Coincidence or not, Apple has stiffened up the requirements to pick up a new iPhone shortly after announcing that 250,000 or so of the 1.4 million it sold in Q4 went to unlockers. In an admittedly intriguing move, Apple has decided that it will "no longer accept cash for iPhone purchases," and moreover, each individual will only be allowed to buy two (on plastic, of course) in an effort to "stop people from reselling them." More specifically, spokeswoman Natalie Kerris stated that the company is "requiring a credit or debit card for payment to discourage unauthorized resellers," so don't even bother bringing the greenbacks if you're lookin' to grab an iPhone from Apple.

[Image courtesy of PCWorld]

It's painfully obvious just how tight cellular providers have control over how their networks are used, which features are enabled, and what handsets are locked, but Skype is hoping to chip away a bit more at the mighty provider stranglehold by suggesting that wireless networks be made to carry Skype calls. In a recent petition to the FCC, Skype is purportedly "asking regulators to force cellphone carriers to loosen their controls on what kinds of hardware and software can be connected to their networks," essentially paving the way for free calls to be made over costly connections. Skype is asking that the so-called Carterfone rules (circa 1968) be applied to the wireless industry, which basically "allowed consumers to hook any device up to the phone network, so long as it did not harm the network." Unsurprisingly, carriers are less than enthralled about the notion, and a cellular trade group has already reacted by calling Skype's proposal one that "completely disregards consumer benefits provided by a competitive marketplace," which is certainly nominated for laughable statement of the year. As of now, no other companies are putting their collective necks out to join Skype's agenda, but hopefully it won't remain solo for too much longer.

[Via ArsTechnica]

As if crippling your PC when you're running an unlicensed copy of Vista wasn't enough, Microsoft has now taken to limiting the number of times you can transfer your license legitimately to other computers. Unlike Windows XP, which previously allowed for unlimited license transfers between computers, Vista limits this transfer to a single time. As TechWeb reports, quoting the license for Windows Vista Home Basic (and other versions as well): "The first user of the software may reassign the license to another device one time. If you reassign the license, that other device becomes the 'licensed device.'" Still, as we noted last time, it's almost certainly a safe bet that the most determined folks will figure out a way around this, à la PlaysForSure.