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The cheapest price ever for the tablet.

For the next 24 hours, 1SaleaDay has the BlackBerry Playbook tablet on sale for $300, down from its MSRP of $500.

The model available is the smaller 16GB version, but this is still the cheapest the tablet has been and likely a sign that an across-the-board cut is coming in the near future.

RIM sold 500,000 PlayBooks in its first quarter of availability but sales have dried up now, with the company only moving 200,000 last quarter.

The PlayBook features the standard 1GHz dual-core processor and 1GB RAM but its real differentiating factor is its Internet experience. The browser has support for Adobe Flash, Adobe AIR, and HMTL 5.

Additionally, the PlayBook has a 7-inch screen, 1024x600 resolution, dual cameras, a microHDMI port and the BlackBerry App World, which has thousands of apps.

The main reason the tablet has been universally hated is the fact that RIM botched the software launch so badly there was not even a native email client.

Apple has lost in its bid to trademark the term "multi-touch" in the United States.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office says the term cannot be trademarked because it is simply a way of describing how users interact with their products.

Reads the decision (via MR):

Thus, from the foregoing, we find that 'multi-touch' not only identifies the technology, but also describes how a user of the goods operates the device. Based on the evidence discussed above, as well as other evidence in the record, we agree with the examining attorney that Multi-Touch indeed is highly descriptive of a feature of the identified goods.

Continuing on, the filing says that Apple's "evidence" was really just showing off how they marketed the iPhone:

Thus, applicant's evidence pertaining to the success, sales volumes and, to a limited extent, advertising expenditures of the iPhone, is not helpful in establishing that the purchasing public associates the term Multi-Touch with applicant.

One of the new features Microsoft is adding to Windows 8 is the ability to login to your computer using a Windows Live ID.

The primary purpose for this is sharing of Windows settings across multiple computers, all of which would have to be running Windows 8 of course. You can either select settings to share between computers or simply use Microsoft's default settings.

In addition, it will allow you to automatically load Metro style apps purchased from the Windows App Store and automatically login to websites which use Windows Live authentication.

Shared settings will be divided into the following groups:

• Personalize
• Themes
• Ease of access
• Language preferences
• Apps
• Web browser
• Other stuff
• Some passwords

If you have a regular Windows login, you will also be able to associate your Windows Live ID with it later on. There will be a password requirement in order to do that.

They haven't clarified exactly how strong the password will need to be. They've just said a blank password will be forbidden.

ACTA, the secretly negotiated agreement to strengthen intellectual property laws and enforcement, will be signed on October 1 at a ceremony in Japan.

According to a press release from the Japanese government, signatories will include Japan, the EU, US, Australia, Canada, South Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore & Switzerland.

From the beginning, ACTA has been negotiated in secret with the public and consumer interest groups excluded while entertainment industry lobbyists have actively participating. The secrecy has even extended to prohibiting elected officials from finding out what their own governments were agreeing to.

Despite assurances by the negotiating parties that ACTA would not require changes to the laws of any participating country, every draft of the agreement which has been leaked have shown that to be absolutely false.

In the US, officials from the US Trade Representative's office have defended ACTA by saying it's an executive agreement, rather than a treaty, meaning it wouldn't require changes to the law. ACTA critics have pointed out that this is merely an excuse to avoid having the agreement debated in the Senate.

Amazon has reportedly finalized deals to offer digital versions of magazines from three of the four major US publishers on their upcoming tablet.

Hearst, Conde Nast and Meredith have all reached agreements with Amazon. The lone houldout is Time Inc.

Comparing Amazon to Apple, one publisher told AllThingsD, "You've got beauty and design with Apple, which we love. But with Amazon you have marketing, and ease of use. We?re very optimistic."

Ironically, magazine publishers appear to be looking at the opportunity much like book publshers did Apple when the iPad came out. They see an Amazon tablet as a necessary competitor for the iPad.

