Engadget has revealed the long awaited PlayStation Phone tonight, posting pictures of a working model of the upcoming device.

There have long been rumors that Sony Ericsson was creating a PSP phone, one that would include the gaming aspects of a PSP while adding phone functionality.

Engadget says the phone will hit the market "soon," likely in the Q1 2011.

The device will run on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), with a fast 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 processor, 512MB RAM, 1GB ROM and a 4.1-inch screen.

In the gaming part of the slide-out, the PSP Phone has a multi-touch touchpad, shoulder buttons and a microSD slot.

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Earlier this week, eBay and Groupon announced the start of "featured deals" through the auction site's new eBay Bucks campaign.

User can collect "eBay Bucks" dollars while buying a daily Groupon they may have wanted to purchase anyway.

Groupon offers large discounts to local or national businesses, sometimes as high as 80 percent off.

When using the featured deal, eBay users will get 5 percent kickbacks in the form of eBay Bucks.

Groupon continues to see exponential growth, with unique visitors growing by 23 percent in August, making it the fourth fastest growing property on the Internet.

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Techspot has discovered this week that Microsoft will release its upcoming Windows 8 operating system in late 2012, likely around the anniversary of 7's launch in October.

The proof comes via a blog post in which Microsoft says (translated roughly): "Furthermore, Microsoft is on course with the next version of Windows. But it will take about two years before "Windows 8" hits the market."

Microsoft has not commented on the post.

The timing makes sense, though, as Microsoft has openly said they hoped to return to a three-year product cycle after the delayed cycle that caused Vista to be released seven years after Windows XP.

Microsoft's latest iteration, Windows 7, has sold 240 million licenses in just one year of release.

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According to scientists at the University of London, tiny Bee brains can solve complex math problems that take computers much longer to figure out.

The insects can effectively solve the "traveling salesman problem" as they learn to "fly the shortest router between flowers discovered in random order."

Computers solve the "TSP" by comparing all possible routes and then choosing the shortest one.

Bees reach the same conclusion while using a brain that is about the size of a pinhead.

Says Dr. Nigel Raine: "Foraging bees solve travelling salesman problems every day. They visit flowers at multiple locations and, because bees use lots of energy to fly, they find a route which keeps flying to a minimum."

"Despite their tiny brains bees are capable of extraordinary feats of behaviour," adds Raine, via Guardian. "We need to understand how they can solve the travelling salesman problem without a computer."

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In under three weeks since launch, Microsoft has boasted today that the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace has hit its first milestone, 1000 available apps.

For comparison's sake, the iOS App Store has 300,000 available apps, the Android Market has 100,000 apps and the BlackBerry App World has a bit over 10,000.

It is important to note, however, that the old Windows Mobile platform took a full seven months to reach 1000 apps.

There are no Windows Phone 7 devices yet available to the U.S. public, with the first batch hitting the States in two weeks.

Microsoft has launched a couple of phones in Europe and Asia.

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The digital security firm Gemalto has sued Google, HTC, Motorola and Samsung today over a patent related to the Android mobile operating system.

More specifically, Gemalto is suing over a patent relating to the JavaCard, a technology which allows for Java apps to run on SIM cards.

Says the company, via Mash: "Gemalto is recognized as a pioneer and ground-breaking contributor to the JavaCard [sic] , one of the devices for which the patented technologies were conceived."

Earlier this year, Oracle sued Google over Java and IP law, claiming that the search giant "knowingly, directly and repeatedly infringed Oracle's Java-related intellectual property" when creating Android.

From different fronts, Microsoft has recently sued Motorola over patent infringement related to Android, and Apple has sued HTC over the same thing.

Expect more lawsuits to come as Android continues to grow exponentially.

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The RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) have seized 7000 pirated video games from a 35-year old Saskatoon man's residence and charges are currently pending.

RCMP officials say, if sold authentically, the games would be worth $200,000.

The citizen had his house raided following an investigation "into intellectual property crime offences," adds the police.

More specifically, the authorities were looking into the sale of gaming consoles that were modded to be able to play pirated games.

The man had been advertising the modded consoles via online ads.

Authorities noted that the plethora of games and consoles including systems from Nintendo, Sony, Sega, and Microsoft.

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Nokia Siemens Networks has announced a technology that could drastically increase the data carrying capacity of standard copper wires.

The company achieved data transmission speeds of 825 megabits per second (Mbps) over 400 meters of bonded copper lines and 750 Mbps over 500 meters. Nokia Siemens Networks used circuits that involve the creation of a virtual - or 'phantom' - channel to supplement the two physical wires that are the standard configuration for copper transmission lines.

