A quick-thinking 12-year-old girl prevented a kidnapper in a van from taking her when she held up her iPod Touch -- which looks exactly like the iPhone -- and told the man she was calling 9-1-1. According to a news report, he then fled.

The incident happened Wednesday in Stanton, Delaware, and was reported by ABC station WPVI in Philadelphia.

The girl was standing on a sidewalk outside a middle school, waiting for her ride, when the man drove up and said to her, "Get in the van." When she heard that, she held the iPod Touch to her ear and told the suspect she was calling for help.

As Cult of Mac points out, the iPod Touch can be turned into a phone using the device's Wi-Fi capability "in a pinch by installing VOIP apps like Truphone to make calls. To use your second- or third-generation iPod Touch as a phone, you’ll need the app plus a headset with microphone, or a microphone adapter like those sold for the iPhone." As long as you're in a Wi-Fi area, you don't even need cellular service from AT&T (currently the exclusive seller of the iPhone in the U.S.).

Parents, it's something to think about when you're debating whether to get your child the highest-end iPod, which starts at $229. And kids, what better argument to give your folks when lobbying for that iPod Touch than the example cited here?

ABC - WPVI via Gizmodo and Cult of Mac

Are you a fan, or more importantly a user, of Facebook Places? No badges for you! (Scout-like badges are what location-based check-in service Foursquare offers you for haunting various locales.) But maybe, just maybe, with Facebook Places, you might wind up getting spammed by ads or quite possibly free stuff — things you could use.

That's according to a report from AllFacebook.com, which says that Facebook is testing a "Facebook Deals" service that "enables businesses to provide deals whenever visitors check-in to a physical store. The new service is being tested with a limited number of partners, and all we currently have access to is a copy of an e-mail sent from Facebook confirming one of the first deals being tested."

Facebook didn't confirm or deny AllFacebook's report, saying: "We don’t comment on speculation. We have nothing to share at this time.” Late Friday, the social networking site did send out a media invitation for a "mobile event" it plans for 10:30 a.m. Nov. 3. It's not clear from that invitation whether a Places-related announcement will be made.

The Places deal, says AllFacebook.com, "involves rewarding a Facebook user with a free product when three of a user’s friends are tagged at a specific place. The creators of deals can determine the threshold required to earn a deal.

"One of the major criticisms of many of the existing check-in services (Foursquare, Gowalla and even Facebook) is the lack of incentives for checking in to various locations."

It's not clear yet whether Places, just introduced by Facebook in August, is appealing to site's 500 million users, some of whom already feel Facebook already has too much information about them, posted or not. So far, about 30 million people have tried Facebook Places, a source "who works with Facebook" told Silicon Alley Insider.

As great as it might be to get some free stuff when you go places you're headed already, it could turn annoying or even scary. What happens when Facebook starts spamming you with promos for interests that even your friends of friends don't know about?

Meet Boo, the Pom pup with a lion cut, oodles of YouTube videos and more than 163,000 Facebook fans, doing his darndest to ensure pounds and Pomeranian rescues are bursting at their adorable seams just in time for Christmas.

I've got three on back order!

OK. Not really. I have my own precarious collection of abandoned purebreds. Mind you, not enough to make my neighbors call A&E … yet. But certainly enough to understand the unhappy aftermarket that follows adorably problematic pups such as Boo, the Shibu Inu cuties of Puppy Cam fame, post-"Men in Black" pugs, the thousand-and-one deaf and snappy Dalmatians not suited for homes with children, and the current glut of fashionable French Bulldogs parading the streets of New York City.

Look. I'm not trying to judge. I'm just built that way.

The Internet is made of Cute, and I'm not immune to Boo or the rest of the Web's baby animal charms. Single-service sites such as Disapproving Rabbits, Turtles Eating Things and Hungover Owls are some of my favorite urls. I no doubt contributed to Frenchie-mania with my interview of Martha Stewart's dogs. I posted a link to that pug that pushes a stroller just this morning! And I proudly boast a close Twitter friendship with the photo-crashing Banff Squirrel.

