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Yesterday we reported that Windows Phone 7 devices like the Samsung Focus could not have their storage easily upgraded, as you will need special "Certified for Windows Phone 7" microSDHC cards.

Owners who attempt to update with a "regular" microSD card run the risk of messing up their phones, with AT&T even going as far as to put a sticker on the microSD card holding bracket with the capital letters "STOP!"

Today, however, SanDisk has confirmed the first "certified" card, with Samsung's support pages saying the following:

Compatible micro SD cards will be branded as “Windows Phone 7 Compatible” on the packaging. Approved cards can be obtained from the manufacturer or carrier. (The SanDisk 8GB class 2 micro SD card has been certified.)

After years of negotiations, Apple has secured rights to the Beatles catalog of music, says WSJ, with the company expected to announce the deal tomorrow.

Negotiations between Apple, EMI, and the Beatles had been ongoing for years, with a deal being ironed out just last week.

That being said, the sources also say that while the deal is done, the Beatles or Apple could change plans at the last minute.

The two companies had long been in a legal dispute thanks to the name "Apple." In 1978, the Beatles sued Apple, claiming the computer maker was infringing on the band's trademark. When the Beatles started, they worked under Apple Records, which was owned by the arts-promotion company Apple Corps. Beatles albums all had a picture of an apple (the fruit) on them, similar to the logo of the technology company.

If accurate, Apple would have scored a major deal, as the Beatles have so far not made their music legally available digitally on any platform with the exception of some limited edition flash drives.

The devs that created PSJailbreak have revealed breaking news today, a downgrading software that will allow PS3 users with firmwares above 3.41 to jailbreak their consoles.

PSDowngrade says jailbreaking is now open to all 44 million PS3 owners.

The original PSJailbreak device cost over $100, but soon an open-source variant was released, giving would-be jailbreakers a chance to open up their systems using devices they may already own, such as Dual Shock controllers, Sansa players, iPods and USB Dev boards.

PSDowngrade software can be installed on pre-existing PSJailbreak devices and will downgrade your firmware to 3.41, or any other previous firmware.

For those that want it, you can downgrade to 3.15 and get back OtherOS Linux support.

The devs also say: "[PSDowngrade is] completely safe to use, and does not void your warranty. PS Downgrade is completely undetecable by manufacturer, there is no history or log of your downgrade."

PSJailbreak + PSDowngrade costs $125.

Check it here: PS Downgrade

AT&T has said today that Windows Phone 7 devices like the Samsung Focus will need special MicroSDHC cards, as removable storage is not yet supported officially by the new mobile OS.

However, Microsoft is certifying certain cards that are set for release soon, each of which will have a "Certified for Windows Phone 7" sticker that means they can be used in WP7 devices.

The cards will each have "optimal performance" and current cards on the market do not qualify.

Because the Focus and other WP7 devices do not have expandable storage, you need to replace the on-board storage, which requires a full wipe of the device.

Users who try to replace the storage on their Focus are greeted by a Stop! message from AT&T, warning them that they might brick their device.

NTT DoCoMo has announced this week the launch of Xi, the first LTE (Long Term Evolution) data service in Japan.

The carrier will begin the rollout on December 24th.

Xi should offer download speeds as high as 75 Mbps, ten times faster than the carrier's current FOMA 3G.

While it will not immediately be available for smartphone owners, the company will start selling USB dongles in December that will allow computers to connect to the lightning fast data service.

Phones with Xi support will start shipping in April, 2011.

Initial cities to have the service are Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka.

DoCoMo will offer two billing plans, each with contract. The first is for up to 5GB per cycle, but pricing is unavailable. The unlimited plan will cost 4935 yen, or about $60 USD.

Intel has slashed the prices on their range of SSDs today, as well as adding a new, larger 120GB version to the line.

The line of X25-M maninstream drives will each see a solid discount as the holiday season approaches.

Starting with the 160GB model, the MSRP will drop to $415, the 80GB model will drop to $200 and the small 40GB will drop to $100.

The new 120GB model will sell for $250. The new version will offer the best per/GB value of the entire line.

For now the new prices seem effective only in the U.S., but expect it to be extended to the U.K., as well.

In May, UK citizen Paul Chambers was convicted of sending a 'menacing' tweet via Twitter, with the British Court fining him £2500 and slapping him with a criminal record.

In early January, the airport in South Yorkshire was closed due to excessive snow and Chambers was so mad that he wrote: "Crap! Robin Hood Airport is closed. You've got a week and a bit to get your s*** together otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!"

Airport security officials saw the tweet and then passed on the complaint to the local authorities.

Chambers lost his job after being arrested, and was the first person to ever be convicted of a crime just for tweeting.

This week, a judge has refused to overturn the conviction, effectively ending Chamber's appeal.

The judge then yelled at the courtroom as a number of those sitting in the crowd were tweeting updates as the case progressed.

Thousands of Chamber's supporters took to Twitter after the decision, using the "trending topic" #IAmSpartacus to post menacing messages, with some threatening to blow up the White House, Downing Street, "everyone" and all other types of nouns.

