Apple Inc is expected to unveil new iPod music players — and possibly price cuts — at a media event next Tuesday but may not launch a long-awaited update to its MacBook laptop computers until a later date.

Apple, which also makes iPhone mobile devices, e-mailed reporters an invitation to a September 9 event entitled “Let’s Rock,” which has an image of a man jumping in the air while listening to an iPod, with the words “playing soon.”

No further details were available from the company, which often sends provocative invitations to events that end up being product launches. Creating an allure around its brand has only helped drive Apple’s market capitalization above Google Inc, despite fears about the weak U.S. economy, which is slowing consumer purchases.

If someone asks to borrow your cell phone, or you leave it unattended, beware!

Unless you actually watch them use it, they may be secretly grabbing every piece of your information on the device, even deleted messages. If you leave your phone sitting on your desk, or in the center console of your car while the valet parks it, then you and everyone in your contacts list may be at risk, to say nothing of confidential e-mails, spread sheets, or other information. And of course, if you do not want your spouse to see who you are chatting with on your phone, you might want to use extra caution.

There is a new electronic capture device that has been developed primarily for law enforcement, surveillance, and intelligence operations that is also available to the public. It is called the Cellular Seizure Investigation Stick, or CSI Stick as a clever acronym. It is manufactured by a company called Paraben, and is a self-contained module about the size of a BIC lighter. It plugs directly into most Motorola and Samsung cell phones to capture all data that they contain. More phones will be added to the list, including many from

Sony Corp said on Thursday it would launch the world’s thinnest liquid crystal display (LCD) TVs this year, broadening its product line-up ahead of the critical year-end shopping season.

The new 40-inch model, which is 9.9 mm thick, is estimated to sell for 490,000 yen ($4,478) in Japan, Sony said.

The Japanese electronics and entertainment conglomerate will also offer the world’s first LCD TVs that display 240 frames per second, compared with 120 frames for Sony’s existing models.

More frames in a given time make fast-moving images in sports programs and action movies look seamless.

Sony, the world’s second-largest LCD TV maker behind Samsung Electronics Co Ltd expects a 46-inch model with the 240 frame function to sell for around 400,000 yen.

Both models will go on sale in Japan on November 10, closely followed by overseas launches.

The iPhone Dev Team has posted PwnageTool 2.0.3.1, a revised version of the iPhone hacking utility released yesterday then quickly removed.

The earlier release had mis-set file-access permissions, preventing upgraded iPod Touch - the code works with the music player as well as Apple’s phone - from retaining Wi-Fi passwords and the like.

PwnageTool 2.0.3 was released this week to allow owners of these devices to upgrade to Apple’s latest firmware, iPhone 2.0.2. The utility opens - aka ‘jailbreaks’ - the Touch and all versions of the iPhone to third-party apps released outside Apple’s iTunes Application Store. It’ll also unlock the original iPhone, but not the iPhone 3G.

iPhones protected by a password aren’t actually protected at all, as just by pressing a few keys a miscreant can access all the phone’s functions without needing the password at all.

The trick, reported by MacRumours, is simply a press of the “Emergency Call” key from the passcode entry screen, followed by a double-tap on the home button. That takes the miscreant into favourites, from which they can access the address book, from which they can get into the e-mail client (by tapping a contact’s e-mail address) or the browser (by tapping a URL).

Clearly Apple has missed a trick here, and a fix should be quickly forthcoming, but it bodes badly for a device which is trying to sell itself into the enterprise and is already under fire for lacking important security features.

M2E Power, a company formed last year to charge electronic gadgets with human motion, has reported back that its system actually works.

Next year it expects to release a charger that can harvest enough motion from walking to replenish cell phones or other small gadgets, like GPS devices.

It says that six hours of cumulative motion can add 30 to 60 minutes of talk time to a cell phone.

The charger can also be charged via regular power outlet

Sony today took the wraps off its new wireless, multi-room audio system for listening to iPod players.

The new S-AIRPLAY™ system features Sony’s S-Air™ technology, which provides a practical, wireless multi-room solution without complicated setup requirements. Wireless audio can be transmitted from the system’s main docking station in one room to various rooms throughout the home — up to nearly 164 feet—simply by plugging a separate S-Air wireless speaker into a power outlet.

This technology makes it easy to listen to music from a compatible iPod without carrying it from room to room,” said Andrew Sivori, director of marketing in the personal audio group at Sony Electronics’ Digital Imaging and Audio Division. “It’s an easy, inexpensive way to get multi-room audio without professional installation.”

