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Five found to be unlawfully discharged by New York non-profit for Facebook discussion.

Hispanics United of Buffalo provides social services to low-income families. It fired five of its employees after they argued on Facebook over some of their working conditions, such as work load and staffing issues.

A National Labor Relations Board Administrative Law Judge has found that the Buffalo nonprofit organization unlawfully discharged the five employees. It all started with an employee overhearing a coworker criticize other employees for not doing enough to help the organization's clients.

She then went ahead to post the allegations on her Facebook account. Responses from other employees included defences of their own work, criticisms of working conditions, staff load comments and so forth. Hispanics United responded by discharging the five employees who took part.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is getting an increasing number of charges related to social media sites in recent years. This case is the first involving Facebook that has resulted in an Administrative Law Judge decision, following a hearing.

Judge Amchan found that the Facebook discussion was protected concerted activity within the meaning of Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, because it involved a conversation among coworkers about their terms and conditions of employment, including their job performance and staffing levels.

Website forced down as UK prime minister travels to Russia for state visit.

David Cameron's visit to Russia is the first visit by a British leader to Russia since Kremlin critic, Alexander Litvinenko, was murdered in London. Litvinenko died from radioactive poisoning (polonium-210) in 2006, degrading ties between the UK and Russia.

Britain demanded that Russia extradite Andrei Lugovoy, ex-KGB, to be prosecuted for the murder, but Russia refused. Relations between both countries have improved slightly since Dimitri Medvedev took office in 2008, and David Cameron became Prime Minister in 2010.

"Prior to the visit of Prime Minister David Cameron to Russia, the website of the Russian Embassy in London (www.rusemb.org.uk) was brought down by a suspected DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack," the embassy said in a statement.

An embassy spokesman said the site started to experience problems on Friday. On Sunday, it was forced down due to a denial of service attack, so the embassy setup a mirror site at www.rusemborguk.ru.

New entry-level Desktop APUs bring price down to $70.

Last week, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) announced the availability of the AMD A-Series Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) A4-3300 and A4-3400 desktop processors, bringing the price down to $70 for the HD graphics-packing microprocessors.

Both the AMD A4-3300 and A4-3400 APUs combine two x86 CPU cores with 160 Radeon cores, offering DirectX 11-capable discrete-level graphics and dedicated HD video processing on a single chip. Both chips feature 1MB L2 cache. The new APUs support AMD Dual Graphics, providing a graphics performance boost if paired with select AMD Radeon HD 6000 Series graphics cards.

AMD Steady Video also instantly removes shakes and jitters when re-watching video. An integrated USB 3.0 (SuperSpeed) controller provides for rapid transfer and storage of digital content.

The AMD A4-3300 APU runs at 2.5GHz (CPU) and 444MHz (GPU) and has a suggested retail price of $70. The AMD A4-3400 APU pushes the CPU to 2.7GHz and GPU to 600MHz, with a suggested retail price of $75. They are available now from Amazon.com and other stores.

(All AMD A-Series processors are designed for use with FM1 motherboards. AMD A4 APUs require the AMD Vision Engine Control Center 11.8 driver release or later releases.)

Summarizes conduct of lawyer as "staggering chutzpah."

Last September, Texas lawyer Evan Stone filed suit against 670 file sharers that he (and Mick Haig Productions, whom he was representing) accused of sharing a German adult film called Der Gute Onkel. He asked the court for permission to take out early discovery.

Judge David Godbey refused to grant permission, and brought in the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Public Citizen to represent the interests of the 670 Does in the case, none of whom had been identified personally yet and were nothing more than IP addresses to the case.

Public Citizen and EFF discovered that Verizon had already handed over information to Stone, and asked Judge Godbey to investigate.

Evan Stone was found to have issued subpoenas seeking the personal information of Does in the case at least four times. He then went on to contact an unknown number of the potential Does. The court presumes the reason for contact was to reach a settlement for the alleged infringement.

German court rules against EMI in case involving Russia-Hosted eD2K website.

The Cologne court heard a case brought against Internet Service Provider (ISP) HeaseNet by the EMI record company. EMI said a HeaseNet customer was using HeaseNet's network to access a Russian-hosted file-sharing website that offered eDonkey links to files.

