Latest news

AT&T has announced that the Samsung Galaxy S III is available via the carrier, after over a week of delays.

Says the company: "Thousands of customers, who just couldn't wait, have already preordered it and have the device in hand. The reviews are fantastic and now it will be available for same day purchase in AT&T company-owned retail stores and online with overnight shipping starting July 6.

We know our customers already love the Galaxy S III and we're thrilled that you will now be able to walk out of the store with the device in hand, ready to experience all the fabulous features and start sharing it with their friends."

The new flagship has seen such high demand that it has been delayed on AT&T, Verizon and Sprint.

Read our review of the AT&T version of the phone here: Review: Is Samsung's Galaxy S III worth all the hype?

Mozilla has confirmed today that it will be halting development on its popular free email client, Thunderbird.

While there won't be any new features, Mozilla says it will continue to support the software indefinitely.

"We have come to the conclusion that continued innovation on Thunderbird is not the best use of our resources given our ambitious organizational goals," Thunderbird Managing Director Jb Piacintino wrote in a letter.

"We're not 'stopping' Thunderbird. But proposing we adapt the Thunderbird release and governance model in a way that allows both ongoing security and stability maintenance, as well as community-driven innovation and development for the project."

Mozilla's Thunderbird staff will be moved to other projects, although many have already been transferred.

Yahoo! and Facebook have issued a joint press statement today noting the resolution of their patent dispute.

Additionally, the companies announced "that they have entered into definitive agreements that launch a new advertising partnership" and "extend and expand distribution arrangements."

The parties will cross-license their patent portfolio and also "work together to bring consumers and advertisers premium media experiences promoted and distributed across both Yahoo! and Facebook."

"We are excited to develop a deeper partnership with Facebook, and I'm grateful to Sheryl and her team for working hard together with our team to develop this dynamic agreement. We are looking forward to building on the success we have already seen to provide innovative new products and experiences for both consumers and sponsors," added Ross Levinsohn, interim CEO of Yahoo!. "Combining the premium content and reach of Yahoo! as the world's leading digital media company with Facebook provides branded advertisers with unmatched opportunity."

The original suit included 12 charges of intellectual property theft of Yahoo patents.

Furby, the creepy children's toy from the late 90s is back, this time with a bigger price tag and new tech.

The 2012 version has backlit LCD eyes with mechanical eyelids and touch sensors, a built-in microphone and more realistic fur and ears.

Hasbro, the toy maker behind the doll, added this: "You never know what Furby might do or say." The toy can now differentiate between the rhythm of different songs, the sound of your voice, and the sounds of another Furby.

Additionally, Furby "can understand high frequency audio codes to 'talk' with your iPad or another Furby," says the NYT.

Here is a review of the new toy:

Thanks to a new filing by Sony with the FCC, it seems there is an even slimmer model of the PS3 coming, one that will likely be the final iteration of the popular console.

The new CECH-4x model will likely also include a number of significant component changes, says sources.

Sony will release the new console for the U.S. and Canada, but there was little other information available.

Rumor has it Sony will reveal the ultra-slim version at next month's Gamescon trade show.

Most believe that the new model will be the final PS3, one that will still be available after next year's expected launch of the PS4 and into the future.

Check the FCC page here: CECH-4000

According to Bloomberg, Amazon is developing a smartphone that will look to directly compete with Apple's iPhone.

Foxconn is building the device, and helping with design, say the sources.

Furthermore, Amazon is set to purchase patents that will cover a wide range of wireless tech and help the company defend itself against inevitable lawsuits over infringement.

Amazon is looking to take a piece of the 398.4 million smartphones shipped in the first quarter of 2012, and will likely create a mid-range model that can be sold for cheap. Amazon will make most of its money from its digital ecosystem, which includes books, movies, music and cloud storage.

The company is speaking with sellers of patent portfolios as we speak, say the sources.

EA has confirmed that the company is quickly moving towards being all-digital in the future.

Frank Gibeau, EA Games president, noted that their digital arm was the fastest growing and that the transition was inevitable.

Overall, the company made $1.2 billion in revenue last year for its digital downloads, premium subscriptions and mobile apps.

Says Gibeau: "It's in the near future... it's coming. For us, the fastest growing segment of our business is clearly digital and clearly digital services and ultimately Electronic Arts, at some point in the future...we're going to be a 100 percent digital company, period. It's going to be there some day. It's inevitable."

Additionally, it appears the company is looking to cut out retailers in general, a move that would certainly hurt the already struggling industry.

"We have a clear line of sight on it and we're excited about it. Retail is a great channel for us. We have great relationships with our partners there. At the same time, the ultimate relationship is the connection that we have with the gamer.

Analysts have noted today that NetEase is close to signing a deal that would make it the exclusive host of Diablo III in China.

Rival Tencent just hit an exclusive deal with Blizzard for the "Call of Duty" franchise, so NetEase certainly needs a strong deal to counter the move.

"Despite Tencent's recent licensing deal with Activision Blizzard to operate Call of Duty in China, NTES remains well positioned to clinch a deal with ATVI on Diablo III," Oppenheimer analyst Andy Yeung noted. (Via IBD)

Yeung believes the game could launch in the nation in the Q3 this year, or as late as the Q1 2013.

NetEase has been the exclusive license holder for "World of Warcraft" since 2009, but has not made much deals since.

