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The Chinese ministry of culture has banned 100 songs from the Internet saying that any track that "harm the security of state culture must be cleaned up and regulated under the law."

It is unclear why exactly the songs were banned, but China is known for censoring anything it deems politically sensitive or potentially offensive.

Included in the list are songs from The Backstreet Boys, Beyonce, Simple Plan and four songs from Lady Gaga.

The list also banned music from Taiwan's Chang Hui-mei. China is currently in a spat with Taiwan over its territory.

Past music on the banned list included tracks from artists like Avril Lavigne and the Rolling Stones.

Currently, all songs posted on web sites in China need prior approval before they can be embedded.

The popular Android devs CyanogenMod have released a video this week showing off Android running on the HP TouchPad tablet, the tablet that normally runs on the webOS platform.

Says the team, via RootzWiki:

Our ultimate vision is to create a multiboot solution where the end user will be able to boot into WebOS, Cyanogenmod, and/or other OSes.

CyanogenMod, now in its 7th iteration (running on Android 2.3.4 as a base) is available for a plethora of smartphones and tablets that can be rooted.

Check the video here of the first alpha version of the software:

Ten days ago, HP puts its TouchPad tablet in firesale at $99, sending sales into a frenzy.

Earlier that week, HP announced they would not create any more webOS-based tablets and smartphones, and would begin liquidating their Pre phones and TouchPad tablet.

The firesale price was significant as a teardown of the tablet revealed the parts cost over $250 not including R&D and shipping. It also meant HP is taking a significant hit on each device sold, as they will likely subsidize retailers liquidating.

This week, it appears the TouchPad craze has reached a likely top, as hand drawn drawings of the TouchPad are now up for sale on eBay.

Reads one auction (currently going for $0.49):

This is an original drawing of an HP Touchpad.

Sold out in stores, this item is in high demand.

More customizable than the iPad, this drawing of an HP Touchpad can display any picture or game you want - simply cut a hole for the screen and place it over your REAL TOUCHPAD (not included).

This drawing is of a 64GB HP Touchpad WITH USB Charger and Wall Adapter.

Last week, the tablet formerly known as S1 was given its official name, the "Tablet S."

Set for launch in September, the device will run on Honeycomb 3.1 and support an upgrade to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The tablet has a 9.4-inch screen, runs on a Tegra 2 processor and is the first tablet to have PlayStation certification. The device will have Wi-Fi, 3G and DLNA connectivity.

Today, Sony has let slip more info on the clam shell designed S2, giving it its official name of "Tablet P."

The dual-screened device will have 512MB RAM, 4GB storage, 4G support, a Tegra 2 processor and weigh just 13 ounces.

Pricing is still unknown.

Two weeks ago, Mozilla's Asa Dotzler confirmed that the company would begin hiding the version number of Firefox in the "Help-> About" window dialog.

If you wanted to check the version number, you would have to head over to the about:support page.

This week, however, the company has reversed course and says they will keep the current system in place:

There are no plans to adjust the version number. It will remain in its current place in the About window, and we are going to continue with the current numbering scheme.

The whole episode was blamed on a "miscommunication inside of the [user experience] team."

Earlier this year, Mozilla announced it would be moving to a more Chrome-like release schedule, and has since moved from Firefox 4 to Firefox 7 nightly (Aurora) in just 6 months.

Samsung has announced the LTE versions of their Galaxy S II and Galaxy Tab 8.9 devices.

The company will show off the devices, as well as pricing and availability, at next week's IFA event in Germany.

Adds JK Shin, President and Head of Samsung's Mobile Communications Business:

With the introduction of GALAXY S II LTE and GALAXY Tab 8.9 LTE, we will take the capabilities of these devices to a whole new level. LTE redefines the user experience made possible by these devices and opens entirely new possibilities in terms of content viewing, sharing, quality and connectivity.

This is a milestone in our commitment to lead the charge in 4G mobile telephony around the world, both in terms of back-end network solutions for service providers and the development of powerful consumer handsets.

Besides adding 4G connectivity, the devices will also be bumped up to 1.5GHz dual core processors, the most powerful on the market.

Last week, GameStop made headlines by pulling coupons for a competitor out of boxes for Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

Square Enix, the company behind the game, had placed vouchers for a free OnLive version of the game worth $50 in every box sold but GameStop, who has a competing cloud service, pulled the vouchers before selling the PC game.

Today, as a compensation to angry gamers, GameStop is offering a $50 gift card and a "buy two-get one free" offer on all used games.

Square Enix, for its part, has also apologized, stating that they did not tell GameStop of the vouchers in advance and the company will remove the coupon in all unsold copies and future shipments.

Says GameStop CEO Paul Raines (via PCW):

We regret the events surrounding this title release and that our customers were put in the middle of this issue between GameStop and Square Enix, the publisher of this game. And for this, we are truly sorry.

Western Digital has been forced to raise the prices of its HDDs, says Hexus, thanks to the continued demand and scarce supply for rare earth elements.

The move is effective immediately, with WD already informing partners of the price hike.

Prices are expected to be hiked 10 percent for 500GB drives and 5 percent for 1TB drives.

Rare earth elements, the supply of which is controlled by China, have been increasing in price for a year now, as the nation intentionally holds back supply to make as much profit as possible from desperate manufacturers.

