Cool Tech Reviews

Despite being burned in 2005 by scandal with Sony music CDs installing an exploitable “cloaked” directory on consumers’ PCs, another arm of the company has been hit by a similar problem. In particular, purchasers of Sony MicroVault USM-F flash drives (with built-in fingerprint reader) apparently get a hidden directory that can be used to hide malware.

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I guess there are a few tricks left for manufacturers pursuing the micro sized MP3 player market as evidenced by the Sansa Clip pictured above. Yes, it is matchbox sized, but it also sports a a four-line color OLED screen and an iPod-like wheel for simplified navigation. The Sansa Clip will be available in September, in black, red, blue and pink and as for the other specs:

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The donnybrook between the rival high definition DVD formats took a strange turn today when Viacom announced that Paramount and DreamWorks Animation Each Declare Exclusive Support for HD DVD:

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The trend towards multipurpose portable gadgets is undeniable for the simple reason that carrying multiple separate devices is very inconvenient. The problem, of course, is that an “all in one” gadget is generally inferior functionally to each to the individual units that it replaces. Sony Ericsson is trying to change that for the camera phone with its announcement of the K770 Cyber-shot:

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John Fortt reports on a survey of video download consumers by Parks Associates and the natives are restless:

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Lenovo which bought IBM’s personal computer business, announced today that they would be offering Novell’s SUSE Linux distribution on selected models including the T Series (directed at business users) of the famous ThinkPad laptop product line starting in 4Q2007. Does this finally herald the arrival of the Linux PC for everyday users?

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