News written by Rich Fiscus (January, 2012)

Near the end of last year Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam suggested the company was working on simplifying data plans for customers with multiple devices.

Shared data plans seem like an inevitable development in the current environment where a single account may have multiple smartphones and carriers are also hoping to sell hotspot and tablet access. Besides the potential advantage for customers, it also means lower costs for the carrier according to McAdam.

Now Engadget has posted an image reportedly leaked from inside Verizon. It shows what appears to be an upcoming option for an account level data plan in their account management software. They say the image comes from Verizon training material.

When Amazon launched their Kindle Fire tablet last year, there were significant questions about the wisdom of selling it below cost and counting on content and app revenue to make it profitability.

Less than six months later, after it became the hottest Android tablet in the world, there are significant signs that strategy has paid off in a big way. This time last year Samsung was considered the up and coming competitor for Apple in the tablet market. Now it appears the battle for Android supremacy could come down to the competition between Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

It would be fair to say Barnes & Noble fired the first shot when they introduced the Nook Color back in 2010. Although marketed as an eReader, at the time it was perhaps the first serious sub-$300 tablet. It didn't reach anything approaching iPad sales levels, but it did help Barnes & Noble take over the top spot in eReader sales during the first quarter of 2011.

SOPA and PIPA may have been dealt a setback by last week's widespread protests, but neither has been withdrawn completely. Likewise, opponents of overreaching anti-piracy legislation continue to speak out.

No individual has received more attention than Wikimedia's Jimmy Wales. Wikipedia was certainly the biggest website to go dark on January 18 in protest of the two bills. While the decision to join the blackout was based on widespread community support, it was Wales who got the ball rolling last year, and ultimately the choice was in his hands.

MPAA Chairman, and former US Senator, Chris Dodd responded to the blackout by calling it "an abuse of power." Later he appeared on Fox News and blatantly threatened to cut off campaign funding for politicians over their opposition to the bills.

Speaking at the Digital Life Design conference in Munich, Wales responded to the MPAA rhetoric. He said of the protests "that?s democracy," adding that Dodd "had best get used to it." He then went even further and suggested the MPAA should fire Dodd.

Apple's sales in the final quarter of last year were impressive by any objective standard.

They sold 37 million iPhones, making them the number one smartphone brand once again, while continuing to generate impressive margins. But what may be even more significant is the iPad's showing. In fact, if you combine iPad and Mac sales, Apple appears to have become the top computer company in the world.

Two weeks ago a Gartner report indicated that HP shipped 14.7 million PCs over the same period. For a fair comparison, you would have to add their last batch of TouchPads, estimated at 200,000 units and refurbished TouchPads, almost certainly totaling no more than another 100,000. Apple's iPad sales, amounting to 15.4 million units, beat that on their own. Add in desktops and laptops and the number climbs to 20.6 million units.

_{Source: Gartner}

Samsung has notched another victory against Apple in the continuing saga of lawsuits over mobile device patents. A Dutch court has upheld last year's denial of a preliminary injunction against sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

This is not a final ruling in the patent suit, but it does allow Samsung to sell their tablets while the lawsuit continues. The Dutch ruling runs counter to a German ruling in Apple's favor.

Germany and the Netherlands were chosen for Apple's European lawsuits because that's where Samsung's distribution centers are located. If they are banned in those two countries, they would effectively be unavailable throughout the EU.

In a post on his FOSS Patents blog, Florian Mueller explained the difference between the two decisions, which are both based on the same patents, and also explained why this may be a sign the German decision could be overturned. He also included some analysis of a similar decision in the US:

Today Boxee 1.5 has been released for their set-top box and pre-orders of TV tuners for the Boxee Box began shipping.

The combination of the new software and USB TV tuner stick allow Boxee Boxes to be used for watching live TV. As of now, there is no DVR functionality, but the company is looking into the possibility of adding it in the future.

Boxee 1.5 for Windows, OS X, and Linux was released late last year, but doesn't include all the features in the set-top box version. Most notably, it doesn't include tuner support. In fact, at the end of this month they are discontinuing it completely to concentrate on the Boxee Box.

So why should you use a Boxee Box for watching TV? In his announcement today, Boxee's Andrew Kippen laid out some reasons:

One of the major reasons some people favor Android over iOS is Google's generally lax standards for Android Market submissions.

Which isn't to say there aren't any standards at all. In fact, one of the provisions of the Android Market developer agreement forbids any app which allows the user to bypass carrier restrictions. That includes apps for rooting or unauthorized tethering.

Koushik Dutta, a CyanogenMod developer and creator of the widely used ClockworkMod and ROM Manager, has floated the idea of a new store for apps which are disallowed by this provision. In a post to Google+, he threw out some suggestions for discussion.

He began by explaining his personal motivation. Primarily, he is unhappy with Google's policy of bowing to carrier demands:

Western Digital executives expect hard drive production, which took a hit thanks to flooding in Thailand last year, to return to normal levels in the second quarter of 2012, reaching retailers some time in the following quarter.

Prior to the floods, Thailand was home to multiple hard drive manufacturing plants, including the single largest drive spindle manufacturing facility in the world.

The comments, from Western Digital CEO John Coyne and COO Timothy Leyden, came during the company's quarterly earnings call with analysts yesterday. Coyne indicated the company doesn't expect retailers to reach pre-flood inventory levels until some time in 2013.

During this time he sees demand outpacing supply in reaction to current shortages. This mirrors the thoughts of Seagate CEO Stephen Luczo from last November.