The great thing about the Banff Squirrel is, you can't own the Banff Squirrel. The Amish don't operate baby squirrel mills (as far as I know). You're not going to try and catch a squirrel in your backyard because you'll get rabies. You'll never see pics of Paris Hilton on the town, teacup squirrel in hand ... hopefully. The Banff Squirrel's squee factor has no downside.

Meanwhile, Petfinder.com offers infinite choices of your favorite meme dog trendy original owners couldn't be bothered to house train.

Mommies and daddies rarely post YouTube videos of their darling fur baby eating the Wiimote, horking up a lung, running up $3,000 in vet bills for that ingrown claw that went to his brain, or peeing on every surface in the house. Thirty seraphic seconds of a little angel's awwwwwwww-inducing head bobbing does not come close to telling a whole story.

Indeed, Boo is cute, and insanely so. Obviously he's both loved and cared for by his humans. He looks like a healthy Mr. Winkle. Unlike a fantasy pup, Boo appears held together by more than fluff and your belief that he exists.

He's a dog. And before you bring home your pet store purchase on a whim, remember that dogs also do this:

Apple is now among the top five worldwide vendors of all cell phones -- not just smart phones -- vaulting to fourth place in the third quarter this year, when the iPhone 4 went on sale, according to new reports from two research firms.

"Apple was the star performer, as it jumped into the top-five rankings for the first time," said Neil Mawston, Strategy Analytics' director, global wireless practice.

Research firm IDC, in its third-quarter "Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker" report said that "the growing popularity of converged mobile devices, or smart phones, with consumers and businesspersons is evidenced by the appearance of a second smart phone-only vendor in the top 5 ranking ... joining Research In Motion (RIM) as one of the world's largest mobile phone suppliers."

Apple "leapt ahead of several vendors in 3Q10 including RIM, which it surpassed by 1.7 million units, and Sony Ericsson by 3.7 million units," IDC said.

"The company's record shipment performance can be attributed to the introduction of the iPhone 4 in 17 new countries last quarter. The record performance came despite 'Antennagate,' the name used to describe the controversy around alleged iPhone reception problems, in July."

On IDC's top five list of cell phone vendors worldwide:

1. Nokia - The phone giant retains its top spot, but third-quarter shipments increased only by 1.8 percent over the third quarter in 2009.

2. Samsung - Up 18.6 percent over a year ago, "pushing through the 70 million unit mark for the first time in the company's history." In addition to a standard phone business, Samsung has been making smart phones that use the Android operating system and now Windows Phone 7, both challenging the iPhone.

3. LG Electronics - While it's third, the company actually shipped 10.1 percent fewer phones in the third quarter of this year than last. "LG has yet to make a significant impact in the smart phone category, unlike its competitors," IDC said.

4. Apple - The company shipped 14.1 million phones in the third quarter of the year, a 90.5 percent increase over last year's third quarter.

5. Research In Motion - RIM "posted a record number of unit shipments" -- 12.4 million phones -- in the third quarter. "The BlackBerry maker continues to grow in Latin America, for example, due to the success of the Curve 8520 entry-level model, which has helped drive growth in most emerging markets. The vendor's results were also boosted by the introduction of the higher-cost Torch in the United States, a key market due to the size and intensity of competition."

Sony Ericsson, which shipped 10.4 million units in the third quarter, "fell off the top-five list for the first time" since IDC's Tracker was started in 2004.

Strategy Analytics list confirmed the same rankings. Apple's growth "continues to come from expanding its retail presence across dozens of countries and operators worldwide," said the firm. And that growth is expected to continue.

"A next major wave of expansion is likely to come from a CDMA version of the iPhone at Verizon Wireless in the U.S., a move that could put considerable competitive pressure on Samsung, LG and Motorola in the first half of 2011."

