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Although it has been rumored for over a year, it appears Bloomberg feels strongly that an iPad 'Mini' is coming this October to compete with the Amazon Kindle Fire line and Google's new Nexus line.

The new model will allegedly be 7.85-inches, and will not feature a Retina Display like its standard sized third-generation iPad has.

Supposedly, the Mini will "have the same number of pixels as those in the iPad before it was upgraded to the so-called Retina Display earlier this year", meaning a resolution of 1024x768. By having the same resolution as past devices, Apple will avoid any developer fragmentation issues.

The Wall Street Journal earlier claimed that Apple's component suppliers will be in full production on the device starting in September.

Some evidence this week suggests that Microsoft's upcoming console will be called "Xbox 8" instead of Xbox 720 or Xbox Next.

Microsoft secured a handful of domains from a Chinese citizen, after winning their case in the National Arbitration Forum.

A few of the domains include XboxPhone.com, XboxTablet.com, XboxLiveTV.com, XboxCompanion.com, Xbox8.us and Xbox8.org.

Naming the console Xbox 8 would be a smart move for Microsoft, who is set to unveil their Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 operating systems later this year, each of which integrate with all Microsoft products.

The console is expected for the holiday season next year.

According to multiple sources, Amazon has ordered 2 million Kindle Fire 2 for August, preparing for the launch of the updated tablet.

The new device will allegedly have a metal frame and a plastic chassis, somewhat similar to older iPhone smartphones like the 3GS.

If accurate, the new update will be a welcome relief to Amazon fans, many of which complained about the bland design of the original Kindle Fire.

Although Amazon has a huge lead in the 7-inch tablet market, it needs to release an updated model to compete with Google's new powerful Nexus 7, which ships in two weeks.

Additionally, Apple is expected to release an iPad-mini at competitive pricing, which could be a death knell for Amazon and Google.

European Parliament does not wait on European Court.

In February, European Commissioner for Trade, Karel De Gucht, announced that ACTA would be referred to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The court will assess whether ACTA is incompatible with the EU's fundamental rights and freedoms, such as freedom of expression and information or data protection and the right to property in cases of intellectual property.

Today, however, the European Parliament has voted heavily against the treaty. Only 39 MEPs voted in favour of ACTA, while 478 voted against the measure and 165 abstained. This marks the first time that the Parliament has rejected an International trade agreement - a power it only gained in 2009 with the adopting of the Treaty of Lisbon.

Samsung's latest flagship device, the Galaxy S III, is easily the most hyped Android device of the year, and possibly of all-time. The question is whether the phone is worth the hype, and whether it appeals to the broad spectrum of Android fans out there.

While the specs aren't too different from competitors like the HTC One X, what really differentiates the device is its software, which is quite frankly Samsung's own evolution of Android, itself. Built on Android 4.0, the S III adds new features on top of its standard TouchWiz UI (now Nature UX), including S Beam, S Memo, S Planner, S Voice, Smart Stay, Direct Call, and early access to the new Flipboard Android app.

Specs and Design

According to the LinkedIn resume of SCEA's ex-R&D director, the PS4 has been in development since 2010.

Attila Vass, who was director from 1998 until earlier this year, has in his resume that that he began developing the graphics library and security on the "Next Generation PlayStation" in August 2010.

The PlayStation Vita is listed separately, so that implies that Vass is speaking about the PS4 and not anything else.

Reads the profile (via Videogamer): "In 1998 I started as the first engineer in the Playstation US R&D. I worked on graphics ( COLLADA, PSGL ) and a lot of network related technologies ( advertising, telemetry, PVRs ) for the Playstation2-x, PSP, Vita and Next Generation platforms. Platform security was occupying most of my time at the last years... "

The PS4 is expected to launch for the holidays next year.

Eastman Kodak has been granted approval in bankruptcy court to sell its large collection of "Digital Capture and Kodak Imaging Systems and Services (KISS)" patent portfolios.

Both Apple and little known company FlashPoint Technology had contested the auction, laying claim to some of the patents in the portfolio. The court did not agree, ruling all of the patents are property of Kodak's estate.

"We are gratified that the Court has enabled us to move ahead with our patent auction in a timely manner and with clarity on ownership for the winning buyer," said Timothy Lynch, Kodak Vice President and Chief Intellectual Property Officer.

All interested buyers can make confidential bids on the portfolio, which could reach a price in the billions.

Microsoft has confirmed that Halo 4's multiplayer mode will require 8GB of free space.

