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Sales of the Nintendo 3DS are up 260% in the US following a mid-August price cut.

This mirrors a similar trend in Japan, where a similar price drop resulted in the second best week ever for 3DS sales.

Unfortunately for Nintendo, sales don't necessarily translate to profits, and it appears the new price means losing money on every 3DS sold. That likely explains the rumored redesign for the handheld next year, which could be announced as soon as next week.

The 3DS was always a risky proposition for Nintendo, who has long ruled the handheld market despite often competing with systems boasting significantly better hardware. The DS platform has historically even been able to successfully compete with standard consoles, including the XBox 360, PS3, and even the wildly successful Wii.

One of the reasons for all that success was a competitive price, an advantage the 3DS didn't share when it launched.

Michael Hart, the man behind starting Project Gutenberg forty years ago, has passed this week at age 64.

Hart is regarded as a pioneer of the ebook industry.

Starting on July 4th, 1971, Hart began digitizing the U.S. Declaration of Independence to a Xerox Sigma V mainframe in the Materials Research Lab at the University of Illinois.

After the DOI, Hart moved on to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and eventually Shakespeare. The Project now has 40,000 digitized books.

Said Hart in 1992:

The premise of Project Gutenberg was: anything that can be entered into a computer can be reproduced indefinitely.Once a book or any other item (including pictures, sounds, and even 3-D items can be stored in a computer), then any number of copies can and will be available. Everyone in the world, or even not in this world (given satellite transmission) can have a copy of a book that has been entered into a computer.

Check the project here: Free ebooks via Project Gutenberg

Foxconn is allegedly producing up to 150,000 iPhone 5 smartphones each day, in preparation for a launch in the next few months.

The manufacturer will continue to build 5 to 6 million per month until the end of the year, says Digitimes.

Although still unconfirmed by Apple as even existing, the iPhone 5 is expected to launch in October with a dual-core A5 processor, an 8MP camera, and a thinner form factor. The screen size should be still under 4-inches and the back design will move back to metal instead of reinforced glass.

Reportedly, the phone will be coming to all major carriers, AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint.

The launch on T-Mobile and Sprint would be a first for the Apple smartphone, which just launched on Verizon for the first time earlier this year.

Vestel, the company that just showed off their TV with a built-in BitTorrent client, will be selling an Android powered set-top box featuring a subscription game client.

The client will connect to an all-you-can-eat subscription service called GameTanium, provided by Exent. The games will run on Android smartphones and tablets as well as the set-top boxes.

It will even be possible to use another Android device as a game controller for the box.

"The point is to let consumers play wherever they want to be entertained," Exent CEO Zvi Levgoren told VentureBeat. "This is the next big domain for gaming entertainment."

He added, "We can take advantage of both the accelerometer and the touchscreen as controls for Android games," Levgoren said. "It is a very intuitive user experience that maintains the original game play and control."

139 tech entrepeneurs are sending a letter to US legislators warning that PROTECT IP would stifle innovation and job growth.

PROTECT IP is a bill being considered in the US Senate, with a companion bill expected soon in the House Of Representatives. It would create a government controlled blacklist of websites ‘dedicated to infringing activities’, requiring ISPs to redirect DNS requests for those sites so they can't be reached from inside the US.

One of the key complaints in the letter is that PROTECT IP would break the DNS system, a key component of the Internet.

We heard the same criticism two weeks ago from Paul Vixie, who said an important DNS security measure called DNSSEC won't be implemented if PROTECT IP is signed into law. Vixie told us under PROTECT IP DNSSEC, "will never be commercially viable."

The letter primarily focuses on the standards set out in PROTECT IP for determining what constitutes a website ‘dedicated to infringing activities’.

It points out some lessons about the history of copyright and technology, saying:

Historically, overzealous rightsholders have tried to stop many legitimate technologies that disrupted their existing business models and facilitated some unauthorized activity. The following technologies were condemned at one point or another - the gramophone (record player), the player piano, radio, television, the photocopier, cable TV, the VCR, the DVR, the mp3 player and video hosting platforms. Even though these technologies obviously survived, many individual businesses like DVR-maker ReplayTV and video platform Veoh were not so fortunate - those companies went bankrupt due to litigation costs, and sold their remaining assets to foreign companies.

The Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) have raided Google's offices in Seoul.

It is unclear if the raid is complete, but the KFTC had planned the raids in an effort to search for evidence and information relating to their practices with Android.

The KFTC stepped in after complaints from NHN Corp and Daum Communications Corp, South Korean search engine services. Both claimed Google is engaging in anti-competitive practices with Android by pre-installing Google software in the OS.

Additionally, the companies say Android is "systematically designed" to make switching to a different engine difficult.

Google quickly responded to the news:

We will work with the KFTC to address any questions they may have about our business. Android is an open platform, and carrier and OEM partners are free to decide which applications and services to include on their Android phones. We do not require carriers or manufacturers to include Google Search or Google applications on Android-powered devices.

The popular microblogging service also sees strong growth in mobile usage.

According to CEO Dick Costolo, there are about 100 million active users, despite 200 million registered accounts.

Growth in mobile usage is about 40 percent every quarter, an outstanding number, adds the CEO (via Reuters).

Notes Costolo, when asked if the service will go public soon:

We want to be able to remain independent, grow the business the way we want to, and not be beholden to public markets until we feel like we want to be.

Finally, the CEO says Twitter now has about 400 million unique visitors every month, up from 200 million on January 1st.

Microsoft may be planning to unveil a tablet running Windows 8 at next week's BUILD conference in Anaheim, California.

BUILD is a Microsoft event oriented toward helping hardware and software developers prepare for the upcoming Windows 8 OS. Considering most of the changes from Windows 7 appear to be tablet related, this would be a logical move.

Reports out of South Korea indicate Microsoft will be showing off a Samsung tablet at the conference.

Samsung is already producing Windows Phones, and is also generating considerable interest in the tablet market. Their profile as a tablet maker has gotten a big boost from Apple's onslaught of international lawsuits attempting to take the Galaxy Tab off the market.

For their part, Microsoft is desparate to gain a foothold in the tablet market which so far has been dominated by Apple's iPad. Samsung makes sense as a partner for this effort given their experience both making their own tablets and smartphones and providing components for Apple.

In an interview with Fortune magazine, fired Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz has let it be known her feelings on the recent move by the company's Board of Directors.

"These people f**ked me over," says Bartz.

Bartz says chairman Roy Boystock called her on her mobile phone and began reading a lawyer-prepared script:

I said, 'Roy, I think that's a script,' why don't you have the balls to tell me yourself?'"

The former CEO concluded with "I thought you were classier," before hanging up.

Bartz, after a successful run at Autodesk, was hired in January 2009 to turnaround the struggling company. She has not, and Yahoo has become somewhat of a laughing stock for its inept management.

Blaming the fact that Yahoo turned down a massive cash offer from Microsoft in 2007 and faced large criticism, Bartz says the directors are now impatient. "The board was so spooked by being cast as the worst board in the country. Now they're trying to show that they're not the doofuses that they are."

Finally, Bartz says: "I want to make sure that the employees don't believe that I've abandoned them. I would never abandon them. Besides, I have way too many purple clothes. I wish the Yahoo people the best...it's a fantastic franchise."

Add Japan to the list of countries where Apple is suing Samsung to get competing products taken off the market.

It is the latest development in Apple's campaign of patent and trademark related litigation which began in April. Apple has gone after Samsung in the US, Australia, throughout the EU & South Korea.

As in other countries, Apple wants to ban the import of Samsung's Galaxy smartphones and tablets.

Perhaps not by coincidence, the lawsuit, which was filed last month, comes shortly before the much anticipated of the next iPhone. Depending on which reports and rumors you believe, that will occur either this month or in October.

Even if Apple eventually loses the lawsuit, a temporary injunction would improve Apple's position in Japan at the best possible time.

