Russia is reportedly considering making each and every Wi-Fi capable device mandatory for registration, in an attempt to control and monitor such devices that run in the wild. The proposal thus far has been adopted by the government agency responsible for regulating communications and cultural protection, according to Electronista.

The fallout of such a move would result in a registration period time gap of up to 10 days for notebooks and smartphones, with routers requiring "extra documentation." Clearly, this is not conducive whatsoever to Russia's growing tech industry and would represent a reversal of progress since 2004.

Sony Senior Vice President Peter Dille has confirmed via the official PlayStation blog that in-game XMB, a North American video download service that "separates the service from others you've seen or used", and expanded community features are on the way for 2008. Additionally, for those without credit cards, PlayStation cards in denominations of $20 and $50 will be available "this spring" (i.e., now) at major retailers. Dille also expanded upon his post by stating that Sony is dedicated to making the PlayStation experience built around four pillars:

An anonymous tipster has revealed to Gizmodo Pioneer's 2008 Blu-ray players, not set to be officially announced until May. Surprisingly, they are not going to support Blu-ray profile 2.0, only profile 1.1. This will result in no ethernet connectivity, but it will support picture-in-picture. Aside from the usual profile 1.1 amenities, Pioneer will offer the following in each of their new Blu-ray players:

• Internal decoding of all high-res audio formats • 8-bit to 12-bit Deep Color conversion • Picture control suite with nine new video adjustments, including four video noise reduction enhancements for customers seeking a more customized picture.

Thanks to some outstanding investigative journalism on behalf of The Guardian and Gizmodo, it looks like Psystar is a complete hoax. After multiple inquiries to the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and the Miami Chamber of Commerce, niether can confirm that Psystar even exists as a registered corporation. Some more investigating has revealed that the physical address of Psystar has changed at least once in Google, as well as the fact that an Internet Archive search of Psystar's web address shows that the Psystar Corporation is sketchy at best.

To add even more discredit to their "business", Psystar's online store is now "offline" due to the fact that they are "currently unable to process any credit card transactions." Readers on Gizmodo have noted that their order was never encrypted, and thus it added even more fuel to conspiracy fire. 

As promised, the redesigned Sony PlayStation Store is now online and available via the PlayStation 3 firmware 2.30 update. With DTS-HD MA now available in all PlayStation 3 models, the most future-proof Blu-ray player just got even sweeter. Everyone is claiming much faster speeds and easier navigation - but there does not appear to be any new content yet.

Great job Sony, it looks like you can finally go head to head with Xbox Live's Marketplace. Now just deliver some great new downloadable content and throw in some HD rentals and we're all set.

Word was spreading fast when news broke a few days ago that a Mac-compatible computer built from Miami based Psystar would soon arrive for a mere $399. With 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB of DDR2 667 memory, 250GB hard drive, DVD-ROM and integrated graphics, it was a bargain for anyone looking to experience Leopard. But it looks like it was too good to be true, because Apple's legal team has officially silenced this gem from Psystar.

DailyTech reports that while simply configuring the hardware is no grounds for legal action, the nail in the coffin for this Psystar box was that on their website, they offered to "pre-install OS X Leopard" - which violates the Leopard End User License Agreement (EULA): 

For all of the HD DVD loyalists out there, a bit of bad news: Cyberlink's PowerDVD Version 8 no longer supports HD DVD - only Blu-ray. Cyberlink now recommends that HD DVD owners use version 7.3 in order to watch their movies. A look at Cyberlink's website clearly shows the absence of HD DVD support.

The fallout from such a move on Cyberlink's part clearly has infuriated those who still maintain their collection of HD DVD movies. As evidenced on both The Green Button forum and the HighDefDigest forum, people don't want to run two versions of software, especially when the competing WinDVD software supports both formats.