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After almost a year of testing and waiting for approval, VLC for Android has been released for some in beta.

VideoLAN, maker of the desktop and mobile versions of the app, says the new beta is nowhere near stable, but it should play video content without too many issues.

For now, the app is not available for American users, and is only supported on devices with "ARMv7 processor that supports the NEON engine." This happens to be most current Android phones, but VideoLAN will release separate apps to support a wider range of devices in the future.

The basic widget (for those who can download it), will let you play, pause and skip tracks.

If you want to try it in the U.S., here is the download: VideoLAN Nightlies

After months of threats, Dish Network has dropped all AMC channels from its network.

The satellite company says the channels will be replaced by HDNet Movies, Style and HDNet.

AMC consists of AMC, WE TV and IFC Films.

Saturday was the last day for the existing contract between the companies, and Dish says they did not renew due to the "high costs compared to their relatively low viewership."

AMC, for its part, claims the move is retaliation for the "entirely separate" billion dollar court case between Voom HD (now AMC) and Echostar (now Dish) that ended with Echostar losing. The cable network says their hit show "The Walking Dead" was the top scripted show available via Dish for the month of May.

Mozilla has announced that its upcoming mobile operating system will be simply called "Firefox OS" and launch in Brazil in 2013.

After the initial release, the U.S. will see devices running the OS, thanks to a partnership with Sprint.

Firefox OS is HTML5-based and will be a completely open mobile ecosystem, says the company:

"The introduction of the open mobile OS continues the Mozilla mission to promote openness, innovation and opportunity on the Web for users and developers. As billions of users are expected to come online for the first time in the coming years, it is important to deliver a compelling smartphone experience that anyone can use."

Handset makers TCL and ZTE will build the devices which will run on Qualcomm Snapdragon processors.

Mozilla announced more carrier support, as well, including Deutsche Telekom, Etisalat, Smart, Telecom Italia, Telefonica and Telenor.

After months of rumors, Beats Audio has acquired the online music streaming service MOG.

Beats, which is now majority owned by HTC, has been looking to expand its ecosystem on mobile devices.

MOG founder and CEO David Hyman is expected to stay on with the company, but no details were revealed about the deal otherwise.

The rumors began in February at the Mobile World Congress when it was reported that HTC was looking to get into the music streaming business.

HTC is expected to integrate the service into all upcoming smartphones and tablets, just like Beats Audio is.

Apple has agreed to pay Shenzhen Proview Technology $60 million to end a dispute over the ownership of the name "iPad."

The dispute, had it gone to a jury, could have possibly led to the tablet being blocked from sale in China, a key market for Apple.

Apple has long claimed they bought the global rights to the name "iPad" from Shenzhen in 2009 but Chinese authorities say the rights were never officially transferred over.

Last year, a Chinese court ruled that Shenzhen still owned the name, and they immediately asked Chinese authorities to seize iPads in the nation.

Apple had purchased the name in various regions from an affiliate of Shenzhen, which trademarked the name in 2001, for the measly sum of $55,000. The original court ruling said Proview was not bound by the sale.

How do you keep your (or a family member's) Windows PC/Laptop secure? Most of the time, the first answer to that question is to ensure that all security updates have been installed. Windows downloads updates automatically in the background for the operating system, but many users neglect ensuring that third-party software is updated, which can present a big risk to security and privacy.

There are many ways to check if third-party software is updated and safe. One such solution is an application called Secunia PSI (Personal Software Inspector). If you have used this application before, then you know how useful it can be. If not, you should try it on your system or a system you are cleaning/repairing.

Amazon will expand their popular digital ecosystem to Brazil in the fourth quarter, reports Reuters.

The company itself was named after Brazil's longest river, and it appears they are finally trying to get a piece of one of the world's fastest growing online retail markets.

Amazon will begin selling the Kindle family of e-readers in the nation, while adding a Portuguese-language catalogue of digital books.

By going all-digital, Amazon can avoid Brazil's complex (and costly) tax system, as well as any downturns in consumer demand.

"Brazil would be the first country Amazon enters only with digital (products) and that is because of the logistic and tax difficulties," says the source. "Having a full retail operation? That's the goal."

The store is expected to launch in October.

According to a new report by analyst firm Piper Jaffray, Apple's Siri virtual assistant works poorly, if at all.

This has been the general consensus amongst iPhone 4S users for some time, but the report is the first to say so much in a note to potential investors.

After performing 1600 common searches, the virtual assistant only accurately resolved the request 62 percent of the time when in a noisy environment and 68 percent in a quieter setting, like being at home.

The report gave the tech a "D" (on an A-F scale) for accuracy.

