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The most popular torrent client in the world has now been opened up to new markets.

uTorrent, which has 100 million active users per month and a 50 percent market share, has now been updated to integrate iOS, PS3, Xbox 360 and Android devices.

Users can now use the client to sync all downloaded content to their devices with one click.

Later this year, if you purchase the premium version of the client (uTorrent Plus), you will be able to convert videos and audio to the most compatible file type for your device. For example, MKV files will be converted to MP4 for PS3 users that cannot play MKV.

To access the new features you will need uTorrent 3.1 alpha.

Apple has opened its first store in Hong Kong this week, in an effort to slow down the ever-growing gray market for Apple products in the nation.

Thousands of fans showed up and some camped out for 2 days to be the first into the store.

Located in the International Financial Center Mall, the store follows the trend of other similar locations and includes a glass spiral staircase.

There are now 4 Apple store in China, and the expansion to the nation is seen as the key to future earnings growth for China.

Revenue was up 600 percent from 2010 in the Greater China region and expected to keep growing.

The Chicago Public Library has added Kindle books to its extensive catalog.

To checkout the ebook, all you need is a valid zip code and a valid library card.

Readers can then head to the library's website and click and download.

Adds library spokesman Ruth Lednicer:

It’s really cool! Readers never have to leave their homes. They’ll have three weeks to read the book before it electronically returns itself to the library — there are no late fees.

Library Pirate wants to help poor college kids with the outrageous prices of university textbooks.

The site's goal is: "Our mission is simple and specific. To revolutionize the digital e-textbook industry and change it permanently."

Library Pirate, which runs on a "Hire-a-Pirate" initiative, lets users reduce the cost of digital textbook rentals and also keep that textbook forever, via the stripping of DRM.

TF explains:

First, the student lets LibraryPirate know the title of the book they’re looking for. Then, site staff locate the product on eTextbook rental services and advise the student of the current rental price. An example shown to us was a book costing $200, but with a time-limited digital rental copy also available at $118.50.

Participating students are then asked to purchase a gift certificate from the official seller for the full amount ($118.50 in our example) and send the gift code to LibraryPirate. Site staff then rent the book on the student’s behalf.

HP's newly fired CEO Leo Apotheker gets to leave with a golden parachute.

Spending just 11 months on the job, Apotheker gets to walk away with $25 million in severance, in addition to his $1.2 million salary and $4 million signing bonus. The CEO made about $100,000 per day while losing the company $20 billion in market value.

The golden parachute will be $7 million in cash and $18 million in stock options that vest immediately and leave him in charge of 800,000 shares of HP.

Former CEO Mark Hurd, who was fired last year after a sex scandal, was given severance pay of $12.2 million and was eligible for up to $53 million but he instead took a job with Oracle.

The HP board of directors just signed former eBay CEO Meg Whitman on as new CEO.

If there was any more reason to believe that daily deal giant is not a viable company, the site has now restated its 2010 earnings, slashing previous revenue by 57 percent.

Additionally, the company announced its chief operating officer (COO) is leaving after just five months on the job.

"Correcting for an error in its presentation of revenue," the company restated revenue for 2010 from $713.4 million down to $312.9 million.

The company was set to go public next month but cancelled due to the market conditions.

Now, instead of reporting revenue as all the money total received (what the subscriber pays) from sales of Groupons it will only report the merchant fees it makes.

Gartner analysts are predicting Apple's iPad will finish 2011 with nearly three quarters of all tablet sales worldwide.

Last year, they say, Apple had an 83 percent share. Of course, when you consider they also predict total tablet sales in 2011 to triple last year's numbers, that's certainly good news for Apple.

Android tablets are expected to account for 17 percent of the market in 2011, increasing from just 2.5 million units last year to 11 million this year.

Despite major gains by Android, Gartner says the iPad will be the leading tablet through at least 2015.

Gartner's Robert Cozza said:

Most of Apple's competitors are struggling to meet Apple's prices without considerably sacrificing margins. Screen quality and processing power are the two hardware features that vendors cannot afford to compromise on. They should consider everything else ‘nice to have,’ rather than essential, in order to keep bills-of-materials costs competitive with those of the iPad.

Confirming recent stories about their strategy for fighting Apple patent lawsuits, Samsung has officially acknowledged they plan to be more aggressive in their patent battle with Apple.

Since April, Apple has been filing lawsuits around the world, attempting to get Samsung smartphones and tablets taken off the market. Recent reports have suggested Samsung intends to respond in kind by suing to block sales of the next iPhone, expected next month.

Samsung's Lee Younghee told the Associated Press, "We’ll be pursuing our rights for this in a more aggressive way from now on." She accused Apple of "freeriding" on Samsung's own wireless patents.

It appears Amazon's rumored tablet could be unveiled at a press conference scheduled for next Wednesday.

The tablet, which is expected to run Android, could end up being the first serious competitor for Apple's iPad. Since its release last year, no tablet has even come close to the iPad's sales.

