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The U.S. regional carrier C-Spire has lowered the price of the base iPhone 4S to $150 with contract.

Additionally, it has dropped the cost of the 32GB and 64GB models to $249 and $349, with two year contract, as well.

C-Spire became the fourth carrier in the U.S. to get access to the iPhone when it signed a deal last year. C-Spire was formerly known as Cellular South and has over 1 million customers in just 4 states.

The carrier uses the EV-DO 3G network used by Sprint and Verizon and customers can jump on the big carrier's networks whenever they roam out of the south east.

C-Spire offers unlimited everything (with no throttling) for $100 per month.

Samsung has announced a milestone for their over-sized Galaxy Note smartphone, 2 million units sold.

Executives noted the figure to Forbes during an interview.

The figure is not mind-blowing, but it is a very strong number for a device that many believed would fail due to its "identity crisis" as a tablet and phone hybrid.

Galaxy Note devices have a massive 5.3-inch HD Super AMOLED screen (1280×800 resolution), run on dual-core 1.4 GHz Snapdragon S3 processors, have 1 GB RAM, LTE support and Samsung's own stylus pen with input software called S-Pen.

The company says it hopes to ship 10 million units in 2012.

According to numerous sources, Huawei will manufacture all of T-Mobile's upcoming myTouch devices.

The manufacturer is popular in China for its low-end smartphones, but creating the myTouch line would certainly help the company get its foot in the door in the U.S.

Additionally, the company is trying to move up into the high-end Android market, and is quietly releasing the quad-core Ascend D Quad soon. A lack of marketing has made the company a relatively unknown.

If accurate, the upcoming myTouch devices (one with full QWERTY, one without) will feature very low-end specs, including Android 2.3 and a WVGA (480×800) resolution. Furthermore, the phone does not even look to have a 4-inch screen.

Hopefully, the rumored specs are just that, a rumor, and the company can come up with a phone that will not be considered a joke right out of the gate.

(Pic via PocketNow)

According to a new report, the top password used on business systems is the easily hacked "Password1."

Although the password satisfies the rules needed for most systems (one upper case, one lower case and a number), the password is still quite obviously not secure.

Security firm Trustwave cited the password in its new "2012 Global Security Report," a report which concludes on the firm's "findings from nearly 2 million network vulnerability scans and 300 recent security breach investigations," says CNN.

Overall, 5 percent of all passwords use a variation of the word "password" and over 1 percent use the word "welcome," making them the most used.

During their routine penetration tests on their client's systems, the firm was able to crack 200,000 of the 2.5 million they tried, a shockingly high number.

Recently, Verizon made similar conclusions in their own "2012 Data Breach Investigations Report."

The scariest part of the report was that attackers often remained in victim's networks for months at a time without being detected. Only 18 percent of victims discovered the attacks within a week.

Google has been sued, again, over invasion of privacy.

The French villager was caught urinating by Google's camera teams, and the image is available on Google's Street View part of Maps.

That photo, the man says, has made him the butt of jokes in his small village. Although it is Google's policy to blur faces, the village is small enough that he was still recognizable.

In the suit, the man is seeking 10,000 euros in damages and demanding the picture be replaced.

A French court will make the ruling on the complaint on March 15.

Redbox has announced today that it will continue to offer Universal titles with a 28-day release delay into the future.

The deal will make Universal Blu-rays and DVDs available to Redbox kiosk users 28 days after their release date, and at a much discounted price to Redbox.

Adds Galen Smith, Senior Vice President, Redbox: "The multi-year agreement between Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Redbox represents a win for consumers, Universal and Redbox. Redbox is committed to forging relationships that provide our consumers with affordable and timely access to new release content."

The deal is effective until August 2014.

Universal's move comes on the heels of Warner Bros pulling their discounted movies from Redbox since the kiosk company would not sign off on a ridiculous 56-day release delay. Redbox now offers Warner titles on the first day, but at a much higher price to themselves (usually retail).

Scheme would let customers trade discs for digital copies.

