Latest news

Instagram has just been sold for $1 billion.

The massively popular photo-filter and sharing app has been sold to Facebook for the purchase price in cash and stock, just a week after becoming available on Android.

Says CEO Kevin Systrom of the move:

When Mike and I started Instagram nearly two years ago, we set out to change and improve the way the world communicates and shares. We've had an amazing time watching Instagram grow into a vibrant community of people from all around the globe. Today, we couldn't be happier to announce that Instagram has agreed to be acquired by Facebook.

Every day that passes, we see more experiences being shared through Instagram in ways that we never thought possible. It's because of our dedicated and talented team that we've gotten this far, and with the support and cross-pollination of ideas and talent at a place like Facebook, we hope to create an even more exciting future for Instagram and Facebook alike.

It's important to be clear that Instagram is not going away. We'll be working with Facebook to evolve Instagram and build the network. We'll continue to add new features to the product and find new ways to create a better mobile photos experience.

The Instagram app will still be the same one you know and love. You'll still have all the same people you follow and that follow you. You'll still be able to share to other social networks. And you'll still have all the other features that make the app so fun and unique.

We?re psyched to be joining Facebook and are excited to build a better Instagram for everyone.

The European Union (EU) has proposed a new law that will criminalize hacking tools.

While the production or sale of certain hacking tools should certainly be banned, civil liberties advocates are up in arms over the proposed move, claiming that the law will make legitimate security researchers into criminals.

If passed, the law will impose a 5-year maximum jail sentence for hacking into a site or using a botnet of zombies for denial of service attacks, much stiffer penalties than what are currently allowed.

For the time being, the proposal has only passed the European Commission's Civil Liberties Committee and still has a long way to go before being signed into law.

Says EFF international rights director Katitza Rodriguez of the proposal (via Wired): "There are times when security researchers need to access systems without permission with no criminal intent. The language in these proposals could undermine legitimate research." Rodriguez believes that intent should first be taken into account before criminalization.

After just a couple of months since the company purchased Beats Audio and began bundling headphones with all new smartphone releases, HTC has decided to scrap the idea.

Says one HTC exec: "An accessory like the headphone doesn't factor in when someone is buying a smartphone. If they want a Beats headphone, they'll buy it directly."

HTC spent $300 million last year to acquire the majority stake in Beats. Beats has been panned by many as a gimmick, and real audiophiles say the software and hardware is no better than the regular audio seen in most smartphones.

The company does include Beats Audio support into all their new devices, and the tech is integrated into the music apps.

HTC says starting with the launch next week of the One X, there will be no more bundling for the immediate future, although execs have not completely shut the door.

Struggling smartphone maker HTC has released their quarterly earnings for the Q1 2012, and they were not pretty.

For the quarter, revenues were NT$67,790 million (about $2.3 billion), a full 35 percent decrease year-over-year. Quarter-over-quarter, the company saw an equally bad fall, down from NT$101.42 billion ($3.43 billion) in the Q4 2011.

The company at least remained profitable, with an after-tax NT$4,464 million ($151 million) net income. That profit was a 70 percent decline compared to the Q1 2011, a shocking fall.

HTC recently launched their One line of smartphones, each of which has come with rock solid reviews.

The new devices, along with the company's recent purchases of Beats Audio, SyncTV and MOG should help the smartphone maker regain some footing in the ever-competitive market.

Just a couple of weeks after Encyclopaedia Britannica decided to discontinue its print editions, the company was overwhelmed by orders of the final edition of the set.

The company says it is down to just 800 copies left, despite the set's $1395 price tag.

Says a company spokesman: "The size and duration of the spike has been a little bit stronger than we expected. The first couple of days, our phone lines were overloaded. The people who take the orders were here one night past 10 o'clock... the senior executive in that area was answering phones."

Over 1000 orders have been placed in the last two weeks, compared to an average of 60.

Original story:

Encyclopedia Britannica has announced it will stop producing its classic multi-volume book sets after 244 years in print.

The company printed a new set every two years but has announced there will be no 2012 edition, leaving 2010 as the last in the series. Into the future, the company will continue to update the encyclopedia digitally and produce education tools.

