The stock Palm Pre has an adequate but ho-hum 500MHz processor inside with 256MB or RAM. And even the Palm Pre Plus simply doubles the RAM. So how would the Pre run with a much faster processor? Now we know.

One modder overclocked his Pre (1.3.5.1 software) from 500MHz to 800MHz. He lost a good deal of battery life. And the phone persistently ran warm. Chances are the phone may one day get so hot it melts his Hanes to his hip.

An outbreak of iPad battery failures could take a heavy toll on Apple's bottom line, if the company stands by its generous replacement policy. In the event that an iPad's battery loses the ability to hold a charge, Apple will replace not just the dodgy power cell-but the whole iPad.

"If your iPad requires service due to the battery's diminished ability to hold an electrical charge, Apple will replace your iPad for a service fee," the company states in a support bulletin currently posted on its Web site. The fee, according to the document, is $99.

Apple iPhone users who've been longing to be able to run multiple applications on the device at the same time may soon get their wish. Apple this summer will include multitasking in its iPhone 4.0 update, which will allow several third party apps to run at the same time as well as in the background, according to a Thursday AppleInsider report.

AppleInsider quoted sources with a "proven track record in predicting Apple's technological advances," but didn't specify how the update would deal with two of the biggest issues associated with multitasking: battery life and performance.

Developers have found further evidence of multitasking support for 3rd party iPhone apps in the latest beta (3.2 beta 4) of the iPhone SDK, and suggest that it will become a reality this summer.

9to5 Mac reports on a new line found deep within the latest iPhone SDK. Specifically, SpringBoard.js has a reference to a "multitasking dialog box" that did not appear in version 3.1.3 of the SDK; it seems that it's new to version 3.2. Of course, there's no assurance that this refers to 3rd party support for multitasking, but it is new.

We've spent all our time hearing about a DR-950, but today at CeBIT ASUS has trotted out a DR-900 as its first 9-inch ebook reader. It doesn't appear manifestly different from what we've heard and seen already, with WiFi connectivity augmented with a 3G option, and a battery life rated to last a pretty radical 10,000 pages on a single charge. The interface on show clearly invites touch interaction.

Archos is gunning for the more budget-sensitive crowd with the 7-inch "Archos 7 Home Tablet" running Android atop a 600MHz ARM9 CPU due in April for around $179.

The lower-powered CPU ought to be good for some nice, long battery life and the tablet is capable of basic web browsing and 720p video playback across a wide variety of codecs.

You can check out 8:35 of pure ebullience from one of Archos' biggest fans, Charbax:

Updated to include WebOS's new plug-in support for Adobe Flash 10.1 Beta.

Palm's release of its WebOS 1.4 on Friday adds video capture, editing, and sharing to the company's Pre and Pixi smartphones.

Along with video recording, the updated operating system lets users trim videos and upload them directly to YouTube, Facebook, or share them via an e-mail or an MMS message. It also adds support Adobe's Flash 10.1 Beta plug-in. According to Palm, the "plugin is a standalone app that will be available in App Catalog," but it doesn't say when the plug-in will be available.

Looks like there won't be a shortage of new laptops and netbooks next week at CeBIT, and if Blogeee is to be believed ASUS will be showing up with at least three new 10.1-inch Eee PCs. The most exciting of the bunch seem to be the executive-aimed 1016P and 1018P, which will both apparently have an aluminum chassis and 14 hours of battery life. The .7-inch 1018P is said to be the thinnest netbook ASUS has ever created, and sport an integrated fingerprint reader and USB 3.0.

Palm shares are in a bit of a free-fall following Palm's announcement that it expects revenue for its third fiscal quarter to be more than 25 percent below analyst expectations. The next-generation Palm devices have received critical acclaim, but have failed to drive sales against stiff smartphone competition.

This time last year, Palm was making headlines in anticipation of the launch of WebOS and the Palm Pre smartphones. The new smartphone platform debuted at the 2009 CES, and was launched in June of 2009 exclusively with Sprint.

In March last year, Pentax unveiled the X70, a 12MP 'hybrid' digital camera with 24x optical zoom that currently sells on Amazon for $380. And today Pentax in Tokyo announced [press release in English] the successor, the X90. As to be expected, the new model has been upgraded in some areas.

