“Games like World of Warcraft give players the means to save worlds, and incentive to learn the habits of heroes. What if we could harness this gamer power to solve real-world problems? Jane McGonigal says we can, and explains how.”

“After fiddling with my Droid X for two days non-stop, I finally figured out how to dissect the latest Motorola superphone.

Just in case someone needs to replace parts or perhaps the touchscreen in the future, I’ve documented the whole process for your viewing pleasure using my Canon 7D.  And yes, still working on my photography skills so please bear with me.”

Read on at Zedomax.com …

But, Blackberry’s push email and Blackberry Messenger is something I’m having a hard time letting go of. Crackberry.com has a great post on transitioning from Blackberry to Android. Definitely worth the read.

Read on at Crackberry.com …

“We pulled a couple of strings to acquire the most desirable Android phone today, the HTC Evo 4G!

Check out Wired’s video of our HTC Evo 4G disassembly!”

Read on at iFixit.com…

“If you have a phone running Android 2.1 with HTC Sense, mobile network sharing is built into the operating system.  Don’t get too excited though, because your carrier decides whether or not it will work.  If you want to try it for yourself, make sure you have the latest version of HTC Sync and plug your phone into your computer.  In the connection options, choose Internet sharing.”

Read on at Android Central …

EricTric.com: “Think Google’s worldwide operations are gigantic? Well, you’re right. A new infographic distributed by Intac displays exactly how many servers some of the world’s top technology companies own and use to power their incredibly large and sophisticated operations.

For example, RackSpace (who hosts Erictric) is said to own over 56,000 servers. Trailing close behind is The Planet, a popular host who cares for over 15 million websites, with a server count of just over 48,000. What about Facebook? 30,000. Intel? 100,000.

But what about Google, the internet’s superpower? Try over one million servers. According to the graphic, “it is speculated that Google owns more than 2% of all the world’s servers.””

Gizmodo.com: “You already just sort of know, logically and instinctively, that Google’s got a ridiculous number of servers working for them. That doesn’t make it any less mind-boggling when visualized. Get ready for a lot of scrolling.

Of course, not all servers are created equal—so “more” is a problematic word here. And I’m betting this wouldn’t look quite so lopsided if big hitters like Microsoft, Yahoo, and Amazon were represented. Regardless, though, such a massive difference of scale is incredibly impressive, even if not entirely surprising.”

“We got a sneak peak inside the iPad yesterday, when we were able to un-redact the FCC’s test photos. Be warned, however: what you see there is with a pre-production unit, while the photos here are from a unit purchased at retail.

Want to stay up-to-date with the hardware world? Follow @ifixit!

Our iPad repair manual already has some repair guides in progress for the iPad. We hope you didn’t already break your screen, but if so, that’s the best place to go.

Also check out the YouTube video slideshow of the teardown!

Update 4/5: We’ve worked with ChipWorks to dissect the silicon inside the iPad. More photos forthcoming.”

Check out their teardown….

This one’s replacing 1 of the 2 desktops I use across 3 LCD monitors for my daily use; one for Outlook and various widgets across 2 screens, and the new Dell for my main

BTW, the ATI Radeon HD5770 graphics card has 1GB of dedicated memory and is an excellent performer, especially with today’s multimedia needs (and yes, great for gaming whenever I get back into WoW).

Product Features

• Intel® Core™ i7-860 processor
  Features an 8MB cache and 2.8GHz processor speed.
• The all new 2010 Intel® Core™ i7 processor
  Features 8-way processing for ultimate smart performance. Intel® Turbo Boost Technology automatically speeds up your processor when your PC needs extra performance.
• 8GB DDR3 memory
  For multitasking power, expandable to 16GB.

More specs at Bestbuy.com…

Read on at Engadget.com…

Came across this great universal smartphone stand that’s raised and even has an embedded magnet to activate the docking mode for a Motorola Droid.

