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BlackBerry, which recently received a $4.7 billion offer sheet, has also been in talks with Cisco, Google and SAP about bids for either the entire company or parts.

The first offer, by Fairfax Financial Holdings, is dependent on whether they can get the partners and financing to take the company private. So far, shareholders have met that bid with skepticism, but Fairfax seems confident and has put a large breakup fee in place should it not be able to pull through.

In addition, Intel, LG and Samsung are said to have fleeting interest in pieces of the company.

It appears that most of the interested parties are looking to BlackBerry's secure server network and patent portfolio, although the value of the divisions are still in a wide range. The value of the licensing agreements are expected to be cut in half in the next 18 months, and half of BlackBerry's $3 billion in cash is expected to be used through in the next 18 months, as well, meaning any buyer should just bide their time.

Microsoft, which for years has touted its Security Essentials anti-virus package, has now said users should use third-party applications on top of MSE, as it will never be the best option.

In an interview, the company admits it has turned its AV app into a "baseline program," and that the app will "always be on the bottom" of the AV software rankings, where it has languished in the last two years after a few years on top.

Microsoft also adds that "the company is just sharing its virus tracking findings with the security industry so they can develop better antivirus programs."

MSE (or Windows Defender in Windows 8) has always been an extremely light-weight app, and it was popular for not being annoying like more commercial programs like McAfee and Norton.

A few great free options if you want to move away from MSE are Avira, Avast and AVG.

Rockstar Games has posted an update for gamers who have been frustrated by bugs plaguing the online experience of GTA V.

The servers appear to be overwhelmed, and the recently launched multiplayer mode for PS3 and Xbox 360 has seen slow load times for many.

Reads the post:

-For PlayStation 3 users, a PlayStation Network server issue was detected that was limiting the amount of possible concurrent users. This was preventing most players from accessing GTA Online altogether and as of this morning, that problem was resolved.

-There is an issue that is preventing some players from getting through the first tutorial mission across both platforms. Many players have been able to get through this with repeated retries, and we are working on unblocking this for everyone as soon as possible.

-This morning, we experienced some instability across the GTA Online services which is affecting even people who have progressed beyond the tutorial mission. We are identifying these issues now and are working to restore stability for users as soon as possible.

According to Bloomberg, Microsoft has approached struggling smartphone maker HTC, asking them about adding Windows Phone to their Android devices.

Supposedly, Terry Myerson, head of Microsoft's operating systems unit, is asking to have Windows Phone loaded as a dual-boot option on HTC's Android smartphones, with Microsoft even going as fat as to eliminate the licensing fee for the operating system.

The talks are preliminary, and could go nowhere, say the sources. HTC, which was the first company to make a Windows Phone, has not released one since June and there are no current plans for any into the future.

Microsoft owns around 4 percent of the global smartphone market, and some of its Nokia Lumia phones have become hits in their own right. It is clear, however, that the company will need to make drastic concessions (like making Windows Phone a second option) if it wants to control more share.

Just two weeks after the phone launched, Best Buy has already dumped the price of the Apple iPhone 5C.

Until October 7th, the device will sell for $50 with contract after using a gift card, a 50 percent discount from its MSRP.

With all new purchases, customers will get a $50 gift card that can be applied to the same purchase. The gift card deal is also extended to Samsung Galaxy smartphones.

"We view ourselves as a company that offers consumers something they can't get anywhere else -- all the phones, all the plans, all the carriers -- and look for any opportunity to delight our customers," says Sandra Tollefson, a Best Buy official.

Walmart and Target have already dropped the price of the devices, to $79 with contract.

Read our review here: Review: The colorful 'new' iPhone 5C

Apple and Samsung are once again in a legal spat.

The Cupertino giant has accused Samsung of 'unlawfully obtaining sensitive information about the terms and conditions of its 2011 patent license agreement with Nokia' and is now seeking sanctions.

In the motion, Apple claims that Dr. Seungho Ahn, a Samsung executive, knew the terms of the settlement and leveraged that knowledge to 'negotiate other potential patent settlements in Samsung's favor.' In the complaint, Apple says the licensing terms were given to Samsung's lawyers clearly marked "Highly Confidential -- Attorneys' Eyes Only", but the files were shared anyways.

During a meeting between Samsung and Nokia on June 4, 2013 to discuss a patent license deal, Dr. Ahn "informed Nokia that the terms of the Apple-Nokia license were known to him" and then stated that "Apple had produced the Apple-Nokia license in its litigation with Samsung, and that Samsung's outside counsel had provided his team with the terms of the Apple-Nokia license."

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer received $1.26 million in pay and incentives for fiscal 2013, despite taking a dock in pay for the Surface's failures.

The exec's base salary was $697,500, and the bonus was $550,000. The incentive bonus was only 79 percent of the total for which he was eligible. Last year, Ballmer received 91 percent of his eligible bonus.

Reads the company's proxy statement:

The companyfaced challenges due to weakness in the consumer PC market. While the launch of Windows 8 in October 2012 resulted in over 100 million licenses sold, the challenging PC market coupled with the significant product launch costs for Windows 8 and Surface resulted in an 18% decline in Windows Division operating income. Slower than anticipated sales of Surface RT devices and the decision to reduce prices to accelerate sales resulted in a $900 million inventory charge.

Netflix for iOS has been updated this week, adding a couple of notable new features.

If you are running iOS 7, you will now have access to HD streams and AirPlay support.

Earlier this year, Netflix added 1080p streaming support to Android devices and now your iPad and iPhone will have the same.

