A federal judge has agreed to temporarily block a new California law banning the sale or rental of violent video games to minors. U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Whyte said the Encino-based Video Software Dealers Association and the Washington, D.C.-based Entertainment Software Association “were likely to succeed” in their lawsuits arguing that the law violates free-speech rights. The law, which was set to go into effect Jan. 1, prohibits retailers from selling or renting violent video games to those 17 and under, imposes a $1,000 fine on violators and mandates stricter product labeling.

This may be the last holiday season to enjoy tax-free Internet shopping, thanks to new legislation in the U.S. Congress. Two bills introduced Wednesday propose sweeping changes to how Americans are taxed for online and mail order purchases. Businesses initially would be required to collect sales taxes on purchases shipped to roughly half of the country, and that percentage is expected to rapidly increase.

Personal computers, cell phones, and high-speed Internet are considered essential to getting by for millions of Americans who are showing early signs of addiction to the next wave of high-tech toys, an AP-Ipsos poll found. The latest wave includes MP3 players like iPods–popular with everyone from the kid next door to President Bush–high-definition television, and digital video recorders like TiVo. Some people freely admit to being high-tech junkies.

The Pentium name will go into partial retirement in January, sources say. Intel will sell its upcoming Yonah processor for notebooks and thin desktops under two designations, according to sources: Duo and Solo. The Duo label will essentially mean that the chip inside has two cores; notebooks with a single-core Yonah will sport a Solo designation. As a result, the Pentium M designation for the company’s mobile chips vanishes, sources say, meaning the brand name that helped Intel establish its position in the market will fade out in a key product family. Server chips stopped carrying the Pentium name years ago, but the name is still used on current desktop and notebook chips.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and with Christmas just days away, shoppers can now resort to a mobile-tech guide that sniffs out gifts as they walk. The publishers of “Where to Wear,” a connoisseur’s directory of merchandise in every “in” store in shopping capitals around the world, have released a high-tech electronic guide for New York City that scans stores in the vicinity and reports which ones have hits on the user’s shopping list. The Where to Wear “spot guide” downloads to Palm OS PDAs or smartphones. Using built-in maps and location awareness, a user can choose one or more items from a particular shopping list, and the device will scan through thousands of store listings to show which places have the item, and where they are on the map.

Intorine has released Plazmoids! v1.63, a space arcade game for Palm OS, which was recently acquired from Visionary Games. Plazmoids! is a space shooting game well-known for its sophisticated visual effects and original gameplay. It boasts sophisticated, 3D-style graphics with animation, quality sound effects, and addictive techno music.

Japanese researchers have recently developed a robot that is able to distinguish itself from others with a high degree of accuracy. Junichi Takeno and his team at Meiji University built a robot with an artificial nerve cell in it’s computer that screens input from its sensors to determine if it is interacting with a doppelganger, or a mirror image of itself. In Takeno’s tests, the robot was able to identify a mirror image of itself using a series of blinking LEDs with 70% accuracy, a number the team is working on perfecting.

Google has launched a mobile version of Gmail. You can now get your Gmail messages from the Web browser on your mobile phone or handheld. It allows you to read and reply to email, and supports images and PDF attachments.

Two times a year PalmSource gives out Powered Up Awards, among the most prestigious prizes for software vendors in the mobile industry. Today, the Palm platform developer announced the winners of the Fall 2005 U.S. Powered Up Awards, selected from over 4,000 nominations and given in five categories plus a Best-In-Class prize. The top dog in each software class receives $1,000, a specific Palm device, and a $20,000 co-marketing package, while the Best-In-Class grand prize cash prize gets bumped up to $10,000.

A heap overflow vulnerability in Apple Computer’s iTunes and QuickTime media players could put millions of PC and Mac users at risk of malicious hacker attacks, security experts warned Wednesday. In an advisory posted on Security-Protocols.com, researcher Tom Ferris warned that attackers can rig QuickTime movie files to trigger a denial-of-service crash that may lead to malicious code execution. In an interview with eWEEK, Ferris said he flagged the issue to Apple more than a month ago but only received a cursory confirmation that the bug was being investigated. As per policy, Apple does not comment on security issues until a patch is available.