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Multiple sources are reporting that HP is actively looking to sell off their mobile-computing patents, with CEO Meg Whitman looking for ways to add cash to the company's reserves.

Part of those patents and intellectual property is WebOS, the defunct smartphone operating system made popular by Palm before it went under and was acquired by Whitman's predecessor.

HP has been removing "restrictive conditions that made the patents unattractive to buyers" say the sources, which should allow for higher prices.

The company, which remains the world's second-largest PC maker, acquired WebOS (and Palm) for $1.2 billion in 2010, with the expectation they would build phones and tablets and use the well-regarded operating system in printers and other hardware. This never happened and the company wrote down the entire acquisition before shutting down the division entirely and open sourcing the code. The code was then sold to LG this year for an undisclosed amount, while HP retained the patents.

Twitter will IPO with 70 million shares, pricing at $17-$20 as the company hopes to raise $1.4 billion.

The updated numbers come via an amended S-1 filing revealed today.

"Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for the common stock. It is currently estimated that the initial public offering price per share will be between $17.00 and $20.00," the amendment reads. "Our common stock has been approved for listing on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "TWTR."

Additionally, it was revealed that most of the company's directors and top executives are selling small portions of their stock. For example, chairman Jack Dorsey will sell 0.6 percent of the company, or about $60 million worth, while co-founder Evan Williams will sell 1.6 percent and keep the other 10.4 percent.

The company is expected to IPO the week of November 6th.

A U.S. District Court has found Apple did not violate patents held by WiLAN related to CDMA and HSPA.

In September 2011, WiLAN sued a bunch of tech firms in Texas alleging infringement of U.S Patent No. RE37,802. Since then, it has managed to squeeze settlements and license agreements with six of the seven defendants: Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc., Dell Inc., Hewlett-Packard Company, HTC Corporation, Novatel Wireless, Inc. and Sierra Wireless Inc.

Apple was not in the mood to settle the case however, and trial proceedings began October 15, 2013. The outcome of the jury trial determined that Apple did not infringe the patent in question, and found that two of WiLAN's claims were invalid.

WiLAN does not expect the decision to impact on the license agreements already struck with other firms over the patents, adding it was disappointed with the Jury's decision and is currently reviewing its options with trial counsel, McKool Smith.

Ebay is seeking to expand its one-hour delivery services with the acquisition of Shutl.

The auction giant provides a similar service in San Francisco and New York, and now with the acquisition of Shutl is preparing to expand it across more than twenty other U.S. cities, while also bringing the service to the United Kingdom.

Basically, if the Ebay seller and buyer are located in the same area, the rapid delivery service can be used.

Shutl already operates in the UK, with clients such as Argos, Warehouse and Schuh. Customers can choose between a delivery as soon as possible, or select a one-hour window within which to receive the goods. It touts a record delivery time of under 14 minutes.

There is a cost to convenience of course, with Shutl charging up to £6.99 for the rapid delivery.

Facebook has changed its policies regarding violent video content again in a row over a video showing a woman being decapitated.

Facebook had ignited a storm when it refused to remove a video showing a masked individual decapitating a live woman, despite multiple complaints over the nature of the content. One of the complainants was the Australian police force.

As the story became more widespread, Facebook made changes so that a content warning was shown on the video, and said it would move to make users more aware of the nature of questionable violent content.

However, that wasn't enough to satisfy critics, including British Prime Minister David Cameron.

"It's irresponsible of Facebook to post beheading videos, especially without a warning. They must explain their actions to worried parents," Cameron tweeted. Of course, Facebook didn't "post" the content itself as the tweet suggests, but when made aware of it being available on its site, it certainly was Facebook's problem then.

Other critics questioned why its OK to post an extreme video showing a vile act of murder in the real world, and yet a picture of a woman with fully exposed breasts - non-violent imagery of body parts possessed by roughly half the human race - would be removed upon receipt of a complaint.

Microsoft has confirmed that a back-end change made by Twitter is causing Windows Phone devices to use excessive amounts of data downloading profile images.

Twitter is currently in the process of transitioning its profile pictures from one server to another, and apparently has made a change that is causing data woes for some Windows Phone users. Microsoft has confirmed that the built-in Twitter feature (within the People hub) is to blame for excessive data use reported by users.

In an attempt to provide a temporary solution for the problem, Microsoft has made changes to only sync Twitter accounts once per day, but has admitted its options are limited until Twitter resolves the back-end problem itself.

Removing a Twitter account from a Windows Phone device will stop the drain completely if you are concerned about data usage, until Twitter implements a permanent fix for the issue.

Users of TiVo's Roamio Plus and Roamio Pro boxes can now stream recorded content remotely to their iPhones or iPads, as long as there is a Wi-Fi connection available,

Apps for Android will be coming later on, while the iOS apps will also have to be tweaked to allow streaming over LTE networks.

For now, if Wi-Fi is available remotely then the updated TiVo app can stream live or recorded content from the Roamio Plus or Roamio Pro boxes. Content can also be downloaded locally to the device, though this is probably subject to content owner restrictions.

"Until now, your shows have been locked up in your set top box at home," said Jim Denney, Vice President of Product Marketing at TiVo.

"Now with a TiVo Roamio DVR, whether it's a hotel in Denmark, the waiting room at the dentist office, when you're stuck at the airport, or at the gym, out-of-home streaming gives you the level of choice, control and freedom that consumers have come to expect from TiVo."

(via: Engadget)

A survey conducted by the Pew Research Center has found that around a third of all U.S. adults get news through Facebook.

