Sony's smashed the 2-pound barrier with its Sony Vaio G1, a 1.98-pound carbon fiber laptop that the company calls "the lightest fully usable notebook ever produced." Despite that feather weight, it still has a 12.1-inch display, 1.5GB of RAM and an 80GB hard drive.

Unfortunately, its 1.2GHz Intel Core Solo processor isn't going to set any speed records, but we'll forgive this slim little jewel for that, which still is just 2.46 pounds light even with its DVD-RW drive inserted and a double-capacity 12 hour battery inside. Available in Japan in the first week of December at around $2000, you can pre-order it now for US delivery from cool-tech importer Dynamism.

This one stirs our techno-lust, especially since we find a 12.1-inch screen particularly useful for airborne computing while crammed into munchkin-sized airplane seats. – Charlie White

See a slew of gorgeous pics, after the jump!

The company announced the silver PSP will be delivered on December 14 with the blue one following closely behind on December 22. Is it us, or do these look like cheap toys? See two more colors and a couple of helpful hints, after the jump.

Check out this swiveling MP3 phone from Samsung, the SGH-X830, which is so tiny it would be easy to lose in your pocket. It's about the size and shape of an iPod nano but thicker. You can swivel the screen around to reveal its phone keypad, whose keys are arranged in an unconventional two-by-two layout. And looky there, it's a hint of a scroll wheel. Again. Your move, Apple.

Of course, these phones are being released in Korea first, and it's up to those squabbling US cellphone providers to decide who offers it stateside first. Please, someone pick this up soon, because we likey. Anyone notice how the latest cellphone designs are looking more Apple-like as the release of the iPhone draws nearer? –

Sony appears to be the latest company to rip Apple off according to a few released pictures of its VGN-N17L Vaio laptop. A quick glance reveals a similarity to the MacBook/MacBook Pro, which I'm sure Sony would just chalk up to coincidence. It has a 15.4-inch display and, uh, a keyboard. (Specs haven't been released, you see.) For now, we'll just have to settle for a few pictures of the laptop in action. There's a few more after the jump.

Sony appears to be the latest company to rip Apple off according to a few released pictures of its VGN-N17L Vaio laptop. A quick glance reveals a similarity to the MacBook/MacBook Pro, which I'm sure Sony would just chalk up to coincidence. It has a 15.4-inch display and, uh, a keyboard. (Specs haven't been released, you see.) For now, we'll just have to settle for a few pictures of the laptop in action. There's a few more after the jump.

In a statement issued late Tuesday, the Japanese company said there will be 32 new titles for the $250 Wii by the end of the year, as well as a roster of 30 classic games.

Among the new titles will be "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess," "Madden NFL '07," "Need for Speed: Carbon," "Call of Duty 3," "Marvel Ultimate Alliance," "Rampage: Total Destruction," "SpongeBob SquarePants: The Creature from Krusty Krab," "Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam," "Red Steel" and many others.

The Wii launch will come just two days after the planned November 17 launch date of Sony's own next-generation video game console, the PlayStation 3.

CNET NETWORKS

On October 19, Sony said it would launch the PS3 with 22 titles.

Microsoft's next-generation entry, the Xbox 360, was released last fall.

India plans to change the name of tech city Bangalore to Bengalooru, Reuters reported.

Bengalooru was the city's original name before British colonists gave it the anglicized name of Bangalore.

Bangalore is the capital of Karnataka, an Indian state, and host to over 1,500 tech companies in India including Dell, Google, IBM, Intel, and Oracle.

The tech capital is not the only city in Karnataka up for renaming. Seven other cities in the state with anglicized names were also nominated for a change back to their original Kannada language names.

The nominations were announced in conjunction with the state's 50th anniversary.

The official English spellings have not yet been finalized, according to the Times of India. The new Karnataka capital, for example, may be spelled Bengalooru or Bengalaru. The state vote for the changes and spellings will take place on November 1. They will then be sent to Delhi for final approval.

If approved, the changes will include the following: Mysore will change to Mysooru, Mangalore to Mangalooru, Hubli to Hubballi, Shimoga to Shivamogga, Belgaum to Belagaavi, and Hospet to Hosapete, according to the Times of India.

Ubuntu is a complete Linux-based operating system, freely available with both community and professional support. It is developed by a large community and we invite you to participate too!

The Ubuntu community is built on the ideas enshrined in the Ubuntu Philosophy: that software should be available free of charge, that software tools should be usable by people in their local language and despite any disabilities, and that people should have the freedom to customise and alter their software in whatever way they see fit.

