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T-Mobile's no-contract offer in hot water with Washington AG

Contrary to what T-Mobile is promising, there are actually some strings to its new wireless service plans.

That's according to Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who ordered T-Mobile to change its alleged "deceptive advertising" that omits charges that consumers have to pay for leaving early.

"My office identified that T-Mobile was failing to disclose a critical component of their new plan to consumers, and we acted quickly to stop this practice and protect consumers across the country from harm," Ferguson said in a statement issued on Thursday.

Ferguson took issue with the component of … Read more

Gold trimmed, armor-plated Rolls-Royce Phantom, only $8.1M

This raises "bling" to a whole new level: an armor-plated, gold-trimmed Rolls-Royce Phantom.

The eye-catching vehicle was made by special request for an anonymous Middle Eastern businessman. The unique features of the Phantom include 120kg of 18-carat gold interior and exterior trim.

Armor reinforcement allows the Phantom to withstand automatic gun fire, sniper rifle assaults, and even the blast from a hand grenade.

The entire process of adding the gold and armor reinforcement took about 18 months, according to Stuart Hughes, which now features the Phantom on its Web site.

Liverpool-Based Stuart Hughes collaborated with Swiss company Eurocash AG to create the lavish vehicle, the company states. Eurocash AG offers the Phantom for rent, but for not sale.… Read more

Moshi set to ship iVisor AG 'bubble free' screen protector for iPad 2

Putting a thin-film screen protector on your iPad or iPad 2 can be a difficult task no matter how closely you follow the instructions. However, Moshi, which makes its iVisor AG for the iPad--and now the iPad 2--solves the problem with a special screen shield that's thin yet rigid and adheres to the iPad's display more easily without trapping those nasty bubbles.

Moshi says the iVisor AG also features an antireflective matte finish that helps "reduce glare and smudging" while "retaining optimal touch-screen sensitivity and feedback." (You can use capacitive touch-screen styluses with it.) The shield can also be peeled off and re-applied and comes in both black and white.

We haven't got a review sample of the new iPad 2 version yet, but we can say that reviews for the iPad version have been very positive. The only downside: the iVisor AG for iPad 2 costs $30. … Read more

Report of FBI back door roils OpenBSD community

Allegations that the FBI surreptitiously placed a back door into the OpenBSD operating system have alarmed the computer security community, prompting calls for an audit of the source code and claims that the charges must be a hoax.

The report surfaced in e-mail made public yesterday from a former government contractor, who alleged that he worked with the FBI to implement "a number of back doors" in OpenBSD, which has a reputation for high security and is used in some commercial products.

Gregory Perry, the former chief technologist at the now-defunct contractor Network Security Technology, or NETSEC, said … Read more

Supercharge your iPod's sound at home

Matthew Moskovciak recently wrote about AV receivers that play nice with iPods, but what about stereo receivers?

Teac now offers not one, but two iPod-friendly stereo receivers, the Reference Series AG-H380 ($499) and the Reference Series CR-H500NT ($799).

The CR-H500NT is a CD player/stereo (2x40 watts) receiver, and also offers Internet radio, an Ethernet port, wired and wireless LANs, high-quality phono input, subwoofer output, and best of all, a USB iPod Digital Direct Interface.

So instead of using your iPod's good-enough internal digital-to-analog converter, you'll be listening to the CR-H500NT's higher-quality 24-bit/192-kHz converters, which will … Read more

Connecticut AG investigating Apple, Amazon e-book deals

MarketWatch has posted a short news item about how Connecticut's Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is investigating whether "e-book deals between Amazon.com and Apple and major book publishers may be anticompetitive."

"These agreements among publishers, Amazon, and Apple appear to have already resulted in uniform prices for many of the most popular e-books--potentially depriving consumers of competitive prices," Blumenthal said in statement.

Ironically, of course, Amazon did not want to enter into the current agreements but was forced to after four out of the five major publishers signed on with Apple and moved to an &… Read more

Conti develops pedal to cut fuel, emissions

FRANKFURT--Continental AG is working on an accelerator pedal that helps drivers reduce fuel consumption and cut carbon dioxide emissions without requiring a distracting light or an annoying sound.

The German supplier's Accelerator Force Feedback Pedal already helps reduce rear-end collisions by applying back force to the accelerator or vibrating the pedal to encourage the driver to slow down if there is danger of an accident.

Now Continental is testing whether the so-called active pedal can do better than lights on the instrument panel or a noise to help people drive more economically.

"The first studies show that using … Read more

Windows, Netbook. Android, smartbook? Hmm

As a German company defends the "Smartbook" trademark, its actions underscore what happens when companies gratuitously heap new category monikers on top of existing--and perfectly adequate--naming schemes.

Question: what do Netbooks and smartbooks have in common? Besides looking pretty much the same to consumers (small, lightweight clamshell laptops), both terms have been the object of legal wrangling by companies claiming trademark infringement.

First, the term Netbook came under attack from Psion Teklogix. That dispute with Intel was settled in June. Now Germany-based Smartbook is claiming that Qualcomm's use of the term smartbook infringes on the eponymous company'… Read more

Ericsson wins Nortel's North American GSM unit

Ericsson is slowly building its wireless business by scooping up parts of struggling Nortel.

Ericsson announced Wednesday that it has won a bid to buy Nortel Networks' North American GSM business for $70 million in cash. The Swedish communications giant went into the deal with a partner, Austria-based Kapsch CarrierCom, which itself spent $33 million to buy Nortel's GSM operations in Europe and Taiwan.

This marks the second major deal in recent months between Ericsson and Nortel. In July, Ericsson won another bid to pay $1.13 billion for Nortel's CDMA and LTE wireless technologies.

GSM (Global System … Read more