Immersion, the company that owns virtually every vibration and haptic tech on earth, is getting a taste of its own medicine now that it owes Microsoft $21 million. You may remember back in 2003 when Microsoft floated an unknown sum of cash in the direction of Immersion in order to include patented vibration technology in its Xbox 360 controllers. Around the same time, Sony told us all that we don't need no stinkin' vibration and passed on paying up. Last year, though, Sony bowed to customer pressure and paid Immersion $121 million in order to unleash the Dual Shock 3. Immersion was supposed to share some of that Sony booty with Microsoft -- and they didn't. So there we have it: we all got a piece of Sony and we have the DualShock 3. Everyone happy now?

It's been at least an hour since Sony has released a new PlayStation 3 SKU, so our friends at Joystiq took the time to take a breath. In that moment, they came up with a handy -- and somewhat startling -- chart that explains which PS3 model has what, including Cell chip size (the more efficient and quieter 65nm vs the older 90nm), USB port count, pack-in freebies, and which ones have PS2 backwards compatibility. It's charts like that remind us that no currently-shipping PS3 comes with HD video cables or PS2 backward compatibility, for better or worse. Hit the read link for the breakdown, and start your fanboy engines.

Last we heard from Ricoh, they were erecting enviro-friendly billboards in New York. Now that that's done with, Ricoh is back in the camera game with the R10. This shooter sports a 10-megapixel sensor, and 28-200 wide-angle 7.1x zoom lens, 3-inch HVGA LCD screen, CCD-shift image stabilizer, and in-camera image editing. Some of its more esoteric features include an adjustable flash intensity, electronic level to match up with horizons, and easy shooting mode for beginners. It comes in black, silver, and bronze, but US release date and price info aren't up just yet. Look for it to run around the same as its predecessor, the Ricoh R8 -- around $400.

[Via PhotographyBlog]

If you've been looking for more nitty-gritty on Microsoft's Sphere, you've come to the right place. An in-depth video reveals Sphere's photo browser and video browser complete with multi-touch "pinch" resizing, object rotation, a circular menu that pops up when you place both hands on top of the sphere, omni-directional camera, and a "send-to-the-darkside" gesture that tosses an object to the sphere's opposite side. In addition, a diagram (pictured above) reveals sphere's innards, including a projector and all sorts of IR magic. All this, and more, in the video after the break.

It's about time Boeing went and shot that frickin' laser. The Boeing Advanced Tactical Laser C-130H aircraft has completed its first ground test, shooting a high-energy chemical laser through a beam-control system. The gun successfully acquired a ground target and shot the darn thing on August 7, paving the way for an in-air test later this year, hopefully from that bad-ass 747 they've been touting. Boeing promises that the ATL will "destroy, damage or disable targets with little to no collateral damage." Yay for surgical strikes? Maybe some popcorn?

If there was any doubt that the Nikon D90 D-SLR was coming your way, and a Best Buy stock record wasn't enough after a Circuit City inventory screen didn't sway you, then perhaps a snapshot of the product UPC will convince you? This code showed up on UPC database last night and, well, let's just say that it's time to start saving your pennies for this $1300 wonder.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, a UPC for the Canon EOS-9D also popped up on the site. UPC haters can (and should) move along, but the link is here. [Thanks, Scott F]

Remember those uber-fast VelociRaptor drives that had the hardcore (and IT dwellers) in a tizzy? Turns out they had some inexplicable design flaw that put the power and serial connections in the wrong spot, rendering some 3.5-inch backplane server installations basically useless. WD has announced a new solution that fixes this, and the new drives are now shipping. No word on returns and exchanges, but we have a feeling WD will be making good on this. Oops, and good job on the quick fix, WD.

UPDATE: Official word from WD on this is as follows: "WD knew they would have the WD VelociRaptor drive ready for PC/WS (Wintel apps) months ahead of the enterprise versions because of the firmware/system validation required in our ESG labs across the thousands of enterprise slots. We decided to come out with GLFS as "Wintel only" and put together a simpler mounting frame for the cabled systems which dominate the PC/WS market. The backplane sled requires the design of an interposer card and extensive signal integrity testing (anyone who has dealt with enterprise applications knows that interposer cards can create nightmares). Instead of delay the introduction of WD VelociRaptor all together, we decided to go with the simple mounting frame while we did our backplane validation along with the firmware, vibration, etc... type validation we do for enterprise."

