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Amazon has announced Kindle First, a new service that offers Kindle users (devices and apps) access to a selection of new e-books a month before official release.

Kindle customers will be able to choose an e-book from a selection picked by Amazon Publishing editors to buy for $1.99 - or for free for Amazon Prime members. You don't need a Kindle device to benefit from Kindle First.

Customers can also sign up to get a monthly e-mail alerting them of new Kindle First selections.

The debut Kindle First picks are Things We Set on Fire, by best-selling author Deborah Reed; No Place for a Dame, by best-selling romance author Connie Brockway; Silent Echo, by best-selling mystery author J.R. Rain; and We Will Survive: True Stories of Encouragement, Inspiration, and the Power of Song, by Grammy-award winning recording artist Gloria Gaynor. All books will be published in December but are available to Kindle First members starting today.

"Prime just keeps getting better for our members, and any customer will find something interesting in our Kindle First picks," said Russ Grandinetti, Vice President of Kindle Content.

"We also love that these amazing books by Amazon Publishing authors will get a chance to reach a much wider audience."

Microsoft is hoping to boost sales of Windows tablets this holiday season with better marketing and retail efforts.

To do so it will reportedly focus on making it clear what products it has on the market, as confusion over Windows OS versions is turning off some potential buyers. Right now there are products running Windows RT, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 7.

There is also confusion over the hardware on the market. Microsoft will market Windows 8.1 as "the new Windows" to make it clear its the latest version of its consumer OS.

It will increase its spending on Windows retail to $405 million - up from $241 million - going the "store within a store" route that is followed by competitors like Apple.

Customers who buy Windows touch devices this holiday season will also get $25 gift cards for the Windows, Windows Phone or Xbox online stores.

It's primary goal is to sell 16 million Windows tablets during the busy holiday period, but it will also market its Windows 8.1 PCs as the "only PCs with touch," while also distributing a USB-based Windows 8.1 upgrade kit to retailers since only 20 percent of PCs shipped will have it installed.

Google has officially discontinued the iGoogle service as planned.

iGoogle was a customizable personal web portal that Google launched in 2005 that sought to provide a dynamic homepage that would retrieve information from Google services to one spot. In 2005, such a service was very useful but things have changed considerably on the Internet since.

Last July, Google said that the need for iGoogle was now gone.

"On November 1, 2013, iGoogle will be retired. We originally launched iGoogle in 2005 before anyone could fully imagine the ways that today's web and mobile apps would put personalized, real-time information at your fingertips. With modern apps that run on platforms like Chrome and Android, the need for iGoogle has eroded over time, so we'll be winding it down. Users will have 16 months to adjust or export their data," the Google Blog warned at the time.

iGoogle will now simply redirect to Google's homepage, as yet another one of Google's collection of services gets thrown onto the scrap heap.

Yahoo is seeking to entice bug hunters with rewards up to $15,000 depending on the severity of the bug found.

The web giant was criticized by security researchers for paying a measly $12.50 in Yahoo discount vouchers to security researchers at High-Tech Bridge for two cross site scripting (XSS) bugs they had reported. Yahoo's security head, Ramses Martinez, claimed later that he was behind the voucher reward program, and that he basically had been paying for them out of his own pocket.

Out of the embarrassment though has come a much healthier attitude toward white-hat hacking from Yahoo. The web giant has launched its new bug bounty program that allows white hats to submit bugs at bugbounty.yahoo.com and receive rewards between $250 and $15,000, depending on the severity of the bug discovered.

Yahoo has pledged to fix reported problems as quickly as possible, and gives the option for the bug hunter to be listed on its Wall of Fame that will show its top ten all time reporters.

"It is our hope that the official launch of this program will usher in a new, less-shirt-centric era for security at Yahoo. We look forward to open and productive collaboration with the community and doing our part to make the Internet more secure," wrote Martinez.

Microsoft's Xbox One console will support DLNA streaming and will play audio CDs, the company has confirmed.

