Sony’s PS3 has just gotten another firmware update - this time round to 2.40 which will turn PS3 owners ecstatic as they will now be able to enjoy certain aspects of what Xbox 360 owners have long enjoyed. Some of these improvements include support for friends messaging within the game, music changing within the game, a built-in clock (so that you know when to stop and get ready for work), and achievements trophies among others. Well, for those who are just about to get their PS3 and MGS4, make sure you get the latest firmware instaled so that you won’t lose out on the mentioned features. FYI, several games that offer Trophy support are BUZZ!, Quiz TV, LittleBigPlanet. MotorStorm Pacific Rift, NBA 09 - PS3, PAIN, PixelJunk Eden, Resistance 2, SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation and Warhawk.

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I had a great experience last week, I was invited to Dell’s latest product launch which was made cooler than most launches as it was held at the Silverstone racetrack during F1 testing and we had to fly in .

The main product to be announced was the new range of Dell Studio Laptops. The Studio range is designed with the personal touch in mind and comes in a range of colors, but if you think “Flamingo Pink” is a bit too in your face you can still personalise with the less gaudy graphite grey with blue trim (full color selection).

The overall design is pretty sleek and is one of Dell’s thinnest to date (it’s no Airbook mind). Due to the wedge shape and hinge mechanism the screen appears lower than normal which makes it easy to use in confined spaces (planes, trains and automobiles). It also incorporates a cool back-lit keyboard for night browsing.

Feature wise it packs in what you’d expect from a mid range laptop with a few extra innovative features, including

• 15.4″ or 17″ Widescreen Display
• Fingerprint reader for the security conscious
• Optional Blu-ray drive
• HDMI output to connect to your large HD screen
• 5.1 Sound
• Optional built-in mobile broadband (this is going require an additional monthly charge)

Prices for the Dell Studio range start from £379 (~$750), further info and availability over on the Dell site. As well as being able to buy the Studio laptops from the Dell site you’ll also be able to purchase them from more traditional stores such as Tesco, PC World, etc. which will save you from paying Dell’s somewhat legendary delivery charge.

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One thing which has always been frustrating about signing up for wireless service in the U.S. is that if you ever switch carriers you usually can’t bring the mobile phone you already purchased with you. The latest announcement by MetroPCS Communications will change all that through a new service called MetroFlash.

MetroFlash will allow subscribers the ability to use their existing CDMA handsets on the MetroPCS network. This will eliminate the need for customers to purchase a new handset if they don’t want one. Those signing up for the MetroFlash service pay just US$40 a month in addition to a US$30 fee to receive unlimited local, long distance, text messaging and voicemail. Another incentive for subscribers is that MetroPCS does not require a signed contract.

Considering the customer segment that MetroPCS is marketing to; there is a huge incentive not to make them have to purchase new hardware just to use their network. This move by MetroPCS may lead many wireless carriers in the United States to consider a similar service to attract customers.

Of course, the downside of supporting handsets from other carriers has always been the ability to maintain technical support for the phone in addition to ensuring continued quality for calls.

Read more from the MetroPCS press release.

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The Cizmo CX1730M notebook is one lean, mean, gaming machine. Well, check out the specifications below and make your own conclusion :-

• 17″ WSXGA+ lcd monitor
• Intel Core 2 Duo 2.26GHz processor
• 2GB DDR3 RAM
• 160GB SATA hard drive
• 2 megapixel webcam
• Dual-layer DVD burner (Blu-ray drive optional)
• NVIDIA 512MB GeForce 8800M GTX

You gotta dig deep though, as the starting price stands at €1,427.

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The death bell had been ringing for Helio for awhile, especially ever since Earthlink made the announcement that it was no longer going to sink any money into the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). Now the latest news is that Virgin Mobile USA will acquire Helio.

Virgin is also an MVNO meaning that the company does not own any infrastructure or spectrum to offer wireless services. Instead, all of its wireless services are purchased from another major wireless carrier.

Helio had to be an attractive catch for Virgin considering the company was in serious financial trouble; and SK Telecom was having to continue to pump cash into the company to keep it afloat.

Virgin and Helio had a very similar business model; which included marketing of services to young adults. In some respects Helio was a competitor to Virgin so the acquisition of the company helps to ensure their future success with the young wireless market.

The guys over at SK Telecom and Earthlink are probably estatic that the disaster that Helio was is no longer going to be their problem. Earthlink really left SK Telecom holding the bag when it decided to pull out of future funding all together.

You have to at least give Earthlink a little bit of credit. They knew their dial-up Internet business was going away and that they would have to transform their business model. Unfortunately, Helio just wasn’t the big success that Earthlink and SK Telecom thought it would be.

Read more from the Helio website.

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Good news and bad news from Canada, in the form of Rogers’ iPhone 3G tariffs. Actually, there is no good news, so we’ll get straight into it. The cheapest monthly rate from the telco we love to hate will be $60 per month ($CAN and $US are so close we’ll skip the conversions) and you’ll get 150 minutes. The crunch comes with the data plans, arguably the most important part of an iphone tariff. At the basic rate, you’ll “enjoy” a whole 400MB per month. And Rogers makes it clear that a Megabyte means 1024 KB, so you’ll get closer to 390MB of the kind you’re used to.

