phantom

It was a Sithy day for Lucasfilm yesterday as the Star Wars publicity team announced that fans of a galaxy far, far away will be enjoying a double helping of Maul, starting in the fall.

First, Darth Maul, the Sith Lord who we last saw cut in half by Obi-Wan Kenobi in 1999's "Star Wars: Episode I--The Phantom Menace," will bring his tattooed face, double-bladed lightsaber, and (presumably) legless torso to the animated "Star Wars: The Clone Wars."

The return was hinted at during the show's previous season when Maul's brother (Savage Opress) arrived on the scene. Though there's no word on how Maul survived or how he'll move about without legs, the return should be a welcome one for "Star Wars" fans. While many of them might've been eager for the first prequel to end, the movie did get the villain right. … Read more

Foxit PhantomPDF is a blazing-fast PDF creator and editor that gets the job done. It comes in three different editions--Express, Standard, and Business--all of which are easy to use and significantly less expensive than Adobe Acrobat.

Foxit PhantomPDF's interface has the look and feel common to most document and word-processing software: a menu bar, customizable, icon-based toolbars, and a main display. In addition, the program features a distinctive, ultrathin navigation panel on the far left that allows quick access to documents via bookmarks or thumbnails as well as attachments, signatures, and layers. Hovering the cursor over the subtly colored … Read more

This raises "bling" to a whole new level: an armor-plated, gold-trimmed Rolls-Royce Phantom.

The eye-catching vehicle was made by special request for an anonymous Middle Eastern businessman. The unique features of the Phantom include 120kg of 18-carat gold interior and exterior trim.

Armor reinforcement allows the Phantom to withstand automatic gun fire, sniper rifle assaults, and even the blast from a hand grenade.

The entire process of adding the gold and armor reinforcement took about 18 months, according to Stuart Hughes, which now features the Phantom on its Web site.

Liverpool-Based Stuart Hughes collaborated with Swiss company Eurocash AG to create the lavish vehicle, the company states. Eurocash AG offers the Phantom for rent, but for not sale.… Read more

Every company can be hacked, but we didn't expect Sony to tell us that an additional 24 millions users and over 12,000 credit cards were acquired. It's not looking good for you guys.Microsoft and RIM are new BFFs in the mobile space and they need each other, plus new iMacs! Just like we predicted.

Boeing said today that its Phantom Ray unmanned aircraft has flown on its own for the first time.

The prototype unmanned airborne system, which sports a striking flying-wing design, flew for 17 minutes on April 27, reaching a speed of 178 knots and an altitude of 7,500 feet. More flights will take place in the coming weeks, Boeing said.

"The UAS bar has been raised," Craig Brown, Phantom Ray program manager for Boeing, said in a statement. "Now I'm eager to see how high that bar will go."

If you dream of riding around in a Rolls-Royce Phantom, but can only afford a rusted old beast with the fender hanging off, take heart. Rolls-Royce has released a free app for enthusiasts wanting to create a virtual customized version of the luxury car.

Using the Phantom app, users can apply any mix of trims to their car from a choice of 44,000 colors. If that's not enough variety for you, you can use an iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch camera to capture a new color from any surface (even nail polish--ever seen a Rolls in Miss Bossy Pants?) to create a completely unique version of the luxury car.

Users can experience interior ambiance interactively through features like a starlight headliner, where hundreds of illuminated optical fibers are woven into the roof lining of a virtual vehicle. The app even has the ability to turn up or down the degree of illumination.

The Rolls-Royce Phantom app features 360-degree exterior views and three interior angles from the front, side and rear seat. It can be used to create a virtual Phantom, Phantom Coupe, or Phantom Drophead Coupe.

Or users can recreate the Royal Wedding bride ride. Kate, you may have heard, was transported to Westminster Abbey in a 1977 Rolls Royce Phantom VI.

A similar app for the Ghost came out in March of last year.… Read more

Yahoo today offered an apology to Windows Phone 7 users affected by an inefficiency that left some with larger than usual data usage.

The data problem had cropped up shortly after the launch of Microsoft's latest mobile venture, with some users finding their allotted cellular data use going up to an unusually high rate. Microsoft acknowledged the problem in mid-January following a query from the BBC and later said that it was an unnamed third-party's fault.

Last night Microsoft fessed up that Yahoo was that third party and that the issue centered on its Web mail service. This … Read more

Some deep digging by self-proclaimed Microsoft software deconstructor Rafael Rivera claims to have stumbled upon the reason for some Windows Phone 7 devices using up large amounts of "phantom" data, unbeknownst to their owners.

The culprit? Yahoo Mail.

Rivera examined some of the IMAP packets coming into the device and discovered that Yahoo's IMAP server was not responding to the phone's requests to fetch new messages with the correct response. Instead of sending commands that were just a few lines in length, the servers would send back code chunks that Rivera says are about 25 times … Read more

The culprit behind some mysteriously high cellular data usage by Windows Phone 7 devices has been attributed to a third-party service, and not necessarily the software OS itself, Microsoft said today.

The "phantom data" problem, which has left some users burning through their monthly cellular data allotment in short order (even when they were connected to Wi-Fi), was addressed by the software giant last week. Microsoft pledged that it would begin an investigation into the matter, though had not yet provided an update.

Speaking to the Seattle Post Intelligencer, a Microsoft representative said the company had figured out … Read more