Alienware's Area-51 m15x lands in the lab

The Area-51 m15x's cool backlit keyboard.

A couple of weeks ago, we brought you some exclusive pics of Alienware's two new laptops, the high-end Area-51 m15x and Area-51 m17x, which impressed us with their updated designs, cutting-edge components, and imaginative lighting systems (seriously--lots of lights on these things).

While these two laptops probably won't be shipping until mid-January, we just got our hands on a preproduction unit, which, while not exactly final shipping hardware, has both the lighting control system and an Nvidia GeForce 8800M GTX video card--the first laptop we've gotten our hands on with one of those.

We're in a green mood today.

Using the lighting control panel, you can assign different colors to the backlit keyboard, keyboard tray indicators, touch pad outline, skull logo, and sides of the display panel. The touch pad itself is just a touch-sensitive section of the wrist rest and made of the same material as the rest of the keyboard tray--and with the internal lights off, you see only the keyboard and a power button--no touch pad, no status lights. With the lights turned on, the touch pad is outlined by a colored light--a very cool effect, but one that might take a little getting used to, as we kept running our fingers off the side of the touch pad accidentally, because of the lack of any tactile feedback.

We're currently loading up some games to put the m15x through its paces, and we'll let you know how the new Nvidia 8800 handles the current crop of system-crushing games, including Crysis and Unreal Tournament III.

Hot deal: MyBook 80GB hard drive, $50

Some sellers are pricing this hard drive at over $100. Just yesterday, I bought one from another seller for $80. Now it's reduced to $50. Ain't that always how it goes? Don't miss out on this handy solution for your non-portable data storage needs.

WD 80GB HD(Credit: CNET Networks)

What: Western Digital MyBook 80GB USB 2.0 external hard drive
How much:$49.99
Shipping: Free
Where: Buy.com (via Dealnews)
When: Through unknown date
Click here for CNET product review.

Baseball's steroid report available online

For those interested in checking whether their favorite professional baseball player is a cheat, Major League Baseball has posted a report on steroid use among current and former players.

Miguel Tejada allegedly paid by check for steroids(Credit: Major League Baseball)

The 304-page report can be found at mlb.com/mitchrpt.pdf (PDF). The document is the result of an investigation conducted by former Senator George Mitchell, who is scheduled to hold a press conference this morning.

MLB executives hired Mitchell in 2006.

Mitchell rounded up the usual suspects in his report, such as Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Gary Sheffield, and the brothers, Jason and Jeremy Giambi. But among the surprise players implicated by Mitchell are Miguel Tejada, Kevin Brown, David Justice, Lenny Dykstra and Paul Lo Duca.

A spokesman for Major League Baseball Advanced Media, the group that oversees league's digital operations, said the group is prepared to handle any kind of spike in Web site traffic.

Another extended outage at Rhapsody locks out some users

An extended outage at RealNetworks' Rhapsody music service has locked out an unknown number of users for the second time since March.

While the earlier problem prevented some users from accessing the site for up to two weeks, this time the company doesn't know when the problem will be fixed. According to the company's message boards, some people began noticing the problem on Friday.

"It's a known issue," said Justine Navaja, a company spokesperson. "We don't know yet when it will be fixed, but it's only affecting a small group of users. We're doing what we can to make sure it gets fixed as soon as possible."

The company, which competes with Yahoo Music, Napster, and other subscription-based music services, isn't saying whether the glitches are related or what caused them.

Meanwhile, Josh Solera, a Rhapsody customer from Boston, worries that unless the company fixes the problem soon, he'll be cut off from his music.

The songs downloaded off of sites like Rhapsody and Yahoo Music, are restricted by digital rights management. The music licenses must be updated and that can only happen if customers are allowed to sync their computers to the service's Web site. If they can't sync within a specified time, then their music automatically locks up.

Review: 2008 Mazda RX-8

Click the image to read the full review.(Credit: CNET Networks)

The Mazda RX-8 is one of the most distinctive sports cars on the road thanks to its unique rotary engine and its aggressive, comic-book styling. Its interior tech leaves plenty to be desired, but for sheer mid-market driving pleasure, the high-revving, four-door coupe is hard to beat. This week Mazda announced that it will be unveiling an update of the RX-8 to next month's Detroit auto show. Until then, you can check out our review of the 2008 model right here.

