Belkin’s new HDMI 2-to-1 Video Switch links two HD devices, such as your HD-DVD player and your videogame console, to your HDTV through a single HDMI or DVI connection so you can enjoy full 1080p video and audio. The HDMI 2-to-1 Switch is currently available in the US and Canada, with planned release in Europe, Asia, and Australia in March 2008.

Microsoft Office 2007 introduced new Open XML-based file formats for Office applications. These new file formats reduce file size, improve security and reliability, and enhance integration with external sources. To allow Windows Mobile users to work with Office documents created in the Open XML formats, Microsoft has developed an upgrade for Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, and PowerPoint Mobile applications. This upgrade to the Office Mobile applications allows viewing and editing of Word documents and Excel workbooks and viewing of PowerPoint slideshows created by using Microsoft Office 2007.

IBM is suing Web retailer Shentech for selling laptop batteries that catch fire, and allegedly are stamped with fake IBM logos. The suit, filed on 20 November in the US, accuses Shentech of trademark infringement, false advertising, unfair competition and deceptive trade practices.

IBM says that a consumer in Ohio bought a battery from Shentech for a ThinkPad laptop. The battery overheated and caught fire, causing damage to the laptop, IBM said. The user reported the problem to Lenovo, which licences the IBM trademark. After examining the faulty battery, IBM discovered that it was not a genuine IBM battery, the company said in the suit. IBM then ordered 12 batteries from Shentech and found them all to be fakes, IBM said.

Yahoo is upgrading its Yahoo Widgets platform to support developers using Adobe Flash and HTML to create widgets.

Yahoo Nov. 29 announced Yahoo Widgets Version 4.5, which delivers an updated widget platform for developers and a new Widget Gallery for consumers, said Scott Derringer, director of product management at Yahoo. Widgets are mini-applications that live on a desktop and deliver personalized, up-to-date information to help users.

Google has updated its mobile Maps offering to 2.0 with support for My Location, a positioning feature that works without the aid of GPS. There’s also enhanced support for numeric keypad navigation and noticeable speed improvements.

Palm and Claro announced the Treo 750 smartphone in Brazil, the first Windows Mobile based Treo smartphone to take advantage of Claro’s network. The Treo 750 offers the world-class Palm experience on Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system.

The Treo 750 combines a multifeatured mobile phone with email, messaging, web browsing and organization software all in a compact design. It has UMTS/HSDPA (High-speed Download Packet Access) capability and comes with Microsoft’s Direct Push Technology for Windows Mobile 5.0, which gives users connected to a Microsoft Exchange Server fast, automatic and secure wireless updates of their email, calendar items, contacts and tasks. Also, customers who purchase the Treo 750 today can later upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.

People who have tried the Amazon Kindle tend to say it’s good for e-book novices who want a convenient, easy-to-learn e-book-reader. But could the Kindle be even better for something else in time–helping Washington spy on human readers in the future?

This question, alas, is more than abstract, unfortunately. Amazon stores not just your Kindle books but also your book-reading habits, and now the feds are unwittingly reminding us of the risk of Big Bro even without the Kindle. Via an AP story, Publishers Weekly has learned that U.S. prosecutors sought “the identities of thousands of people who bought used books through online retailer Amazon.com.” Long term, could the Kindle be Jeff Bezos’ accidental gift to federal snoops? Someday will you say sayonara to your prospects for a federal security clearance if you read too many subversive books on Iraq or type out some unpatriotic annotations in Fair Play?

SplashData announced the launch of SplashID 4.0 password manager for Windows Mobile and BlackBerry devices. The new version, released in July for Palm/Treo devices, offers a host of new features that enhance security, convenience and connectivity. As with prior versions of SplashID, version 4.0 includes two software applications that work together–one application for a user’s handheld and companion software for a desktop computer. Both the mobile application and the Windows desktop software have been updated in SplashID 4.

TopStory is iambic’s free, ad-enabled newsreader leveraging the RSS (Real Simple Syndication) format–the standard used by news websites, virtual magazines, and blogs to distribute streamlined content. It features an intuitive interface, an “out of the box” set of feeds, options allowing to add custom feeds as well as import OPML feed definition files, and the capability to download not only the news’ text but the embedded images as well.

This major new release implements user-configurable feed synchronization and contains an extensive pre-built catalog of rss-enabled sites the user can subscribe to. Additionally, particular emphasis has been given in addressing performance bottlenecks and implementing refinements as part of our ongoing product quality improvement effort.

Google announced a new strategic initiative to develop electricity from renewable energy sources that will be cheaper than electricity produced from coal. The newly created initiative, known as REC, will focus initially on advanced solar thermal power, wind power technologies, enhanced geothermal systems and other potential breakthrough technologies. REC is hiring engineers and energy experts to lead its research and development work, which will begin with a significant effort on solar thermal technology, and will also investigate enhanced geothermal systems and other areas. In 2008, Google expects to spend tens of millions on research and development and related investments in renewable energy. As part of its capital planning process, the company also anticipates investing hundreds of millions of dollars in breakthrough renewable energy projects which generate positive returns.