Well, not really -- the actual experiments that could result in potentially disastrous "micro black holes" won't happen for another month (and probably won't end anything except the lives of a few protons), but as rumored, CERN's flipping the switch on the four billion dollar Large Hadron Collider this Wednesday to test the superconducting magnets that control the proton beams. After a clockwise test, they'll send protons counter-clockwise, and after that -- smashy time. Of course, there are still paranoid lawsuits pending to shut all this down, and we wouldn't mind another rap video or two, but after two decades of work, it's probably time to boot this thing up, death threats or no. Let's make it a good last month of humanity, people.

If you're anything like us, the idea of a $99 Inspiron Mini 9 was enough to make you seriously consider picking up a new full-featured Dell laptop, but since the math is a little confusing given Dell's shady history and the number of promotions on its site, we thought we'd break it down for you. Essentially, Dell's charging close to full price for the large machine in order to absorb the cost of the Mini -- so while a $1,259 Studio 15 with a 1.86GHz processor, 3GB of RAM, a 250GB drive, and a 3 year warranty goes for $699 on Dell's fall deals page, it's $1098 with a Mini. Hey, the difference is just about the Mini 9's $349 list price, isn't it? Same story with the other Studio 15 and XPS M1330 / M1530 configurations that apply for the $99 Mini deal -- you can find cheaper deals, but they're all about $300 - $400 less than the CTO price, so adding in a Mini 9 essentially washes out. So much for that hot two laptop $700 impulse buy -- we'd say it only makes sense to pull the trigger on this if you're actually in the market for a new full-featured machine. Let us know if you manage to work the numbers any differently -- our credit card hasn't gone too far.

[Thanks, Matt]

Read - Dell $99 Mini 9 promo page
Read - Dell fall deals page

Dell's Inspiron Mini 9 didn't waste any time going from its formal debut to hitting the review circuit today, and although its basic design didn't blow anyone away, it seems like an impressively put-together piece of kit for the price. Everyone laments the tiny keyboard, although it's apparently fine once you get used to it, but Notebook Review flat out says it won't cut it as a primary typing machine. PC Magazine says the 1.6GHz Atom and 1GB of RAM are enough for most tasks under XP, although multitasking is a chore; the Linux configurations seem similarly capable -- Laptop says the custom build of Ubuntu Remix is "smooth" and "sleek." The four-cell battery averaged around three and a half hours under both XP and Linux, which is decent, but several noticed that Dell hasn't made an extended battery available yet. We'd expect that to change soon, but overall it's a minor quibble -- could this be the netbook that finally makes you reach for your wallet?

Read - Laptop (3.5 out of 5)
Read - Notebook Review ("...fabulous netbook... [but] only 'your new best friend' if you're willing to overlook a few flaws.")
Read - Washington Post ("... isn't perfect, but it does offer a terrific design and a good price.")
Read - PC Magazine (3 out of 5)

Nintendo might be cranking out new DS Lite colors left and right, but IGN says something bigger's brewing in Kyoto -- a third iteration of the DS with dual touchscreen displays, one of them widescreen. Those are pretty significant changes, so we'd actually say that sounds more like a second-gen DS rather than another rev of the current hardware, but IGN says the rumored release date of April or May 2009 doesn't jive with a whole new unit. We'll see when we see -- hopefully we won't be waiting long.

PS.- That's just IGN's mockup, don't get too excited.

Whoop -- looks like the 120GB Zune couldn't wait for its formal debut on the 9th. Yep, sold to our tipster at a Fry's in Atlanta for $250, just like we'd heard. Anyone else spot one -- or better yet, the blue flash Zune? One more pic after the break.

[Thanks, Joe]

So we know that Microsoft is gearing up to launch those new "Blue Track" mice on September 9th, but Ars Technica says that there's a good chance we'll be getting new webcams and -- surprise! -- Zunes as well. Sadly, the new mice might still be the most exciting things on the ticket -- the LifeCam VX-5500 and LifeCam Show NX-8000 are pretty much just webcams, and we're not expecting anything Zune hardware-related beyond bumps to 120GB and 16GB and perhaps that blue flash number. Still, there's a chance we could be surprised by those rumored new software and service announcements, but Microsoft's going to have to reach deep into the wow box to steal attention from a certain black-turtlenecked raconteur who'll be taking the stage in Cupertino to announce some minor new PMPs that day as well. Let the games begin!

While most of the products coming out of China are powered by Intel, AMD, and VIA chips, the Chinese government is investing heavily in a new chip called the Godson-3 in an effort to be "technologically independent." The Godson-3 is a third generation, quad-core design -- the project was started in 2001 -- and the goal is to use it to bring PCs to most Chinese citizens by 2010. Importantly, the 65nm Godson-3 will be x86 compatible through simulation, which means it'll be able to run Windows about 80 percent as fast as a comparable Intel chip -- although other Godson chips are already on the Chinese market in Linux-powered desktops and laptops under the name Loongson, or "dragon chip," they've been hampered by incompatibility with x86 software, so this should open things up significantly. We'll definitely be keeping an eye on this one -- hopefully it'll bring about more than just another flood of cheap netbooks.