Vote in the 2007 Car Tech Awards

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Another year comes to a close and we consider all the amazing cars we've reviewed. For this year's Car Tech Awards, we've nominated 10 cars in the contest for the 2007 Tech Car of the Year. You can look at the nominees, find out why we selected each one, and cast your vote. We will take the result or our reader poll and the votes of our staff judges to decide the 2007 Tech Car of the Year, which we will announce on January 14, 2008. We also have a set of additional awards for such categories as Best tech update for your beater and Coolest new car tech. The results for these awards will also be announced on January 14, 2008.

VOTE FOR THE 2007 TECH CAR OF THE YEAR.

A virtual trip to Baghdad

Ticket in hand.(Credit: Elsa Wenzel)

I'm holding a ticket to Baghdad in my hand. I just booked the flight at a kiosk in a storefront travel agency in San Francisco's hipster heart, the Mission District.

From speakers in the room, a woman's soothing voice calls out some of the highlights there, like restaurants that are never crowded. Televisions spell out more urgent tips for travelers: "No skirts. No photos. No children."

No ordinary travel agency.(Credit: Elsa Wenzel)

Brochures in English, Spanish and Arabic provide more details: "All the beautiful places that you might have read about have either been destroyed or looted."

The boarding pass will take me nowhere, however, except my imagination. The fake agency, Abidin Travels, is a political art exhibit in the culture-jamming vein celebrated by the likes of Adbusters magazine.

Stumbling across this interactive, digital exhibit brought me closer to the hard truth of a war that is remote from my daily grind, yet visceral and immediate for so many other people. The experience was both amusing and terribly unfunny.

This fall, I had the privilege of visiting Vietnam with my veteran father. He shook his head in astonishment and pleasure at seeing the vibrant, thriving culture in peacetime. During the war that ended a month after I was born, who would have dreamed of today's beach resorts, passion for gadgets, and Gucci stores?

You can book virtual trips in person or at the Abidin Web site.(Credit: Elsa Wenzel)

"Can you imagine tourism like this in Iraq someday?," he asked. The question was already on my mind.

Abidin Travels is one piece within an 8-month Iraq-themed series of events supported by the nonprofit Montalvo Arts Center in Silicon Valley's Saratoga Hills. Its creator, Baghdad-born artist Adel Abidin, lives in Helsinki, Finland. You can visit his Web site, a replica of the art installation's kiosk screen, to book your own imaginary trip.

Goldman Sachs: New iPhones, Apple TV for 2008

We had a pretty good idea that a new iPhone would be coming in 2008, but what will it look like?

A report from Goldman Sachs Wednesday spotted by AppleInsider doesn't exactly shed much more light on that subject, but says that Apple is gearing up to deliver two new iPhones next year. The first one sounds like it will be just a storage upgrade with more flash memory in the first half of the year, while the second half of the year should bring the long-awaited 3G iPhone, according to the report.

Not one, but two iPhones could be released next year, according to Goldman Sachs.(Credit: CNET Networks)

Both Apple CEO Steve Jobs and AT it says Apple is going to attach an LCD screen to Apple TV. Maybe I'm missing something very obvious, and feel free to point it out below, but I just can't fathom why Apple would want to do that. Apple TV's problems have nothing to do with the lack of a display.

Anyway, the report also says that Goldman can't find as much evidence of the long-rumored ultraportable notebook that's supposedly on tap for Macworld, saying that "possible design issues" might have delayed that model. Just another day in the Apple rumor business.

Scientists create glow-in-the-dark cats

Add a black light and the cat glows red.(Credit: Gyeongsang National University)

This may be the fluffiest, freakiest thing since Alba, the green fluorescent bunny from artist Eduardo Kac.

South Korean scientists tinkering with fluorescence protein genes say they have bred white Turkish Angora cats to glow red under ultraviolet light.

