Latest news

T-Mobile has retired the Sidekick 4G smartphone, almost one year after its release.

The highly rated device, which features a full QWERTY keyboard, even won an iF Design award.

Although the device has been retired, the carrier has left the door open for future Sidekick devices: "While the T-Mobile Sidekick 4G is being retired, it doesn't mean we are discontinuing the T-Mobile Sidekick line. T-Mobile continues to update and expand its 4G product portfolio and we'll keep you posted when we have news to share on T-Mobile's latest 4G devices."

The phone is still available on T-Mobile for free with contract or overpriced at $329.99 without one.

T-Mobile's Sidekick 4G has a 3.5-inchscreen and a single-core 1GHz processor.

Hulu has announced a new update to their video streaming interface, including a 55 percent increase in the size of the video player.

Additionally, the update will bring some design changes. The name of the show, episode title, runtime and other details will be moved under the video player and the area behind the video player will be made darker.

With the update also comes the removal of some features, however. The "dim the lights" option is removed and the ability to pop out the video player to its own window have been moved into the "more" section.

Says Hulu: "While watching Hulu on your browser today, you may have noticed something different. Dwight Shrute's head appears bigger, Sue Sylvester's tracksuit seems starchier and Phil Dunphy's parenting just got cooler.

I'm pleased to present to you our beautiful, new Hulu video player. Your favorite shows just got bigger.

Today, we replaced our old video player with an update that's 55% larger. It has a new frame and a drop shadow and sits on top of a large, dark gray video matte for easy viewing. We moved all of the video details below the player and cleaned up the pattern and style for a cleaner, crisper look."

Amazon has announced it will sell $10 Amazon gift cards for 50 percent off on its daily deals site AmazonLocal on Tuesday.

The daily deal site is nine-months old but has seen little consumer interest compared to behemoths like Groupon and LivingSocial.

Says AmazonLocal VP Mike George: "Some folks, even if they're Amazon customers, don't know about us yet. This is going to draw a whole bunch of people to check us out.

It's hard for me to imagine anyone who wouldn't be interested in the deal. Amazon sells everything from Brazilian keratin treatments to snowblowers."

Amazon made a similar promo via LivingSocial last year, selling 1.4 million $20 gift cards for half off in just two days.

Local is available in 90 cities and is still expanding.

The "Anonymous OS Live" open-source operating system is actually fake and full of Trojans, says the group.

SourceForge is hosting the 32-bit OS download, which is pre-loaded with a plethora of hacking tools.

Reads the description: AOSL was "created for educational purposes, to checking the security of Web pages." Users are also encouraged to "use any tool to destroy any Web page :) If you attack to any Web page, might end up in jail because is a crime in most countries!"

The @AnonOps Twitter account says however that the OS is "wrapped in Trojans" and not authorized by the group. So far the OS has been downloaded 37,000 times.

AOSL is built on Ubuntu and many suspect the "Anonymous" branding is just used to bring hits to the page.

Apple, the world's most valuable public company, has seen another milestone today, a $600 per share stock price.

At the time of Steve Jobs' death, the share price was $380 but the company continues to have record quarters and sales despite the passing of the company's founder and visionary.

The company has a current market capitalization of $550 billion, far and away the most valuable in the world, even ahead of Exxon Mobil.

Shares of the company were just $180 before the launch of the iPhone in 2008.

Apple had $127.8 billion in sales for 2011, making a profit of $43.82 billion. The company now has $100 billion in cash and short-term liquid assets.

Google has said today it is working on a 'Metro' version of Chrome that will work in Windows 8.

The news follows Mozilla's announcement that they too are working on a Metro version of Firefox.

Says Google: "Our goal is to be able to offer our users a speedy, simple, secure Chrome experience across all platforms, which includes both the desktop and Metro versions of Windows 8. To that end we're in the process of building a Metro version of Chrome along with improving desktop Chrome in Windows 8 such as adding enhanced touch support."

The browser will be based on the desktop version, not the Android version, adds the search giant. Chrome will be optimized for touch, as well, although it will work with a mouse and keyboard.

Windows 8 was just released in Consumer Preview for public testing and will likely be released in September.

HTC has posted today on which devices will be receiving the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and some notes, as well.

The devices are the DROID Incredible 2 by HTC, HTC Amaze 4G, HTC Desire S, HTC Desire HD, HTC EVO 3D, HTC EVO Design 4G, HTC Incredible S, HTC Sensation, HTC Sensation XL, HTC Sensation 4G, HTC Sensation XE, HTC Raider, HTC Rezound, HTC Rhyme, HTC Thunderbolt and HTC Vivid.

EA has announced today that SEGA will bring most of its most popular PC games to Origin, the digital distribution platform.

Alongside SEGA, EA says Team 17 Software Limited, Rebellion and Kalypso Media Digital have also signed up, bringing the amount of publishers/developers to 35.

Says Origin: "By partnering with publishers like SEGA, we're able to bring even more of the industry's best games to players on Origin. With 11 million registered users around the world, Origin is fast becoming the destination for consumers looking for fresh new content to play with their friends."

Adds SEGA (via TPU): "We're delighted to be partnering with Origin. The PC Market is continuing to grow and the prospect of offering the Total War franchise and the SEGA range of PC titles to the Origin audience is very exciting."

