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This week at the CTIA 2010 event, Sprint has unleashed the first 4G/WiMAX for the U.S. market, the HTC EVO 4G. The device had long been rumored as the "HTC Supersonic," and the device will run on the Android 2.1 firmware alongside the most powerful specs seen on a smartphone yet.

The full specs:

* 4.3 inch WVGA capacitive touchscreen display (with pinch to zoom)
* Android 2.1 with Sense UI
* Google Search, Google Maps, Google Talk, Gmail, Google Goggles, YouTube, Google Calendar syncing
* Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g and 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot capability for connecting up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices
* GPS with Sprint Navigation
* Digital compass
* Bluetooth 2.1
* 3.5mm headset jack
* FM radio
* Amazon MP3 store
* Qik video sharing
* Kickstand for hands-free viewing
* 8MP autofocus camera with dual LED flash
* 1.3MP front-facing camera
* HD video recording (720p)
* HDMI port
* 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor
* 1GB ROM, 512MB RAM
* 8GB microSD card in the box
* 1500 mAh battery

Stuart Parmenter of Mozilla has posted today that the company will not be creating a version of Firefox for Windows Phone 7 because "Microsoft decided to close off development to native applications."

Development of FF for Windows Mobile 6.5 will also be shut down given the fact that Microsoft has said they are betting the future on Win 7, not 6.5.

"Because we don’t know if or when Microsoft will release a native development kit, we are putting our Windows Mobile development on hold," reads the post.

Parmenter does hope that eventually they can start development back up, but says they will move their focuses elsewhere. "While I hope that we do see Microsoft provide us with a way to build Firefox for Windows Phone 7, we will continue to focus on the things that we can control: building a great consumer product on both Android and Maemo."

Last night Slashdot received an anonymous tip claiming that Palm was actively considering dropping the arguably superior mobile operating system WebOS for Android. The tip says Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein will release an internal memo on the matter in the near future.

Says the tipster of the memo: "While Palm is incredibly proud of our engineers who spent timeless work and effort to bring us this advanced operating system, consumers simply have not caught on. To provide a better future for ourselves and our customers, the only logical choice is to transition our hardware and software to the Android platform."

The tipster also notes that the WebOS UI will be integrated into Android, similarly to the popular HTC Sense interface which runs on top of Android 1.5-2.1.

PreCentral, the site which is pretty on top of Palm rumors, accurate or not, says the tip is likely a completely falsification, and we at AfterDawn are inclined to agree. The engineering necessary to create a working WebOS UI to work with Android will take too much time that Palm does not have.

Blockbuster has announced this morning that it has reached a deal with Warner Bros. to have new Warner releases available for rental day-and-day with release date, and a full 28 days before rivals Redbox and Netflix get them.

The financials of the deal were not released but it is clear that the deal is only for brick-and-mortar stores and online rental and not for Blockbuster's thousands of kiosks.

Blockbuster has almost $900 million in debt, and analysts have given an "ongoing concern" notification for the company, implying bankruptcy may be on the horizon.

The first movie available because of the deal is "The Blind Side," available today for rent.

"The studios appreciate that we are the only business that has the ability to offer cross channels," says CEO James Keyes, via BW. "That enables us to give consumers access to movies when they want it and where they want it."

Opera has submitted their Opera Mini browser for the iPhone today, hoping Apple will approve of the very fast browser which was first unveiled at the Mobile World Congress.

Opera Mini uses Opera's servers to render and compress pages, thus increasing speed for the end user. Apple could still possibly reject the app given that is a "duplication of core iPhone functionality," (Safari Mobile), however it has recently approved WebKit-based browsers.

The video shows off the Opera Mini browser in action, mainly running on AT&T's slower 2G (EDGE) data network, and Mini runs extremely fast. The interface is interesting as well.

Gizmodo has unveiled an internal Apple document that shows that the company will begin offering contract-free iPhone 3G and 3GS models soon, allowing would-be buyers to pay a premium to buy the handset without needing to sign up for an AT&T contract or even provide proof of a current AT&T contract.

However, the phone will still be "locked," meaning unless you unlock it yourself, you must use the smartphone on AT&T and not other GSM providers.

The only restrictions are you must provide a valid form of ID and you are only allowed to purchase one device per day.

The 8GB iPhone 3G will be available for $500, the 16GB 3GS for $600 and the 32GB 3GS for $700.

Microsoft has begun shipping a standalone 250GB HDD for the Xbox 360, giving the drive a $130 USD price tag.

The drive will be available starting on March 28th.

The drive had only been available in Japan and in North America via limited edition bundles such as the Modern Warfare 2 or Final Fantasy bundles.

Rabid Neurosis (RNS), the once popular music release group was taken down last year by authorities working on tips from the RIAA.

A few of the most prominent members were arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement.

This week, Matthew Chow of RNS has been found not guilty by a jury. Additionally, Adil Cassim of the group has been found not guilty as well.

