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The first "Facebook phone" is officially hitting the United States on July 17th via Best Buy Stores.

HTC's Status will sell for $50 with 2-year contract.

The device itself will run on Android 2.3 with HTC Sense overlay, have a 2.6-inch touch screen with 480 x 320 resolution, 512MB RAM, 512MB ROM, dual-cameras and an 800MHz processor.

Dubbed the Facebook phone because it has its own Facebook button underneath the keypad, owners have a chance to use a deeply integrated Facebook app.

For example, if you are listening to music, by hitting the Facebook button you can instantly share what song you are playing, and same goes for Web browsing and pictures. Simply hit the button to share the site you are on or upload the picture you just took.

When a friend calls, you will see their Facebook picture and current status on the home screen.

Owners can also use the newly added Skype-based Facebook video chats, although you will need Wi-Fi to do so.

Google has launched their first e-reader this week, via a partnership with iriver.

The iriver Story HD will go on sale on Sunday at $140, the same price as the Kindle 3 and Nook Simple Touch.

Using the device, user can buy and read Google eBooks from the open eBooks platform, and the device is the first to integrate the store.

Google's e-reader is "slim and lightweight with a high-resolution e-ink screen and a QWERTY keyboard for easy searching. It includes over-the-air access to hundreds of thousands of Google eBooks for sale and more than 3 million for free. With the Story HD you can now browse, buy and read Google eBooks with your e-reader through Wi-Fi, rather than downloading and transferring them from computer to e-reader with a cord as you can already do with more than 80 compatible devices."

The search giant adds they now partner with 250 independent bookstores and Google eBooks is available via Chrome Web Store, the Android Market, iOS App Store and all modern browsers.

Cisco, the world's largest networking-equipment company, is set to fire up to 10,000 employees, a massive 14 percent of their current workforce, say sources.

7000 positions could be eliminated by the end of the summer while the other 3000 will be given "early-retirement packages" for accepting buyouts.

The firings will help Cisco save up to $1 billion in fiscal 2012. In the coming quarter, the company will need to spend an additional $500 million, however, on the severance packages, which include 1 year's pay and medical benefits.

2800 employees declined the retirement packages.

In the last quarter, for global router sales, Cisco lost a full 6.4 points to retain 54.2 percent market, losing share to rivals Dell and Juniper.

All manufacturers of Mini DisplayPort-to-HDMI cables have been notified this week that their products are illegal and should be recalled.

HDMI Org says all DP male-to-HDMI male connectors are unlicensed as they are out of HDMI spec.

DisplayPort is a popular system on Apple Macs, and is also used by some Dell monitors and Toshiba notebooks.

Notes HDMI Org (via TR):

The HDMI specification defines an HDMI cable as having only HDMI connectors on the ends. Anything else is not a licensed use of the specification and therefore, not allowed.

All HDMI products undergo compliance testing as defined by the Compliance Testing Specification.

Software developer Jeff Rose has uncovered 'Vibes,' an unannounced Facebook music service.

Whilst examining the code for Facebook Video Chat, the developer found some references to Vibes:

I searched around to see what this is all about, and it seems that this is an unannounced feature that has yet to be released. The vibes app connects with a music download dialog in the page though, so I’m guessing that with this release we are seeing the seeds for Facebook’s upcoming music offering.

Vibes is likely a code name, as Video Chat had a codename of "Peep" before it launched.

Rumor has had it that Facebook would partner up with Spotify once it launched in the U.S., which is actually expected this week after 16 months of delays.

The tie-up would let users click on a Spotify icon to install the service on their desktop in the background, "and also allow users to play from Spotify’s library of millions of songs through Facebook. The service will include a function that lets Facebook users listen to music simultaneously with their friends over the social network, one of the sources said.”

According to mobile analytics firm Localytics, Verizon has slowly but surely taken a 32 percent share of the iPhone 4 market.

Apple, following 4 years of exclusivity with AT&T, launched the Verizon iPhone 4 in February.

Daniel Ruby of Localytics says the figure comes from analyzing which version of the iPhone downloaded the 1500 mobile applications the firm uses its software to monitor. A few of the more notable apps the firm monitors are for clients Skype, News Corp. and Turner, each with heavy traffic.

Interestingly, in its first week of availability the number jumped to 20 percent share. That number had hit 25 percent by April and 29 percent last month.

The company believes that with a level playing field (the rumored September iPhone 5 launch), Verizon will have a number closer to 40 percent share right from the get-go.

While still unconfirmed by the e-tailing giant, it has practically become fact that Amazon is preparing a tablet for the Q3 2011.

A report this weekend states that Amazon has ordered about 1.2 million tablets, second only to Apple who has ordered 15 million iPad 2 for the quarter.

Overall, component suppliers expect shipments to total around 21 million in the quarter.

Speculatively, Amazon will release two tablets, a low-end Tegra 2 device and a much more powerful quad-core Tegra 3 device. Amazon will also give free access to its streaming movie library to all tablet buyers.

CEO Jeff Bezos did note a "potential" tablet months ago, and it was reported that Samsung was building it.

An Amazon tablet would be a powerful addition to the market, as Amazon controls a large ecosystem of content including Amazon MP3 (music downloads), Amazon Instant Video (streaming movies/TV), Amazon Cloud Drive (streaming music, cloud storage), the Amazon Android App Store (Android apps) and the Kindle store (the most popular e-book store).

According to a teardown from IHS iSuppli, the popular HTC Thunderbolt is the most expensive phone ever built.

