Latest news

Earlier this week, we reported that just a year after they sold 50 percent of the company to HTC, Beats Audio had bought back 25 percent of that stake.

HTC originally purchased their 50 percent stake for $300 million, and Beats bought their 25 percent share back at the same equivalent price, $150 million. Beats now has a controlling 75 percent stake. Beat's official explanation is that now they will have "more flexibility for global expansion."

Allegedly, however, there is more to the story.

According to one source, the handset maker did not meet "all of the financial commitments it has made to Beats."

Regardless of past wrongs, HTC will keep exclusivity on the Beats Audio tech for mobile, meaning you won't be seeing it in Samsung, Motorola or other company's phones anytime soon. Additionally, the two companies will also work on a major joint marketing campaign later this year.

Google has made the Nexus Q streaming device available from its Google Play Store.

The company says any order placed today will ship within 5 business days.

Unveiled during Google's I/O event, the orb is described by the company as such: "Nexus Q streams your favorite entertainment directly from the cloud to your living room. Just use the Google Play and YouTube apps on your Android phone or tablet to surf an ocean of music, TV, movies and music, and Nexus Q will play it all on the biggest speakers and screen in the house. There are no downloads, no syncing, no running out of space. Just the stuff you love -- at home and out loud."

The all black orb has a flat bottom to place it on tables and a middle LED strip that goes on when the Q is being used to stream songs, videos and other content.

In terms of connectivity, there's a Micro-HDMI output, an optical audio port, Ethernet jack, plus a Micro-USB port, a set of banana jack speaker outputs, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and NFC (near-field communication) support. The banana jacks allow for speakers to connect to the built-in 25-watt amp with no separate AV receiver required.

Antitrust regulators in the EU have let optical disk drive makers know that they are facing potential fines over rigging bids as part of a cartel.

The thirteen companies were not revealed, yet.

European Commission officials sent statements of objections to each of the companies.

"The Commission has concerns that those suppliers may have coordinated their behavior in bidding events organized by two major original equipment manufacturers for optical disk drives used in personal computers (desktops and notebooks) and in servers," said the EC (via Reuters).

Each of the companies manufacturer or sell optical disk drives like CD, DVD and Blu-ray readers and writers.

According to analysts, Amazon now has ample room to aggressively drop the price of the Kindle Fire tablet.

Cost of supplies has fallen to $133.80 since launch, says iSuppli, down from $185.60 in November of last year.

Memory prices have fallen significantly, and the display price has fallen, too.

Notes Brad Gastwirth of independent research firm ABR Investment Strategy: "Memory prices have been in free fall - with roughly a 50 percent price reduction in the past year. On the display side prices have also come down."

The Kindle Fire currently sells for $200, the same price as the recently launched Nexus 7, which has much more powerful specs.

Breaking from its normal mass marketing strategy, Nokia may be looking to exclusively launch their first Windows Phone 8 smartphone later this year with one carrier, building a "buzz" like Apple did with the original iPhone on AT&T.

The struggling phone maker has been in talks with European carriers for such a launch, and the phone is expected to be released in November.

Instead of their current strategy, which is to get their phones into the hands of as many customers on as many carriers as possible, the new plan would be to have a dedicated partnership with dedicated support for the phone.

In doing so, Nokia will offer the carrier a piece of the revenue from the devices, thus giving incentive to make the phones successful.

It is unclear how far discussions have gone.

Electronic Arts' CEO John Riccitiello has speculated today that both the PS4 and Xbox 8 will be unveiled next year, in preparation for either a holiday release or a 2014 release.

Riccitiello would not cite any specifics, but as the head of one of the world's largest publishers, his words carry some weight.

It has become clear that Microsoft and Sony are only worried about each other and not Nintendo, who's Wii U hardware will be released later this year and could have up to a two-year headstart on its rivals.

The CEO believes better visibility for the next-gen consoles will help slumping software sales, which have been in an extended, multi-year downtrend. Knowing which platforms they will be focusing on should help reverse the trend for publishers, adds Riccitiello.

Google has released their first full-length commerical for the popular Nexus 7 tablet.

The video, posted to YouTube, shows off a man and his son bonding through a camping endeavor.

Of course, Google Apps and some Wi-Fi help the bonding process.

Google's tablet, which sells for base $200, has seen strong sales, and the company has even sold out of the $250 16GB variant.

Check the commercial up next and our review of the tablet here:

Catherine Venusto of Pennsylvania has been charged with hacking into the computer system of the Northwestern Lehigh School District and changing the grades of her two children.

Venusto formerly worked as an administrative office secretary from 2008 through April, 2011 and was familiar with the system.

Before quitting, she was accused of changing one of her daughter's failing grades to a "medical exception." In 2012, the woman was accused of changing her son's grade of 98 to 99.

