TOP TECHNOLOGY NEWS

If you thought Psystar was stupid and masochistic for selling Mac clones, take a gander at Open Tech — a company that’s looking to enter a world of pain.

But let’s not worry, because Open Tech says it’s aware of the legal battle between Apple and Psystar. Rather than loading Apple’s operating system on a computer for you, Open Tech plans to sidestep trouble by selling systems that include a do-it-yourself kit to install the OS of your choice: OS X Leopard, Windows XP, Ubuntu, Vista, you name it.

Assuming we’re still driving cars in 20 years, researchers are developing a futuristic windshield to aid the elderly in keeping their eyes on the road.

In research by General
Motors, the windshield will employ lasers, a camera and infrared sensors to enhance visibility of objects on the road. Of course, enhancing visibility of everything outside your windshield would only simulate an acid trip and likely spell out disaster, so GM’s windshield will focus on select objects.

The Psystar vs Apple cage-fight continues, and Apple now wants the Mac clone maker to recall all the OS X equipped PCs it has sold – something that will likely come as a relief to Psystar’s disappointed customers (unless, of course, they have a pile of leaves that needs blowing).

That Psystar has violated the OS X End User Licensing Agreement is obvious, but these things have never really had a good hard test in court.

Is this the gadget/toy that will bring about the final Robot Uprising? While not the most benign design that one would expect (like a giant Trojan horse) we must be careful of its movements and keep our collective eye on it.

Created by the VStone Co. robot shop team in Japan, the tiny (1 ½ ft.) Vstone Blackox robot has 20 movable axis points that move it pretty easily around a room, with appropriately robot-type moves. The creators have said that the axial power of its robot arms is probably barely enough to combat slow-moving Roomba dirt cleaners, but we’re on to them.

Over at CrackbBerry, the BlackBerry blog, these photos of the Thunder have surfaced, and they confirm the speculation that the new device would drop a physical keyboard in favor of an iPhone-like on-screen keyboard. As you can see, the soft keyboard changes depending on orientation, although somewhat strangely in portrait mode you are forced to use Blackberry’s SureType – which makes the keys do double duty – instead of a proper QWERTY keyboard.

This Friday — otherwise known as "iPhone Day" in the Gadget Lab — will also mark the debut of the GLab’s new videoblog, featuring the same cast of clowns characters who you’ve learned to love in the Gadget Lab podcast: Dylan Tweney, Jose Fermoso and Danny Dumas (from left to right in the above photo).

We’d call it the "GLab Vlog" except that phrase is unpronounceable in any human language (that we’re capable of speaking, anyhow).

Proof positive that UK consumers don’t like paying for handsets and a hefty contract. When O2, the UK carrier for the new, subsidized iPhone 3G opened up its website for pre-orders it was swamped, with 13,000 buyers hitting it every second. Needless to day, O2 sold out it’s allocation pretty quickly and closed up shop.

Klipsch X5 Earbuds

Klipsch’s X5 earbuds are little bullet-shaped ‘buds that, despite weighing next-to-nothing, deliver big booming sound.

Like many other earbuds we’ve tested, the X5s must be inserted deep into your head to create a sound-isolating seal in the ear canal. We’re prepared to tickle our eardrums a little, sure, but because these ‘buds are so small and sharp, it’s not clear when you’ve got a proper seal or are about to poke yourself in the brain.

You read it right. The first iPhone unboxing pictures you see will be of the Stupendabrick being lifted gently from a box of potatoes. Not the same carton of spuds you’ll find at the local Megamart, but packaging fashioned from the starch of the humble tuber.

The packaging is being provided by Dutch company PaperFoam, which also supplies Motorola.

If cellphone carriers can afford to give away $600 handsets to snare subscribers, why not do the same with a $500 notebook? That’s exactly what France’s Phone House is up to.

For as little as €100 ($156), plus both a data and a voice plan, Phone House (aka Carphone Warehouse) will give you the Eee PC-alike Airis Kira 740, a little seven inch wonder with a 1GHz processor, a 40GB hard drive and a claimed four and a half hour battery life.