Earlier this week Microsoft announced that it is delaying the release of Windows XP SP3 because of some bugs it caused with the database server with Microsoft Dynamics. Last night I went home and was looking for the automatic update bringing SP1 to Vista and found that it wasn’t there either, much to my dismay as there are a number of issues I have on Vista that I was hoping to see corrected.

Today we find out that Microsoft has indeed delayed the release of Vista SP1 to Automatic Updates as well, due to the same issue. It sounds like some of found the problem has to do with SQL Server with Dynamics. It’s unlikely that the problem is with SQL Server alone since MS is surely to have tested that at some point, but the relatively few that are out there running Microsoft Dynamics are holding it up for the rest of us.

If you’re the type who eats Chinese food regularly, you no doubt have your own chopsticks. But where does one put them? How do you carry them around? Now they’ll be handy wherever you go. They will be stowed in your glasses.

Never be without chopsticks again. Just pull them out and start eating. You can also use them to hold your hair back, but if you do both it’s going to get messy. I suppose they are also handy as weapons should you need them. Even a stylus.

Behold robot fans. We told you about the ultimate Wall-E robot toy. Here’s an animated MP3 player in the form of Wall-E “Waste Allocation Load Lifter, Earth Class”. He’s available from the Sharper Image, but probably most people haven’t noticed due to the chain’s questionable futute.

The 8-inch-tall “iDance Wall-E” claims to talk and dance to the music and his eyes even light up. You can also plug in an iPod or other MP3 player. I suppose it’s the latest version of the “i-Dog,”, just much cooler, since it’s a robot. He only costs $24.95.

While everyone’s waiting for X-Box’s new Wii controller, another wireless controller is coming our way for the Xbox 360. The only difference is that you’ll be using your feet, not your hands. Qmotions will be developing a version of their skateboard controller for Microsoft’s game console.

The company already makes controllers for various sports games and plans to release it’s “Big Air” board for the Xbox in the second half of 2008, with more Microsoft-endorsed products to follow. I’m guessing one of those products will have the name Tont Hawk in it. Call it a wild guess.

Apple today announced the immediate ability to purchase movies through iTunes the same day that they are released to DVD. This takes away another hurdle that Apple needed to get over to increase the number of online movie rentals through iTunes, and comes only months after the initial launch of the ability to purchase movies at all through the online service.

Apple says they will be providing new releases for sale from 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Lionsgate, among a couple others. The new release purchases are priced at $14.99 each and can be viewed on a Mac, PC or any iPod with video and require iTunes version 7.6.2 which is available now as a free download.

Much like car manufacturer’s claims about MPG, you aren’t going to get all the hard drive space that’s advertised on your devices, but it’s an issue that may haunt Creative at the moment. A class-action suit was filed against the company regarding the quoted capacity of their hard-drive based media players. It could potentially result in a huge settlement for anybody who bought a device between May 5th 2001 and April 30th 2008. Of course, Creative isn’t admitting any wrong-doing.

The suit alleges that Creative knowingly misled users by promising 7-percent more capacity from their PMPs than was actually even possible, and that they exaggerated the number of songs and the total length of playback in hours. Nothing has hit court yet, but if customers can prove they bought a Creative hard-drive based player in the seven year period, will be eligible for either a 50-percent discount on the price of a new 1GB PMP, or 20-percent off a single item bought from Creative’s US online store.

We’ve all seen our share of fake knock-offs, especially with the iPhone. Some are just straight clone attempts, while others are a bit strange. This one is just plain F@%#ing weird. The Toggolino Phone shames itself quite nicely, right there in the packaging.

Apparently the device comes packaged with a German kit that teaches German rugrats how to associate words with animals or…something. You could very well be looking at the next Speak and Spell toy. Looks pretty fun actually.

We told you about the R2-D2 projector awhile back, but we had no idea that watching this droid in action was like watching robot porn. Check out the video here. I can not emphasize enough how awesome it is. It will make you wet your Wookie suit and sit in it for an hour!

