No need to adjust your set -- the United Nations communications chief has boldly predicted that half of planet Earth's population will be hooked on some sort of mobile phone before 2009 dawns. Granted, the numbers he's talking about do look strictly at subscriptions, so a small percentage will be skewed by those with multiple accounts (and thus, multiple numbers), but really, the forecast isn't all that outlandish. After all, we already hit 3.3 billion mobile phone subscriptions back in November of last year (and 4 billion lines overall). As predicted, it's growth in developing regions such as Africa and the Middle East which will boost the overall figure the most, with yearly increases in those areas expected to hit 27% and 25%, respectively. So, what are the chances a post eerily similar to this pops up in 2012 or so saying the entire world has a cellphone? Our trusty Magic 8-ball says "Signs Point to Yes."

Google's persistent interest in ensuring that the US' 700MHz spectrum would give rise to a network open to any and all devices reinforced its belief that carriers can and should be nothing more than the proverbial "dumb pipes" -- leave the content and hardware to the people who know how to do it and don't necessarily have a vested interest in the carriers' bottom line. That attitude foretold that it had some interesting ideas up its sleeves (this is Google, after all), and while it's never been entirely clear what those ideas are, Android's "please use it, it's free" attitude certainly plays a role. Here's another piece of the puzzle: rather than be tied down to any one carrier, why not keep changing carriers in real time based on whomever's going to give you the best deal? A new patent filed by Mountain View's finest proposes exactly that, bringing together heterogeneous technologies -- "community-wide" networks like WiFi and WiMAX along with GSM, CDMA, and so on -- and an "auction system" that would let the user select (or allow the phone to automatically select) the best deal at the moment depending on their needs (available features or minimum speeds, time limits, and so on). It's an amazing idea that totally turns the contract concept on its head, and it's an idea that carriers would fight to the death. We're not seeing it happening, but hey, Google, we like the cut of your jib.

Microsoft has received a patent for a GPS navigation device that functions as a primary gizmo, featuring a base where you can hook up other modular components such as a cell phone or digital camera among others. Touted modules include a wireless modem, a GPS receiver, a microphone, a digital camera, a keypad and even storage and touch screen displays. Sounds like a dream device where you can purchase just what you want without incurring additional charges

Snap -- looks like the Android-powered T-Mobile G1 is peeking out a little early in the form of a non-working pre-registration link on the my.t-mobile.com customer portal. No specs or info, but if you had any doubt this thing was coming on Tuesday we'd say it just got cleared up. Get ready for the Googlephone, kids.

Intel's Atom has received a dual-core upgrade in the form of the 330, and despite clocking in at 1.6GHz just like the Atom, it boasts double of everything - two cores and the same amount of caches, sipping a mere 8 watts of power. The FSB and memory controller still stands at 533MHz, and nothing was made to modify the relatively weak FPU that is found in the single core Atom. I suppose if software writers were to take advantage of both cores, then you would notice a rather significant improvement, but otherwise you'll find this to be a marketing point that has its potency locked away somewhere. Would be interesting to wait for the next generation netbooks that come with the dual-core Atom.

Intel has certainly made the headlines this week with the official introduction of its first 6-core Xeon processors. Codenamed Dunnington, these new CPUs, part of the company's Xeon 7400 series of chips, have been already integrated in several server systems designed by major vendors, including HP, Dell, Sun and IBM. As it was to be expected, AMD had its say on its rival's new 45nm-based Xeon processors, and as it turns out, the Sunnyvale-based chip maker isn't all that impressed.

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Jon Fruehe, worldwide market development manager at AMD, told tgdaily that the Dunnington should be considered as a 'benchmark chip', designed to hit the benchmark charts and a "placeholder" until Intel can jump off the FB-DIMM train.

Talking about the new Xeon 7400-family of processors, Fruehe has stated that Intel's achievement on delivering the first six-core chip isn't all that important. That is because, Fruehe believes that this is really just a glued-together triple-dual-core processor that packs an extra 50% more cores than the quad-core, costs 50% more and can only provide 30% more performance. In addition, Fruehe also took on the chips' 130 watt thermal design power, which he claims won't make much sense for most consumers as high-performance multi-socket processors make up for a total of 5% of the market.

He also said that, aside from the power issues, the Dunnington will also deliver some performance problems, due to the fact that it lacks an integrated memory controller, which, he says, will certainly translate into a bottleneck.

It is rather usual that companies criticize their rival's products, but the fact of the matter is, Intel has certainly managed to deliver a new high-performance chip, an advantage that the company will maintain for some time. That is because AMD is expected to release its first native 6-core processor, codenamed Instanbul, sometime next year. However, by the end of the year the Sunnyvale-based chip maker should finally unveil its Shanghai CPUs, which will come in the form of 45nm-based quad-core Opterons.

For those of you who like to lay in bed watching TV, but always manage to get a sore neck, Jamie O'Shea from the "Office for the development of Substitute Materials" has devised a solution: the Vertical Bed. Supported by a harness that is craftily secured under the clothing, nappers can catch up on beauty rest at any subway stop or back alley of their choosing. As an added bonus the wearer can be made impervious to the effects of the outside world through the use of noise canceling headphones and mirrored glasses, and the ensemble comes with an umbrella for convenient use in a variety of weather conditions. The only thing it appears to be missing from this performance art project is an anti-pick-pocketing force field -- undoubtedly in the works. More photos after the break.

Asus has grand plans of breaking into the top 5 notebook vendor in Japan sometime next year by building on their Eee PC success. Currently, up to 85% of Asus' sales in Japan consist of Eee PC products, and the Taiwanese company hopes to use this leverage and brand power by adjusting the ratio to 70% Eee PCs with the remainder as mainstream notebooks. Netbooks might be the in thing at the moment, but they're definitely not as profitable or lucrative as notebooks

HTC is looking forward to the release of T-Mobile's G1 phone that will be powered by Google's Android platform, hoping that this handset will move plenty of units where sales are concerned so that they can boost their bottomline. In fact, HTC has taken such an interest in the device that their CEO Peter Chou will personally attend the product presentation come September 23rd. Just how much more money will this handset print for HTC has yet to be determined, but we're thinking a lot.

Microsoft started airing its new "I'm a PC" advertisements on TV this evening, giving Mr. Seinfeld a bit of a rest while it faces Apple's campaign head-on. It's very touching "we are the world" kind of stuff: smug-free, heart-string-tugging and so forth, but basically it boils down to 100 points for zero Justin Long, minus 100 points for zero John Hodgman. The ad is embedded after the break.Update: YouTube version added for the Silverlight-averse. Also, is it just us, or does Microsoft's Hodgman-clone kind of look like Paul Dano? Just something to think about.