With his cute round features and high-pitched voice, Disney's iconic character Mickey couldn't possibly be evil... or could he? For the past year, Disney and Nintendo have worked on redesigning the 81-year-old character for an upcoming Nintendo Wii video game.

The new Mickey is now leaner and meaner. While it is a departure from the Mickey we've come to know and love, it's actually a closer depiction to the original incarnation in 1928's "Steamboat Willie", in which he got into fistfights, played tricks on his friends, and amorously pursued Minnie.

The new Mickey still sports his trademark red shorts, yellow shoes, and white gloves. But he now has longer limbers and a bit edgier facial expressions that some have even called "demonic". Demonic might be going a little too far, but it is definitely a look that conveys that this Mickey isn't all sweetness and nice.

With the makeover, company execs are hoping that it will keep Mickey relevant in a generation growing up with Nickelodeon and Pixar. And what better a way to do that than to put him in a video game.

Babies are unable to speak in a language that adults can fully understand, and instead communicate their needs through crying. While many parents are often able to distinguish the meaning of their baby's cries, that is not always the case. Now, there is a handy iPhone app that promises to tell you why your baby is crying.

A company based out of Barcelona recently launched an iPhone application that they say tell you why your baby is crying in just 10 seconds. Dubbed "The Cry Translator", creators Pedro Barrerra and Luis Meca say the app "involves a revolutionary technology that quickly identifies an infant's cry, based on one of five emotional or physiological states: hunger, fatigue, annoyance, stress or boredom".

The creators say:

'These five cries are universal to all babies regardless of culture or language.'

So how does it work? Parents are instructed to place their iPhone about a foot away from the crying baby and then press the "Start" button. The cries are then analyzed and identified within 10 seconds with a 96 percent degree of accuracy. After the cry is identified, tips are then given on how to remedy the situation and calm the infant.

Have you ever wondered what you would look like with bigger breasts or poutier lips? Now you can find out using a simple app made for the iPhone. There are now two plastic surgery applications for the Apple iPhone that offer users information, games and the chance to see what they would look like with a face lift, new nose, and many other procedures.

The firs plastic surgery app - The Shafer Plastic Surgery App - launched in October. It's the first app of its kind amongst Apple's 85,000 offerings in the iPhone App Store. It was created by Dr. David Shafer of New York, and taps into more than 1,000 questions and answers about specific cosmetic procedures.

The second iPhone plastic surgery app will soon hit the iPhone App Store, and it's called "iSurgeon". iSurgeon was developed by Miami cosmetic surgeon Dr. Michael Salzhauer, who is also well known for authoring the 2008 book "My Beautiful Mommy" - a book aimed at helping 4 to 7 year old children cope with their mother's plastic surgery.

iSurgeon will feature a fun game mode that allows users to try their hand at surgery, giving people the chance to instantly modify images of themselves or their friends through breast augmentations, lip enhancements and dozens of other procedures.

Unlike your Yahoo email account, which ceases upon death, Facebook wants to keep your profile alive. Upon the request of friends or family, Facebook will "memorialize" profiles of those who have died.

These accounts will be different than regular Facebook profiles. For example, any contact information will be removed and people will be barred from logging in. The profile also will not be included in the "suggestion" section, and only the deceased person's confirmed friends will be able to find them in a search.

The worldwide recession has caused hard times for many businesses, however it has had little effect on their use of mobile data services. According to an update to ABI Research's Business Mobility Market Data, global mobile data services revenue are expected to increase by 17 percent in 2010, and through 2014, mobile data services revenues will grow at a Compound Annual Growth rate of 12 percent.

Revenues from mobile broadband are expected to be at their highest from 2010 to 2014 in North America, but the largest share of mobile broadband services revenue will go to mobile business customers in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, where 2014 revenues will increase to 27 and 26 percent of total spending respectively.

The Asia Pacific area, application download revenues will see its greatest growth amongst mobile business customers The highest portion of average revenue per user spent for these applications will come from business customers in Western Europe and Asia Pacific.

