News written by Andre Yoskowitz (October, 2010)

Less than a week after unveiling a prototype of the oft-hyped PlayStation Phone, Engadget has revealed more pictures, and some more slight details.

The device is codenamed "Zeus" and the prototype, at least, is running Android 2.2. The phone is expected to launch with 2.3 Gingerbread.

Furthermore the smartphone will come with an 8GB microSD card, a minimum of 512MB internal storage, and be around 17mm thick, almost exactly the same as the PSPgo.

From the original report:

Engadget says the phone will hit the market "soon," likely in the Q1 2011.

The device will run on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), with a fast 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 processor, 512MB RAM, 1GB ROM and a 4.1-inch screen.

In the gaming part of the slide-out, the PSP Phone has a multi-touch touchpad, shoulder buttons and a microSD slot.

News Corp. returned their Fox signal to Cablevision subscribers last night, just in time to watch Game 3 of the World Series.

Both companies have agreed "in principle" on a new deal over retransmission fees, and Cablevision subscribers now have their Fox, Fox Deportes, NatGeo Wild and My 9 channels back.

The signals had been blacked out since October 16th, when negotiations between the companies hit a wall.

News Corp. was asking for $150 million in retransmission fees, more than Cablevision pays for ABC, NBC and CBS combined.

Terms of the new deal were not disclosed.

Google has said this week that they have spent $1.6 billion on 40 acquisitions this year, with more expected.

The search giant revealed the number via a regulatory filing.

Google's largest acquisition this year has been the massive $861 million purchase of mobile advertising company AdMob, which was easily integrated into Android.

The company also purchased social gaming company Slide for $180 million and video software developer On2 for $123 million.

That $1.6 billion figure could jump substantially if Google's proposed $700 million acquisition of airline travel software company ITA Software is completed. The purchase is pending as EU and U.S. anti-monopoly regulators look at it.

Google still has $33 billion in cash.

More new details have surfaced on the rumored Samsung Nexus Two, which AndroidandMe has compiled.

Samsung has sent out invitations for a major event on November 8th, when they are expected to unveil the device.

The device will be the first to run Android 2.3 Gingerbread, and it may be the first to have native video chat available through an updated Google Talk app.

Furthermore, the phone will run on a 1.2GHz processor, feature a 4-inch AMOLED (or Super-AMOLED) display, a 5MP camera with autofocus and HD video recording, a 1.3MP front-side camera, 512MB RAM, 16GB internal memory and support for multiple carriers, likely AT&T and T-Mobile.

With those specifications, the Nexus Two will likely became the top Android phone in the market, and a worthy successor to the powerful, but failed Nexus One.

Verizon Wireless has started their tiered data plans for smartphones this week, giving users more options for their phone bandwidth needs.

Subscribers will now have the chance to purchase 150MB a month for $15, or keep their unlimited plan for $30.

The U.S.' largest carrier has said in the past that 95 percent of users don't need unlimited plans as a good portion use under 100MB per monthly cycle, especially BlackBerry users which tend to use the phone's data for email and quick browsing only.

Five percent of smartphone users use about 50 percent of all data bandwidth, added Verizon.

The $15 package is a "holiday promotion" but Verizon is likely to make it permanent.

Microsoft has said today that gamers spend 1 billion hours on Xbox Live each month, a significant amount of hours by any standard.

The company said recently that there are just over 25 million Xbox Live users so that means every Xbox Live gamer is spending an average of 40 hours per month playing games or streaming movies on their consoles.

Microsoft added that they have seen a 157 percent increase in the last year in the amount of time users are spending watching movies and TV shows via Netflix or other services.

12 million XBL users are watching at least 30 minutes of content every day.

Adding to the numbers is Microsoft's expansion of the service, with the number of countries offering access now standing at 35.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has said today that they will not drop the price on the Wii console this holiday season, instead choosing to bundle software or accessories as a way to entice new buyers.

When asked about a possible price cut, Iwata said: "Of course, we cannot say it will never happen, but we are not thinking of it for the near future."

The Wii currently sells for $200, the same price as the cheapest Xbox 360 console and cheaper than the PlayStation 3.

One such bundle is the upcoming special Mario edition Wii, which has a red colorway and comes with the latest Mario game.

"Those who really wanted it would have already bought it so now we need to reach those who considered it but never got around to buying it," concludes Iwata.

According to a number of sources, Samsung and Google are set to unveil the Nexus Two next week, the first phone to run on Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

Samsung has already scheduled a major press event for November 8th in NYC.

Adding to the rumor is the fact that Carphone Warehouse has said this week that it will be the exclusive seller of the Nexus Two in the UK for this holiday season.

Google launched the Nexus One in January to much fan-fare. However, sales on T-Mobile were lackluster and the search giant stopped selling the phone a few months ago.

There are few details on the actual device, but Gizmodo got a quick "hands-on" with the device in which they describe a 4.1-inch AMOLED display and a front-facing camera.

More details will be forthcoming.

For the first time ever, Apple has moved into the world’s top five mobile-phone vendors, placing fourth in the Q3 2010.

The numbers come via IDC and Strategy Analytics, who both agreed that if Apple introduces a CDMA version of the iPhone they may be able to jump into third or even second place.

"The entrance of Apple to the top five underscores the increased importance of smartphones to the overall market," notes Kevin Restivo, an IDC analyst. "Vendors that aren’t developing a strong portfolio of smartphones will be challenged to grow and retain market share in the future."

Nokia, (according to IDC) which has held the top spot for every quarter since 1998, stayed in first but share fell to 32.4 percent, down from 36.5 percent year-over-year.

Samsung rose to 21 percent to remain in second, while LG saw its share drop to 8.3 percent, good for third.

For the first time since 2005, Yahoo has redesigned its Yahoo Mail service, which currently has 280 million users.

The main update is the addition of social networking, meaning users can update their Twitter and Facebook statuses from within Yahoo Mail.

Yahoo says the revamped service will work twice as fast as Gmail and Live/Hotmail.

Additionally, texting and IMs have been updated, as well as the ability to view photos and videos from Flickr, Picasa and YouTube from within your inbox.

"People spend more than 30 billion minutes a month on Yahoo Mail," says Dave McDowell, Yahoo Mail senior product director. "It is a critically important product to our users and this represents [the] most significant upgrade to Yahoo mail in five years."

Yahoo has also added priority messages, the service Google added to Gmail a couple of months ago.

Apple has expanded the iOS App Store to China this week, giving Chinese users a chance to view localized feature apps and charts in Simplified Chinese.

Furthermore, the company has launched a Chinese online retail store which offers free shipping, free engraving and free customization for Mac products.

Apple just launched the iPhone 4 in China on September 25th, selling out all supply in 24 hours.

PCMag reminds us that Lenovo chairman Liu Chuanzhi once said: "We are lucky that Steve Jobs has such a bad temper and doesn't care about China. If Apple were to spend the same effort on the Chinese consumer as we do, we would be in trouble."

It appears that Lenovo will need increase their "effort" now.

Alexandra Tobias of Florida has plead guilty to murder today, months after killing her 3-month-old son for interrupting her game of Farmville.

Farmville is a game on Facebook where users own their own farms and interact with other farm owners from around the world.

In January, Tobias was playing the computer game and became angry after her baby Dylan started crying.

She shook the baby out of anger, smoked a cigarette and then shook the baby again, says The Florida Times-Union.

Tobias will receive a minimum of 25 years for the charge of second-degree murder.

For the six fiscal months ended September 30th, 2010, Nintendo saw its first semi-annual loss in seven years, thanks mostly to a steep decline in DS handheld sales.

Year-over-year, DS sales (which include DS Lite, DSi and DSi XL) dropped to 6.69 million worldwide, from 11.7 million in the same period last year.

The drop in sales makes sense though, given that the market has been very close to saturation for some time. Additionally, the Nintendo 3DS is set for launch early next year, so consumers appear to be bidding their time and waiting on the new, updated handheld.

Helping contribute to Nintendo's falling bottom line was Wii sales, which fell from 5.75 million to 4.97 million in the same time periods.

GigaOM is reporting today that Apple is currently working with SIM-card pioneer Gemalto to create a special SIM card that would give consumers a chance to buy an iPhone online (or at Apple retail stores) and then activate it through the iOS App Store, eliminating the need to go to a carrier's store.

SIM cards hold subscriber information as well as contacts and are used in GSM devices.

Gemalto's special new card will be integrated right into the iPhone (in European nations), giving consumers the chance to choose a carrier at the time of purchase and getting the handset up and running almost instantly, without needing to head over to a carrier store.

European carriers have expressed some concern, as it could potentially stop millions of consumers from headed into stores, where they might be inclined to buy accessories or even other devices.

Gemalto was recently in the news for suing Google, HTC, Motorola and Samsung over a patent related to the Android mobile operating system. More specifically, Gemalto is suing over a patent relating to the JavaCard, a technology which allows for Java apps to run on SIM cards.

Sony has announced today that they will be releasing a standalone 320GB PlayStation 3 console soon, pricing the console at $350.

Additionally, the company is still selling the 320GB system bundled with PlayStation Move, the PS Eye and "Sports Champion" for $400.

Making the system intriguing is the fact that Sony sells their low-end 160GB model for $300, so upgrading may even be cheaper than buying a 160GB model and adding your own HDD (unless you already have one laying around).

For September, Sony saw 312,000 PlayStation 3 sales in the U.S., a steep 37 percent drop year-over-year, although in August 2009 the company dropped the price of the PS3, leading to extremely strong sales for the period.

Sony has also reported that they have shipped 1 million Move motion controllers in the Americas for the PlayStation 3 in just 30 days since launch. Sony Europe reported 1.5 million sales for the EU during the same time.

Mike Beltzner, the Director of Firefox has said today that release candidates (RC) for Firefox 4 will be available at the beginning of 2011.

Beta 7 of the new browser is set for release in the next week.

Mozilla says Beta 7 will be a "code freeze" for the browser, meaning that new features can no longer be added afterwards.

After b7, the browser will be delivered to add-on developers.

Says Beltzner:

"As those who have been tracking our nightly builds know, great things are happening with Firefox 4. The user interface changes are converging, the graphics and layout features are wrapping up, and recently the JavaScript engine was dramatically improved. The result is a fast, capable Firefox that provides better speed and responsiveness for web applications and users. Completing this work is taking longer than initial estimates indicated as we track down regressions and sources of instability. As part of our commitment to beta users, we will not ship software before it is ready.

Development on Firefox 4 has not slowed down and strong progress is being made daily. However, based on the delays in completing the "feature complete" Beta 7 milestone against which our Add-on developers and third-party software developers can develop, as well as considering the amount of work remaining to prepare Firefox 4 for final release, we have revised our beta and release candidate schedule: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/4/Beta

Read more...

T-Mobile USA and Sprint have both confirmed this week that they will offer the Samsung Galaxy Tab for $400 with two-year contract.

Verizon announced they would be selling the tablet for $600 without contract.

T-Mobile will begin offering the tablet on November 10th, earlier than both rivals.

As you will need a data plan, T-Mobile offers existing customers WebConnect/200MB for $25 a month or WebConnect/5GB for $40 a month. If you are a new customer, however, those same plans will run you $30 or $50, respectively.

If you feel your bandwidth usage will be very minor, T-Mobile gives you the chance to use a prepaid mobile broadband rate plan, with the cheapest option being $10 per week for 100MB.

Sprint will offer the device for the same price with data plans costing $30 for 2GB or $60 for 5GB.

Samsung's tablet runs on Android 2.2, has a 1GHz processor, a 7-inch multi-touch screen and dual cameras.

Fox rejected Cablevision's latest offer Wednesday afternoon, meaning that over 3 million sports fans in metropolitan New York City and Philadelphia were not able to watch Game 1 of the World Series, featuring the San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers.

Cablevision also emailed its subscribers saying it would reimburse any user the $10 it costs for a premium MLB.com subscription. Premium users can watch any game from their computers or TVs.

The cable company offered to pay News Corp. (parent of Fox) the same rate that Time Warner Cable currently pays for Fox, for one year, but Fox quickly dismissed the offer, which is meant to be a package deal that includes My 9, NatGeo Wild and Fox Business.

Fox called the offer "yet another in a long line of publicity stunts. Cablevision is seeking a discounted 'package rate' without buying the entire package."

Cablevision CEO James Dolan has sent a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, asking him to mediate the dispute and return the signal to Cablevision subscribers until a deal is agreed upon.

Barnes & Noble has introduced the new Nook Color e-reader this week, hoping to gain an advantage over the rival Amazon Kindle in the quickly growing e-reader market.

The Nook Color will use an IPS LCD screen, the same type of display used by the Apple iPad.

Barnes & Noble's new Nook Color will be 7-inches, run Android 2.1, and have eight-hour battery life per charge. Current Nooks and Kindles (using e-ink displays) have battery lives as long as two weeks per charge.

The display will have 1024x600 resolution with 16 million colors.

Additionally, the device has Wi-Fi (but lacks 3G), 8GB of internal storage and a microSD slot.

The Nook Color will also launch with deals with magazine publishers, a strong advantage over black-and-white e-readers.

Available at Best Buy, Wal-Mart and online starting November 19th, the e-reader will cost $250.

LimeWire, once the world's most popular P2P client, is now officially shut down, following a four-year legal battle against the record industry.

A New York federal court has issued a permanent injunction against the site this week, ruling that LimeWire caused a "massive scale of infringement" by intentionally giving users a platform to share millions of unauthorized music tracks.

At its peak, LimeWire was seeing 50 million monthly users.

Visitors to the site are greeted by the pictured "legal notice."

While the company can no longer make unauthorized music readily available, the site says it is now "working with the music industry to move forward."

The court also added that LimeWire should use all available resources to remove all copyrighted materials currently available to downloaders of the client.

Apple has said today that they are delaying the release of the white iPhone 4 for the third time, this time pushing it all the way back until the Spring of 2011.

When they launched the iPhone 4 in June, Apple said it would have to delay the white model of the phone until July.

In July, the company delayed the smartphone until the end of the year.

"We're sorry to disappoint customers waiting for the white iPhone again," said Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller.

