Looks like Sony’s PS3 Slim is paying off for the company. Sales of PS3 hardware at “top retailers” jumped 300% for the first week of September compared to the week before the system’s price was cut to $299 for the “slim”.

Yes, people are actually buying the console. This news surely makes the folks at Sony feel all warm and tingly, but that’s not it for good news. According to a survey by GamePlan Insights, five of consumers’ top 10 most-wanted games are actually on the PS3 (Gran Turismo 5, Final Fantasy XIII, God of War III, Assassin’s Creed 2, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2).

NEC has a pair of spiffy new LCD displays available in the U.S. today to match a recent release of similar models in Japan. The LCD2490WUXi2 and the LCD2490W2 both feature 24-inch screens and IPS panels. These displays offer a much better image quality than TV or PVA screens and allows them to show 96.7% of the sRGB color space.

Professional graphics editors and photographers are going to love these models. Some other features include auto-brightness, 12-bit color lookup tables, ambient light sensors a 320cd/m2 brightness, a 1,000:1 contrast ratio, VGA and DVI inputs.

MSI’s X-Slim X340 is now available in the US for only $599. The laptop features an Intel Atom Z530 1.6GHz CPU, a 2GB RAM, a 250GB HDD, a 4-cell battery and Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium OS. The laptop uses the Intel Menlow US15W chipset with the GMA 500 integrated graphics.

Some other features include a 13-inch 16:9 display with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels and LED backlight. A 1.3MP webcam, stereo speakers, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth, an Ethernet LAN port, three USB ports, a 2-in-1 media card reader, and a VGA output.

People really really love the Mushroom Kingdom. In the first week alone in the US, the big N managed to sell a whooping 435,00 DSi handhelds. Here’s something more amazing. In the month of March Nintendo systems accounted for just under 60 percent of all video game hardware sold in America.

This during a 17 percent drop in Wii sales during the same month. The news definitely gives Mario and Yoshi something to get excited about.

This could be an April Fools joke, but we know it’s coming anyway. A company named Voss & Mauser is claiming that they have a new GPS implant tracker that can be directly implanted into the skin and that it’s now available in the states.

Our tipster states “Many parents and governments across this planet have been demanding for a GPS Tracker device that can be embedded directly into the skin and cannot be removed or noticed by them. Follow the tracked person’s exact satellite location on any computer with Internet, no matter where they are in the world.” Yeah, I’m sure it’s a dream that many people share, while others cringe.

The idea of hackers bringing down the entire US power grid is scary. Most people think that this scenario strictly belongs in sci-fi movies and that it couldn’t happen, but according to security analysts, the threat is real. The threat is a real possibility due to the use of smart grids involving two million devices, which are largely wireless, sending data back and forth between power stations and homes.

Researchers at Seattle based IOActive claim that they have proven that the devices are vulnerable to virus attack by hacking. Equipment worth just $500 was enough to create a worm virus which spread rapidly across the network. Had that been a real hacker, there would have been some serious damage.

We Americans will finally be able to get our hands on the Violet Mir:ror home-based RFID reader for $59. It will come with a few Nano:ztags nd three Ztamp:s which will let you specify certain computer functions that will trigger whenever one of the RFID tags gets close to the Mir:ror.

So if you always put your keys on the Mir:ror, for example, it will tell you if your keys are there or not before you leave home. You can get some extra Ztamp:s by the dozen for $20.

HTC has confirmed through twitter updates, that the touchscreen/QWERTY slider known as the Touch Pro2 will be available in all major markets, including North America. So never fear, it will be everywhere.

Not many details to be had unfortunately. For instance, we don’t have an exact date. We just know that the launch should be in Q2 if all goes well. We’re also curious about whether or not 3G compatibility will be added. We’ll have to wait and see.

Looks like there was a happy ending for Chris Ogle. He’s the New Zealander who purchased an MP3 player that turned out to be full of classified US Army stuff from a thrift store. According to Reuters, the man gave the device back to US authorities.

But as a reward for his cooperation, he got a brand new MP3 player. We don’t know what brand he got, but we suspect that Uncle Sam bought it for him with your tax money. We will probably never know. But, hey at least they did that much for him.

American couch potatoes can thank TiVo and Domino’s Pizza for teaming up to offer them on-demand pizza ordering for broadband-connected TiVo subscribers. The service was announced for Australia earlier in the month, but USA users get the first crack at it. One weak point is the lack of a scheduled delivery option, but this may be just a taste of what’s to come as it shows that many differentiating types of applications could find their way to your TiVo box. Go ahead, order up. Just get off the couch now and then will ya?

Dell’s Inspiron Mini 12 is now available in the US as of today. The sleek notebook will aim for it’s market share against the Asus Eee PC S101, in a two notebook’s enter one notebook leaves kind of Thunderdome fight. Both feature 12″ screens and have that same sleek look. You can choose from two versions: A $549 model powered by an Intel Atom 1.33GHz processor, with 1GB RAM, a 40GB hard drive and Windows Vista Home Basic. If you need more power, the faster 1.6GHz processor with a 60GB hard drive and 6-cell battery is your other option.

Ooma’s Telo is the first dedicated phone that lets users use both a cordless handset and a matching router to make unlimited calls within the US as well as free international calls, but there’s a catch, the recipient has to be an Ooma owner as well. Ooma plans to use the Internet for its range of services including caller ID and ringtones, the ability to talk to a computer while updating contacts remotely and playing voice mail away from the phone. It will even send address information instantly whenever you place a 911 call for emergencies. You’re going to need a reliable and fast broadband connection. The Ooma Telo will retail for $250.

The Luxeed multi-color LED keyboard is pretty awesome looking, but it’s been impossible to get outside Korea until now. Thanks to the folks over at ThinkGeek, you can bring one home. The keyboard is powered by 430 individual colored LEDs, which can all be sequenced using the included Windows software.

You can make any of your own colorful keyboard creations and it’s available in a black or white for $199.99 each. If you want a numeric keypad, it will cost an additional $34.99 to get one with no LEDs. It’s not the Optimus Maximus, but should make typing fun again. Check out a video below.

You’ll have to wait just a little bit longer for the Blackberry Bold. It’s release has been delayed on both Rogers and AT&T. AT&T’s delay is much longer since Roger’s was pushed from July 25 to July 29 (tomorrow). AT&T subscribers on the other hand will have to wait until the middle of next month. The handset will hit retail stores around September 1. Meanwhile, Telstra in Australia announced that the Bold will make its debut there at the end of September.

Nintendo’s Wii has now surpassed the Xbox 360 as the leading console in U.S. homes among the latest generation of video-game players. As of June, U.S. consumers bought nearly 10.9 million Wii consoles since it’s introduction, which makes Nintendo top console dog. In fact, the Wii has been the top-selling console in all but one month in the U.S. since it launched, according to research firm NPD Group Inc.

Nintendo is projecting that worldwide, the Wii’s annual sales will surpass the number of consoles that Sony sells for the first time this fiscal year. The formula seems pretty straightforward. Get people actually in the game with motion control and Miis, appeal to all ages and keep the price somewhat reasonable.