6. : Electronics repair specialists at Rapid Repair dissected a Palm Pre to check out how it works and found that cutting-edge smartphone technology, but even so declared the device is not "light years ahead" of its rivals.

7. : With a big birthday (the half-century mark) coming up for someone very close to us, we take stock of word from Amazon.com that the Kindle DX has sold out. (Perhaps Amazon is intentionally keeping the supply low to generate demand, Gartner analyst Van Baker suggested.) The next-generation e-reader is supposed to be available again on June 17, which is just in the nick of time for a late June birthday (hint, hint).

8. : Google appears to be moving into the database market, with the release of an early version of a new database type that an analyst says will bring a revolutionary approach to data management. Fusion Tables was quietly announced on the blog of the Google research team. This wasn't the only Google news this week ...

9. : Well, the U.S. Department of Justice, revamped under the Obama administration, really is serious about taking on technology companies it seems. The DOJ has sent civil investigative demands related to its investigation of Google's book search engine, according to published reports.

10. : This headline is a bit peripheral to IT, but plenty of buzz was generated in IT circles with the announcement from General Motors that it has tapped former AT&T CEO Edward Whitacre as board chairman after the automaker emerges from bankruptcy.