Meet The Slurpr, a WiFi access point which aggregates up to six "available" (read: unprotected) 54Mbps WiFi channels into one bigazz, "free" connection.

It's the latest invention by Dutch hacker, Mark Hoekstra and his new sidekick (or is it the other way around?) Boris. Of course, use of the Slurpr in its current incarnation will likely violate wardriving laws in at least few countries. So the inclusion of Mark's next feature -- 64/128-bit WEP-cracking -- could well land you in a Turkish prison.

Still interested, Billy? Then head on over to Mark's site where you can pre-order the €999 / $1,347 box today.

Oh my, the 5-0 won't like this one bit. Meet The Slurpr, a WiFi access point which aggregates up to six "available" (read: unprotected) 54Mbps WiFi channels into one bigazz, "free" connection.

It's the latest invention by Dutch hacker, Mark Hoekstra and his new sidekick (or is it the other way around?) Boris. Of course, use of the Slurpr in its current incarnation will likely violate wardriving laws in at least few countries. So the inclusion of Mark's next feature -- 64/128-bit WEP-cracking -- could well land you in a Turkish prison.

Still interested, Billy? Then head on over to Mark's site where you can pre-order the €999 / $1,347 box today.

In an op-ed piece published by BusinessWeek today, Linux Foundation Executive Director Jim Zemlin stated his organization will be ready to fund the legal efforts of anyone who produces Linux software who's threatened with - or sued on account of - patent infringement. If necessary, Zemlin writes, the foundation will use its own patent portfolio to mount countersuits.

"Touch one member of the Linux community, and you will have to deal with all of us," reads Zemlin's article. "Microsoft is not the only - perhaps not even the largest - owner of patents in this area. Individual members of the Linux ecosystem have significant patent portfolios. Industry groups, such as the Open Innovation Network and our own legal programs at the Linux Foundation, aggregate our membership's patents into an arsenal with which to deter predatory patent attacks. With our members' backing, the Linux Foundation also has created a legal fund to defend developers and users of open-source software against malicious attack. We don't expect to but, if needed, we will use this fund to defend Linux."

The latest saber-rattling comes in response to Microsoft's seemingly dichotomous comments two weeks ago from CEO Steve Ballmer, alleging that Linux already violates dozens of its patents, and suggesting that more open source authors "play by the same rules" as Ballmer believes it does.

View: BetaNews

It has been on man's mind for years... ok ok, maybe that is a lie. It has been on the minds of Shane and Cameron Wilmot for the past hour! Does your game of choice harm the environment more than someone else’s?

You thought you knew what controversy was, well we are talking it to the next level as we bring you The Inconvenient Truth... about your PC gaming! Al Gore would be proud.

With our new toy, the Prova Power Analyzer WM-01, or as popular TweakTown staff like refer to it – that power thingy, it was time to get down and dirty to see what your games are doing to the environment. Are multiplayer gamers that play games based on the Source engine looking after the environment more than those playing Prey? And which game type is better, FPS or RTS? There was only one way to find out, to do our normal array of benchmarks and see what results that new super dopper power thingy gave us.¸

View: TweakTown

Intel has quietly moved three of it's mobile Core 2 Duo processors from the E-1 to the G-0 stepping. The new stepping will ship in the 13th of June.

The three modles concerend are the T7700 (2.4GHz), the T7500 (2.2GHz) and L7500 (1.6GHz) and all three have had added support for 800MHz bus speed.

A BIOS upgrade is needed for the new G-0 stepping CPU's to be recognised as the CPUID has been changed.

Source: Fudzilla

Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Mail and Windows Live Writer are the three core desktop products for Windows Live. But we have reason to suspect they’ll all be rebranded to one, large program - called “Windows Live Suite”.

Here are the reasons why we think it’ll happen…

1 -- All three programs are communication tools (IM, Blogs, e-Mail)
2 -- All three programs are being revamped to a new look (see Messenger 8.5)
3 -- All three programs are listed as one beta on Microsoft connect.

Source: Shufflestorm

The guys over at Messenger Adictos have made available the Spanish version of the next version of Windows Live Messenger, 8.5. The installer itself has been wrapped by them and sticks the actual installer in a folder in Program Files, where you can then install Live Messenger. So, I present to you, screenshots of Windows Live Messenger 8.5. I would, though, like to point out that this build (8.5.1235.0517) is unlikely to be the build that will be sent to testers when the beta starts, so the UI could still change before it's sent out.

View: LiveSide

Sony debuted an innovative new bendable 2.5-inch display, one that is less than 0.01 inch thick -- not much thicker than a piece of paper -- and can display full-color video.

The Japanese electronics maker released video of its latest innovation on Friday, showing the flexibility and capabilities of the display. Sony isn't quite sure how it will be used, but it could have a variety of applications.

Displays could be integrated into signs and advertisements, or worn like clothing. The displays could even help today's multimedia playback devices shrink even further. No commercial applications have been officially announced.

View: BetaNews

Linux advocates expected to scour the documents for how the agreement may affect Linux, run afoul of GPLv3

Novell has published details of its landmark November 2006 Linux partnership agreements with Microsoft.

Novell published on Friday redacted versions of the three agreements it signed with Microsoft in its annual 10K filings to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, providing the public with its first detailed look into a deal that some see as critical to the future of Linux. The 10K filing had been delayed by an internal stock options review at Novell, which was concluded Wednesday.

Under the terms of the agreements, Microsoft will spend hundreds of millions of dollars on licensing fees and sales and marketing costs over five years, including $240 million for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server subscription certificates. For its part, Novell has agreed to pay Microsoft a percentage of revenue from open-source products.

View: InfoWorld

Our customers have a lot of questions about OneCare activation and want to know exactly what it is all about.  We commonly hear feedback from customers who say that activation is only for the purposes of adding a second PC, but it is much more than that.

So why do customers need to activate in the first place? You may have noticed that OneCare is not a traditional software package, it is a subscription based service.   One way to think about it is to compare it to your cell phone service, where you pay a fee for a period, receive updates to your service during that period and have a phone number associated with your service. Similarly, it is necessary for OneCare customers to have a Windows Live ID account so that we can provide them with the proper level of service. Getting a Windows Live ID means you have one simple way to interact with your OneCare account whether that means Activating a 2nd PC or getting support.  No one needs to remember nasty things like 25 digit product keys that are easily misplaced or forgotten. The three main reasons that we need customers to activate their OneCare service are:

-- For verification that they want to begin their OneCare service and to the start the subscription. 

-- To ensure that all continuous servicing happens including daily malware signature updates, weekly firewall policies,  and updates with new features and enhancements
-- Finally, to allows our support teams to provide you with better support and the right level of support.  For instance, one of the benefits of a paid OneCare subscription is phone support.

View: OneCare Blog