The company neglected to give a reason for the delay except for saying the new white model is "more challenging to manufacture than we originally expected."

Apple sold 14.1 million iPhones in the recent quarter, in its original black colorway.

Zynga, the social gaming giant behind "FarmVille," has just been valued at $5.5 billion by SharePost, the service which exchanges shares of privately held companies such as Facebook, Twitter and Zynga.

With a market cap that large, Zynga is now considered the second largest gaming publisher in the world, surpassing Electronic Arts (EA) which has a current market cap of $5.15 billion.

Nintendo remains the top publisher.

Zynga was launched four years ago and mainly uses Facebook to distribute games. With a built-in audience of 500 million, the company has ascended very quickly thanks to FarmVille, FrontierVille and others. The company makes money off virtual goods, like weapons and upgrades that advance in-game play.

The company has about 210 million monthly active users.

Engadget has revealed the long awaited PlayStation Phone tonight, posting pictures of a working model of the upcoming device.

There have long been rumors that Sony Ericsson was creating a PSP phone, one that would include the gaming aspects of a PSP while adding phone functionality.

Engadget says the phone will hit the market "soon," likely in the Q1 2011.

The device will run on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), with a fast 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 processor, 512MB RAM, 1GB ROM and a 4.1-inch screen.

In the gaming part of the slide-out, the PSP Phone has a multi-touch touchpad, shoulder buttons and a microSD slot.

Earlier this week, eBay and Groupon announced the start of "featured deals" through the auction site's new eBay Bucks campaign.

User can collect "eBay Bucks" dollars while buying a daily Groupon they may have wanted to purchase anyway.

Groupon offers large discounts to local or national businesses, sometimes as high as 80 percent off.

When using the featured deal, eBay users will get 5 percent kickbacks in the form of eBay Bucks.

Groupon continues to see exponential growth, with unique visitors growing by 23 percent in August, making it the fourth fastest growing property on the Internet.

Techspot has discovered this week that Microsoft will release its upcoming Windows 8 operating system in late 2012, likely around the anniversary of 7's launch in October.

The proof comes via a blog post in which Microsoft says (translated roughly): "Furthermore, Microsoft is on course with the next version of Windows. But it will take about two years before "Windows 8" hits the market."

Microsoft has not commented on the post.

The timing makes sense, though, as Microsoft has openly said they hoped to return to a three-year product cycle after the delayed cycle that caused Vista to be released seven years after Windows XP.

Microsoft's latest iteration, Windows 7, has sold 240 million licenses in just one year of release.

According to scientists at the University of London, tiny Bee brains can solve complex math problems that take computers much longer to figure out.

The insects can effectively solve the "traveling salesman problem" as they learn to "fly the shortest router between flowers discovered in random order."

Computers solve the "TSP" by comparing all possible routes and then choosing the shortest one.

Bees reach the same conclusion while using a brain that is about the size of a pinhead.

Says Dr. Nigel Raine: "Foraging bees solve travelling salesman problems every day. They visit flowers at multiple locations and, because bees use lots of energy to fly, they find a route which keeps flying to a minimum."

"Despite their tiny brains bees are capable of extraordinary feats of behaviour," adds Raine, via Guardian. "We need to understand how they can solve the travelling salesman problem without a computer."

In under three weeks since launch, Microsoft has boasted today that the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace has hit its first milestone, 1000 available apps.

For comparison's sake, the iOS App Store has 300,000 available apps, the Android Market has 100,000 apps and the BlackBerry App World has a bit over 10,000.

It is important to note, however, that the old Windows Mobile platform took a full seven months to reach 1000 apps.

There are no Windows Phone 7 devices yet available to the U.S. public, with the first batch hitting the States in two weeks.

Microsoft has launched a couple of phones in Europe and Asia.

The digital security firm Gemalto has sued Google, HTC, Motorola and Samsung today over a patent related to the Android mobile operating system.

More specifically, Gemalto is suing over a patent relating to the JavaCard, a technology which allows for Java apps to run on SIM cards.

Says the company, via Mash: "Gemalto is recognized as a pioneer and ground-breaking contributor to the JavaCard [sic] , one of the devices for which the patented technologies were conceived."

Earlier this year, Oracle sued Google over Java and IP law, claiming that the search giant "knowingly, directly and repeatedly infringed Oracle’s Java-related intellectual property" when creating Android.

From different fronts, Microsoft has recently sued Motorola over patent infringement related to Android, and Apple has sued HTC over the same thing.

The RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) have seized 7000 pirated video games from a 35-year old Saskatoon man's residence and charges are currently pending.

RCMP officials say, if sold authentically, the games would be worth $200,000.

The citizen had his house raided following an investigation "into intellectual property crime offences," adds the police.

More specifically, the authorities were looking into the sale of gaming consoles that were modded to be able to play pirated games.

The man had been advertising the modded consoles via online ads.

Authorities noted that the plethora of games and consoles including systems from Nintendo, Sony, Sega, and Microsoft.

Mozilla has paid 12-year old Alex Miller $3000 this week, thanking him for finding a critical buffer overflow and memory corruption flaw in the popular Firefox browser.

The company pays out prizes to security researchers (or kids) who disclose vulnerabilities.

Miller says he became motivated to find a security hole in the browser after Mozilla bumped up its prize from $500 to $3000 earlier this year.

The 12-year old says he spent 90 minutes a day, for 10 days straight, until he found the critical flaw.

His 15-hour crusade netted him $3000.

TechSpot says the "flaw can be exploited to crash a victim's browser and potentially run arbitrary code on their computer."

Mozilla patched the exploit with the release of Firefox 3.6.11.

Sony has finally retired the Walkman cassette player, citing lackluster demand for the outdated device.

The company says they produced their last batch of the device in Japan in April and once that inventory clears out, the Walkman will be retired to the history books.

A Chinese company will still produce some units after Sony's supply is exhausted but it is hard to believe they will continue to produce for the foreseeable future.

Sony began selling the Walkman in 1979 and has seen 220 million units sold over the past 31 years.

Walkman sales have been in steep decline since the introduction of portable CD players and even more so with the launch of portable MP3 players earlier this ddecade.

Sony will continue to use the "Walkman" brand, however, in phones and media players.

The Japanese Nikkei has reported today that Sharp is officially out of the PC business, pulling the plug on their personal computing operations.

Sharp has not put out a new PC in the last year.

Additionally, the report says that Sharp will now re-focus on "marketing its Galapagos tablet devices coming out in December, along with providing content such as e-books, music and video for these products."

Sharp is a big player in the HDTV, LED, LCD and solar markets.

Many major computer makers have shifted their focus away from PCs towards tablets and other mobile devices.

Amazon has revealed today that the latest generation of Kindle e-readers are the fastest selling Kindles of all-time, as well as the top selling products on both Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

The new Kindles, which saw a significant price drop along with slimmed down hardware, have already outsold all Kindle device sales from the fourth quarter 2009, Amazon's strongest quarter due to increased demand for the holidays.

"It's still October and we've already sold more Kindle devices since launch than we did during the entire fourth quarter of last year--astonishing because the fourth quarter is the busiest time of year on Amazon," says Steve Kessel, Senior Vice President, Amazon Kindle. "Readers continue to choose Kindle for its all-new electronic ink screen with 50 percent higher contrast, readability in bright sunlight, long battery life of up to one month, light 8.5 ounce form, flexibility to read their books across all major LCD devices and platforms, and low $139 price. It's clear that this is going to be the biggest holiday for Kindle yet--by far."

Furthermore, Kindle e-book sales continue to "overtake print," even though print book sales continue solid growth.

"For the top 10 bestselling books on Amazon.com, customers are choosing Kindle books over hardcover and paperback books combined at a rate of greater than 2 to 1. Kindle books are also outselling print books for the top 25, 100, and 1,000 bestsellers--it's across the board," adds Kessel, via MarketWatch. "This is remarkable when you consider that we've been selling hardcover and paperback books for 15 years, and Kindle books for just 36 months."

According to @AndroidDev, the Twitter account for the team that is working on mobile operating system Android, the Android Market has officially hit 100,000 apps.

Number of apps in the Market have increased 300 percent over the last year, hitting new milestones at an increasingly fast pace.

Reads the status, simply: "One hundred thousand apps in Android Market."

During a recent interview, vice president for engineering at Google Andy Rubin said there are now 270,000 developers writing software for the operating system.

Including apps that have been pulled by their developers over the course of Android's history, Rubin confirms the number is over 100,000, as well.

For comparison's sake, Apple's App Store has just hit 300,000 apps available while the BlackBerry store has just over 10,000.

Pioneer and Buffalo have introduced the world's first Blu-ray writers with BDXL support, the standard that was approved by the BDA in June.

BDXL discs are quad-layer 128GB Blu-ray discs. The standard also allows for triple-layer BDs with 100GB capacity.

Available soon, the companies have shown off the external BRXL-6U2 and the internal BRXL-6FBS-BK.

Both writers can handle up to quad-layer discs at 4x speeds for the higher capacities.

Support for BD-R/BD-R DL and BD-RE/BD-RE DL are standard.

On the downside, there are no mainstream players that support the standard with only Panasonic and Sharp even introducing players, all of which cost over $2500. There is no word on pricing for the writers.

Citing multiple sources, Kotaku is reporting today that the much anticipated PSP 2 handheld will reach consumers in the fall of next year.

The updated console will sport a touch panel on its back, along with dual analog sticks, the most-wanted PSP feature since its inception.

Sources describe the touch panel as "looking like a big mouse trackpad." It is still unclear how it will be used in-game, but developers are already in early stages of developing games that incorporate it.

Furthermore, the display will offer a higher resolution and sharper picture whilst being about 1-inch larger, as well.

Sony has called the screen "HD" during internal meetings although it is also unclear what is implied there.

The main issue, according to the site, is that system is overheating, thanks to the ramp up in power from past models.

Sony has announced today that is slashing the price of the PSPgo handheld in the United States and in Japan.

The move comes as the holiday season approaches and on the heels of even more PSP 2 rumors.

Rival Nintendo is set to launch their highly-anticipated 3DS handheld before the summer of next year.

In the U.S., Sony will drop the price of the "go" to $200 from $250 and in Japan the price will drop to 16,800 yen ($207 USD) from 26,800 ($330 USD).

Overall, Sony has sold 60 million PSP units, although it is widely expected that the PSPgo has sold very poorly, no matter what market.

Microsoft has begun offering an annual pay option for its Zune Pass, after over a year of only offering a monthly option.

The monthly pass was $15 per month but now subscribers can pay for one year upfront for $150.

Ars asked Microsoft for comment: "It went live yesterday in the US, UK, France, Italy and Spain. The monthly subscription is for $14.99 in the US and €9.99 or £8.99 in European markets. The annual Zune Pass subscription is the same monthly offer, at a discounted price of 12 months of music for the price of 10 months."

The updated Zune Pass subscription option comes right on the heels of the release of Windows Phone 7, which integrates the service.

A Microsoft Zune Pass gives you unlimited access to 10 million songs while you are subscribed whilst also getting to keep 10 songs as free downloads per month.

itrans has posted a supposed leaked picture of Samsung's upcoming (but still unconfirmed) Galaxy S2 smartphone, along side a spec sheet that should impress everyone.

Please note that the picture may just be a mock up and the specs are all speculation so take this as rumor for now.

The new Galaxy smartphone has a tentative release date of the Q1 2011.

Spec sheet:

4.3” 1280x720 resolution Super AMOLED 2 display
Android 2.3 (at least)
2GHz CPU, 1GB RAM/4GB ROM
32GB of built-in flash memory, 32GB expandable microSD card slot
8MP camera with FullHD video recording
A-GPS, Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi b/g/n
3.5mm audio jack
Accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity and ambient light sensors

Engadget has posted this weekend that Netflix is already testing a streaming-only plan for U.S. subscribers.

For $7.99, the streaming-only plan will give users a chance to watch 15,000 movies and TV shows from Netflix's "Watch Instantly" catalog.

Users will not get any physical media rentals in the mail, however, if they choose the plan.

Mixed plans that offer unlimited streaming and 1-disc-out at a time currently cost subscribers $10 per month.

CEO Reed Hastings had implied that the streaming-only model has been very successful in Canada and so they have accelerated plans for the U.S. version.

Amazon has confirmed that they will be introducing a 14-day lending period for Kindle e-books starting later this year, matching a feature the rival Barnes & Noble Nook has had since launch.

Kindle e-book owners will be able to lend out books to friends and family for two weeks, and just like with the Nook, users will not be able to read their books while they're lent out.

Not all books will have the feature, however, as it is completely at the discretion of the publishers to enable it.

Amazon offers their new Wi-Fi-only Kindle for $139, slightly undercutting B&N's Wi-Fi-only Nook which retails for $149.

Says Amazon:

"Later this year, we will be introducing lending for Kindle, a new feature that lets you loan your Kindle books to other Kindle device or Kindle app users. Each book can be lent once for a loan period of 14-days and the lender cannot read the book during the loan period. Additionally, not all e-books will be lendable - this is solely up to the publisher or rights holder, who determines which titles are enabled for lending."

Google has finally made Android 2.3, aka Gingerbread official by adding a giant gingerbread cookie to their collection of over sized dessert item statues.

The statues are on Google's campus, where Android remains in constant development.

Says Google VP of engineering Andy Rubin of upcoming Gingerbread updates: "More forms of communication. I think social media is a form of communication. I think you would just talk about general improvements to the platform and make it faster and more robust. I think gaming is an area that I think is underserved right now. We're actually going through a reinvention of casual gaming. If you look at a console game like an XBOX or a PlayStation or a Nintendo, I think it's very, "sit down and try to get to the maximum level possible." On cell phones and devices that are battery operated, I think there's more kind of "what do you do in between the times when you're doing something?" It's more about running a game to fill time rather than running a game to be a dedicated event."

Most also expect an entirely redone user interface that would eliminate the need for "skins" like HTC's Sense or Motorola's MotoBLUR.

Opera has released an alpha version of their latest browser, Opera 11 which finally adds extensions, a key selling point of both Chrome and Firefox.

