Rest assured, we've seen some brainless criminals in our day, but this one ranks pretty high on the list. Reportedly, a (potentially inebriated) individual waltzed into a police station and frantically announced that his phone had been stolen at gunpoint. When the detective called the number of the phone reportedly stolen, however, a ring was heard from the "victim's" pocket. After pondering what the criminal hoped to gain from the situation, we here at Engadget HQ came up empty, and apparently, the police involved in the situation were equally stumped -- so stumped, in fact, that they issued a statement entitled "Dumbest criminal?" with details of the event in a local newspaper. We'd say that sums it up fairly accurately.

[Image courtesy of FOTW, thanks LordFarkward]

If you're one of the many folks eagerly awaiting the January release of Windows Vista, then there's a small-but-not-insignificant chance that you may be in for a letdown -- a 20% chance, actually, according to outgoing Microsoft CTO, lifelong Engadget reader, and occasional video pirate Bill Gates. During a presentation in Cape Town, South Africa, Mr. Gates informed his audience that although there's an 80% probability that the next-gen OS will ship as scheduled, "we've got to get this absolutely right," and stressed that "if the feedback from the beta tests shows it is not ready for prime time, I'd be glad to delay it." Now, we can't imagine that anyone would want to purchase buggy software, so it's reassuring to see that Microsoft is committed to only pushing a polished product out the door, but we have to say that Gates' choice of words here makes him come across as just a little cavalier. Because if he's "glad" to continue frustrating us with these tragi-comic delays, then there's probably quite a few people out there who will be just as glad to stick with their copies of XP out of spite -- or even worse, make the dreaded leap over to Leopard or Linux.

[Thanks, Matt and Oliver O.]