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Apple has announced today that the limit on OTA downloads in the App Store is now 50MB.

Until today, the store only allowed up to 20MB.

When users attempted to download a bigger app, a pop-up error would interrupt telling iOS device owners that a Wi-Fi network was necessary to download bigger apps.

The limit is in effect as of today, and supports everything in the store including games, apps, music and movies (if you can find any at under 50MB).

Apple made the announcement as part of their iPad HD announcement. View more info on that here: Apple's new iPad announcement

Netflix will be better integrated with Apple products into the future.

The streaming company has announced today that owners of Apple TV set-tops will be able to sign up for the service and pay right through their iTunes accounts.

As of today, the upgrade is rolling out in all markets, says Apple. Those markets include the U.S., Canada, Latin America, the UK and Ireland.

Earlier this week, reports came out that Netflix has been meeting with cable companies in the past weeks in an effort to get their own channel. If CEO Reed Hastings is successful, Netflix would become available as an on-demand option for cable subscribers, similar to rivals HBO and Showtime.

The channel would offer Netflix's streaming catalog of 25,000 TV episodes and movies.

Netflix is also set to offer 5 of its own original programs in 2013, including the cult classic "Arrested Development" back for a new season.

According to sources, Google is looking to sell the cable set-top box division of its newly acquired Motorola Mobility.

Last year, Google CEO Larry Page said the set-top business would have its place in Google's portfolio, but it is possible that the company has changed its mind on the hardware.

Additionally, the same sources say Cisco, Pace and Technicolor are also looking to sell their respective set-top box businesses. From that group, only Cisco has denied the claim.

Sources put the value of the business at anywhere between $2.5 billion and $4 billion, and the company is said to have already hired acquisition specialists Qatayst Partners for the sale.

The sale makes sense if you believe Infonetics, a company that tracks the set-top box market. The firm says 2011 was the peak for the business and sales will decline into the future starting in 2012.

Apple shows off new iPad with LTE, touts sales figures. Firm also shows off new Apple TV.

Apple showed off its new 4G LTE iPad today (9.4mm thin, 1.4lb), with data rates up to 73Mbps (on LTE, HSPA+ at 21Mbps and DC-HSPDA at 42Mbps). It can also be used as a personal hotspot, if supported by provider.

The new iPad can avail of LTE provided by AT&T, Verizon, Rogers, Bell or Telus in the United States. Different bands of LTE means different devices for different networks, however. For 3G, that shouldn't be a problem.

Of course, the new iPad has a Retina Display (2048x1536) screen. Apple's Phil Schiller pointed out that the new iPad displays 1 million more pixels than a 1080p image and boasts 44 percent more color saturation than the iPad 2.

Under the hood it is powered with an A5X chip with quad-core graphics. Apple claims the A5X is twice as fast as the Tegra 3, and offers 4 times the performance.

The new iPad also features an iSight camera with an f/2.4 aperture and a five-element lens, capable of 1080p video recording with improved software stabilization. As for the battery, the new iPad still offers 10 hours of battery life, or 9 hours if operating on 4G.

Apple CEO touts company's ongoing success.

Tim Cook took to the stage today and told the audience that Apple sold 316 million iOS devices (iPod, iPad, iPhone) in 2011, with 62 million sold in the fourth quarter alone.

He also said that the App Store has reached 585,000 apps available, and passed the 25 billion download mark. The 25 billionth app was downloaded by a customer in China.

Apple's iCloud service also passed a milestone of 100 million users recently, and now iTunes movies are also supported, allowing customers to re-download movies they have purchased (1080p included.)

The change is aimed at the new Apple TV device.

Verizon has confirmed today which 14 of its devices will receive the Android 4.0 update.

The carrier did not give timeframes on the updates, but some are expected to get the update this month.

Here is the list (via AandMe):

HTC:
HTC ThunderBolt
DROID Incredible 2 by HTC
HTC Rhyme
HTC Rezound

Motorola:
Motorola XOOM
DROID BIONIC
DROID RAZR
DROID RAZR MAXX
DROID 4
DROID XYBOARD 8.2
DROID XYBOARD 10.1

Samsung:
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7

According to multiple credible sources, Samsung and Motorola have been approached by Apple who is asking for $5-$15 per handset in patent licensing fees.

Microsoft took a similar approach, and has managed to extract around $10 per handset from over 40 percent of the world's Android makers. The software giant is still fighting with companies that refuse to pay up, including Motorola and Barnes & Noble.

According to the same sources, Apple doesn't care about the money they will make from Android, but care more about making Android more expensive for resellers.

Apple, HTC, Motorola and Samsung remain embroiled in lawsuits across the world over patents relating to their smartphones and tablet devices that will likely not all be settled for years to come.

ISPs BT and TalkTalk have lost their appeal against the UK government's "Digital Economy Act."

The act, which will force ISPs to send warning letters to alleged pirates and eventually cut them off the web for extended periods, should now be free to go into effect.

Both ISPs had argued that law would put an unfair financial burden on the companies, who will have to foot part of the bill for the crackdown on piracy at the behest of the media companies.

As part of the bill, the ISPs will still have to pay 25 percent "of the qualifying costs incurred by media regulator Ofcom in running and setting up an appeals body for alleged illicit file sharers," says THR.

Additionally, the ISPs will have to pay "25 percent of relevant costs, which are operating fees incurred when identifying which subscribers are accused of illegal downloading."

In celebration of their launch of Google Play rebranding, the search giant is offering tons of games and apps for the discounted price of $0.49.

Additionally, the company is offering $0.25 movie rentals and music.

