Latest news

Gizmodo has unveiled an internal Apple document that shows that the company will begin offering contract-free iPhone 3G and 3GS models soon, allowing would-be buyers to pay a premium to buy the handset without needing to sign up for an AT&T contract or even provide proof of a current AT&T contract.

However, the phone will still be "locked," meaning unless you unlock it yourself, you must use the smartphone on AT&T and not other GSM providers.

The only restrictions are you must provide a valid form of ID and you are only allowed to purchase one device per day.

The 8GB iPhone 3G will be available for $500, the 16GB 3GS for $600 and the 32GB 3GS for $700.

Microsoft has begun shipping a standalone 250GB HDD for the Xbox 360, giving the drive a $130 USD price tag.

The drive will be available starting on March 28th.

The drive had only been available in Japan and in North America via limited edition bundles such as the Modern Warfare 2 or Final Fantasy bundles.

Rabid Neurosis (RNS), the once popular music release group was taken down last year by authorities working on tips from the RIAA.

A few of the most prominent members were arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement.

This week, Matthew Chow of RNS has been found not guilty by a jury. Additionally, Adil Cassim of the group has been found not guilty as well.

"I am relieved by the jury's verdict and I am grateful to my attorney for his hard work," says Chow. Adds his lawyer: "We encountered some extremely complex factual and legal issues in this case. The jury was very attentive during the trial. Their verdict was just."

The three other RNS members that were charged had already plead guilty and gave testimony for the prosecution.

Chow and Cassim were facing up to five years in prison and a $250,000 USD fine.

Nintendo has confirmed that they will be releasing a new handheld system in Japan in early 2011, with a full introduction coming at the E3 event in June.

The system is dubbed the 3DS and will "incorporate 3D technology" without the need for 3D-glasses. The system, as is standard with new Nintendo handhelds, will be backwards compatible with all DS and DSi software.

The DS and DSi have sold over 125 million units globally, and the company says the 3DS will be a successor to the DS, not just a minor revision.

Although there are little other details available about the system, we reported earlier this month on an obscure DSiWare game called Rittai Kakushi E Atta Koreda (3D Hidden Images: Found it!), which, by using the front facing camera, tracked the player's face and eyes and created a 3D effect, with the screen moving to create a sense of depth.

SanDisk has announced they have begun shipping 32GB microSDHC cards, the largest capacity available for the memory card line.

Current microSD cards max out at 16GB but SanDisk had promised the 32GB cards would go into mass production in January.

Speaking of the microSD card and other new flash memory improvements, SanDisk said at that time: "The 64GB embedded memory, moviNAND, and the 32GB microSD card each greatly expand the data storage density of mobile devices, meeting customers' memory requirements and ushering in a new era of mobile and IT device capacity growth."

While 1GB, 2GB and 4GB versions retail for under $15 USD, this new 32GB card has an MSRP of $200.

This is a quick blurb until there is more information but it appears that heading to Google.cn (China) redirects the site directly to http://www.google.com.hk/ (Hong Kong).

The Hong Kong search engine is not censored but it is still unclear whether Chinese users can access the site, which seems unlikely.

We will update this item later when there is more news on it.

Universal Music Group (UMG), one of the "Big 4" record labels has announced its latest ploy to increase physical CD sales in the U.S., slashing prices of new releases to under $10.

Dubbing the pricing program "Velocity," UMG hopes that consumers will go out and buy CDs, which will still retail for higher prices than the comparable songs digitally, but with a closer gap.

"We think it will really bring new life into the physical format," adds Universal Music Group Distribution chairman/CEO Jim Urie.

Wholesales prices for new releases have now been dropped to an average of $7.50 from $10.35, and MSRPs for retail prices are dropped to between $6 and $10.

UMG is hoping that the big hit taken to revenue can be made up with an increase in sales volume. Overall CD sales are already down 15 percent year-on-year, with bigger drops expected.

Velocity is set for a Q2 launch and should last through the holiday season.

UPDATE: "Reports that EA SPORTS plans to sue the creators of South Park are false."

On Wednesday, Comedy Central aired the first episode of South Park's 14th season, dubbed "Sexual Healing" which revolved around Tiger Wood's sex scandal as well as the video game Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11, which is set for a Q3 2010 release.

Today, Daily Informer is reporting that EA Sports, the publisher behind the Tiger Woods series is set to sue South Park writers Matt Stone and Trey Parker over their disgust of the episode.

