Apple hasn't ever been great at this whole "heat dissipation" thing, but some new developments in the supposed overheating iPhone scandal of 2009 have us wondering how widespread or reproducible these problems might be. Here are a few semi-facts we've managed to amass:

• Somebody's white iPhone 3GS grew some ugly brown markings during heavy use.
• A new development is saying that the discoloration came from a case (pictured), not from cooking the plastic.
• More users than usual have been reporting an overheated iPhone error after the 3.0 update, but as Apple's support documentation points out, this could just be from the time of year (summer, in case you haven't been outside lately).
• There isn't a large mass of evidence denoting a major fault to the 3GS, 3.0 or chintzy white leather cases.

So, all that said, what's been your experience?

After a second run in with low, low, low prices on particular products at Dell Taiwan, Dell has shut down that country's online store until it can sort things out. Apparently this time it was the Latitude E4300 which would go haywire with particular CPU configurations. Dell is offering a 20,000 NT (about $600 US) discount to those who ordered the mis-priced PC, but apparently that only just matches the regular street price in Taiwan for the computer so people are naturally up in arms. We're not sure what they're so grumpy about: sounds like a paradise on earth to us.

All we've got to say is that they'd better be selling seats to the first living room demonstration of this tech when somebody gets cute and grabs a real baseball bat for a demo. Sony has filed a patent for technology using the PlayStation Eye which can detect regular objects in 3D space and file them away in a database for later use in gameplay. Naturally, the camera already does object motion detection of a sort with the blocky embedded codes on Eye of Judgement cards, but this seems to be taking that tech to a new level, and would imply that you won't necessarily need to be waggling that goofy ball-on-a-stick controller that Sony demoed at E3 for all upcoming motion control titles for the PS3. But for some reason we're sure we should be scared of whatever combination it does turn out to be.

[Via Joystiq]

Sure, we know that whenever we hear the word "aluminum" we're supposed to go all weak in the knees, but iriver hasn't really astounded us with this materials-tweaked rehash of the E100. Still, the OLED screen on the upcoming E200 has been bumped to 2.8-inches, so that's kind of nice, and while the capacitive touch buttons aren't a big win over the original rocker, at least the chassis seems thinner now. Check out the read link for some purported press shots that manage to be quite a bit more flattering.

[Via PMP Today]

Don't worry, everybody, your iPhone baking itself to a crisp is no cause for panic, now that Apple has found the culprit: the weather and your heartless negligence. Apparently you've been leaving your brand new iPhone 3GS in a hot car, and the warm sensation you feel any time you hold the phone has nothing to do with beefed up processors or inadequate cooling. Phew, glad that's all sorted and now nobody will have any problems with self-destructive iPhones they paid hundreds of dollars for. Besides, it serves you right.

Meanwhile, hapless Samsas Traum has found a problem of his own (pictured) that's sure to be blamed on some other act of god in the near future by Apple's spin team: the oleophobic coating is getting rubbed right off his screen. Apparently he has a bit of a fondness for a certain "Flick Fishing" app, which explains the highly localized nature of his oleophobic destruction. We haven't heard many other reports of a similar nature, but we'll keep an eye out for telltale Tap Tap Revenge markings on the iPhones of our rhythm-addled loved ones.

[Thanks, Rafa]

Read - Apple blames overheating iPhones on the weather
Read - Oleophobic coating wearing off fast

That supposedly upcoming Android XPERIA that Mobil dug up might have our minds, but it's this leaked handset (which, to be fair, looks fairly sketchily rendered), the Sony Ericsson Kiki, that has won our hearts. The screen is made of glass, with an image seemingly rear-projected onto it (teleprompter style), while the keys are, um, scarce. Mobil was able to offer few hints as to how this works or what all it does, and it seems like it falls far short of the functionality of a feature phone, but we're sure we want one whatever it is.

