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Apple has announced today that despite glitches on the AT&T website, the iPhone 4 has seen 600,000 units pre-ordered, a one-day record for the company.

The number was much higher than expected, and the company apologized to anyone who tried to pre-order but could not because of technical difficulties.

In all five countries the device is available there were reports of delays, system malfunctions and server breakdowns and AT&T in the U.S. even had to suspend all pre-orders while a "special team" was brought in to manually look through the orders.

For comparison's sake, the iPhone 3GS sold almost 70,000 via pre-order in its first day of availability.

Says Apple: "Yesterday Apple and its carrier partners took pre-orders for more than 600,000 of Apple's new iPhone 4. It was the largest number of pre-orders Apple has ever taken in a single day and was far higher than we anticipated, resulting in many order and approval system malfunctions. Many customers were turned away or abandoned the process in frustration. We apologize to everyone who encountered difficulties, and hope that they will try again or visit an Apple or carrier store once the iPhone 4 is in stock."

AOL, infamous for terrible investments, announced in April that they were planning to either sell or shut down the social networking site Bebo, which they bought for $850 million in 2008.

Today, reports are circulating that AOL has found a buyer for the service, Criterion Capital Partners, who will buy Bebo for $10 million USD, leaving AOL with a 98.8 percent loss on their original investment.

Despite that outstanding loss, the sale will give AOL the ability to write off the original purchase for tax purposes, saving over $300 million in corporate taxes in the process.

At the time of the acquisition, AOL was still part of Time Warner, part of a merger that many have called the worst deal of all-time. (AOL had to take a $99 billion dollar loss in 2002.)

Bebo saw less than 5 million unique visitors last month, compared to 120 million for Facebook, and Bebo continues to see declining traffic every month.

Google Inc. uploaded a video to YouTube yesterday explaining what Google TV hopes to bring to the living room. The video is only 2:21 long and is very easy to understand. It contains little on the technical side and just focuses on the features that Google TV aims to bring to the living room.

The video shows how Google TV can be used to search and view television channels and programming, browse the web on your television, play games, browse photos and more.

Google TV seems like something to keep an eye on.

T-Mobile, the fourth largest carrier in the United States has announced today that it will run a huge Father's Day promotion, this Saturday, June 19th.

As long as you have a family plan, or decide to purchase one, every phone in any T-Mobile store across the nation is free.

If you already have a family plan, to get the deal you need to add another line to your plan, which can cost as low as $5 extra per month.

The deal can be incredible, as it includes literally all phones, even brand new ones like the myTouch 3G Slide, the HTC HD2, and the Garminfone, all of which are over $350 to purchase without contract.

T-Mobile is starting the promotion at 8 a.m. on Saturday.

Business groups in the United States on Tuesday criticized the Chinese government over policy proposals that they say will discriminate against U.S. and other international companies in the market. The companies represented work with software, clean energy and computer technology, but one proposal in China would encourage government agencies to deal with companies that have produced technology in the country.

The proposal is part of a bunch of policies dubbed "indigenous innovation" that are meant to encourage more technological development in the country. Jeremie Waterman, a senior director at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, testified before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC).

He argued that the policies are being proposed to provide advantages to domestic companies and products, to "force technology transfer if foreign players choose to participate." In April, China allowed foreign companies to compete for government business following pressure from Washington.

Not everyone agrees that the Chinese proposals will be bad for U.S. or other foreign companies however. Lee Branstetter, an economics professor at Carnegie Mellon University, points out that none of the policies are even in place yet and may not turn out to be as harmful to U.S. companies as they think.

While Sony is showing off 3D features of the PlayStation 3 (PS3) console today at E3, NVIDIA with support of many big names in the PC industry is trying to push the "3D PC" to consumers. Using the popularity of movies like Avatar and Alice in Wonderland, and the selection of PC games that be displayed in 3D with right hardware, NVIDIA argues that a 3D PC offers the broadest solution for enjoying 3D entertainment at home.

