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Bloomberg is reporting that Verizon Communications Inc is in talks to buy out Vodafone's 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless for $130 billion.

News that Verizon sought to buy out UK-based Vodafone's atake of the Verizon Wireless (Cellco Partnership) joint venture emerged earlier this year, with Reuters reporting that Verizon was mulling a $100 billion bid for the 45 percent stake it does not control.

Bloomberg is now citing sources familiar with the talks in reporting that Verizon is negotiating with several banks to kick in $60 billion in financing toward a $130 billion deal.

The initial Reuters report in April indicated that Verizon was considering a 50:50 cash and stock offer.

At the time analysts found that Verizon's proposed $100 billion bid undervalued Vodafone's share by as much as $20 billion.

Skype has confirmed that it is working on 3D video calls, but has held back developed technology so far due to the limits of consumer webcams.

"We've done work in the labs looking at the capability of 3D-screens and 3D-capture," Microsoft's corporate vice-president for Skype, Mark Gillett, said in an interview with the BBC.

"We've seen a lot of progress in screens and a lot of people now buy TVs and computer monitors that are capable of delivering a 3D image. But the capture devices are not yet there. As we work with that kind of technology you have to add multiple cameras to your computer, precisely calibrate them and point them at the right angle. We have it in the lab, we know how to make it work and we're looking at the ecosystem of devices and their capability to support it in order to make a decision when we might think about bringing something like that to market."

Rumors about Skype working on 3D calls stemmed from an advert posted by the firm in April saying it wanted to find a way to create body doubles for worked unable to travel for meetings.

The hype surrounding 3D entertainment in recent years has cooled off considerably as consumers largely ignore the technology in the living room. This led to questions about whether World Cup 2014 games should be broadcast in 3D at all, and prompted ESPN to drop a 3D channel.

Rockstar Games has released what it is calling the official Grand Theft Auto V trailer, ahead of the anticipated title's September 17th launch.

The trailer (below) is due to be aired this Sunday in the U.S. during the latest episode of AMC's Breaking Bad. The game launches on September 17 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and is tipped to be an immediate success due to the popularity of the Grand Theft Auto series.

Here's the trailer.

Instagram has updated their app to allow for straightening of photos.

Using a hack for the phone's sensor, you will be able to straighten your photos that are being uploaded.

As of writing, the Android and iOS versions allow for the new feature, with the correction being done automatically, unless you don't want it.

Another feature includes auto-correct of the photo, which zooms into the photo until empty space is negated.

Facebook, owner of the photo-sharing service, says: "Most phones have a variety of sensors that allow us to determine the orientation and tilt of the device relative to a specific reference, meaning we can tell the angle of your phone at the time you took the picture. This seemed to us a way of making the feature quick and simple to use, which is something we try to achieve with every feature release..."

Once you enter the straightening mode, you will notice how the photo is auto straightened in an animated way; when you tap the button the photo is rotated and zoomed in before your eyes. This animation turned out to be a very important piece of the puzzle as it helps the user understand what is happening to the photo.Once the animation is done, and in case we got the angle wrong, or in case you are simply feeling creative, you can still manually rotate the photo by dragging the wheel at the bottom of the screen. We added in other gestures for people looking to really fine-tune their pictures: if you tap on the edges of the wheel you can rotate by 0.1 degree increments. There are also two other ways to rotate the photo by using common iOS gestures: two finger rotation, or even one finger rotation, for easy interaction with just one hand."

A new teardown of the Moto X by IHS reveals the smartphone does not cost as much as expected, and that being 'Made in America' does not boost costs significantly, either.

The flagship device, which has been generally well reviewed, is different in that it is built at a plant in Texas and not overseas, allowing for customizations such as the color of the backplate, front trim, and engravings. Under the hood, the device uses chips that allow the phone to be "always-on" and listening for voice commands so the phone can act appropriately when in different situations, such as when you get into a car.

"What Google and Motorola are trying to do is not play the game of 'bigger is better' that everyone else is playing," adds IHS analyst Wayne Lam. "They are looking for ways to differentiate themselves from the pack and push the user experience in a new direction."

IHS says the components used to build the phone cost $209, and manufacturing in the U.S. added another $12 per unit, for a grand total of $221. By comparison, phones made overseas, such as those by Samsung and Apple, have manufacturing costs of around $7.

According to multiple reports, prices of Ultra HD 4K TVs have been falling quicker than expected, and Sony and Samsung will be dropping prices on their recently introduced displays.

For example, Samsung has dropped the price of its F9000-series TVs by $1000 and Samsung's new UN55F9000 55-inch Ultra HD will now drop to $4,499. Moving up, the 65-inch UN65F900 model will now cost $5,999, down $1500 from the current listing.

Sony has made similar moves, dropping their 55-inch models by $1000 and the 65-inch model by $1500.

One dealer had this to say of the move: "Margins will remain the same, as far as percentage."

Last week, Microsoft announced it would be offering free FIFA 14 with Xbox One pre-orders in Europe.

Sony responded to the offer, calling the offer "kind of odd." Sony Computer Entertainment Europe CEO Jim Ryan says Sony has no reason to offer a similar deal, as they do not expect to have any issues with demand.