The pair of cats cloned from a mother's altered skin cell are nearly a year old. The researchers told the AFP that their work could help unravel mysteries of some 250 genetic diseases suffered by both humans and cats. The findings also could be used to clone endangered tigers, leopards, and other animals, the report said.

However, it's unlikely that such psychedelic-looking cats would come to pet stores anytime soon. Debates about the ethics and safety of concocting cloned and transgenic animals continue to rage.

Genetic Savings " >

GloFish glow, too.(Credit: GloFish)

California officials in 2004 banned the sale of GloFish, the world's first transgenic pet.

British scientists injected jellyfish genes into chickens and pigs to make them glow several years ago. Last year, Taiwanese scientists said they also spawned glow-in-the-dark pigs.

The cat experiment took place at Gyeongsang National University with funding from the Korean government.

Perhaps the biggest cloning story to hail from South Korea was the revelation in 2005 that a prominent doctor had faked a breakthrough in cloning humans.

(Via miguel23)

Dell tries tablets with Latitude XT

Tablet computing is a very small pond, and it's now home to a very big fish: Dell.

The Round Rock, Texas-based PC maker is expected to announce the availability of the Latitude XT Tablet PC on Tuesday, the company's first product in the category.

It's sunscreen for produce

Purfresh, which used to go by the name Novazone, has tested and now will more actively market a sunscreen for things that come out of the ground.

Called Eclipse, it's a powder made from multicrystalline calcium carbonate. You spray it on onions and other crops to reduce solar stress. Farmers can lose 30 percent or more of their crops to overexposure to the sun, said Purfresh CEO David Cope. The remaining, salable crops can also get damaged and lose some of their value through overexposure. Spray on the powder--which is rated SPF 42--and you can eliminate losses due to in-field sunburn.

The product has mostly been tested in Chile, but the company will try to market it in a variety of regions. It's safe for humans, too.

"It's the same white power you see in chewing gum wrappers," said Cope.

Eclipse is part of the company's plans to become a full-service house for food and water technology. Currently, it mostly earns revenue through its systems that purify bottled water or produce with ozone. The company has 300 customers in 22 countries. While most of the customers are growers, the company is expanding sales to transportation outfits and retailers.

And speaking of ozone, the company has also released a software product, called Intellipure, that monitors food and drinks as they move from harvesting or production to the shelf. This way, if you get poisoned, it's easier to find out where the problem occurred.

Food and water purification is getting to be a big business. Remember all those stories about e coli and spinach? It was the result of improper purification. Australia's Ioteq is coming to this country with a system that purifies harvested produce with iodine. Meanwhile, TyraTech is developing a cheese that kills tapeworms.

Apple ups iPhone purchase limit to five

After putting a two-unit limit on purchases of the iPhone back in October, the company has quietly raised the limit back to five.

If you've got a family of three, you can now get everyone an iPhone in one transaction.(Credit: CNET Networks)

iPhone Atlas spotted the move on Friday, and Wired also confirmed on Monday that Apple is still not taking cash for the iPhone. At the time the limit was announced, Apple said it wanted to ensure there would be enough supply in hand for the holiday shopping season, which is well under way.

So, either they've ramped up production, which would make sense following the European launches, or demand has waned. I don't see anything that indicates that interest in the iPhone has fallen off, especially at the $399 price, but we'll know for sure in January following either Macworld or Apple's earning announcement.

Apple is apparently still worried about the resale market, however, since it's sticking with its policy of only accepting credit cards for iPhone purchases. That was the reason given for the decision to stop accepting cash: that the company wanted to discourage unlocking and unauthorized resales of the iPhone. It will be interesting to see how long Apple sticks with that policy as more and more iPhones enter the world.

Free games to play on your iPhone

Not all games have been optimized for the iPhone equally. In fact, I found quite a few clunkers that seemed to exist only to take your cash, advertise dubious services, or bombard you with cut-rate graphics. Shudder. These five games, added just this month, test your strategy and timing while offering above-average graphics.

Don't forget to review the games on CNET Download.com, or serve up your own favorites in the comments below.

