Marathon, we balance out our CPU and graphics subsystems, rather than piling on the GPU performance like last time. The results are shocking, to be quite honest. Check out the performance of our $1000 enthusiast system. Graphics processing unit - Central processing unit - Personal computer - GPU - United States Link

Link

We bolstered our latest high-end build with a six-core CPU from AMD and two super-fast video cards from Nvidia. Is it possible to fit uncompromising performance within a $2000 budget? Remember, you can even enter to win this potent behemoth; just read on! Video card - Nvidia - Advanced Micro Devices - Hardware - Personal computer Link

This time, we're looking at steel computer cases instead of the Iron Curtain. A few of the case mods are really hot (in the truest sense of the word). Others are much more inventive-looking. Either way, it's good to know modding is international. Case modding - Steel - Modding - Business - Hardware Link

How are Intel, AMD, and Nvidia shaping up for Q4'10 and 2011? Fourteen R&D insiders talk to us about future of discrete graphics. If you?re curious about the business side of things, we have their thoughts on Sandy Bridge, Llano, and the upcoming Fermis. Nvidia - Advanced Micro Devices - Intel Corporation - Intel Sandy Bridge - Graphics processing unit Link

ASRock delivers a Wii-sized home theater PC (HTPC) with a powerful Core i3 CPU, Intel HD Graphics, and a Blu-ray drive. We put the Core 100HT-BD system through a number of tasks to see how its performance compares to a desktop-based home theater PC. Home Theater - Blu-ray Disc - Intel Core - ASRock - HTPC Link

Link

The GeForce GTX 460 is arguably the gem of Nvidia's current graphics lineup, and it appears that the 768MB variant is getting a little bit cheaper. Originally released with a $199 suggested retail price, the 768MB card is now available for much less at online retailers. Newegg... Link

Yesterday, we said Apple's newly lifted ban on third-party iOS development tools could let Adobe resume work on its Flash CS5 to iOS porting tool. Well, wouldn't you know it. Adobe announced this morning that it "will now resume development work on this feature for future releases." As Adobe... Link

Bucking the trend toward cheap TN panels, LG has revealed a quartet of new IPS displays at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin, Germany. FlatpanelsHD has the goods on the new LED-backlit LCDs, which are available in 20", 21.5" and 23" sizes. The screens have 6... Link

Eight is Enough Engadget reports Intel CEO reveals Google TV launch is this month, explains McAfee purchase Apple products are a mutant virus, but PC brands will eventually find a cure, says Acer founder SlashGear reports Kno dual-display tablet gets funded: launch by end of 2010 X-bit labs:... Link

This week's release roundup is all about enclosures and storage. We have announcements from Cooler Master, LaCie, Lian Li, and Super Talent: Cooler Master announces HAF 912 gaming chassis. The HAF 912 has a $59.99 suggested retail price, which... Link

We're generally used to seeing Catalyst graphics driver hotfixes add last-minute features for freshly released hardware or games. AMD's new Catalyst 10.8b hotfix is therefore a little unusual. Check out the list of fixes straight from the release notes: ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 X2 and... Link

Many were shocked when Gearbox arrived at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle last week with Duke Nukem Forever in hand. The Borderlands developer had bought the rights to the long-awaited game and even snagged the Duke IP itself. Why take a risk on a title that's... Link

This seems to be 'patching up boo-boos' week at Apple. Barely a day after releasing its iOS 4.1 update, which fixes several serious bugs with the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3G, Apple has updated its iOS Developer Program license to lift the ban on third-party development tools: We... Link

There's some strange inconsistency in rumors about AMD's upcoming Radeon HD 6700 series. Last week, one report hinted that the cards would have 256-bit memory interfaces and meaty performance. Now, a story by ATi-Forum says the Radeon HD 6770 will be nothing but a re-badged 5770, which would... Link

Eight is Enough HotHardware: GlobalFoundries details plans for 2011 and beyond The Register reports Intel Sandy Bridge preps for AMD Fusion fracas Fudzilla reports entry level discrete to die by 2012 because of AMD's upcoming Fusion Engadget reports Dell lays down the law: No more Windows XP shipments... Link

Smartbook Computers Fail to Achieve Any Popularity Link

ATI FirePro V9800: 6 Monitors, 4GB of Memory, 1600 Stream Processors Link

DRAM Pricing May Drop Due to Oversupply Link

Nvidia Quietly Drops Price on GeForce GTX 460 768MB Graphics Card Link

ARM Unleashes New Cortex A15 Core with Server Features Link

Analyst Predict Rapidly Growing Demand for Notebooks Link

Super Talent Installs DRAM Cache onto USB Flash Drives Link

LG Becomes First Large-Scale Adopter of Tegra 2 Link

Samsung's Chips to Rival Apple A4, Nvidia Tegra, Qualcomm Snapdragon Link

AMD Discloses Details About Ontario, Zacate Link

Nokia said it had appointed Stephen Elop, a Canadian who has run Microsoft?s largest division, to replace Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, a 30-year Nokia veteran. Link

The company said it would relax its rules on how software developers can build applications for its iPhone and iPad. Link

