Talkcast reminder: 10 pm ET Sunday night

This week, while we keep one eye on the NBA All-Star game, we'll step into the news of the week and take your calls. Since the two big tech announcements of the past 7 days came from non-Apple sources, we welcome back special guest Ross Rubin of the NPD Group to explain the imponderables of the Kindle 2 and Microsoft's decision to jump into retail.

To participate on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only client, or you can also use the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VOIP lines (take advantange of your free cellphone weekend minutes if you like): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *-8. Talk with you then!