Despite being generally quite successful in Japan, Apple has not been able to work out any kind of deal with NTT DoCoMo, the country's largest mobile carrier, to sell the iPhone or iPad. Samsung, on the other hand, has such a deal to sell their Galaxy phones and tablets.

Since its launch in 2010, it appears that EA's Online Pass has only generated $15 million in extra revenue.

Online Pass, the company's way to kill of the used game market, requires second-hand buyers to pay $9.99 or so if they want to access the online features of a game, on top of the price of the game.

Added CFO Eric Brown at the recent Citi 2011 Tech Conference:

The revenues we derive from that haven't been dramatic. I'd say they're in the $10-$15 million range since we initiated the program.

Online Pass has started a new trend, and other publishers like Sony and Ubisoft have followed, each looking to milk more money from consumers.

Brown says consumers are "ok" with the Online Pass:

The reception of the program has been positive. We thought about [Online Pass] pretty carefully and there hasn't been any significant push-back from the consumer, because I think people realise that if you're buying a physical disc and it requires an attachment to someone else's network and servers, [those] people realise bandwidth isn't free.

In an effort to boost their local service, Google has announced the acquisition of Zagat Survey today.

The popular review and ratings service will help Google add new features aimed at local businesses, daily deal shoppers and advertisers.

Zagat, which offers print and online reviews/ratings of hotels and restaurants, was found over 30 years ago.

Says Google:

Moving forward, Zagat will be a cornerstone of our local offering--delighting people with their impressive array of reviews, ratings and insights, while enabling people everywhere to find extraordinary (and ordinary) experiences around the corner and around the world.

Zagat will likely be closely integrated into Google Places and Maps in the near future.

A new report highlights several security deficiencies in modern automototive electronics systems.

The report was released by McAfee in partnership with embedded security firm Escrypt and mobile/embedded software company Wind River.

According to the report, potential risks range from tracking a vehicle's location using RFID tags embedded in tires to remotely disabling critical systems via Bluetooth. It cites research being done at the University of California, San Diego, which shows critical safety components can be hacked remotely using a program they call CarShark.

Researchers suggest just how far this sort of attack could go:

Going one step further is to combine the CarShark attack and weaknesses of Bluetooth implementation in cars. Once the attacker guesses the Bluetooth PIN, the attacker could mount the CarShark attack. Other wireless devices like web-based vehicle-immobilization systems that can remotely disable a car could be manipulated in these situations as well. The immobilization system is meant to be a theft deterrent but could be used maliciously to disable cars belonging to unsuspecting owners.

The other area of concern for researchers is the growing number of embedded systems capable of storing and accessing personal information, and potentially even devices like smartphones you may be using to communicate with them.

According to Goldman Sachs documents, Facebook made $500 million in the first half of 2011.

Additionally, revenue doubled to $1.6 billion.

The results are much stronger than expected, as investors were hoping for $2 billion in revenue for the entire year.

Based on secondary market valuation and investor valuations, the behemoth social networking site is worth $80 billion. The company is expected to go public in 2012.

In 2010, the company had revenue of around $1.5 billion, and net income of $400 million.

Facebook has over 750 million users around the globe.

Finnish mobile giant wants a new take on its iconic tone.

Back in the '90s, when Nokia was clearly king of the industry, its ringtones were heard almost everywhere. Mobile phones only came with a certain amount of tones that you could choose from, and so a lot of Nokia's tones became very familiar to people.

Now Nokia is offering $10,000 to whoever can compose their next tone.

"Nokia Tune is one of world's most recognized audio brand assets and is estimated to be heard over one billion times a day. Nokia is launching a global crowdsourcing campaign to find a fresh version of the Nokia Tune. This is the first time Nokia is inviting people to work with the iconic tune with the winning tune to be placed next to the standard Nokia Tune in a selection of the company 2012 product portfolio. The tune should be fresh, expressive, original, creative yet distinctively a Nokia Tune. All collaborations are welcome"

Think you can do it? Go submit a new entry, or you can also vote which ones you like best.