501 Darts is a two-player strategy game that pits you against your cutthroat iPhone. The goal is to roll down your points from 400 to zero by lobbing darts where it counts--in the highest point zones possible. Tap the red button once to set your horizon and once again to choose the vertical axis. Then watch the arrows fly. The game is fun, but lacks settings to change the game style, pause or save a game, or even reduce the points if you want a shorter game.

501 Darts is free, supported by a banner ad that doesn't obstruct the graphics, though it certainly won't beautify them either.

The same publisher, Ion Games, brings you Golf Driving Range, which uses similar horizontal and vertical bars tirelessly vacillating between extremes to set the direction and strength with which you hit. It behooves players to also pay attention to wind direction and the course schematic while planning their shots. The iPhone's timing eluded me for the first two games, but as I started getting the hang of how to plan my taps, frustration melted into personal challenge.

You can always tell Sudoku sovereigns by their intense, withdrawn stare. Addicts of the Japanese puzzle game can solve a daily conundrum for free, and ad-free, with Radworkz Daily Puzzles. Insert a digit into the appropriate square by tapping the square once and selecting from the number wheel.

Sometimes the simplest game is the most satisfying. Connect4 touch is one of those. The iPhone-generation's high-tech take on the classic two-player game again matches wits with your Apple's AI to see which player can line up four colored circles first. This one is ad-supported, but once you click the "play" bar below the ad, the game is nuisance-free.

A new day, a new puzzle--that's iFreecell's philosophy. Each day, tiles of three designs are shuffled into a 64-square grid. Your job is to remove the tiles by clicking the designs--but those social tiles only disappear when they have a companion. Use your noggin to click away the adjacent or stacked tiles without leaving any singletons behind.

A new face in HTPCs

When we first opened the PDF containing the concept images of Omaura's concept TT chassis, we thought for a second it was a large, TV-stand-ready all-in-one PC whose display had a seriously distorted aspect ratio. We'll confess to a little disappointment once we realized it was simply an upright case, but that shot of its interior got us excited again. Imagine sticking the TT on a low-profile table under your wall-mounted LCD or plasma screen.

Omaura's concept HTPC gone upright.(Credit: Omaura)

Psst...wanna buy a hard drive?(Credit: Omaura)

The shots of the TT concept come to us by way of Chris Morley at Omaura North America. The former Velocity Micro Director of Product Development is now helping to bring Omaura's cases to the U.S. Whether the TT will become a real product is still to be determined, but if you head over to Omaura's Web site, you'll see its current clean-lined TF product selection. These should be on sale in the U.S. next year in the form of either DIY chassis or complete systems from various system vendors. Of course, the case itself could float on a cushion of antigravity and it would still have a hard time making a home theater PC as seamless as traditional entertainment hardware. Still, for living room PCs, Omaura's cases look particularly sleek, with not a single alien head in sight.

Apple ups iPhone purchase limit to 5

After putting a two-unit limit on purchases of the iPhone back in October, the company has quietly raised the limit back to five.

If you've got a family of three, you can now get everyone an iPhone in one transaction.(Credit: CNET Networks)

iPhone Atlas spotted the move on Friday, and Wired also confirmed on Monday that Apple is still not taking cash for the iPhone. At the time the limit was announced, Apple said it wanted to ensure there would be enough supply in hand for the holiday shopping season, which is well under way.

So, either they've ramped up production, which would make sense following the European launches, or demand has waned. I don't see anything that indicates that interest in the iPhone has fallen off, especially at the $399 price, but we'll know for sure in January following either Macworld or Apple's earning announcement.

Apple is apparently still worried about the resale market, however, since it's sticking with its policy of only accepting credit cards for iPhone purchases. That was the reason given for the decision to stop accepting cash: that the company wanted to discourage unlocking and unauthorized resales of the iPhone. It will be interesting to see how long Apple sticks with that policy as more and more iPhones enter the world.

The cheese that kills, and other nutraceuticals

It will be delicious, nutritious, and kill tapeworms.

TyraTech, a green technology incubator, is developing a cheese that will be as nutritious as regular food but also kill intestinal parasites, according to CFO Keith Bigsby. The company has signed a deal with Kraft Foods to bring these functional foods to market. Kraft will pay the company engineering fees and, if products come out, royalties from sales. TyraTech is going to try to send me a glass of a drink they are working on for a taste test.

