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RealNetworks has announced they have sold about $120 million worth of video software and patents to Intel.

The company retains the right to use the technology, and Intel gets to build up their portfolio of patents in the realm of smartphones, notebooks and other portables. Real will also work with Intel on continued development of all patents and software involved.

Intel will be paying for 190 patents and 170 patent applications, as well streaming video compression/decompression software.

Says Real CEO Thomas Nielsen: "To bring new technology like that [video software] to market requires significant reach into the consumer and business markets. A partner like Intel has the capacity and size to do that."

Streaming video, especially on smartphones and tablets, is showing exponential growth and many companies are jousting for a chance at market share and to offer the best experience.

Following the company's quarterly earnings report, it was revealed that Logitech has finally sold out of the Revue set-top box, the failed Google TV experiment that caused the previous CEO to be fired.

Logitech has also taken its name of the Google TV supporter list, but says there is a chance they can return in the future.

The company took a massive loss on the boxes, being forced to drop the price from $299 to $99 after just a few months on the market. CEO Guerrino de Luca admitted the company was far too bullish on the technology when it launched the box, overinvesting at a time when it was still unclear whether the technology would be widely embraced.

Google TV allows users to stream videos and access sites and apps via their TVs using a set-top box and impressive keyboard. Media companies have mostly blocked access to their streaming sites via Google TV, however, making the service useless in its current form.

9to5Mac is citing a Foxconn employee who has apparently spilled some of the beans on the upcoming iPhone 5.

Word is the iPhone 5 is almost ready for production, with sample devices already available.

For the actual device, the iPhone 5 will have a 4-inch display, will not have a tear-drop form factor like rumored, will have a different form factor than the iPhone 4S, and will include LTE support.

While none of this is confirmed, of course, the sources say the iPhone 5 is coming this summer, as Apple moves back to its normal June release schedule.

After a very rough 2011, Netflix came through today with stronger than expected earnings and a boost in subscribers.

The company will continue to see losses in 2012, mainly thanks to the extreme costs of rolling out streaming services internationally.

During the report, Netflix revealed for the first time the kind of margins the company makes on its two products, DVD subscriptions and streaming subscriptions. Streaming comes in at just 11 percent profit margin, while the DVD rental business has a hefty 52 percent margin.

Unfortunately for Netflix, CEO Reed Hastings confirms that the DVD rental business is a dying one: "We expect DVD Subscribers to decline every quarter.. forever." In the Q4 2011, the company lost 2.76 million DVD subscribers whilst gaining 220,000 streaming customers. One the other hand, however, Hastings says "profitability of each new streaming subscriber is almost twice what it is for DVDs -we'd obviously like them to do both, but if they're only going to use one, we'd much prefer they use streaming."

Netflix recently expanded to the UK and Ireland and will compete with LoveFilm in the region.

Microsoft has confirmed this week that it suspects a former employee is behind the massive Kelihos botnet attacks.

The man, Russian citizen Andrey Sabelnikov "wrote and/or participated in creating" the software which infected over 40,000 machines in 2011. Kelihos was used to send spam and malware before being shutdown last September.

Sabelnikov was a former employee in Microsoft's anti-virus division. Sabelnikov is currently working on a freelance basis with a software development and consulting firm, says the BBC. The company notes that thousands of PCs remain infected to this day.

Microsoft bases its allegations "on evidence Microsoft investigators uncovered while analyzing the Kelihos malware."

Kelihos was in charge of 41,000 infected machines sending over 3.8 billion spam emails per day at its peak.

Last week, the U.S. government shut down Megaupload.com, one of the largest and longest running cyberlockers in the business. Its founders, Kim Dotcom and a handful of employees were also arrested, charged with copyright infringement.

Megaupload and its owners are accused of taking over $500 million from copyright holders due to piracy, and cashing in on $175 million in profits from ads and premium subscriptions. At its peak, Megaupload had 150 million registered users and 50 million daily uniques, placing it in the top 25 most trafficked websites on the entire planet.

Today, the RIAA has posted its response to the closure, and why it is so important for the world. (Post in its entirety):

Yesterday, we reported that Apple's strong earnings had sent the company's hoard of cash to an unprecedented $97.7 billion.

Bloomberg has a fantastic article on what Apple could do with the money (none of which are logical, of course) and it also put the amount of money in perspective.

First, the news site says Apple could effectively bail-out Greece, by paying its debt payments for the next two years. Greece, which is on the verge of bankruptcy, has been bailed out twice by its European Union counterparts, but remains in trouble.

Secondly, Apple's revenue for this quarter, alone, was 4 times larger than South African nation Zambia's annual GDP.

Third, Apple now has a market value larger than Exxon Mobil, which literally prints money with its oil sales and has more cash.

Fourth, Apple's cash is larger than the combined market value of Boeing, Alcoa and Travelers, three of just thirty companies that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the most watched stock market index.

BGR is reporting today that Nokia's Lumia 900 may come with just a $99 price tag when it launches later this year, becoming a "game changer" for Microsoft and Windows Phone.

Citing a first quarter 2012 roadmap from AT&T sources, the expected launch date for the phone is March 18th, but that is certainly not set in stone.

The phone is still looking to receive technical acceptance in the U.S., which could push the launch date.

At $99 and with a nice spec sheet, especially for a Windows Phone device, the launch could certainly be a game changer for the operating system which has yet to really gain traction, at least not in the U.S.