Amazon's tablet, believed to be called the Kindle Fire, is expected to be announced at a media event tomorrow.

A new requirement to sign up through a Facebook account isn't sitting well with a number of potential Spotify users.

What has probably made the situation much worse for Spotify is their tone deaf response. CEO and founder Daniel Ek responded to criticism on Twitter yesterday by tweeting, "We want to remove barrier to sign-up and create a more seamless experience. As we think our users are social."

An official statement from Spotify says:

To us, this integration is all about creating an amazing new world of music discovery. As most of our users are already social and have already connected to Facebook, it seemed logical to integrate Spotify and Facebook logins. We already use Facebook as part of our backend to power our social features and by adopting Facebook?s login, we've created a simple and seamless social experience.

The problem is, that doesn't actually address the concerns of people who neither have nor want a Facebook account. Adding an option to sign up using a Facebook login makes signing up easier.

Requiring someone who doesn't have a Facebook account to create one and then manage privacy settings, including keeping up with any changes Facebook makes, puts up a barrier. Dismissing their concerns about Facebook is the opposite of addressing the issue.

Despite falling to around 74 percent earlier this year, the iPad has regained its 80 percent tablet market share in the North American region as of July 30th.

During the quarter of April to July, iPads accounted for 6 million of the 7.5 million tablets shipped in the U.S. and Canada.

The figures come from research group Strategy Analytics, who calls Apple a "formidable market leader".

Says one analyst: "Apple remains a long way ahead of its main rivals such as Motorola, Samsung, RIM, Asus and HTC. A combination of cool branding, user-friendly hardware, entertaining services and savvy retail distribution has made Apple a formidable market leader."

Amazon, when it announces its much-hyped tablet/e-reader on Wednesday, will become a strong challenger, says the firm:

Amazon's new tablet, which is expected to be unveiled tomorrow, has been the subject of much speculation since rumors started spreading earlier this year. It will reportedly be called the Kindle Fire.

Combining an account from someone who has actually had the tablet in his hands with other rumors and reports, we can make some educated guesses about Amazon's tablet strategy, at least for the next few months.

MG Siegler of TechCrunch got access to a development unit, which he reports has a 7" display and looks similar to a BlackBerry Playbook. In fact it's apparently made by the same manufacturer and based directly on the same design.

That would seem to suggest Amazon plans to continue focusing on the e-reader market rather than competing head to head with Apple. So does the rumored price of $250, which would make it competitive with Barnes & Noble's Nook Color, another Android-based e-reader.

Unlike Apple, which basically uses services and software to sell hardware, Amazon sells hardware to promote their services. Selling the tablet at cost, or even a sleight loss, makes some sense for them.

T-Mobile has showed off their new devices at the GigaOM Mobilize event in San Francisco this week.

The Galaxy S II and HTC Amaze 4G will be the first T-Mobile devices to have support for the company's very fast 42 Mbps HSPA+ mobile broadband network. T-Mobile's current devices have support only up to 21 Mbps.

Upgrading the network has been a priority at T-Mobile, and the CMO says "75 percent of the phones T-Mobile sells this year will be smartphones, and of those, 90 percent are Android."

The Galaxy S II will be identical to models released on rival carriers (in appearance), except much better. The device will the 42 Mbps radio, a larger, 4.52-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, a more powerful 1.5 GHz dual-core processor and NFC.

HTC's Amaze 4G comes with Sense 3.0 on top of Android 2.3.5, a 4.3-inch qHD (960×540 resolution) Super LCD screen, a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, the 42 Mbps radio and a 8MP wide aperture f/2.2 camera.

Apple has confirmed.

The iPhone 5 will be revealed at Apple's Cupertino headquarters on October 4th.

Press has been sent invitations with the headline "Let's talk iPhone" for the event at 1pm.

Although it is unclear when the phone will actually be released, Apple has blacked out vacation days for employees for October 9-15, indicating that a major product launch will be in that time period.