Hello, beautiful. Danish phone site Mobil has uncovered "internal documents" on what appears to be Sony Ericsson's upcoming Android-based handset, an XPERIA number codenamed Rachael. Under the hood is a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, HSPA and an 8 megapixel camera. It's unclear how big the touchscreen is, and other details are scarce -- there is a 3.5mm headphone jack, so that's nice, but unless we're severely misguided, there doesn't seem to be a slide-out keyboard tucked away inside this thin chassis.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Everybody's favorite fuzzy little Apple clone maker is back from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection (we're still waiting on that revelatory outing of creditors that Apple is so hungry for), and already has a new product in the offering. Psystar's new Open(7) hardware runs Intel Nehalem Xeon, which should provide a nice performance jolt to hackintosh land. Psystar is also going to start using a new bootloader called Darwin Universal Boot Loader, which will eventually be released to open source. Oh, and just in case you were wondering: a little bit of bankruptcy hasn't softened the company's confrontational spirit: Psystar says it's ready to "emerge and again battle Goliath," and that when "life gives you apples, make applesauce." It's kind of cute, really.

[Via TUAW]

Yeah, we're all been-there-done-that with portable SNESs these days, but we've never seen it done like this. Marshall posted his creation, dubbed the "SUPERTENDO," to Ben Heck's forums, which seems to imply (along with the looks) that he took some queues from similar designs already floating around those parts. What really sets this one apart, however, is the vacuum-formed chassis and the instant "make me an offer" move to a sale -- being owned by a major faceless media conglomerate ourselves, we like to see a guy who's out for a buck. A quick hands-on Video is after the break.

[Via benheck.com]

After some rather impressive RC builds, Firefox 3.5 is all packaged up and ready for public consumption. Mozilla is saying its new browser is more than two times faster than Firefox 3, but what has us more excited is the support for plugin-free "open codec" video and audio playback using Ogg Vorbis and Ogg Theora-- it's still in its infancy, but the subtle glimpse we've seen so far of a world without Flash video reducing our CPU to jelly is rather compelling.

At first glance it's a little difficult to understand the necessity of another motion-sensing add-on. What could possibly be inside this particular block of white plastic that's not inside those other countless slabs of white plastic that Nintendo has already slathered on the Wii? Sure, we know in theory that the gyroscopes that MotionPlus provides allows the controller to truly orient itself in 3D space, instead of just sensing acceleration in various directions, and breaks some of that reliance on the sensor bar, but do those theoretical advances result in a true leap in gameplay? We tested it out with EA's new MotionPlus-enabled Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 and Grand Slam Tennis -- the first such titles on the market while we wait for Nintendo to get its own Wii Sports Resort in order -- and we'd say the results are pretty inconclusive so far. Check out our full impressions after the break, along with enthralling videos of both games in action.

Major thanks to The Golf Club at Chelsea Piers for letting us test this out at their facilities, and to golf pros Herb and Marj for letting us waste some of their valuable time.

Step aside, JAC Hero, there's a new firmware in town. Fatal1ty (that Fatal1ty?) and nk02 have not only managed to obtain the HTC Hero's new (and almost final) Sense UI-infused firmware, but have spruced it up for consumption by HTC Magic / Dream users. There's naturally a bit of glitchiness -- apparently WiFi and Bluetooth don't work at the moment, and the camera is all funkified, but the real treat here is the first implementation of Flash 10 on Android, even if it is a bit "laggy" on the RAM-starved G1. The widgets are also on display, and other than Flash the general experience is apparently pretty snappy. Naturally, the xda-dev folks won't be leaving well enough alone, and we should be seeing refined versions of this and future Hero firmwares leading up to and after the release of the actual device.