"Laying down new optical fiber to the home remains costly, though it is capable of delivering very high speeds and is a definite solution for long-term bandwidth requirements," said Eduard Scheiterer, head of broadband access business line, Nokia Siemens Networks.

"However, the innovative use of technologies such as phantom circuits helps operators provide an efficient last mile connectivity with existing copper wires."

Phantom DSL promises a bandwidth increase of 50-75% over existing bonded copper lines. This prolongs the life of copper networks, delaying the need for fiber rollout and protecting operator's existing capital investments.

The approach, known as Phantom DSL is also being showcased during Broadband World Forum 2010 in Paris,
October 26 - 28.

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Police in several European countries have carried out raids in a case over counterfeit CD and DVD boxsets that stretches back to 2006.

More than 100 police officers in the four countries took action against those involved in the manufacture, supply and sale of unlicensed Masterbox boxsets that have generated millions in revenue for the criminals behind them.

The Masterbox series contained unlicensed music, films and television programmes. Each box set included an MP3 disc featuring up to 60 albums, some of them pre-release titles. Music from artists such as Black Eyed Peas, Michael Jackson, Green Day and Robbie Williams was found in the Masterbox series, which ran to more than 50 editions.

Copies of Masterbox had a street value of around €40 and were sold informally across the Netherlands. It is estimated that more than 450,000 copies of the various editions were sold, totalling more than €19 million in illegal sales.

Police searched eight business premises and five homes across Belgium, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and Spain over the last few days.

"This was a major cross-border anti-piracy action against an operation that we believe was causing very significant losses to the legitimate music industry. Police took action against a gang that had generated millions of euro in illegal revenues by infringing the rights of artists, songwriters and record producers," Jeremy Banks, director, anti-piracy at IFPI, said.

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The High Tech Crime Team of the National Crime Squad in the Netherlands issued a press release today announcing action has been taken to isolate 143 servers from the Internet.

The servers were actively involved with the Bredolab botnet, appearing to be command and control centers. They were hosted by LeaseWeb, one of the largest provider of hosting services in the Netherlands. The provider fully cooperated in the takedown operation.

It is unclear so far whether the botnet has been fully decapitated, but security firms such as TrendLabs are monitoring activity levels of the botnet for clues.

Bredolab originated in Russia and rose to prominence in August 2009. The primary initial trigged for infection was through e-mail but later was delivered using a wide variety of methods, even being dropped as a payload by other known malware.

Dutch Authorities estimate that it was capable of infecting 3 million computers per month at its peak.

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Adobe revealed today that the latest version of its Flash player is heading to major smartphone operating systems, enabling a wide range of mobile devices to support Flash-enabled websites.

"Flash Player 10.1 is available on Android and Google TV today, with BlackBerry platform, HP webOS 2.0, future versions of Windows Phone, LiMo, MeeGo, and Symbian OS also expected to support Flash Player 10.1," an Adobe press release stated.

Since there are quite a lot of Flash websites, it has been a frequently requested feature from smartphone users. Adobe has worked to make its software more stable and more efficient particularly for use with smartphones and other portable devices like slates.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs point blank refuses to add Flash to iOS, embracing the open standard HTML 5 solution instead.

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A glitch in Apple's iOS 4.1 software that allows anyone access to potentially sensitive information has been revealed by iPhone owners online.

An easy trick allows anyone to bypass the passcode entry screen and gain access to the iPhone App. To do this, the user must select "Emergency Call" at the passcode screen, then input any number. Then hitting "Sent" and the iPhone sleep button in an _almost_ simultaneous succession will give the user full access to the iPhone app.

This means the user will have access to Contacts, Call History, Voicemail and Dialer. A few further tips include hitting "Share Contacts" and the camera button, which will get you access to the Photos app. It is also possible to send an e-mail or MMS with the device.

The loophole does not exist in the iOS 4.2 beta, which suggests that Apple is already aware of the flaw.

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Intel Corp has finally opened its first plant in China several years after announcing the $2.5 billion project. The plant, located in the city of Dalian, opened on Tuesday after being announced in 2007.

"For 25 years now, Intel has been investing and innovating in China with China and for China," Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini said in a statement. "This manufacturing facility helps deliver on our vision to contribute to sustainable growth in China while giving us better proximity to serve our customers in Asia."

Over the past three years, rumors emerged that Intel would delay or even scrap plans for the plant, but the chipmaker consistently denied that anything was amiss. The opening is a nod to the growing importance of China, which has struggled to build a globally competitive semiconductor industry.

Intel said it has already started doing business with as many as 80 suppliers in Dalian but didn't identify them. The opening of Intel's new plant fulfills Intel's total investment commitment in China to $4.7 billion.

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