October 29 - 7:55am EDT   ASUS could be the next Asian cellphone maker after HTC to make Android phones, according to claims by reported market insiders. The company until now has made Windows Mobile devices almost exclusively but would launch a device based on the Google mobile OS sometime within the first half of 2009, releasing self-branded models first in its Taiwan-area home and later customizing the devices for "overseas" regions. No technical details have been released, though ASUS focuses heavily on 3G data and regularly adds GPS. [full story]

June 26 - 11:00am EDT   Apple is preparing significant changes to the iPod nano as it prepares a dramatic ramp-up in iPhone 3G shipments, according to a report by FBR Research analyst Craig Berger. The investment expert now anticipates an updated, lower-priced iPod nano in the near future on top of refreshes for both the iPod classic and iPod touch. Further details are unavailble, though Apple has traditionally increased capacities of the iPod in August or September as flash memory and hard drive technology improves; the company took the unusual step this year of doubling iPod touch capacity to 32GB just a few months after the product was introduced. [full story]

January 2 - 10:05am EST   Marvell today unveiled a new version of its TopDog wireless chipsets that could dramatically improve the speed of already fast 802.11n Wi-Fi connections. The 11n-450 will use three transmitters and three receivers to achieve a maximum speed of 450 megabits per second. The connection is 50 percent faster than the 300Mbps peak for today's draft spec 802.11n chipsets and results in even more range: the new chip increases range by 160 percent over 300Mbps models and sports about five times more range than the earlier 802.11g standard, Marvell claims. The advancement should allow multiple streaming videos at once over longer ranges. [full story]