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The NPD Group has released its latest figures on the gaming industry, which continues its multi-year slump.

For January, overall industry sales dropped 4 percent year-over-year (YoY).

Despite strong sales from the Microsoft Kinect and Sony Move motion control systems, sales fell to $1.14 billion from $1.18 billion in 2010.

Hardware was the major lagging factor, down 8 percent from $354 million to $324 million while software fell 5 percent to $576 million. Video game accessories rose 6 percent to finish at $235 million.

Microsoft saw strong growth YoY, up 14.4 percent to 332,800 units. Half of the consoles sold were bundled with Kinect.

Nintendo got crushed, with Wii sales down 31.5 percent to 319,000 sold.

The PlayStation 3 saw a slight hit, as well, falling from 276,900 consoles sold last year to 267,000 in 2011.

AT&T is likely to add Personal Hotspot Wi-Fi as on option for iPhone users when iOS 4.3 hits, following in Verizon's footsteps.

Personal Hotspot gives users a chance to share their iPhone's 3G connection as a Wi-Fi access point for other devices. Apple added support for the option in iOS 4.2.6.

Verizon charges $20 per month for Wi-Fi tethering, and AT&T will likely offer a similar deal.

The move is reminiscent of when Apple added MMS support and Bluetooth tethering to iOS 3.0, but AT&T restricted the features for months.

Nine months after it was announced, the BBC has finally updated their iPlayer to link VOD listings for other sites.

Partner channels are ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, S4C, Seesaw and MSN Video Player.

BBC's iPlayer is the most popular streaming TV service in the UK, and "iPlayer" has become synonymous with streaming catch up TV just like "Hulu" has in the United States.

The new move is expected to bring significant amounts of traffic to the VOD offerings of the partner channels, thanks to the iPlayer's brand recognition for streaming.

In the iPlayer, users will see the VOD offerings in a new section, or via search.

Google, Sony, TiVo, Mitsubishi, Best Buy, NagraVision and SageTV have announced this week that will form the AllVid Tech Company Alliance, supporting the FCC's AllVid proposal.

AllVid, Time explains, is a "device that would act as a "gateway" adapter allowing all types of pay TV content - whether it's cable or satellite TV, internet TV or IPTV - to be viewable on the same device, without new technology forcing consumers to have to upgrade their equipment."

FCC officials made the proposal last year and it was immediately shunned by the cable companies and the Motion Picture Association of America, which says AllVid does not provide enough protection against unauthorized movies and content, and may promote piracy.

Following anti-regime protests taking place in the nation, Libyan officials have begun cutting off access to Facebook, and the whole Internet intermittently, in the country's capital.

Hundreds of reports coming out of the country say Facebook is completely baned, while connections to other sites, especially social networking, were painfully slow.

It is unclear how citizens outside of the capital are faring.

80 people have died this week in Libya after anti-government demonstrations began on Tuesday.

Libyan authorities have also begun rejecting entrance visas, keeping foreign journalists out of the nation.

Ruler Muammar Gaddafi has been in power since 1969.

Earlier today, Twitter suspended the popular clients UberTwitter and Twidroyd for violating the company's API policies.

Said Twitter:

Today we suspended several applications, including UberTwitter, twidroyd and UberCurrent, which have violated Twitter policies and trademarks in a variety of ways. These violations include, but aren't limited to, a privacy issue with private Direct Messages longer than 140 characters, trademark infringement, and changing the content of users' Tweets in order to make money.

We've had conversations with UberMedia, the developer of these applications, about policy violations since April 2010, when they first launched under the name TweetUp – a term commonly used by Twitter users and a trademark violation. We continue to be in contact with UberMedia and hope that they will bring the suspended applications into compliance with our policies soon.

The company added that it suspends hundreds of apps every week for violating their policies. Those apps are normally tiny but the two suspended today had millions of users on BlackBerrys, iPhones and Android devices.

Despite the suspension, UberTwitter is back already, this time under the name UberSocial. Says UberMedia of the change:

Intel has said this week that it is actively searching for a new partner for its MeeGo operating system, after Nokia dropped support last week.

The company claims Microsoft offered "incredible amounts" of money to Nokia to have them switch over to Windows Phone 7 as their smartphone operating system of choice.

CEO Paul Otellini was even bold enough to say had he been in charge, he would have chosen Android over WP7, even though both Google and Microsoft offered substantial amounts of money.

Says Otellini of Nokia CEO Stephen Elop (via Reuters):

I wouldn't have made the decision he made, I would probably have gone to Android if I were him. MeeGo would have been the best strategy but he concluded he couldn't afford it.

Finally, speaking of MeeGo, the formerly joint venture between Nokia and Intel, Otellini says:

We will find another partner. The carriers still want a third ecosystem and the carriers want an open ecosystem, and that's the thing that drives our motivation.

Google has launched the first beta for Chrome 10 this week, bringing JavaScript improvements, sync improvements, and an all-new settings interface.

Chrome 10.0.648.82 is available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.

Google promises Chrome 10 has 66 percent faster JavaScript performance than the latest stable Chrome 9 browser. The search giant has updated its "V8 - Crankshaft" JavaScript engine to see the performance upgrades.

The browser also adds basic GPU acceleration for video, "which allows more efficient processor utilization and better battery life," says IW.

Finally, the updated browser implements support for password sync across computers.