[Via xda-developers forum; thanks Jeremy W., screenshot by johnnylicious]

Put down that bowl of homemade granola and take heed, citizens of Portland: you're about to get a first crack at Comcast's High-Speed 2go service, and we don't want any of your excuses about "taking a tech sabbatical" or "getting lost in the wilderness" to keep you away from sweet, sweet broadband bundles. Based on Clearwire's WiMAX service, Comcast High-Speed 2go is available in a "Fast Pack Metro" bundle which packs home internet service, a WiFi router and the WiMAX for $50 a month, with another $20 tacking on nationwide Sprint 3G (along with the appropriate 3G / WiMAX combo card). Existing Triple Play customers can add the WiMAX by itself for $30. Comcast plans to launch similar service in Atlanta, Chicago, and Philadelphia before the end of 2009.

If you're one of the hapless folks out there still having trouble tracking down a new iPhone 3GS, Apple is making things a little bit easier on you with an online tool to check up on stock at Apple retail stores. There's a full breakdown of color and capacity, which might seem like overkill to some, but given the fact that stores with stock in all four current models are a bit of an exception (outside of NYC, anyways), we'd have to say that this is just the sort of overkill we need.

[Via iLounge]

What's creepier than automatically informing Twitter every time your unborn child kicks his mother's womb? Giving all your Twitter followers a live feed of your heartbeat, including canned messages to announce your death in case you cease pumping Cheeto-infused blood through your goth-nerdy veins. This Japanese DIY project has open source schematics and is designed to bypass a PC and send the news of your heart hiccups directly the internet. Check out the appropriately dramatic video after the break.

Some jerk in the UK went and bought an Olympus PEN E-P1 camera from a store and had to go home and tell the whole internet about it. They even bothered to shoot an unboxing of the little Micro Four Thirds wonder, like we would care.

As recently as May Sony has itself stated that a PSP phone "could happen," and now a report from Nikkei business daily states that Sony is planning on putting together a team as early as next month to build product that would act as a combination of a PSP and a Sony Ericsson handset. It makes plenty of sense, both as a differentiation from Nintendo and as a confrontation of the looming iPhone threat -- and hey, it might also act as a decent salve over the lukewarm reception of the pricey PSPgo. Unfortunately, if Sony is just about to get started on this, we likely wouldn't be looking at any resulting product for a while to come. Sony declined comment according to Reuters, which doesn't mean a whole lot, but it's worth keeping in mind that we've been hearing this sort of rumoring since back when the N-Gage (as a product) was still almost relevant.

[Via Mac Rumors]

After what must've been a few painful minutes of rehearsal, a few robots built by the Interdisciplinary Centre for Computer Music Research have performed what we assume to be their first and last paid gig: a rendition of Happy Birthday to celebrate the 100th of the Science Museum in the UK. What's interesting about these bots -- outside of their horrible ear for music and laughable singing voices is the fact that they've actually been programmed to communicate and teach each other to sing through the process of singing to each other. Videos of both painful acts are after the break, and while we wouldn't call it art, we shouldn't throw stones: we've been in plenty of garage bands that sounded quite a bit worse.

[Via robots.net]

Wanna trade in some battery life and get a bit of extra speed in the deal? Lenovo is now offering its spanking new S12 netbook with a VIA Nano ULV 2250 processor and VIA Chrome9 HC3 graphics instead of the usual Intel Atom / GMA 950 combo, which should offer a little more pep (at least in some applications) and lops $50 off the original's spendy $500 asking price. The Nano setup will draw more battery than the Atom, so you might want to invest that extra cash in another battery if you can track one down, but at least the $450 price includes a 6 cell as standard.

Designer Rhea Jeong's Void LP player seems devoid of reality, but it was inspired by the very real and very cute "Vinyl Killer," a little VW Bus that can propel itself around a record and play the tunes with its tinny speaker, naturally wearing out the precious LP in the process. The Void LP takes the concept of a self-sufficient speaker, amp and needle (the red ball), and then tosses them all into the air with a magnetic saucer. We're sure it sounds terrible, and it seems a little fantastical, but one thing's for certain: we want.

[Via The Rock and Roll Star]