Since the customer was using HeaseNet's network to access the website, EMI argued that HeaseNet was contributing / aiding the copyright infringing activities taking place. EMI wanted access to the file sharing site blocked by HeaseNet, arguing that failure to comply with the demand made the ISP party to the lawsuit.

The Cologne District Court 28th Civil Division found no legal basis for forcing an ISP to control the data communications of their customers, saying that the, "defendant is not committed to such precautionary measures."

Using litigation to force ISPs to block access to websites that offer pirated content (or link to somewhere else it can be found) is the latest trend for the industry as it battles Internet piracy, and is bringing up serious questions about censorship (and who decides when its necessary) and the privacy rights of Internet users.

Researchers are predicting mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets, will dominate Internet use within the next four years.

The latest forecast from International Data Corporation suggests the number of mobile Internet users will grow by more than 16% per year, spurred primarily by tablet adoption, while PC based browsing will decline.

"Forget what we have taken for granted on how consumers use the Internet," said Karsten Weide, research vice president, Media and Entertainment for IDC. "Soon, more users will access the Web using mobile devices than using PCs, and it's going to make the Internet a very different place."

IDC's report shows the importance of recent lawsuits around the world which could have long lasting implications for consumer choice in both hardware and service providers. If AT&T has their way, the US will lose T-Mobile, the mobile Internet provider who has been instrumental in promoting both the Android smartphone OS and higher speed data networks.

Attempting to block the move through an antitrust lawsuit, the Justice Department claims this would eventually result in a further reduction to just two nationwide mobile carriers.

If you want to know why so many people think the PROTECT IP censorship bill is so dangerous, you don't have to look any further than how the RIAA misuses current laws to attack non-infringing content.

DMCA takedowns submitted to Chilling Effects show the RIAA claiming links posted to Twitter pointed to infringing content when in reality they were direct links to a label owned website.

Chilling Effects is a clearinghouse of DMCA takedown requests, many of which are submitted by companies like Google and Twitter. It is run by the Electronic Frontier Foundation in cooperation with several prestigious law schools from across the US.

PROTECT IP's proposed blacklist starts with the assumption complaints from organizations like the RIAA are honest and fully informed when they claim a given piece of content is infringing. The reality is very different.

Music industry organizations have a history of problems distinguishing official content from unauthorized. They've even been known to make DMCA claims over content not owned by their members.

The FBI is looking into the hacking of NBC News' Twitter account on September 10.

Hackers took control of the account on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Tweets were made by the hackers claiming the site of those attacks had once again been targeted.

"Breaking News! Ground Zero has just been attacked. Flight 5736 has crashed into the site, suspected hijacking. more as the story develops," read the first tweet.

It was followed by another reading, "Flight 4782 is not responding, suspected hijacking. One plane just hit Ground Zero site at 5:47."

The Twitter account was disabled just minutes after the first tweet appeared according to MSNBC.

Hackers likely gained access via an email attachment sent to Ryan Osborn, the director of social media for the network.

The hack was allegedly the work of a splinter group from Anonymous and LulzSec known as The Script Kiddies. The same group is believed to have been behind a similar hack of the Fox News Twitter account earlier this year.

The power struggle between Michael Arrington and Ariana Huffington over control of the TechCrunch blog has ended with Arrington leaving to concentrate on his new venture fund.

According to a statement from AOL, "Michael Arrington, the founder of TechCrunch has decided to move on from TechCrunch and AOL to his newly formed venture fund."

Editorial control of TechCrunch was wrested from Arrington earlier this month by Huffington, who runs The Huffington Post. Both content providers were purchased last year by AOL.

At issue was the venture fund mentioned in AOL's statement.

Arrington fought back, citing an earlier promise of editorial control. He demanded AOL either return control to him or sell TechCrunch back to its original investors. He threatened to discontinue his association with the website.

They apparently decided his presence wouldn't be required.

Today they named Erick Schonfeld, who has been with the blog since 2007, as Arrington's replacement. They also indicated more editorial changes would be coming in the next few months.

GameStop has said today that it will soon launch an Android-based gaming tablet that will come with titles pre-installed.