Around two thirds of all U.S. adults use Facebook. Just under 80 percent of those surveyed by Pew said they find news when checking up on their friends on the social network.

"People go to Facebook to share personal moments - and they discover the news almost incidentally," Amy Mitchell, director of journalism research at Pew, said.

Still, only 4 percent of Facebook "news consumers" described the social network as the most important way they get their news.

The research is being conducted by Pew in collaboration with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, probing changes in how the U.S. public obtain news.

Younger Americans look more to social media, like Twitter, to keep up to date with news than with traditional media sources like television and print media.

Xbox LIVE Gold users will now be able to access PBS content on their Xbox 360 consoles.

The PBS app for Xbox 360 will feature hundreds of videos from PBS stations, including full-length episodes from new primetime programs as well as the PBS archives, with new national and local content updated daily. Content from programs such as NOVA, Frontline, American Experience and Austin City Limits will be available.

Xbox 360 users will access and personalize their PBS experiences by identifying their local PBS station, which will provide them access to locally produced content along with signature PBS programs.

"This launch is an important next step in our strategy to make PBS content available through a variety of platforms, while maintaining the connection between the viewer and their local PBS station," said Jon Brendsel, Vice President of Product Development, PBS Digital.

"While PBS member stations will always be the first place to find high-quality PBS programming, the launch of our Xbox 360 offering recognizes that viewers are looking to engage with their local station in the time and manner they choose."

More Info: pbs.org/xbox

Samsung has sold over 40 million Galaxy S4 units since the smartphone was launched six months ago, according to the company.

In the first two months of availability, the Galaxy S4 sold 20 million units and reached 30 million after four months on the market. Since then, sales of the Samsung flagship smartphone slowed down but have still crossed the 40 million milestone.

That's according to Samsung chief executive JK Shin, and the company has gone on to release the curved Galaxy Round, the Galaxy Note 3 and the Galaxy Gear.

The Galaxy S4 has a 5-inch, 1080p Super AMOLED display, a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 APQ8064T processor (upgraded to 800 in limited LTE-A model), 2GB of RAM and with 16GB internal storage (upgradable to 64GB via microSDXC).

Microsoft has confirmed that 8 users can use Party Chat on Xbox One at launch.

Allowing 8 users to join a Party Chat matches the limit of the Xbox 360 and that of the PlayStation 4 (PS4) for voice chat, announced earlier this week by Sony.

"At launch, up to eight people will be able to join a Party Chat at a time on Xbox One," a Microsoft representative told Game Informer.

Xbox One launches in selected markets around the world from November 22, priced at $499 in the United States and €499 in the European Union (£429 in the UK).

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has announced that its iPlayer apps for Android and iOS have been downloaded over 20 million times.

In September 2013, a record 70 million TV requests came from mobiles and tablets, compared to just 5 million in September 2010, and TV requests from mobile devices now make up 41 per cent of all iPlayer requests, compared with just 6 per cent three years ago.

Christmas Day 2011 and 2012 were the most popular days so far for downloads of the iPlayer apps, with 229,200 and 385,600 downloads respectively, driven by lucky owners of new phones or tablets who go on an app binge.

iPlayer usage spikes at night time, around 10pm as people catch up with their favorite programmes in bed. It then rises again in the morning during commuting hours.

"With over 20 million downloads of the app and record-breaking BBC iPlayer requests on handheld devices, we are thrilled that viewers are increasingly taking their favourite BBC shows with them to watch whenever and wherever they are. And with tablets the top of many people's Christmas list for 2013, we expect this to continue to grow even further," Dan Taylor, Head of BBC iPlayer for BBC Future Media said.

Target will carry the Ouya Android microconsole nationwide from this month, Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman has revealed.

The retailer has been an official partner of Ouya since launch, but has only offered it in selected stores. From this month, Ouya will be sold across its 1,800 U.S. stores.

Ouya will also roll out demo kiosks to Target stores, while the retailer will promote the microconsole with in-store video ads and a $10 game card with the purchase of the $99 console.

Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman also said that the company is in talks with Wal-Mart about selling the console, and will expand the availability of the console across Western Europe.

Ouya has been available since June, the end result of a successful Kickstarter campaign.

Microsoft has dropped the cost of a Surface Pro tablet by a further $100, following the release of the Surface Pro 2.

The price cut is only applicable to the United States and Canada up until December 31. It follows Microsoft's decision to cut the product by $100 back in August, and is clearly aimed at reducing remaining stock of the first generation Surface Pro now that the second is here.

The price cut applies to both the 64GB and 128GB models, pricing them at $699 and $799 respectively.

The Surface Pro 2 upgrades to an Intel Core i5-4200U 1.6Ghz, with Microsoft saying it is 20 percent faster, has 50 percent better graphics performance and operates quieter than the first generation Pro. Up to 512GB of internal storage is available, and with either 4GB or 8GB or RAM. It runs Windows 8.1.

(via: Engadget)

Samsung has been fined $340,000 after an investigation found it was behind an astroturfing campaign aimed at praising its products and attacking competitors.

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) in Taiwan announced in April this year that it was investigating claims that Samsung was using an army of paid commenters to market its products and bash those of a competitor in Taiwanese Internet forums.

At the time, the media identified the victim as HTC Corp.

The FTC found that Samsung was indeed behind such a campaign, using a large number of hired writers through third-party firms. Two firms were fined over $100,000 for their part.

Samsung has been fined $340,000, though the FTC report does not identify HTC as a target.