Apple’s iPhone may be the darling of the mobile-phone industry right now, but some users in France aren’t singing its praises, claiming that the device explodes or cracks without warning.

However, after conducting an internal investigation into the cause of the broken touch-screen glass, Apple denies that there is an underlying iPhone flaw. In fact, Apple said that in all cases it investigated, some kind of force was applied to the iPhone, causing the glass to break, according to a BBC report Friday.
Read more »

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) last week launched a campaign against Microsoft Corp.’s upcoming Windows 7 operating system, calling it “treacherous computing” that stealthily takes away rights from users.

At the Web site Windows7Sins.org, the Boston-based FSF lists the seven “sins” that proprietary software such as Windows 7 commits against computer users.

They include: Poisoning education, locking in users, abusing standards such as OpenDocument Format (ODF), leveraging monopolistic behavior, threatening user security, enforcing Digital Rights Management (DRM) at the request of entertainment companies concerned about movie and music piracy, and invading your privacy.

“Windows, for some time now, has really been a DRM platform, restricting you from making copies of digital files,” said executive director Peter Brown. And if Microsoft’s Trusted Computing technology were fully implemented the way the company would like, the vendor would have “malicious and really complete control over your computer.”
Read more »

After months of rumors, Apple’s iPhone will finally connect to the biggest mobile market in the world — China.

Although iPhones have long been available in the country’s gray market, Apple’s deal with China Unicom, announced Friday, finally gives the Cupertino company an official foothold in the land of 650 million cell-phone users. The multiyear agreement means Apple’s signature device will go on sale this fall.

“It’s a big deal for Apple in this sense: You are leaving an awful lot of units off the table when you ignore a country the size of China,” said Needham & Co. analyst Charles Wolf. “China has taken to mobile phones almost like no other country.”

Unicom is one of the three major state-owned carriers, and the only one in China that supports the network standard the iPhone operates on, WCDMA. Neither company revealed many details of the relationship, such as how much the iPhones will cost.

In spite of all the building speculation, Apple issued a subdued statement about its expanding iPhone empire: “We have signed a multiyear deal with China Unicom to bring (the) iPhone to China. We expect the launch to be in the fourth quarter of 2009.”
Read more »

So the PS3 Slim comes with 120GB of storage space and a handsome $299 price point to boot - surely Microsoft wouldn’t think that dropping their comparable 120GB Xbox 360 Elite to a similar price point will provide enough competition, as Amazon Germany has listed a new Xbox 360 Elite bundle that boasts a 250GB hard drive inside, a couple of wireless controllers and a copy of Forza Motorsport 3 to get you started right out of the box. The price tag listed stands at 279 Euros, and there is no release date shown just yet so you’ll just have to be patient.

Article Source

Apple’s Snow Leopard update for Mac OS X ships later this week, but compatibility and security worries have already arrived.

Adobe (NSDQ: ADBE) on Tuesday confirmed that its Creative Suite 4 (CS4) line of products is compatible with Snow Leopard, except for Adobe Drive/Version Cue. It also acknowledged that its older CS3 software has not been tested with Apple’s forthcoming operating system.
Read more »

Windows 7’s launch is going to be a hell of a busy time for laptops. Expect a slew of higher-end Intel Core i7 mobile rigs and thin notebooks powered by new dual-core ULV processors when the OS ships.

Intel’s next generation Centrino platform, codenamed Calpella, will be launched at the end of September, says MSI. That means speedy new notebooks with Nehalem based mobile CPUs and chipsets will be arriving just in time to put Windows 7 on the hard drive.

MSI will ship 15.4 and 17-inch notebooks powered by Intel’s new Core i7 7200M, Core i7 8200M, and Core i7 920XM with Windows 7. The Clarksfield CPU of the mobile Core i7 platform is expected to be a downscaled version of the desktop version we like so much, but will be one of the biggest jumps in laptop power we have seen in awhile. Intel’s mobile Core i5 and i3 (codenamed Arrandale) are not planned until the first quarter of 2010.
Read more »

Blizzard Entertainment has introduced the ‘holy’ monk - a highly anticipated fourth playable class for Diablo III. Although the character is influenced by classic pen and paper RPG archetypes, the monk reportedly incorporates the development team’s ‘love’ of arcade-style fighting games.

“While many of the monk’s influences are from traditional light and fast melee, he is indeed a holy warrior. His use of holy magic flows through each of his skills, combining martial arts with divine justice,” Blizzard explained in a statement.

“It’s a class that prefers speed over toughness, but that doesn’t mean he’s incapable of handling the hordes of enemies that he’ll be fighting. The skills and use of the combo system makes the monk a character that will be a bit more challenging to play than the other heroes in the game, but when played expertly can unleash truly devastating damage upon the demonic hordes facing him.”
Read more »