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Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has said today that the service will likely not hit the U.S. this year, despite promises since 2009.

While still hopeful, Elk says the company now cannot "commit to a specific date."

When it does launch, however, it will cost $10 per month, much cheaper than the 10 euros it costs currently in EU nations.

Andy Rubin, VP of Engineering at Google and head of the Android project has revealed an updated version of Google Maps this week, version 5.

GM5 will be released "in a matter of days," and most Android users should be able to download it, free, at that point.

Coming with the Maps update will be the end of tiling, which Unwired explains "essentially involves stitching several flat images or maps together and can wreak havoc on map loading times."

GM5 will use vectors, which brings the ability to see maps in 3D. For anyone who has used Google Earth on their Android device knows, Maps will now let you tilt and rotate any map with your fingers.

Sony has released the latest firmware update for the PlayStation 3, adding nothing.

Says Eric Lempel, Sony VP of Network Operations: "This is a minor update that adds a security patch."

What Sony will not come out and state is the fact that the update will do little but block potential jailbreakers of the console.

In September, PSJailbreak released the first jailbreak, showing how PS3's security model was open to be exploited, and Sony was quick to shut down the project. However, open-source alternatives cropped up, giving users a chance to jailbreak their console for free.

Beginning today, the blockbuster hit "Inception," as well as "Knight and Day" starring Tom Cruise will be available as "premium" rentals via Blockbuster Express DVD kiosks, 28 days earlier than htey will be available via Netflix or Redbox kiosks.

That being said, "premium" comes at a price, $3 for the first night's rental, compared to $1 from Redbox. After the first night, the price drops to $1 per night.

Redbox, Netflix and Blockbuster Express (run by NCR) all have rental agreements in place with the major Hollywood studios that block most new releases from being placed in kiosks (or available online) for the first 28 days of their release, in exchange for significantly reduced pricing.

Although unconfirmed, multiple sources are reporting that Apple will launch its Mac app store next week, on December 13th.

The Mac app store will give third-party developers a chance to create low-cost apps for Mac users, basically becoming a desktop version of the iOS App Store.

One source says "Apple is targeting a Monday, December 13 launch of the Mac App Store," although CEO Steve Jobs has reportedly pushed for an earlier launch date.

Other sources claim Apple will use this month to launch iOS 4.3, which will bring the addition of subscription-billing APIs, and "The Daily," a cheap, iPad-only newspaper created in conjunction with News Corp.

iOS 4.3 should also bring an update to AirPlay.

Market research firm IDC has said today that the end of the PC-centric era is near, with tablet and smartphone shipments set to overtake PC shipments in 2012.

IDC makes sure to note, however, that PC sales will continue to increase, as well, just at a much slower rate than gadgets that rely on touchscreen and apps.

Worldwide shipments of "app-enabled devices" will reach 377 million in 2011, and 462 million shipments in 2012, exceeding PCs which are expected to ship 402 million in 2011 and 448 million in 2012.

Frank Gens, chief analyst at IDC says tablets and smartphones are "not replacing the PC -- that's a key point -- but [they are] expanding the market."

Overall, global IT spending will jump 5.7 percent to $1.6 trillion in 2011.

(Pic via Flickr)

Avast, the company behind the anti-virus software Avast Pro, had a very interesting story to tell this week, in regards to piracy of the company's flagship AV suite.

The company noticed that a license meant for a 14-PC business had made its way online, and was being shared via warez sites.

Instead of killing the license, however, the company let it be, calling the situation an "experiment."

Google has purchased the video DRM company Widevine this week, saying GoogleTV and Android will benefit from the tech that allows video to be delivered securely over the Internet.

Widevine calls itself "a content delivery optimization and security company."

YouTube will likely be the top user of the technology, as Google needs to convince distribution partners that their content is available securely, and in good quality, on a variety of platforms.

Earlier this year, Microsoft proclaimed that its Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system would be getting the popular free music streaming service Pandora.

