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Earlier this month, Microsoft officially launched the Kinect motion control system for the Xbox 360 but the company has still refused to give a concrete price on the system.

Retailers like Amazon, Gamestop and Wal-Mart all have the system up for pre-order at $150, with the warning that the price is not yet official and is subject to change.

The system seemingly got more official pricing when the Microsoft Store put the system up for sale at $150 also.

Stephen Toulouse, Director of Policy Enforcement for Xbox LIVE, made it clear, however, that the pricing was still not live: "Guys I have nothing to do with Kinect Pricing. All prices now *no matter what the retail source* are placeholders. We've not announced."

Xbox Evolved is posting the latest rumor, this week, citing a Microsoft representative who has said the Kinect will actually sell for $120 USD.

Reads the site: "A Microsoft representative told the employees of a Texas Gamestop that Kinect would be $119."

Microsoft has announced that it is selling seven copies of Windows 7 every second, making it the fastest selling operating system in the company's history.

Notes Brandon LeBlanc, Microsoft's in-house Windows blogger: "Windows 7 is the fastest selling operating system in history."

The company has sold over 150 million Windows 7 licenses in the past 8 months, and LeBlanc says that 75 percent of enterprises are either deploying it or actively evaluating the operating system.

IW adds that Microsoft may still have its hands full trying to convince IT managers to move from XP Pro to Windows 7, as the memory (or nightmare some would say) of Vista is still fresh.

Vista left many concerns of application compatibility and stringent hardware requirements, and who could forget about the UAC.

Windows 7 has addressed most of those issues, however, including the implementation of XP Mode for compatibility.

Sony Worldwide Studios VP Scott Rohde has denied recent rumors that the company is creating a 3D-enabled PSP handheld, one that will compete directly with the upcoming Nintendo 3DS.

Rohde was specifically asked during an interview whether Sony was developing a handheld with 3D capabilities, and the answer was pretty straightforward.

"No, no plans for that," says Rohde. "It’s just not something we’re announcing right now. It’s just as simple as that. It’s all I can tell you."

Speculation of a PSP2 has been around for a year, and some analysts believe Sony will introduce the device in September, during the Tokyo Game Show.

Earlier in the week, Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Kazuo Hirai called 3D technology too imprecise.

The Nintendo 3DS uses 3D technology that does not require any type of special glasses.

Speaking to Cnet, Sprint has said the popular HTC EVO 4G will soon be getting the highly anticipated Android 2.2 firmware update.

Froyo features many new features that most users have been expecting and wanting. The main two are the addition of Flash (built-in) and the addition of Wi-Fi tethering. 2.2 is said to bring 450 percent performance increases, as well. Additionally, desktop to handset music streaming, Apps2SD and a "one-handed camera UI" are part of the update.

You can read about the full update here: Video Daily: Introducing Android 2.2 Froyo

Sprint says the carrier is finalizing the software and the update is coming in the "near future."

Unfortunately for Hero or Moment owners, the carrier says there is no 2.2 update expected for their devices.

After being shown off first at CES and given an April release date, Plastic Logic has once again delayed their QUE proReader device, this time without a timetable given, further angering would-be owners who pre-ordered as early as March.

Additionally, the company has cancelled all pre-orders, a significant move that could mean there are a lot more problems under the surface than the company is letting on.

Differentiating the QUE from other e-reader is the fact it is aimed at the businessman demographic. The device will retail for $650 for the 4GB/Wi-Fi model and $800 for the 8GB/Wi-Fi/3G version. The Que features a large 10.7-inch screen, and has built-in support for Microsoft Office documents as well as PDFs.

Yes, you read that correctly, $800 for an e-reader that has only marginally better specs than rival devices that now sell for under $200.

Last week, Twitter announced that users were publishing 3,085 tweets per second at the end of the final game of the Boston Celtics versus Los Angeles Lakers playoff match, a record for the micro-blogging site.

That record has been shattered this week, thanks to the World Cup, with users publishing 3283 tweets per second by the end of Japan's victory over Denmark on Thursday.