The browser's updated alpha also shows how quickly the extension coding formats are being standardized. Chrome and Safari use use extensions that are a combo of JavaScript, HTML5 and CSS and Firefox's new framework will bring the same coding formula to the browser.

Internet Explorer uses a proprietary add-on system.

Having standardized extension coding could lead to less work for developers, who could make one single extension for a plethora of browsers instead of needing to re-code every time.

Says Opera:

Extensions allow you to easily add new functionality to your Opera browser. Developers can create extensions using familiar open standards: HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript, along with supported APIs. To learn how to create extensions, have a look at our introduction to Opera extensions.

Read more...

TUAW is reporting this week that the latest iMovie 2011 trailers feature blocks the usage of studio names, most notably Universal and Paramount.

Although unclear, it appears that either Apple or the studios don't want users putting out trailers that could be misinterpreted as real studio-created trailers, and the easiest way to do that is to block the names from being used.

Although the Universal Studios' earth theme is available as a choice, as is the Paramount snow-capped mountains, the "studio name" field turns the words "Universal" and "Paramount" into dashes when using those respective themes.

You can view both pictures here.

A new Nielsen study, dubbed "The Increasingly Connected Consumer: Connected Devices," has shown that nearly one-third of all iPad owners have yet to download an app for their device.

32 percent of iPad owners remain app-less despite a number of very popular apps being created specifically for the tablet.

63 percent of device owners have downloaded an app and paid for at least one while the other five percent have download apps, but only free ones.

The most popular paid apps were games at 62 percent, followed by books at 54 percent and music at 50 percent.

Nearly 100 percent of iPad owners regularly check the news, while 39 percent use it to read books. Another 33 percent use the device to watch movies or TV shows.

The survey was administered to 5000 "connected device owners" including iPad, Kindle, iPod Touch and other device owners.

According to the latest figures from Strategy Analytics, RIM has fallen to third in the global smartphone market, losing out to Apple for the first time ever.

Nokia remained the clear leader, shipping 26.5 million units during the Q3 2010, good for a 34.4 percent market share.

That percentage, however, fell significantly year-over-year, down from 37.8 percent.

Apple, in second place, shipped 14.5 million units, good for 18.3 percent of the market.

RIM fell from 19.6 percent to 16.1 percent after shipping 12.3 million units for the quarter.

The research firm concluded that RIM is losing share due to a "limited presence in the high-growth touchscreen segment." RIM offers the Storm 2 and the new Torch in the multi-touch market.

Android, with incredible growth, has helped companies like Motorola and Samsung stay relevant, although their market share is significantly lower.

According to Engadget, Apple has taken its fight with Adobe to another level, purposely not pre-installing Flash on all new Mac computers starting with the recently launched second generation MacBook Air.

Apple's reasoning behind the decision is: "The best way for users to always have the most up to date and secure version is to download it directly from Adobe."

While the decision does have a point, Apple is forcing extra work on its customers by removing the pre-install.

The easiest way Apple could have ensured Flash would stay up to date would be to add the plug-in into the auto-updater.

For now, new Mac owners will have to head over to Adobe and make sure they download the latest version of Flash. That is if they want to watch over 90 percent of videos on the Internet.

The Sex.com domain has finally been sold this week, after being up for auction for 15 months.

Clover Holdings, a company registered in the Caribbean, has purchased the domain for $13 million, about $1 million less than what Escom LLC purchased it for in 2006.

Last June, Escom went bankrupt and the domain went up for auction.

The domain was originally purchased for under $100 in 1994, and then sold in 2006 for $14 million to Escom LLC, who could not afford the payments and then defaulted the site to DOM Partners, the lender who backed the $14 million bid.

Gary Kremen, the founder of Match.com was the original owner of sex.com, but he lost the domain to a con man named Stephen Cohen. Kremen then waged a decade long legal battle to regain ownership.

Cohen was subsequently fined $65 million for stealing the domain. Cohen was allegedly making $500,000 a month off the site during its heyday.

RWW has reported today that Netflix rules Internet traffic during peak times in the United States as demands continues to increase.

Netflix currently has 16 million subscribers, most of which can access the company's "Watch Instantly" streaming catalog from their mobile devices, computers and TVs.

Given the strong demand, the site says Netflix accounts for just over 20 percent of all American downstream traffic during peak Internet hours.

Bandwidth "consumption," however, still remains low in the U.S., compared to other regions, as the average connection time is 3 hours in the States compared to 5.5 hours average for all of Asia.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has made it clear that the company will continue to build its streaming service, even admitting that the company may soon offer a new streaming-only subscription package that will be cheaper than current mixed plans which offer physical rentals and streaming for consumers who may not care for rentals.

Nintendo has confirmed today they will be releasing red Wii and DSi XL consoles, in an effort to continue their ongoing celebration of Super Mario's 25th anniversary.

For $199, the red Wii bundle will include the console, a Wii Remote Plus (with Motion Plus), nunchuck, Wii Sports and New Super Mario Bros.

The DSi XL bundle will sell for $179 and include the red handheld, Brain Age Express: Arts & Letters, Brain Age Express: Math, Photo Clock, and Mario Kart DS.

Peter Kafka of AllThingsDigital has reported today that Hulu is actively considering dropping the price of their Hulu Plus premium service to $4.95 per month from the current $9.95 per month.

Hulu Plus was created to give subscribers a chance to access more content, including back catalogs of popular shows they would normally watch on the free, ad-supported Hulu site.

Unfortunately for the broadcasters behind the service, Plus has not really taken off, with subscriber base staying very low.

Hulu Plus subscribers can watch the back catalogs of shows on the iPhone, iPad, Xbox 360, PS3, and a few Web-connected HDTVs. Then again, so can Netflix subscribers, who get access to 15,000 TV episodes and movies for $8.99 a month while still getting physical media rentals in the mail.

That being said, Hulu Plus is still in beta, so Hulu refused to comment on the story. NBCU, News Corp. and Disney own equal share in the venture.

Wal-Mart has said today that it will begin selling the B&N Nook at 2500 Super Centers and online starting on the 24th, greatly expanding the presence of the e-reader.

"The world's largest bookseller and the world's largest retailer are bringing e-reading to the masses," added William Lynch, Barnes & Noble's CEO.

B&N offers a $149 Wi-Fi-only version of the Nook and a $200 3G/Wi-Fi model. Wal-Mart will sell both.

The Nook is in direct competition with the Amazon Kindle and to a lesser extent, the Apple iPad. Wal-Mart just began selling all six models of the iPad in their stores.

"The Wal-Mart customer is a slightly different demographic than at Barnes & Noble," continues Lynch, via the WSJ. "This gives us access to a customer who we think grows the base of Nook customers."

B&N offers the Nook through their own stores and Best Buy.

Google has said today that they will begin testing their incredibly fast 1Gbps fiber high-speed broadband project in Stanford, California, whilst still evaluating applications sent in by other cities that want to test the network.

The company will start introducing the network early in 2011 to the Residential Subdivision at Stanford University, which happens to be just a few miles from Google's headquarters in Mountain View.

Google Product Manager James Kelly says the new implementation is a "beta" for the broader Google Fiber project.

At 1Gbps, the network is at least ten times faster than even the speediest of current home connections.

In February, Google announced that it was looking for a community in the U.S. with between 50,000 and 500,000 people to deploy the network, for free. 600 communities applied and one, Topeka, Kansas, even renamed itself "Google" for one month.

Google will introduce the winner by Christmas.

Late last week we announced that Rovio Mobile, the developer behind the blockbuster game Angry Birds had recently released a version of the game for Android devices.

The company is still offering a full version of the game for free in the Android Market, following its massive success in the iOS App Store.

Within 24 hours, Rovio confirmed that there were over 1 million downloads of the game, marking the fastest an Android app had ever hit the milestone.

Today, both Google and Rovio have confirmed that the game has hit over 3 million downloads in just five days.

The app is available for free as it is being supported by Google's AdMob advertising platform. Google is using the game as a way to show advertisers that using AdMob can be very beneficial to them.

Across all platforms, Rovio has sold 7 million copies of the game for $.99.

Although unconfirmed, CNET is reporting today that Barnes & Noble is preparing to unveil a full color version of the Nook e-reader device at an event next Tuesday.

CNET says the source "has proven reliable" in the past year but this should still be treated as a rumor for now.

The new Nook Color will have a 7-inch screen, with a retail price of $250.

Just like its predecessor, the Color will run on the Android mobile OS and offer a multi-touch experience.

B&N will continue to sell its current line of Nooks, which will see a major software update in the near future.

It is still unclear what kind of full color display will be used.

Sony has reported today that they have shipped 1 million Move motion controllers in the Americas for the PlayStation 3 in just 30 days since launch. Sony Europe reported 1.5 million sales for the EU during the same time.

President Jack Tretton said the Move system is already out of stock in most retail stores and the company expects that strong Move sales will lead to an increase in console and software sales during the holiday season.

"Sales are brisk," concluded Tretton, via the WSJ.

The Move, when teamed with the PlayStation Eye camera, gives gamers a chance to interact directly with their games using hand motions and other physical movements.

Sony sells the controller by itself for $49 or bundled with a game and the Eye for $99.

Microsoft will begin selling their rival Kinect system on November 4th.

Microsoft has said today that it has already sold 240 million Windows 7 licenses, making it the fastest-selling operating system in the company's history.

Windows 7 went on sale last October.

The software giant noted that by the end of September, Windows 7 was running on 93 percent of new PCs, with the OS jumping to 17.1 percent global OS market share, surpassing Vista during the summer.

Windows XP still accounts for a majority 60 percent of the global market.

IW notes that Microsoft has seen their bottom line grow significantly thanks to the strong success of the operating system, with the company seeing a 48 percent increase in net income year-on-year for the fiscal Q4 ended June 30th.

Starbucks has partnered with Yahoo this week to launch the Starbucks Digital Network, a Web portal with content that can be accessed only when you are using Starbuck's free Wi-Fi.

The network will launch on Wednesday and will be available in all 6800 Starbucks locations.

Starbucks Digital Network will have six channels: News, entertainment, wellness, business and careers, My Neighborhood, and Starbucks. Additional partners are the Bookish Reading Club, Foursquare, Good, LinkedIn, New Word City, and The Weather Channel.

The free Wi-Fi is accessible via smartphones, tablets and laptops and requires a quick login.

"The team at Starbucks wanted to enhance the time our customers spend in our stores, so we had a vision to create something new, localized, unexpected… and online," says Adam Brotman, vice president of Starbucks Digital Ventures. "The Starbucks Digital Network was developed to provide customers instant access to a collection of hand-picked premium news, entertainment and lifestyle content along with free downloads, local insights and events from nearly 20 different content providers including iTunes, Nick Jr. Boost, Rodale, WSJ.com and Yahoo! It's all free and only available at Starbucks."

Mozilla has patched 12 vulnerabilities in the popular Firefox browser today, including an updated patch for the highly publicized "binary planting" issue that was initially patched last year.

8 of the vulnerabilities were rated "critical," meaning the bugs could be used to hijack a system. After the critical ones there were two "high," one "moderate" and finally a single "low."

PCAdvisor explains that the 'binary planting' vulnerability has also been called 'DLL load hijacking'.

Says the site: "Regardless of the term, the flaw existed in Windows applications that do not call DLLs (dynamic linked libraries) or executable files using a full path name. Instead, they rely on the filename alone. The latter can be exploited by attackers, who can trick the program into loading a malicious file with the same title as a required DLL or executable. If attackers can con users into visiting malicious websites or remote shared folders, or get them to plug in a USB drive, they can compromise a computer and infect it with malware."

Earlier today during the "Back to Mac" event, Apple unveiled its upcoming Mac App Store, an applications store based on the store available to owners of iOS devices.

The Mac App Store will give Mac owners a chance to download Mac applications with one-click.

Additionally, the store will provide auto-updates and a license to use the software on all Macs you may own.

For developers, Apple takes 30 percent of revenue, similar to the cut the company takes for iOS apps.

To access the store you will need Mac OSX Snow Leopard or the upcoming Lion.

Developers can begin submitting applications next week and the Mac App Store will open in 90 days.

Swedish source TheLocal has reported this week that a lucky professor at the Umeå University in northern Sweden has had his data returned to him anonymously after a thief stole his notebook.

On the way to the laundry room, the professor dropped his backpack behind a door in the nearest stairwell, knowing he would be back within five minutes.

That was all it took for a thief to take the bag, which held his computer, calender, keys and other documents. The professor said he was most saddened by the loss of his calender: "It is my life. I have documented everything in it that has happened in the last 10 years and beyond."

The professor then called the police to report the incident and cancelled his credit cards. Much to his surprise, however, he returned to the stairwell a couple of hours later and found the backpack returned, with everything in it except for his notebook and a library card.

One week later, the story gets even more interesting as the professor returned home from class to find an envelope waiting in his mailbox that had a USB flash drive in it. The drive was full of all of the professor's data from the notebook.

Electronic Arts will purchase Chillingo, the publisher behind the blockbuster game "Angry Birds" in an effort to boost their mobile gaming catalog.

The software company will pay around $19 million for Chillingo.

EA has confirmed, however, that they will not get the intellectual property rights to "Angry Birds," which was developed by the Finnish company Rovio Mobile.

One analyst was surprised by the purchase because it lacked the IP for Angry Birds: "I'm kind of wondering what they bought," says Todd Mitchell, a Kaufman Bros analyst, via Reuters. "But in light of EA not getting the IP, they're buying the development platform to put their own IP on it in hopes of driving social networking and customers back to their own properties."

Chillingo's other popular game is "iDracula," a shooter available for iOS devices.

Concludes EA: "By acquiring Chillingo, EA Mobile is increasing its market leadership on the Apple platform as well as reaffirming its position as the world's leading wireless entertainment publisher."

Verizon has announced that it will charge $600 for the Samsung Galaxy Tab beginning on November 11th, pricing the tablet high because you do not need to sign up for a two-year contract to access 3G data.

Customers will pay monthly to use the 3G data, with the cheapest price being $20 for 1GB. After that comes 3GB for $35, 5GB for $50 and 10GB for $80.