"I am relieved by the jury's verdict and I am grateful to my attorney for his hard work," says Chow. Adds his lawyer: "We encountered some extremely complex factual and legal issues in this case. The jury was very attentive during the trial. Their verdict was just."

The three other RNS members that were charged had already plead guilty and gave testimony for the prosecution.

Chow and Cassim were facing up to five years in prison and a $250,000 USD fine.

Nintendo has confirmed that they will be releasing a new handheld system in Japan in early 2011, with a full introduction coming at the E3 event in June.

The system is dubbed the 3DS and will "incorporate 3D technology" without the need for 3D-glasses. The system, as is standard with new Nintendo handhelds, will be backwards compatible with all DS and DSi software.

The DS and DSi have sold over 125 million units globally, and the company says the 3DS will be a successor to the DS, not just a minor revision.

Although there are little other details available about the system, we reported earlier this month on an obscure DSiWare game called Rittai Kakushi E Atta Koreda (3D Hidden Images: Found it!), which, by using the front facing camera, tracked the player's face and eyes and created a 3D effect, with the screen moving to create a sense of depth.

SanDisk has announced they have begun shipping 32GB microSDHC cards, the largest capacity available for the memory card line.

Current microSD cards max out at 16GB but SanDisk had promised the 32GB cards would go into mass production in January.

Speaking of the microSD card and other new flash memory improvements, SanDisk said at that time: "The 64GB embedded memory, moviNAND, and the 32GB microSD card each greatly expand the data storage density of mobile devices, meeting customers' memory requirements and ushering in a new era of mobile and IT device capacity growth."

While 1GB, 2GB and 4GB versions retail for under $15 USD, this new 32GB card has an MSRP of $200.

This is a quick blurb until there is more information but it appears that heading to Google.cn (China) redirects the site directly to http://www.google.com.hk/ (Hong Kong).

The Hong Kong search engine is not censored but it is still unclear whether Chinese users can access the site, which seems unlikely.

We will update this item later when there is more news on it.

Universal Music Group (UMG), one of the "Big 4" record labels has announced its latest ploy to increase physical CD sales in the U.S., slashing prices of new releases to under $10.

Dubbing the pricing program "Velocity," UMG hopes that consumers will go out and buy CDs, which will still retail for higher prices than the comparable songs digitally, but with a closer gap.

"We think it will really bring new life into the physical format," adds Universal Music Group Distribution chairman/CEO Jim Urie.

Wholesales prices for new releases have now been dropped to an average of $7.50 from $10.35, and MSRPs for retail prices are dropped to between $6 and $10.

UMG is hoping that the big hit taken to revenue can be made up with an increase in sales volume. Overall CD sales are already down 15 percent year-on-year, with bigger drops expected.

Velocity is set for a Q2 launch and should last through the holiday season.

UPDATE: "Reports that EA SPORTS plans to sue the creators of South Park are false."

On Wednesday, Comedy Central aired the first episode of South Park's 14th season, dubbed "Sexual Healing" which revolved around Tiger Wood's sex scandal as well as the video game Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11, which is set for a Q3 2010 release.

Today, Daily Informer is reporting that EA Sports, the publisher behind the Tiger Woods series is set to sue South Park writers Matt Stone and Trey Parker over their disgust of the episode.

The episode shows sequences from the upcoming golf game but also includes scenes of Tiger and wife Elin fighting, and even crashing his SUV into a tree. At the end of the episode, after Tiger has apologized to the media and the game returns to just playing golf, the kids of the show leave the game, calling it "boring again."

While many fans found the ep funny, EA Sports did not and DI says their source at the company added that "soon after the airing of the episode the top beef were called in, even Peter Moore was informed of the situation. Before the episode aired the marketing folks were already worried, but now they have a lot more to worry about."

While I will be linking to the full and comprehensive article Slyck has written on the matter, it appears that ACS:Law, the firm known for accusing game pirates in the UK has threatened to sue the file sharing information forum Slyck.com.

The threat demands that Slyck remove three forum threads that exist for members to discuss their ongoing litigation with ACS: Law and just generally go over the current UK laws against alleged file sharers. The three forum threads have a total of 10,000 posts.

ACS: Law gave Slyck three days to take down the threads or face a lawsuit in the UK. However, because the site is based in the U.S. and is protected from defamation verdicts in other nations, they have refused to remove any content.

Slyck's article is very long but worth a read, especially if you are an in the UK: Wank Plan Goes Wrong: ACS:Law Threatens Slyck.com With a Lawsuit

Dell, releasing their first smartphone since the death of the Axim line in 2007, has dubbed their upcoming device the Aero.

The smartphone will be available in the U.S. via carrier AT&T.

Without giving a timeline, the carrier says the device will be available "soon."

The Aero will have hardware based on the Dell Mini3 phones sold in China and Brazil and will run Android 1.6 but will have a custom UI designed by Dell with input from AT&T.