It is unclear whether the price increases on WD drives will make their way to consumers or if the manufacturers will have to eat the charges, for now.

Earlier this year, a proposed class action lawsuit was filed against daily deal giant Groupon alleging that the company used bait and switch advertising.

Today, a U.S. judge has said a few parts of the lawsuit can proceed to court.

The suit, brought by San Francisco-based tour operator, alleges that Groupon buys many tour-related keywords on Google's AdWords service but when you click through they rarely actually offer tour coupons. By using such bait-and-switch tactics, the cost of keywords have skyrocketed and the tour company's ads on Google have declined in prominence.

Although some of the claims were tossed, the plaintiffs can rewrite their allegations.

Says the main plaintiff (via Reuters):

We're very happy we're going to get to go forward with these claims to address what we think is classic bait and switch advertising. Only now its done through Google instead of through the newspaper.

Facebook has announced the end of the "Deals" program they launched in April.

The service was set to compete with daily deal sites like Groupon, LivingSocial and Gilt.

Says the social networking giant of the move:

After testing Deals for four months, we've decided to end our Deals product in the coming weeks.

We think there is a lot of power in a social approach to driving people into local businesses. We've learned a lot from our test and we'll continue to evaluate how to best serve local businesses.

Four months ago, Facebook starting testing the service in Atlanta, Dallas, Austin, San Francisco and San Diego, in an effort to boost its revenue sources.

The daily deal site market is quickly becoming oversaturated, with Groupon now facing competition from cash-rich behemoths like Google and Amazon.

Apple has quietly killed off its 99 cent TV show rentals via iTunes, sticking with the more successful a-la carte purchasing option.

An SD-quality TV episode costs $2 to purchase while its HD counterpart costs $3.

Rentals were introduced last year alongside the second generation Apple TV set-top box.

Apple says:

iTunes customers have shown they overwhelmingly prefer buying TV shows. iTunes in the Cloud lets customers download and watch their past TV purchases from their iOS devices, Apple TV, Mac or PC allowing them to enjoy their programming whenever and however they choose.

Although they would not mention the services by name, it is clear that Hulu and Netflix were the reason for the lack of rentals. Hulu offers episodes, for free, the day after they air and Netflix has full series of TV episodes, with no ads, for just $7.99 per month.

According to chairman Eric Schmidt, Google is preparing to launch Google TV in Europe in early 2012.

The search giant is looking to expand its Google TV platform, which has floundered in the U.S. thanks to the restrictive nature of the media companies.

Additionally, the company will continue to fund broadcasting content but will not produce any itself.

Says Schmidt:

Just as smartphones sparked a whole new era of innovation for the Internet, we hope Google TV can help do the same for television, creating more value for all.

We’re agnostic when it comes to whether free or paid content models are best. It’s up to content owners to decide if they want to charge, and it’s up to users to decide if they want to pay.

Amazon is ready to hit the tablet market hard, says the NYPost, as early as late September.

Sources claim the e-tailing giant will release an Android-powered device in either late September or early October, while severely undercutting the iPad's market making $500 price tag.

The tablet will sell for either $199 or $299 (the price is still unclear), a price seen by only one tablet in recent memory, the newly launched Vizio Tablet (formerly VIA).

Additionally, it has become clear that users who were on the fence about tablets will buy in droves if the price is right. When HP put their Touchpad on firesale last week at $99 (down from $499), the company managed to sell hundreds of thousands per day, with the popularity taking down servers of big and small companies alike.

Because Amazon is expected to have higher-end specs in their tablet, the company is also expected to take a loss on each tablet sold, in order to make up the deficit in app, music, movie and e-book sales.

The FCC has said this morning that both AT&T and T-Mobile have provided enough info so that the regulatory agency can now continue its review on the proposed $39 billion deal acquisition.

82 days into a 180-day review "clock," the FCC halted the review but has now restarted it.

The FCC needed new information on the "economic modeling" AT&T provided last month, as it there were a lack of substantial arguments about efficiencies created by the huge merger.

Officials received enough info now on the new modeling and can continue its review.

Bob Quinn, AT&T's senior vice president of federal regulatory issues says they are now "confident that the commission will move expeditiously to complete its review."

Pandora, the popular Internet radio service, continues to grow at an amazing pace, so why is it they can't seem to turn a profit?

The answer lies in a fateful ruling from the Copyright Royalty Board. The CRB's existence is the result of a DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) provision mandating arbitration to determine fair Internet radio royalties in the event rights holders and webcasters couldn't reach their own agreement.

In theory this guaranteed that Internet radio providers would be on equal footing with the much larger music labels in royalgy negotiations. In practice it didn't work out that way.

In 2006 SoundExchange, a royalty collection agency created by the RIAA, entered into arbitration with a variety of webcasters entered into arbitration. The Copyright Royalty Board was created, under a 2004 law, to act as arbitrators, fulfilling the DMCA mandate.

The key point to understand is exactly what that mandate is:

In establishing rates and terms for transmissions by eligible nonsubscription services and new subscription services, the copyright arbitration royalty panel shall establish rates and terms that most clearly represent the rates and terms that would have been negotiated in the marketplace between a willing buyer and a willing seller