Says the company: "To celebrate, we'll be offering a different album, book, video rental and Android app at a special price each day for the next week in our "7 Days to Play" sale. In the U.S., today's titles include the collection of top 40 hits Now That's What I Call Music 41, the popular game Where's My Water, the novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and the movie Puncture for just 25 cents each. In addition, you'll find great collections of hip-hop, rock and country albums for $3.99 all week, detective novels from $2.99, some of our editorial team's favorite movies from 99 cents, and our favorite apps from 49 cents."

The apps/games available:

Where's My Water ($0.25)
World of Goo
Jamie's 20 Minute Meals
SHADOWGUN
Osmos HD
TuneIn Radio Pro
I Just Forgot ? Little Critter
Sprinkle
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit
Asphalt 6: Adrenaline
Dead Space
Business Calendar
SoundHound
mSecure - Password Manager
NFL Flick Quarterback
N.O.V.A. 2
Quell Reflect
Endomondo Sports Tracker Pro
Flick Golf Extreme
They Need To Be Fed
Paper Camera
ZOOKEEPER DX TouchEdition
SwiftKey X Keyboard
Camera ZOOM FX
It's Tyrannosaurus Rex!
Pocket League Story
Sniper Vs Sniper: Online
Colosseum
Homerun Battle 3D

Law enforcement agents across the U.S. and Europe have arrested all the top members of the "LulzSec" hacking group today, thanks to evidence collected by the former leader of the group.

Hector Xavier Monsegur, better known as "Sabu," has been working with the government since August, in secret, collecting information to arrest the other members of the team that caused havoc and headlines for a brief period in 2011.

"This is devastating to the organization," said an FBI official involved with the investigation. (via Fox News) "We're chopping off the head of LulzSec."

In August, Sabu plead guilty to 12 counts of conspiracy, computer hacking, aggravated identity theft, and bank fraud.

Of the new arrests, two men are from the UK, two from Ireland and one from Chicago. Four are charged with conspiracy. The group, in just two months, caused billions of dollars in damages to governments, banks and corporations. Sabu, a 28-year-old unemployed father, commanded the team from his project apartment in New York. The hacker was arrested in June, and quickly flipped and began working for the FBI.

Google has announced today that its Google Music, Google Books and Android Market apps will be re-branded under the new umbrella of "Google Play."

Google Play will allow you to buy music, books, movies and apps all in one place and everything is saved to the cloud. You can start a book on one device and continue right where you left off on another device without missing a beat.

The new move will create the true Google ecosystem that many have been waiting for for years. Rivals Amazon and Apple have hardware and software ecosystems, and both are incredibly popular. If Google were to release its rumored "Nexus" tablet this year, the company could certainly compete on a head-to-head level with its rivals.

On the same note, none of Google's apps are as popular as those made by other companies. iTunes remains the defacto movie/TV rental store, and Amazon's Kindle Store is still the most popular place to download books.

"Entertainment is supposed to be fun," says Jamie Rosenberg, Google's Director of Digital Content. "But in reality, getting everything to work can be the exact opposite-moving files between your computers, endless syncing across your devices, and wires, lots of wires. Today we're eliminating all that hassle."

According to Reuters, Netflix has been meeting with cable companies in the past weeks in an effort to get their own channel.

If CEO Reed Hastings is successful, Netflix would become available as an on-demand option for cable subscribers, similar to rivals HBO and Showtime.

The channel would offer Netflix's streaming catalog of 25,000 TV episodes and movies.

Says Hastings: "It's not in the short term, but it's in the natural direction for us in the long term. Many (cable service providers) would like to have a competitor to HBO, and they would bid us off of HBO." The sources say at least one cable operator is considering experimenting with a Netflix offer by the end of the year.

One cable operator that will not talk to Netflix is Comcast, which recently launched its own service with similar content.

Starting next week, AT&T will begin offering products by the Beats by Dr. Dre brand.

The carrier has announced it will soon be exclusively offering a version of the "Monster Beats by Dr. Dre Beatbox" in stores and online for $400.

As the company describes it, the Beatbox is a wireless audio system that also comes with a built-in dock connector for smartphones. The speaker system has Bluetooth connectivity, a remote control, handles and runs on six D-batteries.

On top of the Beatbox, the carrier will also sell wireless HD stereo Bluetooth headphones, Beats Solo HD Headphones, and UR Beats In-ear Headphones, says Cnet.

According to sources speaking to CNET, the upcoming Apple iPad will be called iPad HD and not iPad 3 as expected.

The site spoke with a "trustworthy" developer who has provided good information in the past in regards to iOS devices, giving some credibility to the rumor.

Last week, accessory maker Griffin outted the name, as well, listing cases with the name "iPad HD (3)." The popular application Tapatalk also noted the name, putting down the "iPad HD" as a supported device.

For now, iPadHD.com and iPadHD.biz are taken domains, but this wouldn't be the first time Apple has waited until the last minute or even after-the-fact to purchase a domain or trademark for their product.

The Apple iPad 3 (or iPad HD) will be unveiled on Wednesday during a special event.

Google has confirmed today that direct downloads from the Android Market are now capped at 4GB, compared to the previous 50MB for APK files.

The extra resources are allowed to be up to 2GB, in two files, for a total of 4GB. Developers can now have users download (for the most part) the full app, instead of just downloading an APK from the Market, and then downloading all the additional game files after installation.

This move is big news for games, a lot of which require over 500MB of game files. In the market, Android owners can also now see the real size of the application before downloading, and adjust accordingly.

Perhaps most notably, the 15-minute "refund period" for Android apps/games will now actually be effective, since it will start after the full app is downloaded, not after the APK is. Many users have complained over the years that they did not get ample time to even download and install the game before the refund period was over due to the 2-part download process.