"Why should we do that?" Ryan added. "Our problem is gonna be matching supply to demand. It's perfectly rational when a platform holder, or indeed a publisher, runs a preorder campaign to engage in promotional behavior to dial it up if you feel it's not where you need it to be. That's a rational thing for any businessman to do. We're perfectly happy with where our preorder are."

"Why would we go out and add something? Giving away stuff on day one of a new platform launch, in my mind it's kind of odd," he concluded.

Microsoft's free FIFA offer is good for all existing and new pre-orders.

According to sources, Apple will also unveil a new iPad on September 10th, alongside their new iPhones.

The sources claim Apple "plans to introduce new versions of its phone and tablet" during the event.

Apple is expected to unveil two new iPhones, a lower-priced plastic version and the new iPhone 5S flagship.

Other reports have claimed the new iPad would come later in the fall, but it would be interesting to see the tech giant unveil three or even four new devices in two weeks.

Apple is planning to open a retail store in Tokyo's Omotesando shopping district, its first new store in the city since 2005.

Construction is expected to be completed by February and the store could open in March. In fact, Apple has already begun advertising jobs for the new store.

"For Apple, the Japanese market is appealing in terms of quantity and price," said Satoru Kikuchi, an analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. "There is a room to expand tablet sales and a possibility the Japanese market expands if Apple's mobile carrier partners increase."

Japan's largest carrier, NTT DoCoMo recently announced it would be willing to carry the iPhone if it could limit the handset's share of sales to 30 percent or less of the company's overall sales. DoCoMo offers an online store, the "dmarket," that directly competes with iTunes for music, games, TV and other content.

Such a move would greatly expand Apple's reach in the nation.

Nintendo has made some important announcements today.

The company has unveiled the new "2DS," a tablet-esque version of the 3DS that, as you can imply from the name, does not have 3D capabilities. The handheld is compatible with all DS and 3DS games, however, and will cost just $129.99.

The 2DS is what Nintendo considers to be a gaming tablet as it loses the clamshell design of all the DS before it.

Second, three months ahead of the launch of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, the company has dropped the price of the Wii U console by $50 to $299 for the 32GB model. The Xbox One will sell for $499 with Kinect included and the PlayStation 4 will sell for $399.

Seven months after launch, the Wii U continues to sputter. As of June 30th, Nintendo had only sold 3.61 million Wii U. By comparison, in 2007 the original Wii was selling 1.8 million consoles per month.

According to a new report, Apple is partnering with Inventec next year to manufacture 63.4 million iWatches.

The watches will be priced at $199 and include a flexible display, something Samsung's upcoming Galaxy Gear does not have.

Inventec will build 60 percent of the orders, and it is unclear what other manufacturers will build the rest.

Analyst Wang Wanli of CIMB Securities Limited believes $199 is the sweet spot, right between the iPod Nano and the entry-level iPod Touch.

Wanli says Apple will announce the watch in the Q3 2014.

Patent via AI:

Nitendo president Satoru Iwata says the handheld console business is doing just fine, especially in Japan.

Speaking at the Capcom event in Tokyo, the exec says the company is expected to sell 5 million 3DS consoles in Japan, alone, this year.

"There are more and more media reports suggesting that things aren't going very well for the dedicated gaming hardware business," Iwata added. "But that's not true, at least for the 3DS in Japan."

Nintendo sold 5.5 million 3DS last year in Japan, thanks to the 3DSXL.

Overall, the company is expecting sales of 18 million, up from 13.95 million last year.

As promised, the new Google Nexus 7 FHD is now available outside of North America.

The tablet is now available in the UK, France, Germany, Japan and Spain. Australia, India, and South Korea will be getting the device in the very near future.

In the UK, pricing starts at £199, €229 for the rest of Europe, and 27,800 yen (about $290) in Japan.

This compares to $229 starting price in the U.S., exclusive of sales tax.

Read our review of the tablet, here: Nexus 7 FHD

Sony's next flagship is rightfully getting some good press ahead of its launch on September 4th.

The Xperia Honami is said to have a 1080p 5-inch Triluminos display, a quad-core 2.2 GHz Snapdragon 800 processor and 2GB RAM. What makes the phone standout is a 20.7 megapixel camera with a Sony G-lens and BIONZ image processor. LTE, BT 4.0, NFC and Wi-Fi are standard, and the device has a microSD slot.

Additionally, the phone will be IP57 certified, meaning the device can survive in water for 30 minutes and is also dust-proof.

Sony has shown off at least a few of those features with their latest teaser for the smartphone.

Check the video:

According to the WSJ, HTC is working on building a smartphone operating system that will be aimed specifically at the Chinese market.

The struggling phone maker will be making a large bet on China in its efforts to turnaround the company.

Allegedly, the development of the OS is being "closely monitored" by HTC's Chairwoman Cher Wang, who has been in active discussions with the Chinese government.

The OS will deeply integrate Chinese apps such as Weibo (Twitter of China) and will launch before the end of the year. HTC has been speaking about building its own OS for at least two years, but never got past the development stage.

HTC is hoping to jump on the hole left by Google and Android in the nation. Following a headline-grabbing spat in 2010, Google pulled their search engine from the country and their Google Play Store for Android only has limited apps, nowhere near the full 900,000 catalog available elsewhere around the globe.