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Amazon has announced today the launch of its Instant Video service on the Xbox 360.

With the release of the new app, Xbox Live Gold subscribers that also have Amazon Prime subscriptions will have access to all of Amazon's 17,000 movies and TV episodes.

Amazon Prime costs $79 per year and gives active Amazon buyers free 2-day shipping on most items and discounted $3.99 shipping on overnight or even same-day.

New to the Xbox is "Watchlist," which allows you to "manage your queue and purchased content into a playlist from your computer."

Additionally, you can use Kinect to navigate the app with voice and motion gestures or use the remote if you do not have a Kinect. You won't be able to purchase content through the app, just yet, but you can use WhisperSync, meaning you can start an episode/movie on your computer/Kindle Fire/etc and finish it on the 360 right from where you left off.

Over the weekend, a German console site called PlayNation revealed pictures of the alleged PS4 spec sheet along with some additional data on the console, which is set for release at the end of next year.

We did not run the story originally, as most of these stories end up being complete hoaxes, but we have decided to post the specs and data here today to see what our readers think.

The site posted documents allegedly leaked directly from Sony on the PS4, which is codenamed "Orbis." The console will have strong integration with the Vita handheld, and will also introduce a new service dubbed "Iris."

Here's the spec sheet:

CPU – Cell Broadband Engine X @ 3.2GHz – 16PPE's – 128 SPE's
GPU – Custom Nvidia/SCEI "quantum Leap" @2GHz
Memory – 10GB XDR2 + 10GB GDDR6
Storage Capacity – 250GB/320GB Model depending
OS – Sony Aether
Video Resolution – 2160p 2D – 1080p 3D
Audio – 11.1
Media Formats – PS4 Game Disc – PS3 Game Disc – PS2 Game Disc – PS1 Game Disc – HD Blu Ray Disc – DVD – CD
Controller Input – Dualshock 4 – Dualshock 3 – PS Iris – PS Vita – PS Omni – PS Certified Xperia – Sony Tablet – PS Move – PS Eye – Sixaxis
Connectivity – USB 3.0 – HDMI 1.4 – Bluetooth 4.0 – WiFi b/g/n – DLNA – Ethernet – PS Vita – Memory Cards SD/MMC/etc

Although Nintendo has suggested they are looking to change the Wii U name to avoid confusion amongst buyers, they are running out of time to do so.

The console will be officially unveiled at the E3 event next month, and for now Nintendo has been done little to imply a new name is coming.

Over the weekend, Nintendo added the Wii U logo to its official press site and gave the console its own official Facebook page, as well. Of course, these can be changed in the near future but that begs the question of why Nintendo would add them in the first place with E3 so soon.

Before the Wii launched, the console was known as the 'Revolution,' but Nintendo switched the name six months before release. The Wii U is set for a November release.

Nintendo has had a rough year following the release of the 3DS handheld, which many believe had too similar a name to their previous generation handhelds to differentiate, along with much too high of a price tag.

The latest report out of China has implied that Foxconn's Shenzhen plant has now received orders to build trial run sets of the oft-rumored HDTV.

Of course the report comes from anonymous sources; however, there has been evidence for months that Apple is working on such a device.

The alleged device will be powered by a Siri-esque search system, and has the potential to be the first TV to allow a la carte channel selections for those who do not want to pay for a full cable or satellite subscription that includes hundreds of channels they may never watch.

Apple has never confirmed such a product, much like they do not confirm upcoming iOS devices until launch day.

According to a new report by The New York Times, Facebook is frantically expanding it efforts to create their first branded smartphone, and hopes to have one available in 2013.

Codenamed 'Buffy,' the project has been adding group members, including seven former Apple software and hardware engineers. The engineers worked on the iPhone and one worked on the iPad during their time with the company.

Apparently, CEO Mark Zuckerberg "is worried that if he doesn't create a mobile phone in the near future that Facebook will simply become an app on other mobile platforms."

Facebook is partnering with HTC to create the device, which will have its own exclusive platform. The OS itself will be based on Google's Android, says the report.

With the recent acquisition of Instagram and the creation of Facebook Camera, the company already has the basics for an Android-based Facebook ecosystem. Additionally, the company is purported to be looking into purchasing Opera Software, the maker of the popular Opera browsers, to create its own browser.

Struggling smartphone maker RIM is said to be planning a restructuring that will cause 2000 employees to be laid off.

The company has only 16,500 employees around the globe so the layoffs will be significant, says the report from Globe and Mail.

If accurate, the layoffs "will sweep across departments, ranging from senior positions in RIM's legal division to human resources, finance, sales, and marketing" and hit before June 1st.

RIM reported horrible earnings in the first quarter, including an 80 percent drop in BlackBerry device shipments. Rival operating systems like Android and iOS have seen extremely strong year-over-year growth, adding to RIM's woes. Perhaps worst of all, RIM's upcoming BlackBerry 10 devices are expected to be completely outdated compared to its rivals, even with over a year of preparation.

Over the past 6 months, the company has seen its former co-CEO Jim Balsillie resign, its CTO David Yach leave and COO of Global Operations Jim Rowan resign, as well.

Bharti Airtel, the top mobile carrier in India, says it added 2.01 million new mobile subscribers in April, strong growth for the company and the nation.

Airtel has 183.3 million total subscribers.

Reliance Communications, the second largest carrier, does not disclose its figures through Industry body Cellular Operators Association of India. Vodafone, number three in the nation, added 820,000 new subscribers to bring its total to 151.3 million.

In fourth, Idea Cellular added 1.49 million mobile customers during the month and fifth-placed Telenor India jumped 1.12 million to 43.6 million.