ABI practice director Dan Shey said:

The Beatles couldn't get even get by with a little help from their friends. Sales figures for Beatles Rock Band, which was released to much hype, showed the game shifted 595,000 copies. While that figure may look good, experts were expecting the game to sell at least one million copies.

Analysts are writing of John, Paul, George, and Ringo just yet though. They say that they foresee the game selling well during the holidays.

Photo courtesy of BoyGeniusReport.com, who got a hands-on with the new phone.

On October 30, Verizon Wireless will roll out its new Android-based Motorola phone, and the new website for the phone takes direct aim at Apple. They don't even try to hid their contempt for Apple, and the site is full of direct attacks on them. Most notably, the site reads (in an Apple-like font with an Apple-like graphic):

idon't have a real keyboard
idon't run simultaneous apps
idon't take night shots
idon't allow open development
idon't customize
idon't run widgets
idon't have interchangeable batteries
everything idon't
droiddoes

The new Verizon Droid site also utilizes Flash, which was recently announced for all major mobile operating systems, except the iPhone. In order to run Flash on Android phones, you'll need Android OS 2.0, which the Droid has.

While Motorola manufactured the Droid phone, they don't make an appearance on the website. This is purely a Verizon vs. Apple thing, and NOT a Verizon vs. AT&T (the exclusive carrier of the iPhone) or a Motorola vs. Apple thing.

Hewlett-Packard acquired Compaq back in 2002, since then they have kept the name alive, but haven't given it a real marketing push. In recent years the brand has been relegated to overseas markets and sold as a second-tier PC in warehouse style stores. Now HP is looking to revive the brand in the U.S., launching a series of ultracheap computers to meet the needs of consumers tightening their belts amidst a downtrodden economy.

HP is now looking to position the Compaq as not only the label for cheap computers, but also as a brand with mainstream U.S. appeal. On Thursday the company announced the rollout of a line of ultra-inexpensive PCs, including laptops and deskstops.

The first offering is a 15.6-inch laptop featuring AMD Sempron CPU, 2GB of RAM, 160GB hard drive, DVD burner, and discrete graphics. It runs off Windows 7 Home Premium, and is priced at just $399. That's the MSRP, and not one of those get up at 5am and wait in a long line in the hopes you might get one of the 15 in stock at the store kind of deals.

Desktop buyers will find an even better deal, offering the Compaq Presario 4010f with similar specs and a 250GB hard drive starting at $309 after a $100 rebate.

Responding to cuts in price by rivals Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp., Nintendo Co. Ltd. will be slashing the price of its popular Wii video game console by 20 percent. The move is designed to bump up sales of the console, and the new pricing will go into effect on Sunday.

Nintendo will reduce the price of the Wii by $50, putting at the enviable price point of $199 in the US. The price will also be cut in Japan, where it will fall from 20,000 yet to 5,000 yen on October 1.

In dropping the price, Nintendo is the last of the popular video game consoles to cut prices. Microsoft took $100 off the price of its high-end Xbox 360 console, and Sony dropped the price of its Playstation 3 console by $100. With these price cuts, both the Xbox 260 and PS3 start around $300. Microsoft does sell a low-end version - called the Xbox Arcade - for around $200.

In the latest incarnation of the video game console wars, Nintendo has far outsold its rivals. Part of their winning strategy has been focusing on expanding the gaming population via intuitive and easy-to-play games. Their rivals, however, have choosen to focus their attentions on life-like graphics.

The Beatles are undoubtedly the most popular band of all-time, so it is no surprise that their first venture into the world of video games - The Beatles: Rock Band - would be a resounding success. Nevertheless, sales of the video game have far exceeded expectations, so much so that Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman is warning that it might not be available for Christmas shoppers.

Speaking with the Wall Street Journal, Dauman said that the "Limited Edition Premium Bundle," which sells for about $250 and comes with a Ringo Starr/Ludwig-branded "Rock Band" drum kit, could sell out by November. Speaking with Wall Street analysts on Wednesday at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia XVIII Conference in New York, he added:

"If any of you out here want to buy some, you better hurry up."