President Tony Bartel says the device is already created and will be part of the new "GameStop certified gaming platform" and will launch in 2012.

Notes Bartel (via GI):

I don't see any need to create a new one with the three hundred or so on the market already. We have a refurbishment centre and we can bring in the product and preload certain games onto it. It's an Android device.

We definitely have selected one. We're in test phase right now. But we're excited at the prospect of coming out with this tablet. I would call it a 'GameStop certified gaming platform.' We looked at all the tablets and these are the ones that really worked for gaming and we're going to give you a few benefits that you're not going to get elsewhere.

According to Focus Taiwan, HTC is looking into purchasing its own mobile operating system.

Cher Wang of HTC, when asked about their future smartphones, said "we [HTC] can use any OS we want," and then confirmed the company had held internal meeting on perhaps obtaining their own OS.

Currently, the device makers has Windows Phone 7 and Android devices and has been a strong supporter of Google's decision to purchase Motorola Mobility for its patent portfolio.

That being said, like other smartphone makers in the market, it is clear the Motorola's hardware division could gain advantages from having Google as its parent, and could look elsewhere.

"Our strength lies in understanding an OS, but it does not mean we have to produce an OS," adds Wang.

One analysis says HP's maligned webOS could be a target.

NEC has revealed its Windows 7 tablet.

The company's second-ever tablet will run on Windows 7 Home Premium and an Intel Atom Z670 processor unlike most new devices that run on Tegra or Snapdragon (ARM architecture) and have Android operating systems.

Dubbed the LaVie Touch, the tablet will have a 1.5GHz processor, 10.1-inch screen (1280x800), 2GB RAM, a 64GB SSD, an SDHC card slot and two USB ports.

Finally, the tablet also has Bluetooth 2.1, a 1.3 megapixel webcam, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, HDMI, integrated graphics, weighs 1.65 pounds, is 15.8 mm thick and has 10.6 hours of battery life.

In an interview last week, Nokia's CEO seemed more interested in sowing the seeds of uncertainty about Android than explaining exactly why his company's decision to back Windows Phone makes sense.

Stephen Elop, who has also held prominent executive positions with Macromedia, Juniper Networks & Microsoft, told a Chinese interviewer Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility, "creates a great deal of uncertainty for the Android ecosystem that I'm sure is of great concern to many of the Android participants."

While it's true Android manufacturers like Samsung and HTC are concerned about Google's decision to buy Motorola Mobility, so far Google appears to remain a good partner. If anything, Microsoft's apparent preferential treatment of Nokia seems like more of a barrier for those companies than anything Google has done.

He repeatedly emphasized the Motorola acquisition as a key to Nokia regaining their previous market position, saying:

I think particularly with the uncertainty around Android created by the Motorola acquisition and so forth, it's clear that the formation of the Windows Phone ecosystem as another ecosystem that can compete - in large part because Nokia made a commitment to that ecosystem - I think it's the case that some of those other vendors are now in a position where they also have options in terms of how to balance their efforts, which I think is good for the industry and certainly good for Nokia.

AT&T announces their first Mango-based Windows Phone 7 devices.

Additionally, the carrier says they will be the first to update existing devices to the new software.

The three new devices are the HTC Titan, the Samsung Focus S and the Focus Flash.

HTC showed off the Titan last week with a huge 4.7 inch S-LCD, a 1.5 GHz Snapdragon, 16GB storage, 512MB RAM and dual cameras.

The Focus S has a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, a 1.4 GHz processor, 4G, and dual cameras.

Finally, the Focus Flash has a smaller 3.7-inch Super AMOLED screen and a 1.4 GHz processor.

Amazon is negotiating with publishers to launch a "Netflix-for-books" type service.

Consumers would pay an annual fee to be given access to a large library of e-books.

The talks are still in their early stages, and are said to already be stalling as publishing execs balk. They believe the service could lower the value of books, and strain relationships with retailers that sell print versions.

Amazon wants the catalog to only include older titles, and will be free with an Amazon Prime membership. Amazon Prime costs $79 per year and give users free 2-day shipping on all purchases through Amazon.

The amount of books would be limited per month, and Amazon will pay publishers "a significant amount" to get the deal done.