Apple's iPhone is in short supply at many of its U.S. stores, which could indicate a component shortage or a clearing of shelves for a new model, analysts said on Wednesday.

Bernstein Research said its iPhone supply checks showed that the multifunction device appeared to be out of stock at Apple's U.S. stores and its online store, which could lead to lost sales of up to 40,000 units a week in the event of a prolonged shortage.

Sacconaghi said the impact so far was limited, estimating the average Apple store was out of stock for only a few days during the March quarter, and that supplies appeared to be fine at stores of wireless carrier partner AT&T Inc.

"In our view, the most likely explanation for this unusual situation is a production shortfall, possibly due to a component shortage," analyst Toni Sacconaghi wrote in a note.

Apple declined to confirm if there was an iPhone shortage, but spokesman Steve Dowling said: "We are working to replenish iPhone supplies as quickly as we can and our stores continue to receive shipments almost every day."

Recent reports of iPhone shortages have fueled speculation that Apple is readying a new version of the device that will run on faster 3G wireless networks.

Apple could introduce a new iPhone in June or July, about three months earlier than previously expected, said American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu, citing checks with unidentified supply chain sources.

"What gives us higher conviction in the accelerated timetable is that iPhone inventory levels appear fairly lean, which is consistent with Apple's tendency to wind down inventory ahead of an update," Wu wrote in a note.

Wu forecast Apple would sell 11 million phones by the end of 2008, 10% more than the company's stated goal, thanks to a new model, wider adoption among businesses, and price cuts.

Apple shares fell 1.4% to $147.38 in early afternoon trading on Nasdaq. The stock is up 19% over the past month but is still nearly 25% below its level three months ago amid concerns that a slowing economy will dampen consumer spending.
Source- http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080402/wr_nm/apple_iphone_dc;_ylt=Auu398nP9FzpR_fXsh4EuLojtBAF

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The DualShock 3 rumbling PS3 controller might have had an April 15 release date on it, but Sony says that units will be shipping out this week to hit stores by next week. If you see it in stores, buy it. Here's a list of games that will support rumble, with an asterisk after the ones that need an update to do so.

Update: SteTo at MTV just reported that the non-rumbling motion-sensing SIXAXIS has been discontinued.

- SCEA - Formula One Championship Edition* (PS3) - SCEA - MotorStorm* (PS3) - SCEA - PAIN (PSN) - SCEA - High Velocity Bowling (PSN) - SCEA - MLB 08: The Show (PS3) - SCEA - Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3) - SCEA - Resistance: Fall of Man* (PS3) - SCEA - Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (PS3) - SCEA - Go! Sports Ski* (PSN) - SCEA - Folklore* (PS3) - SCEA - Heavenly Sword* (PS3) - SCEA - Warhawk* (PSN / PS3) - SCEA - Super Stardust HD* (PSN) - SCEA - Snakeball (PSN) - SCEA - Toy Home (PSN) - SCEA - PSOne Emulation (PSN) - SCEA - Piyotama (PSN) - SCEA - PixelJunk Monsters (PSN) - SCEA - Blast Factor* (PSN) * Sega - Condemned 2: Bloodshot (PS3) * Ubisoft - Lost: Via Domus (PS3) * Ubisoft - Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2* (PS3) * EA - Burnout Paradise (PS3) * KOEI - Dynasty Warriors 6 (PS3) * Capcom - Devil May Cry 4 (PS3) * Atari - Dragon Ball Z Burst Limit (PS3) * Disney Interactive - Turok (PS3)

Source- http://gizmodo.com/375158/playstation-3s-dualshock-3-controller-coming-next-week-sixaxis-discontinued

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Fees for using two of the most common suffixes for Internet addresses are going up for a second consecutive year.

VeriSign Inc., the company that keeps the master list of domain names ending in ".com" and ".net," said that effective Oct. 1, the annual fee for ".com" names will go up 7% to $6.86 and the ".net" fee will increase 10% to $4.23.

The fees are what VeriSign charges companies that sell domain names on its behalf, and those charges are generally incorporated into the prices that companies, groups and individuals ultimately pay to register names.

VeriSign could make up to $37 million a year from the increase, with some 75 million ".com" names and 11 million ".net" names in use. The price hike, however, applies only at renewal and to new registrations, and many resellers offer discounts on multiyear deals.

VeriSign recently announced plans to further improve security and increase capacity for the servers that keep track of ".com" and ".net" names. Computers from around the world check them continually to find out how to reach ".com" and ".net" Web sites and pass along e-mail.