If you are reading this, you probably don't have a tapeworm, but nematodes and other worms remain a major health problem for 2 billion people living in rural Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

TyraTech's product is part of a wave of what some people call nutraceuticals. Basically, these companies produce foods that can provide enhanced nutrition or medicinal properties, according to according to Laurie Yoler, a partner at investment bank GrowthPoint Technology Partners, which recently started to work with companies in the field. While these products will likely be sold as foodstuffs and medical products in the emerging world, they will be largely be marketed as lifestyle products to people in Palo Alto.

Attune Foods, for instance, has come out with a shelf-stable energy bar containing probiotics, the healthy active cultures found in yogurt and acidophilus. Probiotics are big in Europe and Japan and have begun to penetrate the United States. Attune's CEO is Rob Hurlbut, who used to be the CEO of Niman Ranch, the famed producer of natural beef (i.e. no injections).

Attune wellness bars go down easier than suppositories.(Credit: Mike Kanellos/CNET Networks)

A chocolate bar with more active cultures than yogurt that costs less than $2? There are a hundred neurotic parents I can name that will line up to buy it now that they know it exists. It actually tastes good, too. After taking the picture at left, I wolfed down the company's cool mint chocolate wellness bar. There's a slightly different aftertaste than regular chocolate, but otherwise it goes down like regular chocolate. Ilya Nykin of Prolog Ventures, which invested in Attune, calls these products functional foods.

TyraTech is also working on biopesticides, which are natural pesticides made from microbes. Organic farmers, and a growing number of conventional farmers, spray these on their crops rather than chemical fertilizer. The organic pesticides are safer for humans, advocates say, and can be sprayed closer to the time of harvest than conventional pesticides. Biopesticides also tend to be safer for field workers.

In the past, biopesticides were often snake oil solutions, according to people in the industry. But the killing power and effectiveness of these mixtures has greatly increased over the years while the price has come down. Other companies in biopesticides include AgraQuest and Marrone Organics.

This week in laptops

Bjork fans sing along: It's oh so quiet / Shhh, shhh / it's oh so still / Shhh, shhh...

Few manufacturers want to interrupt the holiday buying season with new product announcements; why make the stuff currently sitting on shelves seem obsolete? Besides, two major shows--CES and Macworld--are just around the corner. So this week was filled with a little news and a lot of speculation.

First up: Apple. Matt Elliott redefined our notion of gadget lust in his write-up about the LED-backlit MacBooks, which are reportedly on the way in time for Macworld. But who wouldn't get a little steamy thinking about lighter, brighter MacBooks? Also gaining steam was the rumor of a 12-inch MacBook, which CNBC helped perpetuate. In the midst of all the Mac madness, Tom Krazit took a moment to riff on whether Apple can even deliver on the Mac's "brand promise."

Dell dominated headlines this week, too, with news that it would start selling computers at Best Buy and reports that its Latitude XT tablet will become available this Tuesday. Dell also launched a special World of Warcraft-themed edition of the XPS M1730. (We love the XPS M1730--in fact, we gave it a CNET Editors Choice award--but we do have to wonder if the $4,499 WoW edition is really just an expensive way to annihilate your love life.) Despite the product and partnership announcements, Dell did get bruised by recent market research, which indicates that it's losing market share to Taiwanese giant Acer .

At CNET Reviews this week we kept our eyes on the budget, with in-depth looks at the $849 Toshiba Satellite M205 as well as the $899 Fujitsu LifeBook V1010. CNET blogger Michael Horowitz dispensed advice about purchasing replacement laptop batteries. Gadgette Molly Wood posted a few resources for women's laptop bags. And Crave Asia's Reuben Lee shared a port replicator that connects to your laptop via the ExpressCard slot.

Other stories worth reading: Intel is reportedly poised to announce 45-nanometer laptop processors on January 6; Microsoft is serious about getting Windows XP on the One Laptop Per Child project's XO laptop, but the hardware presents a challenge; JetBlue is testing out Wi-Fi on flights; and PC World has a how-to on protecting data on your laptop's hard drive.

