Latest news

Following our ongoing coverage of Google's I/O conference, the search giant has announced streaming movie rentals for the Android Market, giving users one of their most asked for features.

Unfortunately, the service is only live for Honeycomb tablets and your home computer, for now.

The updated movie service will be available for phones and tablets running Android 2.2 Froyo and 2.3 Gingerbread "in a few weeks."

There will be "thousands of titles" available at launch.

You can stream the movies online or "pin them" to your phone/tablet and then watch offline.

Google has just launched their oft-delayed Google Music service in beta, live now at music.google.com.

You can head over now to request an invitation using your Gmail account.

For the service, you can upload up to 20,000 tracks to the cloud and stream the music from any computer or Android device.

The service will initially be free, and currently only for U.S. users.

For those with Honeycomb tablets, the service uses CoverFlow-esque browsing, and you can "Genius" tracks using InstantMix, which will then create a 25-song playlist of similar music.

Google adds that if you lose Internet, "the songs you've recently played will automatically be available offline."

If the embedded link doesn't work, click here to watch video: Google Music beta

Speaking at their I/O conference today, Google has said they are activating 400,000 Android devices daily.

Overall, activated Android devices now stand at around 100 million.

Since launch, there have been over 4.5 billion app installs.

Google is rolling out Android 3.1 today to Verizon Xoom owners. The Honeycomb update will bring performance enhancements like faster app switching and the ability to stretch widgets vertically and horizontally.

Finally, Android devices will now be able to act as USB hosts, meaning users can import photos directly from cameras to tablets. The devices will even be able to support Xbox controllers.

In what will become the largest unauthorized torrent downloading lawsuit in U.S. history, the U.S. Copyright Group is expected to sue 23,000 file sharers for downloading the Sylvester Stallone hit film "The Expendables."

A federal judge has given the Group the rights to subpoena ISPs to find the identity of those who downloaded the film, which means that 23,000 number may be a lowball figure.

Subpoenas will begin being sent out on Thursday.

Under the U.S. Copyright Act, damages allowed per infringement are $150,000 and the group will ask for that in each case.

Of course, they will also offer a settlement payment of $3000. If every accused downloader settles, the lawyers will make a cool $69 million.

The Group finds the IPs by starting downloads of active torrents and capturing the IP addresses of peers that are sharing.

Electronic Arts (EA) CEO John Riccitiello has noted this week that the company will eventually move completely to digital distribution, killing off physical discs.

Says the CEO during the company's quarterly earnings conference call:

Over the coming years, we will transform EA from a packaged goods company, to a fully integrated Digital entertainment company. We're transforming EA to a games as a service model by focusing on three new strategies.

#1: IP. We believe we are driving the strongest portfolio of IP in the industry with EA Sports, FIFA, Hasbro, Madden, Pogo, Battlefield, Need for Speed, The Sims, Tetris, Dragon Age, Mass Effect and more. We fully intend to make these properties into year-round businesses that lead their sectors across a range of platforms.

According to WinRumors, Verizon may be ready to launch its first Windows Phone 7 device this week, on May 12th.

The HTC 7 Trophy, which has been delayed for a month, should be ready for official launch as early as this week, say sources.

Verizon's roadmap originally showed the device with an April 15th launch and $200 price tag with contract.

That price is expected to stick.

The Trophy will ship with the "NoDo" firmware update that brings copy and paste and performance upgrades.

Following two nights of speculation, Microsoft has confirmed it will be purchasing Skype for $8.5 billion in cash.

The deal has already been approved by both boards of directors.

Skype has 170 million "connected users" and those users ran over 207 billion minutes of voice and video in 2010.

Microsoft says:

The acquisition will increase the accessibility of real-time video and voice communications, bringing benefits to both consumers and enterprise users and generating significant new business and revenue opportunities. The combination will extend Skype’s world-class brand and the reach of its networked platform, while enhancing Microsoft’s existing portfolio of real-time communications products and services.

Skype is a phenomenal service that is loved by millions of people around the world. Together we will create the future of real-time communications so people can easily stay connected to family, friends, clients and colleagues anywhere in the world.

Microsoft is on the verge of purchasing Internet phone company Skype for over $7 billion, in what would be the company's largest ever acquisition.

Negotiations are in the final stages but the deal could still fall apart, say multiple sources speaking to WSJ.

Skype has 663 million users globally and says 207 billion minutes of voice and video calls were made over the service in 2010.

In 2007, Microsoft overpaid for online advertising firm aQuantive, paying $6 billion in what is their current largest deal, ever. In 2008, Microsoft offered $48 billion for Yahoo but was turned down and eventually the deal collapsed. Yahoo is valued at $25 billion today so it certainly appears that Microsoft dodged a bullet.

The Skype deal will be very expensive given the company's history of no profits.

In 2010, Skype had nice revenue of $860 million but lost $7 million. Google and Facebook were reported as being interested in the VoIP company, as well.

Google has confirmed that it will be adding 3000 movies to its YouTube movie rental service.

It is unclear what films will be available but reports have stated that Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. have all signed up.

Says Salar Kamangar, Head of YouTube:

Today, we’re going to start adding around 3,000 new movie titles for rent available to users in the U.S. (more on this in a post later today) that will be accompanied by reviews and behind-the-scenes movie extras. Whether it’s short movie trailers, funny movie parodies or full-length blockbuster films, we encourage you to sit back and settle in to the YouTube movies experience.