Video of the updated interface:

AMD has announced an agreement with AVG and Digital Delivery Networks (DDNi) in which the companies will include a paid subscription to the popular anti-virus software with AMD boxed processors.

Available to customers in the U.S. and UK, the deal will give buyers a free six-month license to the latest AVG + AVG Online Shield.

Normally, a subscription costs $35 for an annual license.

DDNi will include a mini-CD with AVG and the license in each eligible product. At the end of the six months, users will be given a chance to renew at a discounted price.

Says David Kenyon, corporate vice president of worldwide channel marketing at AMD (via Xbit):

The processor-in-a-box program is designed to provide AMD channel partners and end-users with a portfolio of choices to create exactly what they want. By coupling the benefits of our PIB program with a free premium six-month license of AVG anti-virus, our system builders now have more choices to build solutions that meet their customers’ needs.

Mapquest has released its popular free, turn-by-turn navigation app for Android phones, following its success on iOS.

The GPS app has two notable improvements from the iOS version, however. The app can use speech capabilities and has OpenStreetMap data, meaning it can be used outside of the U.S.

Mapquest says the app (via SELand) is very stable but "still a work in progress."

The company has said that almost 9 million people use the Mapquest mobile site from their smartphones, with 1.4 million of those coming from Android.

Although the new app will likely not move too many users away from Google Maps, it is still good to have options.

Microsoft has reported today that its recently launched Internet Explorer 9 RC has been downloaded over 2 million times.

The RC was made available on February 10th.

Microsoft says it is "humbled by the enthusiasm and uptake of IE9" and will soon begin notifying beta testers to upgrade. That move should lead to millions more downloads, anticipates the software giant.

Internet Explorer 9 was also confirmed for Windows Phone 7 devices, although the time frame is still unknown.

As of the RC, Microsoft claims their IE9 JavaScript engine is the fastest of all current browsers (based on SunSpider benchmarks). The browser also adds improved JavaScript and tons of added security features.

After the release of IE9 RC, rival Mozilla took a shot at the browser calling it "not modern" and "two years too late."

Download IE9 RC here: http://windows.microsoft.com/ie9

Jan Wildeboer, a Red Hat employee and big advocate of open source software, has posted today that Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 Marketplace blocks open source software from being distributed.

Says Wildeboer: "One thing is extremely obvious. Microsoft wants to keep its platform clear of Free Software. Period."

Article 5 of the Application Requirements section in the Marketplace Application Provider Agreement specifically states (via Thinq):

The Application must not include software, documentation, or other materials that, in whole or in part, are governed by or subject to an Excluded License, or that would otherwise cause the Application to be subject to the terms of an Excluded License.

In the "Excluded License" section earlier, the GNU General Public License is named, along with any "equivalents."

Furthermore, it appears that even closed-source apps will be banned if they use open source libraries, which many developers do.

Apple has allegedly cornered the glass capacitive touch panel market, prepaying for 60 percent of the world's entire capacity in 2011.

The move will leave many other companies fighting for the remaining 40 percent, which is expected to cause component shortages throughout the year and delays.

Apple has reportedly prepaid suppliers Wintek and TPK $3.9 billion for long-term contracts, enough money to cover 136 million iPhone displays or 60 million iPad 2 displays.

Gigaom explains that Apple has done this before:

Prepaying for a bulk, long-term contract allows Apple to control pricing, causing scarcity in the market, which raises the prices of remaining component stock. Apple’s pre-bought parts then give it a price advantage when it comes to production costs, and one that could grow as the contract progresses. It’s something Apple’s been known to do in the past, specifically with NAND flash memory in 2005.

Apple can successfully make moves like this because their devices (as history shows) are almost guaranteed to sell, and sell well. iSuppli is expecting 44 million iPad/iPad 2 tablet sales in 2011, after the company sold 14.8 million in 2010. Even the most radical analyst expectations in 2010 had sales at 9 million.

The SFG is reporting that social networking giant Facebook has added 'domestic partnerships' and 'civil unions' as relationship status options.

The move has been applauded by gay/lesbian advocacy groups, who see it as strong support for same-sex couples.

For now, the new options are available to Facebook users in the US, UK, Canada, France and Australia.

Facebook has 550 million users around the world and continues to see exponential growth. The company was recently valued at $50 billion, making it one of the largest Internet-based companies in the world.

Says Jarrett Barrios, president the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD):

Facebook sent a clear message in support of gay and lesbian couples to users across the globe.

When millions of Facebook users see these relationship status options, they gain a greater understanding of the legal inequalities faced by loving and committed same-sex couples in so many states today.

Being able to see same-sex couples in civil unions and domestic partnerships who celebrate their relationships no differently than married couples will serve as another reminder that these couples still lack the same legal recognition and protections associated with marriage. Facebook's noteworthy move also highlights the vast majority of same-sex couples living in states where there are no legal protections whatsoever.

According to AllThingsD, Spotify has signed a distribution deal with EMI, bringing the streaming service one step closer to a launch in the U.S.

Last month, Spotify signed a similar deal with Sony.

While the deals are a great start, the company will need to sign at least Warner or Universal before the service can launch. Universal is the largest label on the planet.

Warner's CEO Edgar Bronfman has made multiple positive comments about the service, but there is still no word on whether a deal is anywhere near close.