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It’s not a surprise to see that Intel will put all its weight behind a fast growing semi-conductor based storage system: solid state drives will kill small hard-drives - that’s a fact. At the Intel Developer Conference, Intel has demonstrated that its drives were faster than traditional drives, by comparing the load-time of a video application. I’m always cautious when I see a company-controlled benchmark, but this is an interesting demo. In case you missed it, the macbook air’s SSD did not bring significant improvement in performance or battery life – two critical promises of SSDs.

Note that SSDs might be manufactured with a slightly less edgy process (compared to the CPUs) making it possible for Intel to keep using older manufacturing plants. I’m just speculating here.

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Some more home appliance goodness. This time, it’s a much needed 21st century update to that countertop staple, the toaster. This 4-slice Toastess digital toaster features a LCD readouts for each group of 2 toaster slots. What’s more, it has sensors inside that provides for a consistent toast every time. Another much needed feature is a special heating mechanism for bagels - crispy on the inside, warm on the outside. Perfect.

As a safety feature, it shuts off the power if it detects a toast jam. Now you know it’s time to upgrade.

Gimme!

Price: $64.98
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

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Jabra has announced a new Bluetooth headset with a feature not commonly found among small devices. The Jabra BT4010 has a small LCD instead of the usual LED display used by other Bluetooth headsets. Touting a small and yet clear LCD display the BT4010 up to boasts of 6 hours talk time. The new LCD feature, modeled from those of mobile phones, makes this headset more user-friendly as you can clearly see how much battery the headset has left, which will be a nice change from the more common blinking LED lights, which seem to never make sense.

To make the headset friendlier for users, the BT4010 was designed with no distracting flashing lights. The headset auto-pairs with mobile phones and has crystal clear sound due to e-CO technology. The Jabra BT4010 can also be worn with or without the ear-hook. It comes with two kinds of hooks which users can choose to use depending on their personal preferences.

With all those features, what is left is the most important feature of the Jabra BT4010, next to the high-quality sound – size and weight. Fortunately, the Jabra 4010 doesn’t weigh too much at only 0.35-ounce, and neither is it big in size with a dimension of 2 x 0.67 x 1.1-inches. The Jabra BT4010 will be released this spring and retail for $59.99.

Via [Phone Arena]

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A new report from consultant Rubicon tells us that when it comes to the iphone, everyone is a winner; Apple, AT&T and customers alike. According to the report, AT&T is pulling in an extra $2 billion a year in iCash. Apple is taking a still unkonown cut of that revenue, and is of course making money on hardware sales.

The customers, though, have really embraced the iPhone. Email is cited as the most used data function, but browsing is also a big feature. Three quarters of users say they browse the web more than they did with their old phones. Given the crappy browsers on pretty much every other phone, that’s no surprise.

A lot of iPhone users dumped their regular phone when moving to Apple, which is driving up overall smartphone sales. And most interestingly, three quarters of iPhone users already use Apple products, be they Macs or iPods. This ties in with the demographic. According to Rubicon, half of the owners are under thirty, the classic hip early adopter market. Again, no surprise. But this does mean that around half of users are over 30. How cool will your iPhone look when Auntie Mildred gets her hands on one?

Report summary [Rubicon – Thanks, Marsha!]

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Due to a befuddlement within the British Board of Film Classification, (which I prefer to think of as the Ministry of Censorship for the Arts, because all officially British governmental organizations should be ministries) details of GTA IV’s naughtier bits have leaked slightly ahead of schedule.

In addition to the highly anticipated Online action, players will also be getting lots of action from prostitutes and strippers. The report wrote:

Sex references also occur during cut scenes, including references to strong sexual behaviour. During gameplay the character can pick up prostitutes… What follows is an un-detailed portrayal of masturbation, fellatio and intercourse. The character can also visit lap dancing clubs and request a private dance. While the game contains sexualised dancing and the portrayal of sex, there is no sexualised nudity.

So there you have it. Now in addition to masturbating relentlessly throughout the day, you can carry the festivities over to GTA IV. Technology is wonderful.

GTA IV will be out April 29 on Xbox 360 and PS3.

Read more from VideoGamer.com.

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Opera has sent word of the release of the beta preview of Opera Mini 4.1. This latest version features up to a 50 percent increase in speed over 4, will autocomplete your URLs, lets you save pages for offline viewing, download and upload files, and more. Check out the guided tour for more information or download it and give it a go.

I continue to be impressed with what Opera Mini can do. I’ve actually found it to be a better mobile browsing experience on Windows Mobile than the version specifically made for Windows Mobile. Best of all … it’s free!

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The 18 year-old Owen Thor Walker has admitted his guilt in six charges of computer crime in a New Zealand court yesterday. The crimes he committed included being the leader of a cybercrime ring, setting up a botnet, infecting over a million PCs with a virus, and costing around US$20.4 million in losses for the local economy.

The actual charges against him are as follows:

• 2 charges of accessing a computer for dishonest use
• 2 charges of accessing computer systems without authorization
• Damaging and interfering with computer systems
• Possessing software for committing crimes

Walker, known online as AKill, Snow Whyte, or Snow Walker, is a home-schooled, self-taught programmer with a type of autism called Asperger syndrome; whose characteristics include difficulty with social interaction and obsessive and repetitive behaviour. He was arrested last year along with 21 year-old Ryan Brett Goldstein after they together launched a distributed denial-of-service attack against the University of Pennsylvania.

Their capture was part of the FBI’s Operation Botroast II that focused on identifying botnets being used for illegal means. The FBI found that Walker’s botnet was earning him money through the distribution of adware. His earnings amounted to around US$32,000 that he then used to buy computers and help fund his parent’s taxi business.

Now that Walker has pleaded guilty to the charges final sentencing will take place on May 28. Some of the charges carry jail sentences of up to five years each, but the judge has stated jail is not an option he is considering. Instead a mix of home detention, community detention, community service and a fine are expected.

Read more at The New Zealand Herald and CNET.com

Matthew’s Opinion

I’m sure Walker put a lot of time and effort into his illegal money-making botnet, but it is worrying how easy it still is to circumvent security and setup a system such as this. It mainly comes down to the fact individuals aren’t securing their machines properly making it a relatively simple task with the right tools to take control.

Whether the judge should be considering jail time or not is open for debate. Walker is only 18 and therefore his crimes were committed when he was still a minor (depending on when New Zealand law states you are no longer so). The fine should at least match what he earned from the illegal activity and the community service will hopefully utilize his skills while trying to aid him with social skills development.

I find it surprising the parents did not check further into what he was doing. Earning enough money to fund new computer equipment and help finance your parent’s company without leaving your room would certainly have got my parents asking questions when I was 18.