Looks like Google is not giving up when it comes to making its own phone: word of a Nexus Two phone, successor to the Nexus One, has been spreading in recent days, and Gizmodo Friday shared a mock-up of the device, said to be built by Samsung.

"It's not going rock your face like the Nexus One did. But it will record it with a front-facing camera" for video chat, said Gizmodo, which reports "a friend of ours" got to handle one.

"Our source thinks is the same 4-inch AMOLED affair from the (Samsung) Galaxy series, is flat, the front is 'sort of concave' with hard edges. And the back is curved. The tapering makes it feel thinner than Galaxy S, though it might be about the same thickness."

The Nexus One phone, released early this year, was a critical success but a financial flop. Google took a revolutionary approach by selling the $529 phone only via the Web and without a carrier contract. Two carriers -- T-Mobile and AT&T -- could run the phone on their GSM networks. Sprint, which like Verizon Wireless, uses a CDMA network, was going to support the phone, but then backed off. (With a two-year T-Mobile contract, the phone cost $179.)

Over the summer, Google shuttered its Web store, with the company's Android guru, Andy Rubin, saying that it was a "niche channel for early adopters, but it’s clear that many customers like a hands-on experience before buying a phone, and they also want a wide range of service plans to chose from."

The Nexus One (made by HTC) was often described by Google as a "super phone," a kind of king of Android-based phones, using Google's open-source operating system.

When it went on sale last January, there were only a few Android phones -- including the Motorola Droid and the T-Mobile G1 -- making a dent in the marketplace. Since then, there has been an explosion of Android devices, many from Motorola, but also from HTC, Samsung and LG.

Will a Nexus Two meet a better fate? Perhaps, but keeping the same name of a failed phone is not a good way to start off anew.

Good news everybody! Backwards time travel is yours to be downloaded in the form of all 900 gigabytes of Geocities!

Mount Everest has 3G wireless coverage! Even before it gets a Starbucks!

Google's Nexus Two totally exists! And there are five ways this cell phone of the not too distant future could bust carrier control!

There's a free app to prevent butt-dials on your Android!

The FCC cleared up Verizon's mystery cell phone fees with a $25 million fine!

Talk about shocking! Future touchscreens may use electrostatic feedback!

Facebook made a virtual page version of those "Best Friend" split charms that were big in the 80s!

The school board member who posted an anti-gay screed on Facebook unfriended his elected postion.

You can now sign into Flickr from your Google account!

Jenny the infamous stroller-pushing pug of Portland, Oregon wishes you a Happy Halloween!

Gay-bashing Arkansas Midland School District board member Clint McCance is not getting the credit he deserves. Last week, when McCance chose to spread his expletive-laced hate speech towards dead gay children via Facebook, his timing was perfect.

Preventing LGBT suicides is one hot topic, what with the momentum behind the "It Gets Better" video archive project. Anyone out there still questioning the severity of an issue that has private citizens, celebrities and President Obama making videos telling isolated kids that there is nothing wrong with them? McCance, whose position revolves around the future of children, helpfully blights all doubt.

Inspired by a Facebook invitation to wear purple on "Spirit Day" to honor students who suffered homophobic bullying and committed suicide, McCance threw both caution and grammar to the wind, posting this -- to a page that hadn't been secured using Facebook's privacy settings:

"Seriously they want me to wear purple because five queers killed themselves. The only way im wearin it for them is if they all commit suicide. I cant believe the people of this world have gotten this stupid. We are honoring the fact that they sinned and killed thereselves because of their sin. REALLY PEOPLE."

Six Facebook friends gave the thumbs-up "Like" to McCance's hate update. When another challenged McCance, he expounded:

"Being a f-g doesn't give you the right to ruin the rest of our lives. If you get easily offended by being called a f-g then dont tell anyone you are a f-g. Keep that s--- to yourself. I dont care how people decide to live their lives. They dont bother me if they keep it to thereselves. It pisses me off though that we make a special purple f-g day for them. I like that f-gs cant procreate. I also enjoy the fact that they often give each other aids and die. If you arent against it, you might as well be for it."