In addition to expanding our movie offerings, we’re also bolstering our investment in the content that’s already being viewed by hundred of millions of people on YouTube. Our 20,000+ partners—folks like Machinima, Annoying Orange and Ryan Higa—are producing original content for the web and commanding TV-size audiences for their own brand of programming. Through YouTube Next, we’re helping fuel the creation of this type of content with initiatives like the YouTube Creator Institute and YouTube NextUp, following past initiatives like Partner Grants (which brought us Key of Awesome, creators of one of 2010’s most-watched videos) and $1,000 B&H Photo credits. In the coming year, we’ll bring even more content to YouTube. Building on the success of Partner Grants and YouTube NextUp, we’re providing even more resources to creators who you’ll know from TV or Hollywood, and to existing YouTube partners who have already built loyal audiences on the site. Look out for more details on this in the coming months.

In Google's latest note on Android release figures, it appears that 2.3 Gingerbread is still not seeing any distribution, with the operating system being seen on only 4 percent of all Android devices.

The 4 percent is a slow but gradual growth from the 1.7 percent share it held in March, although many current devices do not even have a timeframe for receiving 2.3.

Android 2.2 Froyo kept increasing its share, this time to 66 percent.

Google's tablet-centric Android 3.0 Honeycomb is only on 0.3 percent of all devices, showing widespread lack of adoption for the Xoom. At .3 percent share, it would imply that only 150,000-200,000 Xoom units have been sold since launch.

Nvidia has confirmed its plans to purchase the mobile chipmaker Icera for $367 million in cash in an effort to better compete with Qualcomm and Intel.

The deal will let Nvidia join the market for baseband/radio chips.

With the deal, Nvidia should be able to package its Tegra processors with cellular baseband chips, making it more potent.

The company says Icera should help it double revenue generated from sales of each tablet/smartphone.

Both Qualcomm and Intel offer combos of processors and radio chips, although Intel has yet to see much demand for its mobile processors or architectures.

According to the annual BrandZ Global Top 100, Apple is now the most valuable brand in the world, beating out perennial winner Google.

Apple blasted 84 percent year-over-year to a value of $153 billion, ahead of Google at $112 billion.

IBM jumped 17 percent, as well, enough to hold third place at $100 billion and leave McDonald’s in fourth at $81 billion.

"It’s clear that every single Apple employee, from Steve Jobs and Tim Cook to the summer interns, see protecting and nurturing that brand as a top priority," adds Millward Brown Chief Executive Officer Eileen Campbell in the report. "Tablet computing also drove value growth not just for Apple, but also for the providers who support yet another networked device."

Facebook saw the largest jump, running 246 percent to $19.1 billion, good for 35th on the list.

In other big news, Amazon overtook Wal-Mart as the most-valuable retail brand, jumping to 14th as Wal-Mart stayed in 15th.

Check the full chart here: BrandZ Global Top 100

Microsoft has revealed some of the new features coming with the Windows Phone 7 "Mango" update, and WP7 users should be excited for them.

Users will get native podcast support, turn-by-turn voice direction in Bing Maps, voice-recognition SMS, Bing Vision and Bing Audio (like Shazam/SoundHound/MusicID).

Bing Audio will be integrated right into Bing search, and will work just like similar products. Press a button while you are listening to a song you want to remember or buy (or don't know) and the service will connect you to a match.

The US, Great Britian, France, Italy, Germany and Spain will be the first with Bing Audio support.

Bing Vision is a camera-based search app, that will read barcodes, MS Tags, QR codes and text through OCR.

Click here for screenshots of the upcoming features: New Mango Features Coming For Windows Phone 7

The hacking group Anonymous has taken time to write a full PR release responding to accusations that it was behind the massive PSN hack that has compromised the personal data of 101.6 million gamers.

Two weeks ago, Sony hinted that they found files on the attacked server that imply Anonymous was behind the attack, and the media has gone even deeper in accusing the group.

I have posted the entire PR release below, or you can read it here (with clickable cites).

"SONY, I AM DISAPPOINT"
For Immediate Distribution
Press Release
May 7th, 2011
A 'HiveMind Effort' from
Anonymous Holdings LLC (Bermuda)


Yesterday, an article appeared in Financial Times, alleging Anonymous' involvement in the data and identity theft of some hundred million users of Sony's Playstation Network and Sony Online Entertainment. This crime is now being investigated by the Homeland Security Agency (HSA), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and other legal entities.

Once again Anonymous has been blamed for a security breach, this time by the journalist Joseph Menn, in his article "Hackers point finger over Sony incursion" [1]. Here, Anonymous wishes to lay out our case against these allegations and false assumptions:

Last week, Sony outlined its plans to give all PSN users in the U.S. free identity protection and $1 million insurance for a year.

The insurance will cover legal expenses, identity-restoration costs and lost wages if your ID is stolen.

Sony admitted last week that 101.6 million accounts were compromised by two "highly sophisticated attack" on Sony's servers on April 17th.

Today, the company has outlined its plans for similar protection for European users affected by the downtime.

Says Sony:

As I have explained previously, creating a similar offering for the many countries within the SCEE region is a very complicated process. Each country has a different way of handling identity theft; some offer relatively sophisticated services whilst others are much more modest.

We are currently in the process of identifying how we manage this situation and once the programme is ready to launch, we will provide details of exactly which services are available in each country and explain how to sign up. We hope to do this early next week.