With the new version of Apple’s iPhone on the way, enterprises need to be ready to deal with the security implications of employees’ smartphones.

Whether IT organizations are ready or not, smartphones are a reality for enterprises. Gartner analysts predicted in a January report that smartphone sales will reach about 173 million in 2008, a jump of 42 percent from last year. The iPhone 3G, slated to be available July 11, is Apple’s latest attempt to capitalize on consumers’ desire for Internet-enabled phones with more and more functionality.

But with adoption of these devices increasing, organizations need to assess their policies to control any potential threat to corporate data. For Rob Israel, CIO of John C. Lincoln Health Network, in Phoenix, that means allowing only BlackBerry and GoodLink devices on the network.

Toshiba is looking to push the envelope in the ultraportable PC market with a new Protege laptop that offers a 128GB solid state drive that comes standard, a 12.1-inch display and weighs 2.4 pounds.

The Toshiba Protege R500-S5007V is the latest in a series of high-end, ultraportable notebooks from the company that are geared toward the enterprise market and especially for company executives.

Nokia unveiled two new models aimed at the business market dominated by the Blackberry, but Research in Motion shares rose because investors believe the maker of the popular handset is safe. The new sliding model E66 and the E71, with full keyboard, both start shipping in July and will retail for around 350 euros ($538), excluding operator subsidies and local taxes.

Both phones will have 3.2 megapixel cameras and built-in GPS receivers for navigation. The Nokia E71 is 10 millimeters thick–the thinnest phone with a full QWERTY keyboard. The new phones do not include Blackberry service, included on all of Nokia’s previous corporate phones.

Spare Backup announced that its flagship application, Spare Backup, will be bundled on all Sony VAIO PCs shipped to retail. Spare Backup is a totally automated online backup service that intelligently selects, secures and stores files without any user intervention, automatically backing up documents, email, music, photos and other PC files on a continuous basis according to a schedule and parameters of the user’s choice.

Additionally, the configuration on new VAIO computers enables customers to transfer their data from their old computer to their new PC at no cost. The software bundle also includes a PC migration service that enables users to easily retain and move all of their content should they upgrade their computer in the future. Customers will be presented with the opt-out offer upon initialization of their computer.

Western Digital has introduced its new My Book Mirror Edition dual-drive storage systems, which can automatically store valuable personal content not once, but twice, to maximize data safety. This RAID-based continuous data protection feature, called mirroring, makes WD’s My Book Mirror Edition storage systems the safest place for storing irreplaceable data.

Personal collections of digital content, such as photos, music, and videos, continue to grow on desktop and notebook computers around the world. Consumers are increasingly aware that taking precautions to protect their data is vital and are looking for a simple solution. Consumers can also use the My Book Mirror Edition storage system and the included backup software to automatically and continuously back up their personal computers. The mirroring feature provides users the added assurance of a redundant backup of their data.

Beginning this week, T-Mobile will be rolling out an over-the-air T-Mobile Sidekick LX Feature Update to Sidekick LX customers. As mentioned in the announcement of a new Tony Hawk Sidekick last week, the Sidekick LX Feature Update will include video record, play and share capabilities, an alarm clock, stereo Bluetooth support and Bluetooth file transfer support.

Nextar has introduced its newest portable media player to its mobile device lineup. With its 3.5-inch flat panel TFT LCD color display and Hi-Fi stereo output capability, the slim, feature-rich Nextar T30 is ideal for watching videos, playing MP3 music, viewing digital photos, or listening to one’s favorite FM radio station.

The Nextar T30 has a 3.5-inch 262k color TFT QVGA display with a resolution of 320×240. The high-quality flat panel LCD offers a brighter display and a smoother motion picture. It ensures that images can be clearly seen, even in bright sunshine. The unit supports USB host transfers allowing users to download content directly from computers. The Nextar T30 supports the AVI video format. The unit’s bundled AVI converter software allows RM/VOB/DAT/RMVB/MPG/MPEG/MP4/ASF/WMV/MKV formats to be played as well. Supporting MP3 and WMA digital music formats, it plays back MP3, WMA, and DRM9 audio files in hi-fi stereo. ID3 tag and lyrics display functions provide title, artist, and album information, and lyrics for anyone wanting to sing along.

The unit supports JPEG and BMP photo files. Support for .txt format allows users to read an e-book while listening to music. The new Nextar portable media player has a built-in FM tuner. Digital voice and FM recording capability is also provided.

IntelliGolf announced the shipment of its new IntelliGolf version 9.0 software for Microsoft Windows Mobile-based Pocket PCs and Smartphones, Palm and Treo handhelds, Nokia Series 60-based smartphones, RIM’s Blackberry, and Windows-based PC. Version 9.0 includes enhanced support for GPS-enabled smartphones and receivers, free access to over 24,000 course scorecards, and improved synchronization with Vista-based PCs.

Lori Drew, the mother who set up a fake MySpace identity to toy with a teenage neighbor, is being arraigned on federal charges in Los Angeles. She’s charged with accessing protected computers without authorization and conspiracy.

After the fictional Josh Evans told 13-year-old Megan Meier that “the world would be a better place” without her, the teenager hung herself in her bedroom.

Microsoft announced the availability of Windows Embedded NavReady 2009, Microsoft’s first embedded operating system designed specifically for OEMs building handheld portable navigation devices (PNDs). Windows Embedded NavReady 2009 delivers innovative technologies to help developers and OEMs quickly bring to market smart, connected, service-oriented PNDs that easily connect to online services, mobile phones using Bluetooth, Windows-based PCs and the Internet.

Based on Windows Embedded CE, Windows Embedded NavReady 2009 builds upon a decade of experience and success that the Windows Embedded Business has achieved by helping developers and OEMs simplify the development, user experience and maintenance of their PND designs.