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MP slams video games regulation.

Labour MP Keith Vaz has a history of opposition to the sale of video games depicting violence in the UK. In 2004, he claimed the killer of a 14 year old boy had been influenced by Manhunt, despite the fact that the victim himself was the one who owned the video game.

He also linked Counter Strike to race shootings in Sweden in 2010, and to shootings on U.S. campuses in 2007. This time, Vaz has linked Call of Duty: Modern Warfare with the massacre in Norway last July.

"This House is reminded of the consequences of the ineffectual Pan European Game Information (Pegi) classification system for video games following the testimony of Anders Breivik about the tragic events in Norway in July 2011," Vaz' motion reads.

Mass-murderer Anders Behring Breivik has claimed that he used Modern Warfare to help him plot his July 2011 attacks in Norway.

Vaz is concerned that the Pegi classification system only assigns an age rating to a video game, and does not restrict ultra-violent content. Breivik was 32 years old when he carried out his attack in Norway.

The Windows Phone 7 device will go on sale on May 20th.

AT&T has introduced the Samsung Focus 2 this week, another low-priced Windows Phone that will boast 4G LTE support.

The Focus 2 has a 4-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen, with 800x480 resolution, runs on a 1.4 GHz single-core processor, has 8 GB of internal storage, a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera and a front-facing VGA camera for video chat.

AT&T began selling the Lumia 900 last month for $99.99, marking a new ceiling price for Windows Phone flagships.

For the time being, Windows Phones have not been successful, controlling just 2 percent of the global smartphone market.

Electronic Arts (EA) has promised to reduce its labor force, as well.

The gaming company will invest another $40 million this year towards its digital offerings in a strategy the company calls "The Plan."

"The Plan" was unveiled during the company's most recent quarterly earnings report. The restructuring will begin soon and is expected to be done by September 30th.

Added EA Vice President of Corporate Communications Jeff Brown: "The restructuring charge is related to our move to digital games and services. It impacts a relatively small number of EA's 9,000 employees. Most importantly, EA is hiring and we expect to finish the year with more employees, not fewer."

The struggling game maker, which purchase social gaming company PopCap Games last year for $1.3 billion, added that they do not expect a new title from the company until next quarter, a delay that may hurt their bottom line.

Samsung and Qualcomm have joined the The Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP) in an effort to create a new wireless charging standard for mobile devices.

The group is looking to create a "worldwide wireless power technology ecosystem." More specifically, the Alliance will develop "new power transfer technologies that will allow for simultaneous charging of multiple devices in cars, on tabletops, and elsewhere." The group will offer a certification program for interested parties.

"The A4WP expects to achieve this capability without the need for costly multi-coil repeaters, which are required for other systems," the group said in a statement. "A single specification is envisioned that will address simultaneous charging of multiple devices ranging from very low power products, such as Bluetooth headsets, to today's most sophisticated tablets."

Besides Qualcomm and Samsung, Ever Win Industries, Gill Industries, Peiker Acustic, Powermat Technologies, and SK Telecom have also committed to the group.

More info here: http://www.a4wp.org/

World's second largest TV maker teams with Google to counter Apple.

It will launch Internet-enabled TVs in the United States using the Google TV platform in the week of May 21, according to the South Korean firm. The move is seen as a push from both LG and Google to dig into the emerging market as rival Apple Inc. is expected to offer up its own solution within the next year.

"Production of Google TVs will start from May 17 from our factory in Mexico and U.S. consumers will be able to buy the product from the week of May 21," Ro Seogho, executive vice president of LG's TV business unit, said.

After reviewing sales performance in the United States, LG will decide whether or not to move the business into the European and Asian markets.

IHS iSuppli estimates that the Internet-enabled TV market will grow 60 percent this year, to about 95 million units. The overall television market is expected to grow by about 2 percent this year.

Apple looking to gain control over iPhone5.com domain.

