HTC Desire Z is the QWERTY slider your Android's been waiting for

HTC has just announced the Desire Z, an Android-friendly QWERTY slider. Like the T-Mobile G2, the Desire Z features a "pop-out" (don't call it a slider) QWERTY keyboard with user assigned keys and system-wide shortcuts that let you quickly launch your favorite apps. Around back you've got a 5 megapixel camera with flash that's HD video capable while an 800MHz Qualcomm MSM7230 processor pumps away efficiently inside with HSPA+ and 802.11n radios providing the data. Unlike the US G2, however, the Deisre Z comes loaded with HTC's enhanced Sense UI and new HTCSense.com services. Look for it to land in major European and Asian markets in October.

HTCSense.com Lets Users Manage Their Phones Online -- and Remotely Wipe Them

"No longer is HTC just about putting a phone in your hand," said HTC at their event, ushering in HTCSense.com, a service which pairs up a HTC user's phone with their computer, for easy data management.

From any computer in the world, the user can log in and find text messages—even from years ago. The example used by John Wang, HTC's CMO, was if you left your phone at home and couldn't remember the restaurant you were meant to meet friends at later.

If you can't find your phone in the house, the online service can "call" your phone, so it rings and can be located. If the phone was left at home and you're at the office, the online service can even redirect calls to your office line.

Similar to the iPhone service, if a phone is lost, the online service can even remotely erase all data from it.

Algiz XRW: 10-inches of rugged, well-specced laptop nirvana

Come on tough guy, step right up. $20 says a roundhouse kick to the casing won't even scratch the bad boy you're peering at above. Well, unless you're rockin' a pair of Kenny Powers' K-Swiss Tubes. Asides aside, Sweden's own Handheld Group has just introduced its latest rugged offering, the 10.1-inch Algiz XRW, which is powered by Intel's 2GHz Atom Z550 and Windows 7 Ultimate. Other specs include a 64GB SSD, 2GB of DDR2 memory, a pair of USB 2.0 sockets, inbuilt Bluetooth / WiFi, GPS, 2 megapixel webcam and an optional (but totally necessary) Gobi 2000 WWAN module. The whole thing tips the scales at just 3.3 pounds, and that's including the IP65 / MIL-STD-810F rated enclosure, which is fully capable of rejecting dust, water, debris and mythical powers of persuasion. We're told that the internal battery can keep things humming for eight solid hours, and in case you're wondering, that 1366 x 768 resolution panel is of the daylight viewable variety. Mum's the word on pricing, but the first shipments should head out in December for those with a brutal winter ahead.

IT industry starts adding jobs at last

Happy days are here again: the IT industry is hiring once more.

It may be a tiny gain - only 0.05 percent - but it marks a reversal at last, says TechAmerica Foundation, which based its report on Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

It shows that the US high-tech industry added 30,200 jobs between January and June of 2010, after shedding 215,000 in the same period last year.

The technology industry entered the recession relatively late, continuing to add jobs until the last quarter of 2008.

"Though the tech industry was among the last to feel the effects of the economic downturn of 2008 – 2009, it was not immune to job loss and is only slowly showing signs of climbing out of it," said Josh James, VP of research and industry analysis.

"Tech employment as of June 2010 stood at 5.78 million, compared to 5.99 million in January 2009. So there is still a way to go before we’ve made up for lost jobs, and continued recovery is by no means certain. With job growth in three of the four tech sectors, we remain guardedly optimistic."

High-tech manufacturing added 9,100 jobs in the first half of 2010, software services added 14,200 and engineering and tech services added 29,700. Things weren't so good in communications services - including internet and telecom companies - which shed 22,800 jobs.

The report shows less improvement than that predicted by Robert Half Technology earlier this year, which reckoned we'd see a five percent increase in hiring during the second quarter of the year. But while fears are still high of a double-dip recession, those organizations that can afford it are gearing up for a recovery.

Blizzard: StarCraft II Cheaters will be Banned from Single-Player and Multiplayer

You've probably heard the little devil on your shoulder whispering in your ear on at least a couple occasions: “It's easy. You'll finally get to taste victory against those jerks with no lives who make your life miserable. And besides, you don't even know them. Who cares if they're not having fun?” Now though, there's one pretty major argument against all those tiny temptations: If you get caught cheating in StarCraft II, Blizzard's gonna huff, puff, and blow your StarCraft II account down.

“If a StarCraft II player is found to be cheating or using hacks or modifications in any form, then as outlined in our end user license agreement, that player can be permanently banned from the game. This means that the player will be permanently unable to log in to Battle.net to play StarCraft II with his or her account,” Blizzard said in a recent statement.

“If a Battle.net account is banned, a player will no longer have access to the single and multiplayer content,” the developer later clarified to PC Gamer.

So basically, Blizzard has your hard-earned cash hostage, dangling over a pit of flames. You cheat, and snap! That thin cord holding it aloft tears in two, and you lose every last dime you spent on your copy of StarCraft II. Not to mention, of course, your progress, achievements, win-loss record, etc. Everything goes down the drain. Which, honestly, still doesn't sound quite as good as our preferred cheat deterrent of allowing us to personally punch each and every cheater in the face, but until we can work out the logistical kinks in that plan, this will have to do.