Verizon spokeswoman Brenda Raney says the no-contract plans will remain unique to tablets (including the iPad).

"Verizon Wireless has always been committed to providing customers with the latest technology, and the latest announcements reflect that commitment to a relatively new entrant into the mobile arena -- tablets," adds Raney, via CW. "The data plan pricing for the tablets are reflective of how people use these multi-purpose devices, and because they are 3G and Wi-Fi enabled, customers have a choice in how, when and where they use them."

The carrier is offering the 16GB model, but it has a memory card slot which allows for expansion of 32GB.

"One more thing..."

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has just announced that the new rumored MacBook Air is a reality.

Jobs asked the crowd: "What would happen if a MacBook and an iPad hooked up?" "This is the result. One of the most amazing things we ever created. We think this is the future of notebooks."

The updated MacBook Air weighs 2.9 pounds, has a unibody construction, uses flash storage instead of a hard drive and promises 7 hours of battery life with standard use.

As rumored, there will be an 11.6-inch version as well as a 13.3-inch version.

Each model is 0.68 inches at its thickest point and 0.11 inches at its thinnest.

Resolution is 1440x900 or 1366x768, the computers use Core 2 Duo processors and use GeForce 320m video cards.

The 11.6-inch model comes with 64GB flash and costs $999. The 13.3-inch comes with 128GB flash memory and will cost $1299. A high-end 250GB model will cost $1600.

(Pic via RWW)

According to figures from Cowen & Company, Activision's blockbuster series Guitar Hero continues to see sales declines, despite new additions to the franchise.

The latest game, "Warriors of Rock," saw only 86,000 sales in its first week, well below the average for the franchise.

In 2007, Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock sold 1.5 million copies in five days, in 2008 GH: World Tour sold 500,000 copies in its first week and last year's Guitar Hero 5 sold 499,000 copies in the same time frame.

Says analyst Doug Creutz: "Guitar Hero III likely attracted a lot of one-time buyers (that have not returned for subsequent franchise instalments) due to its 'it-game' status at the time."

Rival Harmonix, the company behind Rock Band said this of the genre as a whole: "I absolutely do not believe that rhythm-action gaming has reached its peak."

Apple's recently released quarterly earnings revealed that the company sold 250,000 Apple TV set-top devices as of the end of September, three weeks after its launch.

Says CEO Steve Jobs: "We’re happy with how it’s turned out." 

Jobs says he expects sales to pick up with the release of iOS 4.2, which will allow owners to stream their own content in addition to the content they downloaded from iTunes.

Available for $99, the updated Apple TV drops the hard drive of its predecessor and is now small enough to fit in your hand.

The device streams movies from the Web or from smartphones/tablets directly to your HDTV.

Additionally, the second-generation device streams movies from Netflix's ever expanding "Watch Instantly" catalog and HD movies purchased through iTunes.

The Apple TV has built-in Wi-Fi and an HDMI output.

Hector Martin aka marcan42 has just posted to his blog the launch of AsbestOS, a way to run Linux on your jailbroken PS3 without OtherOS. Martin has been working on AsbestOS for over a month.

"Other OS" was disabled by firmware version 3.21, and the latest Sony firmware update is version 3.50. Therefore, only owners of "fat" PS3 consoles running firmwares 3.15 or under can still use the OtherOS feature of their console.

Users running firmware 3.41 or under can "jailbreak" their console using a USB Development Board or a number of items like the DualShock 3 controller, TI-84 calculators, an iPod or other media players.

Says Martin:

"AsbestOS (a mineral, and meaning “inextinguishable” in Greek) is a bootloader to run PS3 Linux without OtherOS. It runs using the USB GameOS exploit (on PS3 version 3.41) from any compatible device, and any reprogrammable devices currently running the PS3 exploit can be used as long as they have enough free internal or external storage (40kB or so) to hold the loader. It is general enough that it should be useful to boot Linux given any other GameOS exploit in the future.

Read more...

Microsoft has unveiled their Kinect motion control system's launch titles this week, with the highest touted game being "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows—Part 1 The Videogame."

Kinect is set to launch early next month.

Says Microsoft directly of the Harry Potter title: "Playing as Harry, you are on the run from the opening sequence, fighting for survival on a desperate and dangerous quest to locate and destroy Voldemort's Horcruxes."

There are 22 moves within the game that require the Kinect system, allowing users to control the action with hands-free motion controllers.

The other games to be released at launch are Kinectimals, Your Shape: Fitness Evolved, Kinect Sports, Kinect Joy Ride and Dance Central.

Kinectimals allows users to interact with zoo animals, Fitness Evolved is a fitness game, Sports is (you guessed it) a sports game, Joyride is a racing game, and Dance Central is a game that lets you "hone your dance skills" to pop hits.

AT&T has said today that it will be giving away a free "Entertainment Pack" to buyers of Windows Phone 7 devices.

Included in the pack is a free month to U-Verse Mobile, the Xbox Live game ilomilo and a free one-month subscription for Zune Pass, the unlimited music streaming service.

Reads the press release:

The Entertainment Pack includes: 1) Xbox LIVE® game ilomilo, 2) 30 days free unlimited music service + 10 free songs to keep through one-month Zune® Pass trial, and 3) 30 days free to download and watch hit TV shows with U-verse® Mobile.

The Entertainment Pack is available (while supplies last) at no charge to consumers who purchase a Windows Phone device from AT&T between October 25, 2010, and December 31, 2010.

Redemption must be completed by December 31, 2010, by 11:59 p.m. PT. Consumers can redeem this offer by going to att.com/windowsphone and clicking on the Entertainment Pack offer, providing information to confirm their device purchase, and following the redemption instructions.

Redemption requires: a valid U.S. credit card, PC Internet access, Wi-Fi availability, ability to send and receive SMS messages.

Verizon Wireless will start their tiered data plans for smartphones next week, says the WSJ, following AT&T's decision in June to remove unlimited plans in favor of more restrictive, but cheaper subscriptions.

Subscribers will now have the chance to purchase 150MB a month for $15, or keep their unlimited plan for $30.

Both Verizon and AT&T have said in the past that 95 percent of users don't need unlimited plans as a good portion use under 100MB per monthly cycle.

Five percent of smartphone users use about 50 percent of all data bandwidth, added Verizon.

"It's designed to make data more affordable for entry-level users," added Roger Entner, an analyst for Nielsen. "There's a large number of people who simply can't afford $30 for data."

For now, the $15 plan is a "holiday promotion" but Verizon hopes to make it permanent if it's successful.

HP, who acquired Palm earlier this year for $1.6 billion has finally announced WebOS 2.0, the second-coming of Palm's popular mobile operating system.

Furthermore, the company announced the launch of the Palm Pre 2, which will first hit France this week and then Verizon in the United States in "a few months."

HP says WebOS 2.0 is "the most significant update" to the mobile OS since its inception in June of last year.

One of few of the new features is improved multitasking thanks to "Stacks." Stacks keep all related items together.

"Exhibitions" lets you see a slideshow of Facebook photos or view your calender when docked on the optional Palm Touchstone Charging Dock.

Notably, WebOS 2.0 will support a beta of Adobe Flash 10.1.

The Palm Pre 2 looks very much like its predecessor except HP has turned the display to glass, added an improved 5MP camera and a 1GHz processor.

Phandroid has posted a blurry pic this week of the Nexus One smartphone running Google's upcoming Android 3.0 Gingerbread, giving everyone an early look of the new features coming with the firmware update.

There are a number of cosmetic changes including the notification bar becoming a darker gray and the dialer and browser buttons becoming light green, the same color as the Android mascot.

Additionally, native voice and video calling will be made available through Google Talk, over both 3G and Wi-Fi.

The YouTube app will be completely re-done, as well, integrating it more into the OS.

Google Voice will be updated to allow users to receive calls to your Google Voice number over Wi-Fi and cellular data.

For now those are the only confirmed aspects of the upcoming Android update, which many believe Google will use to unify the platform, moving away from the fragmentation issues that have so far plagued Android. Expect Gingerbread by the end of the year.

Earlier this week, auction giant eBay expanded to three new countries including Finland, AfterDawn's home nation.

A few months ago, eBay opened sites in Russia, the Czech Republic, Greece, Denmark, Sweden and Norway as part of their broader eBay International Market program.

Adding Finland, Hungary and Portugal to the program will give 25 million people the chance to use a local eBay site (in their own native language) to make international purchases.

However, the company notes that auctions themselves, including titles and descriptions will not be translated into local languages.

Shoppers will be able to search for fixed-price items that are delivered to those nations and the prices are converted to local currency.

All Google TV devices are supposed to have access to Hulu blocked but there is already a workaround available, giving early adopters access to the popular streaming site.

The relatively easy loophole consists of "changing the user agent" in the built-in Chrome browser.

Adjusting that setting is pretty simple, even for non-techie Google TV device owners.

Now that the workaround is available in the wild it is likely that the service will soon patch it. Users of Android devices running 2.2 Froyo used the same loophole earlier this year to watch Hulu content on their smartphones but Hulu tightened up security within days.

The site now uses Adobe Flash 10.1 to identify unauthorized access attempts from 2.2 users.

NewTeeVee has video of the service being blocked:

Apple crushed its quarterly earnings this afternoon but shares of the stock have fallen severely after the company guided a lower outlook for next quarter.

Shares of the company are down in after hours trading to $300, after hitting as high as $319 during regular trading hours.

For the Q3, Apple topped $20 billion in revenue, whilst earning $4.31 in net profit. Analysts had expected lower profit and revenue.

Revenue surged 67 percent year-on-year from $12.2 billion and income jumped 70 percent from $2.53 billion during the same period last year.

The most impressive number from the earnings report was iPhone sales, which doubled year-on-year and jumped 60 percent from last quarter. Sales of the popular smartphone were 14.1 million for the quarter compared to 8.4 million in a relatively slow Q2. iPhone revenue accounted for $8.6 billion of the company's revenue for this quarter.

iPad sales increased to 4.19 million, for a total of 7.46 million lifetime sales.

On the downside of the report gross margins fell to 36.9 percent from 41.8 percent year-on-year thanks to lower sales of iPods, the company's most profitable device.

Rovio Mobile, the developer behind the blockbuster game Angry Birds, recently released a version of the game for Android devices.

The company is offering a full version of the game for free for a limited time in the Android Market after first making it available through their own servers.

Traffic was so high that the servers crashed and Rovio decided to move the app to the Android Market sooner than anticipated.

Rovio has confirmed today that there were over 1 million downloads of the game in just the first 24 hours, marking the fastest an Android app has ever hit the milestone.

Most of Google's applications, along with Skyfire, Adobe Flash 10.1 and others have all hit the milestone but each took weeks if not months to reach 1 million.

The latest rumor circulating this weekend is that the still unconfirmed 11.6-inch MacBook Air will be launched during Apple's October 20 event.

Sources have leaked specs today, as well, saying most notably that the computer will use a new type of SSD for storage instead of the 1.8-inch enclosed drive used in current models.

The "SSD Card" will resemble a stick of RAM but will be almost impossible for users to replace. It will also take up much less space.

There are already a few notebooks, netbooks and embedded devices that use similar sticks, such as SanDisk's pSSD but this should be the first move for the SSD into ultraportables.

Rumored processor is an Intel Core i5.

Aesthetically, the new model will resemble the current 13.3 inch model but be "more wedge-shaped" including sharper edges.

Most importantly, Apple will "almost certainly" drop the price "significantly" under the MacBook Air's current $1500 price tag.

Although access has been restored, it appears that earlier in the day Fox blocked their content on Hulu to Cablevision subscribers, following the dispute between the two companies over retransmission fees.

Following months of negotiations with no resolution, News Corp. blacked out their Fox broadcast signal to over 3 million Cablevision subscribers in metropolitan New York and Philadelphia on Friday.

Sports fans are upset by the turn of events, as Fox is the broadcaster for New York Giants games and the MLB playoffs, where the Yankees and Phillies are in the second round.

Fox was looking for exaggerated fees for their signal that used to be free. Cablevision has so far refused as they do not want to tack on extra fees to consumer's monthly bill. Cablevision says they already pay $70 million per year for Fox's "retransmission fee" but now Fox wants $150 million per year. Cablevision was willing to submit the case to third-party arbitration but Fox refused.

Anybody accessing the Hulu site with a Cablevision IP address was given the pictured error screen.

ARM president Tudor Brown has revealed the earliest detail of Android 4.0, which has been dubbed Ice Cream by Google.

Android 3.0 Gingerbread has still not been officially launched by Google, but the company has said it will have a 2010 release.

Following Gingerbread is Honeycomb, which will likely be 3.1 or 3.5.

Forbes notes that Brown's position at ARM would make him privy to Android's long term roadmap, as ARM processor technologies are used in 95 percent of the world's mobile phones.

There have been no official details on features coming with Gingerbread, Honeycomb or Ice Cream.

Ice Cream has a tentative Q2 2011 launch date.

Apple's iOS App Store has quietly surpassed 300,000 apps available for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch this week, says new data from Mobclix.

The site has total apps available tallied at 300,975 while 148apps has the tally at 334,498 including apps that have been removed by Apple or by developers.

Apple has not confirmed the number, but they do have an event coming up next week. The company tends to open their events with a status update on iOS device sales and app counts.

The App Store has seen explosive growth in the last year, moving from 100,000 to 300,000 in the time frame.

There are 100,000 apps available in the Android Market and BlackBerry users have 10,000 apps available to them.

According to research firm Gartner, global tablet sales will hit almost 20 million for this year, buoyed by strong sales of the Apple iPad.

Forecasting into the future, the group says sales will explode to 54.8 million units in 2011 and eventually 208 million units by 2014.

For 2010, North American consumers will purchase 61 percent of the 19.5 million expected tablet sales but by 2013 that number will fall to 43 percent.

Tablets are described as "slate" touch-screen devices running a mobile operating system such as WebOS, iOS, Android or Meego.

Apple has sold an estimated 8.5 million iPads this year.

Gartner also noted that netbooks will be cannibalized as tablets begin selling for under $300 in the next couple of years.

