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As Wall Street struggles to redefine itself, Cisco is busy this week introducing its latest wave of collaboration products to compete with Microsoft, IBM and Oracle.

"It's a major launch for us, including a comprehensive update to our Unified Communications platform, a new collaboration client for WebEx and Telepresence Expert on Demand," said Rick McConnell, vice president and general manager of Cisco's Unified Communications division.

Cisco's Unified Communications release 7.0 adds support for Windows Mobile, in addition to Symbian and Blackberry. iPhone support is in the works, McConnell said, but Android support is not … Read more

On this week's EIC Squared podcast, ZDNet's Larry Dignan and I discuss the legal tussle between Apple and the Mac cloner, Psystar.

This week, Psystar sued Apple on antitrust grounds. Psystar execs said they just want to make the Mac OS "more accessible" by offering it on cheaper hardware than what Apple provides. It's hard not to imagine Apple fighting this one to the bitter end and Psystar getting crushed in a lengthy litigation.

Another battle is brewing with Cisco Systems adding e-mail and calendaring to its on-demand, collaborative software platform with the acquisition of PostPath. … Read more

While there are other PDF readers out there, the Adobe Reader for Windows and Mac is used the most. Adobe's mastery of the Portable Document Format has been nearly indisputable until recently, and even with stiff competition the Adobe Reader has the name recognition that most users trust. But is it really the best one out there? Get up close and personal with the Reader in this First Look video, judge for yourself, and let us know in the comments below.

Frog Design Digital Escape, the virtual reality mask with smells http://dvice.com/archives/2008/05/frog_design_dre.php

Fake TV: the continuing appearance of useless products http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/ fake_tv_the_continuing_appearance_of_useless_products_9892.asp

Laptop backpacks for motherly computer owners http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9941374-1.html

Dynamizer humanoid robot mows your lawn, does your bidding http://dvice.com/archives/2008/05/dynamizer_human.php… Read more

It's too bad that Michael Kanellos has given up his masochistic hobbies because this item would be right up his alley. It's one thing to have joysticks, keyboards, and other game gear that make you feel the action, but earphones?

A Korean company that goes by the amusing moniker of iFeelU is peddling a pair of "body-sonic" buds that will make your aural canals feel like they've been assaulted by heavy artillery. The rumbling EX2 earphones supposedly will create a "home theater in your ears," Gizmodo says, though we suspect it might be … Read more

Driving around the streets of London and Geneva over the last couple of days, I have noticed a conspicuous absence of Infiniti and Acura models. The premium brands of (respectively) Nissan and Honda are virtually unknown in Western European countries, where they are currently unavailable. This is about to change, however, as Nissan prepares to use this week's Geneva auto show to launch the first Infiniti models for the European market. According to the Financial Times, Infiniti has "Europeanised" its lineup (smaller engines, diesel options), and will launch with four models, including a brand-new FX crossover SUV, … Read more

FedEx was on hand today to show off its new Adobe AIR application for tracking packages.

Similar to tracking widgets you may have seen on tools such as Apple's Dashboard and Yahoo's Widget engine, you can keep small widgets on your desktop that update and let you know when that digital camera you ordered online mistakenly got delivered somewhere three states over. But that's not the sole use. The application doubles as command center for business users and frequent shippers to keep track of what's going on with several of their packages at once.

The company … Read more

Remember ooVoo, that iChat-like video conferencing and chat tool we took a look at back in June? Today they've launched a new version that has got a handful of useful, powerful tools that make it a viable alternative for small workgroups using conference calls and screen-sharing applications, such as WebEx.

First up is a new recording feature that lets users tape video chats with other participants. Since the video and audio are being recorded to the hard drive, the only time limit is how much free space the computer has. In testing, I managed to get a nearly 15 minute, four-way video conversation down to 95 MB file. The application took about 10 minutes to convert my conversation into workable FLV file that was at a full 1MB/S quality. It can also step it down to 256kb/s or 512kb/s if the file needs to be smaller.

The other really useful feature is a new conference calling tool that gives host and participants a landline number to call. Other ooVoo users who call this conference line get plugged right into the audio that's a part of the video chat, and just like the video recordings, this audio gets archived too. The new call in lines support up to six people, meaning users can have up to a dozen participants--including those on the video side. The call in service is free this month, but it is moving to a by-the-minute model in March.

Besides the video recording, the other new feature that I think people are going to like is an optional piece of software that's a companion for ooVoo's video player. The companion has two main uses. The first is a screen sharing application that lets users show off an entire screen, or certain zoom levels, to other video chat participants. Users can also drop media files, such as music, pictures, or video into the stream for other users to view. Secondly, it's got a built-in facial overlay tool, like Fix8, that applies digital overlays either to users faces or to replace backgrounds. It's great fun.… Read more