These freedoms make Ubuntu fundamentally different from traditional proprietary software: not only are the tools you need available free of charge, you have the right to modify your software until it works the way you want it to.

Ubuntu is suitable for both desktop and server use. The current Ubuntu release supports PC (Intel x86), 64-bit PC (AMD64), Sun UltraSPARC and T1 (Sun Fire T1000 and T2000), PowerPC (Apple iBook, Powerbook, G4 and G5) and OpenPower (Power5) architectures.

Ubuntu includes more than 16,000 pieces of software, but the core desktop installation fits on a single CD. Ubuntu covers every standard desktop application from word processing and spreadsheet applications to web server software and programming tools. Read more about Ubuntu on the desktop and Ubuntu on the server.

Just a couple of days ago, I was wondering if I was ever going to get my iPod Shuffle, which is supposed to ship sometime in October. Turns out Apple was ever so slightly delayed in getting the tiny LCD-less wearable out to the masses--most Shuffle jones-ers will get their fix the first week of November. I preordered mine and got a notice that my Shuffle would arrive by the end of the week. It seems others will get theirs even sooner, and some stores will have them in stock in the next few days. By the way, the San Francisco Apple Store still doesn't know when it will get a shipment. Watch for our review of the second-gen Shuffle.

Source CNET NETWORKS

Although Apple takes pains for illustrations in a U.S. Patent Application published on Thursday to be regarded as only "exemplary" of a multiple-function multimedia device activated by touch-screen "bezel" technology.

Yet, since so much space in the Application is devoted to ways that such systems as digital photography and music can be combined on one device makes one wonder if what we are seeing here is actually a design for an iPod with a digital camera.

This functionality has been referred to elsewhere on the Web, but not with the detail and depictions I offer now. Thesedepictions are possible via the application of the Patent I will describe above.

This new art seems to point to: 

An iPodcam with touch-screen capability that would enable the user to switch back and forth between music-player and camera modes. 

Before I show you some of the specific and highly-detailed Patent art examples that lead me to this conclusion, let's talk about the Patent application itself.

Electronic Device Having Display and Surrounding Touch Sensitive Bezel for User Interface and Control, the Patent app USPTO 20060238517) in question here, does not contain an Abstract that says anything about an iPodcam. The Abstract refers instead to the touch-screen technology used.

The Abstract for this Patent Application describes this invention as:

An electronic device has a display and has a touch sensitive bezel surrounding the display. Areas on the bezel are designated for controls used to operate the electronic device. Visual guides corresponding to the controls are displayed on the display adjacent the areas of the bezel designated for the controls. Touch data is generated by the bezel when a user touches an area of the bezel. The device determines which of the controls has been selected based on which designated area is associated with the touch data from the bezel. The device then initiates the determined control. The device can have a sensor for determining the orientation of the device. Based on the orientation, the device can alter the areas designated on the bezel for the controls and can alter the location of the visual guides for the display so that they match the altered areas on the bezel.

It's only when you look deep into the Application's literature and Art that you get a sense of what might be in play here. Emphasis, "might."

I now will show you some of the Patent art that makes me go "hmm."

First, a caveat: I show these images in the same orientation that the Patent service does. Experience has taught me that given the multi-step conversion process between Patent art formats and the best formatting for showing this art on the Web, that keeping the the orientation is a solid idea.

Now let us go to what we are talking about here. And all of this art I am about to show you refers to an individual device, identified in the Patent application literature as "device 800."

So let us see what "device 800" can do.  

Notice the Menu, with Music, Photos AND Videos? The Photos didn't get there by accident. In fact, the user is getting ready to select the Photos option.

Having selected Photos, the user is now presented with a Settings menu not unlike those found in many digital cameras. This menu contains choices that are time-of-day dependent, weather-dependent as well as scene-dependent. 

These numbers "831," "921," etc., point to touch screen interfaces that when accessed, point to additional camera controls.