Rovio has made the blockbuster smash hit Angry Birds game available for free on Android devices today.

The company offers a free "light" version via iTunes for iPhone owners as well as the full version for $.99.

Says the company: "We want to make Angry Birds available for as many people as possible."

The news managed to take down Rovio's web site earlier in the day, but the site has since returned.

You can download it here: Android Angry Birds

NPD has released their latest U.S. video game industry sales report, for September, which shows a continued decline in overall sales.

However, the group did not give individual sales for Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft, instead preferring to report only that overall hardware sales had fallen a hefty 20 percent to $383 million.

Microsoft was quick to boast that they had sold 484,000 Xbox 360s for the month, a 37 percent year-on-year jump.

Sony saw 312,000 PlayStation 3 sales, a steep 37 percent drop, although in August 2009 the company dropped the price of the PS3, leading to extremely strong sales.

The Nintendo Wii saw a huge 45 percent drop to 254,000 units as it becomes increasingly clear that Nintendo's current generation console has reached sales fatigue and market saturation.

According to Bloomberg and one analyst, Sony has sold 1.8 million PlayStation Move units since launch, with an overwhelming amount of sales coming from Europe.

Andrew House, Sony Europe's boss, says 1.5 million units were sold in Europe since launch on September 19th.

The company is now looking to ramp up production in the region.

"The initial sales response has been so far in excess of our initial plan that we'll probably be looking at accelerating production," says House.

Wedbush Morgan video game industry analyst Michael Pachter says Sony has sold 300,000 units in the United States, including console bundles. Sony America has not confirmed those sales, however.

Following months of negotiations with no resolution, News Corp. has blacked out their Fox broadcast signal to over 3 million Cablevision subscribers in metropolitan New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia.

Cablevision refused to negotiate any longer and declared an impasse at 8 p.m.

Says president of Fox Networks Affiliate Sales and Marketing Mike Hopkins: "We started this process in May and made numerous reasonable proposals. We remain far apart and Cablevision has made it clear that they do not share our view regarding the value of Fox’s networks."

The blackout affects Fox, Fox Business, Nat Geo Wild and Fox Deportes.

Sports fans should be incredibly upset by the turn of events, as Fox is the broadcaster for Giants games and the MLB playoffs, where the Yankees are in the ALCS.

Following the impasse, News Corp. began urging Cablevision subscribers to switch to Verizon FiOS or a satellite provider.

Ars is reporting today that France will begin subsidizing legal music purchases for teens and young adults in an effort to fight piracy.

Citizens aged 15-25 will be able to purchase "carte musique" prepaid cards for certain subscription-based music websites. The cards will give users €50 of music, but the price will be €25.

The French government is subsidizing the rest.

Government officials say the program will run for two years and the government expects to sell one million cards each year.

The program is intended to ward off piracy, and to get younger consumers into the "good habit" of purchasing their music.

European Commission officials also applauded the move, calling the program "well designed" to fight piracy.

According to new figures from Nielsen, U.S. teens average 3,339 texts per month as of the Q2 2010.

The company says that averages out to about six messages for every hour the teen is awake during the month.

Furthermore, teens are also using more Internet data on their phones, up from 14MB per month last year to 62MB per month now.

Growth in texting has also resulted in a drop in voice calls, with teens averaging 646 minutes per month in the Q2 2010, compared to 737 in the same quarter last year.

In the survey, teens said texting was easier, faster and more fun than calling. 62 percent also sent messages with content (MMS) including audio, video and pictures.

When asked for their top reasons for owning cell phones, the most teens answered "texting." A full 43 percent gave that response. 35 percent said "safety" and 34 percent also said "keeping in touch with friends."

Girls averaged 4050 messages per month with guys lagging behind at 2539.

Nielsen surveyed 3000 teens for the figures as well as analyzing mobile phone bills for 60,000 wireless subscribers.

Oracle has issued Java and OpenOffice patches today, patching 29 vulnerabilities that would allow attackers to take control of exploited computers.

28 of the vulnerabilities "could be remotely exploitable without authentication (over a network without the need for a username and password)," says Oracle, via ZD.

The patches are available for users running Windows, Linux and Solaris. Mac users are also vulnerable, but security updates are not expected for another month.

Alarmingly, 15 of the vulnerabilities were given a 10.0 Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS-SIG) severity rating. The scale goes from 1 to 10.

Given the severity, Oracle says you should update your system "as soon as possible."

Check your system for updates here: http://java.com/en/download/installed.jsp

Update: Back up.


This is a quick blurb for now as there is no other information on the matter but the world's second largest portal, Yahoo.com is currently down with visitors receiving the "Connection Timed Out" error.

Earlier today we reported that AOL and specialty firms were in talks to bid for the portal.

More info as it becomes available.

Filed in 2008 and granted by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office this week, Apple has been awarded a patent for filtering text message content.

The patent is titled "Text-based communication control for personal communication device."

It is unclear whether the patent will ever find its way into an iOS product but it seems Apple's intention is to cut down on "offensive" texts sent from consumers using Apple devices.

Reads the patent: "One problem with text-based communications is that there is no way to monitor and control text communications to make them user appropriate. For example, users such as children may send or receive messages (intentionally or not) with parentally objectionable language."

Additionally, the patent proposes a way to encourage better grammar in texts. The filtering system can not really work without proper grammar, as many phone users write in shorthand or use words that may not necessarily be in a dictionary, like "LOL."

Apple's patent would disallow the use of non-dictionary words.

T-Mobile has confirmed today that they will begin throttling smartphone owners that use excessive amounts of data.

Subscribers that hit over 5GB of bandwidth per month will have their speeds throttled at that point.

The carrier says the rule will affect less than 1 percent of its 35 million subscribers.

Reads the announcement:

"Beginning on October 16, T-Mobile will begin to reduce data speeds when a customer reaches 5GB of usage in a billing cycle, in accordance with T-Mobile terms and conditions. This change should only affect extreme data users (less than 1 percent) and is being made to ensure that all subscribers receive the best Web performance available by limiting the number of extreme data users on our network.

The majority of T-Mobile customers should not be affected by this change. The new 5 GB threshold limit, which is equivalent to approximately 125,000 yahoo.com page visits, is enough bandwidth to satisfy most customers’ Web and data needs.

Read more...

Yahoo shares surged as high as $17 today before fading after the WSJ reported last night that the Internet portal company AOL was interested in purchasing it.

In 2008, Microsoft offered $47.5 billion for Yahoo, but the company snubbed the offer.

Today, Yahoo's market cap is under $22 billion and any takeover would command a smaller price than what Microsoft offered just two years ago.

Because AOL can not afford the takeover solo, the company is teaming with specialty firms Blackstone and Silver Lake, known for taking over companies whose stock has fallen out of favor with the market.

Talks are still preliminary.

Microsoft, in 2008, offered $33 a share for Yahoo. The company's stock currently trades at $15.84.

Analyst Colin McGranahan of Bernstein Research has said today the Apple iPad is the fastest selling gadget of all-time, with an estimated 8.5 million units sold since launch in April.

Leading to the strong sales is the fact that consumers seem to replacing new computer purchases with tablet purchases.

NPD says that 13 percent of iPad owners would have instead purchased a new computer had the tablet not been available.

McGranahan calls the iPad a "runaway success of unprecedented proportion."

Apple has recently made the tablet available via Amazon, Target and Wal-Mart so sales are expected to spike over the holiday season.

According to the latest IDC Quarterly PC Tracker Survey figures, Apple shipped 1.99 million Macs during the Q3 2010, good for 10.6 percent market share.

For the quarter, a total of 18.9 million PCs were shipped in the United States.

At 10.6 percent, Macs are at their highest share ever in history. Perhaps more importantly, Apple saw 24 percent growth year-on-year whereas other computer makers remained stagnant.

HP stayed on top at 24.3 percent share, with Dell right behind at 23.1 percent.

Overall, Q3 PC shipments rose just 3.8 percent, against an expected 11 percent, so Apple's growth is even more impressive in that regard.

Why is Apple seeing such growth for its Mac line? An IDC analyst says one word: iPad.

"It is very possible that the iPad's marketing right now is impacting [Apple's Mac] business as a halo effect, just like we saw several years ago with the iPod," says David Daoud. "The momentum went on with the iPhone, now it appears the iPad is playing a similar role, stimulating sales across its product line."

Microsoft has confirmed today that they will be releasing Zune software for Macs by the end of the year, following many months of speculation.

Says the software giant: "Later in 2010 Microsoft will make a public beta available of a tool that allows Windows Phone 7 to sync select content with Mac computers."

Windows Phone 7 owners should be able to quickly connect their smartphones to their Macs, and sync media content stored on their hard drives.

Microsoft first announced the news via Twitter: "Daily #WP7 Announcement: I'm glad to confirm that Mac users would be able to use Zune on their Macs to sync with #WP7. More details soon."

The company finally unveiled its initial WP7 lineup earlier this week, with two phones headed to T-Mobile, three headed to AT&T and one each on Verizon and Sprint next year.

Evan Williams, Twitter's co-founder, has said this week that he expects the microblogging site to hit 1 billion users, although he would not give a time frame.

Earlier in the month, Williams stepped down as CEO.

Twitter currently has just over 165 million members, but the service has been seeing exponential growth since 2008.

Zeus Kerravala of Yankee Group Research says the goal is huge but possible: "A billion does seem a bit aggressive. But I do think, over time, social networking will overtake e-mail as the most popular communication tool. In that light, 1 billion isn't out of reach. Younger people will choose Twitter and Facebook over e-mail."

Kerravala also said e-mail was becoming an "old people's" tool, while Twitter was the modern equivalent.

"Over the next five years, as high school kids go to college and college kids enter the workforce, we'll see a rapid shift away from 'old people' communication tools like e-mail and the phone," he continued. "Twitter allows you to reach out to thousands of people at once."

Wal-Mart has started taking pre-orders for the Apple iPad via their website today, with the retailer having the tablet in stores starting on Friday.

The retailer is not allowing for home delivery of the device, however, meaning you will need to pick it up in-store.

Furthermore, Wal-Mart will reportedly sell the tablet through its gigantic Sam's Club warehouses.

All six models of the device are listed up for pre-order, starting with the 16GB/Wi-Fi version at $500 all the way up to the 64GB/Wi-Fi/3G model at $830.

The iPad has quickly made its way into major retailers in the United States such as Best Buy, Target, Amazon and now Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the nation.

Estimates have placed overall iPad sales at 8.5 million to date.

Google's dashboard service has made it clear this week that almost three-quarters of all Android devices now run either versions 2.1 or 2.2, the latest updates to the popular mobile operating system.

In April, that number was just around 25 percent.

Android 2.2 adoption has jumped to about 30 percent, with the remaining 43.8 percent going to Android 2.1.

Around 10 percent of Android smartphone owners are still running the terribly outdated 1.5 with another 15 percent running the equally as outdated 1.6.

The strong adoption rate for 2.1 and 2.2 comes right as Android 3.0 Gingerbread prepares for its eventual launch by the end of the year.

Besides adding new features, Gingerbread should focus on improving the user experience and interface.

Just weeks after it started selling the iPad in brick-and-mortar stores around the nation, AppleInsider is reporting that the large retailer Target is set to start selling the iPhone, as well.

Target has recently begun re-fitting 850 of their outlets with mobile phone centers, and having the iPhone alongside Android and other smartphones would certainly help drive traffic.

The centers are run together with Radio Shack, which provide the system needed for in-store activations on phones that require it.

Target would not confirm the rumor, just saying they have "nothing to announce at this time."

Apple has made it a priority to offer their products in an increasing amount of retailers, recently offering the iPad tablet in Wal-Mart, Amazon, Best Buy and of course, Target.

Both O2 and Vodafone have announced their plans to sell the Apple iPhone 4 in Germany, breaking T-Mobile's long time exclusivity on the smartphone in the nation.

T-Mobile has offered the iPhone in Germany since its launch in 2007.

Unfortunately, neither carrier has unveiled plans or pricing.

Most nations now have multiple carriers for the iPhone, with the biggest exception being AT&T in the U.S. That is expected to change soon, as Apple readies a dual-GSM/CDMA iPhone 4 that can be released for T-Mobile USA and Verizon.

T-Mobile is Germany's largest carrier, at 37 million subscribers.

LG has unveiled the world's largest LED-backlit 3D HDTV this week.

The 72-inch Infinia 72LEX9 is available in Korea, and is now the largest commercially available 3D HDTV using LED.

Among the specs (says Crunch) of the television are a 480Hz TruMotion panel, full LED backlighting, 10,000,000:1 contrast ratio, four HDMI ports, one USB port, a wireless AV link, DLNA support and YouTube, Google Picasa support.

It is unclear if 3D HDTV will come bundled with the necessary stereoscopic 3D glasses.

Mitsubishi currently offers two 3D-ready HDTVs, at 75 and 82-inches, which hold the record.

Japanese mobile Internet company DeNA has purchased the popular social gaming company Ngmoco for $300 million, with an extra $100 million coming if certain targets are hit.

Ngmoco creates mobile games for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch including popular games like "We Rule," "GodFinger" and "Flick Fishing."

Based in San Fransisco, Ngmoco offers free games then makes money off "virtual goods" and in-game ads.

The company also offers the Plus+ platform, giving developers a chance to distribute their games and let players connect with friends across the world playing the same game.

Ngmoco says Plus+ has 14 million registered users.

"They have great games, but what we value in Ngmoco is their platform," added Dai Watanabe, president of DeNA Global. "We want to use that platform the same way we operate our business in Japan."

A new study by warranty company SquareTrade has revealed that the iPhone 4 is much more fragile than its predecessors, with the new phone 82 percent more likely than older models to be damaged within its first 120 days of ownership.

The company examined 22,000 reports from iPhone 4 SquareTrade warranty owners, as well as 20,000 reports from iPhone 3G devices.

Says SquareTrade marketing VP Vince Tseng: "The iPhone 4 is a more fragile device than its predecessors. The surface area ... which you can scratch or break has basically doubled."

