If a report published today by Macworld is to be believed then Apple will launch the 3G iPhone in the UK with a price tag of £100, on an 18-month contract with O2.

We’re not fans of spreading rumours but Macworld is usually a pretty reliable source, though we can’t of course vouch for Macworld’s (unnamed) source.

The same report also claims that to have heard told tales of O2 wanting to extend the available purchase options to embrace free-handset deals and even pay-as-you-go (PAYG) packages.

With almost no-one noticing, Asus appears to have been busy designing a new notebook with a built-in projector.

Head on over to PC Perspective today and you’ll find editor-in-chief, Ryan Shrout, has been busy taking photographs in the darker corners of Computex 08. In particular, this Asus notebook caught his eye.

Now, it is a big and ugly thing, with an oddly extended top edge to its screen bezel. But look closely at that top edge – what’s going on there? Answer after the jump.

Why is it that nearly all cameras designed for photography enthusiasts are bulky and expensive? There are surprisingly few compact cameras that include full manual controls and even fewer still that cost under £150. The A590 IS is one those few.

While Canon’s Ixus range gets all the groupies, the PowerShots are designed to appeal to people who care more about the look of their photos than of their camera. The PowerShot A590 IS sits towards the entry-level end of the range and is a strong candidate for enthusiasts on a strict budget, and also for digital SLR owners who want something lighter for more casual snapping.

From today, users of Apple’s UK iTunes Store can rent or buy movies from a catalogue of over 700 titles.

The company has signed agreements with several big-name studios, including 20th Century Fox, Paramount and Warner Bros. At the time of writing, the top-ten downloads included Batman Begins, I Am Legend and, inevitably, The Matrix.

Pricing starts at £2.49 for a 30-day rental of ‘library’ titles (ie, back-catalogue flicks), rising to £10.99 for purchases of new releases. Rentals for new releases are charged at £3.49. High-definition (HD) versions of some movies are also available, but are charged at another £1.00. To purchase library titles costs £6.99.

Just how many wireless technologies is it possible to cram onto one chip? Well, UK company CSR appears to be on a mission to find out.

Its latest design, the BlueCore 7 chip, includes Bluetooth, eGPS and FM. The FM side of the chip handles both transmit (tx) and receive (rx). There’s nothing revolutionary about these technologies individually but putting them all on one chip is a first. The company claims that the combination of all three wireless systems on one piece of silicon “significantly reduces the power, size, cost and complexity of adding multiple radios into a mobile phone”.

HTC announced another Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphone today at Computex – the Touch Pro.

Styled after HTC's recent Touch Diamond handset, the Touch Pro also incorporates elements previously found in the HTC TyTN II, most notably a slide-out Qwerty keyboard. The Touch Pro considerably smaller than the TyTN II though, and only a few millimetres thicker than the Touch Diamond.

Windows Mobile handsets are ten a penny these days, so manufacturers have to go that extra mile to if they want their products to stand out. The likes of eTen and Acer go for super-sexy designs; HTC crams in as many features as they possibly can; while others opt for innovative software or control methods.

More often than not, it's a combination of these things that helps a Windows Mobile handset to be successful though, and Gigabyte has chosen an innovative software interface, a good dollop of power and plenty of features for the new the G-Smart MS800.

Acer announced its Aspire One ultraportable with Intel Atom processor in London and Taipei earlier today, and Mobile Computer was at the London event (where it was raining). We shot some video clips that show the Aspire One being handled and that give a good idea of its size – after the cut.

Intel has used Computex 08 to announce the roll out of the Diamondville variant of its  new Atom processor, which is broadly aimed at the UMPC sector. And that’s about all you need to know, unless you’re interested in the techie stuff – in which case, read on.

There are two chips in the line-up, the Atom N270 and the N230. The N270 is clocked at 1.6GHz, with a 533MHz front-side bus (FSB) and 512Kb of Level 2 (L2) cache. It has a thermal design power (TDP) of 2.5w. The N230, meanwhile, has the same clock speed (1.6GHz), FSB (533MHz) and L2 cache (512Kb) but has a TDP of 4w. There’s a bit more over at Intel but if you like such facts and figures, you know where to go.

[via Intel]

Acer has announced its entry into the low-cost ultraportable market – the Aspire One. Based on an Intel Atom N270 processor running at 1.6GHz (same as on the MSI Wind), the Aspire One has an 8.9in (1024 x 600) LED-backlit screen and will ship with either Linux or Windows XP.

The Linux-based model will cost £199 inc VAT. Full story, specs and pics after the cut.