"I would disown my kids they were gay. They will not be welcome at my home or in my vicinity. I will absolutely run them off. Of course my kids will know better. My kids will have solid christian beliefs. See it infects everyone."

The Advocate happened upon the school board member's screed, and soon enough, thousands of Facebook users were sharing their true feelings about McCance via the group Fire Clint McCance. While distancing the school system and the school board from McCance's post, the Midland school superintendent released a statement implying it would not take action against the elected official's actions as a private citizen. The Arkansas Department of Education seemed a bit more concerned. On Thursday, McCance announced that he would resign.

Indeed, McCance does deserve the boot -- not for exercising his right to free speech, mind you, but for being full-on stupid.

How is it McCance got elected to the school board without the ability to work out this simple logic equation: "I sit on the school board. The school board's job concerns young people. Young people are committing suicide. If I post, on my publicly viewable Facebook account, my hatred for young people who are committing suicide, my position on the school board might be affected."

What a seriously weird disconnect.

Perhaps McCance never took Internet 101: A Nigerian prince's widow does not want to give you money. CitiBank doesn't request your Social Security number via e-mail. Young hot singles in your area are not looking to meet you. If you publicly post ignorant, inflammatory words or pictures on Facebook, you may draw fire from the people who are affected by your public role.

We can go blah blah blahall the live-long day over whether McCance -- or anyone who's ever been Facebook fired -- should be called into question for what he does or says or spews as a "private citizen." But that's not how the brave new world of social media works. My sister will take a turn even when the oncoming car isn't slowing down because hey, she has the right of way. We can argue McCance's rights to be a hateful bigot when he's off the clock, and my sister can get "right of way" engraved on her tombstone. Y'all feel me?

Let's just call this willful ignorance of how the world works "Facebook blindness." Like Facebook itself, "Facebook blindness" is neither good or evil -- just a thing that can be used. In this case, Facebook and McCance's apparent blindness did an excellent job of shining the light on an issue he's adamantly against -- preventing teen suicides.

While recent suicides of young people suffering homophobic harassment puts this epidemic in the media spotlight, it is by no means anything new. While McCance is getting all the heat for his hate speech, he is by no means alone in either belief or actions. If someone was saying that to a child, wouldn't you want to know? Now you do.

See how useful Facebook can be?

For online support for LGBT kids and teens visit:

It Gets Better Project on YouTube.

The Trevor Project, a national 24-hour, toll-free confidential suicide hotline for gay and questioning youth.

GLSEN: Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, an organization for students, parents, and teachers that tries to affect positive change in schools.

Related:

YouTube channel offers hope to gay teens

Follow Helen A.S. Popkin on Twitter or Friend her on Facebook. What are ya, chicken?

Google further honed its local search Thursday, introducing Place Search, a new program that organizes information around specific locations so users "can more easily make comparisons and decide where to go," and should snip about two seconds off such searches.

"Say you’re looking for that great barbecue restaurant with live music," writes Jackie Bavaro, Google product manager, on the company's blog. With Place Search, checking barbecue joints in the city of Austin, you get the result shown above, marked with red pins.

"Each one is a unique restaurant with relevant information and links from across the web," Bavaro wrote. "I can see that Stubb’s has live music, and I can click citysearch.com, tripadvisor.com and other sites to read reviews. In the past, the same search would return links with information about Stubb’s in different parts of the results page ... Now information is grouped conveniently to make it easier to digest and compare."

SearchEngineWatch.com noted that Place Search is "dramatically redrawing the search marketing landscape. It's more critical than ever for businesses to implement a local search, online review, and search engine optimization (SEO) strategy to achieve prominent visibility in the results Google displays for location specific searches."

Place Search results "will begin appearing automatically on Google when we predict you’re looking for local information," Bavaro said. Users will also see a new link for "Places" in the left-hand panel of the search results page "so you can switch to these results whenever you want."

