Apple Starts Selling iPhones Off-Contract

Apple has started selling the iPhone off-contract through its stores, lending weight to speculation that the company will soon launch a new version of the device.

In March of last year, Apple announced it would be selling the iPhone 3G off-contract (but still locked to AT&T) for $599 (8GB) and $699 (16GB) models. This week 9to5 Mac is reporting that you no longer need an AT&T contract to purchase the iPhone. Citing an official Apple document, 9to5 reports that Apple's new policy is that anyone can walk into an Apple Store and pick up an iPhone 8GB for $499, 16GB for $599 and 32GB for $699.

Similar to last year, the phones are still locked to AT&T, but it's a nice option if you're on AT&T already and want an iPhone without the scarily expensive contract. Alternatively, you could unlock it. As the Apple store employee told 9to5, "Everyone knows it takes two minutes to unlock them."

IE8 Losing Popularity Contest in EU Browser Ballot

Opera and Firefox gain at the expense of Microsoft Internet Explorer.

In accordance with the European Union, Microsoft had to do something to create more distance between Windows and Internet Explorer as well as give more room for competing web browsers. Now with the Browser Ballot screen up and running, tracking firms have already observed a decline in Internet Explorer's market share.

According to Reuters, reporting from statistics tracked by Statcounter, Internet Explorer's share in March dropped in France by 2.5 percentage points from February, in Britain by 1 percentage point and in Italy by 1.3 points.

Even though those are just small percentages off from Microsoft's share, it's resulted in doubling – and in some countries tripling – of downloads for the Opera browser. Mozilla, which holds second place in the browser popularity contest, said that it has seen strong growth of Firefox.

Asus Debuts Rampage III Extreme Motherboard

Say hello to the hot rod of motherboards.

Looking for that next hot motherboard to pair up with your fancily-cooled GPU and CPU? Asus wants you to take a look at its new Rampage III Extreme motherboard.

As part of the Republic of Gamers line, the Asus Rampage III Extreme uses Intel’s X58/ICH10R chipset with support for the LGA1366 CPUs with up to six cores.