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.

2013's Xbox Next (or Xbox 720, whatever you prefer) has seen its first rumored spec sheet today, courtesy of IGN.

The successor to the seven-year-old console will run on a Radeon 6000 series GPU, making it "six times more powerful" than the current system.

These specs come via "sources close to the project," and the GPU will be a variant of the Radeon HD 6670. Surprisingly the console will not use AMD's new Radeon 7900 lineup. The 6670 can be found for under $80 for the PC as it is over a year old.

Additionally, the Xbox Next will provide "20 percent greater performance" than the upcoming Wii U.

Finally, the console will launch in early November of next year, reads the report.

SOPA and PIPA may have been dealt a setback by last week's widespread protests, but neither has been withdrawn completely. Likewise, opponents of overreaching anti-piracy legislation continue to speak out.

No individual has received more attention than Wikimedia's Jimmy Wales. Wikipedia was certainly the biggest website to go dark on January 18 in protest of the two bills. While the decision to join the blackout was based on widespread community support, it was Wales who got the ball rolling last year, and ultimately the choice was in his hands.

MPAA Chairman, and former US Senator, Chris Dodd responded to the blackout by calling it "an abuse of power." Later he appeared on Fox News and blatantly threatened to cut off campaign funding for politicians over their opposition to the bills.

Speaking at the Digital Life Design conference in Munich, Wales responded to the MPAA rhetoric. He said of the protests "that?s democracy," adding that Dodd "had best get used to it." He then went even further and suggested the MPAA should fire Dodd.

Apple's sales in the final quarter of last year were impressive by any objective standard.

They sold 37 million iPhones, making them the number one smartphone brand once again, while continuing to generate impressive margins. But what may be even more significant is the iPad's showing. In fact, if you combine iPad and Mac sales, Apple appears to have become the top computer company in the world.

Two weeks ago a Gartner report indicated that HP shipped 14.7 million PCs over the same period. For a fair comparison, you would have to add their last batch of TouchPads, estimated at 200,000 units and refurbished TouchPads, almost certainly totaling no more than another 100,000. Apple's iPad sales, amounting to 15.4 million units, beat that on their own. Add in desktops and laptops and the number climbs to 20.6 million units.

_{Source: Gartner}

Western Digital has reported their quarterly earnings today, and there are finally some hard numbers to show off the effect of the floods in Thailand.

Year-over-year, the company saw a huge drop in drives shipped, down to 28.5 million down from 52.2 million. The company took a $200 million loss in expenses related to the floods, and a $500 million drop in total revenue.

On the other hand, prices jumped 47 percent to $69 per unit over last year, thanks in part to a large gross margin increase. Margins are now at a hefty 32.5 percent compared to 19.2 percent last year.

Thai factories are expected to be up and running to pre-flood capacities by September and a full pipeline ready by March 2013.

Other hard drive makers have made similar statements so do not expect hard drive prices to return to their all-time lows (summer 2011) anytime soon.

Thanks to Apple's strong earnings this past quarter, the company's hoard of cash has reached $97.7 billion.

As the company's cash balloons, executives have finally hinted that they have "big plans" for the money, after sitting on it for years.

At the end of the last quarter, Apple had $81.6 billion in cash.

Says Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer: "We're actively discussing uses of our cash balance, and have no specifics to share. In the meantime, we continue to be disciplined with cash, and are not letting it burn a hole in our pockets.

"We have always discussed, internally with the management team and with our board, our cash. We recognize that the cash is growing for all of the right reasons. And I would characterize our discussions today as actiive as what makes the most sense to do."

Although the company is actively discussing ways to use the cash, the company is in no hurry to do so.

Chart from Hoarce Deidu:

Paramount Pictures has become the first studio to offer UltraViolet films directly, not just including them in Blu-ray purchases.

Additionally, the studio has joined Warner, Sony and Universal in including UltraViolet digital copies in its upcoming Blu-ray films.

If you click to ParamountMovies.com, you can browse through the collection and either rent or purchase the film of your choice. Renting does not use UltraViolet but purchases do. As expected, Paramount has not put their entire catalog up, but there are new and older films, including Super 8 and Chinatown.

After purchasing the films, you can download them or stream. iOS streaming is also available, but offline viewing is not for the devices. There is also no support for set-top boxes or the PS3/Xbox 360 yet, either.

SD titles cost $12.99 and HD cost $19.99. Ultraviolet titles remain in your digital locker forever.

Last week we reported that Kim Dotcom, the larger-than-life founder of Megaupload, was also apparently the top Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 3 player in the world.

Dotcom, who was arrested last week as the DOJ shutdown Megaupload, went by the name "MEGARACER" in MW3 multi-player and had over 180,000 kills as of his arrest.

Adding to the man's rough week is the fact that he has already been surpassed as the top player in the blockbuster game. A player with the handle "Arazos" is now the top player, and will likely remain there as Dotcom sits in prison awaiting a hearing.

Arazos has 9.09 million points on the MW3 leader boards, just eking past MEGARACER's 9.05 million. Arazos also has 181,000 kills to just 63,418 death, a ratio of 2.87 compared to Dotcom's 2.10.

The 6'6 285 pound Dotcom has been held without bail thanks to his history of fleeing criminal charges and his access to millions of dollars and guns.