What is a 3D PC? A 3D PC is technically a PC or a notebook on the market that meet the following minimum requirements...

• Includes a pair of 3D active-shutter glasses.
• A 120Hz 3D-capable display in the form of a desktop LCD monitor, a 3D projector, a 3D TV, or a notebook PC with an integrated 3D-capable LCD.
• A discrete graphics processor that is capable of delivering high definition imagery to the 3D display

Among the partners NVIDIA has enlisted in pushing 3D PCs are Alienware, Asus, Dell, Microsoft, Toshiba and more to offer the products. Additionally, web stores are also adding 3D PC categories to sell products that meet the three requirements. NVIDIA argues that with a 3D PC you can have access to 3D Hollywood movies through Blu-ray hardware and compatible software such as Cyberlink's line-up.

A few days ago, we reported about a controversial disclosure of an exploitable vulnerability that affects Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Google engineer Tavis Ormandy had alerted Microsoft of the problem and then just five days later published an advisory detailing the bug, even though no patch had been distributed by Microsoft for the problem.

Ormandy was heavily criticized for not waiting until the Redmond software giant had pushed out an update for the bug, which affects the Windows Help and Support Center. His affiliation with Google also fueled some speculation of his motivation for publishing the advisory early. However, Ormandy has consistently defended himself, indicating this is probably the only way to ensure that Microsoft will release a patch.

The flaw was disclosed only last Thursday, but anti-virus provider Sophos has already found that the vulnerability is being targeted by criminal hackers. The bug could potentially allow an attacker to execute code on a victims computer using specially crafted webpages or crafted links in e-mail messages.

Sony revealed details on Tuesday about a premium subscription service package for the PlayStation Network, called PlayStation Plus. The company also revealed that there are now 50 million PSN accounts in 58 different countries, making the PS3 the most connected games console in the world.

Users of PSN will be able to pay a fee for access to exclusive content and functionality. Sony stressed however that the existing elements of PSN would remain free, including multi-player gaming.

Three months subscription will cost £17.99 while a full year subscription costs $49.99. For the fee, a user will be able to include full access to certain PS3 downloadable content and PSN titles, such as the PSone archives and Minis, and be able to play them for as long as the PlayStation Plus membership is valid. Some games will only be playable for a certain amount of time on a trial basis before needing to be purchased.

An extra feature that PlayStation Plus provides is the ability to schedule the PS3 console to switch on and automatically retrieve demos, patches or updates at certain times.

At the Sony E3 Press Conference, the launch date and price information for the awaited Move motion control system were revealed. PlayStation Move will launch in Europe on September 15, in North America on September 19 and in Japan on September 21.

The controller itself will cost $49.99, whereas the navigation controller is sold separately for $29.99. A bundle including the PlayStation Move controller, the Sports Champions game and the PlayStation Eye will cost $99. Those three items will also be sold in a bundle with a PS3 for $399.99 (the bundle does not include the navigation controller).

About 20 Move compatible games are promised by the end of March 2011. At the conference, the first games that were shown controlled by Move were Sorcery and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11.

Before those games were even demoed though, we did learn that Killzone 3 (due out in February 2011 for PS3) and a SOCOM 4 title will be controllable with Move too.

Last week, AT&T confirmed that 114,067 iPad 3G owners had their email information leaked to the Web, with the data being stolen and exposed by a group called Goatse Security.

AT&T went as far as to call Goatse "malicious hackers" who attacked AT&T's servers, and the group is now under investigation by the FBI.

Today, the same group has exposed another security hole in the iPad, using the same ICC-IDs given out by using a script on the AT&T Website and determining the locations of iPad owners.

Additionally, the group says an unpatched Safari browser exploit will allow for targeted attacks on iPads. The exploit, reads DailyTech, "uses an integer overflow exploit, which gives access to proxy connections over banned ports, allowing all sorts of ill purposes including spewing spam and malware deliveries to locally networked machines."

