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According to the latest figures from NetApplications, Google's Chrome browser continues to take market share at a rapid pace, and should be on pace to surpass the 10 percent milestone by the end of the year.

The browser has been out for 19 months, and has no marketing campaign, yet continues to steal share from leaders Internet Explorer and Mozilla's Firefox.

Additionally, Safari continues to take share as well, albeit at a slower pace.

Chrome jumped to 6.73 percent share, from 6.1 percent last month, while Internet Explorer fell to 59.95 and Firefox remained about flat at 24.59 percent. Safari jumped marginally to 4.72 percent.

IE continues to fall since its peak in 2003, when the browser was used by 93 percent of those connected to the Internet. Google and NetApplications have said they expect Chrome to have anywhere between 8.5-10 percent share by the end of 2010.

Thanks to a glitch, some Avatar Blu-ray owners can still not play their purchased discs, leading to understandable irritation.

Says one angry customer: "When 3 out of 3 players in my house (Denon, Samsung and PC) won't play it, then 20th Century Fox should be slapped with losses on this one."

The customer's anger is aimed at the wrong place, however. Fox is not the issue but instead it is the Blu-ray players and their respective firmwares. Avatar, requires, in most cases, the latest firmware, but owners of older players without active Internet connections are usually not the most up to date.

For some people, the glitches get weirder. Users have reported chapter pop-up boxes showing up throughout the movie, sometimes without leaving.

It is unclear how Fox will try to help users who cannot play the discs or are receiving the glitches, but likely the number of users is still small, yet vocal.

NASA is teaming up with blockbuster director James Cameron to help build a new 3D camera that will be mounted on the new Mars rover, Curiosity.

Curiosity will launch next year.

NASA had originally scrapped plans for a 3D camera in 2007 saying the "upcoming flagship mission to Mars was consistently over budget and behind schedule." Comically, most of James Cameron's movies over the past decade have also been "consistently over budget and behind schedule" so it seems like a match made in heaven.

The director lobbied to NASA administrator Charles Bolden, who agreed that the rover would need a cinema quality camera to help the public connect to the mission.

The 3D camera is now being built by Malin Space Science Systems.

Just 5 months after purchasing the music streaming service, Apple has decided to shut down Lala, likely signalling that it will be integrated into iTunes.com.

All current members have until May 31st to continue using the service, but as of today the site is not accepting any new members.

Lala is a download and streaming music service that gives members a "digital locker" to store their music. What made the company different from iTunes, Amazon MP3, etc, is that Lala would also sell streaming rights to tracks for pennies, allowing for unlimited streaming online of the track, but no download.

Current members will be given a credit for songs they have purchased to use at iTunes.

Apple is now expected to open a Web-based iTunes that will be based on the Lala framework and will do much of the same things, such as a digital locker for "Web-only" versions of the tracks.

Valve has finally confirmed the official release date for Steam on the Mac platform, with the streaming service confirmed for a May 12th launch.

The service has been in beta since mid-March.

Doug Lombardi, Valve's VP of developer marketing says the first two games to be ported will be Portal and Team Fortress 2.

Among the features available at launch will be Steam Play, which allows gamers to play a game on the PC, then continue to play on a Mac, right where they left off, as long as the game is available for both platforms.

Additionally, Mac users will play in the same multiplayer "universe" says GI, meaning all platforms can play on the same servers.

Sony, the former #1 TV maker that has seen recent declines in sales, will begin launching new HDTVs with Intel processors and running the Android operating system, say sources cited by Bloomberg.

The electronics giant will unveil the products at an event in San Francisco on May 19th, a conference sponsored by Google, the company behind Android.

The sources say the Intel chip will be a customized Atom chip, and the OS will be a customized Android dubbed "Dragonpoint."

All three companies are also working with Logitech to create a keyboard that will work as a remote and would allow for easier typing when using a browser via the TV.

Sony has recently fallen to third place in the TV market, behind Samsung and LG globally, and behind Samsung and Vizio in the United States.

Gizmodo, the site that first uncovered Microsof'ts plans to release a "digital journal" dubbed the Courier, is reporting this week that the company has scrapped those plans.

Execs were told by CEO Steve Ballmer that the tablet would no longer be supported, which seems reasonable given that the Courier was never publicly acknowledged as an upcoming device.

In the videos released by Gizmodo and then Engadget, the Courier seemed to be in its final stages of development, but it appears, at least from an outsider's view, that Ballmer does not want to directly compete with the iPad, and eventually the HP Slate or Dell Streak.

Adds Microsoft Corporate VP of Communications Frank Shaw: "At any given time, we're looking at new ideas, investigating, testing, incubating them. It's in our DNA to develop new form factors and natural user interfaces to foster productivity and creativity. The Courier project is an example of this type of effort. It will be evaluated for use in future offerings, but we have no plans to build such a device at this time."

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, known globally for calling ex-President George Bush a "devil" among other slights has set up a Twitter account and has quickly amassed 120,000 followers.

The president even had 12,000 followers before his first Tweet, which came right before midnight on April 27th.

Venezuela is said to have 200,000 "active" Twitter users and it seems that a good portion have signed up to follow their elected leader.

Chavez's first Tweet says: "Epa que tal? Aparecí como lo dije: a la medianoche. Pa Brasil me voy. Y muy contento a trabajar por Venezuela. Venceremos!!" Roughly translated that says "What's up? Came as promised, at midnight. Headed to Brazil now. I'm very happy to work for Venezuela. We will win!!"

If you want to check out some Chavez tweets, head here: http://twitter.com/chavezcandanga

Mozilla has finally released the "pre-alpha" of the Fennec browser today for Android devices, bringing an early version of mobile Firefox to testers.

Says Mozilla developer Vladimir Vukićević: The release is "usable enough that we wanted to get some feedback on it."

