TOP TECHNOLOGY NEWS

If the OLPC people have their way, you may soon be able to buy the XO laptop, although there will be a penalty for not making the minimum order of one million units. Mary Lou Jepsen, chief technology officer at OLPC, says that the computer could be on sale by Christmas, for $350 or $525, but definitely not the fabled $100. OLPC is planning to sell the XO online and is in talks with companies that have “a big presence on the Web”, whoever those might be.

Don’t kvetch about that price, though.

Apple product leaks are big news, especially if Apple issues a takedown on the evidence, as has happened in this case. DAPReview, whose site is currently down due to high traffic, posted a video of the next iPod interface. Everyone is expecting Coverflow, just like the iPhone, but this video shows a pretty janky implementation.

Toshiba is recalling another lot of 10,000 Sony-manufactured notebook batteries because of that pesky blowing up business.

The PC maker said it received three reports in the last 10 months of batteries manufactured on Dec. 3, 2005, catching fire, enough to trigger the magic recall button.  Only half of the 10,000 batteries in the lot are potentially defective, but Toshiba wants to be thorough. Check Toshiba’s main site in a day or two for an online app that detects if your laptop is affected.

Coming soon: "CSI: Can You Hear Me Now?" Police in Madison, Wis., say they used the cell phone of a young woman reported missing to track her movements and eventually locate her body, one of a number of recent cases where pings to active phones or GPS tweaking helped police solve cases. Says Bill Hagmaier, executive director of the International Homicide Investigators Association:

It’s an outstanding tool. Who doesn’t carry a cell phone these days? Cell phones are almost as popular as jewelry and wallets…It’s a fairly new investigative tool but it’s one that is certainly growing in use.

In a galaxy full of Millennium Falcons, this notebook is the Death Star— massive, powerful, and capable of putting on one hell of a light show. With its brilliant 17-inch TruBrite display and sparkling Harmon/Kardon speakers, we were able to blast scenes from our favorite sci-fi trilogy (guess which one) while the 1.73GHz Intel Core Duo let us simultaneously write this very review. Don’t plan on hitting light speed with the notebook in hand though; the 8-pound, 15.7 x 11.3-inch frame is a tad heavy and awkward to transport.

Cult camera maker Lomo takes the low tech approach to photography, forgetting about whizz-bang features and concentrating on the act of taking the photo. “Lomography” is all about the fun of snapping pictures (on film!) without paying attention.

But with film or pixels, a flashgun is a harsh and ugly thing. Black eye sockets and shiny skin don’t make pretty pictures.

Belkin offers another interesting twist on a commodity product with its N1 wireless router. As the name might suggest, the N1 supports 802.11n (draft 2.0). It also sports four Gigabit ethernet ports. But the gimmick here is the display. No incomprehensible flashing LEDs here. Instead you get a heads up on various network info: Broadband speed, transfer speed across the network, a breakdown of who’s connected and what they have been up to for the last day (great for catching little Jimmy’s P2P habit).

Even without the display, a Gigabit, draft 802.11n router isn’t bad for $200. Coming soon.

Nintendo has finally announced a sequel to the venerable NES Zapper, 23 years later. The Wii Zapper is just a shell, though, in which to slot your existing Wiimote and Nunchuk. The remote sits in the front, with easy access to the trigger, and the Nunchuk takes its place at the back, where your thumb can rest on the analog stick.

Boba Fett might be the coolest of the Star Wars characters, but who wouldn’t want the powers of Darth Vader? This costume from CB Swords won’t let you feel anybody’s presence (unless you get up early Christmas Day), but it is probably the most accurate replica you’ll find.

It is cast from Lucas Studios’ original molds, and along with the leather codpiece, you get quilted faux-leather pants and sleeves, injection molded armor and helmet and a chest panel with flashing LEDs.

Looks like Europeans will soon have their own chance to get all stupid over the iPhone. Reports are proliferating of imminent launch announcements across the pond.

Brit carrier 02 supposedly will get the contract to serve up iPhones in the U.K., at prices similar to the U.S. T-Mobile will do the deed in Germany, according to newspapers there, which pegged the launch date at Nov. 1. Main surprise is the absence of Vodaphone, which has been considered the prime contender for a big chunk of the EU.