Says Britannica president Jorge Cauz: "Everyone will want to call this the end of an era, and I understand that. But there's no sad moment for us. I think outsiders are more nostalgic about the books than I am."

Last week, Microsoft announced that Xbox Live owners will be getting access to even more TV and movies, via partnerships with HBO Go, Comcast's Xfinity TV and Major League Baseball's MLB.TV.

Comcast has announced today that gamers will get access to HBO Go "early next week," finally, months after other ISPs made it available. Before this, Comcast users could only get HBO Go shows via the Xfinity on-demand service.

Each app will also be controllable with gesture or voice controls if you are using a Kinect device.

Microsoft recently noted that entertainment usage had actually surpassed multiplayer game usage on the Xbox 360.

MLB.TV will supply 2430 live games over the next baseball season, along with archives including all of last year's games. HBO GO, just like the desktop service, will bring HBO's entire catalog of original programming.

The Xbox 360 has 35 million Xbox Live users who pay for their subscriptions.

While the rumors of Apple releasing an "iPad Mini" with 7.85-inch screen have been around for years, notable blogger John Gruber has finally weighed on the rumor, confirming it.

Gruber is well-connected in the Apple world, and has been very accurate in the past.

The blogger says that Apple is indeed testing a prototype of the device, but has not yet decided on whether to release it.

If accurate, the prototype has 1024x768 resolution (equal to the first two iPad) and will likely run on the same A5X processor seen in the third-gen iPad just released last month.

While the rumors have persisted for years, there is little reason to believe Apple will ever release a smaller iPad. To get to their $199 price point for the Kindle Fire, Amazon had to cut a lot of corners and that is apparent with the tablet, despite its popularity. Apple's motto has always been to keep functionality at the highest level, even if the components in the device are outdated compared to other devices in the market. A "cheapened" iPad is something Apple will likely not stand for and unless they are sacrificing a lot of their margins and brand, there is little way they can compete on price.

According to an internal Apple document uncovered by 9to5mac, the new iPad is having some Wi-Fi issues.

Users have complained about slow download and upload speeds, dropped connections and a complete inability to find Wi-Fi networks to start.

There is also a thread in the official Apple support forums that has 715 responses about the Wi-Fi issues with the new flagship tablet.

The site does note that the 4G LTE models are likely without issue 'due to the extra network power allowed by the black rubber cut on the top of the unit."

Picture of the document:

The group behind the CyanogenMod Android custom ROM has unveiled a new mascot for the operating system.

Dubbed CID (short for Cyanogen ID), the mascot represents "each user's unique place in [the] community."

Over the past few years, CyanogenMod has grown from a small project run by a handful of people to a full blown AOSP that is available across dozens of devices in various versions.

Says the group: "THIS NEW MASCOT WILL BE UNIQUE FOR CYANOGENMOD AND PROVIDE AN IDENTITY AND ATTITUDE BY WHICH THE PROJECT CAN CONTINUE TO DEVELOP A MATURE ANDROID OS."

In its latest CyanogenMod 9, which is based on Android 4.0 ICS, the group has created its own Trebuchet launcher instead of the third-party ADW, and created its own Music app. There are also rumors that the group will have their own app store which will offer apps that are not allowed or have been banned from the Google Play Store.

Doctor Web, the Russian anti-virus company has concluded this week that over 500,000 Mac computers are infected with the BackDoor.Flashback trojan and are now part of a botnet.

Most of the Mac OS X devices infected are in Canada and the U.S and should refute the claim of Apple fans that Macs cannot be hit by malware.

The vendor says that the systems are infected with BackDoor.Flashback.39 "after a user is redirected to a bogus site from a compromised resource or via a traffic distribution system." JavaScript code will then be run with the exploit. Some of the sites that will infect the computers are godofwar3.rr.nu, ironmanvideo.rr.nu, killaoftime.rr.nu, gangstasparadise.rr.nu, mystreamvideo.rr.nu, bestustreamtv.rr.nu, ustreambesttv.rr.nu, ustreamtvonline.rr.nu, ustream-tv.rr.nu and ustream.rr.nu.

Those are just a few of the sites, and Doctor Web says there can be thousands of compromised web-pages.

The spread of the Trojan began in February, and Apple only just closed the vulnerabilities this week.