The company previously has managed to secure rights to iphone4s.com, iphoneporn4s.com, iphonesex4s.com, iphonexxxforce.com, iphone4s.com and more by filing disputes with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Now Apple has reportedly filed a complaint with WIPO over iPhone5.com, which hosts discussion forums. At present, there are some discussion threads on the boards about the case.

The company had previously opted to pay for the use of some domain names. It paid an undisclosed amount for iphone4.com and whiteiphone.com last year, but has not opted to go go the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP) option instead.

Chairman's comments were "misconstrued", Nokia says.

Outgoing Chairman at Nokia, Jorma Ollila, had suggested to the Financial Times that Nokia was currently working to bring out new tablet PCs, along with tablet-smartphone hybrids. The FT article was reported around the tech world, but Nokia wants it to be clear that the company is just watching the space.

"Tablets are an important one, so that is being looked into, and there will be different hybrids, different form factors in the future," Reuters also reported Ollila as saying.

Speaking to eWEEK, a Nokia spokesperson wanted to make it clear. "What Mr. Ollila said has been misconstrued a bit," said Nokia spokesman Keith Nowak. "As we have been saying, we are watching the space with interest, but have made no announcements regarding a tablet product."

Ollila is preparing to hand over the role of chairman to Risto Siilasmaa, a Finnish entrepreneur, after spending 27 years with the company.

The United States Trade Representative has labeled Canada a haven of piracy, once again.

Algeria, Argentina, Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Israel, Pakistan, Russia, Thailand, Ukraine and Venezuela joined Canada on the "Priority Watch List" of the USTR. Each of the countries on the list are accused of not doing enough to protect U.S. copyrights.

Reads the report (posted after the article): "Canada remains on the Priority Watch List in 2012, subject to review if Canada enacts long-awaited copyright legislation. The Government of Canada has given priority to that legislation. The United States welcomes that prioritization and looks forward to studying the legislation once it is finalized, and will consider, among other things, whether it fully implements the WIPO Internet Treaties, and whether it fully addresses the challenges of piracy over the Internet."

Spain, a mainstay on the list, was removed this year after implementing new laws to fight piracy. The new laws were passed weeks after the U.S. threatened to blacklist them for trade.

The report is generally panned due to its lack of facts and is seen as a tool to pressure nations into passing legislation that is applauded by the media companies in the U.S.

Premium quality "Enthusiast" and "Performance" class equipment contributes $3.2 billion in growth from 2011.

Jon Peddie Research reports an estimated 54 million Performance and Enthusiast class PC gamers worldwide at present. By 2015, the firm expects this number to swell to 72 billion, driven by new entrants and by "console converts." It predicts that the PC Gaming Hardware market will hit $23.6 billion in 2012, rising to $32 billion by 2015.

The research firm defines Enthusiast and Performance class PC gamers as those who spend over $1,000 on equipment.

"We are witnessing the market morph and grow into different areas. This has always been a strong point of PC gaming; the ability to adapt to different entertainment environments and requirements. The hobbyist aspect of the DIY market is driving billions in component sales and small form factor rigs are being hooked up to HDTVs, essentially being used as 'super consoles," said Ted Pollak, Senior Gaming Analyst at Jon Peddie Research.

Average selling prices for some components could suffer as competition heats up in 2013, but unit shipments will continue to rise, and components like SSD's are counterbalancing and buoying system integrated and DIY ASPs.

Perfect 10, the adult publisher, has sued microblogging service Tumblr over alleged piracy.

The adult company is infamous for its attempts to sue major corporations for using their images without permission but they have not been successful in the past.

Amongst the former recipients of lawsuits are Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Yandex, Giganews, Megaupload, Rapidshare, Depositfiles, Mastercard, Visa and CCBill. The first few were over search engine results with Perfect 10's pictures, the next few were over pictures and videos being hosted on the site's servers and the last few were for providing payment services for allegedly infringing sites.

In the latest case, Perfect 10 has accused Tumblr of failing to remove content when served with DMCA takedown notices.

