Obama to get his ultra-super-bionic Blackberry

"Mr. President... you have a secure call."

Barack Obama had to give up his regular old Blackberry after taking office back in January and has been using a mish-mash of a Blackberry plus an attached NSA-supplied handheld security device to ensure encryption of his data. But in the coming months, Obama will get the newest generation of Blackberry that passes White House encryption standards.

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Possible retrial in Pirate Bay convictions?

Arrrrr-Retrial?

After the verdict came down last week for the 4 accused Pirate Bay founders/contributors in their copyright infringement case last week, the boys were looking at fines in excess of 30 million Kronor ($3.6m dollars) and 1 year in jail. But before the verdict was read, someone should have asked the judge if he was a member of any copyright protection organizations.

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iPhone Apps: Dog Whistler

Wrangle your beast!

Okay pet owners, here’s a new iPhone application for you! Dog Whistler is an ultrasonic tone generator used to train your pup. There are certain frequencies (mainly in the high end) that cannot be heard by humans, but to which animals are extremely sensitive to. This app allows you to choose a frequency between 8,000Hz (low tone) and 22,000Hz (not audible to the human ear).  Depending on the frequency, these tones can either be used to grab your pet’s attention or as disciplinary actions.

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Record attempt lands teen $26,000 cell bill

A Philadelphia man is in awe after receiving a hefty cell bill from T-Mobile. Nick Andes, 29,  spent most of March texting back and forth with a buddy trying to beat a texting record. Instead of landing the record, he was rewarded with a $26,000 phone bill.

Andes, and his friend Doug Klinger were trying to break a record for most texts in a month. The record holder? Deepak Sharma of India who sent 182,000 messages in a single month. The duo thought their unlimited texting plan would have them covered. Ya, not the case. The bill from T-Mobile came in a box, and cost almost $30 to send.

Andes and Klinger were able to set up their phones to send multiple messages. During a February test run they found they could send 6,000 or 7,000 messages on some days. By the end of the month, 217,000 messages had been sent.

T-Mobile says it will refund the charges, As for the record, Guinness World Records hasn’t said if it will recognize the feat.

[Via Yahoo]

Apple slams netbook market

Waiting for an Apple netbook? You'll be waiting a while

Rumours have been swirling around the interweb as of late that Apple could very well be looking at releasing its very own netbook in the coming months. Well Apple’s Chief Operating Officer,Tim Cook had some interesting comments to make on the matter.

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Review: Digital Photograph Converter

Hammacher Schlemmer is known for its quirky, unique gadgets. The company seems to have something for everything. It’s latest device, the Digital Photograph Converter, aims to help you turn those old photos laying around your house into digital files on your computer. But does a device used to dummy down the process give you good results?

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Trade your HD DVDs for Blu-ray

Warner Bros. wants your old HD-DVDs. The movie giant has started up a trade-in program called Red2Blu, where you can send in your old HD-DVDs and in return you will be sent back a Blu-ray version of the same movie.

The program isn’t free. Warner Bros. will charge $4.95 per disc plus $6.95 shipping and handling. Still cheaper than going out and buying the Blu-ray on your own I suppose.

Right now the offer is only good for U.S. residents.

[Via DVDTown]

Catch your breath with canned oxygen

Canned oxygen. The next fad?

Remember when bottled water first came out? Ever say to yourself “who is going to pay money for something that is free?!” Well here we go again.

The Big Ox has come out with…you guessed it canned Oxygen. The company claims the oxygen is is 89% pure and is intended to relieve stress, headaches, jet lag, hangovers, and awkward sexual performance. Uh, Awkward sexual performance?

The Oxygen is available in 4 different flavors including Mountain Mint, Polar Rush, Tropical Breeze, and Citrus Blast.

[TheBigOx]

Real cost of the Kindle 2

iSuppli has just finished its teardown of the Kindle 2. So how much does it believe the highly touted E-Book reader actually cost? $185.49

Here’s a rough breakdown:

E Ink Display -$60
EVDO – $39.50
Baseband Processor – $13.18
8-Layer Printed Circuit Board – $9.83
532MHz Multimedia Application Processor – $8.64
Battery – $7.50
Main Enclosure – $4.45

Always interesting to see what numbers iSuppli comes up with. The Kindle 2 sells for about $359 online.

[iSuppli]

Apple to sell its 1 billionth App this Friday

It looks like Friday will be the big day! A couple of weeks ago, we told you how Apple is counting down the days until it sells its one billionth App. Well if sales continue at the present rate, Apple is expected to hit that milestone this Friday.

So what does lucky 1, 000, 000, 000 get you? How about a 17” MacBook Pro, one iPod Touch 32GB, a $10,000 iTunes Gift Certificate, and an Apple Time Capsule. The prize package is worth about $13,746.

So far the most popular free App has been Facebook. In the paid category,  Crash Bandicoot takes top spot.

[Via The Apple Lounge] (Italian)