Additionally, SEGA says Total War Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai is now available for pre-order on Origin.

Amazon announces "biggest addition yet" to its Prime Video catalog.

The giant e-tailer says they have added 3000 new titles thanks to a deal with Discovery Networks.

Says CEO Jeff Bezons: "We've struck a deal with Discovery Networks to bring some of the highest quality, non-fiction, informative and entertaining content about the world to our Amazon Prime customers. Rolling out over the next few weeks are TV shows from Discovery, TLC, Animal Planet, and Science. Prime members, at no additional cost, can now stream more than 17,000 titles.

The new titles include hits such as Deadliest Catch, Mythbusters, Man vs. Wild, Dirty Jobs, Gold Rush: Alaska, and Shark Week, TLC series like Say Yes to the Dress and Cake Boss, as well as content like How It's Made from Science, and The Jeff Corwin Experience from Animal Planet."

Prime Video is available, for free, to Amazon Prime users, members who pay $79 a year and get access to free two-day shipping on most items and free access to thousands of Kindle books.

Users can watch the Prime Instant Videos on tablets, Roku set-tops, Macs, PCs and Blu-ray players.

The Nokia Lumia 900 has another rumored launch date for AT&T in the U.S.

After the company's announcement of the flagship device at January's CES event, speculation has been rampant as to when Americans would be receiving the phone.

The first rumored date was March 18th (with a $99 price point) but that has clearly come and gone. Sources then speculated April 22nd, and that remains to be seen.

Today, however, Verge is claiming that AT&T has April 8th as a tentative date for the release. The claim comes via an assistant manager at an AT&T store in California. Additionally, "Microsoft Stores are expecting shipments of Lumia 900 handsets ready for the second week of April," says the site.

The Lumia 900 has 4.3-inch AMOLED display, 1.4GHz single-core processor, Nokia's ClearBlack technology, LTE support, an 1830 mAh battery, 512MB RAM, 16GB internal storage and an 8MP Carl Zeiss camera with large aperture (F2.2) and wide angle focal length (28mm). The phone also has a 1MP front facing camera.

The popular virtual DJ startup Turntable.fm has signed a licensing agreement with all the major labels, turning the company "legitimate."

Turntable exploded last year in popularity as it allows users to share music and become DJs in virtual rooms with friends or strangers who vote to keep you as DJ or boot you if they do not like the music. Each room has its own theme.

Co-founders Billy Chasen and Seth Goldstein made the announcement today at SXSW.

Goldstein admitted that the founders did not know anything about music licensing when they created the service: "We went into it without being worried about [licensing]. I didn't, and still don't know what the DMCA [Digital Millennium Copyright Act] stands for. We didn't know about the restrictions, the per-play rates, international [licensing differences], and the publishers, and the PROs [Performing Rights Organizations] - it was all gobbledegook...Intellectually, it [was] a huge challenge to navigate through a lot of these partnerships and label negotiations."

Verizon has announced today that it is actively increasing 4G LTE sites in the U.S. and expects to have a network that covers 260 million people by the end of the year.

Chief Technical Officer David Small noted Verizon will have "at least 400 markets" with 4G LTE sites by the start of 2013. Verizon's current network, which is the largest in the U.S., covers 200 million Americans and has 200 sites.

Rival AT&T made a similar announcement this week, but their network is still lagging behind. AT&T currently covers 75 million Americans with the carrier expecting to cover 150 million by the end of the year.

Small did note that 4G LTE is still a relatively small market for Verizon, with only 5 percent of its subscribers using the fast data network.

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."

While the 32-book sets are what come to mind when the word Britannica is said, Cauz says the printed sets account for just 1 percent of overall revenue. 85 percent of revenue comes from education products including online learning tools and curriculum products

The digital phone and tablet app of Britannica costs $2 per month.

According to the Korea Times, Samsung has confirmed that the oft-rumored "iPad Mini" is in fact coming later this year.

The tablet will be 7.85-inches and the official allegedly said that Apple will buy $11 billion worth of components for their range of devices this year. The current contract is for $9.7 billion worth of hardware, but Apple will need more display panels, flash storage and chips.

Last year, Apple purchased about $8 billion in parts from Samsung, making it the largest single customer of the manufacturer.

By creating a smaller form factor iPad, Apple will directly compete with Amazon, which has sold over 5 million Kindle Fire tablets since launch in November, taking a strong majority share at that size.

The smaller iPad will sell at $249 or $299, making it more expensive than the Kindle Fire, but certainly within striking distance given Apple's brand power.

Wal-Mart has launched its UltraViolet "disc-to-digital" initiative today, giving disc owners a chance to have access to a digital copy of their movie, for a nominal price.

The program will go live on April 16th at 3500 Wal-mart stores and users can pay $2 for an SD digital copy of a DVD or $5 to get an HD copy. If you bring in Blu-rays, you can get an HD digital copy for $2.

Says Wal-Mart: The new program "allows customers to reconnect with the movies they already own on a variety of new devices, while preserving the investments they've already made in disc purchases."

The digital copies will be available via Vudu, Wal-Mart's streaming and download service that is available on hundreds of Blu-ray players, set-top boxes, gaming consoles and of course on PC. Each license will also be available in your UltraViolet cloud library for streaming.