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Led Zeppelin, one of the most celebrated rock bands of all-time, has finally embraced the streaming model, making their tracks available on Spotify.

The band had made their music available for digital purchase via iTunes, Google Music, and Amazon since last year but had so far rejected on-demand streaming services like Spotify, Rdio, iTunes Radio and others. Curiously, the music has been available on Pandora, however.

According to reports, the band's management has been negotiating with streaming services since at least January, with Spotify clearly the highest bidder.

The legendary @LedZeppelin is here! Stream the albums as they're released this week, #OnlyOnSpotify http://t.co/XLCptyaeSr #StreamZeppelin

-- Spotify (@Spotify) December 11, 2013

As has been rumored for the last few weeks, Spotify has expanded their free desktop streaming service to mobile, at least if you own an iOS or Android device.

CEO Daniel Ek says Spotify Free for mobile will only work on "Shuffle" mode which means you can pick featured (or artist/genre) playlists and stream those. You will not be able to select your tracks on-demand like on the desktop version or in the premium models.

Spotify has over 24 million active users, and 6 million paid subscribers and has spent millions this year expanding the service and adding features including "Discover" and "Browse" to help users find new music.

The company also announced some other great additions to the service which will be updated on Afterdawn after the conclusion of the press event.

Oppo's N1 device is now on sale, in limited quantities.

The company, known for its quality receivers and Blu-ray/DVD players, recently introduced cheap yet powerful Android devices. Cyanogen, which recently became a real company and raised money as it tries to take on Android, Windows Phone and iOS, announced Oppo as its first partner back in September.

N1 devices feature a 5.95-inch 1080p display, a 1.6GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600, 2GB RAM, 3600 mAh battery and a very intriguing rotating camera that allows you to use the better rear camera for video chat and portrait shots, as well. A limited quantity will be built with CyanogenMod already pre-installed, while the rest of the production will start with Android but have the application and instructions ready for Cyanogen. Additionally, it has a rear touch panel for taking photos, scrolling and more.

Thanks to a new unofficial Xbox One hardware mod, gamers can use other controllers on their console, including a keyboard and mouse and also the PS4's DualShock 4.

The CronusMax USB device plugs into the console's controller port and enables other controller support. The device was previously released for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC but this month's update adds Xbox One support.

Besides the DS4, the device also enables the Xbox 360 controller, DualShock 3, Wii Remote and Wii U Pro Controller.

Additionally, you can mod the functionality, adding macros and button combos that will be "100% undetectable online" and will certainly lead to unfair advantages, most notably in FPS titles.

Just two days after most Nexus users started getting OTA push updates for the new Android 4.4.1 KitKat update, Google has replaced it with Android 4.4.2.

Reportedly, Android 4.4.1 had some stability issues that were quickly and quietly patched by Google. The change log for 4.4.2 is the same as 4.4.1, which greatly improved the camera quality of the Nexus 5.

The lag has been reduced, shutter times are faster, colors are improved and there is less motion blur. As a Nexus 5 user myself, I found the update helpful, although auto-focus issues still seem to be a problem.

Google was so quick to replace 4.4.1 that honestly I didn't even get to install the original OS as it was pushed to my device last night. Regardless, Google seems to be on top of it, and the updates so far for the camera are a welcome relief as the camera was the biggest disappointment of the device.

Once havens for piracy, ranging from Asian soup operas to the latest Hollywood blockbuster, China's largest Internet video companies Youku, Baidu, Sohu and Tencent have all begun cracking down on the unauthorized video, instead opting for legal distribution and higher advertising revenue.

Youku, the largest Internet video site in China at 32 percent market share, says it now spends a billion yuan ($164 million) on legal distribution licenses so they can play popular content like "The Walking Dead." The move is expected to drive the company to its first ever quarterly profit.

The company employs at least a dozen employees who search specifically for pirated content, although they have run into some challenges. "The biggest challenge is that there are more new ways to pirate video as the technology develops," Lu Changjun, the head of Youku Tudou's Internet police squad (via Reuters).

Baidu, Tencent and Sohu all said they never ignored pirated material or willfully uploaded such content, but each admitted that they lost copyright infringement suits filed by Chinese content creators.

Time Warner Cable's incoming CEO Rob Marcus has said the company is "certainly open" to offering popular streaming service Netflix via its cable set-top boxes.

Marcus confirmed that consumers find Netflix particularly attractive because it is available on nearly every Internet connected device, and that Time Warner Cable has also "been out there on the forefront of making our video available on an increasing number of IP-enabled devices."

"When TWC TV is on Roku, it's sitting right next to Netflix," Marcus concluded. TWC TV gives subscribers access to over 300 live TV channels and over 5000 hours of VOD offerings. It is available on iOS, Android, PC, Samsung Smart TVs and the aforementioned Roku set-tops. It is expected to be available through Apple TV soon.

According to sources, Yahoo has been in serious discussions to acquire photo-sharing site Imgur.

Imgur was created in 2009 by a college student who was annoyed by the other photo-sharing options on the web, most of which require users to watch ads or register. The site is used by Reddit, one of the largest sites on the planet, for its community.