Place Search dynamically connects "hundreds of millions of websites with more than 50 million real-world locations," she said.

"One of the great things about our approach is that it makes it easier to find a comprehensive view of each place. In our new layout you’ll find many more relevant links on a single results page — often 30 or 40. Instead of doing eight or 10 searches, often you’ll get to the sites you’re looking for with just one search. In our testing Place Search saves people an average of two seconds on searches for local information."

Place Search is being rolled out now, and should be available worldwide "in more than 40 languages in the next few days," Bavaro wrote. Google's goal -- besides making advertisers happy -- is "to help you feel like a local everywhere you go."

Facebook gives a lot of lip service about its deep concerns for your online privacy, but the world's largest social networking site doesn't say much about its own lobbying forays.

There wasn't a lot of fanfare when Facebook opened up its office in Washington D.C. And there's no company-issued press release or post of Facebook's blog about the $6,600 the Palo Alto-based company spent lobbying in California against the state's proposed Social Network Privacy Act. Facebook's recent state filing, noted by MarketWatch, revealed the expenses were specifically directed at the bill that would restrict social networking sites from displaying the address and phone numbers of minors.

"The reported lobbying activity underlines Facebook’s need to make its case with both state and federal legislators, amid growing concerns about online privacy," writes MarketWatch's John Letzing. "It also highlights the early stage of the social networking firm’s progress."

The bill, introduced in February by Sen. Ellen Corbett, D-Calif., passed in the state Senate in April, but stalled in the state Assembly. "By the time it got to the Assembly, the opposition lobbying had begun," Corbett told MarketWatch. Facebook did not comment on the MarketWatch story.

With two registered lobbyists and four public policy staffers, Facebook's presence in Washington D.C. is still comparatively small. "All told, Facebook spends less money in the Capitol in a year than some other tech giants do in three months," noted Politico, pointing to the $221,000 the social network spent from January through September.

Meanwhile, Google spent more than $3.8 million dealing with government officials over that same time period. Amazon, eBay and Yahoo all spent more than $1 million.

As government officials continue to focus on the very hot -- albeit not quite understood -- issue of online privacy, Facebook's D.C. budget will no doubt continue to grow. A lot of registered voters hang out on Facebook -- and there's always another online privacy kerfuffle around the corner.

Just in time for Halloween, the Fine Brothers remind us how much of the horror movie genre is crapped up with crappy sequels, as well as a recent Hollywood conceit -- the reboot. More importantly, the YouTube comedy duo help clear your Netflix queue with their rapid-fire rundown of 100 scary movies in less than five minutes in a single take.

As with their 50 Book Spoilers in 4 minutes, 50 Movie Spoilers of 2009, 100 TV Spoilers and 50 Nintendo Spoilers, all the high points are covered, sans pesky time sucks such as exposition and character development -- not that there's much of that in these sorts of films to begin with.

Draculas die, a possessed priest throws himself down stairs, Rosemary gives birth to the anti-Christ, Jigsaw keeps killing people even after his death, Ali Larter and Taye Diggs survive with the help of Chris Kattan's ghost and Freddy, Michael Myers, Jason and Chuckie keep coming back in sequels even worse than the originals. Plus! In the spirit of "Bruce Willis was dead the entire time!" the Fine Brothers reveal their own twist ending, which you just have to see for yourself.

James Cameron got all "Avatar" on Google CEO, telling technologists to be better stewards of the planet.

Gawker made a map of Google's legal troubles -- using Google Maps (OH SNAP!), while Wilson Rothman mapped out half-baked Google TV (DOUBLE SNAP!).

MySpace got called out for stealing its hot new look for fall.

Jezebel called out the 15 best "It Gets Better" videos for Dan Savage's suicide prevention project for LGBT teens.

Apple's online store is all, "This is not the white iPhone 4 you're looking for."

This is the iPad for Verizon Wireless you're looking for.

What, exactly, was Bill Gates looking for on his not-so-secret visit to Facebook?

