New Playstation Goodies, Get Ready to Rumble

Now that Blu-ray has emerged as the victor in the high definition format war, we expect to see renewed interest in the Playstation 3 as consumers look to kill two birds with one stone. But just to make sure, Sony plans to up the ante. Come April 15, Sony will finally make available the DualShock 3 controller to North American gamers. The vibrating controller will also find its way into a new $499 bundle in late 2008, which will include an 80GB console and Metal Gear Solid 4. And not to be overlooked, the PSP will get a "Deep Red" makeover this June, with Kratos from the God of War series branded on the back.

New Buzz at Yahoo

Yahoo's jumping into the social media scene, and they've created a Buzz along the way. Literally. Like Digg, Del.icio.us, and Reddit, Yahoo Buzz displays user ranked articles from across the web, creating a one-stop repository of the most popular news items. But unlike the other social media services, casual readers are unable to submit articles to the Buzz network, leaving it up to Yahoo and its team of publishers to keep content interesting. Read more here.

iHaptic

The iPhone's touch screen continues to woo consumers, but the lack of force feedback prevents the trendy phone from currying favor among critics. Not content to wait for Apple to offer haptic feedback, a pair PhD students from the University of Glasgow designed their own prototype application utilizing the iPhone's "vibrotactile actuator." The application creates different vibration patterns to simulate what it feels like to push a "smooth rounded button," the feel of a key snapping back into place, and locations of keys. For now, the team's feedback technology only works with their HapticKB application and can't be used with other apps.

Microsoft Fined $1.3 Billion

According to the European Union, Microsoft charged "unreasonable prices" until last October to software developers looking to make ther products compatible with Windows. As a result, the EU hit the software giant with a record $1.3 billion fine today, more than twice as much as the $613 fine imposed back in March 2004. The EU claims Microsoft withheld crucial interoperability information for desktop software, among other complaints. Read more here.

Paypal Procedures

Starting next month, you may find your Paypal funds in a holding pattern for 21 days if deemed a "high-risk transaction." The new policy has sellers wondering how much money PayPal and eBay stand to make from the accruing interest on frozen funds, and conspiracy theorists are reeling at the prospect. But is it much ado about nothing? Company execs and analysts contend that money made in such a fashion has a negligible impact on its bottom line. CNNMoney dives more deeply into the subject here.

Ice Cold Hackers

Give MacGyver a can of compressed air and he could probably build a bomb. Give the same item to researchers at Princeton University, and they'll hack your encrypted hard drive. The Princeton reports shows how freezing DRAM chips causes it to retain data, including keys to unlock encryption, for up to hours after losing power. Would be hackers need only reboot the compromised PC with a program designed to copy the memory contents before it can be purged. Laptops left in sleep mode or hibernation are particularly at risk. Read more here.

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