Earlier this week, Sony revealed on an FAQ that the PlayStation 4 (PS4) console will not be DLNA complaint. Penny Arcade asked Microsoft for information about the media capabilities of the Xbox One.

The next generation Xbox is in the process of being DLNA certified. It also will play audio CDs - if you have any of those left - but its MP3 playback is a little different.

Microsoft said the system is a PlayTo receiver so it can have MP3 streamed from it using PlayTo supported devices like a Windows Phone or a computer running Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, or through Xbox Music Pass.

That suggests that the Xbox One may not play MP3 locally like the Xbox 360 can?

A Liberty Reserve co-founder has pleaded guilty to charges of money laundering for criminals.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) alleges that Liberty Reserve laundered up to $6 billion for identity thieves and drug dealers, or roughly $1 billion per year. Vladimir Kats, one of the alleged co-founders was arrested in Brooklyn earlier this year.

Kats had parted ways with Liberty Reserve in 2009, but still was charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and several other serious crimes.

Other arrests were made in Costa Rica, where Liberty Reserve was based.

Liberty Reserve had more than one million users worldwide.

If you are still clinging to Microsoft's 12 year old Windows XP, you might want to consider planning an upgrade before April.

On April 8, 2014, support for Windows XP officially ends. After this date, the ageing operating system will no longer receive security updates, non-security hotfixes or free/paid assisted support options and online technical content updates.

Essentially, this means that as new bugs are discovered that affect Windows, Microsoft will not prepare or distribute fixes for them for Windows XP.

On the second Tuesday of every month, Microsoft releases security patches that are typically downloaded and installed automatically by Windows computers. You may be familiar with this "Patch Tuesday" schedule. The next day however - "Exploit Wednesday" - is when attackers will target unpatched machines (that have not yet gotten the monthly updates) after they dissect Microsoft's updates and attempt to identify the bug that Microsoft is fixing.

If any security vulnerability is discovered that affects an array of Windows operating systems that also includes Windows XP, then this is a serious problem for people still running Windows XP after April 2014, because cybercriminals will become aware of the security bug and Windows XP will not be updated to fix it.

Zynga has not infringed the 'Scrabble' trademark owned by toy giant Mattel, the High Court in the UK has found.

Mattel accused Zynga - the company behind online gaming successes like Farmville - of infringing its 'Scrabble' trademark with its "Scramble With Friend". Essentially, Mattel felt that Zynga was trying to confuse users into thinking they were downloading a scrabble game.

While the High Court judge, Mr Justice Peter Smith, did not agree with Mattel's assessment that Zynga's actions constitute trademark infringement, he did concede that a curly letter M in the logo of the game could be confusing for users, who might think the game is Scrabble.

Mattel - the world's largest manufacturer of toys - said it planned to appeal.

"We are pleased that the English High Court today affirmed Mattel's request for an injunction against Zynga, finding that the similarities between their Scramble With Friends logo and Mattel's intellectual property likely would confuse the public into thinking they were in fact downloading Scrabble," said Mattel spokesman Alan Hilowitz, reports BBC News.

"We are, however, disappointed that the court did not rule that Zynga should cease using the Scramble name, which Mattel intends to appeal."

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the United States has considerably relaxed the rules that govern the use of electronic devices lime smartphones, tablets and e-readers during flights.

By the end of the year, U.S. carriers will allow their passengers to use such devices during the entire duration of a flight, including take-off and landing which up until now has been prohibited.

Passengers still won't be able to make cellular voice calls due to the potential interference with radio transmission equipment, and Internet connections will be prohibited below 10,000 feet, but using an e-reader to read a book or a tablet to play a game will be fine.

U.S. carriers will have to demonstrate for the FAA that they can handle the effects that mobile devices can have on flight instruments. Delta Airlines said that it should be able to let passengers use their devices for the duration of flights starting this month.

Popular Internet Radio provider Pandora has unveiled a new version of their app built specifically for Android tablets.

The app, Pandora 5.0 for Android, optimizes the larger tablet screen sizes and resolutions.