Now we know Facebook was looking to stomp the Senate's Networking Privacy Act.

BoingBoing totally got NSFW hacked for Halloween.

Zombies are so 2009! "Angry Birds" are the cutting edge costumes for this year's gaming adults!

Envy will make you buy an iPhone. No shocker there -- it's the core of Apple's master plan. It doesn't matter how cool it is now, something cooler is less than a year away.

So of course researchers at Tilburg University in the Netherlands chose this modern marvel of ever-upgrading function and design to test the effects of envy and how it can attract and repel consumer purchases.

Turns out, you're more likely to purchase an iPhone -- or other allegedly awesome thing -- if you think the person who owns said awesome thing deserves it. Convince yourself that person is a jerk, and you're likely to buy something different -- say, a BlackBerry -- just to set yourself apart.

It all comes down to benign and malicious envy. To differentiate between the two, researchers broke their student test subjects into three groups and exposed each group to fictitious iPhone-owner back stories:

• An iPhone owner who worked hard for his purchase (benign envy).
• An iPhone owner whose father purchased it for him (malicious envy).
• An iPhone owner with no back story (control group).

Students who viewed the hard-working iPhone owner were willing to pay 117 more euros than students who saw the iPhone owner with no back story, and 75 more euros than the students who watched the iPhone trustafarian. Meanwhile, students who watched the video of iPhone owner courtesy of Bank of Daddy, were willing to pay 98 euros more for a BlackBerry.

"This study says little about the personal effects of envy, but much about the economic effects," observes Casey Johnston in the Ars Technica piece on the study. "That is, if a company can get its customers to rigorously compare themselves against an opponent's customers and view themselves as slightly superior (thanks in part to their enlightened products), those customers can turn into nearly blind followers."

Of course, as Johnston points out, "a psych study is not an actual economic forum and it's hard to say whether the students would have followed through with their assertions about the products' values."

All I know is, my signal-dropping iPhone 3G, that still more than meets my needs, was little more than a brick to me Saturday night when my much cooler friend Ben pulled out his black iPhone 4.

Just imagine how he'll feel this spring when I pull out my Verizon iPhone 5 … in white!

Want to rid your formerly communist country's nasty reputation as one of world's largest exporters of Internet spam? Call in the Governator!

Two weeks before a Silicon Valley trade delegation, led by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, visited Russia's President Dmitri A. Medvedev, Russia-based SpamIt.com -- believed to be the largest spam sponsor on the Internet -- mysteriously closed up shop. SpamIt.com kingpin Igor A. Gusev is under criminal investigation and probably fled the country.

Since then, reports the New York Times, e-mail spam for Viagra and prescription drugs dropped by 20 percent. Realistically, it's less about Schwarzenegger and more about President Medvedev's goal of making Russia's Internet industry respectable, and moving it "away from its reputation as a playground for hackers, pornographers and authors of darkly ingenious viruses."

One-fifth of Internet spam is still a drop in the bucket however, considering that 200 million spam e-mails circulate the Internet daily, accounting for 90 percent of all e-mail. Russia, one of the largest spam exporters in the world, is notorious for its lackadaisical attitude toward those who co-opt zombie computers to spread spam worldwide. The SpamIt.com investigation and President Medvedev's summer visit to Silicon Alley, may mean significantly less spam in junk folders of the near future.

For now, it leaves Internet security experts scratching their heads. As the New York Times reports:

"Computer security researchers have conjectured that spamming gangs have sometimes been co-opted by the intelligence agencies in Russia, which provide cover for the spamming activities in exchange for the criminals' expertise or for allowing their networks of virus-infected computers to be used for political purposes -- to crash dissident Web sites, for example, or to foster attacks on foreign adversaries."

The Russian government denies everything. SpamIt.com guy Gusev, meanwhile, ran sites connected to the same server farm identified in the 2008 Georgia Internet attacks.

