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US cable broadand providers and a number of technology companies are working with the FCC on a joint effor to deliver computers with broadband connections to poor Americans.

The new initiative, called Connect to Compete, brings together members of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, software companies like Microsoft, retailers such as Best Buy, and online services which include job search sites CareerBuilder.com and Monster.com to offer a variety of services for low income families.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski announced the initiative today in a speech delivered at a Washington DC public school. Among the highlights of the program is a plan for cable operators across the country to offer Internet service for $10 per month to low income households.

Families who have children enrolled in the government's free and reduced price lunch program who don't already have Internet acces will be eligible for the program.

In addition, Redmantech will be offering refurbished desktop and laptop computers to those same families for $150. The computers will have Intel Core2Duo processors, run Windows 7, and include Microsoft Office.

In the latest update to the Building Windows 8 blog, Pat Stemen, who heads the Windows Kernel team, talks about improvements in the next version of Windows designed to lower power consumption.

With its focus on becoming viable for tablets, power consumption is more important for Windows 8 than any previous version of the Microsoft's flagship OS. No matter how good the interface is, a tablet OS that drains batteries too quickly has no value.

Microsoft's focus with Windows 8, says Stemen, is primarily on reducing power consumption when the computer is in an idle state. That is, when it isn't doing anything.

By doing that, he says, you also reduce the power consumption the rest of the time.

In many ways this is actually about the hardware. Modern mobile processors, such as the ARM chips used in most smartphones and tablets, are already optimized to use minimal power as often as possible.

The role of Windows, according to Stemen, is primarily to get out of the way and, "Let the hardware shine." To accomplish this, the Metro Style UI takes a different approach to background processes to allow a computer, such as a tablet, to spend more time idle.

The result is that the computer spends more time in a continuous idle state. This is important, says Stemen, because it takes a certain amount of time before the hardware decides to change states from active to idle.

As Google waits to clear the regulatory hurdles for acquiring Motorola Mobility, they continue to answer questions about what it will mean for other Android device makers.

Immediately after Google announced the buyout agreement in August, Samsung executives gathered to discuss the ramifications of the deal.

Now Google Chairman Eric Schmidt has made a trip to Samsung's home country of South Korea to deliver the message that Android vendors need not fear his company's Motorola acquisition.

In a statement to the Korean media, Schmidt spoke of his message to companies like Samsung and HTC. He said (via Reuters):

In general, with all of our partners, we told them that the Motorola deal will close and we will run it sufficiently and independently, that it will not violate the openness of Android.

President Obama has promised to veto any legislation which would forbid the FCC from enacting net neutrality rules.

This week the Senate is expected to officially weigh in on the net neutrality debate by voting on a resolution with exactly that purpose. Earlier this year a similar resolution passed the House of Representatives.

In an official statement on the resolution, President Obama defended the new FCC policy:

The rule at issue resulted from a process that brought together parties on all sides of this issue ? from consumer groups to technology companies to broadband providers ? to enable their voices to be heard. Notably, the Federal Communications Commission?s rule reflected a constructive effort to build a consensus around what safeguards and protections were reasonable and necessary to ensure that the Internet continues to attract investment and to spur innovation. Disapproval of the rule would threaten those values and cast uncertainty over those innovative new businesses that are a critical part of the Nation?s economic recovery.

A company called VirnetX didn't wait for the ink to dry on their new VPN patent before suing Apple for infringing on it at the beginning of the month.

VirnetX is a typical non-practicing entity (ie patent troll) whose sole business is to be suing other companies for infringement and charging other people who actually do make products. VirnetX's patents, including this new one, revolve around VPNs.

VirnetX's previous lawsuits include multiple victories against Microsoft and a case against Apple which is still pending.

In addition to the lawsuit, VirnetX has filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission seeking to ban imports of the allegedly infringing products.

According to their latest suit, Apple has been willfully infringing on VirnetX's brand new patent for several years. If you look at the patent, it certainly seems likely Apple has been using the method VirnetX claims to have invented.

VirnetX CEO and President Kendall Larsen has released a laughable statement on the ITC complaint saying, "We look forward to the ITC vindicating our substantial and significant efforts to innovate."

Warner Bros. has finally announced the release date for the PC version of their hit game Batman Arkham City.

The console version for PS3 and Xbox 360 hit stores on October 18th.

North Americans will get the game on November 22nd with Europe getting the game on the 25th.

Developer Rocksteady had first said the game would be available on November 18th.

Trailer:

According to VB, Facebook users have already listened to 1.5 billion songs since the launch of the service's social music tools.

Introduced in late September, the giant social network gives access to streaming music services like MOG, Spotify and Rdio, allowing users to stream music and share with friends with the click of a button.

The full list of services available are Spotify, MOG, Rdio, Rhapsody, Turntable, VEVO, Slacker, Songza, TuneIn, iheartradio, Deezer, Earbits, Jelli and Mixcloud.

Many of the startups have experienced huge growth spurts since the announcement, with Spotify adding 4 million new users and MOG seeing a 246 percent explosion since September.

Facebook has 760 million members.

Despite some issues with downloads, iOS 5 is now on 38 percent of all iPhones.

