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The Sims 4 will not require an always-on Internet connection, according to EA and developer Maxis.

The launch of SimCity was marred for some users due to server errors which left the game unplayable. The developer, Maxis, insisted that the always-on Internet connection requirement for SimCity was necessary and not part of a Digital Rights Management (DRM) system.

After announcing the new Sims 4 title for 2014, Maxis and EA have confirmed that the game is a single player offline experience, which might come as a relief to some Sims fans.

Requiring that gamers have a constant Internet connection for single player games (or game modes) has been a controversial topic in the past few years. While most such requirements are part of anti-piracy measures, critics claim that they don't tend to halt piracy at all and just put legitimate customers at risk.

Those intending to buy the new Xbox console when it launches will have been pleased to hear that a previously reported requirement to have a constant Internet connection for all gameplay has been dismissed.

Microsoft's cloud storage service has hit a milestone of 250 million users, aided by a boost since the launch of Windows 8 in October, 2012.

Since the new Microsoft operating system launched, SkyDrive has seen 50 million new users flock to the service. It has also been aided by becoming the default save location for the latest Office software/services from the Redmond giant.

Recently, it has enjoyed improved mobile support with app updates across platforms, and increased security measures with two-step verification and Extended Validation Certificates integrated on SkyDrive.com.

Soon, Outlook.com users will also be able to attach anything from SkyDrive to an e-mail.

Here is an infographic from SkyDrive to highlight its 250 million user milestone.

Microsoft Corp has revealed that it has sold over 100 million licenses for its flagship Windows 8 operating system in the six months since its launch.

On the face of it, the figure puts Windows 8 license sales in line with Windows 7 sales after its first six months. Examining the figures a little more leaves less room for optimism however, indicating that Windows 8 is not likely to witness the same escalating sales as Windows 7.

In its first year of availability, Windows 7 reached 240 million sales. Microsoft would hope that Windows 8 can mimic such continued growth in its next six months on the market, but considering that early January sales figures for the new operating system were reported at 60 million, that would suggest sales of 40 million licenses in the previous four months.

Microsoft is well aware of the problem that it faces.

"Is it perfect? No. Are there things we need to change? Absolutely. We are being very real about what needs to change and changing it as thoughtfully and quickly as we can", said Tami Reller, head of business and marketing strategy for Windows.

According to Ars, citing an internal Microsoft email, the upcoming Xbox sequel will not require an always-on Internet connection, as widely rumored.

The memo was allegedly sent to employees working on Durango, Microsoft's codename for the console. "Durango is designed to deliver the future of entertainment while engineered to be tolerant of today's Internet. There are a number of scenarios that our users expect to work without an Internet connection, and those should 'just work' regardless of their current connection status. Those include, but are not limited to: playing a Blu-ray disc, watching live TV, and yes playing a single player game."

Additionally, the report confirms that the Xbox will have an HDMI input, allowing for cable boxes to be connected for live TV viewing. The console is expected to include TV listings and guides.

Microsoft will unveil the console at a press event on May 21st.

Disney has announced a new multi-year licensing agreement with Electronic Arts (EA) for new games based on the popular Star Wars stories and characters.

EA has already confirmed at least three new Star Wars titles for gamers across multiple platforms while Disney has kept the rights to develop mobile and social titles.

"This agreement demonstrates our commitment to creating quality game experiences that drive the popularity of the Star Wars franchise for years to come," said John Pleasants, Co-President of Disney Interactive. "Collaborating with one of the world's premier game developers will allow us to bring an amazing portfolio of new Star Wars titles to our fans around the world."

"Every developer dreams of creating games for the Star Wars universe," said EA Labels President Frank Gibeau. "Three of our top studios will fulfill that dream, crafting epic adventures for Star Wars fans. DICE and Visceral will produce new games, joining the BioWare team which continues to develop for the Star Wars franchise. The new experiences we create may borrow from films, but the games will be entirely original with all new stories and gameplay."

It is unclear how much EA paid to receive the exclusive rights. Disney purchased LucasFilm last year for $4 billion.