[Via Crunchgear]

Now that all the mystery over the Dell Studio Hybrid is a lot less, err, mysterious, it's time for the machine to get unboxed, set up, and revealed for all. We already know that the Studio Hybrid isn't a massive performer, but given its $499 price that includes a keyboard and mouse, we're not about to complain. The reviewed unit was packed with an Intel Core Duo T2390 CPU, 3GB DDR2 RAM, 250 GB 5400 RPM HDD, 8x slot-loading DVD burner, and Intel X3100 GPU. Peep the red shiny goodness (or badness, depending on your needs) after the break in full video splendor.

Buh. So, this is getting confusing. According to sources over at ShackNews, the Rock Band 2 Special Edition bundle that was originally set to launch on September 14 exclusively on Xbox 360 will hit stores on October 19. For you fanboys keeping score, that's the same date that the game will hit for other consoles. It's still not clear if the game and instruments will still show up on retail shelves on September 14, but if you were looking to get your groove on in September, you may want to chill.

[Via Crunchgear]

Right on schedule, Gateway has set free its P-7811 FX gaming laptop, and we got our hands on one right before you can get your own. Our test unit shipped with the aforementioned Intel Core 2 Duo at 2.26GHz with a 3MB L2 cache, Windows Vista Home 64-bit, Intel PM45 Express Chipset, NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTS with 512MB of GDDR3 discrete video memory, a 17-inch WXGA screen, 200GB 7200 SATA HDD, 4GB DDR3 800MHz RAM, HDMI, 9-cell battery, and 1.3MP webcam. We're pretty pleased with the performance of the machine, although dialing up Crysis to its max settings made it choke a bit. We're still not sold on the computer's stylings, but in a dark room of gaming goodness, who's paying attention to gaudy lights and overly-shiny carbon anyway, right? Peep the hands-on pics and a brief video of Crysis in action after the break. And yes, we know we suck at the game.

Things are looking rosy in Intel's land of Atom, the little chip that could. Early reports from the chip maker indicate that Atom sales are brisk. After declaring a 25% rise in quarterly profit, Intel noted that the MID, netbook, and embedded-friendly Atom isn't cannibalizing sales of its traditional processors. In fact, it notes that Atom chips are creating a completely new money machine. Intel calls Atom a "perfect recession product" as it plays well into people's desire to pick up a second PC or a low-cost small computer for kids. Meanwhile, the embedded market hasn't even been reported yet. Once those numbers come in, it will probably be time to call Atom a success.

If dreams of a possibly redesigned PSP don't have you waiting, you're a sucker for the Madden football, and the color blue gets you going, Sony has the package for you. The Madden NFL 09 PSP Entertainment Pack includes a metallic-blue PSP, Madden NFL 09, 1GB Memory Stick Duo, In Just One Play movie on UMD (apparently they're still pressing movies on UMD), and a voucher for a free download of Beats from the PSN. It runs $199 like other PSP packs, and is available...now. Question is: who's the Jets' starting quarterback?

Back in May, we heard that MTI Micro was working with "an elusive Japanese developer or digicams" to get its Mobion fuel cell tech into actual products. Given this Canon Fuel Cell DSLR patent, it looks like we can no-so elusively safely say where the camera is being developed. The patent itself is straight up enough: "The present invention related to an electronic equipment system having fuel cells, and more particularly, to a camera system in which fuel cells are provided to a camera body and a connection device connected to the camera body." It looks as though the fuel cells will power the entire camera system, including flashes and other motors, complete with a separate power management system, sort of like having your own mini generator. As for when this system will be available, no word.

[Via Photographybay]

When landing or taking off in a plane, the only things you want to see on the runway are lights and stripes. Foreign Object Debris (FOD), the stuff that can get sucked into engines or even flatten a plane's tires, has become the focus of several new technologies that are setting out to remove the bad stuff. Why do we care? Because some of these technologies call not only for little sensors mounted on runway lights, but also for robots that will cruise out, pick up the debris, and dispose of it as found in the Xsight system from Trex Enterprises. Others, like QinetiQ Airport Technologies' debris system, displays debris on screen at the airport's tower. Whatever the solution, we say: bring on the runway bots and safety.

Just because you can put a speaker in all sorts of form factors doesn't really mean you should. Take, for instance, the Freewheeler wireless speaker. Measuring in at 22.8 x 9.8-inches, the rolly sound producer will operate at up to 656-feet from its base station and includes an FM receiver. Doesn't sound so bad, right? Hold off, kiddos -- this thing sells for about $21,000. Yeah. Twenty one. Thousand. That said, the thing is completely wireless and will run on a single charge for about 8 hours, so if you have some swanky garden with swanky guests and you want some swanky speakers, here's your thing. Otherwise, we have a nice set over here in this white van. Just for you.