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The Oxford English Dictionary has added a number of popular Internet slang terms to its pages this week.

LOL, BFF, IMHO, and OMG (that's laugh out loud, best friends forever, in my humble opinion and oh my God) are now included in the Dictionary, legitimizing the terms used by millions in texts, emails and instant messages.

Additionally, the Dictionary added its first ever symbol, <3, which represents a heart or love.

The terms were among 900 words added to the OED during a quarterly update.

Says Graeme Diamond, OED's principal editor for new words (via MM):

Things people think are new words normally have a longer history. The OED is quite cautious about which words make the cut.

Skype has announced today that 30 million users were online today concurrently, a new record for the service.

Says the company:

A few hours ago, Skype passed a new milestone. There were 30 million people, online on Skype, at the same time.

As we cut the (blue) cake at Skype HQ, it’s a good opportunity to remind you that if there’s someone in your life who doesn’t use Skype, there’s never been a better time to tell them about all the wonderful things you can do – video calling on computers, mobiles and TVs, great value calls to phones, instant messaging, sending files and more.

Google may be looking to LG to create a Nexus tablet, says Crunchgear, following their Nexus One and Nexus S flagship 'superphones.'

Although unconfirmed, a Nexus tablet would be logical, given the popularity amongst developers for the Nexus One and Nexus S.

Nexus devices each offer fully 'vanilla' experiences, meaning no third-party software from manufacturers or carriers, like UI overlays.

If true, the LG Nexus would run on Android 3.0 (or possibly an update like 3.1) and be free of all software issues that 3.0 users have been experiencing with the Motorola Xoom.

By choosing LG, VB speculates that Google is "helping the company to deliver better Android products in the future."

As of 2pm today, the New York Times paywall is now live, meaning you will need to subscribe to the newspaper to have unlimited access to articles online.

All readers get access to 20 stories per month for free, and some free articles via the Time's mobile app. $15 gets you unlimited access to the site and the phone app. $20 gets you online access and unlimited use of the iPad app. $35 per month gets you unlimited access to everything the Times offers.

If you are a print subscriber, you have unlimited access to everything, as well.

There are many ways around the paywall, including clicking through to the content via Twitter and Facebook. One coder even created an add-on called NYTClean which breaks through the paywall with just 4 lines of code.

Acknowledging their are many loopholes, the company still believes users will pay for access: "We believe that enough people will pay, but we will not cut ourselves off from the rest."

According to well-connected Apple blogger Jim Dalrymple, the company will not release a new iPhone at this year's June's Worldwide Developers Conference.

Instead, the event will be fully for new software updates and launches and not hardware.

Says Apple's release about the event:

At this year’s conference we are going to unveil the future of iOS and Mac OS. If you are an iOS or Mac OS X software developer, this is the event that you do not want to miss.

The Nintendo 3DS launched this weekend in Europe and North America but there have already been numerous reports of a "Black Screen of Death," an strange error in the handheld.

If you receive the error, you are prompted to call Nintendo for support.

Reads the full error (via Soft):

An error has occurred. Hold down the Power button to turn off power, then turn it on and try again. If the problem persists, please contact your local customer support center.

Our recommendations are that if anyone is experiencing any problems with their Nintendo 3DS console, we recommend that in the first instance they download and install the latest system update, now available online. If the problems still persist we recommend they contact their local Nintendo Customer Service centre to investigate the problem.

Today we celebrate our discussion forums' 10th birthday.

It was exactly ten years ago today when the first public post was made to our forums. Since that post, more than 3.6 million messages have been posted to our forums -- and an additional 1.4 million posts to our Finnish language forums.

To celebrate the moment, here's our "Top 10 all-time" forum poster chart (excluding moderators and admins):

1. sammorris
2. sc0user
3. larrylje
4. steimy
5. sly_61019
6. attar
7. arniebear
8. Rotary
9. gwendolin
10. NoLimit04

In its first 24 hours, Firefox 4 was downloaded 7.1 million times, followed by a second day boost of 8.75 million, blowing away the previous Guinness World Record record for single-day software downloads.

The previous record was held by Firefox 3.0, which saw 8.1 million downloads in one-day in 2008.

After a year of development, 12 betas and two RCs, Firefox 4 launched to much fanfare last week.

The new record will be unofficial because there were no Guinness representatives on-site this time around to independently audit the number.

Mozilla also crushed Internet Explorer 9's download numbers, with Microsoft reporting 2.3 million downloads for the first 24 hours. That number may be deceiving, however, as many Internet Explorer users are in corporate environments where updates are controlled by the IT team and are normally rolled out slowly. An overwhelming majority of Firefox downloaders are personal and "power" users, not corporate, says CW.

Earlier in the month, Warner Bros. announced it would begin renting digital copies of films via Facebook, starting with the blockbuster hit "The Dark Knight."

Today, the studio has added that it will add five more films to the offering, including two "Harry Potter" movies.