The iPhone 3G and 3GS were encased in plastic, whereas the iPhone 4 uses glass on the backplate. The iPhone 2G used an aluminum back.

About 30 percent of the reported damage for iPhone 4 warranty owners had to do with the back glass. When Steve Jobs unveiled the device earlier this year, he boasted of the glass, which is "30 times harder than plastic...and 20 times stiffer than plastic."

According to a new study from TNS Digital Life, the Japanese have the least amount of friends on social networking sites, while Malaysian web users have the most.

Users in Malaysia have an average of 233 friends, followed closely by Brazil at 231. Japanese users only had an average of 29 friends.

Chinese web users, despite heavy use of social networks, had a low average of 68 friends.

In terms of time spent on social networking sites, Malaysians averaged 9 hours per week, with Russian users following at 8.1 hours and Turkish users in third at 7.7 hours per week.

"This study covers more than twice as many markets as any other research," added Matthew Froggatt, TNS chief development officer. "It is the first truly global research into online activities, including all the key emerging markets… We have also researched beyond basic behavior to provide more detailed data into attitudes and emotional drivers of that behavior."

You can read the full study here: Global ‘Digital Life’ research project reveals major changes in online behaviour

According to the latest iSuppli figures, Dell has fought its way back into second place in global PC sales after losing the spot to Acer over nine months ago.

HP, despite losing share, remained on top, at 18.1 percent market share. Sales dipped 6.3 percent from the first quarter.

Dell sales fell as well, but Acer fell farther. Dell took 12.8 percent share for the quarter, with Acer falling to 12.4 percent.

Rounding out the top five were Lenovo and Toshiba. The China-based PC maker saw huge 18.6 percent growth from the first quarter moving up to 10.1 percent global share. Toshiba stagnated, falling slightly to 5.4 percent global share.

Dozens of other computer makers made up the remaining 41.2 percent, but all have less than 5 percent share.

Nokia retained the top spot in the global smartphone market, according to iSuppli, even gaining share in the Q2.

Android's growing popularity was evident by gains seen by a few handset makers, especially HTC and Samsung.

Nokia took the top spot with a 39.7 percent share, showing 11.6 percent growth from the first quarter. RIM, the makers of the BlackBerry line, remained in second at 18.5 percent, seeing a slight decline in share despite shipping more devices.

Apple took a dive while remaining in third place at 13.9 percent. The iPhone maker dropped from 15.7 percent last quarter on slowing shipments.

Seeing massive growth thanks to Android sales, HTC shipments grew 63 percent and market share jumped to 8 percent. Samsung saw 55.6 percent growth in shipments, moving up to 4.5 percent market share.

According to TechCrunch, Apple will likely not make a phone that supports LTE 4G until 2012.

Major carrier Verizon will begin to rollout its LTE network this year, with full rollout expected by the end of 2011.

AT&T will begin their rollout next year.

The site says Apple is waiting for the technology to mature before supporting it, as the LTE transition is expected to be slow at the start.

Furthermore, the site says instead the company will release a dual mode GSM-CDMA iPhone that will work with T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon. Rival Sprint uses WiMax 4G for its smartphones.

LTE promises downstream speeds up to 500 percent faster than current 3G.

Yahoo has updated their Messenger app for the iPhone today, moving the software to version 2.0.

With 2.0 comes the ability to two-way video chat over 3G.

iPhone 4 and iPod Touch 4 owners can now chat through Yahoo Messenger via the front or back camera although the front camera is obviously better if you intend to actually see the person on the other end of the line.

Yahoo's update makes it one of the first pieces of software to have direct support for video chat with a desktop client, not just from mobile-to-mobile.

Additionally, the update brings "VoIP out to real-world numbers at discounted rates and free SMS messaging. An iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and either third or fourth generation iPod touch players can use extra multitasking features. Pure audio chat is also available."

Although the video has since been removed, a video on YouTube has confirmed that the streaming service Lovefilm is headed to PlayStation 3 consoles next month.

The video was available for a number of hours on the Lovefilm official YouTube channel.

Lovefilm has thousands of movies available for streaming, and is a smaller but similar service to Netflix in the United States and Canada.

The service will be free for all current Lovefilm subscribers. A two-week free-trial will be available for new would-be subscribers.

Amazon is in talks to purchase the rental company, expected to bid up to 200 million pounds for the remaining 58 percent stake they don't already own.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has taken a starkly different stance than others in his industry when asked about slowing software sales, citing lack of innovation instead of piracy as the main cause.

The executive was posed the question during a call about the company's revised financial forecast, which was revised to the downside thanks to slow software sales on both the DS and Wii.

Both consoles have just about hit saturation on the global scale.

Singling out an individual game, Iwata says innovative hits like "Art Academy" have sold well everywhere, including in nations where piracy has ravaged sales.

One such country is Spain, which is infamous for piracy levels that far exceed other Western European neighbors.

"Nintendo DS software could not make it to the hit software sales chart in the country for sometime," Iwata said, via GI. "However, when we launched the Nintendo DS software Art Academy in Europe this summer, which shows you how to draw pictures, it was ranked number one on the software sales chart covering all the videogame platforms in Spain. If one software can attract many people and can become a social topic, that software can sell regardless of piracy."

AT&T has announced today that their popular IPTV service U-Verse has been expanded to the Xbox 360 gaming console.

Starting on October 15th, gamers can access the service through their consoles, eliminating the need to purchase a new receiver for their home.

With the launch, AT&T is the first TV provider in the states to offer live TV via the console.

Additionally, the company has announced the launch of "U-Verse Mobile" for upcoming Windows Phone 7 devices.

Starting next month, the Mobile app will be preloaded on AT&T WP7 devices.

"Now you can get our award-winning U-verse services on your big screen TV, online, on your mobile phone, and integrated with your Xbox 360," said David Christopher, chief marketing officer, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. "Our IPTV strategy is putting AT&T at the forefront by delivering U-verse content where you want it. And now we're extending the U-verse experience to more AT&T smartphone customers with the upcoming launch of U-verse Mobile on Windows Phone 7 devices."

For the 360, subscribers will need to purchase a $99 Xbox Kit which is installed for free by a U-Verse technician. Having a 360, however, eliminates the need for an additional receiver taking up space in the house.

AT&T has announced today that their popular IPTV service U-Verse has been expanded to the Xbox 360 gaming console.

Starting on October 15th, gamers can access the service through their consoles, eliminating the need to purchase a new receiver for their home.

With the launch, AT&T is the first TV provider in the states to offer live TV via the console.

Additionally, the company has announced the launch of "U-Verse Mobile" for upcoming Windows Phone 7 devices.

Starting next month, the Mobile app will be preloaded on AT&T WP7 devices.

"Now you can get our award-winning U-verse services on your big screen TV, online, on your mobile phone, and integrated with your Xbox 360," said David Christopher, chief marketing officer, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. "Our IPTV strategy is putting AT&T at the forefront by delivering U-verse content where you want it. And now we're extending the U-verse experience to more AT&T smartphone customers with the upcoming launch of U-verse Mobile on Windows Phone 7 devices."

For the 360, subscribers will need to purchase a $99 Xbox Kit which is installed for free by a U-Verse technician. Having a 360, however, eliminates the need for an additional receiver taking up space in the house.

Amazon.co.uk has announced that starting today, free shipping will be available for delivery to customers in 17 European nations, as long as they spend over GBP 25 on their order.

Until last year, the UK was the only nation to receive free delivery, with Ireland joining in October 2009.

As of today, the service is extended to Italy, Spain, Poland, Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Luxembourg and San Marino.

"Free delivery has been an important part of the great value Amazon shopping experience for many years and we are delighted to announce its availability to even more European customers in time for Christmas," added Brian McBride, Managing Director of Amazon.co.uk. "The aim is for European customers to be able to purchase anything they want to buy online at a low price from a vast selection of products. Now, tens of millions of customers in Europe can also benefit from delivery to their door, absolutely free of charge."

Amazon UK has recently expanded its selection, adding electronics, home and garden, baby, watches, clothing, shoes, sports and leisure, health and beauty and tools sections.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has responded to the current freeze on Meizu M8 sales, accusing the company of blatant theft.

In an email response, Jobs responded to "why?" by saying, "because they stole our ideas and intellectual property."

The Chinese Intellectual Property Office halted M8 production and all marketing recently, and many were curious why.

Meizu's M8 is a touchscreen multimedia/smartphone device that runs on Windows Mobile 6.

From an aesthetic standpoint, the device looks very much like an iPhone 3GS.

Meizu's upcoming M9 has a different design and will use a customized Android operating system. It may turn out that Meizu just lets the M8 die as the M9 will be released in December.

According to a new DigiTimes report, the Canonical distribution of Ubuntu Light will begin shipping with new Dell netbooks within the month.

Dell's optimized netbook running Ubuntu 10.10 is said to be able to boot in 7 seconds flat.

The computer giant is currently the top seller of PCs with Ubuntu, beating out all other major manufacturers.

As pictured, Ubuntu Light uses a "Unity" interface giving quick access to Web browsing, music, games, chat, multimedia, and productivity applications.

The operating system has an integrated music store giving users a chance to download music and stream it to their Android or iOS device.

Better yet, any netbook featuring the operating system will retail for cheaper than a Windows counterpart due to lack of licensing payments.

MacRumors is reporting that Wal-Mart is set to begin offering the Apple iPad, with some stores already making the popular tablet available.

In May, the giant retailer announced the iPad was coming "later" in 2010 with no set time frame.

Just last week, Target began selling the device in 1700 brick-and-mortar stores in the United States.

The site has posted an email which shows all six models becoming available, as well as a number of accessories and a second email which shows availability in 1000 stores by the end of October.

There are 2800 Wal-Mart "SuperCenters" as well as 750 smaller stores meaning the iPad just got a massively expanded presence.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has said this weekend that it will no longer sell development kits for the PlayStation Portable handheld.

The company "will no longer be selling the PSP development tool (dtp-t2000a) or testing tool (dtp-h2500a) past November 15th."

Sony says they will advise consumers "when a new model becomes available."

The company quickly explained that they intend to support the handheld, but the current kits are expiring.

"Due to the certification on the current development and test tools expiring, we will be stopping selling them on November 15. However, we will continue to provide loan stock for registered and new developers, until a new certified model is available," adds the company via GI.

Yesterday, George "Geohot" Hotz announced the first RC of an untethered jailbreak for all iOS devices, dubbing the jailbreak Limera1n.

The jailbreak works on the iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch 3/4G, iPad, and iPhone 4 but it also apparently spoiled the party for another highly touted jailbreak solution.

Today was supposed to be the release of GreenPois0n, from the Chronic Dev Team, which breaks iOS 4.1 using the SHAtter exploit.

Limra1n, however, uses a different bootrom exploit and Geohot made it clear what that exploit was. Instead of giving Apple a chance to patch both exploits, the Dev Team says it has delayed their SHAtter-based exploit and will instead release one using Geohot's method.

Reads a post from the Chronic Dev Team:

"Thanks to the irresponsible antics of geohot, we will have to delay the release of greenpois0n (new ETA = as soon as possible), so that we have time to clean up his little mess and integrate the exploit he uses in limera1n into greenpois0n. This way, we can save SHAtter for future devices that may still be vulnerable to it.

Read more...

TMOnews has released a spec sheet for the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab, which runs Android 2.2 and seems to be the first real competitor to the Apple iPad.

The Tab will cost $400 with two-year contract (and after rebate) and it will run you $650 without contract.

It was reported yesterday that the Sprint version of the tablet will be priced at $400 with contract, as well.

Samsung's Galaxy Tab is 7-inches (1024x600 resolution), runs on a 1 GHz processor and has dual-cameras. The impressive tablet also runs on Android 2.2 Froyo, which allows for native Flash support.

It will come in two models, one with 16GB and the other with 32GB. Each has a MicroSD slot, allowing for an extra 32GB of memory.

Rovio, the developer behind the blockbuster mobile app Angry Birds has voiced its displeasure at Microsoft this weekend, after it was discovered that the company was already advertising a version of the game for their upcoming Windows Phone 7 platform.

The game developer has not yet begun developing, or even committed to a version for WP7.

Writes Rovio, via Twitter: "We have NOT committed to doing a Windows Phone 7 version. Microsoft put the Angry Birds icon on their site without our permission."

The company says a version of Android Birds is headed to Android this week buy WP7 plans have not been discussed.

"Time will tell, only thing we said that we have not committed to do WP7 yet, we don't like others using our IP without asking," the company continued.

"We could do a WP7 version of Angry Birds, not the issue. We have not agreed to do that (yet). Will support all relevant platforms."

Google has said this weekend that they have begun testing vehicles that do not need human drivers in an effort to improve road safety.

The driverless vehicles have already traveled over 140,000 miles during testing.

Each car navigates itself by maps and uses cameras, radar sensors and a laser range to gauge traffic, other vehicles and the environment.

"Our goal is to help prevent traffic accidents, free up people’s time and reduce carbon emissions by fundamentally changing car use," adds Sebastian Thrun, a software engineer with Google. "While this project is very much in the experimental stage, it provides a glimpse of what transportation might look like in the future."

Google made sure to note that each car had a human at the helm in the test, to ensure safety.

Says CEO Eric Schmidt: "Your car should drive itself; it’s amazing to me that we let humans drive cars. It’s a bug that cars were invented before computers."

According to numbers from HitWise, Google remains the dominant search engine in the U.S. market, controlling almost three-fourths of the market.

For September, Google captured 72.15 percent of the market, dominating all 68 other search engines monitored by a long shot.

Yahoo fell from 14.2 percent to 13.5 percent, and Bing remained mostly unmoved at 10.1 percent.

Because Yahoo now uses Bing's engine, Microsoft can claim 23.6 percent of the market.

Ask took fourth place, moving to 2.37 percent.

AOL and the other 65 search engines took the remaining share.

Although unconfirmed, BGR is reporting that the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab will cost $400 with contract through one carrier, at least.

The tablet will be available through Sprint starting on November 14th.

Without a two-year contract, the tablet will run you $600.

The Tab is 7-inches (1024x600 resolution), runs on a 1 GHz processor and has dual-cameras. The impressive tablet also runs on Android 2.2 Froyo, which allows for native Flash support.