According to Digitimes, Apple will move to a quad-core A6 processor for the next iteration of the iPhone.

Tentatively called the iPhone 5, the new device will need the quad-core processor to remain competitive (spec-wise) in the market.

Samsung, HTC, LG and Meizu each have phones already out with quad-core processors. Apple will launch the new iPhone in October.

For its custom A6 chips, Apple is expected to use Samsung's Exynos 4 architecture, not Qualcomm or Nvidia's.

Apple's most recent device, the third-generation iPad, uses an A5X processor, a juiced-up dual-core chip.

Motorola Mobility has unveiled their first smartphone since being purchased by Google.

The Atrix HD and its specs were accidentally posted by Motorola on their site before being taken down.

In regards to specs, the device has a 4.5-inch display with 720p resolution, Android 4.0.4, a dual-core processor at 1.5GHz, 8GB internal storage, 1GB RAM, dual cameras 8MP/1.3MP.

AT&T will be the carrier selling the device, as expected as a sequel to the Atrix 2 launched last year.

On the design side, the Atrix HD has a very slim 0.33-inch profile, a Kevlar-coated backplate and removes physical buttons to instead use software.

The Atrix HD will use a light version of Motorola's own UI, as well.

Silicon Valley veteran Jean-Louis Gassée has made some bold comments relating to Nokia and their struggles.

Gassée says the handset maker should fire current CEO Stephen Elop, as well as the entire Board of Directors.

Adds the tech vet: "I think that Elop will have to go, but I also think that the board also needs to be renewed with people who have an understanding and working knowledge of the mobile industry."

Elop has come under heavy fire multiple time since being named CEO, most notably after his 'burning platform' memo and more recently when he allowed partner Microsoft to make Nokia Windows Phone 7 products obsolete by announcing Windows Phone 8 months ahead of schedule.

"Microsoft can do that with new versions of Windows; IBM used to do that in the olden days. But I'm shocked that the board of Nokia allowed Elop to do that," noted Gassée.

Windows Phone 7 devices, including the well-received Nokia Lumia 900, cannot upgrade to Windows Phone 8, although they will get a downgraded version, called Windows Phone 7.8.

Netflix shares jumped over 13 percent today after an analyst claimed that the company's online audience is now larger than cable and TV networks.

According to the report from analyst Rich Greenfield of BTIG Research, 24 million domestic subscribers are watching an average of 40 hours of programming online per month.

The estimate was based on recent figures revealed by CEO Reed Hastings.

"Among households with Netflix, Netflix would have been the No. 1 watched network overall, including broadcast and cable," Greenfield added.

Hastings also noted that the company is testing separating movies from TV on its website, adding new subcategories making it easier for users to find programs.

Point Grey has released the first 4K camera, dubbed the Flea3, to reach the consumer's "sweet spot" at under $1000.

4K resolution is a digital cinematography standard being used for new releases like 'The Hobbit.' The new camera uses a resolution of 4096 x 2160.

Other manufacturers, like RED and JVC, each sell 4K cameras for film companies, although theirs are priced well into the tens of thousands.

The small Canadian company, Point Grey Research, will try to get such cameras into the hands of consumers, at a price point of just $945. All design, research and manufacturing is done in Vancouver.

Point's Flea3 has built-in USB 3.0 support and can deliver Full HD (1920x1080) resolution in up to 150 frames per second. The camera delivers 21 frames per second using the 4096x2160 (True 4K) pixel resolution. Additionally, "the camera uses Sony Exmor R (IMX121) 8.8 million CMOS sensor known from Cyber-Shot cameras," says VR.

Embattled cyberlocker founder Kim Dotcom has accused American VP Joe Biden of being the man who put the hit out on Megaupload and its related sites.

Thanks to "insider information," Dotcom says Biden ordered attorney Neil MacBride to target his site.

The news would not be all too surprising, given the fact that Biden's best friend is Chris Dodd, the head of the MPAA.

Dotcom is being somewhat secretive with the information, saying some more info will be released when the time is right: "I do know from a credible source that it was Joe Biden, the best friend of former Senator and MPAA boss Chris Dodd, who ordered his former lawyer and now state attorney Neil MacBride to take Mega down.

After we received information from an insider we scanned the White House visitor logs for all meetings of Chris Dodd and studio bosses with Joe Biden and Obama. They are publicly available on the White House website.

It is interesting that a man by the name of Mike Ellis of MPA Asia, an extradition expert and former superintendent of the Hong Kong police, was also at a meeting with Dodd, all studio bosses and Joe Biden. The same Mike Ellis met with the Minister of Justice Simon Power in New Zealand."

FBI deadline may see thousands of Internet users unable to browse web.

These users have been affected by malicious software (dubbed DNSChanger, associated with TDL4 rootkits and a bootkit) that, among other nasty deeds, changes DNS settings on their PCs, Macs and maybe even wireless routers in order to present a spam-filled altered version of the Internet.

The FBI took down the rogue operation in November 2011 (Operation Ghost Click), but after it was found that hundreds of thousands of users were using the rogue DNS settings without knowledge, the decision was made to put clean DNS servers online using the same IP ranges as the malicious servers.

That bought infected users some time to detect and fix the problem. However, even with the support of giants like Google (which alerts some users in search results if their DNS settings appear altered), there are still reportedly hundreds of thousands of users worldwide who rely on the DNS servers - which are due to be disconnected on Monday, July 9.