In terms of additional features, I think the Patent app literature would be your best guide here:

In FIG. 17A, the display 810 shows a screen 920 having a selected photo (e.g., sunrise). A toggle area 831 of the bezel 830 in the lower right corner is designated to access and display additional user controls that are discussed below with reference to FIG. 17C. A visual guide 921 is provided on the display 810 adjacent this toggle area 831. A first area 832 on the bezel 820 is designated for moving to a previous photo of those available, and a second area 834 is designated for moving to a subsequent photo. Corresponding visual guides 922 are displayed adjacent these areas 832 and 834 on the bezel 820. Additional areas 836 and 838 on adjacent sides of the bezel 820 may be designated for any of a number of operations, such as zoom, contrast, brightness, page down, scroll, etc. In the present embodiment, visual guides are not shown adjacent these areas 836 and 838 so that the majority of the display 810 is unobstructed with elements of the user interface, and the screen 920 can primarily display the content (i.e., the sunrise photo). The user controls for which these areas 836 and 838 are designated may be already known or readily apparent to the user.

As shown in FIG. 17A, the device 800 is rectangular and is shown in a vertical (i.e., "portrait") orientation. The user may rotate the device 800 so that it has a horizontal (i.e., "landscape") orientation, such as shown in FIG. 17B. As discussed previously, the device 800 can have an orientation sensor (not shown), such as an accelerometer or an inclinometer, and can determine the orientation of the device 800.

Wow, that functionality sure sounds like that of a digital camera. Certainly greater than in some of the phone cams out today.

The best way to understand what is going on in Figs. 17 B & C is to read this sentence from the Patent application:

"In this example the user controls available for viewing photos include contrast, brightness, zoom, and move."

Looking more and more like a camera. 

But not if you don't want it to be.

Or even if you have taken your photos, you may want to hear some music you have stored on this device.

For that, you will go back to the view shown in Figure 15:

Move your finger to MUSIC, and then navigate through your music until you see something you might want to listen to. Like

"Tender Is The Night," form Jackson Browne's "Lawyers In Love" album.

Why would Apple take all the trouble to detail all these applications on a single iPod-like device if they weren't at least thinking of it? And there's also the law of last impressions- as the last several Figures in this Patent Application- these depictions aren't positioned in a casual "oh by the way, this technology can do this."

It could very well be that something- much like an iPodcam-is being richly detailed here. 

Written by Russell Shaw

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 4 — Apple Computer said on Wednesday that an internal review had found that Steven P. Jobs, the chief executive, knew that the company was backdating some stock options granted to employees to inflate their value.

The company said Mr. Jobs did not knowingly receive any backdated options and had not benefited from the practice, and that he did not understand its accounting implications. A company spokesman, Steve Dowling, said it was possible that there had been “irregularities” with some options granted to Mr. Jobs, but he declined to elaborate.

Apple, riding high on the popularity of its iPod music player, repeated that it would most likely need to restate past financial statements, but said it had not yet determined the amount or for which periods.

“I apologize to Apple’s shareholders and employees for these problems, which happened on my watch,” Mr. Jobs said in a statement. “They are completely out of character for Apple.” Mr. Jobs said the company was working to resolve the remaining issues quickly.

Apple revealed in June that it had discovered irregularities related to stock options awarded between 1997 and 2001.

By doing so, it joined more than 100 companies, including Microsoft, that have announced investigations into their options practices.

At the time, Apple said it was examining a grant made to Mr. Jobs that may have been improper. Mr. Dowling would not discuss the specifics of that grant on Wednesday.

Apple also announced that Fred D. Anderson, an Apple director who was chief financial officer from 1996 to 2004, the period when the questionable grants were made, had resigned from the board, and said he had told the company that “he believes it is in Apple’s best interests” that he leave.

Mr. Anderson is now managing director of Elevation Partners, a high-profile private equity company he helped found after leaving Apple.

Roger McNamee, Elevation’s chief executive, said in an e-mailed statement that he had confidence in Mr. Anderson, whom he considered to have “uncompromising character,” and that he would remain part of the company.

Apple’s statement said the financial investigation “raised serious concerns” about the activities of two other former Apple officers, but did not name them. The company said it would share details with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Apple said the investigation found no misconduct by anyone on the company’s current management team. Mr. Dowling said the company was not required to discuss Mr. Jobs’s role in the options grants, but was doing so in the interest of full disclosure. He said Mr. Jobs was not available for an interview.

Apple shares fell 66 cents, or 0.9 percent, in after-hours trading, after rising $1.30 in regular trading to close at $75.38.

Charles R. Wolf, an analyst with Needham & Company, said that investors were likely to respond favorably in the long term, and that he did not expect Apple’s restatement of earnings to be significant or to hurt its future performance.

“The major risk in the backdating of options was that somehow Steve Jobs was actively involved,” Mr. Wolf said. “The announcement today eliminated that possibility.”