Finally, a team of reporters from Webware and News.com compiled some predictions about where technology is headed in 2008.

Have a great weekend!

Diehard Apple fans line up way in advance for N.Y. store opening

The start of the Apple Store line snaking around the front of the store. You can't actually see most of the line, as it's off to the left; security was in the process of crowd control.(Credit: Caroline McCarthy/CNET News.com)

Fanboy alert! iPod and MacBook Pro spotted in line...(Credit: Caroline McCarthy/CNET News.com)

It was freezing cold and snow was starting to come down, but at 2:30 p.m. EST there were already several hundred people waiting in line at the new Apple Store on West 14th St. in Manhattan's Meatpacking District, which which opens at 6 p.m. One estimate put the crowd at about 600 people with several hours still to go.

The first person in line, a high schooler, had showed up at 1 a.m. That's not a typo. He told CNET News.com that by 3:30 or 4 a.m., more people started to join him. But the line really started to take off in the early afternoon, as students were let out for the weekend (some schools in the area close early on Fridays) and grown-up Apple fans cleared out of their offices in favor of lining up in the freezing cold.

Yeah, here's the end of the line. With three hours to go.(Credit: Caroline McCarthy/CNET News.com)

Apple events are known for generating long lines well in advance--just look at the lines that formed for the Leopard operating system and the highly anticipated iPhone. But there's no product being released this time--it's just the opening of a new store.

So why wait? Well, Apple's given some incentives. "Come celebrate with us this Friday as we'll be giving away thousands of limited-edition posters and commemorative T-shirts," the store's Web site invited tantalizingly. "You might even win one of several great surprise gifts such as an iMac, a MacBook Pro, or an iPod Touch."

Sweet! Count me in!(Credit: Caroline McCarthy/CNET News.com)

As we've seen with many launch events that draw lengthy queues, many of the people in line were "tag-teaming" with friends, one waiting while the other went to grab food, coffee, or just headed for an indoor space to thaw up. And one local business was capitalizing on the freezing masses: the T Salon, located in the nearby Chelsea Market shopping complex, was distributing free cups of chai to anyone in line.

Also spotted: An establishment across the street, Comix Bar, was pricing apple martinis at half price for happy hour in celebration of the Apple Store launch. Good to know Jobs & Co. are welcome in the neighborhood.

EchoStar now called Dish Network, spins off Sling Media

One of the largest satellite TV providers is slicing itself into smaller pieces.

Formerly called EchoStar, it will be split into two businesses: the satellite broadcast service will be called Dish Network, and its fixed satellite services and set-top box business will be called EchoStar Holding Co., according to SEC filings dug up by GigaOm.

(Credit: Dish Network)

Current chairman and CEO Charlie Ergen will retain both titles as head of both companies.

EchoStar Holding Co. (EHC) will include Sling Media, which was bought by EchoStar in October for $380 million. The Slingbox is now one of several set-top boxes that EHC could possibly sell to other cable operators or other satellite companies.

There had been rumors earlier this year of AT&T being interested in buying EchoStar, and Dish Network as its own business could be easily snapped up by the cable operator.

NASA delaying space shuttle launch until at least Saturday

For those of you who made plans to visit NASA's Kennedy Space Center today to see the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis, you'd better hope you can keep your hotel room another day.

That's because the space agency announced this morning that it has decided to delay Atlantis' launch until at least Saturday because "of a problem with a fuel cutoff sensor system inside the shuttle's external fuel tank," according to a NASA press release.

NASA decided Friday to delay the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis due to a problem with the fuel cutoff sensor system.(Credit: NASA)

The shuttle program managers expect to have a meeting Friday afternoon at Kennedy Space Center to decide what they need to do to get liftoff tomorrow.

According to the release, "two of the four engine cutoff...sensors inside the liquid hydrogen section of the tank failed a routine prelaunch check."

In addition, other sensors also gave false readings, "indicating that the (fuel) tank was 'wet' when it was dry."

As of now, NASA said it is aiming for a launch that could happen as early as 12:43 p.m. EST Saturday. But given the importance of safety and of ensuring that the shuttle launch without problems, don't be surprised if there are additional delays.