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Sony has "learned its lessons."

After having to put up with product shortages in the past, it would be no surprise if the launch of Sony's PlayStation Vita handheld console has marred by the same troubles. However, having learned the lessons of the past, Sony has taken steps to ensure that won't happen.

"We've increased production materially since E3," John Koller, Sony hardware marketing directory, told AllThingsD. "We learned our lesson to make sure you have enough product."

When asked about the level of concern at Sony about increasing competition from smartphones and tablets, as well as Nintendo's continued push of the 3DS handheld, Koller aid they aren't expecting it to be much of a problem.

?This is a larger game experience. We think we are insulated from the competition," Koller said. "We love mobile games. Mobile and tablets games are additive."

The PlayStation Vita will launch in Japan in December, followed by the U.S. and other areas on February 22, 2012.

Speech and touch rule the roost.

So it seems Microsoft's "officevideos" channel has gone on some kind-of futurist craze over the past few days, ending with a video titled "Productivity Future Vision". The video shows Microsoft's view is on the future of productivity - how we manage our day to day activities and responsibilities at home, at work, and so forth.

"We create these videos to help tell the story we see unfolding in technology, and how it will impact our lives in the future," wrote Kurt DelBene, President of the Microsoft Office Division.

"The video shows our vision for a future where technology extends and highlights our productive capabilities; it helps us manage our time better, focus our attention on the most important things, and foster meaningful connections with the people we care about."

DelBene points out that all of the ideas in the video are based on real technology; some of the speech recognition, real time collaboration and data visualization already exists and is in use, while other features not commercially available are based on active research and development at Microsoft's, and other's labs.

Music videos push video-sharing guide up behind Facebook.

Figures released by Internet research company Experian Hitwise show that visits to video-sharing websites have gone up by more than a third in the UK in the past year. Predictably, YouTube has taken the bulk of this new traffic, accounting for about 70 percent of the increase.

The main driver of more UK users flocking to web videos is music, which accounts for about 33 percent of the hits. Music videos are followed by TV shows at 17 percent, films at 11 percent, gaming content at 10 percent and news at 9 percent.

Of the music being sought by UK users, Lady Gaga was the most popular artist.

The research was carried out between September 2010, and September 2011. UK users spend about 240 million hours per month watching videos, with YouTube accounting for more than 184 million hours itself.

While YouTube is now in third place in the UK behind Google and Facebook, it is still a long way off social networking in terms of usage. The same research showed that UK users spent upwards of 800 million hours on social networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook.

The Wall Street Journal has seen the future, and it is ebooks.

Future print and online publications of the popular newspaper will now include bestseller rankings for ebook sales, alongside their print counterparts.

There will be four lists added, says Mash, "combined ebook and hard copy sales of fiction, combined ebook and hard copy sales of non-fiction, ebook-only sales of fiction, and ebook-only sales of non-fiction."

Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble and Google will be among the retailers that pass on numbers to Nielsen, where the WSJ takes its figures from.

The WSJ will follow the New York Times and USA Today who include similar lists.

Hulu has announced today that they have signed an agreement to stream in-season episodes of CW content.

Very similar to the deal just made with Netflix, the agreement allows for episodes for the next 5 years. Hulu Plus subscribers will get in-season episodes of the content the next day.

Free Hulu users will get the in-season episodes 8 days after they air.

The shows available are "Ringer," "Hart of Dixie, "The Secret Circle," "The Vampire Diaries," "Gossip Girl," "Supernatural," "Nikita," "90210" and "America's Next Top Model."

Says the CW:

Our new arrangement with Hulu only affirms the incredible value of The CW?s series, as well as amplifying the immense power of the broadcast network model. As we increase the amount of year round original programming on The CW, this deal provides our shows with greater exposure on a new platform, helping build even more awareness that will drive viewers back to the network and its affiliates. We see this as a win for everyone involved, the network, the stations, Hulu and ultimately, the viewers.

Because the MPAA took down the service so quickly I doubt anyone here go to use it, I will first post a bit of history.

Zediva launched in January and has become very popular because it streamed new releases and did not have delay windows like Netflix and Redbox do for physical discs.

The company "rents" users a physical DVD player at Zediva and a DVD and allows them to control it via online streaming. What had helped the company become so popular was the prices of the movies. You could buy 10 streams for $10, including new releases. Zediva claimed to be legal and argued it did not need licenses because it is just like a brick-and-mortar rental company. When a customer rented a DVD, that physical DVD was then taken out of circulation, and the company did not create any digital copies.

In April, the MPAA set out on a crusade to shut the service down and they have now succeeded.

The MPAA argued that Zediva wasn't holding private exhibitions of its movies as it claimed but was instead infringing its "exclusive rights to perform their works publicly." The Judge agreed.

Google has announced version 2.0 of Google TV which will be available for Sony TVs next week and Logitech set-top boxes at some point in the future.

Google TV's revamped interface includes a home screen which you can populate with Android apps, better integration with YouTube, and content recommendations.

The selection of Android apps compatible with Google TV will be small initially. Most existing apps won't be compatible because of their reliance on the hardware found on mobile devices.

According to Google's announcement:

Android developers can now bring existing mobile apps or entirely new ones to TV. Initially, the number of apps won?t be large ? apps requiring a touch screen, GPS, or telephony won?t show up ? but 50 developers have seeded the Market with cool and useful apps for the TV.

The biggest question right now is whether Google TV is a product in search of market. Their current strategy of relying on third parties to provide compatible hardware has limited its exposure.