T-Mobile joins AT&T and Sprint in announcing a BlackBerry running Research In Motion's new and improved operating system, OS 6. But instead of being a new design, this updated phone is none other than the best-selling BlackBerry Bold. T-Mobile said Wednesday it will sell the BlackBerry Bold 9780 with OS 6 starting Nov. 17. The phone will cost $129.99 after a two year-contract.

Why is OS 6 a big deal? Anyone who's used a BlackBerry knows, yes, it's reliable and generally has great security, but it can be kludgy and slow compared to some of the sleeker, more fluid operating systems on competing phones. OS 6 has a new Web browser based on WebKit, the same engine used by Apple and Google. It's much faster than its painfully slow and frustrating predecessor.

The hallmark of the new OS is universal search, something that also is already offered on the iPhone, Android and Palm devices. It lets users search their devices by keyword to find anything on the device — in e-mail, contacts or music, for example — to that keyword. All in all, the new OS is a friendlier experience.

In August, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion and AT&T had a gala unveiling of the BlackBerry Torch. The first RIM phone to use the new operating system, the Torch resembles a Palm Pre with its slide-out keyboard. Subsequently, Sprint and RIM announced the BlackBerry Style, the first flip phone running a BlackBerry OS. T-Mobile is the first to show off a more standard-issue BlackBerry, though Verizon is apparently close on T-Mo's heels with an OS 6-equipped BlackBerry Bold of its own.

T-Mobile's Bold 9780 is not a touchscreen model, like the Torch. The new Bold has a 5-megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash and video recording. It uses a 624 MHz processor, has 512 MB of internal memory and support for up to 32 GB with a 2GB memory card included, says T-Mobile.

Oh, and for those who don't want too traditional a BlackBerry, there will be a white model available, hopefully making it to stores sooner than Apple's ill-fated little white knight.

A Sony PlayStation phone -- long talked about, but late to the mobile party -- may be coming after all.

Engadget shared photos of a prototype PlayStation phone it said may be out this year, although 2011 is "looking much more realistic."

Sony Ericsson, contacted by msnbc.com, says it "does not comment on rumours, speculation or unannounced products," which leaves the issue fairly muddled.

With the iPhone (and iPod Touch) a heavy player in the mobile games market, and Android growing quickly as well, the notion of a PlayStation phone seems almost ... quaint, something that might have made sense several years ago, but is outdated now.

Not necessarily so, says Avi Greengart, research director for consumer devices at Current Analysis.

While the PlayStation phone is "only a rumor at this point ... mobile gaming on phones is a large and growing trend."

Sony Ericsson's phones are not as high-profile or alluring as iPhones, Android devices or BlackBerrys. And Microsoft, with its new Windows Phone 7 integrating Xbox Live, looks to finally have real life. (Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)

But it's all those threats that make a PlayStation phone's chances good, says Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for The NPD Group research firm.

"Games have been among the most popular apps for smart phones, and Apple has been able to leverage developer interest in the iPhone to make the iPod Touch a more direct competitor to handheld consoles," he said.

Sony Ericsson could use a win here. The company's overall cell phone shipment ranking fell to sixth place in the second quarter, down from fourth in the first quarter, according to a recent report from iSuppli research.

That "marked the first time in at least three years that Sony Ericsson didn’t rank among the Top 5 global cell phone brands."

But, notes iSuppli, Sony Ericsson also "achieved a 15.4 percent increase in smart phone shipments during the second quarter. This made Sony Ericsson the fourth fastest growing smart phone brand during the second quarter."

With its "shift" from "volume to value-add" -- and a PlayStation phone would be that -- the company is "positioning itself to cash in on the fastest growing and most profitable segment of the global wireless market,” said Tina Teng, senior analyst for wireless communications at iSuppli.

The PlayStation phone, according to Engadget, would use Google's increasingly popular Android operating system, and Sony Ericsson CEO Bert Nordberg recently said that the company's goal is to "become the global No. 1 handset provider on the Android platform."