The numbers come directly from Twitter who says they expect the number to be broken again when the World Cup concludes in the next month.

Twitter says the average tweets per second (TPS) is around 750.

The World Cup continues to create "consistent surges," says the company, with the average TPS expected to rise in the upcoming weeks.

According to a survey conducted by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, 77 percent of customers who were buying an iPhone 4 on launch day were past iPhone upgraders, moving from a 3G or 3GS model.

By comparison, in 2008, only 38 percent were upgraders and in 2009, 56 percent were upgraders.

Says Munster: "Apple is effectively building a recurring revenue stream, where iPhone users pay on average $200 USD a year to stay current with the latest phone."

Continuing, Munster says: "While its true that iPhone 4 is a more significant feature upgrade compared to the 3GS, and we expect this upgrade rate to decline next year, Apple has in three years built brand loyalty in the phone market that compels users to upgrade to the latest version and wait in line for one to six hours to pick up their iPhone.”

The analyst says that 16 percent of iPhone 4 buyers switched to AT&T from other carriers just to get the new device, falling from 28 percent in 2009, implying that Apple needs to add the device to a second carrier in the U.S or face saturation on that front.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has approved the motion forward for a .xxx top-level domain for porn sites today, passing the decision on to the ICANN Governmental Advisory Committee which has final say.

However, adds ICANN spokesman Brad White: "The board approved the movement forward on .xxx, but .xxx itself has not been approved."

The ICANN GAC, which is a group of 100 governments, will not take up the issue, banking on public popularity and the recommendations of the ICANN board.

ICANN Chairman Peter Dengate Thrush says he expects .xxx to be a reality "by 2011."

Notes Stuart Lawley, chairman of ICM Registry that has been trying to get the domain approved for years: "It's been a long time coming, but I'm excited about the fact that .xxx will soon become a reality. This is great news."

ICANN actually rejected the .xxx domain in 2007, but following an expert ruling by an independent review board, the rejection was overturned.

According to Bloomberg, Sony is close to a deal with popular streaming site Hulu that will bring the service to the PlayStation 3.

Sources say the deal could be completed as soon as next week.

The new deal would be for a "premium" ad-free subscription version of Hulu, which would cost around $10 a month and give users access to full back catalogs of all shows available. Currently, the free Hulu only allows (for the most part) playback of the trailing five episodes of a current season, and no back seasons.

Hulu is said to be in talks with CBS, Viacom and Time Warner, as well, in an effort to bring a lot more content to the premium service, making the site a one-stop destination for content from all the major broadcasters.

PS3 owners will need to have a free PlayStation Network account to use the service, as well as the latest firmware. Hulu is also in talks to add the premium service to the Xbox 360, say sources.

This week, Google VP of engineering Andy Rubin announced that Android smartphones are being activated at a rate of 2 per second, adding up to 160,000 per day.

Last month, that number was 100,000 per day, and in February, Rubin revealed that the number was just over 60,000 a day, showing incredible growth for the mobile operating system.

The strong growth can be attributed to the recent releases of the myTouch 3G Slide, HTC EVO 4G, and Droid Incredible, and continued strong sales of the Motorola Droid.

Looking to the near future, Samsung is releasing its Galaxy S line of Android devices, and Motorola is releasing the Droid X and Droid 2, each of which are expected to sell well.

Additionally, Rubin says the Android Market now has over 68,000 applications, with 100,000 likely coming within months.

Skype has announced this week that they will be offering free calling for a month in countries that have World Cup soccer teams.

The deals vary, but subscribers for the most part will have free minutes or unlimited minutes to call landlines in their countries for 30 days.

If you are American, the deal is better, with unlimited minutes to call mobile phones and landlines for the month.

The deal will likely only last until the end of the World Cup festivities, and you must have a Skype account.