With their 2 existing partners, Sony and Logitech, both cutting prices on Google TV hardware earlier this year, it's unlikely other vendors will be coming on board any time soon.

Barnes and Noble will release their Nook Color 2 e-reader/tablet on November 7th, a full week before Amazon jumps into the market with the Kindle Fire.

The first Nook Color, released earlier this year, was very popular as it was only $250 and was easily hacked to run its native operating system, Android 2.2.

Additionally, custom ROMs like CyanogenMod were easily flashable turning the cheap device into a fully fledged Android tablet, albeit underpowered.

The Kindle Fire will be the cheapest tablet on the market at $199, and include Amazon's ecosystem of music, video, Kindle ebooks, cloud storage and shopping. Additionally, the tablet will run on the "Silk" browser for faster performance and quicker loading times.

LG has posted today that they will not be updating the Optimus 2X to Ice Cream Sandwich.

Via their Facebook page and in response to a question, LG wrote:

"We will not be introducing Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich updates on LG Optimus 2X P990. Keep watching this space for further updates."

The Optimus 2X is LG's flagship Android device, launched in February with Android 2.2.

LG has still not updated the device to 2.3, with the long-planned update being delayed again.

Samsung easily leaped past Apple as the world's top smartphone maker in the Q3.

For the quarter ended September 30th, Samsung saw a 44 percent jump in shipments and raised guidance for the holiday quarter.

Overall, Samsung shipped 27.8 million for the quarter, good for 23.8 percent of the global market. While Apple does not release "shipped" figures, the company only sold 17.1 million iPhones during the quarter and there is literally no chance that there were 10.7 million unsold devices.

Profits from the division (smartphones, tablets, feature phones) accounted for 60 percent of the company's $2.2 billion profit.

While the number is certainly nice for Samsung, the figures are expected to tighten in the Q4 thanks to the holiday seasonality and the release of the iPhone 4S.

HP has confirmed that it will soon release a competitor to the MacBook Air in the ultraportable market.

"Ultrabooks," as they are called, are extremely light, fast and have long battery life due to integrated graphics chips.

Says Todd Bradley, executive vice president of HP's Personal Systems Group:

We're very focused on having a suite in that ultramobile space, and you'll see that very soon.

Following in the market pioneered by Apple and Dell; Acer, Toshiba, Asus and Lenovo have released ultrabooks in the past few months, mainly 13.3-inch devices that weigh in under 3 pounds.

Block order hailed as win for UK's creative industries.

BT was originally ordered to block access to Newzbin2 back in July, and was told by the High Court how to implement the block on October 26. BT was, at the time, given 14 days to comply with the order.

Last March, Newzbin.com was found to be in violating of copyright law in the UK and was ordered by the High Court to implement filters. The site never implemented a filter as it was relaunched outside the UK.

Movie studios represented by the Motion Picture Association then brought BT to court to force it to block access to the website. The block will also apply to any variations of the Newzbin site to prevent operators of Newzbin from circumventing the law.

"This is a very significant day for the UK?s creative industries. The law is clear. Industrial online piracy is illegal and can be stopped." Lord Puttnam CBE, President of the Film Distributors' Association, said.

Chipmaker dismisses "tabloid" headlines.

Intel put together a video responding to claims that the PC is coming to its end. The gist of the argument against the PC is that shipments of tablet PCs and smartphones are on the rise, people are using them to do much of the daily tasks they used to do with their PCs and therefore, the PC era may be coming to its end.

"That may sell the tabloids, but here in the real world, the PC remains alive and well," the voice-over assets. It claims that with 400 million new PCs sold in 2011, and with new form factors such as all-in-one PCs and Ultrabooks, "you might want to hold off on writing that obituary."

Public-interest group targets provisions in PROTECT IP (PIPA) and Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).

Public Knowledge is opposed to using DNS blocking techniques to limit access to websites accused of peddling pirated content. Far from just being demonstrably ineffective in the first place, Public Knowledge believes that the practice would threaten the functioning, freedom, and economic potential of the Internet.

The provisions for website blocking in SOPA and PIPA short-circuit the legal system by giving rightsholders a fast-track to shutting down websites they accuse of infringing activities. This must be viewed as a precedent that could be applied to any kind of website that is opposed by a special interest in the future.

By using DNS blocking in particular, you create conflicts between DNS servers on the Internet, make the system less secure and create potential for identity theft.

Possibly the most important point for Americans however is the sanctioning government interference with the Internet, while at the same time the U.S. State Department blasts cencorship and firewalls used in China, or in more recent and volatile examples, such as Syria.

RIAA submits report on "notorious markets".

First in the firing line for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) was VKontakte, a Russian social networking website. It claims that the social site's unlicensed music service is undermining the growth of the legitimate music marketplace.

VKontakte touts more than 120 million registered users, and is ranked amongst the most visited websites within Russia, and also is listed among the top 50 globally.

The trade group said that VKontakte's music functionality is ?specifically designed to enable members to upload music and video files, hundreds of thousands of which contain unlicensed copyright works. Its dedicated content search engine enables other members to search and instantly stream unlicensed music and movies, giving VKontakte an unfair competitive edge over other social networks that do not offer free access to unlicensed material."

The RIAA also targeted China's Sogou website, which offers a "Sogou MP3" feature providing access to links to download or stream music from unlicensed sources. Dispelling any claim that it acts just as a search engine, the RIAA points out that Sogou maintains a database of unlicensed music, broken into categories such as "US Billboard Chart," "UK Chart," "Albums TOP 100" and so forth.