S-Air technology delivers audio wirelessly to the included speakers without interfering with other household devices. The system comes with one docking station and two S-Air wireless speakers, but it can transmit to up to 10 speakers simultaneously (additional speakers sold separately).

Equipped with an AM/FM tuner, the S-AIRPLAY system’s dual source feature lets users listen to music from the iPod player or from a radio station. Listeners in one room can hear their favorite radio station, while listeners in another room can enjoy music from the iPod at the same time.

The S-Air wireless speakers include remote control capability for the iPod player’s music tracks so you can advance or go back to previously played songs. The speakers also incorporate sleep timers and an alarm clock function, making them perfect for bedside placement.

To connect to an existing home theater system or television set, the docking station includes composite A/V outputs. It also charges the iPod while it is docked.

The system (model AIR-SA20PK) will be available in September for about $400. Additional S-Air wireless speakers will also be available next month for about $130.

Using wireless power transmission, one day people might be able to recharge their laptops or cell phones or other gadgets without plugging them into an electrical socket. The technology makes use of some basic physics, as electric coils that resonate at the same frequency can transmit energy to each other at a distance.

Intel Corp. researchers demonstrated Thursday how to make a 60-watt light bulb glow from an energy source 3 feet away. They did it while retaining 75 percent of the energy they started with, which is remarkably high efficiency. Their work built upon research unveiled last year out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Consumer electronics giant Sony announced a new version of its Playstation Portable handheld games console that can be used as a telephone, to go on sale in Europe and the United States in mid-October.

The Playstation Portable 3000, which has been the subject of speculation on technology websites, will have a built-in microphone and a new screen which has more colors and is better suited for use outdoors, Sony said at a video games convention in Leipzig, Germany on Wednesday.

The PSP already supports the software program Skype, which enables users to make free telephone calls over the internet, but the new PSP, with built-in microphone, will make the process easier, Sony says.

“We believe that this will establish the PSP as a viable communication device,” said David Reeves, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.

The PSP 3000 will retail for 199 euros ($294), compared to 169 euros for the current slim version of the PSP, which will remain on sale.

Apple Inc. said Tuesday that batteries from a single supplier are to blame for the meltdown of some models of its tiny iPod Nano digital music player.

The company’s written statement came in response to a Japanese government report that two iPod Nanos overheated in Tokyo, scorching nearby paper and a woven straw mat.

Apple said the flaw affected first-generation Nanos, sold between September 2005 and December 2006, in very rare instances. The company’s statement added that “There have been no reports of serious injuries or property damage, and no reports of incidents for any other iPod Nano model.”

Japan’s government has been working with Apple to investigate three separate cases of iPods that overheated while being recharged, according to Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry official Hiroyuki Yoshitsune. A defect in the lithium-ion battery was suspected in all three cases.

Apple Inc. has released an iPhone software update it says improves communication between the smart phone and wireless networks.

The iPhone 3G, which went on sale July 11, connects to cellular providers’ speedier third-generation networks and was meant to deliver snappier Web surfing and online video viewing than the year-old original model.

But some customers who shelled out $199 for Apple’s newest gizmo flocked to message boards in recent weeks, posting complaints about dropped calls and spotty wireless broadband connectivity.

Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple did not acknowledge a problem until Tuesday, and then provided few specifics about what, exactly, Monday evening’s software update was designed to fix.

The iPhone 2.0.2 software update “improved communication with 3G networks,” said Apple spokeswoman Jennifer Bowcock.

Bowcock would not say which of the many possible parts - from the iPhone’s antenna and amplifier and the radio frequency transceiver, to the baseband that processes the digital signal and sends it to the speaker or screen - were targeted with the software update.

After losing out in the battle to define the high-definition successor of the DVD, Toshiba Corp. has turned its attention to the next best thing: the DVD.

On Monday, the Japanese electronics company is releasing a new DVD player that it says does more than previous models to improve the look of DVDs on high-definition TVs.

The XD-E500 will sell for a suggested price of $149.99, twice as much as regular “upconverting” players, which also improve the look of a DVD, but it is less than half the price of a Blu-ray player.

In a demonstration to reporters last week, Toshiba played the same disc in an XDE player and a standard, $70 upscaling model on side-by-side LCD HDTVs. The new player produced a subtle but noticeable sharpening of the image.

Toshiba didn’t demonstrate the XDE against a Blu-ray or HD DVD player, and Louis Masses, director of product planning for the audio and video group at Toshiba America Consumer Products, was careful to stress that it’s not meant to compete with or replace Blu-ray.

“If you want Blu-ray, go get Blu-ray. This product is meant to improve playback of DVDs,” Masses said.