Bell Canada will pay $1.25 billion for the 85 percent of CTV that it did not own. In a separate deal, a holding company for the Thomson family will take an 85 percent stake in The Globe and Mail. Link

A blog devoted to literature in a digital age takes a look at the story behind every Wikipedia entry and the writers' opinions and creative process. Link

A fresh chip design from ARM could pave the way for the smartphone specialist to enter the data center. Link

Betaworks, a technology incubator in New York, is teaming up with The New York Times to introduce a social news service. Link

SAP?s co-chief executive sees an opportunity in the high-profile executive shuffling at Oracle, its rival. Link

Air Force and Navy bases said they would refuse to sell a soon-to-be-released combat-simulation game, Medal of Honor. Link

Google?s change may save users time, but may also affect the many businesses that have been built around placing search ads on the site. Link

Marc Tessier-Lavigne will be the first to leave Genentech?s top scientific ranks since its acquisition by Roche in March 2009. Link

By MATTI HUUHTANEN 2010-09-10T16:56:40Z HELSINKI (AP) -- Nokia Corp. is replacing CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo with Microsoft executive Stephen Elop as the world's top maker of mobile phones aims to regain lost ground in the fiercely competitive smart phone market.... Link

By JORDAN ROBERTSON 2010-09-10T00:14:12Z SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- As co-president at Oracle Corp., ousted Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO Mark Hurd will have to adapt to a new role playing second fiddle to one of Silicon Valley's most domineering bosses - Larry Ellison.... Link

By 2010-09-10T13:38:27Z NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. investigators have widened their probe of alleged kickbacks paid to Russian authorities by employees of a Hewlett-Packard Co. subsidiary in Germany.... Link

By JORDAN ROBERTSON 2010-09-10T00:39:27Z SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- In a skirmish between two Internet heavy hitters with a tangled relationship, eBay Inc. has convinced a court that it was wronged by antitakeover moves adopted by Craigslist after eBay started encroaching on its online classifieds turf in the U.S.... Link

By PETER SVENSSON 2010-09-09T18:15:21Z NEW YORK (AP) -- Apple Inc. on Thursday gave software developers the guidelines it uses to determine which programs can be sold in its App Store, yet it reserved for itself broad leeway in deciding what makes the cut.... Link

By JESSICA MINTZ 2010-09-09T04:16:07Z SEATTLE (AP) -- Thursday marks the kickoff of the 2010 NFL season, and along with it, a renewed interest in fantasy leagues and video games that let Monday-morning quarterbacks feel as if they're part of the action.... Link

By 2010-09-10T14:04:40Z SEATTLE (AP) -- U.S. Web surfers are spending more time socializing on Facebook than searching with Google, according to new data from researchers at comScore Inc.... Link

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE 2010-09-09T05:27:46Z SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Google Inc. stepped on its Internet search accelerator Wednesday by adding a feature that displays results as soon as people begin typing their requests.... Link

By TOMOKO A. HOSAKA 2010-09-09T03:38:03Z TOKYO (AP) -- Battling its Japanese gaming rivals on their home turf hasn't been easy for Microsoft Corp. Its Xbox 360 game console runs a distant third in sales here behind Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 console and Nintendo Co.'s Wii.... Link

By RYAN NAKASHIMA 2010-09-08T19:23:30Z LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Apple Inc.'s new music-discovery feature, Ping, is a potentially useful addition to iTunes. With it, you can see what songs your friends are buying and recommend some of your favorites to them.... Link

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc's Android software will become the world's second most popular operating system for cell phones this year, leapfrogging rival offerings from Microsoft Corp, Research in Motion and Apple Inc, according to a new report. Link

HELSINKI/LONDON (Reuters) - Nokia has hired Stephen Elop, a Canadian Microsoft executive with Silicon Valley credentials, to replace its embattled chief executive and renew its drive to compete with Apple. Link

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc is easing restrictions for building iPhone and iPad applications, a move that should allow for the use of third-party tools such as Adobe Systems' Flash software and ease tension between the two companies. Link

SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chip makers National Semiconductor and Texas Instruments Inc on Thursday issued quarterly financial targets that stoked investors' worries about a sluggish economy. Link

MIAMI (Reuters) - The obscure Christian pastor who plans to mark the ninth anniversary of September 11 attacks by burning copies of the Koran has had his website pulled from the Internet, the hosting company said on Thursday. Link

WILMINGTON, Del./SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A judge on Thursday reinstated eBay Inc's 28.4 percent stake in Craigslist, but allowed the classifieds site to keep eBay off its board. Link

SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oracle Corp has offered its new co-president, former Hewlett-Packard chief Mark Hurd, a hiring package with a bonus of up to $10 million and options potentially worth tens of millions more. Link

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Video gamers are used to immersing themselves into virtual worlds so filmmakers turning video games into movies are aiming to keep them as involved, by adding 3D. Link

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co has begun testing applications that allow subscribers to its OnStar vehicle communication system to update their Facebook status verbally and to receive text messages audibly. Link

BANGALORE (Reuters) - Canadian software maker 01 Communique Laboratory Inc on Thursday filed a lawsuit against Dell Inc and LogMeIn Inc alleging infringement of a patent on which it won a ruling against Citrix Systems in July. Link