The X90 has a 26x optical zoom lens with focal lengths from 26mm wide angle to 676mm super telephoto (in the 35mm format). There's also an 'Intelligent Zoom' function that extends the zoom coverage to about 162.5 times (for a focal length of 4225mm in the 35mm format). Pentax says they also boosted battery life by 50%, making it possible to shoot about 255 pictures on a full charge.

Nvidia on Tuesday introduced laptop technology that switches between integrated graphics and a graphics card, depending on application requirements, to extend battery life. Called Optimus, the technology makes the switch seamlessly, using an Nvidia discrete graphics card for 3-D games, video, or other graphics-intensive applications; and, for more mundane computing tasks such as e-mail and Web browsing, running the far less power-hungry graphics chip integrated into the chipset that runs with the CPU.

, wrote in a blog post. microsoft issued its statement after reports of battery life problems started popping up in online forums and in the blogosphere. some windows 7 users reported that after upgrading to windows 7, they received a notice

Nvidia introduced switchable graphics for notebooks several years ago -- back then the company called it hybrid graphics - but there was a problem. Nobody was switching. So Tuesday the graphics chip maker unveiled Nvidia Optimus, a switchable graphics technology that automatically routes notebook PC workloads to either the low-power integrated graphics to extend battery life or the more power-hungry discrete card from Nvidia for more graphics pop when needed.

vgn-z590, macbook pro 15-inch (sd slot), asus ul80vt-a1, and lenovo thinkpad t400. but using the technology involves too many steps that most users just don't want to bother with. nvidia plans to change all that, with its new optimus technology

Does your laptop have switchable graphics? You know, both an integrated graphics chip that sips energy and gives you long battery life along with a discrete GPU (graphics processing unit) that offers better 3D graphics and video performance? Notebooks with switchable graphics have been shipping for years, but they haven't lived up to user expectations. Nvidia hopes to change that with their new Optimus technology.

last week i wrote about reports that some windows 7 users are experiencing anomalies with battery life, or at least how windows 7 reports remaining battery life. the issue seemed worthy of exploring, but not big enough to cause any significant

Steve Jobs chose the wrong name for Apple's (AAPL) new iPad. A better one would have been iWonder-as in, I wonder if content providers will take full advantage of it. Whether they do so will be the key factor in its success or failure.

The half-hour or so I spent playing with the iPad at its San Francisco unveiling last month was too short to evaluate it, other than to say it is fast, beautiful, and loaded with potential. The half-inch-thin iPad uses the iPhone/iPod touch operating system, meaning it runs just about all the 140,000 or so applications already written for those pocket-sized devices. Jobs has promised superb battery life: 10 hours of heavy-duty use.

Just one day after the unveiling of the iPad, Apple's long-rumored tablet has ruffled feathers and turned heads. With a familiar interface, Apple's momentum, iTunes integration, and a price that the even non-geek can easily fall in love with, it has all the makings of a hit. But deep inside lies something even more revolutionary.

At the heart of the iPad lies a tiny sliver of silicon. A game changer within a game changer. That's Apple's A4, a system-on-a-chip (SoC) that reportedly combines a low-power CPU, a graphics processing unit (GPU).

Okay, so it exists. What do your favorite tech personalities, the CrunchGear team, have to say about Apple's latest opus? Join us as we pass judgment on the device sight unseen - though of course more in-depth analysis is forthcoming.

Matt: Sorry, Apple. I was going to buy it until I found that the iPad doesn't have an SD card slot. You've failed me again.

John: It will be definitely be something I'm getting but I'm worried that it will be just 'one more thing' to carry around. That I definitely DON'T need.

Washington - Apple Inc. says its tablet-style iPad computer represents a whole new category of consumer-electronic devices, ideal for watching videos, surfing the Web and reading electronic books.

Here is how it stacks up with other Internet-connected portable devices that consumers are already using:

- iPad vs. laptop The iPad is easier to stash and carry than most laptops. The device weighs just 1.5 pounds, compared with a few pounds for the typical laptop. At a mere half-inch thick, the iPad is also thinner than most laptops, including Apple's super-thin Macbook Air.