Massachusetts authorities last week began using GPS technology to track some of the state’s sex offenders. According to published reports, the Department of Probation plans to equip 60 offenders per month with a GPS device, which will send constant location information to a monitoring call center. So far, the system applies only to Level 3 offenders who have been released on probation or parole. There are about 200 of these devices statewide.

Last year, the University of Denver became one of the first four-year universities in the United States to open an undergraduate major in game development, by merging elements from the school’s computer-science and design programs. Applications already are up, and other undergraduate institutions are following suit, preceded by a handful of graduate-level programs with a similar focus. The trend has been met with some resistance, both from traditional computer scientists and university administrators who see games like “Mortal Kombat” and “Halo 2” as strictly entertainment. But that skepticism is passing, say academics who have devoted attention to the subject.

Personal, one of Argentina’s leading mobile carriers, is making available to its customers the new Treo 650 smartphone from palmOne, the first all-in-one, quad-band smartphone in Argentina designed to operate with Personal’s EDGE (Enhanced Data for Global Evolution) network. The Treo 650 combines a compact, full-featured mobile phone with email, a Palm OS organizer, messaging, Web access and digital camera, enabling users to organize and simplify their business and personal lives all in one device.

palmOne announced that its board of directors has named Ed Colligan to the position of chief executive officer. Colligan has served as interim CEO since Feb. 25, and has been president of the company since June 16, 2004. Colligan also was named a member of the palmOne board of directors, effective immediately. Colligan, 44, has 20 years of management experience in a broad range of functional disciplines in the high-technology industry, including more than 12 years with palmOne and its predecessors.

palmOne announced that the Treo 650 smartphone is now available to Verizon Wireless customers. The Treo 650 combines a compact, full-featured mobile phone with email, a Palm OS organizer, messaging and Web access. The device can be used with NationalAccess, Verizon Wireless’ high-speed Internet service with average data transmission speeds between 60 and 80 kilobits per second (Kbps) with bursts up to 144 Kbps, based on Verizon Wireless’ stringent network tests.

Self-replicating robots are no longer the stuff of science fiction. Scientists at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., have created small robots that can build copies of themselves. Each robot consists of several 4-inch cubes that have identical machinery, a computer program for replication, and electromagnets to attach and detach to one another. The robots can bend and pick up and stack the cubes. The machines duplicate themselves by bending over and putting their top cube on the table. Then they bend again, pick up another cube, put it on top of the first and repeat the entire process. As the new robot begins to take shape it helps to build itself.

Nextel is launching Wi-Fi service aimed at business travelers in partnership with Boingo Wireless and Wayport. The service with all three partners will let customers access the Internet from hotspots at airports, hotels, convention centers, retail stores and other locations. The arrangement also gives Nextel customers Internet access in 150,000 hotel rooms where Wayport’s wired-Ethernet connections are available. A related service, Nextel’s Wireless PC Access, will provide coverage beyond current hotspots. This service is available with the company’s im240 PC card. Connection software creates single-click access to both services, the company said.

Dell aims to extend the use of high-speed Internet connections on notebook PCs by offering links via mobile phone networks. But a company spokesman denied a French newspaper report that Dell is looking to sell mobile phone subscriptions by 2006, which daily Le Figaro quoted founder and Chairman Michael Dell as saying in its Friday newspaper edition.

SanDisk announced the availability of its new SanDisk Sansa e100 series of small, portable digital music players. The new line of MP3 players use embedded flash memory to store many hours of digital music and includes an SD card slot for additional storage capacity. The Sansa e100 line features SRS WOW technology, an audio enhancement solution for rich, immersive sound quality, and includes software for music management and content downloads, digital radio and audiobook services for wide range of listening options.

The Connections Digital Home Conference & Showcase in San Francisco has covered a potpourri of topics–IP television capabilities, telephone companies’ struggle to offer the same bundled TV–Internet-phone services as cable companies, and how the general public will respond to the ongoing battle for the living room. In the opening keynote at the show, Kevin Corbett, Intel vice president and chief technology officer for the Home Technology group, gave an overview of the company’s research on the future of content for the digitally enhanced home, touching briefly on Intel’s partnership with Morgan Freeman’s production company, Revelation Entertainment; digital rights management; and new opportunities for advertisers.