This means, if you are a Halo fan and you own an Xbox 360 Arcade or Core, you will be out of luck unless you purchase a USB memory stick or some other form of flash memory.

Of course, Microsoft recommends the Xbox 360 hard drive for the "optimal experience." The 8GB Microsoft flash drive costs a massive $40 and the 16GB drive costs $60. A 320GB Microsoft hard drive costs $130.

When asked for comment, the company says: "Halo 4 will push the limits of the Xbox 360 in terms of visual and audio fidelity, and will be delivering significant post-launch content." Apparently, that limit pushing requires a lot of space.

The game will hit shelves on November 6 2012.

Check the trailer here: The Halo 4 trailer and footage everyone is talking about

The newly introduced Android 4.1 Jelly Bean was unveiled to a strong reaction at Google's I/O event in June.

Each time Google unveils a major update to their platform, the company also introduces a large statue for their campus.

Unfortunately, the statue has run into some issues, says Android engineer Dan Morrill:

"Jelly Bean is so ridiculously hot that the JB statue overheated, and his head partially melted and popped off.

And then we think somebody stole one of the jelly beans. People: please don't steal our jelly beans.

Anyway, they've got the poor guy coned off now, for your safety but mostly for mine. But fear not, the designer is already working on a bug fix."

For a more in-depth look into Jelly Bean, check our report here: Android 4.1 in-depth

According to a leaked roadmap, RIM has 5 devices planned for 2013.

Each of the new devices will run on RIM's BlackBerry 10 operating system, which was set for release late last year but instead has been delayed until 2013.

The company's fortunes and hope lie in the arms of BB10, which is expected to bring RIM to at least on par with Windows Phone in terms of features. It is not expected to be able to touch iOS or Android in capabilities.

For the Q1, two BB10 smartphones are on the roadmap, "London" and "Nevada," the first of which will be touchscreen while the latter has a full keyboard.

RIM's successor to the failed Playbook tablet, codename "Blackforest," will hit in the Q3.

The last two phone are mystery devices codenamed "Naples" and "Nashville."

Verizon Wireless will no longer subsidize prices on tablets they sell.

The move came alongside Verizon's "Share Everything" family plans, but was more subtle.

Thanks to the end of subsidies, tablets will cost full price and not require a dedicated data line. The tablets will now sell for prices on par with the iPad, which was never subsidized and starts at $500 for the latest generation.

Share Everything lets families on Verizon share a "bucket" of data, minutes, texts instead of requiring everyone to have their own tier of data, whether or not they use all of it or even get close.

T-Mobile, Sprint and AT&T still offer subsidized tablets, but also the option to buy full price with no contract.

It may have taken over 8 months, but it appears that Android 4.x has reached a new, significant milestone, 10 percent device share.

Google gets the numbers from the amount of devices that access the Google Play Store so there is of course some small margin for error there, but the number is significant as Google hopes to move Android away from crippling fragmentation.

At 10.9 percent, the figure is double last month's figure, and can almost certainly be attributed to the Galaxy S III and HTC One X, popular devices released in the time frame.

Gingerbread (2.3) fell from 65 percent to 64 percent, the first time the OS version has ever seen a drop.

2.2 and lower still accounted for 22 percent despite drops in support.

Microsoft aims to make transition to Windows 8 as painless as possible.

If you are running Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7, you will qualify to download an upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $39.99. The promo will start when Windows 8 is launched this fall, and will end January 31, 2013. Additionally, the add features option in Windows 8 will allow upgraders to download Windows Media Center for free.

If you would prefer to buy an upgrade from a retail store, it will cost $69.99 during the promotion.

VLC for Android was announced as being in development last year, and welcomed by every user of VLC on another platform. VLC is a commendable project; a free, open source media playing, streaming and capturing solution that is used by millions of Windows, Mac, Linux and other users.

The first beta of VLC on the Android platform has been added to the Google Play market, giving a taste of what to expect over the coming months. The app is, most definitely, far from being anything considered "final" - a fact that the VideoLAN project alludes to in its warning on the app description:

"It might kill your kitten, destroy your house and start the mayan apocalypse. Use it at your own risk. Have Fun! :)".

Sony, in an effort to boost its cloud offerings, has acquired streaming game company Gaikai.

The final price is $380 million for the four year old company.

Gaikai offers a full on-demand library of video games to be streamed online or to certain devices. For this reason, it has been dubbed the "Netflix for gaming."

It is unclear how Sony will integrate the company into its PSN service, but it will most likely be done by the end of the year, giving PS3 and PS Vita users access.

The expected service will include casual and social games as well as "immersive core games with rich graphics."