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According to Bloomberg, the unlimited music streaming service Spotify will finally get to America in the Q3 2010.

Spotify is available in Europe and for iPhone users, and has over 7 million users.

Senior Vice President Paul Brown says that the company is negotiating with U.S. mobile phone providers over partnerships. Spotify is looking to add an app for BlackBerrys and Palm smartphones, as well.

"We're buying server space in random parts of the states and there are licensing discussions too. But they are going fine because we’re in a long-term partnership with the labels and publishers," says Brown.

Although the service is free and ad-supported, there are also 325,000 paid subscribers who pay 10 pounds per month to use the service ad-free.

Leaked by the Wall Street Journal today was info about the upcoming subscription model for, yes, you guessed it, The Wall Street Journal on the Apple iPad.

The popular finance newspaper costs $29 a month for the print edition, but only $8 for a subscription via the iPhone. The iPad subscription will cost $18 per month.

The package will be available on April 3rd with the launch of the tablet.

The WSJ also noted that they had sold four-month ad packages for $400,000 with six large advertisers including Coca-Cola.

Verizon Wireless, the largest carrier in the United States has announced today that it will open its own mobile app store next week, March 29th.

The app store will allow Verizon subscribers to purchase apps that will be billed to their end-of-the-month phone bill, unlike other stores that must have separate accounts such as Google Checkout or an iTunes account.

The clear market leader is Apple however, with 150,000 apps which have seen 3,000,000,000 downloads.

Jesse Becker, head of Netflix marketing has announced today that the company has begun shipping out Wii streaming discs to some users that have signed up at www.netflix.com/Wii already.

Says Becker:
"We’ve got some great news to share. We are in the final phase of getting ready for the launch of streaming to Wii. Today, we shipped out instant streaming discs for the Wii to some of our Netflix members. Their feedback will ensure that we deliver a great experience to everyone when we launch. Instantly watching movies and TV episodes from Netflix via Wii will be available soon at no additional cost – all you need is a Netflix unlimited plan starting at $8.99 a month, a Wii console and a broadband Internet connection. If you have reserved your disc already, you don’t need to do anything - we will send you an email as soon as we ship the disc. If you haven’t, reserve your disc today at www.netflix.com/Wii and stay tuned for a launch announcement!"

Time Warner Cable has announced the launch of free Wi-Fi for New York City subscribers.

Additionally, TWC has partnered with Cablevision to offer thousands of free Wi-Fi hotspots in NYC, as well. Wi-Fi is now available in Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island, western Brooklyn, Mt. Vernon, parts of the Hudson Valley region, and Bergen and Hudson Counties in New Jersey. Long Island, parts of New Jersey and Connecticut, Westchester, Rockland, Northern Hudson Valley, the Bronx, and Brooklyn will be available through the partnership.

Adds Howard Szarfarc, Executive Vice President for TWC NYC: "Our sophisticated network is a combination of wireless and wireline services, bringing a wide spectrum of products and services to our customers. This free new Wi-Fi option adds another dimension for Road Runner customers, bringing even more convenience. Road Runner customers can experience a fast, simple and easy connection from their laptops or portable Wi-Fi-enabled devices in Time Warner Cable Wi-Fi zones, meeting their growing need for mobility."

To use the Wi-Fi, "Time Warner Cable customers must be signed up for Road Runner high-speed online service. Customers who use laptops and Wi-Fi-enabled devices can log on to Wi-Fi by entering their Road Runner user ID and password through a simple sign-on screen. The quickest way to obtain or reset log-in and password information is at home, at the computer, through Road Runner’s online support at www.rr.com. Additionally, customer login and account verification are available by calling Time Warner Cable Wi-Fi Support at 1-877-895-WIFI (9434)," reads the press release.

At this week's Pwn2Own hacking contest, the iPhone, Safari, Internet Explorer 8 and Firefox browsers were all taken down within minutes.

Vincenzo Iozzo and Ralf-Philipp Weinmann took down the iPhone browser in under five minutes, and left with $15,000 in prize money. Weinmann is most notorious for being part of a team that cracked WEP Wi-Fi security in 2007, faster than was previously recorded.

Charlie Miller of Independent Security Evaluators took down Safari for the third year in a row, leaving with $10,000 in cash as a prize.

The most impressive exploit came from Peter Vreugdenhil who took down IE8 on Windows 7 by "bypassing the operating system's Data Execution Prevention, or DEP, security mechanism, which is designed to stop most attacks." Vreugdenhil earned the same prize as Miller. German student "Nils" took down Firefox on Windows 7 within minutes as well, earning $10k.

TippingPoint, the company that runs the contest, does not divulge the details of the flaws that are used to exploit the browsers but instead purchases the rights to the exploits and then turns it over to the companies behind the browsers.

Microsoft's previously announced Xbox Game Room is now available, says the software giant, giving access to classic arcade games for the 360 or the PC.

The service will eventually have 1000 games available by 2012.

Most interesting is the pay structure, which will be either 40 MS points for a single play (like at an arcade with quarters) or 240-400 points to own it.

Vid via Joystiq:

After nearly two years of excuses for the secrecy of negotiations over ACTA, the Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a full draft of the proposed treaty has been leaked online and it looks just as bad as critics have suggested.

Among the worst provisions of the proposal is the requirement that third party service providers must implement measures to proactively identify and elminate access to content that's in violation of copyright law.

