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Motorola has announced when and what devices will receive the hotly anticipated Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0 update, Google's biggest Android update ever.

The company says a number of devices will receive the update exactly 6 weeks after Google releases the final version of the operating system.

Google and Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Nexus (with 4.0) last week to great applause. The device will go on sale next month and will be the first device with the upgrade.

Motorola says the first three devices to receive the update are the Droid Razr, Droid Bionic, and the Xoom tablet.

Additionally, the company says they'll confirm other devices after Google pushes the final operating system to the public.

RIM has been sued over the name "BBX," the name of their upcoming smartphone operating system based on QNX software.

Basis International, a New Mexican company, owns the trademark for BBX, and has owned it since 1995.

As the company explains, "Basis' BBX is a set of tools and languages that help developers write programs for multiple operating systems. Basis has been using the BBX name since as early as 1985 and got a trademark in 1995."

There is one small discrepancy, and that is the fact that Basis uses the term "BBx" with a lower case x. BBx stands for Business BASIC eXtended.

Reads the complaint (via Ars):

The parties' respective BBX products are clearly related. By way of example only, a software application created with BASIS' BBX to run on the Android or iOS mobile devices will also run on RIM's BBX for BlackBerry products.

[Our customers and prospective customers are] likely to wrongly believe that software applications created using BASIS' development tools are only compatible with RIM's BBX operating system, thus impairing and destroying BASIS' reputation for providing software development tools for cross-platform development.

According to the latest figures from ABI Research, Android Market app downloads have finally surpassed those of the iOS App Store.

Of all apps downloaded, Android devices now account for a full 44 percent of the market compared to 31 percent for Apple devices.

Says the research firm (via PCM):

Android's open source strategy is the main factor for its success. Being a free platform has expanded the Android device install base, which in turn has driven growth in the number of third party multi-platform and mobile operator app stores.

The expansion of the install base is indeed coming at a fast pace. In the last quarter alone, as users waited for the iPhone 4S, Android shipments grew 36 percent.

Apple users appear to use more apps, however, or at least test them out more. For every 1 Android app downloaded, Apple users download 2, says the firm.

Roskstar Games officially announced Grand Theft Auto V.

We wish we had a whole bunch of details to tell you about Grand Theft Auto V, but in Rockstar Games' typical fashion, the only thing that has been confirmed is that, yes, the game is coming and the date of the first trailer.

The trailer will drop on Wednesday next week, November 2. Before then, we will of course have to endure rumors and all kinds of detail leaks, but at least we have not long to wait.

Rockstar's announcement just came as a big Grand Theft Auto V (complete with the word FIVE on the logo.. just in case your Roman Numerals suck that bad) logo and a trailer release date at rockstargames.com.

Secret spiller has to take time off to raise cash.

Wikileaks has suspended publishing files, saying it must cease operations in order to raise funds and ensure the survival of the website. It alleges that U.S.-based financial companies have mounted a "blockade" that has gravely impacted its operations.

Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, has called the blockade "arbitrary and unlawful,", pointing the finger of blame at Bank of America, Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and Western Union. He alleges that this activity has dried up 95 percent of all revenue to Wikileaks.

"A handful of US finance companies cannot be allowed to decide how the whole world votes with its pocket," he said. Wikileaks will take pre-litigation action in Iceland, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Brussels, the United States and Australia, and it has lodged an official complaint with the European Commission.

Of the companies that Assange alleges are part of the blockade, PayPal told the BBC that Wikileaks violates its Acceptable Usage Policy, because it encourages the release of classified material in violation of U.S. law.

Japanese gaming firm expected to report sore losses.

Nintendo has found itself in a battle for casual gamers who are tempted by mobile gaming on other platforms. The Japanese firm has reached out to casual gamers with its Nintendo DS handheld, originally launched in 2004, and its Wii home console.

In recent years, smartphones have become portable gaming devices in their own right, and have massive catalogs of games available that would tempt a casual gamer.

Nintendo's latest DS iteration, the 3DS, has failed to get anywhere near as much attention as previous releases in the line have. While total Nintendo DS sales top a staggering 150 million units worldwide, the Nintendo 3DS has only sold 4.32 million units worldwide since launch.