It will come in two models, one with 16GB and the other with 32GB. Each has a MicroSD slot, allowing for an extra 32GB of memory.

One of the most discussed topics currently is California's push to legalize marijuana.

It appears that the state has at least two fans from with social networking giant Facebook, as co-founders Sean Parker and Dustin Moskovitz have donated to the campaign. Parker recently gave $100,000 and Moskovitz gave the rest.

The donations were reported in Proposition 19 campaign finance filings revealed this week.

Although neither is still with the company, both have ownership stakes that make them billionaires.

While still in college, Parker helped develop Napster, the original P2P file sharing network. He is now a partner in a Silicon Valley venture capital firm.

Support for proposition 19 has raised $2.4 million so far.

George "Geohot" Hotz has released the first RC of an untethered jailbreak for all iOS devices, dubbing the jailbreak Limera1n.

The jailbreak works on the iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch 3/4G, iPad, and iPhone 4.

For the time being the jailbreak works only on Windows machines.

The jailbreak is based on low-level bootrom exploits that are different than the current exploits used by SHAtter and in the newly released "greenpois0n."

Geohot uses the same exploit found by c0mex, the hacker behind the popular one-click Spirit jailbreak.

The jailbreak should be available at http://limera1n.com tomorrow.

Thanks to quickly dwindling stock of the ultra-portable, the latest rumor is that Apple is preparing to launch a smaller 11.6-inch MacBook Air.

Current models, which are 13.3-inches and come in two models, have been reported out of stock almost everywhere, and Apple has not given a concrete timeframe for new stock.

Best Buy and Amazon have said that Apple will not ship them any new stock until at least the 12th.

Apple historically updates hardware, like their iMacs, in October.

Sources claim the new 11.6-inch model will run on an Intel Core i-series, and could weigh under 2.7 pounds.

Verizon has said this week that they will be launching six LTE smartphones at the CES event in January.

LTE (Long Term Evolution) is the 4G data network used by Verizon and AT&T.

Verizon announced that their LTE network would begin rolling out to 38 major cities later this year.

So far, rival Sprint has their WiMax 4G network available and T-Mobile has their HSPA+ network rolled out. AT&T expects to launch LTE next year.

Verizon is also making USB adapters with access to the LTE network available soon, giving netbook and other users full-time access to the network.

Citing sources close to the bank, Reuters is reporting that Morgan Stanley is preparing an initial public offering (IPO) for popular video streaming service Hulu.

Hulu is looking to raise between $200 and $300 million from investors with the offering.

The service could file a prospectus with the SEC by the end of the year.

An IPO is just one of a few options Hulu has actively considered. Another is attracting new media companies to contribute programming or raising more money from existing investors.

The decision is likely to be made in November, add the sources.

Hulu is backed by NBCU, Fox and Disney, three of the four major broadcasters in the U.S.

According to a new report from tech blog Gdgt, Apple's iPhone 4 may soon be back in the news negatively, following "antennagate" with the newly-dubbed "glassgate."

The site says that the glass that is used on the front and back of the iPhone 4 is very susceptible to "serious cosmetic damages", especially on the backside of the device when using a slip-on cases.

Additionally, dirt and other debris from your pocket ends up in that space, reads the site.

Eventually, the backside will completely shatter as the scratches lead to large cracks.

The site likens the effect to a cracked windshield on an automobile.

While it has not been widely addressed in the media, the report says Apple engineers are currently working on a "quiet lockdown," testing a plethora of cases to see how deep the issue is.

The site finally suggests that development of the iPhone 5 may be held up while the company fixes the glass problem on the 4.

Mozilla has released its Firefox 4 beta for Android and Maemo devices, adding a number of new significant features.

Among those features are pinch-to-zoom, the "Awesome Screen" and syncing. Pinch-to-zoom is supported on all multi-touch-capable devices.

The new syncing capabilities allows for all browsing history, passwords, bookmarks, form-fill data and open tabs to be instantly synced from your desktop version of the browser to the mobile one.

Mozilla's "Awesome Screen" will give you instant access to recent history, bookmarks, and tabs with one-click on your mobile device.

Says the company: "Firefox 4 Beta for mobile is significant step forward in sharing a personalized, seamless and encrypted Web experience across devices. Developers have the power to use the latest Web technologies like HTML5, CSS and JavaScript to to build fast, powerful and beautiful mobile apps and add-ons that can reach millions of devices."

Yesterday we reported that Adobe's stock jumped as high as 17 percent on reports in the media that Microsoft has identified it as an acquisition target. The New York Times reported that Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer met with Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen in San Francisco recently to talk about Apple's dominance in smartphones.

According to the report, which cited employees and consultants familiar with the situation, the two discussed several options to deal with the situation, one of which would see Microsoft acquiring Adobe.

Today, the stock has fallen back to Earth, dropping 6 percent on skepticism about the proposed deal.

A number of prominent analysts have stated the merger will do little to solve Microsoft's immediate short-term goals.

"There is no doubt Microsoft has some secular concerns that must be addressed, namely around 1) lack of share in tablets, 2) lack of a compelling mobile offering and 3) lack of critical mass in online," says Walter Pritchard of Citigroup. An acquisition of Adobe would not address any of those.

Spotify, which has long announced its ambitions to expand to the United States, may be getting quashed by Apple in its efforts, if a Cnet article is to be believed.

The music streaming service has had issues gaining the support of the Big 4 record labels, and Cnet says Apple may be a big part of why.

Because Spotify would be free in the U.S., Apple has been telling the labels that the service would "undermine" the current digital music industry in the nation.

Of course, that industry is dominated by Apple's iTunes Store, which controls over 80 percent of all sales.

The company has also made it clear to the labels that they don't believe that Spotify's model could ever generate significant profits.

Spotify is currently available in seven European countries, but has missed two announced target dates for launch in the U.S. There have been no reported agreements with major labels either, as of yet.

Microsoft will release 16 security bulletins on "Patch Tuesday," marking the second time in 2010 the software giant has released a record amount of fixes.

In August, the record was set at 14 bulletins, which covered 34 security holes across a range of products and operating systems.

On Tuesday, the 16 bulletins will fix 49 vulnerabilities, mainly in Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office and the .NET framework.

Four of the bulletins are dubbed "critical," another ten are dubbed "important" and the rest are "moderate."

All of the critical bulletins will address vulnerabilities that can be exploited to run remote code.

Total vulnerabilities patched for 2010 after Tuesday will number 86.

According to TheStreet, PayPal will likely soon become an option for Android Market purchases.

Users have complained about the current checkout system (especially if you are not a Google Checkout user), and adding PayPal and its user base of 220 million will certainly make the system more fluid, or at least as easy as rival iTunes.

Google and eBay (the parent company of PayPal) have been working on a deal for months and a launch of the payment system for the Market should happen this month.

The two companies have grown closer to an agreement in the past weeks and unnamed sources say it is a done deal.

eBay is hosting the PayPal developers' conference in San Francisco on October 26th.

NCR, which rents DVDs via 7000 Blockbuster Express kiosks, has reached a deal with Universal that will block the kiosks from offering new Universal releases for the first 28 days after release.

The company is looking into similar deals with the other major studios, Sony, Fox and Warner.

Part of the deal, however, is the new addition of "premium rentals," through the NCR kiosks, where users can pay more than the standard $1-a-night to rent a new Universal film right from launch. "Premium rentals" are an experiment and will continue only if user feedback is positive.

"Our agreement to test premium day-and-date offers and new DVD sales will help us identify new outlets for our movies while giving our customers the flexibility and choice they want in their entertainment purchases," added Craig Kornblau, president, Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

The NCR kiosk deal is Blockbuster's best chance at staging any type of comeback. The company filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this month after facing $900 million in debt.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has made a new deal with rental giant Netflix that will block the company from getting new releases for the first 28 days after launch.

The deal follows similar agreements with the other major studios Fox, Universal and Warner Bros.

Jackie Chan's "The Karate Kid" is the first film to fall under the restriction, as it was released earlier this week.

For now, the 28-day policy is only on certain titles, but it is likely Sony will eventually extend the same deal to all new releases.

Sony's deal does not affect Redbox, however, while all the other studio's deals impose the same restrictions on the kiosk chain.

The deal works for Netflix as it significantly reduces DVD costs, leaving more money free for the company's push into digital media. The peak sell-through period for new films is in the first thirty days.

Verizon has said this week that their deployment of the world's first 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network would hit 39 cities instead of the previously announced 30.

The LTE network will cover 110 million Americans, says the carrier.

Furthermore, Verizon says it is launching LTE in 60 commercial airports in the U.S.

Verizon president Lowell McAdam says: "We are driven by the vision to provide ubiquitous wireless broadband connectivity and mobility to rural and urban Americans alike. With our initial 4G LTE launch, we will immediately reach more than one-third of all Americans where they live, right from the start. And, we will quickly introduce 4G LTE throughout the Verizon coverage area."

The carrier says it expects average data rates on an LTE connection to reach 5-12Mbps downstream and 2-5Mbps upstream. Those average speeds would almost double Verizon's current 3G offering.

Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Initial Major Metropolitan Area Deployment:

Akron, Ohio
Athens, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Baltimore, Maryland
Boston, Massachusetts
Charlotte, North Carolina
Chicago, Illinois
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, Dallas, Texas
Denver, Colorado
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Houston, Texas
Jacksonville, Florida
Las Vegas, Nevada
Los Angeles, California
Miami, Florida
Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Minnesota
Nashville, Tennessee
New Orleans, Louisiana
New York, New York
Oakland, California
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Orlando, Florida
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Phoenix, Arizona
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Rochester, New York
San Antonio, Texas
San Diego, California
San Francisco, California
San Jose, California
Seattle/Tacoma, Washington
St. Louis, Missouri
Tampa, Florida
Washington, D.C.
West Lafayette, Indiana
West Palm Beach, Florida

Logitech has officially launched the Revue set-top box today, the first standalone device with Google TV.

The box will sell for $300 with a full-sized keyboard included.

Buyers can purchase the keyboard separately for $99 of they choose to purchase a different Google TV device.

Pre-orders have started today for a release date in the last week of October.

Some of the specs of the Revue:

The device has built-in Harmony Link tech, using IR to control all devices in your home entertainment system. Harmony remotes are compatible. Android devices and iPhones can control the Revue after users download a free app.

If you are a DISH satellite subscriber, you can access DVR content from your Revue.

Logitech has built-in a media player app that allows for streaming playback of local content or the playback of files off of attached storage.

In July, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings made it clear that a disc-free version of Netflix was headed to the PlayStation 3 by the end of the year.

Today, Sony says users will be able to access the content without a disc by the end of the month.

Social Media Manager Jeff Rubenstein had this to say when asked about a timeframe for the new app: "It’s this month, but we don’t have a date to announce at present."

It was initially promised before Netflix's quarterly earnings, which is on the 20th, so most believe the update will hit the console on the 19th, which is also when the U.S. PlayStation Store updates.

Hastings also said the update will bring about a new UI.

Intel has said today that there will not be any MeeGo-powered smartphones until next year.

MeeGo is the open-source mobile operating system that was developed by Nokia and Intel for use on phones and tablets.

The project started in February, and the companies showed off an alpha version of the software in July.

Nokia remains the world's largest mobile phone maker, but smartphone sales have lagged, and are non-existent in the United States.

By teaming up, Intel hopes to get their powerful Atom processors into smartphones that will run MeeGo and have access to Intel and Nokia's app stores.

Says Intel: "We have been hitting our dates. We are very pleased with MeeGo’s progress so far."

Version 1.1 of the software will be unveiled this week.

Samsung Electronics has boasted today that 5 million Galaxy S smartphones have been sold since launch in June.

The company is the world's second largest mobile phone maker but has lagged in smartphone sales.

Samsung's Galaxy S, released across all four major U.S. carriers, was the company's "answer" to the Apple iPhone and high-end Android devices from Motorola and HTC.

Thanks to the Galaxy, Samsung says it should manage to hit 25 million smartphones sold, putting it in fourth place in global sales behind Nokia, RIM and Apple.

Furthermore, the company expects to sell another 4 million units of the Galaxy S in the current quarter.

AndroidandMe is reporting that Motorola is set to release a Tegra 2 smartphone in early 2011, although details are still very scarce due to "hardcore NDAs."

The only concrete detail is that it uses the fast processor and has a 4.1-inch screen.

Co-CEO Sanjay Jha says the company is very close with Nvidia, the maker behind the chip although he did acknowledge that new partners in the mobile space will always have "some lessons to learn."

Jha acknowledged the Tegra 2 device, as well, but noted that it will likely ship in the Q1 2011 with a small chance it launches before the end of the year.

We will keep you updated on what promises to be a very powerful Android smartphone.

Motorola has filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) claiming that Apple's "i" devices infringe on their patents.

Additionally, Motorola says a few Mac computers also infringe on the patents.

The three complaints include 18 patents, all of which relate to "early-stage innovations developed by Motorola in key technology areas found on many of Apple's core products and associated services, including MobileMe and the App Store."

Patents are related to "wireless communication technologies, such as WCDMA (3G), GPRS, 802.11 and antenna design, and key smartphone technologies including wireless email, proximity sensing, software application management, location-based services and multi-device synchronization."

Motorola is asking for a block on imports of all infringing Apple products.

Says Kirk Dailey, corporate vice president of intellectual property at Motorola Mobility: "Motorola has innovated and patented throughout every cycle of the telecommunications industry evolution, from Motorola's invention of the cell phone to its development of premier smartphone products. We have extensively licensed our industry-leading intellectual property portfolio, consisting of tens of thousands of patents in the U.S. and worldwide. After Apple's late entry into the telecommunications market, we engaged in lengthy negotiations, but Apple has refused to take a license. We had no choice but to file these complaints to halt Apple's continued infringement. Motorola will continue to take all necessary steps to protect its R&D and intellectual property, which are critical to the company's business."

According to a new WSJ article, Apple is all set to begin manufacturing a CDMA iPhone, one that will be available on the carrier by the Q1 2011.

