Welcome to this week’s edition of “The Roundup”! Brought to you by Dan Spiers.

Keith had to take off this week, so I’m filling in for him.
Take a look at what I picked for this week, after the jump.

I have 3 stories this week. Let’s get started!

1:  From : Engadget
Cisco acquiring Flip Video-maker Pure Digital for $590 million in stock
And: Cisco Press Release
Cisco Announces Intent to Acquire Pure Digital Technologies, Makers of Flip VideoTM
Thursday, March 19, 2009

Cisco Systems has officially announced its plan to buy out PureDigital, makers of the Flip Digital Camcorders. They will be buying the privately owned company through stocks worth about $590 million. This of course is an interesting venture into the consumer market for Cisco, who specialize primarily in corporate systems. They do have experience from their 2003 acquisition of Linksys, but it all begs to ask what Cisco has planned for us consumers in the future.

2:  From : CrunchGear
Prystar releases new $599 Mac clone
Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Prystar is at it again, trying to sell their Mac clones even amid a legal battle with Apple. This new hackintosh is called the Open(3) Computer, priced at $599 with decent components, however this is because it doesn’t come with a monitor, keyboard, or mouse. But it is upgradeable so you can make it into a powerhouse. They may be put out of business soon, so if you want an Open(3) you’ll need to get it soon.

3:  From : Slashdot
Amazon Sued Over E-Book DRM Patent
Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Discovery Communications has claimed that Amazon’s Kindle E-book reader infringes on a patent they filed back in 1999, and was granted in 2007 (the day after the Kindle 1.0 was released). This patent has to do with DRM algorithms and encryption, and it seems to be specific to e-books. This of course puts other e-books (including software versions) in the market in danger if Amazon can’t figure this out.

Lastly, the iPhone 3.0 firmware SDK has been released to developers. The new software promises several exciting features, check out our own iLife coverage!
iPhone Developers Given Access to iPhone 3.0 SDK and Firmware Starting Today
iPhone 3.0 firmware and SDK previewed and released!

That’s it for this week. Keith will be back next Friday at noon with more big tech news stories.

–Dan Spiers