In a move that could be aimed at the gPC, Intel is preparing its Atom (aka Diamondville) processors to power fanless desktops that should cost in the area between $199 and $250 for a “basic” configuration.  Intel says these desktops are only to be used for basic tasks like viewing standard-definition DVDs, using office applications and browsing the web.

It must feel good to walk around with a 3G cell phone and be able to access the Internet from almost anywhere, anyplace and anytime; I wish I knew what it felt like because I don’t have one.  For those that do, I’m sure the last thing on your mind is turning your handset into a WiFi router for (optionally) anyone and everyone else near you to use.

With the way that laptop batteries have a tendency to explode, overheat or catch on fire; it’s no wonder that a factory finally went up in flames.  Dell and other laptop manufacturers are seeking other sources for battery production.  LG Chem is the second largest battery manufacturer in South Korea and may affect up to 40% of shipments from Taiwan.

Last month, Everex announced plans for an Eee PC competitor (featuring a touch-screen!), but Asus isn’t one to take threats lightly. This month, Asus boss Kevin Lin announced his company’s second generation Eee PC, and it’s boasting several improvements over the original model.

Microsoft and Apple have a turbulent past and now Microsoft is once again piggybacking on Apple’s innovation by looking at ways to leverage the recently released iPhone SDK.

It’s encouraging to see Microsoft working in this space, though its commitment is still in question.

Yahoo! will be among the major players in the community governed OpenSocial headed up by competitor Google. With this news, more than 500 million people will be able to connect using the open social standards that will be offered by the foundation.

Sony has now released the latest Playstation 3 firmware update as promised last week. The upshot of the v2.20 download is that the PS3 is now the most powerful Blu-ray player currently on the market.

World of Warcraft players patching their game today might have spotted something interesting in the patch notes – Blizzard’s tribute to D&D father Gary Gygax.

Perhaps as a last hurrah to XP or maybe even a bitter acknowledgement of the demand for the OS, Microsoft is releasing XP’s Service Pack 3 in April.

If it’s on the Internet then it must be true; just like how you too can claim your free laptop or iPod, yeah.  A man in Jacksonville, Oregon returned home to find people carting anything that wasn’t bolted down off his property.  The reason was because of a hoax on Craigslist.

Yet more reason to believe the apocalypse has arrived. Microsoft’s figured out how to get even more people on Windows Live Messenger and make your address book truly portable. The company’s partnering with not one, but five social networks at a go: LinkedIn, Tagged, Hi5, Bebo and Facebook on a project built on the Windows Live Contacts API. This way, member of those social networks can import Windows Live contacts as part of an all-new data-portability strategy Microsoft’s touting.

U.S. citizens take note – people can call you un-American, but at least they can’t have you jailed for it. Turkey’s peculiar in that respect; any insult to their founder or ‘Turkishness’ in general, and you might see court and jailtime. Now the latest victim of Turkey’s zealous defenders of all things Turkish is Slide Inc, the company behind many a popular Facebook app.

Thought your ‘certain friends-only’ photos were safe from strangers on Facebook? You thought wrong. A security hole temporarily allowed anyone full access to even those pictures you thought were private – in other words, you might as well have posted up those embarrassing drunken photos on Flickr.

When Bill Gates scoffed at the OLPC and its limited functionality, who knew that Asustek would be laughing instead when Its Asus Eee PC garned sales and rave reviews. Expensive Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPC) aren’t getting anywhere near the attention nor the sales figures Asustek’s little notebook can. Now Acer wants to get in on the action with their own super-affordable, ultraportable.

Embracing its loss to AT&T and Verizon in the 700 MHz auction, Google has moved on to pursue WiFi 2.0 for Android in 2009. The search king wants a swath of wireless spectrum currently controlled by unused broadcast channels to be released and used for an ultra fast, far-reaching wireless connection.