The LTE smartphone, when disassembled, has a total cost of $262.

For comparison's sake, the Verizon iPhone 4 has a teardown cost of $171.35.

Please note that teardowns do not take R&D and shipping costs into account.

iSuppli says the most expensive component is the Qualcomm MDM9600 4G LTE chip, which cost $40 per device.

Adds the company:

It remains to be seen whether the next Apple iPhone set for introduction in September will support 4G LTE. However, if it does, two things are clear. First, the iPhone's minuscule printed circuit board (PCB) will have to grow in size in order to support the first-generation LTE baseband processor as well as all the supporting chipset.

Second, the next iPhone's BOM value certainly will increase substantially compared to the iPhone 4 if LTE is implemented in the same manner as in the HTC Thunderbolt.

Despite a persistent rumor, sources say Google will not be shutting down the "Blogger" brand.

Rumor had it that Google was set to retire the popular Picasa and Blogger brand names, instead choosing to move them to Google Photos and Google Blogs.

The plan, speculation had it, was to unify all the Google brands in sync with the launch of Google+, the social network.

Google, in the past, had made similar moves; Rebranding JotSpot as Google Sites in 2008 and rebranding GrandCentral as Google Voice in 2009.

Blogger and Picasa, however, are household names with reputations that go as far back as Google.

Since its launch, HTC Thunderbolt owners have complained over the excessive amounts of forced reboots caused by their device, having their phone just shut off at random points.

Both Verizon and HTC acknowledged the issue and said a software glitch was to blame, with a fix on the way.

While the update is not for Android 2.3, it is a large maintenance update.

Change log of the update being rolled out:

Improved data connectivity.
Enhanced Call History view.
Reduced number of device power cycles and resets.
Improved Bluetooth Discovery Mode pop-up window.
View App Menu in tabbed layout.
People search function enabled.
Backup Assistant has been added to the All Apps menu.
Preloaded My Verizon, V CAST Music and V CAST Videos.
Desktop cradle App is now available, showing clock in landscape m
NY Times site has been added into the browser bookmarks.

Apple has been ordered to pay $8 million to Personal Audio LLC after losing a patent case.

The patents in question relate to downloadable playlists on the iPod line of music players.

In the case, Personal Audio alleged that Apple infringed on two patents. The company demanded $84 million in damages.

A jury voted in favor of the patent licensing company, ruling that both patents were infringed and valid.

Bloomberg says the first patent "covers an audio player that can receive navigable playlists" and the second covered "skipping forward or backward through the downloaded list."

Apple had claimed the patents were invalid, and they were not using the inventions.

The final damages award is tiny in relation to overall iPod revenue, which came in a $8.7 billion last year.

Spotify is ready to launch in the United States by the middle of next week, with the company having notified the major labels of their intent.

The unlimited streaming music service is very popular in Europe but has been delayed in the U.S. for 16 months following an initial announcement.

Spotify has signed licensing deals with UMG, Sony and EMI and is still in closing negotiations with Warner Music Group.

However, the service will not launch unless a deal is signed with Warner, say sources.

The service has a free offering in Europe, limited to 10 hours a week, while monthly subscriptions cost £9.99 for unlimited music via your PC or mobile device.

Spotify is expected to unveil a similar subscription package for the U.S., likely at $10 per month.

Earlier this year, the company said it had 10 million users in Europe, with 1 million paying subscribers.

Oracle, who has sued Google over infringing on Java copyrights and patents with its Android operating system is apparently now looking to collect royalties from Google handset makers, trying to squeeze margins even tighter in the industry.

The company, which purchased Sun Microsystems and all of its patents in 2010, is demanding damages of $2.6 billion and an injunction on Android.

It appears, following Microsoft's trend, that Oracle is asking for $15 per handset sold as a licensing fee.

Oracle is asking handset makers to join their "Early Adopter" program, which will lock in the $15 rate. If Oracle wins their case against Google, that number could be much higher.

Additionally, if vendors sign up, Oracle's case against Google will be given a boost as it will be clear that at least some company's believe Oracle is in the right and want to pay out less.

Microsoft recently won settlements with HTC and three smaller handset makers in which all will pay $10-$15 per Android handset sold. Microsoft has also recently demanded Samsung pay the same amount.

Following last October's decision to finally retire the Walkman cassette player, Sony has said today it will also be killing off the MiniDisc Player later this year.

Overall, the company has sold 22 million MiniDisc Players but demand has been lackluster, to say the least, over the past 5 years.

The company will stop production on the players in September.

Sony launched the MiniDisc in 1992 as a rival to cassettes, but the cost of the discs and the eventual mass adoption of CDs and later MP3 players made the devices obsolete.

The company says it will continue to produce MiniDiscs into the future, just not the players.

According to a new post from AppleSpot.nl, the next generation iPod Touch will include a SIM card slot that will allow for 3G connectivity.

Translated, the report says:

It will work just like the iPad; you get a 3G enabled simcard from your provider and put that in you iPod Touch. Apple’s choice of bringing 3G to the iPod Touch isn’t all that weird, if it’s true of course. Question remains how the providers will react to this, since the use of, for example, Skype will skyrocket.

The feature would be welcomed by users who do not have easily accessible Wi-Fi hotspots at their favorite hangouts and love their iPod Touch.

Owners could use VoIP apps like Skype or Google Voice to make phone calls and have an inexpensive iPhone.

What the report doesn't say is why Apple would create a product that could cannibalize their own sales and possibly jeopardize long-term working relationships with mobile carriers.