Failure to do so would make them liable for such infringement. Even worse, according to a note from New Zealand's negotiators this would even include search engines.

Assuming some service finds a way to implement this sort of proactive system, their ability to safeguard the privacy of users would be severely diminished.

Under current laws, when content owners identify content they believe infringes on their copyrights they can notify the service provider, such as YouTube, and demand that the content be removed. This is known as notice and takedown.

Under the ACTA proposal content owners would also be entitled to any information the service provider has which could identify the user responsible for the content without any judicial oversight.

According to analytics site Flurry, the Apple iPod Touch/iPhone continues to see strong growth in the handheld gaming market, taking chunks of market share away from the DS, but more so from the PSP.

Using data from the NPD and Apple, Flurry says that iPhone/Touch games accounted for only 5 percent of the whole portable market in the U.S. in 2008 but that number has grown significantly to 19 percent now. On the declining side, the DS/DSi dropped from 75 percent to 70 percent and the PSP saw a giant drop from 20 percent to 11.

The overall portable gaming market is estimated at $2.55 billion, as of the end of 2009. That leaves iPhone/Touch game revenue accounting for about $500 million in 2009.

"Our main finding is that iPhone (and iPod touch) is a gaming platform to be reckoned with," says the site.

Verizon Wireless and Skype today have announced Skype Mobile will be available to Verizon subscribers beginning tomorrow, the 25th of March.

The service, reads the press release will "use the Verizon Wireless voice network for the wireless connection of the Skype-to-Skype calls, providing Verizon Wireless customers with a superior experience and top-notch call quality."

Skype Mobile will be available for devices running Android as well as BlackBerrys either at www.verizonwireless.com/skypemobile or at www.skype.com/go/mobile. Visit the latter link through a PC and enter your mobile number to receive a text with a link. Both Android and BlackBerry users will also be able to download the app via their respective app stores.

The main advantages of using Skype Mobile are the following:

* make and receive unlimited Skype-to-Skype voice calls to any Skype contact around the globe;
* send and receive unlimited instant messages with other Skype users;
* manage the Skype contact list directly from the mobile application; and
* call international phone numbers at competitive Skype calling rates.

Says Russ Shaw, general manager of Mobile for Skype: "Skype mobile will deliver an unparalleled experience for Verizon Wireless customers. It will be the best way to enjoy unlimited conversations with Skype contacts all over the world at no extra cost. In addition, Skype mobile will allow people to easily and inexpensively make calls to landlines and mobiles abroad at Skype rates."

Albert Gonzalez, the 28 year-old hacker convicted of stealing and reselling over 170 million credit and ATM card numbers, was being paid $75,000 by the U.S. Secret Service to work undercover informing on other credit card thieves before he got arrested.

The new revelation comes from Stephen Watt, Gonzalez's best friend and convicted accomplice. Watt was convicted of creating the sniffer program that Gonzalez used to hack into the corporate systems.

The Secret Service would not comment on the pay or identity of informants.

Former federal prosecutor Mark Rasch adds: "It's a significant amount of money to pay an informant but it's not an outrageous amount to pay if the guy was working full time and delivering good results. It's probably the only thing he was doing -- other than hacking into TJX and making millions of dollars."

For pleading guilty to identity theft, wire fraud, computer fraud and conspiracy, Gonzalez is expected to receive over 20 years in prison when he is sentenced later this week.

The once-popular Sony handheld PlayStation Portable has turned five years old today, with Sony announcing that the many revisions of the handheld have sold 60 million units worldwide.

"It's been a resounding success," adds Peter Dille, Sony's senior vice president of marketing.

17 million of the sales have been in the United States. In comparison, the PSP's biggest rival, the Nintendo DS/DSi has sold 125 million units globally, with 40 million in the U.S.

Dille says the latest PSP hardware revision, the Go (which removed the UMD drive) has "met our expectations," although sales have notably been low.

In the first month since Microsoft created the "browser ballot box" as a way to end the EU's antitrust case against them, Internet Explorer's market share has dropped, as much as 2.5 percent in some nations such as France.

Data from StatCounter says IE market share dropped 2.5 percent in France, 1.3 percent in Italy, and 1 percent in the UK, not giant numbers, but definitely notable. Opera has reported that downloads of their browser are 200 percent higher, while Mozilla says: "We have seen significant growth in the number of new Firefox users as a result of the Ballot Choice screen."

The ballot box gives Windows users a chance to choose between 12 different browsers.

The Japanese Nikkei has reported on some more still-unconfirmed details of the Nintendo 3DS, which was just announced yesterday.

So far what is confirmed is that the 3DS will not require special 3D glasses, will have full support for DS and DSi games, and will be officially unveiled at the E3 event in June.

The Nikkei adds, via CrunchGear:

- Nintendo says the 3DS will be the first device of its kind.

- It will be sold, probably in Japan first, in the latter half of this year.

- Nintendo considers giving the 3DS a 3D joystick, force feedback and an accelerometer.

- The company already secured patents for several 3DS-related technologies last year.

Yesterday we reported on the launch of the official standalone 250GB HDD for the Xbox 360.

The price is $129.99 and will be available starting on March 28th.

At the same time, Microsoft has announced the price drop of the 120GB standalone model, which will be slashed to $99.99 "while supplies last," meaning there probably aren't too many left.

The 250GB model is an infinitely better deal, however it is important to note that both versions are very overpriced when compared to HDDs you can buy from e-tailers.