Engadget says the PlayStation phone will use Android and Sony's "Marketplace, which will allow you to purchase and download games designed for the new platform ... The device ... is sporting a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 ... 512MB of RAM, 1GB of ROM, and the screen is in the range of 3.7 to 4.1 inches."

Gaming website NowGamer, based in Britain, thinks the phone is fake. A "closer look at the top screen in particular reveals a number of telltale signs, such as a large amount of dirt collecting around the screen, as well as mention of 'A' and 'B' buttons on the interface."

Whether the prototype is real or not, a PlayStation phone stands a good chance, says Rubin, who makes a good point.

"A handset that has close ties to a home console has an opportunity to be a more casual companion since gamers need to carry phones anyway."

Anyone who gets paid to sit in front of a computer no doubt makes at least one casual visit to YouTube -- for a daily dose of animal cuteness, the latest viral sensation along the lines of "David After Dentist," or just to check out what Hitler's mad about now.

There are those however, who spend a lot more time on the video-sharing site -- a lot more time. In fact, there's a whole other world on the video-sharing site, a vibrant community largely ignored by mainstream media despite its own cadre of money-making stars and rabid fans, many of which are 12.

Hang out for a while and you'll see patterns and tropes emerge. Don't have time for that crap?

Scott Gairdner heroically jams it all into a single, 1:36-minute (Not Entirely Safe For Work) video.

via The Daily What

People buy stuff like iPhones because they're envious -- and that's good. For the economy, anyway.

Envious of the elusive white iPhone? Why not just hold your breath for the Verizon-ready iPhone 5?

The Sony PlayStation phone is right around the corner -- wanna see?

Google's Nexus Two could be home for the holidays -- accompanied by the latest in Android.

Here's a video montage of "The Creepiest TV Moments of Google's CEO."

Here's a super villian: "Back to the Future's" Doc Brown!

MTV addresses the real problem of digital villians via its Thin Line anti-cyberbullying campaign.

MySpace deals with it's own digital drama with a relaunch.

Yahoo is getting a new look as well.

Still working on your Halloween look? Here's Urlesque's "Top Meme Halloween Costumes of 2010 -- A Power Ranking."

Amazon.com Tuesday released "Windowshop" for Apple's iPad, a program that takes advantage of the tablet's 9.7-inch screen real estate and touch capabilities.

Yes, it's Amazon that makes the Kindle e-reader — which some consider an iPad competitor, but Amazon's marketing also includes Kindle software programs for the iPad, as well as phones (iPhone, Android, BlackBerry) and computers (PC and Mac). The company knows how to get its message — and products — out in front of consumers.

"Amazon Windowshop is a top-to-bottom rewrite of Amazon.com — designed and built without compromise just for iPad," said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, in a statement.

For power-shoppers, you can find more products within a category by simply touching a category heading, and getting a list of all of the subcategories with related products.

You can fluidly and quickly browse Amazon.com's catalog and see product videos (even without Flash on the iPad!), and access all of your wish lists using the app.

It makes true online window-shopping online even easier — which for some of us, is NOT a good thing. Because while the app is free, it may cost you in the long run.

Apple's veering towards location-based programs like Foursquare and Facebook Places with its new Concierge app, which lets customers "check in" to an Apple Store using an iPhone.

The new app should make things more manageable for shoppers at the busy brick-and-mortar retail hubs, and for those seeking advice from Apple "geniuses." When a customer with a reservation checks in with the app, a push notification will be sent to store employees. And a queue — well, more specifically an iQueue (what did iExpect?) — will be established to keep things moving smoothly. It'll also be more fair, at least to those who play along, showing the names of customers and what times they checked in.

Another new app called Scout will give store managers "the ability to establish room by room locations within the store for accurate, close proximity check-ins." This is a one-time-use app, basically for store employees to set up the Concierge services with specific areas of the store in mind, according to MacStories.net.

You can download Apple Store 1.1 from the App Store -- but just a note: you'll need iOS 4 on your iPhone in order to use the request help and check-in features.