Register Hardware Register Hardware - it's just like The Register, only harder - brings you the hottest personal technology news and reviews every day.

HD DRM under strain

Just days after the organisation behind HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc's AACS copy-protection technology said it had patched a hole exposed by hackers earlier this year, their opponents figured out how to get an Xbox 360 external HD DVD drive to play copies of discs by bypassing part of AACS' encryption-key authorisation process.

None of this dissuaded Samsung from admitting, yes, it is indeed planning to offer a player capable of handling both next-gen optical formats. The Duo HD will arrive before Christmas.

iPod hits 100m

Yes, Apple has sold more than 100m iPods - quite a few, we suspect, to consumers who've upgraded over the years or decided they want Shuffles in all the colours. Maybe they'll upgrade again when the rumoured Wi-Fi fitted iPod ships. If it ships...

Intel guns for gamers

Intel launched its fatest gaming-oriented processor, the Core 2 Extreme QX6800, releasing the 2.93GHz quad-core chip at least three months earlier than anticipated. Mind you, benchmark test results published ahead of the introduction of upcoming Core 2-based Celeron processors showed they're no slouch either.

A feast of phones

Orange announced its first Windows Mobile 6 handset, a model based on HTC's Vox candybar phone with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Samsung's Blackberry-like i600 has its keyboard on the front, and while Orange didn't say it was going to offer the i600 too, its website revealed otherwise.

Separately, LG said its Shine slider phone would go 3G, but we'll see Samsung's ultra-skinny slider, the Ultra Edition II 10.9, much sooner.

Finally, Palm admitted it's working on its own operating system again, this one mixing Linux and the current Palm OS, Garnet.
 
 
 

 

Best of the rest

AMD preparing Turion challenger for next-gen Centrino?
Samsung spins SpinPoint 2.5in drives
Evesham motors in with car-friendly second-set LCD TV
LG rolls out Beetle-branded MP3 player
Microsoft brings instant messaging to Xbox Live

 

Hot reviews

Sony Walkman video MP3 NW-A800 A great Flash player with excellent bundled earphones, but too small a screen to do video justice

Samsung YP-T9 MP3 player Only die-hard Apple-devotees would refuse to consider the T9 as their next media player.

Griffin ExpressCard 5:1 Card Reader Pricier than a stack of USB 2.0 card adaptors but much more convenient.

Orange SPV M700 Windows Mobile smart phone The addition of GPS, 3G, extra camera functions and video calling turns an already impressive handset into a must-have.

Griffin Elevator laptop lift Elevator lifts your laptop to new heights. But it's pricey compared to a stack of books.

Sapphire Radeon X1950 GT-based graphics card Sapphire's Radeon X1950 GT is an underclocked X1950 Pro that sells for under £100. Deal or no deal?

Read many more personal hardware stories at