Time’s running out for the FCC to present its National Broadband Plan to Congress next month, a set of sweeping regulatory changes geared at making broadband widely and readily available to every nook and cranny of the country — and as the day of reckoning draws near, chairman Julius Genachowski is starting to talk specifics about how the Plan’s going to look. At a speech hosted by the think tank New America Foundation today, Genachowski revealed a few key initiatives geared overall to reach the goal of reclaiming a whopping 500MHz of spectrum to apply toward wireless broadband data over the coming decade. A big part of that puzzle will be something called the Mobile Future Auction where existing spectrum owners ( ahem , TV broadcasters) could be given the opportunity to voluntarily — emphasis on “voluntarily” — sell off their airwaves in exchange for a portion of the auction proceeds ; it’s claimed that as much as $50 billion in value could be “unlocked” by more efficiently using some of this spectrum, where only about half is currently being used in even the most populous markets

Adobe has released a Beta 3 version of Flash Player 10.1 for Windows, Macintosh and Linux platforms. Meant for developers to test new hardware, the build reportedly has support for Intel’s GMA 500 integrated graphics processors.

Microsoft’s BlueTrack technology may have led to some pretty impressive mice, but they so far haven’t dipped much under the $50 mark. That’s now changed with the company’s new Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500, Wireless Mouse 2000 and Comfort Mouse 4500, however, which all come in at less than $30, and promise many of the same advantages as Microsoft’s pricier mice

If you’re looking to bridge the gap between the boob tube and YouTube, Elgato (literally, “the gato”) has always been a good bet. The company’s newly announced EyeTV Netstream DTT takes the ol’ EyeTV tuner we’ve all grown to know and love and lets you connect it to your router, allowing you to watch DTV on any computer connected to your network, provided it’s a Mac or a PC.

Even though AT&T’s already committed both carrier and backhaul upgrades in an effort to buck the butt-of-the-joke trend it’s been experiencing for the last couple years, there’s some evidence that it’s a recent trend in the way phone radios operate — not a lack of overall capacity — that should shoulder at least some of the blame for the issues.

Philips has been on somewhat of a roll with new releases overseas, and the outfit’s new SoundSphere might just be the most intriguing yet. Generally speaking, home stereos don’t do much for us, but the minty fresh MCi900 and MCD900 definitely add a fresh touch on an age-old concept. Both systems are equipped with a pair of speakers, 100 watts of amplification and “free floating” tweeters that are outside of the enclosure

Elgato on Wednesday announced its latest TV tuner, the EyeTV Netstream DTT, which will stream DVB-T and Freeview digital free-to-air programming to all Macs or PCs on a home network. The dual tuner will let users watch, record or perform a combination of each to two different programs at the same time.

Nokia’s downright seductive X6 just started shipping to those across the pond, and shortly after the company announced a Comes Without Music edition, along comes this: a NAM version for those who call North America home, sweet home.

Microsoft today launched three mice that finally bring the company’s BlueTrack sensors to entry-level mice. The Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500 leads the introductions and should give notebook users a simple blue laser mouse that can work on unusual surfaces. It works as a simple, ambidextrous three-button mouse with scrolling but has an RF-based USB nano transceiver that should give the mouse eight …

Okay, it’s set: April 9. No, seriously this time