The price hike, disclosed in a letter to the Internet's key oversight agency, does not require any regulatory approval.
Source- http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080402/ap_on_hi_te/techbit_domain_name_fee;_ylt=AokKcZWmkfA3c4sfUsiCS3wjtBAF

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I guess these have been around for quite a while now since the Spiderman 3 movie has long ended its run at the cinemas, but they’re still cool enough to warrant a mention here.

Two realistic Spiderman masks with an intercom duplex system that allows you to talk and listen to your partner at the same time. Features: flexible microphone arm and adjustable intercom mask strap. Requires 2-9V batteries (not included).

They won’t come cheap though, and since you’ll need at least a couple of these, the £34.99 price tag could be rather prohibitive you.

Source- http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/20080331/spiderman-3-movie-intercom-masks/

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LG Electronics announced its smartphone line-up for the CTIA 2008 show in Las Vegas. If the touchscreen and QWERTY keyboard boasting smartphone are not sexy enough for you, the new LG models sure will.

LG will show this week at the CTIA 2008 the LG-CU920, LG-VX9100, LG-VX9900, LG-AX830, LG-KF700 and LG-KF510.
Of course LG will also still show their well selling Voyager LG-VX10000 and 'Venus LG-VX8800.

AT&T will release the LG-CU920 (LG Vu) touchscreen phone in May. The phone features a 2MP camera, Bluetooth and MediaFLO.

The LG-VX9100 sports a full QWERTY keyboard and folded open. LG releases the LG-VX9100 end of April in the United States.

The LG Glimmer (LG-AX830) slider/touchscreen phone is already announced by Alltel.

Source- http://www.i4u.com/article15896.html

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The Apple brand has the biggest impact on the world's consumers, while Microsoft and the United States nation brand are those considered most in need of a remake, a survey showed on Monday.

The poll by online magazine brandchannel.com asked its readers to identify the brands with the greatest impact on their lives, and say how they affected readers' behaviour and their view of the world.

The nearly 2,000 professionals and students who voted named Apple overwhelming winner. The creator of the iPod and Mac computer triumphed in six categories including most inspiring brand and the one readers cannot live without.

Microsoft, the world's largest software maker was also a winner, but it received the dubious honor of the brand most readers wanted to argue with, and the one they most wanted to revamp. Voted into second place in the category was brand USA.

"Apple has clearly captured the hearts and minds by leading across most categories. Others, such as the USA nation brand, which ranks highly as most in need of a rebrand, requires help according to our readers," said brandchannel editor Jim Thompson.

The poll does not take account of economic brand value, the murky science of assigning a financial value to brand, which regularly puts Coca-Cola Co's (KO.N) Coke in first place.

One of the more surprising results from the survey, was that few of the respondents -- who came from 107 countries -- thought that there was such a thing as a "green" brand.

The result comes despite millions of dollars spent by some of the world's biggest companies to rebrand themselves as "environmentally-friendly."

Discussing Apple, one anonymous reader said there was "never a dull moment" with the company "reinventing itself all along and providing, over and over again, a new perspective on what we thought was carved in stone."

At the other end of the spectrum, Microsoft had "gone from innovative and bold to stodgy and follower," said another unnamed reader.

After Apple, the most inspiring brands were Nike, Coca-Cola, Google and Starbucks, the survey showed.

The same brands, except with Virgin in place of Starbucks, were the brands most readers would "like to sit next to at a dinner party."

The rankings by brandchannel.com were based on answers from almost 2,000 readers from 107 countries. The survey was conducted online from February 24 to March 9.

Source- http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/brand_poll_dc;_ylt=AjW8wzj8sx3JGQ2jOvvbxbYjtBAF

Read more on "Apple has biggest impact on 2008 world consumers"!

Philippine PC manufacturer Neo and multinational computer processor maker Intel have jointly launched a new 16,999-peso (406-dollar) mini laptop, spokesmen said Saturday.

The Neo Explore is a "ruggedized and shock-proof" laptop with a keyboard that will not be damaged by spillages of liquids, said Neo spokeswoman Mariel Que.

It weighs 0.66 kilograms (1.45 pounds) and is the size of a schoolchild's lunchbox but will have the memory capacity and usual features of a standard basic laptop.

Though the Explore is primarily designed for primary school children here, it can also be used by first-time PC users for word-processing and Internet access, said Intel Philippines country manager Ricky Banaag.

It will be available in stores in major Philippine cities.

Source- http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080329/tc_afp/philippinestechnologycomputer;_ylt=AoLZSpKucyFaZQdSBtwgen8jtBAF

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There's hope for those of us suffering from chronic imbalance as a result of staring too long at periodic tables and 20-sided dice. It's an implant developed by neuroscientists at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary.