The D-Link Boxee Box set-top has launched in 33 countries this week, with the company promising Hulu Plus and Netflix support in the near future.

Boxee's first set-top is a streaming device which also has support or a plethora of codecs.

The device sells for $200, more expensive than the rival Apple TV but cheaper than the Google TV-supporting Logitech Revue.

Additionally, the Box has expandable content through apps, and can also read content from external drives or wireless networks.

Besides Hulu Plus and Netflix, Boxee has also promised premium subscription apps for VUDU, MUBI, OpenFilm, IndieMoviesOnline, EZTakes, MLB TV, NHL GameCenter, Flickr, and Pandora.

All videos are viewable at 1080p and the Box comes with a complete WebKit browser, including HTML5 support.

Google has teased this weekend that Android 2.3 Gingerbread is likely to be officially launched in the very near future, taking to Twitter to pass on the message.

The company's Tweet reads: "Our cafes are baking something sweet."

Attached to the Tweet was the picture to the left.

Many had believed Google would launch Gingerbread last week, but now most expect an announcement at the upcoming Web 2.0 conference next week.

Google has already placed a gigantic Gingerbread statue, alongside Eclair and Froyo, on their on campus.

A new Chinese supercomputer has blown away the competition, easily taking the top spot in the semi-annual Top 500 Supercomputers list.

The Tianjin National Supercomputer Center's Tianhe-1A system ripped 2.67 petaflops (quadrillion floating-point calculations per second), beating out the former leader, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility's Cray XT5 Jaguar system, benchmarked at 1.75 petaflops.

U.S.-built systems had topped the list for the last six years, after an IBM BlueGene/L system overtook the spot from Japan's NEC Earth Simulator system.

The U.S. has 275 systems in the Top 500, beating out China which is in second at 42.

"Governments around the world are recognizing the deployment of this technology is a prerequisite to sustaining economic competitiveness," says Dave Turek, vice president of deep computing for IBM (via CW). "It lets you do better product designs, basic research, life sciences, fundamental research in materials."

Saudi Arabia has restored access to social networking giant Facebook, just hours after it blocked the site from its population of 27 million.

Officials in the country say Facebook "crossed a line" in regards to the nation's conservative values.

Hours later, the country reversed its stance, restoring access. For those hours, anyone trying to visit the site were given a "content restricted" error screen.

Earlier in the year, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Turkey banned access to the social networking site, in an attempt to block certain pages that did not fit within government or religious policy.

While Arabia's ban only lasted a few hours, the other bans lasted as long as a week.

It is unclear what pages caused Arabian officials to block access.

Microsoft's latest ad takes a shot at Macs, and most notably their lack of Blu-ray support.

The commercial, which is all animated, shows two notebooks (a PC and a Mac) flying on an airplane. The PC begins playing Avatar, on Blu-ray and the awestruck Mac asks what it is.

""Oh it's Blu-Ray, it's built in -- you want to watch?" responds the Windows machine.

Taking an extra shot at Macs and their aluminum casing, a stewardess walks by asking if the Mac "needs a dusting."

It's a short commercial and very well made. Worth the watch:

Apple's stock fell almost 3 percent on Friday as one analyst said that the iPad will likely miss sales estimates for the upcoming quarter.

Rodman & Renshaw say they expect consumers to cut back spending, and opt for cheaper notebooks or smartphones instead.

Apple sold 4.19 million iPads in the Q3, well above estimates, but R&R note that the company should have trouble selling the estimated 6 million in the Q4.

Analyst Ashok Kumar says Apple will likely sell just over 5 million for the period.

"It’s a nice-to-have product, for those of us who don’t have a budget, but is it a must-have product? I don’t think so," adds Kumar.

The iPad is on sale now at Verizon, AT&T, Wal-Mart and Best Buy stores.

A 1976 Apple 1 computer, one of just 200 ever built, will go up for auction through Christies on November 23rd, with the Mac expected to fetch around $200,000.

Each Apple I computer was hand-built by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

The device going up for sale is #82 of the 200, and will sell with original packaging, manuals and a letter from CEO Steve Jobs.

Apple I computers have 8KB of memory and an eight-bit processor.

Reads the auction description:

"The first Apple computer, and the first personal computer with a fully assembled motherboard, heralding the home computer revolution.

"Introduced in July 1976, the Apple I was sold without a casing, power supply, keyboard or monitor. However, because the motherboard was completely pre-assembled, it represented a major step forward in comparison with the competing self-assembly kits of the day."

Engadget has been given a roadmap which shows off a new Samsung "flagship" device, one that will be available early next year.

The site suggests it will be unveiled during the Mobile World Congress, in February.

Samsung's new flagship will have a massive 4.5-inch Super AMOLED 2 display, an "ultra sleek design" and a fast 1.2GHz processor.

It will run on Android 2.3 Gingerbread, has 16GB internal storage, and fast 14.4Mbps HSDPA data connection.

Additionally the device will have an 8MP camera with LED flash and full 1080p recording and playback.

Finally, the device will have a "universal e-book reader" and "clouding services."