Adds the streaming giant: "With our latest app, you can now also start streaming over AirPlay. This new feature is very simple and works on all iOS 7 devices. You can choose a title to watch on your iPhone or iPad and start playback. If there is an Apple TV device connected to the same Wifi network, an AirPlay icon appears. Press the AirPlay icon and playback will move to your Apple TV."

Additionally, you can use you iOS device as a remote control for the Apple TV during Airplay.

Adobe has confirmed that cyber attackers got the best them, with an exploit leading to data on nearly 3 million customers being compromised.

Besides 2.9 million Adobe IDs and passwords being stolen, full customer names, encrypted credit/debit card numbers, and expiration dates were also compromised for many of the customers.

Additionally, "source code for numerous Adobe products" was also stolen in the attacks.

Reads the company's release:

Our investigation currently indicates that the attackers accessed Adobe customer IDs and encrypted passwords on our systems. We also believe the attackers removed from our systems certain information relating to 2.9 million Adobe customers, including customer names, encrypted credit or debit card numbers, expiration dates, and other information relating to customer orders. At this time, we do not believe the attackers removed decrypted credit or debit card numbers from our systems. We deeply regret that this incident occurred. We're working diligently internally, as well as with external partners and law enforcement, to address the incident. We're taking the following steps:

According to sources, Google is planning on releasing a native Google Music app for iOS as soon as this month.

Google Music, along with its new Music All Access streaming service, have been noticeably absent from iOS since launch. Google Play allows you to save all your music in the cloud, and stream it from Android devices or on the web. It also allows you to download your music back whenever you log in to your Google account. All Access is similar to Spotify in which you get access to millions of songs to stream, at home and on mobile devices.

The sources say Google is still internally testing the app, but it should launch by the end of the month.

For the time being, there are a couple of unofficial apps in the App Store, and you can always use the limited Web application if desperate. Both options are not great at this point, however.

After hinting at an IPO filing via Twitter last month, the company has made their filing public and in turn revealed key statistics about their operations.

The company will trade with the ticker TWTR, and the filing reveals hope that the company can raise $1 billion in its initial offering, with stock valuing the company at around $15 billion.

Filed as an S-1 thanks to the recently signed JOBS Act, companies with less than $1 billion in annual revenue can file confidentially and they only need two years of audited financial statements and historical financial data. Without the Act, the company would have needed three years and five years of the documentation, respectively.

In its IPO, Twitter states it has over 200 million monthly active users, and 500 million tweets per day. Revenue jumped from 2011 to 2012 by nearly 200 percent, up to $315.9 million. The companies losses decreased by 38 percent, to $79.4 million. Since inception, the company has lost slightly over $400 million but still has $375 million in cash on hand.

Evan Williams, one of the company's founders, will be the big winner in the IPO. Owning 12 percent of outstanding shares, Williams is expected to become a billionaire overnight. A few other firms and individuals will net $300 million or more in profits on the IPO.

Thirteen alleged members of Anonymous have been indicted this week due to their part in "Operation Payback," a series of attacks in which the group avenged The Pirate Bay and Wikileaks.

The thirteen are charged with attacks between September 2010 and January 2011 on the MPAA, RIAA, Bank of America, Visa and Mastercard. The defendants are charged with organizing the DDoS attacks on the websites of the major corporations.

Anonymous attacked the MPAA and RIAA for their parts in getting The Pirate Bay banned in numerous countries, and the financial institutions were attacked because they began blocking funds to Wikileaks and its founder Julian Assange.

Reads the indictment: "The defendants planned and executed a coordinated series of cyber-attacks against victim websites by flooding those websites with a huge volume of irrelevant Internet traffic with the intent to make the resources on the websites unavailable to customers and users of those websites."

Kevin Packingham, the chief product officer for Samsung Mobile, has abruptly left the company.

Packingham was directly involved in introducing the Galaxy S and Note lines. The company did not provide any details on whether the exec left voluntarily or not.

All the company would say is: "Kevin Packingham has departed Samsung Mobile. We thank Kevin for his contributions and wish him well in his future endeavors."

During his two years with the company, Packingham was involved in the negotiations that brought the Galaxy S3 to all the major carriers. He was able to do so by telling the carriers that Samsung would do all the marketing investment for their device, guaranteeing the devices would be hits.

"The change that happened was it took a lot of burden off the carriers," Mr. Packingham said earlier this year. "People were coming into their stores and they didn't have to pay for that demand."

In February, Google announced the Pixel Chromebook, a touchscreen notebook with the 'highest resolution screen, ever."

Consumers may have been impressed by the specs, but not by the price, as the Pixel retails with a $1300 price tag, simply too much for a computer that becomes a lot less useful when you don't have an Internet connection.

Caesar Sengupta, vice president of product management for Chromebooks, has confirmed that high sales were never in the cards for the Pixel. "Big sales were never the broad goal for the Pixel," he added. Google really intended the device to be a high-end touchscreen reference device to inspire developers to build touch-enabled Chrome apps.

When the device first launched, Google even noted that it was aimed at "power users who have fully embraced the cloud."

Chromecast, Google's recent launched $35 Wi-Fi HDMI dongle, has added Hulu Plus support, a huge boost for the platform.

Hulu Plus, which costs $8 per month, gives access to thousands of episodes from Fox, ABC and NBC including the latest episodes aired during the week.

The new move does come with one condition, however; you must be using an Android or iPad tablet or an Android smartphone app to Chromecast. Unlike Netflix, where you can cast from within the Chrome browser, as well, you cannot do so with Hulu.

iPhone is currently not supported.

As of this week, the Hulu apps have updated and now include the Cast button within the viewing window.