The photo sharing service recently surpassed 100 million users, strong growth as the site reported 30 million users at the beginning of 2012.

Imgur makes tiny revenue through ads, memberships and (more recently), sponsored images.

It is unclear how much Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is willing to bid for the service, but following a $1 billion purchase of Tumblr (which has less users and likely less revenue), the purchase price could be large. Imgur has no current financial backing.

According to Paul Thurrott, Microsoft is planning to bring the entire Start Menu back with the next edition of Windows.

Codenamed "Threshold," Microsoft will supposedly bring back the Start menu, although it may only appear as an option for those that only keep desktop mode as their default.

For Windows 8.1, Microsoft brought back the Start button itself, but it is mostly cosmetic. An entire Start Menu will be reminiscent of all Windows operating systems before the launch of Windows 8, bringing easier search, access to programs and quick start apps along with control panel and computer options.

Additionally, the new update could add the ability to run "Modern" apps on the desktop, rather than the way it is now where you can choose the Modern interface, or Desktop with Modern apps run alongside. The new update will allows Modern apps to appear as separate windows on the desktop interface.

Finally, Windows RT will be done away with, say the sources, as Microsoft moves to a more simplified version of the operating system that will work across ARM-based Windows tablets, Windows Phone 8 (or 9) and even PCs. The standard Windows will live on for the PC market with full support for legacy apps.

According to their website, China Mobile will begin taking pre-orders for the iPhone starting on Thursday.

The carrier's advertisement comes with a "4G is here!" slogan, letting customers know they can pre-order the iPhone 5S and high-end Android smartphones, as well, all of which will run on the company's newly approved 4G LTE network.

"Customers can begin to preorder for our new 4G services from Dec. 12 through the company's website and some dedicated branches in Shanghai. But we will only start providing commercial 4G services after Dec. 18," added the company, in an emailed response.

China Mobile has not yet revealed pricing for the iPhones but will hopefully do so before Thursday.

The carrier has over 720 million subscribers.

Android-based operating system maker Cyanogen LLC has added another great feature to their CyanogenMod software; encrypted text messaging by default.

The company joined up with open source secure texting app maker Open Whisper Systems "to integrate encryption seamlessly into a phone's firmware."

If you are running CyanogenMod, all texts to other CyanogenMod users will be encrypted using Open Whisper System's TextSecure technology. It doesn't matter what SMS app you use either, says the company.

"We want everyone to have access to advanced secure communication methods that are as easy and reliable to use as making a normal phone call or sending a normal text message," Moxie Marlinspike, co-founder of Open Whisper Systems says. "The collaboration we've done with Cyanogen takes us substantially closer to our goal of completely frictionless secure communication. Users don't have to do anything special or different, it just happens."

Qualcomm has unveiled its first 64-bit Snapdragon processor today, detailing the entry-level mobile chip that includes some powerful features.

The Snapdragon 410 is expected to power phones that sell for under $200, but does include 4G capabilities and much improved graphics.

One Qualcomm executive, following the release of the iPhone 5S and its 64-bit processor earlier this year, called 64-bit mobile processing a "gimmick" that provides "zero benefit" for consumers. The company backtracked on his statements within hours, but the new chip release now seem awkward given his comments.

The company says the 410 will be available by the Q3 2013, and the full line of Snapdragon processors will be updated to 64-bit models throughout the year, as well.

According to recently revealed documents leaked by Edward Snowden, the NSA has been monitoring online gaming communities like Xbox Live, World of Warcraft and Second Life since at least 2008.

The agency has been infiltrating RPGs, posing as players, purportedly to root out potential terrorist communications.

Besides the NSA, British counterpart GCHQ was also involved in the operations, say the documents.

The files did not suggest that any terrorists were ever caught, but there were apparently so many undercover agents at one time that there was talk of starting a "deconfliction group" to prevent agents from spying on each other in the networks.

Both Blizzard and Microsoft say they are not aware of any surveillance on their players but most certainly did not grant permission to do so if anyone was spying.

Apple has announced expanded availability for its popular iTunes Match service.

The service is now available in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden at a price of 249 kr ($38 USD) and 25 euro in Finland. By comparison, iTunes Match is $24.99 a year in the U.S.

Introduced in 2011, iTunes Match lets iTunes fans "match" their existing libraries with supposedly higher quality versions of the tracks directly in Apple's iCloud. After you match, the content is saved to iCloud and can then be accessed anywhere you have Internet.

Additionally, you can download your previously purchased music on any device, as well.

Most countries where iTunes is available now have iTunes Match, with one notable holdout being Japan.

It seems smartphones with full physical keyboards may not be dead after all.

@Evleaks has posted images of the LG Optimus F3Q, which he says will launch for T-Mobile USA.

There are little details about the device other than its 5-row QWERTY keypad and that it has LTE and NFC support, but more details are sure to leak soon. Additionally, the device will use LG's own user interface on top of Android.

LG introduced the Optimus F3 for T-Mobile and it was a low-end device so the F3Q is expected to be low-end, as well, but with the keyboard it will have its niche following.

LG Optimus F3Q, for T-Mobile USA pic.twitter.com/Lysho2CFJs

-- @evleaks (@evleaks) December 6, 2013