HardwareScoop.com

Play.com has managed to nab the iPhone 3GS on a SIM free basis, and it’s yours for just £900.

While this is for the 32GB version of the iPhone 3GS, it’s still £362 more than the same thing from O2 on pay as you go, which shows the level of subsidy O2 is actually offering.

Play.com has a history of selling the iPhone unlocked, having performed the same trick with the iPhone 3G earlier in the year.

While firms are legally obliged to unlock a phone for a user, they don’t have to sell them unlocked.

Free and French

However, in countries like France, where the phone is rumoured to be sourced from, the law states that all phones must be sold SIM free, albeit at a much higher price.

If you’re not after the high capacity version, the 16GB iPhone 3GS can be nabbed for a penny under £800, but if you’re going to spend that much just to get the iPhone on Vodafone or T-Mobile, then an extra hundred probably won’t worry you.

However, you could just save some cash and wait until the unlock hack comes… is a few weeks’ wait worth £362?

Laptop manufacturers across the world better start checking if their computers’ claimed battery life is correct, as a class action lawsuit is about to begin in the US.

Law firm Girard Gibbs, LLP, has announced it is to give ‘free consultations’ to anyone burned by quoted battery times. That pretty much includes every one of us then.

Not accurate

Digital Beat is reporting that the reason lawsuits may start rolling in is because a few weeks ago AMD claimed that battery life on laptops was done in unrealistic conditions to perk up the hours manufacturers can quote in their marketing spiels.

In its own guide to getting battery life, AMD admits that: “There is currently no single benchmark test available for notebook battery life that accurately reflects real-life usage patterns.”

The report also says: “The goal of this white paper is to encourage a more transparent discussion around battery life benchmarking for notebook PCs.”

Short life span

Law firm Girard Gibbs, LLP, has cottoned on to this and has posted the following message on its website: “If you believe that your laptop battery has a shorter life span than what was advertised or represented to you, or if you would like to learn more about our investigation, please fill out the form on the right for a free consultation.”

It will be very interesting to see what comes from the battery life saga, considering it does seem to be one of the biggest bones of contention in the PC industry at the moment.

Fed up with the amount of abysmal CGI effects abounding in our movies, games and on TV, our colleagues over at 3D World have put together a list of the very worst.

So we’ve nabbed some of the list and brought it to you here for your amusement. But before we go any further - no, the awful ice-sea-surfing bit from Die Another Day isn’t here. Truly the worst Bond moment ever perhaps, but it falls into insignificance up against this tomfoolery. Any other nasty CGI suggestions? Add them in the comments.

1. Star Wars trilogy Special Editions

Woody Allen has said he never rewatches his films once they’re finished. If only George Lucas could take the hint… Lucas’ pillage of his once-treasured heritage saw the addition of incongruous, unnecessary and (infamously) plot-changing CG, to the betterment of nothing much and the baffled rage of countless fanboys. And that was only the beginning

2. The monster-things in I Am Legend

“No Will, don’t go in the scary building where the scary monster-things live! We’re too scared! The entire film has been building up to this point and we’re not sure we can bear seeing them… aaargh, there they are and – Hang on. That’s IT? THAT’S what you were so worried about? Some pasty blokes who look a bit wobbly?” Sometimes a man in a monster suit is all it takes, Francis Lawrence.

3. Most of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

According to Wikipedia, “Steven Spielberg stated before production began that very few CGI effects would be used, to maintain consistency with the other films,” which just goes to show you can’t always trust Wikipedia. Or Spielberg. As if the ridiculous plot and fight scenes weren’t enough, the addition of irritating CG monkeys, an entire warehouse, and those useless ants tipped Indy 4 into the “Sod it, we’ll do it in post-prod” category of laziness.

