When Florida-based Psystar, a small startup, announced that it was going to make Mac clones for dirt cheap, many rolled their eyes — they’d heard that line before. During Gil Amelio’s tenure at Apple, clones were briefly allowed, but when Steve Jobs returned to the company he carried out a campaign to purge the market of every last clone. So when Psystar announced a $399 Mac with strong specs comparable to a $949 Mac Mini desktop, many figured the end was near for the company. These thoughts were put on hold about whether Psystar would deliver, as some found a handful of evidence to indicate the company might be a farce. However, Psystar proved itself to be real, shipping units to reviewers. It also unveiled a small server lineup to compete with Apple’s niche offerings in the server market.

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If your MacBook is stolen and you’ve had GadgetTrak Verey ($39.95, gadgettrak.com) installed, anyone attempting to connect to a new network on your ’book is prompted to enter a password within a specified time frame. If the user fails, Verey assumes the computer is stolen, and goes into panic mode. The MacBook’s iSight camera then begins to record video, and after a few minutes, the screen turns gray and displays a message suggesting that the user contact the owner of the computer, showing contact info and any other details you have entered in System Preferences.

Verey logs key technical information, like the computer’s IP address, a possible ISP, the names of nearby wireless networks, the MAC address, the computer’s serial number, and where the computer may be located, then emails it all to you, along with the video it recorded on the iSight. The latest version of Verey can also notify you via Twitter.

Recovering the computer afterward is up to you, but the data the app records should come in handy when filing a police report and helping authorities track down the thief. One caveat: If you frequent coffee shops with Wi-Fi, Verey could become more of a nuisance than a protection, especially if you make a habit of turning on your laptop, hopping on the wireless network, and walking away to grab a latte. As soon as the Wi-Fi connection kicks in, Verey will prompt you for your password, and if you’re not there to enter it in time, that could trigger the software’s panic mode...more

On Friday, Apple is launching a second-generation iPhone, called the iPhone 3G, which addresses both of those problems, while retaining the look and feel of the first model’s hardware and software.

The base version of the new iPhone costs $199 — half the $399 price of its predecessor; the higher-capacity version is now $299, down from $499. Yet, this new iPhone is much, much faster at fetching data over cellphone networks because it uses a speedy cellular technology called 3G. And it now sports a GPS chip for better location sensing...more

Worlds can be embedded int web pages, although only Windows users on IE or Firefox can view them, after an add-on download and installation. Mac and Linux users will have to wait for now.

Google has created a number of sample rooms that can be copied and altered, or users can start from scratch and build their own world. Furniture and other items can be added and moved around. Avatars can talk to each other, do things like dance and shake hands, and manipulate objects (in a demo, my avatar was able to blow up drums of toxic waste by double clicking on them. Users can also, of course, chat with each other - GTalk is the underlying chat engine..more

O2 iPhone 3G pre-orders already sold out in U.K.

Plenty of people took advantage of the opportunity—so many in fact, that O2 is now saying that the “due to the huge demand for the iPhone 3G, it’s currently out of stock online.” We presume they haven’t run through their entire inventory—a note on the page instructs those interested to come back on July 10th for more information.

But what’s most interesting about this, from our stateside perspective, is the fact that the phones get delivered. That would seem to suggest that unlike those in the U.S., U.K. customers won’t need to hang around in stores to have their phones activated. AT&T has told us that online ordering will not even be available to those of us in the U.S—we’ll have to queue up at 8AM if we truly want to get our mitts on an iPhone 3G.

According to the fine print, taking delivery of the iPhone in the U.K. requires at least an 18-month contract, a credit check, and direct debit. However, the price of the phone is still subsidized in the U.K.—in fact, if you sign up for £45 or £75 plans, they’ll give you the iPhone 3G for free (with the cheaper £35 and £30 plans, it’ll cost £99). That suggests perhaps the phones being shipped must be pre-activated, though we won’t know for sure until Friday.

For those of you not quick enough on the click to snag yourself a delivered unit, it seems likely you’ll have to stake out an O2 store/Apple Store on Friday morning. Anybody manage to grab one while they were still available? Let us know.

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Comiqs is a service that lets our users create and share their comic-style stories with the community. We aim to provide our users with easy to use tools that transforms their most cherished and most memorable photographs into something fun. We also aim to build to build a fun and light-hearted community where people can hang out to have a laugh or two.

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According to a study by the Ponemon Institute and Dell, only 30 percent or so lost laptops are ever recovered. Los Angeles' LAX airport reported having the most lost laptops out of any other airport, with 1,200 going missing every week. The most likely place for you to lose your computer is at security checkpoints and departure gates—so no matter how many beers you downed this weekend, try to be a little more alert while going through those areas, yeah? [Newlaunches]

picture credit: Mike Reger

Source: http://gizmodo.com

Promotion: Anti-theft software for Windows

It's not unusual for computer makers to drop prices as component prices fall over time. Apple chief executive Steve Jobs unveiled the Air in January at the Macworld conference in San Francisco.

The size and weight of the Air, which has a 13.3-inch display and full-size keyboard, placed the machine in a class of its own. The notebook weights 3 pounds and is three-quarters of an inch thick at the hinge, tapering to 0.16 of an inch at the opposite side..more

Louis L. Stanton, the senior judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, issued the opinion and order, which is here (PDF).

That data includes every YouTube username, the associated IP address and the videos that user has watched on YouTube. Google will also be required to hand over copies of every video removed from Youtube for any reason (DMCA notices or user-initiated deletions). Stanton dismissed Google's argument that the order will violate user privacy, saying such privacy concerns are merely "speculative."...more