Updated specs for the phone are likely to be an A5 dual-core processor, an 8MP camera, mobile payments (NFC?), a slightly larger display and more memory.

Verizon and AT&T will be getting the smartphone, but there has been massive speculation that Sprint is getting the device, as well.

The Nokia N9 MeeGo smartphone announced back in June has begun shipping.

The N9 occupies a somewhat strange position in Nokia's smartphone lineup since it doesn't run either Nokia's legacy smartphone OS, Symbian, or their OS of the future, Windows Phone. In fact it's a relic of plans Nokia has all but abandoned, to get back to the top of the smartphone market with an OS of their own.

MeeGo is a Linux-based OS which resulted from a partnership of Nokia and Intel. It was created through a fusion of Nokia's Maemo with Intel's Moblin.

When Nokia announced their partnership with Microsoft to develop Windows Phones, it appeared to be the death knell for MeeGo.

Unfortunately, with a bunch of money already spent on development, Nokia was left with little choice about releasing the N9.

While it doesn't feature a bleeding edge processor or the biggest screen in the industry, the hardware is quite respectable. It has a 1GHz CPU, 1GB RAM, a 3.9" Gorilla Glass display & 8MPx camera with a Carl Zeiss lense and LED flash.

Warner Home Video may be expanding their delayed release window to include brick and mortar rental outlets.

In 2009 Warner, along with the other major studios, implemented a policy of delaying the availability of new releases to kiosks by 28 days. This was intended to improve disc sales.

The delayed release window also includes online rental services like Netflix.

A distributor has told Home Media Magazine that the delayed release window will be extended to include all rental operations starting in November. He said, "Some of the Warner reps have called our key customers to let them know about this upcoming change."

The problem with this move is it ignores the obvious. The DVD boom of a few years ago wasn't sustainable because it was never just about new releases.

It was a perfect storm of replacing decades old technology, the availability of more titles at better prices than ever before, and even multiple releases of many titles.

A Samsung spokesman said the company isn't worried that Apple's lawsuits will cause them to miss tablet sales projections for 2011.

Apple patent lawsuits around the world have already resulted in a delay of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia and a ban on sales of the tablet in most of Europe. However, the European ban is specifically against Samsung.

European retailers are still free to sell the tablet.

Samsung's J K Shin says the company expects to increase tablet sales by more than 5 times compared to last year according to Bloomberg. Since Samsung hasn't disclosed their 2010 numbers, it's hard to be sure exactly how many that is.

According to analysts, last year's sales were probably around 1.6 million, which would mean at least 8 million units sold this year if Samsung's prediction is accurate.

That would put them squarely in the lead among Android tablets, but still significantly behind Apple's industry leading iPad.

HTC has unveiled its Raider smartphone today in South Korea.

The new flagship Android device runs on Android 2.3.6, Sense 3.5 UI, a large 4.5-inch qHD (960 x 540) IPS touchscreen, a dual-core 1.5GHz processor and 1GB RAM.

Making the phone even more notable, the device has 100 Mbps LTE support and 21 Mbps HSPA+.

Additionally, the device is 128.8 x 67 x 11.27 mm, has 16GB of internal storage, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with dual LED flash, a front 1.3MP camera, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, GPS, and a 1,620 mAh battery.

According to the results of Nielsen survey, Android dominated US smartphone sales between June and August of this year.

While they estimate only 43 percent of smartphones in the US run Google's mobile OS, they accounted for 56 percent of smartphone purchases over the three month period.

Before you read too much into that statistic, consider that Apple moved their annual summer iPhone launch back several months to October. If the trend from previous launches is an indication, it's likely iPhone sales will increase significantly as a result.

Of course, the iPhone won't be the only new phone in the market next month. Samsung's Galaxy S II is expected to go on sale from AT&T on October 2, just two days before the anticipated date for the iPhone announcement.

Samsung has already reported sales of 10 million Galaxy S IIs without the US market.