For comparison's sake, the largest carrier in the U.S., Verizon Wireless, has 110 million subscribers. And second place carrier AT&T has 104 million.

Ericsson, the world's largest mobile network equipment maker, has been fined by the U.S. Department of Commerce for violating export restrictions by shipping equipment to Cuba.

The company's Panamanian subsidiary was fined $1.75 million for the violation and the two groups reached an agreement earlier this week.

According to sources, Ericsson had been operating a "scheme" in which broken equipment was shipped from Cuba to the U.S. for repair after employees masked the origin of the shipment. The equipment was then sent back to Cuba from the U.S., after similar masking including falsification of documents.

Ericsson de Panama voluntarily disclosed the violations after uncovering the shipments which were set up by three former employees. The employees were fired.

In total, the penalty covered 262 violations of federal regulations from the years of 2004-2007, for $320,000 worth of equipment.

Despite its previous deal falling apart, it appears that Dell will complete their anticipated purchase of Quest, a security software maker.

Dell will offer $23-$26 per share for the software company, similar to the previous deal that fell apart thanks to Dell's awful quarterly earnings.

Back in March, Quest received a $23 per share offer from Insight Venture Partners. Quest did not accept the offer, however, saying during its shopping period it received multiple offers: "The alternative proposals are reasonably expected to lead to a superior proposal."

Dell has been actively purchasing software companies over the past year, making five high and low profile acquisitions including SonicWall and Wyse.

The company is also said to be in talks to purchase BMC Software with its $17.2 billion cash hoard.

The Chronic Dev Team has released the latest version of their untethered jailbreak for iOS devices running 5.1.1.

Says the blog post: "After copious amounts of work and many sleepless nights, Absinthe 2.0 is finally here to jailbreak your device."

As with past updates, Absinthe 2.0 was a "large collaborative effort between Chronic Dev Team and the iPhone Dev Team." Together, the groups call themselves the "Jailbreak Dream Team."

By jailbreaking your device, you gain access to the Cydia app store, (for apps that may not have been allowed into the official store) as well as access to ability to customize the operating system and "sideload" apps that have not been purchased through the store. Although jailbreaking is perfectly legal, Apple warns it will void your warranty with them, unfortunately.

More info here: Absinthe 2.0 has arrived

IBM has understandably blocked the voice-activated digital assistant from its work networks.

As 'Big Blue' confirms, Siri has been blocked due to the fact that Siri sends everything you ever say to her to an Apple data center. IBM CIO Jeanette Horan says: 'The company worries that the spoken queries might be stored somewhere.'

While some might call IBM paranoid, Horan has reason to worry, thanks to this passage in Apple's Software License Agreement: 'When you use Siri or Dictation, the things you say will be recorded and sent to Apple in order to convert what you say into text.'

Additionally, Siri collects other info, like your contact's names and other 'unspecified user data,' in order to help the assistant give you better responses.

It is unclear how long Apple stores the data, but you have to agree to the user agreement before you can use it.

Cisco has decided to pull the plug on its failed Cius tablet.

The Cius, which was released in 2010 and aimed at enterprise customers, had a focus on business video conferencing and specifically boasted about its compatibility with other Cisco apps like WebEx, Jabber, and Quad.

There was little marketing for the device on the consumer side, and it is clear now that it did not resonate well with business users, either.

If you were in the market for a Cius, Cisco says it will still sell your company one "in limited fashion to customers with specific needs or use cases."

Continuing to focus on enterprise, Cisco says they will work to bring their most popular apps to other tablet platforms like Android, iOS and most likely Windows 8.

Although Samsung unveiled the flagship device earlier this month, there has yet to be a set timetable for its release outside of Europe.

Today, the Verge is reporting that the device will hit American and Canadian shores on June 20th. The proof comes via a leaked screenshot that was quickly taken down.

For Canadian fans, the phone will be available via Virgin, Rogers, Bell and Telus.

On the American side, the carriers remain unclear with the exception of T-Mobile, who will be getting the metallic blue version.

July 11th should see the release of the white model of the phone, along with a T-Mobile version of the popular Galaxy Note.

For now consider the date's rumor, but Samsung officials did give "June" as a general timeframe when speaking in regards to the GSIII.

Thanks to a contract negotiation dispute between Amazon and the Independent Publishers Group, the giant e-tailer pulled 5000 titles from the Kindle Store back in February.

As of today, however, the books have returned after the two parties reached an agreement.

Earlier in the year, when it came time for the contract to be renegotiated, IPG's president Mark Suchomel said Amazon proposed new terms that were "substantially changed" from the previous terms, meaning lower revenue for the authors. Suchomel is said to have offered terms comparable to other publishers in the marketplace, but Amazon did not agree and pulled the electronic books whilst keeping the physical titles available for sale.

There was no word on the intricacies of the new deal, but clearly they must be more favorable to everyone involved then in past negotiations.

The dispute is not the first Amazon has had with publishers in recent years, as many used to accuse Amazon of having a monopoly on the market. Apple and the major publishers were recently sued by the DOJ for allegedly colluding to break Amazon's "stranglehold" on the market.

Apple has announced the start of a "Free App of the Week" promotion, finally.

Starting with 'Cut the Rope: Experiments,' the company will offer a new free app each week.

In the past, the company offered some discounted or free apps through their Facebook page but never a prominent promotion in the actual store.

Furthermore, Apple has added new "Editor's Choice" picks in the App Store, removing the old "Staff Favorites" section. As expected, the U.S. version of the store has Facebook Camera as its top Editor's Choice.

Apple has opened the Editor's Choice section to the Mac App Store, as well.