4. The World of Warcraft intro movie

World of Warcraft! Brilliant! You can be a Night Elf and everything! Ooh I’m so excited, the game’s loading and there’s this fantastic, epically sweeping CG movie with stirring fighting scenes and tons of atmosphere and incredible fur effects and the game starts and… now I appear I to be in the equivalent of a 3D chatroom from 1997. What relevance, exactly, did all that guff have to do with this cartoony ROFL-fest? I want my money back. lol N00B

5. Election night TV specials

We’re not sure how it works outside the UK, but over here the graphical stops are really pulled out for those 12-hour election specials in which presenters desperately attempt to make the process of numbers slowly rising appear to be interesting. These generally devolve into some bizarre virtual reality/disaster movie hybrid, incorporating ever more tenuous visual metaphors and references until finally the results from Wirral South somehow result in the destruction of downtown Manhattan.

It’s a hot news day over at Skype towers, with the leading VoIP operator announcing the latest version of its software for Windows, in addition to major updates for Skype on Windows Mobile and iPhone.

Firstly, Skype has upgraded its app for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch this week, so iPhone Skypers can now check their Skype voicemail on the go and send cheap-as-chips text messages via the service.

In addition, language support has also been improved and Skype’s designers have given the “look and feel” of the app a little makeover, to iron out a few UI niggles that user’s reported back to them about the previous iteration of Skype on Apple’s mobile devices.

Share files WiMo

It’s not all about the iPhone though, as the latest version of Skype on Windows Mobile devices will also let users share files when they are in IM chats – a superb addition to the service.

Finally, Skype 4.1 for Windows is also now gold and ready for you to download.

“We’ve fixed a number of bugs found in the beta release,” notes a post on Skype’s blog, urging PC users to update now.

“We’ve added useful features like screen sharing, which is a great way to show off your latest creations and presentations, or help a friend with their computer. We’ve also included birthday reminders (though you’ll have to bring your own cake).

“What’s more, we’ve listened to your thoughts and feedback and further refinements have been made to audio and video quality – so your calls should sound and look better than ever.”

Head to Skype to download version 4.1 for Windows now.

A Palm Pre packing a UK-friendly SIM has been snapped over in Vietnam - likely showing that we might be getting the new phone on our shores soon.

Despite bringing the Pre to Mobile World Congress in February, Palm has yet to confirm definitively that it will be releasing a GSM version (compatible with European telephone networks).

The Vietnam photos (where the phone is likely being manufactured) show the Pre running with a GSM SIM card, so at least the technology looks close to being finished by Palm.

UK soon?

We were supposed to have a UK version of the Pre in the next month or two, and while there’s been no word of such a thing happening, it seems that date isn’t too far away.

Also, some international sites have been talking about a man using a Pre on the Underground, and being secretive when quizzed about it.

However, most of these seem to have not noticed you can’t get any signal down there, so there’s just as much chance of that being a US version as a secret UK Pre.

Dell is reportedly working on a new device using the Android OS, although it won’t be a fully-functioning mobile phone.

According to sources cited by the Wall Street Journal who have seen a prototype, the new device is similar to an iPod touch in that it’s a full touchscreen.

However, the new device is being dubbed a mobile internet device (MID) or a smartbook, as devices that site between phones and netbooks, and both are phrases that TechRadar really hopes don’t catch on.

Smarter than Smartphone

The new handset was snapped earlier this month, although whether this is the actual device is unconfirmed.

Dell has been rumoured to be entering the smartphone game for a number of years, but apart from dabbling in PDAs it has yet to firm up a presence.

But the sources say this new smartbook (yuck) will possibly even debut this summer, which would be a pretty quick turnaround time for Dell.

But given we’ve seen a number of netbooks based on the Android OS, it would be relatively simple to create an MID based on the same principle.

Firefox 3.5 has arrived, with Mozilla confirming that the eagerly awaited update to the browser is finally ready for public consumption and the company predicting massive downloads in the coming hours.

After a long time in beta, Firefox 3.5 is finally released - bringing major changes in its JavaScript engine and the addition of tools like location-aware browsing, native support for open video and audio, and private browsing.

