Microsoft doesn’t have plans to release its upcoming tablet-friendly Windows 8 operating system until some time next year, but that doesn’t mean Windows fans have to wait for an optimized tablet experience. Windows tablet fan Justin Campana found a series of apps and tweaks that can be combined with a few custom scripts to make the Windows 7 touch experience much more appealing. On his blog, Campana lays out a great guide that gives users all the tools they need to transform their contrived Windows 7 slates into gorgeous touch-optimized tablets. He uses a variety of software such as ObjectDock, Fences and Rainmeter along with a bunch of tweaks to make Windows 7 look like it was born for tablets. Best of all, Campana happily shares his methods with the world. Hit the break for a video of ASUS’ 12-inch Eee Slate EP121 Windows 7 tablet with touch optimizations applied, and follow the read link for a simple guide that will show you how to perform the mods yourself.

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CyanogenMod is one of the most popular custom Android ROMs currently available. With a wide rang of supported devices, and active developer community, the Android enhancement gets a fair number of installs. Just how many installs, you ask? CyanogenMod has published statistics for its most recent build — CyanogenMod 7 — and the numbers are quite impressive. Version 7 has been installed 217,894 times at time of article writing. Nearly 45% of those installs occurred in the U.S. and Sweden, with Norway, Finland, and the U.K. rounding out the top five installers. A pretty impressive feat. Congrats to the CyanogenMod development community!

Thanks, EZ!

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We can’t even count the number of times we’ve heard someone say, “webOS is great but I wish it was available on some decent hardware.” The PEBL-esque Palm Pre certainly sports a sleek design, but the build leaves much to be desired. When HP acquired the struggling smartphone maker earlier this year, a new hope for solid hardware was born. While Palm’s first post-HP offering won’t be the hardware revamp we’re all waiting for, HP is bound to step up its hardware game next year. WebOS fans might not have to wait that long, however, as several xda-developers forum members have dedicated themselves to a feat that would be nothing short of pure awesomeness — they intend to port webOS to the HTC Hero. The Hero is hardly HTC’s latest and greatest, of course, but in terms of build it’s leaps and bounds beyond the plasticky Palm Pre. We’ll be following the creative xda crew’s progress closely in the coming weeks and months, and we’ve already dusted off our old HTC Hero in anticipation of success.

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Kids, don’t try this at home. Seriously. Despite the fact that the Internet let out a collective gasp when the T-Mobile G2 was revealed to sport an 800MHz processor, the handset is fantastically responsive out of the box. But that won’t stop the good folks over at xda-developers from ripping T-Mobile’s latest G-phone apart, of course. Forum member coolbho3000 has posted all the goodies one would need to overclock a T-Mobile G2 to a blistering 1.42GHz. While we recommend strongly against attempting the mod unless you really know what you’re doing, that shouldn’t stop anyone from ogling the results of this great hack. Hit the jump for a video of the G2 tearing through benchmarks like a champ.

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Yesterday, the folks over at unrEVOked released their “painless root and re-flash” kit for the HTC DROID Incredible. If you have an itching for the #, or just want to otherwise dominate your Incredible, hit up the read link to download the unrevoked^3 root kit.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

[Via DROID-Life]

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For some die-hards, having a glowing Apple logo on the back of your laptop is hardly enough to show the world that you’re “cool”. After all, In this day and age everyone and their grandmother’s nurse is rocking a MacBook. So when it comes to separating yourself from the Apple-wielding pack, here are a few suggestions from your buddies at BGR:

1. Get an Apple logo tattoo
2. Get an Apple logo tattoo… on your face
3. Paint a giant Apple logo on the side of your house
4. Undergo reconstructive surgery to make yourself look like Steve Jobs
5. Mod your iPhone with a glowing logo on the back

While we some might say each of these options are equally ridiculous, a group of Russian modders would disagree; at least with number five. They have apparently perfected a case mod whereby the Apple logo on the back of the iPhone will glow when the phone is in use. Riiiiiiight. For the time being, it looks like this mod is only good on the first generation iPhone. Sorry kids, if you want to be this sexy you’ll have to sacrifice speed.

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