Apple has confirmed that it will sell unlocked iPhone 4 devices in Europe and Canada, with buyers being able to use the smartphone on their choice of provider, including GSM providers in other countries.

The confirmation comes from a new Apple FAQ, which has many more interesting tidbits about the device.

Says the FAQ:
Does iPhone work with any SIM card or carrier worldwide?

iPhone 3GS works with SIM cards and iPhone 4 works with micro-SIM cards from compatible carriers, including prepaid cards. Non-GSM carrier networks do not support iPhone. Availability of 3G data depends on carrier support for the radio frequencies used by iPhone.

Do I need to commit to a long-term contract for my iPhone?
Buying a commitment-free iPhone from the Apple Online Store allows you choose your own carrier and change carriers at any time. iPhone may also be available at a reduced initial price with a contract directly from your wireless carrier.

Additionally, the iPhone 4 will support tethering, reads the FAQ.

According to Cnet, Google is actively creating a digital music store that will compete against Apple's iTunes and Amazon's MP3 Store.

Sources cited by the report say Google could launch the service as early as "the fall," and the service will also be bundled into Android, the popular mobile operating system.

The service will likely be called Google Music.

Cnet adds that Google first pitched the idea to record label execs at the CES in January, in which features such as "tying digital downloads and streaming music to Google's search results," will be standard.

Google is not new to the music business, as they actively helped Google Search users stream music through Lala and iLike. Both sites have since been purchased, however, Lala by Apple and iLike by MySpace and integrated into iTunes and Myspace Music.

Toshiba has announced the launch of the 3D-capable Satellite A665 this week, powered by Nvidia's Vision tech.

The laptop is not "cheap," but will pack some very impressive specs. The Satellite A665 has a 15.6-inch diagonal TruBrite LED backlit LCD display, a 120Hz refresh rate, a rewriteable Blu-ray Disc drive and integrated stereo Harman/Kardon speakers.



Under the hood is a Intel Core i7 processor with TurboBoost, a Nvidia GeForce GTS 350M, 1GB of GDDR3 video memory and an LED backlit keyboard. Additionally, the device has 4GB DDR3 RAM, a 640GB HDD, runs of Windows 7, has 802.11b/g/n wireless, 10/100/1000 Ethernet, Bluetooth V2.1 + EDR10, an HD impact sensor, a 12-cell battery, one eSATA/USB combo port with USB sleep-and-charge, three USB 2.0 ports, an HDMI port and integrated webcam with face recognition.

Nintendo showed off its anticipated 3DS handheld console at its E3 Press Conference today. Identified by Reggie Fils-Aime - President and chief operating officer of Nintendo of America - as probably one of the best features of 3DS: no glasses required, as he doubted gaming on big screen TVs while glasses are still required to get the effect.

"It's the glasses," he said, with a certain disgust in his tone, also talking about the cost of 3D now. Nintendo then gave the audience a history lesson of "3D" before a prolonged unveiling of the Nintendo 3DS itself by Nintendo President and CEO, Satoru Iwata.

He first drew attention to the 3.5-inch widescreen on top, which will show the 3D content and then the slider on the side of the handheld to control the depth of the 3D effect. The bottom screen is only for touch, as Nintendo found that smudges on the screen from touching ruined the 3D effect easily.

OnLive, the cloud streaming games service, has finally announced its launch day lineup, with some impressive games being made available.

20 games will be available for launch on June 17th, with blockbuster games like "Assassin's Creed II," "Mass Effect 2" and "Batman: Arkham Asylum" available right from the get-go.

OnLive offers instant, lag-free access to games, allowing for users with old computers to play new games without any need for expensive video cards and processors.

Better yet, the service is free for the first year, thanks to a promotion by AT&T, which is a large investor in OnLive.

After the first year, the monthly subscription price is expected to be under $9.99. Games cost up to $60 USD to purchase, just like their physical counterparts, but the company offers 3-to-5 day rentals for under $10.

Eventually, the service will be available through your HDTV as well.