For a more technical look, check here: Dr Web news

Last year, a historical flood in Thailand left 13 million people homeless and a significant amount of factories with over 3 feet of water.

Many of those factories were used to produce hard drives and the flood has led to a industry that has huge demand and small supply equaling bad news for consumers. In fact, over a few months, average prices on HDDs rose 47 percent, taking Western Digital's margins from 19 percent to a healthy 32 percent, even more than Apple makes on some of its devices.

Today, research firm IDC says that although supply is coming back quickly, the HDD makers are in no rush to drop the prices back to pre-flood times.

Says IDC: "HDD vendors are taking advantage of this opportunity to reset prices and recover some of the excessive price erosion that began in 2009." John Rydning of IDC says the higher margins will let HDD makers create new tech into the future, but the R&D now will likely not be seen in consumer products for another two years.

The accused LulzSec hacker Cody Kretsinger has plead guilty today to charges related to the hacking of Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Kretsinger plead guilty to one count each of conspiracy and unauthorized impairment of a protected computer in his deal.

The hacker had previously pleaded not guilty.

Kretsinger was arrested last September, months before the recent raid on the "leaders" of the group. The hacker had been charged with conspiracy and the unauthorized impairment of a protected computer and pleaded not guilty at the time for both counts.

Known as "recursion," the hacker admitted to hacking Sony Pictures via SQL injection.

Jeffries analyst Peter Misek has put out a new Apple note today to clients, with his expectations for the highly-anticipated Apple television set.

In his note, the analyst raised his stock price target to $800 per share, specifically citing the television set in his forecast.

Misek believes Apple will call the TV "iPanel," wish would be a rather bland name but follow the naming scheme of its other iOS devices. Many had expected the set to be called iTV but the company ITV has already let it be known there will be a lawsuit if Apple chooses that route.

The analyst believes the TV will sell for $1250, leaving Apple with a 30 percent gross margin. He has forecasted 2 million unit sales for the holiday period.

Apple has still not confirmed the TV, but before his death Steve Jobs told his biographer that Apple "had finally cracked it," in regards to the set. It is expected to run iOS, have Siri, voice controls, an a la carte channel offering and integration to all other Apple offerings.

A company called United Vision Marketing Firm has offered to acquire struggling BlackBerry maker RIM.

Dr. Nono Pearson (pictured), a former DJ and someone who claims has "the copyrights to prove that he is the owner of what he calls 'Corporate Hip Hop,'" is behind the offer.

How the offer will work is as follows: In an all stock swap deal, UVMF will acquire RIM assets and then leverage that by swapping shares in UVMF's upcoming IPO.

The company is currently working on the "Pearson Education Tablet," which we can only assume is a tablet aimed at high school or college students.

"In past bubbles we have seen many firms receive high valuations without having a true business model for sustainable growth. This model is what caused the final domino to fall in 1929 to create the great depression, shortly after a temporary credit fix that eventually came to an end. We are continuously hyping economic predictions in sectors such as education, technology, and finance; in which there are little to no real sustainable growth strategies for the future. Most of our youth are unengaged with many of these products or simply just can't afford them. Soon the bottom will fall out of that trend if we don't face the truth. United Vision Marketing Firm has the innovative business model to help create real sustainable growth for our clients. Our most valued asset is having the human capital that has the passion to actually go out and develop the markets. We fully understand having that kind of leverage alone is priceless," says Dr. Nono C. Pearson of the move.

According to Eldar Murtzain.

The well-connected blogger has said today in a tweet that the upcoming device already has 10 million pre-orders around the globe.

Making that number notable is the fact that it took Samsung about 5 months to sell 10 million Galaxy S II, and the device is a huge success in the smartphone world.

The alleged specs of the new smartphone is that it will be smaller and narrower than its predecessor at 131 x 64 x 8 mm. The device will weigh just 0.27 pounds, as well.

Featured specs are a large 4.7-inch Super AMOLED Plus display with 1280 x 720 resolution, a 1.5Ghz quad-core Samsung processor, 1GB RAM, Android 4.0.x, dual-cameras (12MP/1.3MP), 32GB internal storage and a decently sized 1750 mAh battery.