Reads the complaint: "Tumblr has ignored its obligations under the DMCA. As of the date of this filing, Tumblr has failed to completely process any of Perfect 10's DMCA notices, taking down at most only a handful of the over 200 infringing images identified by Perfect 10, many of which had Perfect 10 copyright notices or watermarks conspicuously placed on the images.

Dell and Red Hat have signed an OEM agreement this week, giving more options for enterprise customers who are looking for open-source options.

"I think everybody's wanting to have alternatives," adds Ron Pugh, Dell executive director and general manager of the company's OEM solutions group for the Americas (via CW). "Most of our customers have ... seen that there are some benefits [to Linux use] from a time-to-market perspective and working with the open-source community."

Red Hat recently became the first open-source business to reach a $1 billion valuation.

The first verticals in the new partnership will be telecommunications and security equipment manufacturers, where Red Hat is already very prominent.

"We see this as the next step in companies moving from proprietary architecture to building their own things from the ground up to a commodity ... solution, and both companies see that we can help each other," concludes Pugh.

GE, Philips and Sylvania have each showcased LED lightbulbs today that can last for up to two decades.

The bulbs will use much less energy than current generation bulbs, but will cost significantly more due to using LED instead of filaments.

Last month, Philips introduced their LPrize LED, at a cost of $60. The bulb only consumes 9.7 watts while having the equal power of a 60-watt incandescent lamp. Today, the company showed off the EnduraLED, although it has the same power as a 100-watt incandescent bulb while consuming under 15 watts.

Sylvania and Philips's products will hit stores later this year. GE's bulb, which uses 9-watts and can replace 40-watt bulbs, will sell for $50 later this year.

If used for three hours per day, each of the bulbs will last for two decades.

Looking to improve the quality of apps available for Android tablets, Samsung has begun the 2012 Smart App Challenge.

The company has put $4 million aside as prizes to encourage developers to take part in the challenge.

Devs who build the most popular apps for the Galaxy Tab tablets and Galaxy Note hybrid phone will be eligible to win up to $55,000 and there will be 80 winners. Popularity is based on user downloads.

Anyone who wants to create S Pen-based applications using Samsung's own SDK will be eligible for the same prizes but judging will be done by a panel.

Finally, Samsung will give the best apps "mega marketing support" including mentions in press releases and in TV/print ads.

The challenge ends on September 30th.

More info here: 2012 Smart App Challenge

Research firm Nielsen has reported today that over 50 percent of U.S. consumers now own smartphones.

As of March 31st, 2012, 50.4 percent of consumers owned a smartphone compared to 47.8 percent in December.

The growth appears to slowing, however, as previous data showed much faster quarterly growth. The data suggests somewhat of a saturation in the market, at least for the time being.

Nielsen considers all Android, iOS, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and Windows Phone 7 phones to be a smartphone and there is also an "other" category which includes Symbian, webOS, Meego, etc.

The "other" category only accounts for 2.1 percent of all U.S. smartphones, however.

Android took 48.5 percent of the market, followed by the iPhone at 32 percent, RIM at 11.8 percent and Windows Mobile at 4.1 percent. The newer Windows Phone came in at just 1.7 percent.

The European Commissioner for Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes has noted today that she does not expect the controversial ACTA bill to become law in the EU.

ACTA is a global trade agreement that is aimed at stopping digital piracy and the exchange of material pirated goods.

While the bill has been signed by the U.S., Canada, Japan and 22 of the 27 EU nations it still needs final approval by the European Commission to become law. Kroes says this is highly "unlikely" due to invasion of privacy concerns.

Adds Kroes: We are "likely to be in a world without SOPA and without ACTA and we now need to find solutions to make the Internet a place of freedom, openness, and innovation fit for all citizens."

The Commissioner does feel an ACTA-esque agreement is inevitable in the future, but the current bill has enormous shortcomings. Citizens' freedom to privacy must not be invaded, she notes. When asked about thoughts on future bills, Kroes says: "Yes the Internet should be open; and yes it should be free. But that is not the same as being a lawless wild west."