Notes from the field: After spending his last summer before college sculpting the iPhone to be free of an AT&T Wireless contract, George Hotz bartered the thing for a car worth approximately $50,000, and three more iPhones, which he plans to unlock as well, Cringe reports in Hack my iPhone, please. Hotz is not alone, either, as UniquePhone and iPhoneSimFree.com both also boast of modifying the device's SIM card. "The difference is that while Apple wisely has left the Jersey Kid alone (are you paying attention, RIAA?), it's less sanguine about the software hacks." Related: Legal worries delay release of iPhone unlocking software.

Hardware: Acer buys Gateway for $710 million dollars and along with the company gets the first right of refusal should anyone try to purchase Packard Bell's parent company PB Holding -- an option the company already is exercising to block Lenovo's bid for Packard Bell.

From the Test Center: The great Office Server smorgasbord continues. In Part 3, a look at Forms Server 2007. Naturally, this one begins with a discussion of InfoPath, then onto the basic Forms Services within SharePoint before progressing to the complete Forms Server 2007. "If you've got enough forms and the right vision, Forms Server 2007 and SharePoint Server 2007 can pay for themselves," Brian Chee and Oliver Rist explain. Of course, there are downsides. "Both of these are potential resource hogs in a server room. Left unchecked, IT admins in big firms can quickly find their hard disks inundated with usable forms, broken forms, various versions of forms, and similar messes." Read the full review.

Posted by Tom Sullivan on August 27, 2007 10:43 AM