The Senate has passed a bill that will allow states to tax online sales, even if the retailer does not have a brick-and-mortar presence in the state.

Passed by a margin of 69 to 27, the bill will now head to the House where it is expected to see bigger resistance despite a public backing by President Barack Obama.

Currently, states can only require retailers to collect sales tax if they have a physical presence, whether a retail store or a headquarters or a distribution warehouse. Online retailers (in most states) do not have to collect sales tax, including behemoths like Amazon and eBay and major online retailers like Newegg and TigerDirect.

The bill would require businesses with revenue above $1 million to collect taxes for all products they sell online, through radio and in catalogs. The sales tax would then have to be sent back to the state where the shopper lives.

Critics of the bill claim small retailers will have expensive obligations now to figure out sales tax rules for 50 states and collect and remit such taxes at varying rates. eBay has been a massive opponent of the bill. Says eBay president John Donahoe: "Giant retailers have a requirement to collect sales taxes nationwide because they have physical presence nationwide. Likewise, today small retail stores and online retailers collect sales taxes for the one state where they are located. That's a fair requirement."

The Pentagon has said this week that a number of BlackBerry and Samsung devices have been cleared for use on Defense Department networks, meaning the military will soon be open to more devices and technology.

Lieutenant Colonel Damien Pickart says BlackBerry 10 smart phones, BlackBerry PlayBook tablets and Samsung's Android Knox have been cleared.

"This is a significant step towards establishing a multi-vendor environment that supports a variety of state-of-the-art devices and operating systems," Pickart added.

Additionally, the LT says iOS 6.0 devices are expected to get clearance later this month.

The news is huge, as will the contracts for OEMs. The Pentagon has 600,000 mobile device users. 470,000 use BlackBerry and under 50,000 use Apple or Android as part of test programs.

Any device cleared had to pass a security review process approved by the Defense Information Systems Agency.

Earlier this year, we reported that the Antiguan government looked to be planning to launch a site that will sell movies, music and software without giving a dime back to the copyright holders.

The U.S. has a trade blockade with the island due to its offering of Internet gambling services, even though the WTO had ruled in Antigua's favor multiple times. Antiguan officials hope to make some income back through the new warez site.

Gambling was a major business for Antigua, up until a couple of years ago when the U.S. took the unprecedented step of shutting down all American access to gambling sites, most notably sports betting and poker. "What was once a multi-billion dollar industry in our country, employing almost 5 percent of our population has now shrunk to virtually nothing," said Antigua's High Commissioner to London Carl Roberts, at the time.

The WTO previously ruled that the U.S. block of Antiguan gambling companies violated free-trade. The group then ruled that Antigua can "suspend U.S. copyrights up to $21 million annually." The government now plans to use this option, selling U.S. media to customers worldwide (up to $21 million worth), without giving a penny to the copyright holders.

Nook Media, the joint venture between Barnes & Noble and Microsoft, has announced today a major promotional price cut for their Nook HD and Nook HD+ tablets.

From today through Mother's Day, the NOOK HD is available for $149 (8GB) and $179 (16GB), and the NOOK HD+ is $179 (16GB) or $209 (32GB), down at least $20 from current prices.

The tablets are available online and in-store.

"In recognition that the best gift for Mother's Day is now even better, we're proud to offer this special limited-time offer for our award-winning 7- and 9-inch tablets," said Jamie Iannone, president of NOOK Media. "NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ are not only beautifully designed, lightweight devices with stunning displays, they now offer customers the most reading and entertainment content we've ever offered, at the best prices ever."

The deals are actually better than they seem due to the fact that Barnes & Noble has opened the tablets up to Chrome and the Google Play Store, making over 700,000 apps available alongside music, books and movies through Google.

ComScore has released their latest U.S. smartphone share data for the period ended March 31st.

Compared to the start of the new year, Google fell 1.4 percentage points, to 52 percent global share, as Apple jumped 2.7 percentage points to 39 percent.