It appears this week, however, that Pandora may have had a change of heart, possibly stopping development of an app for the new operating system.

In a Tweet to its followers, the company said a WP7 app was out of the question, before backpedaling later and saying: "I’m not sure if/when we will be available on [Windows Phone 7]. Appreciate everyone’s enthusiastic suggestions. I’m passing the feedback on."

Pandora's largest rivals, Last.fm and Slacker, have already released Windows Phone 7 applications.

Finally, speaking to BGR, the company said: "While we’re excited to see companies innovating and while we’re not ready to make an announcement specifically related to the Win 7 phone, we generally want to be everywhere our listeners want us to be."

Google has finally delivered on their promise of the Google eBookstore, starting the service with 3 million books available in a number of formats.

The ebooks will be playable on the Nook, iPad and others, but notably not on the Amazon Kindle.

Google's entry to the market could challenge Amazon's monopoly, which is estimated at 72 percent of the market in 2010. The Kindle store will sell an estimated $250 million worth of ebooks this year.

One analyst firm believes Google's service, along with Apple's iBook Store, should turn Amazon's share of the ebook market to 35 percent by 2015, down from the current 72.

According to the latest Consumer Reports survey, AT&T has received the all-around worst scores in customer satisfaction for 2010, ranking it last behind US Cellular, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile.

AT&T got the lowest scores in eight out of the nine categories, and tied for worst in the last category.

The categories included overall value, voice service, data service, texting services, phone support, staff knowledge, and resolution of issues, and other customer support issues.

AT&T scored a 60/100, putting it 9 points behind T-Mobile, and 22 points behind the leader, US Cellular.

The U.S.' second largest carrier scored a 66 in 2009.

Google has officially unveiled the Nexus S smartphone today, the first device to use Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

Additionally, the company says the Gingerbread SDK is now available for developers.

The Nexus S is built by Samsung, and will be a "pure Google" experience, unlocked and "vanilla," with no special user interface layers.

Google says the smartphone will have a 4-inch "Contour Display designed to fit comfortably in the palm of your hand and along the side of your face."

The smartphone runs on a 1GHz Hummingbird processor, has 16GB internal memory, standard and front-side cameras and NFC (near field communication) hardware.

According to sources close to the company, it seems as though AOL may be in the process of breaking up the company before merging it with portal giant Yahoo.

The break-up will require a number of complicated transactions and so far the plans are still in the exploratory stage, with Yahoo having not been contacted yet.

AOL will firstly separate its dial-up Internet service and its display advertising business.

"You can drive the pieces into people's hands that could pay top dollar for them and create value, or spin them off," added one of the sources (via Reuters).

For the past couple of years, new AOL CEO Tim Armstrong has invested millions of dollars in purchasing content sites, including TechCrunch and others, turning AOL into a leading portal site.

AVG has pulled their latest update for AVG Free 2011 this week after it crashed systems running Windows 7 64-bit.

The antivirus database update is 271.1.1/3292 (432/3292) and has since been pulled after user outrage.

After being updated, AVG 2011 was prompting a system restart, which is then followed with a "STOP: cc0000135" error that completely crashes your system.

To be able to boot your system after the crash, AVG has made a "Rescue CD" available.

You can also use the package to boot from a USB drive.

ViewSonic has begun shipping their G tablet this week, making it available at retailers like Office Depot.

The price for the tablet is $400, $100 under the price of the cheapest Apple iPad, which offers 16GB of storage and Wi-Fi support.

ViewSonic's G has a 10-inch display with 1024x600 resolution, and runs on a powerful 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 SoC.

Additionally, the tablet has 512MB or RAM, a 16GB SSD, a USB 2.0 port, a microSD slot, 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity and a 1.3MP frontside camera for video conferencing.

On the downside, the tablet has a stated battery life of 8 hours, and weighs 1.55 pounds, slightly heavier thatn the iPad and with an hour worse battery life.