The free software is now available and available in over 70 languages (Mongolian was apparently not confirmed the last time we spoke to Mozilla).

Speed is of the essence

The most obvious change to the browser is the speed - with Firefox 3.5 10 times faster than Firefox 2 and twice the speed of 3.0.

“3.5 is important to keep the momentum going from 3.0,” Mozilla’s VP of Engineering Mike Shaver, told TechRadar recently.

“It brings some momentous tools to the browser including video and extreme high performance JavaScript.”

Respect our privacy

Privacy is also a key addition - with private browsing arriving (a little later than its rivals) and functions like ‘forget this site’ and ‘clear recent history’ keeping your private browsing personal, and your personal browsing private.

Location-aware browsing does exactly what it says on the tin, allowing users to search locally, and features like ‘tear off tabs’ and the already loved ‘awesome bar’ will no doubt prove popular.

Massive interest

Mozilla believes that take-up for 3.5 will be swift and widespread, with Shaver stating: “We are currently at 90 per cent of our users on the latest Firefox and we’ll probably get 60 to 70 per cent in first three months on Firefox 3.5.

“It’s kind of hard to predict exactly because each release is different and our user base is almost double what it was when we released Firefox 3.”

The download is available from Mozilla’s site at http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/firefox/ - although Mozilla is still updating sites so keep checking around until you see 3.5.

Orange UK has blinked first and put the HTC Hero up on its website, although only as a ‘coming soon’ option.

Unfortunately there’s no way to pre-order the phone, although Orange has apparently said that it will release more information in the next few days.

Both Orange and T-Mobile are going to be selling the HTC Hero, although the pink network will be calling it the G1 Touch just to make things confusing, and has yet to list the phone on its site either.

Grey sky thinking

The new phone will be available in just graphite grey, according to the Orange site, although its likely more colours will be available as we saw a variety when we had or recent hands-on with the device.

If you’re still hankering for a device, then you can get it as a SIM Free version from Amazon for a shade under £429, or wait to get the thing on contract around mid-July. It’s nice to have options, isn’t it?

Nikon released the D300 DSLR last year to much fanfare but since then something rather important has happened in the world of high-end cameras – video.

Enter the D300s which has apparently been spotted, with press pictures leaking on to the net.

The ’s’ looks likely to be something to do with the camera able to record stereo sound. And with sound comes video capabilities, and the camera is also rumoured to contain an SD card slot.

3 is the magic number

Alongside possible sightings of the D300s is the D3000 – a much-mooted entry-level DSLR which also boasts recording capabilities. Although, reports suggest that there will be no HDMI slot, which casts doubt over whether the video will be HD.

All will come clear at the end of July, when TechRadar suspects that Nikon will announce a few new product additions to its extensive camera range.

O2 is set to launch Asteroid Storm - the world’s first interactive 3D cinema game - at 20 Vue cinemas in the UK this summer.

The game is “the first time that cinema audiences in the UK will be able to play and control an interactive 3D game” and will be launched in UK cinemas on 10 July.

This quirky-sounding bit of pre-movie fun is controlled by the whole audience raising their hands in the air and moving a spaceship on the screen through an asteroid field.

Family fun and games

Asteroid Storm has been developed in conjuction with Pearl and Dean (de-de-de-de-de-de-de-de-dedede!) and promises to “take families on a big-screen adventure that they can control from their seats in the cinema.

It is planned to run ahead of Ice Age 3 3D and G-Force in the summer, followed by Up and Toy Story 3D in the autumn.

Asteroid Storm is part of O2’s current marketing campaign targeting families with the O2 Joggler and O2 ‘Your Family’ Bolt On.

It will be showing at Vue cinemas across the UK (as well as interactive floor projection games such as Wac-a-roid!), including: Vue Leicester Square, Vue Bristol Cribbs Causeway, Vue Edinburgh Waterside, Vue Finchley road, London, Vue Kirkstall road, Leeds, Vue West End, AMC Manchester, AMC Birmingham, Truro Plaza