[Via Slashdot]

It's no secret that RFID isn't the most secure thing in the world, so we mostly took Adam Savage's story about Discovery telling the Mythbusters to back off an episode exposing the tech's flaws after a conference call with various cred card company lawyers as a bit of laughable corporate insecurity, but it looks like Adam got himself in a bit of trouble by sharing -- Discovery's now sending out a release in which he basically retracts the whole thing. "There's been a lot of talk about this RFID thing, and I have to admit that I got some of my facts wrong... Texas Instruments' account of their call with Grant and our producer is factually correct [and] the decision not to continue on with the RFID story was made by our production company, Beyond Productions, and had nothing to do with Discovery, or their ad sales department." Sure, that doesn't explain why he said that Tory "still gets a little white" when he remembers the phone call, or why he said RFID was "on Discovery's radar," but we're guessing it has more to do with simple exaggeration than devious conspiracy. At least we hope so.

Getting the Wii to run backup disks has never been quite as easy as running homebrew, but that might be about to change -- there's apparently a secret recovery mode that can be accessed with a special GameCube memory card. Not much is being revealed yet, but apparently if a "device" with a unique ID signature is present in the slot at boot, the Wii will drop into recovery mode and happily run whatever you throw at it, from backup disks to homebrew code. Hopefully we'll find out more soon -- video after the break.

Update: It looks like the recovery mode is only good for fixing "certain bricked consoles" -- so much for that.

[Thanks, brakken]

We first spotted Schlage's web-controlled Z-Wave door locks back in May, but Schlage was still working out details on everything from the name to pricing, and it looks like ditching that key for online access will be pretty pricey: a LiNK lock "starter kit" will run $299 for a lock and Z-Wave Ethernet bridge that enables network control, with additional locks going for $199. On top of that, you'll be charged $12.99 a month for access to the LiNK portal and mobile apps, including 100MB of video storage if you add a video camera to the system. Good luck with that, Schlage -- turns out regular keys don't charge a monthly fee to keep doors locked.

It wasn't any secret that the Xbox 360 was getting a price cut in the next week or so, and now it's official -- Major Nelson just confirmed that as of September 5th, the Arcade will be $199, the Pro will be $299, and the Elite will be $399. No motion controller, goofy Live starter pack, or tweaked controller to be found, but we're not arguing with price cuts.

Update: Here's the Microsoft press release.

It's not clear what format or resolution it's going to be in, but Sony and PNY have just announced that they're teaming up to release one of the best movies ever, 1984's Ghostbusters, on a flash drive. That's the first full-length studio movie to go out this way, but knowing Sony, we're expecting a crazy proprietary format that only plays in a heavily DRM'd player. Even still, it's definitely a start -- and coupled with the plan to stream Hancock exclusively to Bravia Internet Link owners, it certainly seems like the company is warming up to alternative forms of distribution. Now if we could just get some DRM-free HD content in a standardized format, we'd be all set, no?

Update: it's already available on this UK site for £29, or about $60. Yeah, we'll stick to our VHS copy.

[Warning: PDF read link]

For some reason, we're quite taken with the Peek email-only handheld, and Gadling's followup review of the love-it-or-hate-it device mostly reinforces that positive impression. The squared-off, Ideo-designed unit did its one task admirably well, sending and receiving emails using T-Mobile's network with only slight delay, and the OS is minimal and easy to use. Sure, at $99 and $20/mo it's still way too expensive for the typical gadget nerd who's already packing a phone data plan and maybe a data card as well, but if you're trying to keep things on the prepaid tip or looking to get a Luddite friend or relative on the mobile email bandwagon, the Peek is certainly worth a second, uh, peek.

Sprint's XOHM WiMAX network is finally due out this month in the launch market of Baltimore, with Chicago and DC to follow, and the company is already working on the next phase of the rollout, which will bring the high-speed wireless service to Boston, Philadelphia, and Dallas-Fort Worth. Sprint says it's already started installing WiMAX equipment in those three cities and that it's a "month ahead of schedule," but given the delays getting XOHM up and running in Baltimore, we're not exactly certain the "schedule" really matters. Still, it's good to hear that XOHM is growing up -- now launch, already.

Dell's Inspiron 910 / Mini Inspiron hasn't exactly been a secret since we first heard about it back in April, but it sounds like this baby bump is about to go from open secret to bouncing bundle of joy -- Dell just confirmed to InformationWeek that the netbook is scheduled to arrive later this week. That's all we know right now -- Dell reps called those earlier specs we'd heard "pretty much rumor and speculation" -- but we'll go out on a limb and say we wouldn't expect anything less than an 8.9-inch screen and 1.6GHz Atom in there. Sorry if we killed the surprise, guys -- but remember, you can still wow us with the price tag.

[Thanks, AC]