This is a motorized, fully-articulated R2-D2 projector with built-in DVD, iPod dock, all kinds of digital media inputs, and Millennium Falcon remote control. It still costs $2,995, so you better scare up some funds if you want one and YOU DO want one.

Cats don’t like water, but dogs aren’t too thrilled with it either. That’s why someone invented this wet suit for dogs. Small ones, like Chihuahas. It’s for when you want to force your dog in the water and make it look like an idiot at the same time. The outfit comes complete with flippers, goggles and a tank. I can easily see Paris Hilton dressing up Tinkerbell in this gear.

The doggy wet suit was featured as part of a Philippine fashion show and was worn by Mondex, the scuba dog. I don’t think they’ve actually tested it on dogs yet, but I could be wrong. If I know humans, one will be available very soon for the rich.

These sneakers are fully functional hot spot finders. As you walk around town, an integrated display will let you know what the signal strength is on hot spots around you. The wearable Wi-Fi sneakers are named A Step in the Right Direction and were designed by mstrpln and Ubiq boutique.

The ASRD sneaker has an integrated wireless internet detection unit embedded under the flap of the left shoe. When the pressure sensitive insole is activated, the device scans the surrounding area for Wi-Fi signals and displays the result through LEDs so you can see it. Sure, geeks are going to love these, but aren’t there more convenient ways to find hot spots? Better yet, instead of trying to find hot spots with your shoes, maybe you should be trying to score with the ladies, Poindexter.

Japanese homes are on the small side, so chances are you won’t find a dryer with the family washing machine. So what you have are many clotheslines with a TON of laundry all over a given neighborhood. But the Somela Fast Dehydrator offers a solution by being small and acting fast.

The device can dry clothes in just 3-5 minutes and doesn’t use heat, so no worries about damaging delicate items. There is one problem. The device requires manual interaction, like you holding clothes while the device pulls. So prepare to put a few spare hours aside to dry items one-at-a-time. Still, if you don’t mind some old-fashioned labor, get it for just $173.

It seems that the days of drivers ed courses and gory safety videos are becoming a thing of the past. Soon teenagers will be able to prepare for the written portion of their driver’s license exam with the Drivers Ed Portable for the Nintendo DS. It was developed by DreamCatcher Games and JoWooD Productions. The idea is to give people a fun way to study the material. Let’s just hope that this title conveys the seriousness of the rules of the road and doesn’t have teens expecting to shoot red or green shells at their opponents.

The game will feature two modes: Test and Train. Test mode will have some sample tests for the written part of the driver’s license examination for all 50 US states, 13 Canadian provinces and territories, as well as Spain, Italy, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. User progress is tracked, so the player will know where they need to improve in order to be successful in the real life test. Train mode will include three fun and educational mini-games. I think it might be a good idea to get off the road very soon. Damn kids and their Nintendo.

DigiFi has been showing off their new Digital Opera wireless headphones, which combine an over-the-ear headset with an iPod adaptor. Using Kleer’s wireless audio technology, the system includes “point to multi-point” Listen In. That means that up to four people can hear music from one transmitter. Through Kleer’s RF wireless connection, it promises “lossless CD-quality stereo”.

DigiFi claims that you can get in excess of 10hrs of playback through the headset, with a 20HZ to 20KHz frequency range, 86dB signal to noise ratio and less than 0.1-percent distortion. The short-range Kleer wireless has 2.37Mbps bandwidth and a range of up to ten meters. When the Digital Opera set goes on sale in Korea first, then in the US and Japan it’ll cost around $98.

When it comes to PC gaming the hobby is far from cheap. This is one of the main points console gamers like to harp on when lauding the supposed superiority of consoles over PCs for gaming. However, PC gamers can all agree that with the right PC, graphics on the same game are typically much better on PC than on a console.

Dell announced its latest XPS gaming desktop today and we can just get this out of the way up front, it’s not cheap. Base models start at $3,999 and if you want the slick and high tech liquid ceramic cooling you are looking at a starting price of $4,999. For that amount of money you get some nice components.