Reads the post:

Here are some more details of what you will experience with Pandora 5.0 for Android tablets:

Enhanced Listening Experience & Personalization – App interface is optimized for larger screens and features upgraded core Pandora functionality, such as adding variety to a station and viewing station details, in addition to the ability to easily shuffle, rename and delete stations.

Deeper Music Discovery & Exploration –Explore more about the artist and album that is currently playing with enriched artist pages that include similar artists and genome traits of the current track playing, plus lyrics, artist biographies and album discographies.

Your Personal Profile & Music Feed – Your detailed timeline Capture your music preferences on this detailed timeline, such as stations created, bookmarked tracks and thumb history and choose to make your profile either public or private. The Music Feed offers a centralized place to view music activity, making it easy to explore what friends and other listeners with similar musical tastes are discovering and enjoying on Pandora.

According to Strategy Analytics, Android remains the king of the smartphone.

Global smartphone shipments jumped to 251.4 million units in the Q3 2013, up from 172.8 million year-over-year.

Android remains king, with 81.3 percent global share, followed by Apple at 13.4 percent and Windows Phone taking third at 4.1 percent. The growth for Android and Windows Phone was at the expense of iOS and BlackBerry. Apple saw strong growth, but fell from 15.6 percent share in the Q3 2012. BlackBerry just about fell off the map entirely, and now has 1 percent share. Windows Phone shipments doubled year-over-year.

iOS will continue to lose share as it has no presence in the low end market dominated by developing nations in Europe and Asia, says Strategy. Nokia, especially, has made a concentrated effort to create nice, cheap devices to fill that niche.

Rockstar, the consortium that purchased Nortel patents for $4.5 billion in 2011, has sued a number of major wireless industry players for patent infringement.

The group has sued Samsung, Google, HTC, Huawei, Asus and ZTE in the U.S. Rockstar is a group consisting of Apple, Microsoft, Blackberry, Ericsson and Sony. The consortium outbid Google for the patents, forcing the search giant to purchase Motorola Mobility for its patent trove.

Google has been accused of infringing on 7 separate patents, many of which cover tech related to Internet search and relevant advertising. All of the other companies build Android devices, which run on Google software and are deeply integrated with Google services.

Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman has revealed that the second generation Ouya microconsole will begin development in early 2014 and launch during the year.

Before the Ouya Android microconsole was launched this summer, Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman had pledged that a new upgraded Ouya would be released annually. It appears that the company is sticking to that plan, as Uhrman informed Polygon that Ouya 2.0 will launch next year, with development commencing early in the year.

Additionally, new improved Ouya controllers will roll-out soon that resolve a button-sticking issue, have tighter triggers and textured thumbsticks.

Whether or not the first Ouya console will remain on sale or will be replaced with the second iteration of the console is a decision not yet made by the company.

Some users of Apple's new 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display have encountered a problem with the device.

Apple has said that in some rare cases the MacBook Pro's keyboard and touchpad may become unresponsive. It has pledged to fix the issue as soon as possible with an update.

Until then, it suggests closing the laptop for a minute or so and then re-open, which resets the affected components and will act as a temporary workaround for affected users.

Apple also acknowledged a battery drain problem with its new iPhone 5S smartphone this week.

Google will crack down on third-party apps that make use of Google Voice, it has been announced.

Developers of such apps have six months to transition users away from Google Voice by May 15, 2014. The announcement was made by Google's Nikhyl Singhal on Google+.

"We want to make Google Voice as secure as possible. There are a few third-party applications that provide calling and SMS services by making unauthorized use of Google Voice. These apps violate our Terms of Service and pose a threat to your security, so we're notifying these app developers that they must stop making unauthorized use of Google Voice to run their services and transition users by May 15, 2014," Singhal wrote.

He also revealed that a new version of Google+ Hangouts for Android would be released supporting SMS and MMS messages. Unfortunately, today's update does not work with Google Voice numbers unless you've enabled Google Voice on your Sprint phone.

"But rest assured, we're working to support SMS messages for all Google Voice phone numbers by early next year. And don't worry, your Voice number will go unchanged," Singhal wrote.