Sharp Corp. has been showing off its latest solar cell, intended to provide charging power to future mobile devices, such as cell phones.

This new version is uniformly black in appearance, measures 65.5 x 41 x 0.8mm, and can produce up to 450mW.

The rise of Web-based apps, virtualization, and a crop of powerful mobile devices have the traditional PC desktop on the run.

By Serdar Yegulalp
October 31, 2009 07:00 AM

Well, is it? If all the buzzwords about cloud computing, Web apps, software as a service (SaaS), the free desktop, and the rise of netbooks and tablet PCs, are to be believed, it may well be.

The truth, I suspect, is more modest. What looms for the desktop as we know it is not the end, but rather death and then transfiguration. The desktop PC is set to go through a grand mutation of the form that will expand its reach rather than kill its current incarnation(s) outright. It may be the end of the desktop as we know it, but also the birth of many more desktops. As Roger Ebert said about the James Bond archetype during the post-Soviet era, the sun hasn't set on England yet -- but it's getting mighty dark out.

Early users see promise in the energy-saving features and boot-up times of troubled Vista's successor.

By Gregg Keizer and Patrick Thibodeau
November 2, 2009 06:00 AM ET

Microsoft Corp.'s standing as an operating system developer is on the line with the launch of Windows 7, according to analysts and other experts.

Late last month, the company formally unveiled its next-generation operating system -- the first new Windows release since co-founder and longtime CEO Bill Gates departed in 2008.

Windows share drops in Oct despite Win 7

Electronista is reporting that Windows is losing ground to other operating systems, especially Apple's OS X.  They're suggesting that some of this loss may be due to Microsoft not providing Win XP users with an upgrade path, leaving them with the clean install option only, and therefore the opportuinty to start fresh with OS X, or Linux.

From  TechNewsWorld

After years of stumbling in the smartphone arena, Motorola may have finally gotten its act together with the Droid


By Paul Hartsock
10/30/09 10:00 AM PT

Google's giving it a leg up with a new, pre-installed turn-by-turn nav app. Google Maps Navigation will work on other Android 2.0 phones as well. Meanwhile, Facebook users get angry, PlayStation 3 gets Netflix and Los Angeles gets cloudy.

From C/net News

October 30, 2009 8:57 AM PDT
by Don Reisinger

Gamers looking to get their hands on Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 will have the opportunity to preorder the title and pay a net price of $20 if they follow basic guidelines announced recently by retailer Gamestop.

According to the company, anyone who preorders the game from Gamestop.com will have it when it hits store shelves on November 10. If those customers trade in the game by December 13, Gamestop will give them a $40 in-store credit.

From DailyTech:

Rechargeable batteries are used in so many different products that we use today – everything from our computers and mobile phones to our cars have batteries inside. One of the major areas of research is in new battery technologies that will increase the run time of electrical devices and make safer batteries.

Phony LinkedIn invitation from 'Bill Gates' lands in smartphone inboxes

Oct 28, 2009 | 04:59 PM
By Kelly Jackson Higgins


Three of the most popular smartphones -- iPhone, BlackBerry, and Palm Pre -- fell victim to a recent spear-phishing experiment that sent users a phony LinkedIn invitation from "Bill Gates," according to the security expert who conducted the research.

Ubuntu 9.10, codenamed Karmic Koala, has been officially released. This version introduces Canonical's new Ubuntu One synchronization service and a number of other compelling improvements.

By Ryan Paul | Last updated October 29, 2009 10:26 AM CT

The Ubuntu Linux distribution has received a major update today. The new version, Ubuntu 9.10, will introduce several significant new features and will deliver the latest version of the GNOME desktop environment and other applications.

This is the eleventh release of Ubuntu since the project's inception five years ago. The distribution has achieved an unprecedented level of popularity in the Linux desktop ecosystem and has attracted a considerable audience. Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, touts the new release as its best yet and says that the latest improvements will take the Ubuntu user experience to the next level.

From Dr. Dobb's:

Jjibbigo iPhone application turns phone into a translator that converts English speech into Spanish, or vice versa