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T-Mobile will get their first 4G BlackBerry on August 31st.

The BlackBerry Bold 9900 will cost $300 after rebate with contract, making it more expensive than high-end Android devices like the HTC Sensation 4G.

Running on the BlackBerry 7 OS, with a 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor, the device is also RIM's thinnest phone ever, at 0.41 inches thick.

BlackBerry 7, the last OS before the much anticipated QNX OS, is expected to offer a significantly improved browsing experience and better HTML5 performance.

The device, despite being extremely expensive, has also been critically panned in early reviews, being called a "subtle upgrade" from the Bolds released in 2008 and 2009.

From August 21 through August 27, Best Buy will be offering a package which includes 16GB Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet bundled with a 3D HDTV.

For $1499.99 you will be able to get a Samsung 46" Class LED 1080p Smart 3D HDTV with your tablet.

For another $500 you can move up to a 55" HDTV plus a 3D Starter Kit with your tablet. The starter kit includes 2 pairs of active Bluetooth 3D glasses, Shrek, Shrek 2, Shrek The Third in 3D and mail-in vouchers from Samsung for Megamind and Shrek Forever After in 3D.

Best Buy is hoping to spur interest in tablets as a remote control and second screen for your TV.

IBM has unveiled an experimental new type of microprocessor, called a cognitive computing chip, which is designed to emulate the operation of the human brain.

The primary purpose of the technology, which is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration (DARPA), is to develop computers capable of doing things computers don't currently do well, but human brains do. For example, a person is much better at facial recognition than a computer.

In order to create their two protypes, IBM began by discarding the standard model for computer architecture, which separates memory and processing into separate components, tying all the memory to a single processor or group of processors using a shared data pathway called a bus.

By contrast, their "neurosynaptic cores," spread both processing and memory throughout the processor similar to the way neurons and synapses are arranged in the brain.

“This is a major initiative to move beyond the von Neumann paradigm that has been ruling computer architecture for more than half a century,” said Dharmendra Modha, project leader for IBM Research.

This week seems to be bigger than most for software patent news. Earlier in the week we had Google's announcement they are buying Motorola Mobility to acquire defensive patents. Now we have what could be a landmark ruling against the validity of a software patent on the basis that it describes a mental process.

The decision came from the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which is responsible for hearing appeals in patent infringement cases.

What makes it so important is the nature of many, perhaps most, software patents which are nothing more than a description of some common human activity with legalese added which translates to "do it with a computer." They are exactly the type of patents Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is suing companies like eBay, Facebook, and Netflix over.

In this case, the patent covered a system for detecting fraud in credit card transactions. The patent holder argued that since it specified using the Internet for looking up information, the necessity to use a computer transformed it into a machine process.

The court disagreed with this assessment:

Sony has released the final specs for its PlayStation Vita handheld, and it appears that despite the rumors, the console will have 512MB RAM.

The Vita will run on an ARM Cortex A9 quad-core processor and be powered by a quad-core PowerVR SGX543MP4+ GPU.

Featuring a 5-inch capacitive multitouch OLED screen (with 16 million colors), the device will be 7.16 by 0.73 by 3.28 inches.

Despite rumors that Sony would skimp out on RAM, the Vita has 512MB memory and 128MB VRAM in its graphics processor.

The rear camera will be capable of 60fps and 640x480 resolution or 120fps at 320x240 resolution.

Sony says the Vita will playback MP3, AAC, WAV (Linear PCM) files and MPEG-4 video including H.264 AVC encodings in high, main, or baseline profiles.

HP has confirmed today it is looking to spin off its PC business.

The spin-off, along with a $10 billion purchase of Autonomy Corp., are expected to be announced today or tomorrow.

Autonomy is an enterprise software company that "develops a variety of enterprise search and knowledge management applications using adaptive pattern recognition techniques centered on Bayesian inference in conjunction with traditional methods."

A few of its customers include multinationals like Coca-Cola and Nestle.

HP has been looking to expand into software and the cloud, which historically have higher margins than PCs.

Amazon has said this morning that their VOD catalog has now hit 100,000 movies and TV shows available for purchase or rent.

Prime members get to stream 9000 of those titles for free, with Amazon actively improving the streaming content with licensing agreements.

Streaming rival Netflix has around 20,000 titles and over 25 million subscribers.

Hulu Plus, the premium subscription model of the free Hulu site, has 28,00 TV episodes and 1450 movies. Additionally, however, it has 25,000 clips from shows like Colbert Report and SNL.

Amazon VOD is available through their website or via many Blu-ray players, HDTVs, set-top boxes and gaming consoles.

David Stebbins, who has previously demanded $600 billion from Wal-Mart, claiming they entered into a contract with him by responding to an email, has now filed a motion to force Google to pay him $500 billion.

Stebbins claims to have amended YouTube's Terms Of Service (TOS), requiring them to either terminate his account within 30 days or pay him $500 billion. He says those same TOS allow him to do so:

Paragraph B of Section 1 of these terms state that the terms can be unilaterally modified at any time. If the other party does not wish to accept the new terms, they may sever the contractual relationship.

On March 22, 2011, I took Youtube up on that generous offer and sent them an email announcing my own modifications to the Youtube terms of service.
Paragraph B of Section 1 of these terms state that the terms can be unilaterally modified at any time. If the other party does not wish to accept the new terms, they may sever the contractual relationship.

