Free Stuff for Using Free Software - What Could be Better? - The UpStream

To say the magnitude 8.9 earthquake in northeastern Japan has done more damage and claimed more lives than Godzilla ever could, would be an understatement. I am glad that everyone I know there and their families are safe but for many that will not be the case. Hideo Kojima, founder of the Metal Gear video game franchise has taken up the cause by starting a special website called "Together Japan" which contains illustrations, staff messages, and Twitter icons that offer comfort and support for the victims and their families. Kojima Productions will also donate 100 million yen and be initiating an employee donation fund soon that will be for victims as well.

You better start calling the rumor mill employees to come on back to work and put some long overnight hours in! This week we got word from Pre Central about our beloved PalmTouchPad that finally came to reality last month at HP-Palm's event.

This week there has been a further development in the Sony vs. Hotz lawsuit. It seems that Sony has been awarded further access to sensitive information following a previous round of granted subpoenas by Magistrate Joseph Spero. The previous ones gave Sony access to the Twitter and Youtube accounts of anyone who watched the PS3 Jailbreak Tutorial or followed him on Twitter, as well as everyone who visited his website since 2009.

It isn't often that I have the great opportunity to announce world-changing news but today is that day. Global Warming has been solved for good and we have the United States House of Representatives to thank. In a unanimous vote, House Republicans agree that there is no such thing as global warming and that CO2 emissions have no effect on the climate. Crisis averted.

Michigan State University researchers presented a prototype propulsion system that could completely replace the internal combustion engine in vehicles. The design, called a shock wave generator, does away with the crankshafts, pistons and valves in favor of a rotating round disc with wavy grooves.

If you were able to catch our CES 2011 coverage, you saw that we were very excited about a Swedish computer case company that was looking to emerge themselves into the American market, Fractal Design. We were able to talk to many of the important people of the company, including the founder, Hannes Wallin, who was even willing to talk on camera about his products, goals and projections for the company in 2011 (video after the break). One of those goals was to make Fractal Design products available to the US without having to order them from Canada.

In the midst of the 3G/4G advertisement confusion of T-Mobile lying about their network and AT&T following suit, this news just added to the craziness surrounding the two companies. AT&T has purchased T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom for $39 billion, $25b in cash and $14b in stocks and bonds. This gives DT a stake in AT&T of 8% after the dust will inevitably clear.

This year at PAX East 2011 Mortal Kombat made a glorious 15th-coming thanks to WB Games and Netherrealm Studios who were very pleased with the fact that the game has gone back to its roots after a few attempts at 3D versions of the franchise. To be fair the last iteration of the game was rated "T" for teen and was very mild compared to what we've come to expect. I'm happy to say that problem has been solved as special moves and fatalities are augmented more than ever by slow motion cut scenes that don't interrupt game play and take fatalities to the next level. There is also a new "tag mode" where you can switch characters back and forth similar to almost any other fighting game that's been around forever. If that wasn't awesome enough, a new web series is on the horizon that just might make up for all those terrible movies over the years.

You know you've been curious about exactly what Hulu PLUS has to offer since we started talking about it and you know you've been wanting to try Internet Explorer 9 to see what all the hype is about. If you are willing to give both a try at once, Hulu will give you one month of its PLUS service for free.

Microsoft's Zune enjoyed a relatively short life since it was first introduced to us in 2006 and might be discontinued according to a Microsoft statement made to Bloomberg that there will be no future models,