BlackBerry fell significantly from 6.4 percent to 5.2 percent while Microsoft remained relatively flat, gaining 0.1 percent share to 3 percent.

On an individual company basis, Apple controlled 39 percent share, besting Samsung at 21.7 percent. HTC, Motorola and LG rounded out the top five, unsurprisingly.

ComScore collects data from installed user bases and not from handset sales.

Charts here:

Acer has unveiled their previously announced convertible, the Aspire P3.

The ultrabook convertible, which is an 11-inch tablet with a keyboard cover, has no physical connectors and uses Bluetooth.

Acer's latest runs on either an Intel Core i3 or i5 processor, the 11.6-inch IPS 1,366x768 resolution display, 2 or 4GB of DDR3 RAM, 60 or 120GB of SSD internal storage, Intel HD 4000 graphics, dual cameras 1.3MP/5MP and a single USB 3.0 port and a Micro-HDMI port.

Of course, the tablet runs on Windows 8 Pro.

The Aspire P3 sells for $799 base, cheaper than the Microsoft Surface Pro by a long shot.

AT&T Mobility is preparing to launch a new prepaid brand dubbed "All In One" starting on June 15.

At the heart of the brand is a $50 per month smartphone plan and a $35 per month subscription for feature phones.

The plans are expected to include unlimited text and talk and 100MB data for feature phones and unlimited text, talk and 2GB of HSPA+ data for smartphones. Additionally, there may also be a $70 plan that includes 5GB of data, aimed at bigger data hogs.

AT&T will test the brand in Florida and Texas this month as a pilot before the full launch next month.

Rivals like Verizon have recently unveiled prepaid plans, and T-Mobile USA dropped subsidies altogether for new cheaper unlimited plans.

Facebook and Timelines Inc. have settled their trademark case.

Timelines Inc., the owner and operator of Timelines.com, sued Facebook in 2011 after the company rehauled its profile pages as a "timeline." The site helps users create and collaborate on historical timelines. The company has registered trademarks for "Timelines," "Timelines.com" and its own "Timelines" logo.

The social networking giant, for its defense, claimed "timeline" was generic and therefore constituted fair use. Facebook then tried to get a summary judgement but was denied, meaning the case would have gone to trial very soon.

Without revealing financial details, Facebook said "We are also party to various legal proceedings and claims which arise in the ordinary course of business. Among these legal matters, in two cases, Summit 6 LLC v. Research in Motion Corporation et al., and Timelines, Inc. v. Facebook, Inc., we have reached agreements to settle the matters. The cost of settlement in each case, which is included in the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2013, was not material to our business, financial condition, or results of operations."

U.S. Cellular, a regional carrier, has announced it will begin offering Apple products later in the year, although details were scant.

During their quarterly earnings release, the company noted "we have a number of strategies in progress to increase loyalty and attract more customers, including our announcement today that we will begin offering Apple products later this year. By further strengthening our device portfolio, we'll give consumers another great reason to switch to U.S. Cellular, and enable our existing customers to choose from an even wider variety of iconic smartphones, and enjoy the outstanding U.S. Cellular customer experiences they deserve. Our smartphone penetration is currently 43 percent of core market customers and growing quickly. We believe there will be strong, ongoing demand for smartphones and data products and services from our customers, and we have significant room for growth in this area."

In 2011, U.S. Cellular made headlines when it refused to carry the iPhone due to Apple's "unacceptable terms." Apple normally requires carriers accept a certain amount of devices over the course of three years.

Netflix has said this week that wherever it begins offering its legal streaming content, torrent traffic falls dramatically.

Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos noted, "the best way to combat piracy isn't legislatively or criminally but by giving good options."

The streaming site has 30 million subscribers in the U.S. and is becoming popular in other nations, as well.

Sarandos says the data backs Netflix's claim: "One of the things is we get ISPs to publicize their connection speeds – and when we launch in a territory the BitTorrent traffic drops as the Netflix traffic grows. So I think people do want a great experience and they want access – people are mostly honest."