Venusto has now been charged with 6 felonies, three counts of unlawful use of a computer and three counts of computer trespassing and altering data.

Although there is little chance it will get that far, Venusto is facing 42 years in prison and a $90,000 fine.

In January 2010, Kodak sued both companies seeking an import ban on BlackBerrys and iPhones from the International Trade Commission (ITC). It accused both companies of patent infringement for the '218 patent which covers "Initiating Capture of Still Images while Previewing Motion Images."

In March, an ITC judge sided with Apple and RIM, claiming the patent is invalid, and the ruling went to final approval.

That final approval has come through this week, ending Kodak's hopes to make some money from the suit.

The '218 patent has been one of Kodak's most lucrative, as it looks to repay creditors after filing for bankruptcy in February.

In the past, Kodak filed claims against Sony, JVC, Samsung, LG, and Fujifilm over the same patent.

Sophia Ellison of Fairfax, Virgina, went into her local Best Buy and left her old iPhone with the Geek Squad in an effort to have photos, music and contacts transferred from the old device to her new 4S.

The employee, George, promised to wipe the old content from the phone and then offered to buy the old phone for $60. He did not give her a receipt and paid right from his wallet.

After a day, the transfer had not been done so Ellison called in and George called her back saying the photo retrieval would be done.

Supposedly, the already creepy situation took a turn for the worse. George called her back, said he had made a CD of the photos, and that she should drive by to pick it up from his house.

Ellison then contacted her lawyer. "I felt sick. I'm a woman. I love to model. I'm not a model, but I love to model. I have some pretty racy photos of myself, for me. Even the words 'Best Buy' gives me chills," says Ellison in a taped video.

According to a number of analysts, the oft-rumored Apple HDTV may be U.S.-only and may not be released until 2014.

Giles Cottle of Informa's broadband content and online video analyst division says he wouldn't find it "surprising if the Apple television wasn't launched exclusively in the US first, [because] content rights can be a massive burden and have to be managed on a country-by-country basis."

IHS senior analyst Paul Erickson also noted that "an initial US focus is possible as [Apple's] strongest video content availability on iTunes is in the US. Apple wouldn't want to spend the effort and marketing dollars to push a TV in markets where both Apple video product demand and local content availability are low at the current time."

The rumored TV will be between 42-55 inches, include built-in Wi-Fi and run on a variant of Mac OSX or iOS. The TV may also be the first to offer a la carte channel selection, giving users a chance to buy only the channels they want.

According to a Samsung Electronics exec, brisk sales of the Galaxy S III have reached 10 million since launch in late May in Europe and in late June, early July in the U.S.

Shin Jong-kyun, the president of Samsung's information technology and mobile communication division, made the announcement to reporters earlier this weekend.

The exec would only say 10 million units were sold, without giving an exact number.

At its current pace, the Galaxy S III is killing its predecessor, the S II, which took over 5 months to reach the same milestone.

Sales are expected to remain strong, and Samsung will introduce a 64GB model later this year.

Amazon has proudly announced a new, exclusive licensing deal for Warner Bros. content.

The deal will bring popular TV shows like Fringe and classic shows like The West Wing to the Amazon Prime instant video catalog.

Prime is a $79-per-year service that gives customers unlimited free 2-day shipping and $3.99 one-day or same-day shipping and access to the full Prime streaming service with over 18,000 TV episodes and movies.

Additionally, Prime users can read thousands of Kindle books for free each month.

The service is available on hundreds of devices, including the Xbox 360, PS3, Roku boxes and on any computer with an Internet connection.

Amazon's main competition is Netflix, which has over 20 million customers for its streaming Watch Instantly catalog.

Google has pleasantly surprised Nexus S owners by confirming they will get Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OTA.

Nexus S variant owners on T-Mobile, H3G, O2, Rogers, and Vodafone will get the update, "in most countries," although it is unclear what that means.

Some users have already been pushed the update, Google confirms.

The search giant says you must be running the IMM76MD ROM to get the update to JRO03E.

Google has sold out of the 16GB model of their new Nexus 7 tablet.

According to sources, this sellout is due to the fact that Google severely underestimated demand for the device at launch: "Google's planners had thought that buyers on the Google Play store, more than from physical or online retailers, would be more committed to the company's 'cloud' concept, and so would have more of their content stored online, rather than wanting to keep it on the device. But most buyers appear to have noted that the storage on the device cannot be upgraded and decided to get the larger model."

That fact, that Google left out a microSD slot, has been the only major complaint from new buyers and critics.

Google still has the 8GB model available through Google Play, with a 3-5 day delay in shipping.

The tablet sells for $199 for the 8GB model and $250 for the 16GB version.

Read our review of the excellent tablet, here: Review: Google's Nexus 7 will make you finally want an Android tablet