So what were his amendments? Most of them aren't clear in the filing, having been redacted by scribbling over them with a pen.

However, he did leave a portion untouched which he claims entitles him to binding arbitration or, if Google fails to respond to an arbitration request within 24 hours, automatic judgement in his favor.

The National Music Publisher's Association (NMPA) has decided to settle a copyright infringement lawsuit against YouTube. Neither the NMPA nor YouTube has released details of the settlement, but based on YouTube's history of fighting such suits to the end and winning, they probably didn't have to offer any concessions.

NMPA represents thousands of music publishers for purposes of royalty collection. Through a subsidiary, the Harry Fox Agency (HFA), they collect mechanical royalties for compositions. These are separate from the royalties collected by other organizations for recordings or performances.

NMPA President and CEO David Israelite called the settlement, “a positive conclusion for all parties and one that recognizes and compensates the work of songwriters and publishers going forward.”

On their official blog, YouTube explained what that means:

Going forward, the 46,000 music publishers already affiliated with HFA will be able to license the musical compositions they represent for use by the YouTube community. When these publishers allow YouTube to run ads alongside user generated videos that incorporate their compositions, the publishers, and the songwriters they represent, can make money. We’ll also be working with HFA to invite other publishers to sign up, even if they’re not affiliated with HFA.

Mozilla has confirmed this week that it plans to begin hiding the version number of Firefox in the "Help-> About" window dialog.

Asa Dotzler, community coordinator for Firefox marketing projects added the entry to Bugzilla, and says the dialog will now just offer more general information like "Firefox checked for updates 20 minutes ago, you are running the latest release."

If you now want to check the version number, you will have to head over to the about:support page, says ghacks.

It appears that Mozilla's ultimate goal is simply to make versions less important to the end user.

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 8 nightly (Aurora) in just 6 months.

Responding to reports yesterday of new evidence that his contract with Mark Zuckerberg for partial ownership of Facebook was a forgery, Paul Ceglia has gone back on the attack. Now he is claiming that either Zuckerberg or his lawyers are the real forgers.

Ceglia told ZDNet's Emil Protalinski

I believe based on the fact that Orin Snyder argued almost exclusively for my parents computers, the location where the so called “image” was discovered that either Orin Snyder is clairvoyant and had a premonition that his “smoking gun” was on my parents computer or he knew in advance that it was planted there. Perhaps by Zuckerberg himself and perhaps by Orrick, the firm Eduardo Savrin accused of conspiring with Zuckerberg to deprive him of his shares during his case.

He went on to say:

This “image” they claim is the original is forged and we will prove it has no authenticating properties what so ever. I would have expected more from him and his henchmen.

Nokia has announced a partnership with Polar Mobile to provide mobile apps for more than 300 different content providers, including Wired UK, Advertising Age, The Globe and Mail, and Shanghai Daily.

The first 50 apps will be developed for the Symbian OS, and will be available globally through Nokia’s Ovi Store next month. Apps for MeeGo and Windows Phone will come some time later.

Richard White, General Manager, Nokia Canada said, "Nokia is excited about the opportunity to team up with Polar Mobile to bring hundreds of quality apps to consumers around the world. Polar Mobile’s ability to scale and attract a global set of brands is strategic in supporting Nokia’s efforts in offering compelling apps and experiences for our users."

Certainly this move is good for Microsoft. One of the disadvantages faced by the Windows Phone platform is a relatively small number of apps compared to either the iPhone or Android. Bringing a handset vendor on board who will also invest heavily in apps is a big plus for them.

On the other hand, switching to a platform where that's necessary may be a foolish move on Nokia's part. It seems like they might be more concerned with being some platform's flagship brand than choosing the best OS for their phones.

Following Google's surprise $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility, Samsung chairman Lee Kun-Hee had an emergency meeting with the company's execs.

The chairman says the company must continue to develop its software "competitiveness" even if that requires an acquisition.

Says Lee:

(The company) must strengthen the competitiveness of its information technology (IT), secure more human resources and also more actively seek mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

Lee has always stressed the importance of software, including Samsung's own Bada smartphone OS:

We must pay attention to the fact that IT power is moving away from hardware companies such as Samsung to software companies.

Netflix has announced a feature for their Watch Instantly streaming service which is intended to make it more kid friendly. By clicking on the 'Just for Kids' tab at the top of the Netflix website, you can get a listing of titles categorized in a new way.

"Kids discover and categorize movies and TV shows differently than adults," said Todd Yellin, Netflix Vice President of Product Innovation. "Just as we have revolutionized the way people find the movies and shows they want to watch when and how they want to, we're making it easier for kids and parents alike to have the best possible Netflix experience."

At the top of the Just for Kids page are icons for many popular characters. Below you will find categories like Dinosaurs, Princesses, Robots, Disney & Girl Power.

To develop these selections, Netflix used ratings and reviews from Common Sense Media, a leading non-profit that provides independent, trustworthy ratings, reviews, and information to help parents make great media choices.

Nintendo has announced today the launch of a new slimmed down Wii console, part of the "Family Edition" bundle, which removes GameCube support.

The console will come bundled with a Wii Remote Plus + Nunchuk, Wii Party and Wii Sports.

So far the console, which is 30 percent smaller than the original Wii, has only been announced for the UK, with a release date of "before Christmas."

The Wii (Slim) will sit horizontally and saves space by removing GameCube memory card and controller slots.

There will likely be more bundles announced in the coming month, added Nintendo.