Psystar might be in the middle of a court battle with Apple over the use of the Apple Mac OS X operating system, but that didn’t stop the Mac clone company from releasing a brand new Open Computer model on Tuesday.

The new model, the Open (3), will be “Smaller, Faster and Sexier” and includes Intel’s E7400 Core2Duo processor running at 2.8GHz, which is over 50% faster than the previous processor. They’ve phased out the mini-tower and opted for a “slim form-factor” that is 47% smaller.

The market is flooded with netbooks coming from most every computer maker. Among the most popular of the netbook crowd are the MSI Wind systems. At CES MSI was talking up its newest netbooks including the Wind U115 and the Wind U110 ECO.

While the Wind U115 hybrid will be coming stateside, the U110 ECO is still up in the air for America. The U110 ECO has launched outside of America and looks much like the U115, but offers features tailored for ultimate battery life. Features include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, integrated webcam and more.

Why be bored at work, when you can build your own version of Mario Kart? Made using bits and pieces that you have around your desk already. Donald Kenny created this awesome little Mario sculpture. It’s right up there with the Starship Enterprise built from office supplies.

It’s made using coins, binder clips, wire, and other found office supplies. Have your buddies build some others, like Bowser, Koopa and Toad. Plus create some small turtle shells and bananas and soon you will be racing in the break room.

We told you about the UroClub last year. It’s the golf club that you pee in. And now, there’s a commercial showing it off. It’s pretty easy to use. Just screw cap off, relieve yourself, then screw cap on again. Hopefully you didn’t make a mess.

The video is about what you would expect. It shows one guy peeing in the trees, making some rather odd motions and I quote: “The UroClub comes with a towel and appears that you’re just checking out your club.”. Then at some point three old guys are peeing in the trees and giving each others junk a look or two.

When it comes to pure portable gaming consoles there are two choices — the Sony PSP and the Nintendo DS. You can play games on other devices on the go, like the iPhone and iPod touch, but the DS and PSP are the only dedicated portable gaming systems.

Nintendo has announced that it has now shipped 100 million Nintendo DS consoles since the systems were introduced. The original DS launched in 2004 and offered dual screens and voice recognition, something not offered on other portable consoles.

The slow global economy is hurting the PC market. Demand for computers is up and what computers are selling are being sold at lower than traditional retail prices leading to reduced revenues for computer makers. Many consumers are also resorting to cheaper computers like netbooks as well.

According to research firm IDC, the computer market is in for a big loss in 2009 as PC shipments are expected to drop 4.5% for the year. The company reports that shipment sin Q4 2008 dropped 1.9% in what is traditionally a big shopping season.

Today your average notebook has integrated graphics that are built into the notebook and many desktop systems have the same sort of graphics. Some of the higher-end gaming and multimedia notebook and desktop computers have discrete graphics, which are graphics cards that fit into motherboard expansion slots.

Today the bulk of the notebook market has integrated graphics. However, JPR says that by 2012 integrated graphics will be all but gone. The research shows that in 2008 67% of graphics processors shipped were integrated.

Looks like Apple has announced a new Nehalem based Mac Pro with a starting price of $2,499. The new systems feature your choice of a single core 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 3500, or a dual 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5500, start with 3GB of memory, a 640GB hard drive, and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 with 512MB of RAM.

The new systems should be available next week online and in stores, so break open your piggy banks and get your credit cards ready.

When I travel I go light with nothing that I can’t fit in my two allowed carry-on bags. My wife on the other hand packs enough clothing and stuff that she uses one of those massive suitcases that you have to check. Despite the fact that I pack light, I end up pulling my wife’s massive bag through the airport.

Last year a company called Live Luggage announced a bag for people tired of schlepping big bags around that has a battery powered electric motor inside to help with getting around.

The smartphone market is booming and complex, feature packed devices like the iPhone and the G1 may catch the eye of fans of technology. However, there is a large portion of the handset market that cares nothing for all the geeky features and complexity of the average smartphone.

For the non-techie group of mobile phone users Pantech has announced a new black version of its Breeze handset. We first saw the Pantech Breeze in silver last year when it debuted at AT&T. The new handset is the same thing with a black case that may keep its looks longer than the silver version.

One of the coolest games I have played on the PS3 for a while is Midnight Club: Los Angles. I think the game is every bit as fun (and very similar to) Need for Speed Undercover. One of the most interesting parts of Midnight Club: LA is that the locations in the game are all real from the LA area.

Back in December 2008 I mentioned that Rockstar had said it would be bringing DLC for the game to players. The developer has finally announced a launch date for two different DLC packs. Both packs will be available for the Xbox 360 and the PS3 on March 12.

It’s been awhile since creative has introduced a new iPod dock. At CES 2008, Creative unveiled a new HD docking station for iPods called the Xdock HD. It was capable of outputting video in 1080 and sending X-Fi quality sound to other wireless receivers around your house. We never heard anything official about it since.Now they’ve quietly released a fresh one in the Cambridge Soundworks line called MovieWorks HD. It appears to be the exact same device.

It does the usual, outputting iPod video and audio via HDMI onto your TV or sound system. According to Creative, this is the only one with it’s Xtreme Fidelity, X-Fi Crystallize and X-Fi CMSS-3D technology.

I have said before that I like the idea of small form factor computers like the ones Shuttle is famous for. I would love to have a SFF machine to put into my entertainment center to use for an HTPC. Earlier this month Shuttle announced a new Intel Core i7 and X58 chipset SFF machine.

Shuttle has now announced a SFF machine that supports the new 45nm Phenom II CPUs from AMD. The machine doesn’t appear to be new like the Intel system, but simply a BIOS update for an existing XPC Barebone SN78SH7 that provides Phenom II compatibility.

We have heard for a while now that sales in Q4 2008 were abysmal for many retailers. The final quarter of the year is typically huge for most retailers and companies as consumers buy for the holiday season. Q4 2008 was different though and thanks to the poor global economy, not much happened in the way of sales.

Vizio issued a statement today that provided numbers for its shipments over Q4 2008. Despite what most of the rest of the electronics industry reported, Vizio had a great quarter. The company says that over the quarter it was the second largest shipper of HDTVs in America.

I really like netbooks, the small systems are perfect for the light work I and many others need to do on the road. Moreover, they are cheap, small and light making them easy to carry and fit into the budget. I haven’t used a Dell netbook yet, but I may consider one now that a new 10-inch version is official.

I was never a big fan of the Mini 9 or Mini 12 netbooks; they were too small and too large. As the antagonist of the three bears would put it, the Mini 10 is just right. Dell says that we will be able to buy the Mini 10 directly from Dell.com on February 26 and that QVC is offering pre-orders on the netbook right now.