Well, howdy there partner. We've been a'visiting Ma TechRadar at her ranch, kicking back on the rocking chair of technology, idling back and forth over Apple chat about watches, dressed as Nintendo pirates and sipping on Google beer, all the while watching the Storm appear on the horizon.

But not an ACTUAL storm, the BLACKBERRY Storm! You see what we did there? It seems that RIM has only gone and released another handset into the market, but this time something's different.

Is it the fact that it's named after a weather effect? Is it the 1GB of onboard storage? Or is it the whopping great 3.25in touchscreen that makes this the first genuine contender to the iPhone's crown?

And dagnabbit boy, if they ain't gone and created an SDK for developers to start creating all the apps they've ever dreamed of on the device too.

Vodafone is the official rustler... sorry, carriers (we'll drop the cowboy thing) of the phone in the UK and lots of other places worldwide, but gosh, if it didn't go and let out the mother of all Freudian slips with pics of a iPhone-interface shod BlackBerry Storm.

But hey, like the doctor told the man with heatstroke at the top of a volcano, you shouldn't spend so much time on the RIM, especially when other super-fun things happened today.

For instance, did you know Nintendo hates pirates? Not the fun Johnny-Depp-bandana-wearing-why-do-girls-love-him-so-much variety, the bad, stealing revenue kind? It's even prepared to upset gamers the world over by region-locking its devices.

Oh, and that the same party-pooping company won't let you transfer Nintendo points from console to console? And we all know what points make... yes, virtual prizes in Europe, and actual stuff in Japan! But you can't transfer between consoles... oh no.

For those of you who have trouble saying the name of one Apple co-maker (say it with us... J-O-B-S) Steve Wozniak, the other one, has said that Apple's future might lie in a watch.

Not actually in it, like a forbidden scroll locked in a timepiece in an Aztec temple, but an iWatch... it's like the company has almost forgotten it even makes iPods or something.

Bungie just keeps coming back again and again no matter how many times you try to drop it, and there's going to be another announcement at the Tokyo Game Show 2008 that's got gamers buzzing. What could it be? Bungie-branded sandwiches? A horse that can play next-gen games? Or a boring games release... nah, impossible.

Thankfully, the drunken fug we find ourselves constantly under at the thought of such things is going to become a little safer thanks to Google... it has released Mail Goggles that will make you do maths questions before emailing at pre-defined times.


The idea is if you can answer your times tables, you can email safely. Two problems there:

  • TechRadar is awesome at maths, any time, day or night. Go on, challenge us. We can do out nine times table up to 82!
  • Who emails when drunk? If you can turn your computer on you're probably able to fire off an email... get this on our phones!!

Dinna-na-na-na-na-na- na-na-na-na-na- na-na-na-na-na- JAMES BOND! (Wait, that's not right...) Anyway, the non-caped crusader of MI6 would be pleased with Sony Ericsson, and not because Sony is sponsoring everything in the new Sontom of Qualoce Bond film (is that what it was?).

You can now control your car from a Sony Ericsson Xperia X1! If you own a Saab. And it's a concept car. From the recent Paris Motorshow. Which you probably don't.

But still, it's a cool idea...

Oh, and did you miss:

The ultimate guide to networking

8 easy ways to slash your tech power bills

Firefox goes location-based

DNA may reveal people's surnames

New underground site takes on MySpace Music

MySpace and Facebook mobile services under fire

Google announces in-game ads

Anyway, that's all from us lot. We're off to drink Microsoft Moonshine, round up some Yahoos, and then gaze longingly at a pond, dappled with the early morning sun... see, we can be deep as well as geeky...