Says analyst Gene Munster: "You're playing the lottery when you're using Siri. They have a plan to be more competitive, but it's going to take a couple of years."

In terms of "comprehension," Siri accurately deciphered what the user was saying 83 percent of the time in loud environments and then 89 percent of the time in quieter settings. Jaffray gave the comprehension a rating of 'B.'

HP has confirmed today that it will be sticking to Intel-based Windows 8 Pro tablets when they start selling the devices later this year, staying away from ARM-based Windows RT tablets.

Microsoft had hoped to have its partners release multiple devices based on the different operating systems, but right from the onset there seem to be issues with the strategy as most are sticking to Intel (and eventually AMD) chipsets.

For its part, Microsoft is preparing RT and Pro tablets for the end of the year, the recently revealed Surface line.

HP's response to the move: "The robust and established ecosystem of x86 applications provides the best customer experience at this time and in the immediate future."

The company was one of a few loyal partners to receive early code for Windows RT and considered creating a tablet with a Qualcomm ARM chip, but decided against it.

Late last night, a major storm in Virgina took down some major servers at Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud, causing extended downtime for major services like Netflix, Pinterest and Instagram.

Netflix was down for many on the West Coast late into the night, but service was running just fine here on the East Coast as early as 1 AM last night, confirmed by myself.

Instragram was still down until the morning, and Pinterest, as well. In separate Tweets last night, both companies apologized, with Pinterest blaming "server outages" and Instagram being vague by saying it was "technical difficulties."

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) is a web service that provides resizable compute capacity in the cloud. It is designed to make web-scale computing easier for developers.

LinkedIn has confirmed that Twitter will no longer sync updates on the business social networking site.

The partnership had begun in 2009 but has ceased as of this week.

LinkedIn users can still add updates to the site and share them to Twitter but can no longer do the same when starting over at Twitter.

The most likely reason for the break-up is due to a disagreement over advertising revenue, says Mashable.

Over the past year, Twitter has moved to highlighting partner content and feeding sponsored/promoted advertisements. It is unclear how LinkedIn was monetizing such sponsorship.

Cable modem modifier Ryan Harris has received jail time for selling rooted cable boxes to customers who wished to not pay for their cable access.

Authorities had claimed Harris was selling hacked cable modems and software "that allowed users to bypass restrictions that providers placed on cable modems to filter content and cap usage."

The hacker was sentenced to three year in prison for the alleged $1 million scheme.

Says US District Judge Mark L. Wolf: "I think you committed a very serious crime." Harris was convicted on seven counts of wire fraud for selling the hacked modems.

Harris sold the rooted boxes which allowed buyers to steal free Internet or bypass any kind of speed/bandwidth limits. Harris sold the boxes via his company TCNiSO, for up to $99.99. Additionally, he included tools and software to help users steal access. Finally, Harris published the book "Hacking the Cable Modem: What Cable Companies Don't Want You to Know."

Microsoft has detailed its Windows 8 upgrade plans, including how it works for XP, Vista and Win 7 users.

If you are running Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic, or Home Premium, you can upgrade to Windows 8 Pro with all of your system settings, personal files, and applications intact.

Windows 7 Pro or Enterprise owners can update to Windows 8 Enterprise with system settings, personal files, and applications intact.

If you are running Vista without SP1 will only have personal files preserved. Vista SP1 users will have personal files and system settings transferred.

XP owners with SP3 can upgrade directly to Windows 8, but only personal files will be saved. XP SP1 and XP SP2 users, well, sorry.

In regards to cross-architecture upgrades, 32bit can only upgrade to 32bit, and the same for 64bit.

During their I/O event, Google announced that the cloud-based Chromebooks will be headed to retailers across the U.S.

The first stop is Best Buy, where 100 stores will get access to the thin, fast notebooks.

By the end of the year, Google is looking to expand the program to "many more retailers."

Google recently launched new Chromebooks and the first desktop Chromebox, while updating the operating system.

Read our review of Chrome OS 21 here: Reviewing Chrome OS 21: Google gives the operating system a face lift

Micron has finished its acquisition of bankrupt DRAM maker Elpida Memory.

The US memory maker will pay about $2.5 billion for Elpida's assets, just two months after the Japanese company declared bankruptcy.

Micron Technology "has since assessed Elpida production facilities and technologies and held negotiations on debt forgiveness with creditors of Elpida, including financial institutions, leasing companies, and major holders of Elpida bonds," says Xbit.

For the $2.5 billion price tag, Micron will get all of Elpida's manufacturing facilities, intellectual properties and other assets. $1.7 billion will go to the creditors of Elpida, and another $800 million will go to uncollaterized loan holders.