The developer is fast to warn that the release is very buggy and will give Android users a lot of "force close" notifications, with some of the bugs even crashing the phone. The browser may not even work on phones that aren't the Droid or Nexus One.

The new release does have some notable features including "Weave" support, allowing for bookmark syncing from your desktop version of Firefox.

You can get it here but don't expect a fun-filled ride: http://bit.ly/fennec-android

The battle over Apple's decision to keep Flash of its iPad and iPhone devices has taken a new turn this week, with the CEOs of the companies slugging it out with rant posts.

Over the course of a few months, the niceties between Apple and Adobe have broken down, with Apple practically saying Flash is not good enough to be on the iPad and one Adobe developer going as far as to tell Apple to screw itself.

This week, round two of the "epic" battle began, with Apple CEO Steve Jobs posting a 1700 word rant with his thoughts on Adobe and Flash, and why HTML5 is better. He also takes aim at Flash by saying it affects battery life negatively, is hard to use on touchscreen devices, and is not secure. I will post the letter at the end of the article, but Jobs concludes his post by saying:

"Flash was created during the PC era – for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards – all areas where Flash falls short. The avalanche of media outlets offering their content for Apple’s mobile devices demonstrates that Flash is no longer necessary to watch video or consume any kind of web content. And the 200,000 apps on Apple’s App Store proves that Flash isn’t necessary for tens of thousands of developers to create graphically rich applications, including games. New open standards created in the mobile era, such as HTML5, will win on mobile devices (and PCs too). Perhaps Adobe should focus more on creating great HTML5 tools for the future, and less on criticizing Apple for leaving the past behind."

Sony has been sued this week in California over its recent firmware update that removed the "OtherOS" feature of the PlayStation 3, a feature that had allowed for the installation of Linux on an HDD partition.

The firmware update, version 3.21, was released last month.

The case was brought by Anthony Ventura who is claiming that the update is an "intentional disamblement of the valuable functionality originally advertised as available." Ventura adds that millions of customers purchased their consoles with OtherOS advertised, and that Sony has broken the terms of its contract with these customers.

Additionally, Ventura says there are no "security concerns," as Sony claims, and the real reason the feature was removed was to prevent homebrew and piracy. Piracy has decimated PSP software sales, and it seems Sony would like to stop that on the PS3 before it even gets started.

Bungie, the developer behind the Halo franchise has announced they have signed an exclusive 10 year pact with Activision that will bring the developer's "next big action game universe to market."

For the next decade Activision will have exclusive, worldwide rights to publish and distribute future Bungie games "based on the new intellectual property on multiple platforms and devices."

Financials of the deal were not disclosed.

Bungie formally had an exclusive partnership with Microsoft, but the two split in 2007.

"We chose to partner with Activision on our next IP because of their global reach, multi-platform experience and marketing expertise," adds Bungie President Harold Ryan. "From working together over the past nine months on this agreement, it is clear that Activision supports our commitment to giving our fans the best possible gaming experiences."

The Halo franchise has so far brought in $1.5 billion in revenue, and Bungie has sold over 25 million units worldwide.

"Bungie is one of the premier studios in our industry and we are extremely pleased to have the opportunity to work with their talented team over the next decade," says Thomas Tippl, Chief Operating Officer of Activision Blizzard. "Bungie has developed some of the most compelling and successful games, multiplayer experiences and thriving fan communities, and this alliance underscores our long-standing commitment to foster the industry’s best creative talent. Our unprecedented partnership with Bungie will enable us to broaden our pipeline of exciting new games as we continue to strengthen our industry position and pursue long-term growth opportunities."

Hulu has shelved plans to expand the streaming service to the UK, citing failed negotiations with British broadcasters.

The extremely popular online video service has been a U.S. exclusive since its launch.

All content deals with the ITV and the BBC have fallen apart, mainly because both now have their own streaming services.

"Hulu’s talks with ITV have come to a halt because the broadcaster wants to focus on growing its own catch up service – ITV Player and not syndicate its content out to a third party at the moment. Conversations with Channel 4 and Five have also not come to any fruition because Hulu wants to sell the advertising inventory around both broadcasters’ content – like it does with US content - and this is not something either broadcaster is willing to concede ON. Hulu has told several people at the British broadcasters that it has been forced to abandon its UK expansion plans after failing to sign any content deals," says a "senior TV executive," via The Telegraph.

Google's Andy Rubin has revealed this week that the upcoming Android firmware, version 2.2 (froyo) will have built-in full Flash support.

Rubin managed to take a subtle shot at Apple during the interview with the NYTimes, in regards to the "openness" of the Android operating system.

When asked if consumers acutally cared whether a smartphone OS is open, he compared closed platforms, like that of the iPhone OS to totalitarian governments.

"When they can't have something, people do care. Look at the way politics work. I just don’t want to live in North Korea," Rubin says.

He adds: "Sometimes being open means not being militant about the things consumer are actually enjoying."

It is unclear when 2.2 will begin hitting smartphones, but it is expected, at least on the Nexus One and other top-end phones within the next couple of months.

The Google Nexus One is set to go on sale in the UK via Vodafone starting on April 30th with the "superphone" being available for as cheap as free depending on the contract.

After just a couple of days on pre-order, the phone is already sold out, meaning either demand was very high or supply was low, with many assuming the latter.

For anyone ordering the device, Vodafone is sending off this message: "Thank you for placing your order, reference number [redacted]. Unfortunately we have suffered a surprisingly high demand for the Nexus One From Google, which means that it is unexpectedly out of stock. Please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused. We hope to have further stock available within 7-10 working days and will contact you again once your order has been dispatched."

The U.S. launch was considered rather sluggish, but Google says the phone has already helped their bottom line.