Worse still, the top-flight plan, for $115, gives you just 2GB, which is far from the unlimited we might have hoped for. If you go over these limits, Rogers will sting you for an additional 50¢ per meg, going down to 3¢ after the first 60MB (or after the company had rolled you for another $30).

Depending on plan, included text messages run from 75 to 300 per month. There is one piece of almost good news. IPhone users will get unlimited access to Rogers and Fido Wi-Fi hotspots.

We’re really not surprised at this. A monopoly is a terrible thing for the customer. I have one question to our Canadian friends, though: Rogers is offering additional “Value Packs” for $15 or $20 per month, and these include “Call Display”. Is that what I think it is? Do you really have to pay extra for caller ID?

Product page [Rogers]

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by Darren Murph, posted Jun 30th 2008 at 8:15AM
Watch out DXG, you’ve got a new rival in town, and it goes by the name Lancerlink. Just when we thought you had the cheap-o HD camcorder market all locked up, in comes this firm with a rather chintzy looking camcorder capable of logging clips at 1,440 x 1,080 (30fps) or 1,280 x 720 (60fps) in H.264 format. The 5-megapixel sensor can also snag stills, but considering that there’s just 90MB of free memory within, you should probably keep an SD / MMC / SDHC card nearby. You’ll also find a 3-inch lcd monitor, HDTV (component) output, USB connectivity and a rechargeable battery good for around four hours of use. The worst part, however, is the ¥49,800 ($474) price tag that’s attached to the July-bound DDV-1080HD, which makes it a few hundies more than most of DXG’s awfully similar collection.

[Via AkihabaraNews]

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Good news and bad news from Canada, in the form of Rogers’ iPhone 3G tariffs. Actually, there is no good news, so we’ll get straight into it. The cheapest monthly rate from the telco we love to hate will be $60 per month ($CAN and $US are so close we’ll skip the conversions) and you’ll get 150 minutes. The crunch comes with the data plans, arguably the most important part of an iphone tariff. At the basic rate, you’ll “enjoy” a whole 400MB per month. And Rogers makes it clear that a Megabyte means 1024 KB, so you’ll get closer to 390MB of the kind you’re used to.

Worse still, the top-flight plan, for $115, gives you just 2GB, which is far from the unlimited we might have hoped for. If you go over these limits, Rogers will sting you for an additional 50¢ per meg, going down to 3¢ after the first 60MB (or after the company had rolled you for another $30).

Depending on plan, included text messages run from 75 to 300 per month. There is one piece of almost good news. IPhone users will get unlimited access to Rogers and Fido Wi-Fi hotspots.

We’re really not surprised at this. A monopoly is a terrible thing for the customer. I have one question to our Canadian friends, though: Rogers is offering additional “Value Packs” for $15 or $20 per month, and these include “Call Display”. Is that what I think it is? Do you really have to pay extra for caller ID?

Product page [Rogers]

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These homemade specs could be straight out of Cory Doctow’s latest (and possibly greatest) new novel, Little Brother . The simple hack consists of mounting two infrared LEDs into the frames of a pair of sunglasses and running the cables to the earpieces, where they hook up with a couple of button batteries.

Putting on the glasses presses the wires against the batteries and the lights glow protectively, unseen by the human eye, but bright enough to obliterate your image from security cameras. It’s a variation on the CCTV-busting infrared headset we featured a while back, only a little more slick. Aside from helping San Francisco’s teenagers bring down the DHS, we’d guess that – if these were built into Armani sunglasses – the paparazzi plague would go away overnight.

The original Metacafe video has been taken down. For now, you can see it at Abrutis, link below.

Lunettes anti paparazzi [Abrutis. Thanks daa dee!]

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Ever since Apple shifted the Mac line to Intel processors, its computers have been getting more and more PC-like in their capabilities. First up was Boot Camp, which lets you run Windows (or Linux) on Mac hardware. Now it’s the turn of the overclockers: ZDNet has release a software overclocker for the Mac, called simply ZDNet Clock.

In typical Mac style, the application is simple. You slide the slider to the right to increase the CPU frequency (and also increases the memory clock speed). ZDNet says that an overclocked 2.8GHz Mac Pro will out perform a stock 3.2GHz model, thus saving you $1600 (ZDNet Clock is freeware). However, it’s not quite so simple. If you don’t do some fine tuning, there could be some serious problems:

If you push the slider all the way to the right, to the maximum frequency, and click on the “Apply” button, the computer will certainly crash.

The tool only works with Intel 5000 or Intel 5400 chipsets, so it’s Pro or Xserve only right now. Which is probably a good thing: I don’t think my poor MacBooks fans could take all the extra work, and future generations of Sorrels depend on keeping the family jewels cool.

Exclusive: ZDNet overclocking tool enhances performance of Mac Pro [ZDNet. Thanks, Kai!]

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