As of tonight, The Dark Knight, Yogi Bear, Life As We Know It, Inception, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets will be available.

Says Warner Bros. president of Digital Distribution Thomas Gewecke (via THR):

We're pleased to expand our test with a variety of titles that will appeal to a broad audience. These titles have substantial followings on Facebook. The fan pages for 'Harry Potter' and 'Inception' alone are two of the most popular and active communities on the site.

Motorola Mobility has launched the Wi-Fi-only model of the Xoom tablet this weekend, for $599, giving a users with no need for 3G/4G a chance to get the device for cheaper.

The device is available at stores like Best Buy and Staples, and online via Amazon and other e-tailers.

Unlike its more expensive 3G counterpart, the Xoom Wi-Fi will not require a data contract.

The powerful tablet has 10.1-inch display, 1280x800 resolution, a Nvidia Tegra 2 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB DDR2 RAM, 32GB onboard memory (expendable via SD), a 5MP dual-LED flash standard camera and a 2MP front-side camera for video conferencing.

Although unconfirmed, rumor has it that Sam's Club will sell the model at a highly discounted $539 price point.

Mozilla has launched a Firefox for Android (and Maemo) release candidate (RC) this weekend, available in 10 languages.

The browser is available through the Android Market, or for manual install.

In the release, the app adds better support for Firefox Sync, faster scrolling, bug fixes and an overall improved experience.

Because it is Firefox 4, the browser adds Firefox Sync, Awesome Screen, tabbed browsing and Firefox Add-ons.

Video of the updates:

DroidLife has reported this weekend that the HTC Thunderbolt will be getting the Android 2.3 Gingerbread update in the Q2.

The Q2 begins April 1st and ends at the conclusion of June.

Thanks to an email sent to a customer, DroidLife says the confirmation is in this message:

Dear John,

Congratulations on obtainng the HTC Thunderbolt. We understand how important it is that your device meets your needs.

John, Bluetooth manufacturers make their devices to be compatible with our phones. We do not make our phones to be compatible with the thousands of Bluetooth devices in the market. Bluetooth manufacturers conduct the testing to see if complete compatability is achievable. It is the software in the Bluetooth devices which dictates whether they work or not. Our software in the phones, ensures that the phone can pair and turn on the Bluetooth. Anything else, goes to the Bluetooth manufacturer for troubleshooting. You would need to speak with the car manufacturer to ensure that full compatibilty is achievable. The Thunderbolt does have a text to speech feature.

Google and Microsoft lead the BrandDirectory 2011 list of most valuable brands in the world, with a few other tech companies taking in place in the top 10, as well.

IBM took 4th, Vodafone took 5th, Apple took 8th and AT&T rose to 10th.

Wal-Mart was last year's winner but fell to 3rd in 2011.

BrandDirectory uses financial and business criteria to determine each company's rank, and there overall "brand value."

Google's brand was determined as being worth $44.2 billion, up a whopping 23 percent from 2010. The company was the only one to receive a AAA+ brand rating, thanks to its ventures that aren't commercial, but have positive effects on the brand and the world. One such example is Google's profit-less move to help those in Egypt with no Internet connection to send texts using Google Voice. Another was the service created to help in the rescue efforts in Japan following this month's earthquake and tsunami.

Read the full list here: BrandDirectory Top 500

Amazon may be on the verge of creating a "digital locker," giving users a chance to store their existing movie and music libraries in the cloud.

Even if the content was not purchased from Amazon, the deal would allow the film, books, and music to be stored on company servers.

The giant e-tailer has not yet been granted all the necessary licenses but is actively negotiating and may even announce the service before it has obtained them.

Amazon is in a race for the cloud service, as Apple and Google are rumored to be actively creating similar platforms.

A cloud service for media seems to be the ideal situation for the future, as consumers will never be without their content, as long as they have an Internet connection.

Media companies urge UK Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to voluntarily block access to piracy websites.

They are being urged to block access to sites like the Pirate Bay and Newzbin2, as an alternative to media companies targeting end users for copyright infringement. In total, rights holders already have a list of about 100 top priority sites it would like to see blocked by UK ISPs.

In the voluntary system, content owners would have to pass evidence to the ISPs that a certain website is used primarily to aid copyright infringement. ISPs would then take action against the site. However, there are some concerns that are holding ISPs back from committing to any such system.

Firstly, they believe an impartial judge should decide whether a website is aiding illegal activity and should be blocked. Secondly, who would be liable for legal ramifications if a website were incorrectly flagged and blocked off from UK users?

The communications minister, Ed Vaizey, is attempting to push through such a voluntary system as the anti-piracy measures in the Digital Economy Act are fiercely opposed by providers. BT and TalkTalk have reportedly spent more than £1 million in legal fees challenging the act, and it faces a delay of at least 12 months. Both providers have 8.4 million customers in the UK between them.