According to Chitika Insights, one month after release, the new OS is on 38 percent of iPhones, 30 percent of iPads and 12 percent of iPod Touch.

The firm uses mobile ad network impressions to analyze traffic.

Says Chitika (BGR):

The iPhone 4S sold over 4 million units in the first weekend, so this certainly contributes to the heightened volume. However, this could be compounded by the fact that many consumers use their cellphones as their primary mobile device, and update it as necessary due to its great utility.

Kobo E-reader, the company behind the, you guessed it, Kobo line of e-readers, has been purchased by Rakuten for $315 million in cash.

Rakuten is not a household name but is a massive e-commerce company in Japan and the owners of Buy.com in the U.S.

The acquisition will help the company in its push into downloadable media, beginning with e-books.

Kobo CEO Michael Serbinis says the Kobo devices have about 9 percent market share in the U.S. and will use the money to grow internationally. Kobo e-readers were available in Borders locations but the retailer has since gone bankrupt.

Adds Serbinis (via AllTD)

The U.S. is absolutely important. It's fundamental. We have millions of U.S. users today, and we plan to grow that substantially, and internationally represents a big opportunity as well.

Earlier this week, Adidas confirmed that a number of its sites were taken offline due to a "sophisticated cyber attack."

Says Adidas:

On November 3, 2011, the adidas Group found out that it was the target of a sophisticated, criminal cyber-attack. Our preliminary investigation has found no evidence that any consumer data is impacted.

But, while we continue our thorough forensic review, we have taken down affected sites, including adidas.com, reebok.com, miCoach.com, adidas-group.com and various local eCommerce shops, in order to protect visitors to our sites.

We are working to restore the site as soon as possible. As the site was also scheduled for a number of exciting updates, we will use the current down time to make those changes. This way the site will launch again with the latest and greatest developments already in place.

Amiga, the high-end computer company from the 1980s, is back, this time with a low-end tablet.

The Amiga Xperdio 7MTB is a 7-inch multi-touch tablet running on Android 2.2.

Under the hood is a VIA Technologies WM8650 ARM chip at 720MHz, 256MB LPDDR2 memory, 4GB internal storage and a microSD slot.

To keep the price under $100, the touch screen is resistive two-point.

Additionally, a bundled version (with USB keyboard and protective case) sells for $118.

If you are willing to spend more money, the Xpedio 7 MT for $189 jumps to an ARM Cortex-A8 processor ticking at 1GHz, 512MB LPDDR2 memory and 8GB storage. The screen is capacitive.

Delivery starts on Christmas.

Huawei has confirmed today that Microsoft has approached them demanding royalty payments for its Android devices.

The company has coerced deals out of Samsung, HTC, Wistron, Quanta, Acer, Compal and General Dynamics Itronix, so far.

Victor Xu, CMO for Huawei Devices, has said "negotiations are in progress" for licensing:

We always respect the intellectual property of companies. But we have 65,000 patents worldwide too. We have enough to protect our interests. We are a very important stakeholder in Android.

Spotify has announced the expansion of their streaming service to Windows Phone 7 devices.

The app is the 7th mobile app for the unlimited streaming music service.

Features of the app:

Search, browse & play our catalogue of millions of tracks
Explore & play your friend's playlists, top artists and tracks
Stream over WiFi or 2.5/3G - all your existing playlists are available
Offline playlists - play your music without an internet connection
On-the-fly sync - every track you add to a playlist appears on mobile and computer
What's New view
Receive music from friends via the inbox
Starred tracks - tag all your favourites into a special list

According to a new study from Cornell University, we may have more friends on social networks nowadays, but we have less real-life ones.

Matthew Brashears, a Cornell University sociologist, surveyed 2000 American adults and found that from 1985 to 2010, the number of close friends per person dropped from 3 to about 2.03.

The sociologist considered truly close friends as "the people you think of as your real confidants, your go-to people if you need something."

Brashears surveyed people from the online database TESS (Time-Sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences).

From those surveyed, 4 percent said they had no close friends, 48 percent said they had 1, 18 percent said 2 and 29 percent said more than 2.

While we have an increasing amount of friends on social networks, Brashears does not believe that is the reason for the decline. In fact, the sociologist believe that online friends provide social support and advice.

Analysts at Gartner have identified subscription services as a growing market for the music industry over the next several years.

It's no secret the music industry is undergoing significant changes sparked by the move from physical media to online distribution. As Gartner's Mike McGuire says, "Music labels, artists, publishers and new distribution intermediaries are developing new business models to address consumers' changing behavior."

What's interesting about their analysis is it shows growth in downloads from services like iTunes slowing, while subscription services are taking off. This year, they say, susbscription services will account for just over $500 million in revenue, compared to more than $3.6 billion for downloads.

More significantly, they predict subscription revenue to grow by more than 50% next year to over $800 million, while download revenue will only increase by around 6%. By 2015 they expect subscriptions to account for more $2 billion in revenue, more than half their forecast for download services.

They outline several key challenges for content owners, including diversifying services to meet consumer demand, ensuring easy access to content through cloud services, and simplifying the process by which consumers discover new music.