The implant looks to off-set balance irregularities in the human vestibular system caused by trauma or disease affecting the gyroscopic function of the inner ear. A microprocessor converts signals received from a motion sensor worn on the head into electrical impulses. These are then sent to an electrode implanted into the inner ear. The first test will begin next week on a rhesus monkey. A move which evokes cries of "unfair" from us -- unlike nerds, monkeys already have excellent balance.

Source- http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/31/researchers-develop-human-prosthesis-for-balance-unfortunately/

Read more on "Researchers develop human prosthesis for balance, unfortunately it's not a tail"!

We have just published details about the long-rumored, US bound, Windows XP Eee PC. The Windows XP version will go on sale at Best Buy for $399, and you won't have to wait too long either, as Asus expects the systems to ship on April 9th. The system that will run the Windows XP OS shall be the standard Eee PC 4G, which LaptopMag have been putting through its paces for over a month. The machine makes a solid impression overall, however, the disk space is a bit limited to run Windows XP and additional applications on top. Asus are considering dropping in a 4GB SD card to aid in the disk space shortage, but nothing has been confirmed to that end. Jump for the complete spec of the Windows XP Asus Eee PC.

Colors: Pearl White, Black

LCD Size / Type: 7 Wide

LCD Resolution: 800 x 480 (~WVGA)

LCD Type: TFT

Graphic: Intel UMA

Chipset: Intel Mobile Chipset

Processor: Intel Mobile CPU

Memory: 512MB DDR2

S.S.D Storage (Solid State Disk): 4GB

OS: Windows XP Home Preloaded

Software: MS Works, Windows Live

Audio: High-Definition Audio CODEC

Microphone: 1 Internal Microphone

Speakers: 2 Internal Stereo Speakers

Audio Jack-Out (3.5mm)

Audio Jack-In (3.5mm)

Wireless Included: 802.11 b/g

LAN / Connector: 10/100 Mbps / RJ-45

3 USB 2.0 ports

Memory Card Reader: MMC/SD(SDHC)

VGA Port 1 (D-sub 15 pin)

Integrated Camera

Battery: four-cell 4400mAh

Battery Life: 2.8 hours

AC Adapter Output: 9.5V, 22W

AC Adapter Input: 100-240V AC, 50/60Hz universal

Unit Weight: 2.0 lbs (with battery)

Unit Dimensions: 8.86 x 6.30 x 0.79 ~ 1.26 inches

Source- http://gizmodo.com/373820/windows-xp-eee-pc-available-at-best-buy-in-april-pricing-stays-sweet

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GT provides us with several Mario Kart Wii player demonstrations. Put simply, the game is fun for all ages.

Each track had a completely different flavour. From the gently swaying trees and difficult to dodge cows in the meadow course to the conveyor belts and crane-carried platforms in the Toad's factory course, each track brought back a fond new memory of a Nintendo title from yesteryear but presented them with fresh style.

Source- http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/video-mario-kart-wii-japanese-player-demo

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After a week full of Red Bulls, Fruit by the Foot and dreams of In-N-Out, the mighty Sony VAIO loaded with Linux stood as the only machine unhacked by the end of the PWN 2 OWN hacking contest at CanSecWest. As you're well aware by now, the MacBook Air on display was seized in two minutes by the presumably well prepared Charlie Miller, and after two full days of work, Shane Macaulay and a few of his 1337 associates managed to crack the Vista rig on Friday.

Reportedly, Shane and his pals weren't expecting to do battle with the extra protected SP1 version of Vista, and while the exact loophole won't be divulged, we are told that it was a cross-platform bug that "took advantage of Java to circumvent Vista's security." In the end, it was reported that some folks on hand had discovered bugs in the Linux OS, but many of them "didn't want to put the work into developing the exploit code that would be required to win the contest."

Source- http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/29/linux-becomes-only-os-to-escape-pwn-2-own-unscathed/

Read more on "Linux becomes only OS to escape PWN 2 OWN"!

In Prototype, "the player controls the character of amnesiac Alex Mercer in New York City, with freedom similar to that of the Grand Theft Auto series and some Spider-Man games, in which the player can visit most locations and interact with the environment while not engaged in missions."

A key aspect of Prototype is the 'disguise or destroy' concept, which is tied to Alex's enemy-consuming and shapeshifting powers. Alex can also shapeshift into more fantastic forms for attack, defense, or sensory enhancement. All of these together are intended to give players multiple ways to complete their objectives. Movement is simplified to allow more controls dedicated to shapeshifting, with Alex automatically navigating obstacles in a manner inspired by Parkour.

Source- http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/video-new-prototype-xbox-360-ps3-screenshots-developer-diary-released

Read more on "New Xbox 360 / PS3 Screenshots + Developer Diary Released"!