Mr. Wolf said it was within reason that Mr. Jobs would not have paid attention to the backdating, particularly given that it was common and legal. “I don’t think he’d know an asset from a liability,” Mr. Wolf said of Mr. Jobs. “That’s not his game.”

One unusually large grant to Mr. Jobs had been under scrutiny. Apple disclosed on Jan. 19, 2000, that he had received options to buy 10 million shares, effective Jan. 12. Those options carried a strike price of $87.19, the stock’s lowest closing price in the two months up to that date; by Jan. 19, the stock had risen to $106.56.

The options later became worthless as Apple’s stock price declined. Mr. Jobs canceled most of his options in 2003 and was given restricted stock instead.

A week after Apple disclosed its investigation, two shareholder lawsuits filed in California charged current and former Apple executives and directors with manipulating stock grants. Those suits are still pending.

Apple said on Wednesday that stock option grants made on 15 dates between 1997 and 2002 appeared to have grant dates that preceded the approval of those grants. The company said the last one came in January 2002. Mr. Dowling said that the 15 dates represented 6 percent of all stock grants during the period.

At the time of the options grants, it was not uncommon for companies to disclose stock option awards days or weeks after a grant was made. But the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which addresses corporate accountability, now requires companies to report option grants within two days.

Apple reported the findings after a special committee of outside directors, lawyers and accountants completed a three-month investigation, examining more than 650,000 documents.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/05/technology/05options.html

Wozniak Tells His Apple Story in New Book

And yet within a year of that first meeting of the Homebrew Computer Club on March 5, 1975, a computer was in the hands of consumers for just a few hundred dollars and the personal computer revolution was under way.

Steve Wozniak says that meeting inspired him to design and build the first Apple computer, but he almost didn't show up. "I was shy and felt that I knew little about the newest developments in computers," he recalls.

Shyness is a theme for Wozniak. He is "the other Steve" in the duo behind Apple Computer Inc., the self-effacing engineer to Steve Jobs' brash marketing whiz.

While Jobs, now presiding over the success of Apple's iPod, is almost a household name, the other Steve has been content to stay out of the limelight, until now.

In a book titled "iWoz" published this week, Wozniak seeks to tell the engineer's side of the story and set a few things in the record straight.

For him, the day that defined the personal computer was June 29, 1975, the first time he typed a character on a keyboard and saw it show up on the screen right in front of him.

"Every computer before the 'Apple I' had that front panel of switches and lights. Every computer since has had a keyboard and a screen," he writes.

TELLING HIS STORY

Wozniak, variously known as "Woz" and the "Wizard of Woz," put together circuit boards for what would be called the Apple I, and Jobs sold them for $500 each to a new computer store, the Byte Shop in Mountain View, California.

"There are stories that Steve (Jobs) and I engineered those first computers together," he writes. "I did them alone."

By 1977, the pair had introduced the Apple II, still recognizable as a personal computer even today, and sold 2 million by the time it was superseded by the Macintosh.

As Apple grew into a huge company, Wozniak shunned management positions and worked in a cubicle alongside other engineers, even though he was a co-founder.

An incident that still grates is the way his departure from Apple in 1985 was reported in the press. The fact that he was unhappy with the way Apple was going was not a factor, he said, and he left solely so he could start his own company. He is still on the payroll of Apple and sometimes represents the company at events.

He also still counts Jobs among his friends, and in an interview said that any differences between them were very minor and a "little bit misinterpreted."

But his book tells some choice stories from their long friendship, including a controversy over a fee for a game called Breakout in the early days and another incident in which Jobs blocked a design company from working with Wozniak.

SHARING THE WEALTH

Wozniak also said that Jobs declined to write a foreword for the book. A spokesman for Apple declined to comment.

The book's title, "iWoz," invites comparison with Jobs, who has sometimes called himself iCEO since his returned to Apple as interim CEO in 1997.

Wozniak, a bear of a man at 55, retains the innocence of the computer nerd who in 1975 was too shy to talk at computer club meetings and who was happy to share his designs for the early Apple with its members.

In fact, he never seemed to aspire to massive wealth. Along the way, he has taught at a public school and spent millions of dollars of his own money to fund rock concerts. And he sold stock cheaply to other Apple engineers before the company's successful initial public offering in 1980 so that they could share in the wealth.

From his experience, he advises today's would-be inventors to avoid big, structured companies, where there is less leeway to turn clever ideas into revolutionary new products.