The episode shows sequences from the upcoming golf game but also includes scenes of Tiger and wife Elin fighting, and even crashing his SUV into a tree. At the end of the episode, after Tiger has apologized to the media and the game returns to just playing golf, the kids of the show leave the game, calling it "boring again."

While many fans found the ep funny, EA Sports did not and DI says their source at the company added that "soon after the airing of the episode the top beef were called in, even Peter Moore was informed of the situation. Before the episode aired the marketing folks were already worried, but now they have a lot more to worry about."

While I will be linking to the full and comprehensive article Slyck has written on the matter, it appears that ACS:Law, the firm known for accusing game pirates in the UK has threatened to sue the file sharing information forum Slyck.com.

The threat demands that Slyck remove three forum threads that exist for members to discuss their ongoing litigation with ACS: Law and just generally go over the current UK laws against alleged file sharers. The three forum threads have a total of 10,000 posts.

ACS: Law gave Slyck three days to take down the threads or face a lawsuit in the UK. However, because the site is based in the U.S. and is protected from defamation verdicts in other nations, they have refused to remove any content.

Slyck's article is very long but worth a read, especially if you are an in the UK: Wank Plan Goes Wrong: ACS:Law Threatens Slyck.com With a Lawsuit

Dell, releasing their first smartphone since the death of the Axim line in 2007, has dubbed their upcoming device the Aero.

The smartphone will be available in the U.S. via carrier AT&T.

Without giving a timeline, the carrier says the device will be available "soon."

The Aero will have hardware based on the Dell Mini3 phones sold in China and Brazil and will run Android 1.6 but will have a custom UI designed by Dell with input from AT&T.

Despite recent analyst downgrades that suggested the smartphone maker should be bankrupt within 9 month, Palm has announced some good news today, stating their Pre Plus and Pixi Plus phones are headed to AT&T, making the smartphones available via Sprint, Verizon and AT&T, the three largest carriers in the U.S.

The phones will be available in the "coming months," and will cost $150 for the Pre and $50 for the Pixi with two-year contract.

Data plans will be mandatory but the unlimited plan is "recommended" meaning buyers can pay for a cheaper non-unlimited plan.

Palm's shares have slightly rebounded but still hover around the 52-week low mark.

Amazon has introduced their Kindle software for the iPad today, looking to actively compete against the Apple iBook store and Barnes & Nobles rival iPad app.

450,000 books are available via the Kindle store, giving iPad owners a plethora of options when they receive their tablets on April 3rd. As is standard, the app will use Whispersync to sync the last page you were reading if it was on another device such as the Kindle device or an iPhone or BlackBerry.

Additionally, you can customize the background color and the font size of the book you are reading, as well as adjust brightness.

According to GameStop, recent PS3 and Wii hardware shortages will continue for some time, both in store and online.

"I am not exactly sure that I have a total answer, obviously, it is a question that we ask the platform holders," said the company during their recent earnings conference call. "Consequently, I can tell you that we do anticipate that we will be in that situation for the PS3 for another couple of months, unfortunately, because we could sell a lot more hardware than what we have on both that and the Wii platform."

Fortunately for would-be Wii buyers, the retail store says it expects the Wii to be back in stock before the PS3.

As for why both consoles are in shortages? The "unprecedented demand" has left the companies "still scrambling to catch up from the December surge of hardware that occurred." In December, the Wii set an all-time record for most consoles sold in a month in the U.S.

India, one of the world's biggest film markets, also has one of the bigger piracy rates in the world and the Hollywood and Bollywood studios want to try to put an end to it.

The MPAA and seven Indian companies have signed a coalition intended to fight piracy, with the group working with movie theaters to try to shutdown camcorder recordings, as well as working with ISPs to shut down the ease of Internet piracy.

The industry group would not reveal the budget but did say it would come from its members, the major studios. The MPAA has anti-piracy coalitions in the U.S., the EU and Hong Kong.

"People are becoming more of the same mind," adds Dan Glickman, the chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America. "The Indian film industry now understands their product is getting stolen at significant rates."

According to an Ernst & Young study, piracy cost the Indian economy $959 million and 571,000 jobs in 2008.

Sony recently launched their highly-anticipated motion controller, the PlayStation Move, a system that should rival the Wii and Microsoft's upcoming Natal motion system.

The Move is used in conjunction with the PlayStation Eye camera and allows for real-time tracking of the player's body movements.

Standalone prices are still not confirmed but the company says that a "starter bundle" including a game, the PS Eye and the Move will retail for under $100.

Yesterday, Engadget Live showed off the Move in action, including 'Minority Report'-esque augmented reality and multi-touch.