Warner Home Entertainment Group President Kevin Tsujihara outlined the "disc to digital" scheme at a Morgan Stanley event in San Francisco. Basically, the initiative would see customers return discs they previously bought to stores in exchange for a digital copy on cloud storage.

Online retailers would also provide links to downloadable copies of disc contents. Tsujihara also talked about the possibility of having a digital copy of a movie automatically added to an online library when you play a purchased disc for the first time.

Such a scheme might make use of UltraViolet, an industry-backed standard cloud-based film library.

Movie studios are trying to come up with new initiatives in the digital space to lure customers away from piracy, and also from popular streaming services such as Netflix and Lovefilm. Such streaming services are used widely by consumers, but generate far less revenue for movie studios.

Broadcasters sue Aereo, citing copyright violation concerns.

The firm is due to launch an Internet TV service starting in New York. The service allows customers to view broadcast TV over the Internet from anywhere they have access.

The broadcasters claim that, "Aereo will infringe their copyrights by making available technology which enables consumers to access broadcast television via a remote antenna and DVR," the Internet TV firm wrote.

"Aereo does not believe that the broadcasters' position has any merit and it very much looks forward to a full and fair airing of the issues."

Aereo is scheduled to launch its new service in New York, starting on March 14. In a blog post, the firm says that consumers are legally entitled to access broadcast television via an antenna and they are entitled to record television content for their personal use.

Mannheim court rejects two patent claims.

The court announced on Friday that it has dismissed two cases brought by Apple and Samsung. The cases are just two of dozens around the world concerning patents related to smartphones and tablet PCs as competitors struggle for market share.

Apple had claimed that Samsung was violating a patent covering "slide to lock" functionality, while Samsung's patent claim against Apple concerned 3G/UMTS-essential patents.

Samsung's reaction was predictable mixed. It applauded the court's decision to scrap the "slide to lock" patent claim made by Apple, but was disappointed that its 3G/UMTS patent case was dismissed also. The South Korean consumer electronics giant has said it will appeal the case to the Higher Regional Court in Karlsruhe.

Apple did not comment on the Mannheim court's decisions.

Apple sued Samsung last April, claiming that it had "slavishly" cloned its iPhone and iPad in the Galaxy line of smartphones and tablet PCs. The lawsuit prompted several more on separate continents involving the who heavyweights.

Over 20,000 SIM cards disabled for spamming.

Action taken by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and network providers have led to the blocking of over 20,000 SIM cards in the United Kingdom, which have been used to send large amounts of spam. The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) estimates that eight million spam messages are sent in the UK every day.

The ICO admits that the latest action against mobile spam is just beginning to scratch the surface of the problem. The office was granted new powers six months ago to address the growing issue.

Spam texts can generate millions of pounds for those involved in spreading them. Far from trying to phish credit card information, many of the messages intend to provoke a user to respond. "Once they spammers have trapped your number they will then sell it into the claims industry," David Clancy, investigations manager at the ICO, said.

"First users will pay £1, £1.50 for that phone number. A month later it will be distributed to lots of organisations for 50p, 20p, 10p a time. It makes a lot of money."

The ICO's new powers enable it to execute search warrants when there is reason to believe spam texts are being sent. It can also compel mobile operators to hand over information, and issue fines of up to £500,000 for offences.

Sources say Sony won't opt for a successor to the Cell chip powering its PS3 in its next generation home console.

Kotaku is citing industry sources in its report. It comes after Forbes reported chip-maker AMD would provide the graphics chip for the PlayStation 4 console, after turning to Nvidia for the PS3.

The Cell chip in the PS3 gained considerable media attention before the console's launch in 2006, with Sony suggesting that the chip would power multiple devices around the home, providing for shared computational power between them.

Not long after the PS3 was on the market however, there were reports of game developers finding the Cell tedious to develop titles with. Cell also failed to gain the kind of momentum and integration into consumer electronics that Sony had envisioned.

Already there is speculation mounting about what exactly will power the PS4. One suggestion is that AMD will provide for both CPU and GPU in the PS4 by way of AMD Fusion architecture, which could go over well with developers. id Software's John Carmack has already given a nod of approval to AMD Fusion-style architecture for the future.