To prop up its offerings for the holiday season, Nintendo has slashed the price of the 3DS handheld and is pushing out some new software titles, including 3D versions of its Super Mario franchise. In the United States, Nintendo is also offering on-demand service of movies and TV shows on the 3DS and Wii console.

Still, Nintendo will have to put up with more competition as Sony preps the PlayStation Vita for a December 17 launch in Japan, with the U.S. and Europe following early next year.

Ultrabooks must become more affordable if they are to compete in the market.

Intel Corp. has said it will work with suppliers and manufacturers to bring down the cost of Ultrabooks, a product that it is betting can revive the traditional computer as tablet PCs up the ante.

The super-thin laptops need to come down in price to notebook levels. Acer Inc.'s recent Ultrabook model retails for $899, while the target now is seen at around $699. Intel aims for Ultrabooks to account for 40 percent of the consumer PC market by the end of 2012.

"At some point you'll have to be at that price point, but it doesn't have to be overnight. It takes time to engineer a cost down," said Navin Shenoy, Intel's vice president of sales and marketing.

"More work needs to happen in the ecosystem. Even if we're giving the chips away for free, we couldn't hit the price point we want to hit if we don't work with the rest of the industry."

Ultrabooks will not be affected by the flooding in Thailand, which has forced the shutting down of plants responsible for half of the world's hard disk drives. Ultrabooks do not use traditional HDDs, but opt for solid-state drives for a performance / energy boost instead.

KF8 brings HTML5 and CSS3 to the Kindle and Amazon Fire tablet.

KF8 (Kindle Format 8) is the next generation file format for Kindle books, serving as a replacement for the Mobi 7 format. KF8 enables publishers to create great-looking books in categories that require rich formatting and design such as children?s picture books, comics & graphic novels, technical & engineering books and cookbooks.

It adds over 150 new formatting capabilities, including fixed layouts, nested tables, callouts, sidebars and Scalable Vector Graphics.

KF8 will make its way to the Amazon Fire tablet first. In the coming months, KF8 abilities will be rolled out for latest generation Kindle e-ink devices as well as the free Kindle reading applications available for other platforms (iPad etc.).

Video gives glimpse inside Nokia's manufacturing process of N9 smartphone.

The N9 is not likely to have that much of an exciting life, being only available in a limited number of territories and amidst major changes at Nokia. When it was unveiled in June 2011, it received mostly positive feedback for its design and the user-interface of the MeeGo (Harmattan) operating system.

It's release raised questions about Nokia's decision to embrace the Windows Phone operating system, given the potential of MeeGo and the N9's positive reception.

Yesterday, Nokia uploaded a video showing the "Nokia N9 Journey", which is worth a look.

Amped Wireless adds to its line of Professional Series High Power Wi-Fi Solutions for indoor and outdoor applications, providing Wi-Fi coverage for large homes, office buildings, outdoor areas, boats, and RVs.

The new AP600EX High Power Wireless-N 600mW Professional Series Access Point provides "extreme" Wi-Fi range and coverage to an existing wireless network, and the new SR600EX High Power Wireless-N 600mW Professional Series Smart Repeater extends the range of any indoor or outdoor Wi-Fi network.

All Amped Wireless Professional Series High Power Wi-Fi Solutions feature a weatherproof enclosure for indoor and outdoor use, an advanced 600mW amplifier for professional Wi-Fi range, and a high gain directional antenna to achieve strong, wireless connections up to 1.5 miles.

Amped Wireless Professional Series products are designed for consumers and businesses that require demanding Wi-Fi performance and range for their home, business or special application.

With a high power 600mW amplifier and a high gain bi-directional antenna, the SR600EX is capable of repeating networks up to 1.5 miles away. The Pro Smart Repeater features 2 network ports for connecting additional PCs, network switches, and other devices.

Syria appears to be using American-made devices to block citizens' access to Internet, hackers say.

The United States imposed sanctions against Syria back in 2004 which prohibit the export of products from the U.S. to the country, except in cases of food or medicine. For that reason, the U.S. State Department is looking into claims made by hackers that Syria's Internet censorship relies on equipment made by Blue Coat.