The phone will be identical to the current iPhone 4 sold via AT&T and other carriers internationally, except using CDMA instead of GSM.

In the United States, Apple has had an exclusive agreement with AT&T since the original iPhone's launch in 2007.

Furthermore, the article cites sources who say Apple is already developing the iPhone 5, one that will "be a different form factor from those that are currently available."

That vague sentence leaves a lot up to interpretation as Apple has never hinted about adding a physical keypad to the device or of significantly changing the form factor.

Verizon, Apple and Qualcomm (the maker of the CDMA chip) have all declined comment.

HTC, the world's fourth biggest smartphone maker has reported strong quarterly earnings today thanks to strong sales of phones using the Android operating system.

Net profit for the Q3 was 11.1 billion New Taiwan Dollars (about $360 million USD), up from 5.695 billion NTD in the same period last year.

The company was expected to have an 8.7 billion NTD profit.

Adds one analyst: "Investors are comfortable with HTC's status in the Android market. HTC will keep a stable position, even if it is not a leader in the sector."

HTC has created a number of new Android-powered smartphones this year and will release a Windows Phone 7 device later this month.

Sales have jumped to 75.85 billion NTD in the quarter from 33.81 billion a year earlier.

Best Buy, the largest electronics retailer in the U.S., has confirmed that they will be reducing supply of available DVDs starting this holiday season, giving most of that shelf space over to Blu-ray, netbooks and tablets.

The retailer has already scaled back most of its DVD selection to new films and classics, but expect more cutbacks.

DVD rental market leader Netflix continues to move toward streaming, following an overall industry trend, striking deals worth over a billion dollars with Epix, Starz and Relativity.

Of course, DVDs are still big business so no one should expect the discs to disappear anytime soon.

However, with mainstream Blu-ray player prices falling under $100, and new Blu-ray discs falling under $20 at launch already, the format should likely push DVD completely out within years, as the HDTV market continues towards saturation.

Panasonic has showed off the Jungle portable console this week, a handheld designed for online gaming and MMORPGs.

The Jungle aims to differentiate itself from the more popular Nintendo and Sony handhelds by adding a full QWERTY keypad, a touchpad, a D-Pad, and shoulder buttons.

Although it is unconfirmed, the Jungle supposedly runs a Linux OS, has 3G and Wi-Fi support, and has an HDMI-out port.

If the console does run on Linux, it means most of the MMORPGs will need to be ported, already putting the system at a disadvantage.

We will keep you updated on any developments, including price.

Skype has released the long-anticipated Android version of their software today, making the app free in the Android Market.

Smartphone owners running Android 2.1 or 2.2 can use the app.

Skype for Android allows consumers to make free Skype-to-Skype calls over Wi-Fi in the US, or over 3G and EDGE in Europe.

Furthermore, users can make cheap calls to landlines and mobile phones.

Finally, Skype contacts are easily synced with a user's phone contacts, and instant messaging is also included.

Skype for Android is supported on the Samsung Fascinate, the Motorola DROID 2, the Motorola DROID X, the HTC DROID Incredible, the LG Ally, the Motorola Devour, the Motorola DROID and the HTC DROID ERIS.

According to new data from Bernstein Research, the Apple iPad has the fastest adoption rate of any non-phone electronics device, ever.

iPads are selling at a rate of 4.5 million units per quarter, handily beating the iPhone and the DVD player, which sold at a rate of under 1 million per quarter when first released.

"The iPad did not seem destined to be a runaway product success straight out of the box. By any account, the iPad is a runaway success of unprecedented proportion," said Colin McGranahan, an analyst for Bernstein.

If this current rate continues, the iPad will help tablets become the fourth largest consumer electronics category in the United States, with an estimated $9 billion in sales.

The top categories are TVs, smartphones and notebooks.

"It is the rare American household that would spend $600-plus dollars on an iPad and buy a TV or a PC or a digital camera in the same month, or the same quarter, or maybe even the same year," added McGranahan.

Google has announced more partnerships today for its Google TV platform alongside a new website, http://google.com/tv.

Logitech and Sony are releasing the first Google TV hardware products, a set-top box, an HDTV and a Blu-ray player, later this month.

Google TV will launch with channels from Netflix, Pandora, Amazon, YouTube, Turner Broadcasting, CNBC, the NBA, USA TODAY and the New York Times.

Logitech will show off their "Revue" set-top on Wednesday.

So far there is no word on pricing, but many analysts expect the set-top to retail for $200 and the Blu-ray player to retail for $300.

AT&T and T-Mobile USA have each signed 10-year pacts with Transit Wireless today, the wireless company in charge of building a wireless network that will be available at a number of subway stations in New York City.

Six stations will be wired by the end of 2011, and the networks will work on the platforms and in the stations, but not on the moving trains.

Then entire subway system is expected to be wired by 2016.

The deals will give T-Mobile and AT&T subscribers access to the wireless network when it is up-and-running.

Verizon and Sprint have also been contacted for similar contracts.

"The network is designed and planned to carry many carriers," adds Transit Wireless CEO Chris Jaeger. "Our aim is to have discussions with other carriers to see if they are interested parties in coming on to this network."

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has confirmed today that the company, along with AT&T, will hold a press conference on October 11th to unveil the initial lineup of Windows Phone 7 devices.

Says Ballmer of the devices: "We've got to move forward, not shoot for yesterday. We've got to shoot ahead in a way that's delightful to users, accessible to developers and prioritize everything else we do around those elements."

Microsoft's smartphone business has been lackluster, to say the least, over the past few years with the icing on the cake being the failed Kin series which lasted two months in stores while selling under 10,000 units.

The company's smartphone market share has dived in the past few years, falling to under 12 percent in the United States as of this summer. RIM, Android and the iPhone account for the top 80 percent.

Samsung, LG, Dell and HTC are expected to launch Windows 7 phone devices by the end of the year.

LG Electronics has said today that it has dropped all plans to release an Android 2.2-based tablet this year, instead delaying their tablet release until the Q1 2011.

"We plan to introduce a tablet that runs on the most reliable Android version ... We are in talks with Google to decide on the most suitable version for our tablet and that is not Froyo 2.2," added LG.

With that quote, it appears that LG is waiting for Android 3.0 Gingerbread, which is expected to be the most stable version of the operating system yet. It is also expected to be optimized for tablets.

By the first quarter of next year the tablet market will be very crowded, with the highly anticipated releases of the RIM PlayBook, a second-generation iPad and the Samsung Tab.

LG is the world's third largest mobile phone maker.

T-Mobile USA has announced today their second HSPA+ smartphone, the MyTouch, which is an evolution of the MyTouch 3G and MyTouch 3G Slide.

Unlike the recently launched 3G slide, the MyTouch offers high-end specs, along with the support for T-Mobile's fast data network.

On the aesthetic side, the MyTouch is all metal, moving away from the plastic look and feel of its predecessors.

Inside is a second-generation, 1Ghz Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon processor, HSPA+ 14.4Mbps networking, Android 2.2 Froyo, HTC Sense, a 5MP rear camera and a 1.3MP front facing camera for video conferencing.

The screen is 3.8-inches with an 800x480 resolution. Swype, Adobe Flash 10.1, Wi-Fi calling and "Rock Band" for Android are all pre-loaded.

The phone also has an updated Genius Button, which allows for hands-free calling, texting and writing.

Additionally, despite lacking an HDMI-out port, the phone has DNLA for media sharing.

Made available in-stores at Target on Sunday, the Apple iPad has now made its way to giant e-tailer Amazon, placing the "Kindle-Killing" tablet right next to the very popular Kindle e-reader.

Amazon is now the second online retailer to offer the tablet besides Apple itself.

The e-tailer is carrying all six models of the device, the 16/32/64GB Wi-Fi models and the 16/32/64GB 3G/Wi-Fi models.

Amazon's move to offer the device should help them increase Kindle e-book sales, as Amazon has made the Kindle app available in the iPad App Store.

Most users seem to prefer the Kindle store to Apple's own iBook store, although both are very similar.

Microsoft has said this week that it will be bringing back the popular Windows 7 Family Pack, a $150 bundle that gives users three upgrade licenses to Windows 7 Home Premium.

For the upgrade to work, the computers must already be running XP or Vista and have Windows 7's minimum hardware requirements.

If you were to purchase three licenses separately, the cost would be $320.

Microsoft has made the bundle available online and at participating retailers. Amazon, for example, has the bundle on sale for $140.

Just like last time, the bundle is available "while supplies last."

Starting on October 22nd the pack will go international to Canada, the U.K., Germany, France, and Australia.

The Apple iPad is now officially available at Target brick-and-mortar stores.

All six models of the popular tablet are available for would-be owners.

Starting with the 16GB/Wi-Fi model at $499, all the way to the 64GB/3G/Wi-Fi model at $829, the retailer says all Target credit-card holders will receive a 5 percent discount.

There are currently 1743 Targets in the United States, with the company planning to remodel 400 of the stores in 2011.

A recent NPD survey showed that a full 80 percent of early adopters said they were "very satisfied" with their device, as compared to 65 percent for buyers who purchased over 60 days after launch.

The survey also said that early adopters use the device for over 18 hours per week, and that time is actually increasing for over 30 percent of those owners.

Verizon Wireless has said today that it will pay up to $90 million in refunds to 15 million mobile phone users who were wrongly or overcharged for Internet usage on their devices.

The FCC has been actively investigating many complaints about unauthorized charges and Verizon has hinted at settling with the FCC over the case.

Current subscribers will get a credit of $2 to $6 off their next bill and former customers will receive refund checks.

Verizon says the charges affected customers that do not have data plans but were still charged by inadvertent "episodes" of Internet access.

The FCC has said they have received hundreds of complaints since 2007 from Verizon customers who complained they were being charged excessively after mistakenly hitting a button that automatically opens Verizon's Web portal.

"Verizon Wireless values our customer relationships and we always want to do the right thing for our customers," added the company.

The NPD Group has said this week that early adopter iPad owners are the most satisfied with their device and also use it the most often.

Early adopters are consumers that purchased the tablet at launch, or within 60 days, as defined by NPD.

On the other hand, more recent purchasers are much less active with their iPad.

A full 80 percent of early adopters said they were "very satisfied" with their device, as compared to 65 percent for buyers after launch.

The survey also says that early adopters use the device for over 18 hours per week, and that time is actually increasing for over 30 percent of those owners.

"Clearly early adopters love their iPads and are finding increasing opportunities to use them," says NPD.

Citing the fact that users upload 100 million photos per day, social networking giant Facebook has said this week that they have added high-resolution image support to their new photo upload tool.

The new photo software will also have batch tagging and a new view for browsing photos.

Facebook currently has 500 million users, most of which have hundreds if not thousands of photos.

In April, the company purchased Divvyshot to bring in Sam Odio, the founder of the company and a "whiz" with photo uploading and editing software.

Odio says uploaded pics can now have a resolution as high as 2048 for width, as opposed to 720 for current uploads.

Additionally, Odio says "the new photo viewer opens in the center of a user's computer screen, allowing users to view photos and albums without navigating to a new page or clicking Refresh. Odio said he rewrote all of the viewer code to make navigating through photo Web pages faster."

The latest uploader uses Flash 10.1 more better reliability. All the updated features are set for a full rollout by the end of the month.

Google has announced another acquisition this week, purchasing the virtual keypad startup BlindType.

The company makes corrective software for Android virtual keyboards.

BlindType says their software will correct "sloppy typing," making inaccurate typing a thing of the past.

Says Google: "We’re excited to welcome the BlindType team to Google. With their help, we hope to make touch typing on your mobile device easier and faster than ever."

Adds BlindType: "We’re excited to join Google, and look forward to the great opportunities for mobile innovation that lie ahead."

Android has quickly moved into third place in the U.S. smartphone market behind RIM and Apple with first place expected to be taken by 2012.

T-Mobile USA has said today that it doesn't plan to rush into any 4G networks, but that it does prefer LTE over the "niche play" WiMax.

The carrier currently uses HSPA+ as its next generation data network, offering speeds higher than Sprint's 4G.

"We’ll look towards LTE at the right point in time for us," says Neville Ray, T-Mobile USA’s chief network officer. "That ecosystem is going to be much richer than the competing one from WiMax, which is really a niche play."

Verizon and AT&T should have LTE networks in place by the end of 2011, while Sprint currently uses WiMax.

Speaking about HSPA+, Ray says: "We’re not waiting for the technology choice, we have the right technology to deliver that experience today."

HTC is set to launch an LTE smartphone next year, says its CEO, although details are scarce.

Says CEO Peter Chou: "HTC was the first with 3G smartphone and 4G smartphone, and we are definitely looking to future network technologies."

There were no details on what carrier the phone would be released for, or what type of phone it would be.

Verizon and AT&T plan to launch LTE networks beginning this year with a full rollout expected next year. Verizon's network will cover 30 major markets and 100 million Americans. AT&T's should cover 75 million.

For now, both carriers will offer LTE USB sticks as there are no phones yet with LTE support.

According to Nokia, the Ovi Store now sees 2.3 million downloads per day, with 200,000 consumers signing up daily for Ovi services.

Ovi includes Maps, Music, Messaging and an app store.

Nokia has made Ovi available in 190 countries and remains the world's largest phone maker.

"At Nokia, we believe that connecting people with great mobile experiences is at the heart of what Ovi is all about," adds Tero Ojanpera, Nokia's executive VP of Services. "Today people discover Ovi through Maps, Music, Messaging, Store and Life Tools."

Furthermore, about 70 developers and publishers have hit the one-million download milestone for their content including EA, Shazam, Qik and Gameloft.

Microsoft has sued Motorola this week, alleging patent infringement on a number of Android devices.

The software giant says Motorola infringes on patents "that are essential to the smartphone user experience, including synchronizing email, calendars and contacts, scheduling meetings, and notifying applications of changes in signal strength and battery power."

Microsoft filed the suit with the U.S. District Court and the International Trade Commission (ITC).

There are nine patents in questions, all relating to Android smartphones.

The new case seems similar to the suit filed in March by Apple against HTC, a popular maker of Android phones. Apple claims Android violated iPhone patents.