Regulator seeks to work with industry to tackle high mobile bills.

Ofcom recognised that customers on contract plans were vulnerable to bill shock for a variety of reasons. It's own research suggests that 1.4 million people in the UK have experienced unexpectedly high phone bills, and came to the conclusion that the majority of cases could be avoided if providers just implemented a few simple measures.

The regulator identifies the main causes of bill shock as..

• Downloading data, primarily while travelling outside the EU, but also when using data in the UK (for example, customers using smartphones which may download data without the customer realising, or not realising how much data they are using);
• Using mobile voice services in the UK, mainly by exceeding inclusive allowances or calling numbers outside of allowances; and
• Lost or stolen phones ? where the number of consumers affected is low, but the level of financial harm can be substantial.

Ofcom also warned that customers have low levels of awareness about how to limit their bills, and find it difficult to find clear cut information about data charges from their providers.

"Ofcom believes mobile providers can do more to help customers control the amount they spend on their mobile phones," the regulator said. It has suggested that providers develop and promote opt-in measures, such as tariffs, that allow consumers to set their own financial caps, and receive alerts when they are approaching those limits.

Google's new privacy policy gets attention in Europe.

The European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, Viviane Reding, said on Thursday that data protection institutions within the European Union have found Google's new privacy policy in breach of European laws. Her comments come after the French data protection group, CNIL, questioned the legality of the new broad privacy policy across multiple Google services.

"They have come to the conclusion that they are deeply concerned, and that the new rules are not in accordance with the European law, and that the transparency rules have not been applied," Viviane Reding told the BBC in the UK.

"Protection of personal data is a basic rule of the European Union. It is inscribed in the treaties. It is not an if, it is a must."

Google argues that it is just simplifying its privacy policy by consolidating 60 guidelines into a single one that applies to many Google services, such as Google+ and YouTube. Users do not have an option to opt out of the changes.

Reding was asked how the new privacy policy may violate laws in the European Union, and responded: "In numerous respects. One is that nobody had been consulted, it is not in accordance with the law on transparency and it utilises the data of private persons in order to hand it over to third parties, which is not what the users have agreed to."

Zynga has made a huge move today, announcing the launch of their own game portal.

The portal will help the company be less dependent on Facebook, the company for which it produces 12 percent of total revenue. Although the new service will still be "fully Facebook-connected," the company will also open up its gaming platform to third parties.

To access the site you will need a Facebook login.

Included in the beta of the platform are blockbuster hits like CastleVille, Zynga Poker, Hidden Chronicles, and CityVille.

Says Zynga:

The Zynga Platform is designed with two simple goals: more access to the best social games and more people to play with. In a few days we're turning on a beta of Zynga.com which will feature our most popular games: Words with Friends, CastleVille, Zynga Poker, Hidden Chronicles and CityVille. Soon after, we will be adding great games from other developers too.Every day, we think about the challenges in enabling play. How can we surface more friends that want to help you build your bridge in CityVille? How do we help you find your perfect match in Words With Friends?

Zynga.com is designed to make it easier for you to play with friends. We're excited to offer new features like the live Social Stream which will enable you to play in real time with your friends and find new ones. Player profiles will let you check your friends? helpfulness score to see who's most likely to help you back. And you?ll be able to chat and play live with your friends and a community of players interested in the same games as you.

Tablet maker Archos has announced a tablet for children, but one that packs a bit more punch than others released in the past.

The 7-inch device runs on Android 4.0 and will have a 1GHz processor and 1GB of RAM. The display has a resolution of 1024x600.

Making the tablet aimed at kids (and parents of kids) is the fact that Archos has added a custom skin, pre-loaded games, and strong parental controls including a filtered app store. Among the pre-loaded games are Angry Birds, Pig Rush and Flight Frenzy.

"As a pioneer in the portable audio and Android tablet market we realize the importance of providing a tablet that can offer hours of entertainment for all ages, especially kids," says Henri Crohas, Founder and CEO of Archos. "ARCHOS strives to offer great tablets with only the best of features at affordable prices and we expect this tablet to bring a smile to the faces of kids and parents' everywhere."