From ezeStand.com:

“ezeStand is a versatile desktop holder for your Smart Phone or Personal Media Player device. It holds all of the latest Touch Screen devices including Motorola Droid & Milestone, iPhone 3G/3GS, Google Nexus One, Blackberry Storm, Palm Pre, iPod Touch, and many more.

ezeStand holds your Touch Screen device at a comfortable viewing angle in either horizontal/landscape or vertical/portrait oreintation and it will hold your phone even if you have an aftermarket cover or jacket.

ezeStand will also activate the Multimedia Station mode on your Motorola Droid & Milestone and has room to plug in the micro USB charging cable.”

From Engadget.com:

“As a user on the Hardware Zone forums discovered, the latest Synaptics driver seems to enable multitouch gestures on older laptops that didn’t previously support them, including two-finger scrolling, and three-finger click. What’s more, while the drivers themselves come from HP, they should work just fine on other laptops with a Synaptics trackpad.”

Hardware Zone has the drivers for Windows XP and Windows Vista/7.

“So when Heineken staged a fake classical music concert at the same time as a crucial Real Madrid vs. AC Milan game on October 21, there was no chance that any real soccer fan would be there…except if their girlfriends, professors and bosses convinced them (by any means necessary) to attend.

What happens next is sheer hilarity, and a nice example of a high-budget guerrilla marketing campaign from Heineken. Suffice to say that more than 1,100 soccer fans got swindled, 1.5 million people saw their reactions on live TV, and Heineken received five million visitors to the site devoted to the event — and a great deal of news coverage for their troubles.”

And here’s the video link of him starting out on his crowd surfing:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremyjohnstone/4430516153/

Check out Leo’s livestream from South by Southwest at: http://live.twit.tv/

From Motherboard.tv:

“But, in IMAX 3-D, Hubble 3-D is a religious experience. It is hard to find fault with the 45-minute documentary that details the history of Hubble, its near abandonment, and its resurrection on more than one occasion. The IMAX format in conjunction with 3-D virtually places the viewer in the shuttle, thanks to the camera work of the astronauts and the guidance, from Earth, of director Toni Myers. Yet it’s not just the photographic technique. It’s the entire experience. It’s about being there.”

Read on….

I’m so glad I waited and not get a Nexus One … the Sense UI is … well, incredible With the power of today’s mobile processors and Android 2.1 OS, these are no longer just smartphones, rather ultra-mobile personal computers.

From Engadget.com:

“Android Forums is alight today with fresh HTC Incredible chatter — a phone every Android fan on Verizon is desperately waiting for — and we’ve managed to glean a few more pictures and possible specs out of the mess. It looks like we can expect a half gig of RAM with about 320MB available (roughly the same as what you find on the Nexus One) and an 8 megapixel cam, but interestingly, the phone’s Snapdragon core is apparently underclocked to 768MHz, almost certainly a battery-saving measure on HTC’s part; fortunately, the Sense-powered Android 2.1 firmware is still said to be “blazing fast.” It measures 117.5 x 58.5 x 11.9mm — just a hair narrower, shorter, and thicker than its Nexus One doppelganger, small enough of a difference so that we think it’ll be virtually indistinguishable in person.”

Read on at Engadget or check out the 100+ posts in the AndroidForums.com thread ….

You can imagine what Lisa was thinking when she got 4,000+ email notifications of followers, especially when Kevin Rose found her via a search for “I hate technology.” All is good; Lisa now has a very influential position in having so many “eyes,” Leo will reimburse any charges incurred, giving Lisa an iPad when they come out, along with another iPad to a randomly chosen follower.

Check out Leo’s This Week in Tech Episode 238 to see this all come about (starts around 24.:13 in the videocast), and the interview below with Lisa on New Zealand’s Radio Whammo Show, Kiwi FM. Simply amazing, Lisa got Leo’d with a virtual flash mob on her Twitter account. BTW, Leo’s This Week in Tech and This Week in Google are 2 of my favorite podcasts that I regularly listen to while on the road, and highly recommend them.

From Engadget.com:

“As we’ve heard, the interface appears to be pen-based and centered around drawing and writing, with built-in handwriting recognition and a corresponding web site that allows access to everything entered into the device in a blog-like format complete with comments. We’re also hearing that there will be a built-in camera, and there’s a headphone jack for media playback. Most interestingly, it looks like the Courier will also serve as Microsoft’s e-book device, with a dedicated ecosystem centered around reading.”

Read on at Engadget.com and check out their other video…