Author: Toby Leftly

After this story a couple of weeks ago, it’s not surprising to see more riffs on the iPhone 4 decal theme. This one is even more awesome and nerdy than a decal of a Nintendo NES controller – a Star Wars R2-D2 decal. Oh yes. Imagine the fun you’ll have, pushing your iPhone back and forth across the table, making beeping noises and talking to it in your best C3PO voice! I have no problem admitting that this alone makes the iPhone 4 a more appealing upgrade from my current 3GS….

I’ve been thinking this one over for the best part of an hour now and genuinely have no idea where I stand on this one. Google’s Suggest feature has been a source of comedy and confusion since it’s debut, but now someone has actually successfully sued them over the results. The question “why can’t I own a Canadian” is a great example of a weird, disturbing result of a Google Suggest query, but the truth is that the results are generated purely based upon common searches. One unknown man took such offense at Google’s suggested terms linked to his name he successfully sued Google and CEO Eric Schmidt. Google…

NBC has announced it will not be joining Apple’s online TV revolution. NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker says that 99c is too low for one viewing of it’s TV shows, although currently the price point on iTunes is $1.99 to buy the show for as many viewings as you like. Essentially NBC isn’t betting that people will watch shows more than once. Which kind of throws its commitment to DVD sales and selling shows on iTunes into new light. It’s precisely this kind of politics that turns me off. I can sign up to a monthly subscription to Netflix for $7.99 and see as many old episodes of NBC’s shows as I like, but I can’t…

Finally, an Apple rumor I can really get my teeth into. AppleInsider reveals that Apple may be planning to release a smaller, lighter version of their ailing Macbook Air laptop. In a time of lousy rumors, this one actually piqued my interest. With all the talk about the iPad and competing tablets, it’s refreshing to see Apple remembers some people still actually use computers. It’s been three years since the Macbook Air debuted to mixed reception, generally hailed as an extremely niche product for those who travel a lot and don’t require a huge amount of power. Perhaps now with much more experience…

Jokes abound regarding yesterday’s Facebook outage, but apparently like Microsoft’s Windows, rebooting is almost always the solution to the problem. Facebook was down yesterday for around two and a half hours. Ironically, the error was caused by an automatic error-correcting system. The outage, considered to be the worst in over four years, left users with only limited options for exchanging banalities and letting others know what mindless crap they like. Farms left unattended for such a large timeframe faced massive losses and casualties while Farmville’s Facebook portal was unavailable….

The competition for the much-desired title of ‘iPad Killer’ is hotting up, and analysts and bookies are paying close attention to the race. Bookmaker.com sets the odds for the next company to release a tablet PC in 2010 as the following: LG                               +300    25% HTC                            +100    50% SHARP                       +300    25% MOTOROLA            +300    25% NOKIA                       +150   …

We’ve all been there. One moment of massive frustration, peaking in a poorly worded outburst. Paul Chambers is one such unfortunate individual. After tweeting the sentence “Robin Hood airport is closed, you’ve got a week and a bit to get your shit together, otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!!” Paul’s life began to slowly unravel before his eyes. Paul was arrested and found guilty of “sending by a public communications network a message that was grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character”. After being fined £1000 Chambers’ luck didn’t improve. He has since…

Nokia has been in a little bit of a mess for some time now, but their situation doesn’t seem to be improving much. The N8 has been heralded as Nokia’s saviour, the device to put them back in the smartphone race, but now the pressure is mounting. Due for release at the end of September, rumors surfaced that the N8 would be delayed until October due to some final touches being required. At first Nokia denied the rumors, but then confirmed that the rumors were indeed true. Now the story changes once more, to the tune that Nokia says carriers are responsible for delays, and that the US will receive shipments…

Kinda weird timing on this one, but some nerdy genius has come up with the Boba Fett backpack. Light on details save for the fact that it’s going to set you back fifty bucks, you’ve seen all you really need to see – it’s a backpack. That looks like Boba Fett’s rocket pack. This one’s right up there with Lightsaber chopsticks, but if you’re planning to buy this for your kid, alarm bells may be ringing that you’re raising a nerd of your own. The backpack is available at ThinkGeek now. Just don’t forget the helmet too….

A video has appeared on YouTube showing the upcoming HTC Mozart being paired with a Nokia Bluetooth headset. The video also shows the full specs of the device, listed as a 1GHz Qualcomm QSD 8250, 512mb + 8GB ROM, 576mb RAM, 3.7″ WVGA Super LCD screen and 8mp CMOS camera. The Windows Phone 7 interface looks slick, clean and smart in this very brief display. Menus rely heavily on 3D transforms, with touch playing a large part in the manipulation of on-screen objects. WP7 is due for release in Europe in October and North America in November. HTC appears to be leading the market in non-iPhone multitouch…