According to a report, Microsoft isn’t just looking at the next version of Windows (no, not Mojave) for future OS possibilities, but is looking beyond the Windows architecture altogether with a project known as Midori. The new OS is still in the “incubation” phase (which puts it slightly closer to market than R&D projects), but Microsoft has admitted to its existence, and the Software Daily Times says at least one team in Redmond is actively working on the new architecture.

The basis for the platform centers around research related to Microsoft’s Singularity project, and envisions a distributed environment where applications, documents, and connectivity are blurred in a cloud-computing phantasmagoria which can be run natively or hosted across multiple systems. The researchers are working to create a concurrent / parallel distribution of resources, as well as a method of handling applications across separate machines — religiously-dubbed the Asynchronous Promise Architecture — which will set the stage for a backwards-compatible operating system built from the ground up, with networks of varying size in mind. Says the SD Times, “The Midori documents foresee applications running across a multitude of topologies, ranging from client-server and multi-tier deployments to peer-to-peer at the edge, and in the cloud data center. Those topologies form a heterogeneous mesh where capabilities can exist at separate places.” Like it technical? Hit the read link for an in-depth look at the possible shape of Microsoft’s future.

We’ve already seen one hybrid satellite phone shown off far in advance of its promised release date this month, and Elektrobit now looks to be doing things one better, with it debuting an even less satellite phone-looking device that’s supposedly coming even sooner. If the company is to be believed, you’ll be able to get your hands on the Windows Mobile-based device pictured above sometime in 2009, with it offering everything you’d expect from a standard smartphone with the added benefit of always-on satellite access for times when you stray beyond a cellular signal. That bit of convenience will come from the TerreStar satellite network, which hasn’t actually launched yet but, last we heard, was still on track for the end of this year. As for the phone itself, you can apparently expect to get Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, along with HSDPA support, built-in WiFi and Bluetooth, a microSD card slot, a 3-megapixel camera, and voice controls, among other standard smartphone features. No word on a price just yet, but Elektrobit says it’ll be “cost competitive” with standard cellphones.

Mac OS X users have been happily “pwning” their iPhones for weeks, Windows users have been shut out until today. The iPhone Dev Team has now worked to produce a Windows-based beta of the Pwnage tool, which is still buggy and doesn’t support pre-release builds of iPhone OS 2.0.

To recap, the Pwnage tool exploits a low-level vulnerability in the iPhone’s boot process to allow the installation of custom OS files. The potential ramifications are huge: pwnage could embody a future-proof method for unlocking and activating iPhones, immune from Apple’s countermeasures.

The most relevant advancement realized via Pwnage thus far is the ability bypass installation roadblocks instated by Apple. This has allowed users to install pre-release versions of the iPhone OS, such as OS 2.0, which normally requires expressed authorization and a special signature from Apple. With a pre-release copy of iPhone OS 2.0 leaked to various file-sharing repositories, many users have made the premature leap. This isn’t yet possible with the beta version of “winpwn,” though that capability should be delivered soon.

For now, winpwn is good for jailbreaking/unlocking firmware files before loading them to the iPhone, and performing other custom modifications to firmware — an exercise with few practical applications so far.

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