The equipment that the hackers allege is in use can be used to limit website access, and possibly spy on activity of dissidents. Blue Coat has said it does not offer its equipment or services to the country.

"We are actively investigating recent allegations that certain Blue Coat products have been sold or transferred into Syria and are being used by the Syrian government," the company said. "Blue Coat does not sell its products into Syria, and prohibits its partners from selling Blue Coat products into Syria or other embargoed countries."

Syria would not have to deal with Blue Coat directly to get the hardware, of course. Still, the State Department seems to think the issue is worth looking into.

"We are concerned about reports of the use of technology by repressive regimes in general, but Syria in particular, to target activists and dissidents," said Victoria Nuland, a spokeswoman for the US State Department. "We are reviewing the information that we have and monitoring the facts."

Roadmap also details planned schedules for other Microsoft products, and mentions Windows 9.

The roadmap marked the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January as the target to release a beta of the Windows 8 operating system, along with the first "Tango" update for the Windows Phone OS, and WinStore Beta.

A release candidate of Windows 8 is scheduled to be rolled out at MIX 2012 along with the online market beta and the Kinect commercial SDK. The Windows 8 RTM (release to manufacturer) build is scheduled for release around June next year.

CES is also noted to bring the Xbox 360 SDK for creating apps, Apollo SDK for Windows Phone and a bunch of new third-generation Kinect video games.

The roadmap also mentions "Windows 9", slotting a developer preview in for the BUILD 2013 conference, and a beta release at CES 2014. MIX 2014 would get a release candidate build of Windows 9 and an RTM build would roll out at BUILD 2014. A commercial release for the OS is targeted for November 2014.

Of course, these dates need to be greeted with skepticism. Microsoft has not confirmed any dates for Windows 8's commercial release, let alone Windows 9, and the 2014 target for Windows 9 seems very early if Windows 8 launches in August 2012. Even if the roadmap is real, the projected events are not set in stone.

Following comments in the "Steve Jobs" biography in which the Apple founder says he "finally cracked" the secret into making a great TV, Apple analyst Gene Munster has said this week that the company is readying an HDTV for launch next year.

Munster says Apple is working on prototypes as we speak and there will be a 50-inch model "iTV" on the market by September.

Finally, former Apple employee Jordan Golson says he expects the announcement as early as January, citing unnamed sources.

Golson says he has heard Apple is working "with a Korean manufacturer," (LG or Samsung) on the sourcing panels.

The writer believes that the "revolutionary" product Steve Jobs is said to have been working on the week of his death is the iTV, not next year's iPhone 5.

In September, Netflix outraged subscribers by announcing that they would be splitting the DVD-by-mail and streaming services of their company. The new company for DVDs, called Qwikster, would have its own login portal and would require subscribers to log in to both Netflix and Qwikster if they want to change their respective queues.

The move came on top of the already unpopular decision by Netflix to raise prices on those that wanted both services, from $9 to $16. Fortunately, the company decided to kill of the idea of Qwikster, but it was already too late and the damage had been done.

During today's quarterly earnings report, Netflix says they lost 800,000 subscribers, finishing the quarter at 23.8 million. The company had expected to stay above 24 million.

While the company expected a drop in mail customers, streaming customers took a hit also, down to 21.45 million from 21.8 million.

CEO Reed Hastings admitted the price rise "hurt our hard‐earned reputation, and stalled our domestic growth." More shockingly, the company says all its expansions will force earnings into the red in the Q1 2012.

Music teacher Brian Kingrey has won $1 million for throwing a perfect game in MLB 2K11.

2K sports offered the prize to the first person to throw a perfect game after the game's April launch.

The teacher says he knew nothing about baseball, and even had to go to Google to learn the basics of the game.

After researching for two weeks, Kingrey decided to use ace pitcher Roy Halladay against the leagues worst team, the Houston Astros.

Halladay finished the season 19-6 with a 2.35 ERA and 208 strikeouts. The Astros, on the other hand, finished the season 56-106.

Says the teacher:

My best match-up was going to be the Phillies with their star pitcher, Roy Halladay, against the Houston Astros. I'd research, play for five hours, eat, sleep, repeat for two weeks.

There are issues with embedding, but you can view the video here:

Brian Kingrey: Perfection