Moto CLIQ rooted!

Android lovers and Cliq users rejoice — the Motorola Cliq has officially been rooted. If you’re looking for custom goodies such as honest to goodness themes (instead of home replacements) and a few other hacked items you’re good to go. However, if you’re real intentions are to install some tweaked ROM’s (hello HTC Sense on your Moto Cliq) hold off for a bit longer. According to those responsible for the root — TheDudesAndroid of ModMyMoto — it isn’t yet ready to install “update.zip” files. Mind you, the update.zip method is by far the easiest and fool-proof way to update/hack such things.

Again, for now it’s best to let the more technically inclined to toil away at the hole Cliq rooting thing. Though if you’re feeling adventurous, by all means go ahead. Just be sure to report back here when you’re done.

Gizmodo > Redmondpie

January 11th ban hammer date for Microsoft Word: Off again. Kind of.

Not even 24 hours ago we heard the news that Microsoft lost their appeal to i4i — a small XML developers firm — and that the presiding judge decided to uphold the January 11th ban on Microsoft ’07. Yesterday the two most obvious choices for Microsoft were to pay up and forget about it or appeal again, risking losing more money and another court case. Microsoft however is choosing plan c. Plan C is simply selling new versions of Word ’03 and ’07 without the infringing and “little-used feature” according to Microsoft.

With respect to Microsoft Word 2007 and Microsoft Office 2007, we have been preparing for this possibility since the District Court issued its injunction in August 2009 and have put the wheels in motion to remove this little-used feature from these products. Therefore, we expect to have copies of Microsoft Word 2007 and Office 2007, with this feature removed, available for U.S. sale and distribution by the injunction date. In addition, the beta versions of Microsoft Word 2010 and Microsoft Office 2010, which are available now for downloading, do not contain the technology covered by the injunction.

While Microsoft will escape the dreaded ban hammer on their bread and butter Office Suite, they will also still be responsible for a $240 million payment as awarded by the first judge and upheld by the second. That payment however is still up in the air as Microsoft has stated they are pursuing other legal options. We shall see…

Venture Beat

Charge your iPhone like it’s 1984 with the NES Gun iPhone dock

Back in 1984, cellphones were at their most primitive stages. They weren’t cool looking, didn’t have fancy shmancy processors like Snapdragon, and most of all, wouldn’t even fit in a small to medium sized bag. In the current year of 2009, cellphones/smartphones are now taking over more aspects of our lives as they become miniature computers. Sometimes though it’s fun to recapture those “glory days” back when technology was ugly and unsightly.

The current high fashion gadget as most would consider it is the iPhone. It’s simple yet sophisticated. Easy to use yet powerful underneath. Why not give it a bit of retro customization to show off your geeky side? Searching for ideas? Rest assured I’ve got your back. Picking yourself up (or making your own) NES Zapper Gun iPhone Dock is a great way to show off your geeky side and charge your precious at the same time.

Purchasing a pre-made version will set you back $44.95. Building you own: considerably less. Whataya say?

• Purchase the NES Zapper Gun iPhone dock from Geek Unique (Etsy)

Geeky-Gadets

Microsoft Office ban coming January 11th…again.

Fighting a losing battle and getting stuck in a vicious black hole of denial seems to be the name of the game for Microsoft. A month or so back Microsoft found a fresh lawsuit on their doorstep compliments of i4i. The infringing code revolved around Microsoft’s use of protected algorithms dealing with the handling of .xml, .docx, and .docm files in Microsoft Office — more specifically Microsoft Word 2003 and 2007. Not surprisingly Microsoft appealed — and they lost, with the court ordered Office ban going into effect as originally planned on January 11th.

Microsoft does have a couple more options. A second appeal is all but certain. After a likely second (third if you count the original lawsuit) failure, Microsoft can always just shut up and pay up. I can understand wanting to protect your pride and fighting for your beliefs, but after losing twice in court, I’d seriously take a look at how much the lawyers are costing the company as well as what any settlement cost would be.

And companies wonder where their money goes…

Engadget > WSJ

[Image Source]

Feeling bored? Control some clever chaps Christmas tree via Twitter.

While the tweeting Kegerator is a clever, geeky way to interact with a chilled brew, other even more interactive possibilities exist for Twitter. Moving away from actual consumption, how about controlling something via Twitter? I bring you the “Tweet Tree”.

This clever combination of old and new employs Twitter as the means to let ordinary citizens such as you and I to control a Christmas tree’s lights from anywhere in the world. Built upon a relatively cheap $35 web platform, making your own version of the Tweet Tree or any socially interactive object won’t bankrupt you. Interacting with the Tweet Tree goes as follows:

To choose the color of our tree, just send a color to @tweet_tree on Twitter.

@tweet_tree red, green, purple, green, p, g, r, b

@tweet_tree understands red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Send one color, or combination of colors to morph through. Separate multiple colors with a comma. Only the first letter of the color matters, r,o,y,g,b, & p, are acceptable color commands.

@tweet_tree red, *ff0000, green, *00ff00, blue, *0000ff

It’s simple and again, pretty cool. For some actual *live* action, head on over to the official Tweet Tree uStream channel.

Zedomax > Instructables

1 vs. 100 FREE for all Xbox Silver and Gold members this Christmas.

Have an Xbox and fancy the Live scene? If you’re into the whole trivia thing, one game you should check out (if you haven’t already) is 1 vs. 100. Think of it as a sort of Xbox version of “Who wants to be a millionaire” except here there isn’t any money and thousands of people play simultaneously instead of just one. Completely the same….right.

Anyway, December 24th through December 26th, all Xbox Live members (Silver and Gold) will be able to play 1 vs. 100 for FREE. Also calendar worthy is a special Holiday themed episode of the game going live on December 26th @ 9pm (EST).

Again, if you’re in to trivia it’s a pretty fun way to pass the hours. Something else that might pique your interest — while monetary awards aren’t technically handed out, winners of 1 vs. 100 Live can win various amounts of Microsoft Points, games, and many other Microsoft gifts so it’s in your best interest to play if you like free stuff. See you on the 24th!

Major Nelson

Firefox 4 design gets updated. Possibilities ensue…

If you had to pick a favorite browser, which one would it be: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera…..Internet Explorer? Apparently the answer to that question is increasingly becoming Firefox. Over the last several quarters, Firefox has been gaining ground on the old giant (IE) so much so that according to recent reports, Firefox now commends more marketshare than IE7 — no small feat. Naturally, a browser that is growing larger by the day would obviously attract some attention concerning a freshened face.

An updated UI to Firefox is far from a surprise. For many, the upcoming Firefox 3.7 was a beacon to a beautified appearance. Although, numerous statements from Mozilla have pushed the full on UI overhaul further down the road for the herald 4.0 release. Even though 3.7 isn’t even here yet, many are anxious to see what a revamped Firefox would look like. Mozilla contributor Stephen Horlander shares many of our interests and as such, has made a few design mock-ups of the Firefox 4 (Windows) layout public on his personal blog.

A quick glance will draw most readers’ eyes to the (almost always) orange tab/button popping up in various forms along the header of the mock-up images. The button will reportedly hold all of Firefox’s “action menus” and allow some customization on the user’s end as well.

These updated UI shots are pretty good looking in my opinion and show what is a simple yet “different enough” update to keep Firefox fresh in the years to come. How do you rate the Firefox 4 UI update so far?

You can check out more info at Stephen Horlander’s personal blog, though you may have to wait awhile as currently his site is getting hammered and returning database connection errors.

Lifehacker > Download Squad