An anonymous reader writes 'Sean Lind over at PokerListings has written a really interesting piece on how to configure Rock Band (or Guitar Hero) instruments to use them as controllers for playing online poker. The instructions given in his how-to could really be used to configure the instruments for any game.' Or how about a genuine chording keyboard?

An anonymous reader writes "Another straw in the wind: following last week's news that the US Department of Transportation is putting a halt on upgrades to Windows Vista, Office 2007, and Internet Explorer 7, today comes word that the Federal Aviation Administration may ditch Vista and Office in favor of Google's new online business applications running on Linux-based hardware. (The FAA is part of the DOT.) The FAA's CIO David Bowen told InformationWeek he's taking a close look at the Premier Edition of Google Apps as he mulls replacements for the agency's Windows XP-based desktop computers. Bowen cited several reasons why he finds Google Apps attractive. 'From a security and management standpoint that would have some advantages,' he said."

Newsweek's N'Gai Croal continues to offer excellent coverage, running an interview with Jamil Moledina, the Executive Director of GDC. N'Gai and Jamil discuss Apple and the iPhone, and they do a very smooth job of hooking that into games and the current state of the industry. They also discuss Sony's current next-gen positioning, what makes a good keynote, and the gaming event world post-E3. "The interesting thing is that E3 and E For All have split apart. For a long time, a number of people in in the industry, myself included, were advocating a combined event, like Tokyo Game Show, that would have a day of business meetings, then open it up to consumers. Because then all of the key players have an incentive to be there. They need to conduct business. And then it is open to the general public to see what it is that we've all got going on. By splitting them into two separate events, I wonder how that dynamic is going to play out; if the same exhibitors that were at E3 would also want to go to a consumer-only event? I'd love to see how that works out. It's a bold experiment. We'll see how it goes."