Deals by country:

60 minutes free calls to landlines in Algeria for a month
Unlimited free calls to landlines in Argentina for a month
Unlimited free calls to landlines in Australia for a month
400 minutes free calls to landlines in Brazil for a month
60 minutes free calls to landlines in Cameroon for a month
Unlimited free calls to landlines in Chile for a month
Unlimited free calls to landlines in Denmark for a month
Unlimited free calls to landlines in France for a month
Unlimited free calls to landlines in Germany for a month
60 minutes free calls to landlines in Ghana for a month
Unlimited free calls to landlines in Greece for a month
60 minutes free calls to landlines and mobiles in Honduras
Unlimited free calls to landlines in Italy for a month
60 minutes free calls to landlines and mobiles in Japan for a month
120 minutes free calls to landlines in Mexico for a month
Unlimited free calls to landlines in the Netherlands for a month
Unlimited free calls to landlines in New Zealand for a month
120 minutes free calls to landlines in Nigeria for a month
60 minutes free calls to landlines in Paraguay for a month
60 minutes free calls to landlines in Serbia for a month
Unlimited free calls to landlines in Portugal for a month
Unlimited free calls to landlines in Slovakia for a month
120 minutes free calls to landlines in Slovenia for a month
120 minutes free calls to landlines in South Africa for a month
Unlimited free calls to landlines in South Korea for a month
Unlimited free calls to landlines in Spain for a month
120 minutes free calls to landlines in Switzerland for a month
Unlimited free calls to landlines in the UK for a month
60 minutes free calls to landlines in Uruguay for a month
Unlimited free calls to landlines and mobiles in the USA for a month

According to BusinessWeek, popular streaming content destinationHulu is in talks with CBS and Viacom to add their content to the upcoming premium Hulu service.

Currently, CBS is the only major broadcaster to not have an ownership stake in Hulu, but that may change in September, when the premium Hulu begins, giving users a chance to watch full catalogs of content as long as they pay a small monthly subscription fee.

Hulu will keep the free, ad-based service available too, but as most users have already noticed, you can only watch the trailing five episodes of a current season using the free site.

"Charging a subscription is possibly Hulu’s best way to improve its library of TV shows and films,"adds Tony Wible, an analyst at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC in Philadelphia.

Hulu would not comment on the speculation.

All of the owners of Hulu revenue share advertising dollars and would do the same for subscription fees.

VLC has been updated to version 1.1, making the popular media player "ready for HD" with hardware video acceleration leading to smoother HD playback.

Additionally, the update brings support for the WebM video standard alongside tons of other tweaks and fixes.

On the downside, VLC has been forced to remove SHOUTcast streaming protocol support, as AOL (the owner) had demanded that the company bundle AOL software into the player or remove the support. VLC has left the email addresses of prominent AOL execs on their page, however, so angry users can do what they will with that.

The hardware acceleration works, so far, only through Nvidia hardware for both Linux and Windows, but all other updates work for Macs, Windows and Linux.

VLC is free and available here: VLC Media Player 1.1

Verizon has officially launched the Motorola Droid X today, and the smartphone packs a punch.

The device had a 4.3-inch, 16:9 multitouch display with 854x480 resolution, a 1GHz OMAP processor, 512MB RAM, HDMI-out, DLNA support, GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and Hotspot tethering.

Additionally, the phone has an 8MP camera with 720p HD video recording, three mics, 8GB on-board memory and a 16GB microSD card and a 1570mAh battery.

Included with the phone will be video apps from Blockbuster, V CAST video, NFL Mobile, Skype, and Backup Assistant.

Mozilla had updated their popular Firefox browser to version 3.6.4 today, adding "crash protection."

Crash Protection isolates third-party plug-ins when they crash, if you are using the Windows or Linux versions of the browser, allowing the main browser to remain stable.

If you are watching videos online, or playing games that require a third-party plug-in and that plug-in freezes, users can simply refresh their page and continue browsing "uninterrupted."

As of version 3.6.4, Firefox offers "crash protection" for Adobe Flash, Apple Quicktime and Microsoft Silverlight.

Firefox currently controls about 26 percent of overall browser market share.

Download the latest Firefox here: Mozilla Firefox 3.6.4