Although Apple has shown a willingness to use patent lawsuits to get the most promising competition taken off the market, right now it's not clear they have anything to worry about. If Amazon enters the tablet market, that could change quickly.

Invitations to Amazon's Wednesday press event were reportedly vague. Perhaps they're taking a play from the Apple playbook, figuring speculation among the media and blogosphere will generate more buzz than actual details.

Arguably, Apple has more to fear from Amazon than any other potential tablet maker. Amazon already has cloud services, streaming video, and a successful e-book store to attract customers.

The decision, by Netflix, to increase the price for using both their disc by mail and streaming services isn't just costing them existing customers. According to Chief Financial Officer David Wells it has also resulted in fewer new subscribers.

Replying to a question yesterday at a Goldman Sachs conference, he said, "what we see is the word of mouth did make an impact."

He didn't elaborate on how much new subscriber growth was affected. He also emphasized, "We're still the market leader," but also admitted the continuing trend of subscribers cancelling wasn't anticipated.

In the past, he said, the effect of a price increase had been immediate, followed by a return to growth. That was not the case after the drastic changes announced in July.

"What we saw in Q3," said Wells, "was a spike and then a sort of a steady response through the quarter, so more cancels through the quarter."

Wells also pointed out there has been no international impact. Not exactly a surprise considering Netflix customers outside the US didn't experience any changes.

Blockbuster and Dish Network have just announced a new package called Blockbuster Movie Pass.

This new service will be similar to the combined disc by mail and streaming service Netflix recently abandoned. It offers unlimited movies and games by mail and streaming video, as well as in-store disc exchange at Blockbuster brick and mortar stores.

The catch is it's only available with a Dish Network subscribtion, although they did indicate Blockbuster may be launching a separate streaming service later for non-Dish subscribers at some point.

Another key feature of Blockbuster Movie Pass is the the availability of Blu-ray at no additional charge. Blu-ray discs cost extra for Netflix customers.

The key question is whether Dish Network's assertion that customers would prefer a streaming and disc rental service which is bundled with pay TV. There's no question such an approach is attractive to content partners, particularly Starz.

Recent trends toward cord cutting seem to suggest customers may be less interested.

Apple has the highest customer retention rate of all handset manufacturers by a wide margin according to a new report.

Although down from last year's figure of 95 percent, Apple's retention rate of 89 percent is far better than second place HTC's 39 percent. Half of those who are considering a switch from the iPhone are actually undecided, meaning their retention rate could be as high as 93 percent.

The numbers, which come from a survey conducted by UBS Research, show an even more important trend from Apple's point of view. More than 30 percent of Android users indicated their next phone would likely be an iPhone.

According to the survey results, Samsung's retention rate is unchanged from last year. Not surprisingly, RIM and Nokia are the big losers.

At 33 percent, RIM's customer retention rate is just over half what it was last year. Although interestingly that still leaves them ahead of Samsung. Of course, many Blackberry sales are for use on corporate networks running Blackberry server software.

Nokia's retention rate fell from 42 percent a year ago to 24 percent this year. No doubt this is partly due to Nokia's decision to abandon their Symbian OS.

VIA Technologies has sued Apple over patent infringement.

The company designs low-power microprocessors and controllers.

HTC recently made similar claims, unsurprisingly since HTC and Via have worked together multiple times.

The complaint, filed with the ITC and the U.S. district court, claims that all Apple devices using iOS and the A4/A5 processors are infringing on 'microprocessor functionality, namely “method and apparatus for double operand load” (6253312) and “instruction set for bi-directional conversion and transfer of integer and floating point data” (6253311 and 6754810),' said Xbit.

Adds Via:

Via has built up an extensive IP portfolio consisting of over 5000 patents as a result of significant investments in world class technology research and development. We are determined to protect our interests and the interests of our stockholders when our patents are infringed upon.

Blockbuster is expected to announce a new streaming video service at a media event scheduled for later today.

Dish Network bought Blockbuster earlier this year. At the time, Blockbuster's most valuable asset, from Dish Network's point of view, may have been Movielink, the streaming video service Blockbuster purchased from a group of movie studios in 2007.

Despite years of trying to update its brick and mortar business with the addition of online rentals and kiosks, Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy a year ago.

At today's media event, called "A Stream Come True," it's likely they will be introducing a subscription streaming service similar Netflix's Watch Instantly.

Given their ownership by Dish Network, it's likely to only be available for subscribers to the satellite service initially, but may be offered to the general public down the road.

Thanks to Facebook, you no longer need an invitation to join the popular streaming music service.

CEO Daniel Ek announced that users can now log in with their Facebook accounts and have access to the free streaming music service.

As with other free users, the first 6 months are unlimited but are then reduced to 10 hours of music per month afterwards, unless of course, you upgrade to the premium subscriptions.

The first premium sub is $5 per month for unlimited ad-free music while the second, more popular option costs $10 and gives access to higher quality tracks, mobile access (tablet, phone, etc) and offline listening capabilities.

Facebook, at their F8 developer conference yesterday announced deals with multiple music-streaming service, bringing music "discovery" to the social network.