Leyden provided additional details. He said that while Western Digital's assembly capacity has returned to normal, they are limited by the availability of crucial components. Specifically, he said, there is a shortage of sliders, which are an essential part of the read/write head assembly in a hard drive.

One of the hallmarks of the iPhone app environment is Apple's review process. In part, this process is used to maintain a unified look and feel between apps, which is generally good for their customers.

A unified interface makes it easier for the average user to start using a new app because certain design elements are universally consistent. But sometimes this control has a down side as well. It is impossible, to distinguish between poor design and innovation based purely on a simple set of rules.

Take, for example, the Air Dictate app from Avatron. Air Dictate allows iPhone 4S users to utilitze Siri's voice recognition as a text entry tool for Mac applications via Wi-Fi. It uses one of the simplest and most intuitive interfaces you will find in any app - for any OS.

Now, thanks to Apple's review process, Avatron has decided to discontinue development of Air Dictate. According to an email sent to The Unofficial Apple Weblog by Avatron CEO Dave Howell, Apple didn't like Avatron's use of the keyboard in a non-standard way.

Howell explained:

The Pirate Bay has been cited by the MPAA and RIAA as one of the biggest reasons new anti-piracy laws are needed, along with the recently taken down MegaUpload.

During last week's blackout to protest SOPA and PIPA, they made a protest of their own via a blog post titled, "That pipe of trash that someone smoked." It contains a press release which compares the legal issues surrounding file sharing with the early days of Hollywood.

They point out the reason movie studios first re-located to California from New York was to avoid patent litigation from a patent holding company formed by Thomas Edison. In fact, the company established to control the movie industry via Edison's patents was eventually found guilty of antitrust violations in 1915.

Here is the full text of their press release:

US based Consumer Watchdog is lobbying EU regulators to block Google's proposed buyout of Motorola Mobility.

Consumer Watchdog is a nonprofit advocacy group who investigates allegations of corporate misconduct and corruption. They have been engaged in a campaign against Google over their data collection and search practices for several years.

In a letter to the European Commission, the body who must ok the deal in Europe, Consumer Watchdog's John Simpson claims Google's purchase of Motorola Mobility, combined with their dominance in mobile search and advertising, would create "a virtually unstoppable juggernaut."

Most of their allegations about Google's practices are based on claims from numerous companies who consider Google a competitor. These claims have already resulted in antitrust investigations by the European Commission in Europe and FTC in the US. In addition, Simpson claims Google is pressuring handset vendors to favor Google applications, but fails to cite any evidence in the letter.

He further goes on to suggest a number of other measures he believes are appropriate to reduce Google's power over Internet users around the world:

With all the emphasis on processing and network speed, perhaps the biggest challenge in smartphone design today is energy efficiency.

Multitasking operating systems running on Multi-core processors, combined with 4G data connections, can severely limit the usefulness of a phone if you don't have access to a computer, wall outlet, or car battery to charge it in the middle of the day.

Some mobile operating systems, use scaled back multitasking and lower power processors to address the issue. The iPhone 4S is notable for underclocking its processor to increase batter life at the expense of performance. Android phones, on the other hand, tend to sacrifice battery life in favor of performance.

Now researchers at the Cambridge Centre for Advanced Photonics and Electronics are experimenting with harnessing wasted light from OLED panels as a secondary power source. They have accomplished this through the use of solar cells built into the display panel, which are used to charge a capacitor.

In the time since Google+ left beta status last year, numerous signs have emerged that it is not the Facebook killer proponents, primarily within Google, have suggested.

Despite significant interest in Google+ when the beta started, it seemed to have levelled off by the time it opened to the public in September. There was another spike in activity at that point, but once again it was short lived.

Google appeared to be looking for ways to drive interest when they announced plans to support pseudonyms in addition to real names, and later implemented the ability to create brand accounts for companies and organizations. Even the public launch of Google Music, which features Google+ integration, looks like it may have been rushed to spark interest in Google+.

But evidence continued to mount suggesting most people just aren't using Google+, which made it a little surprising when Ancestry.com's Paul Allen pointed out, in December, there were already 62 million Google+ users. Last week, Google made an equally astonishing announcement in their fiscal year 2011 earnings announcement, saying there are now 90 million Google+ users.

In the wake of declining market share and serious criticism about a lack of oversight from the board of directors, Research In Motion (RIM) Co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie have stepped down.

The pair have also relinquished their co-chairmanship of the BlackBerry maker's board of directors. Many company outsiders, including a growing number of investors, have voiced frustration with the apparent conflict of interest caused by operations and oversight being in the same hands. In Lazaridis' case, this was magnified by his status as co-founder of the company.

Both men will remain on the board of directors, with Lazaridis becoming vice chair and also chairman of RIM's new Innovation Committee. That committee will be tasked with advising new CEO and former Chief Operations Officer Thorsten Heins regarding the company's future direction.

It remains to be seen if the changes are too little, too late to save RIM. With their next generation of BlackBerry devices not scheduled to appear until the second half of this year, the new CEO still has to convince existing customers not to jump ship to Android or iOS.

He will also need to make sure the new operating system, BBOS 10, is worth the wait. Apparently giving credence to the leaked report last year that unfinished software is the root of their product delays, Heins said, "I can't wait to see it."

Today Apple held a press event in New York City to show off the new textbook oriented iBooks app with improved HTML5 support.

These improvements are being used in newly added high school textbooks from publishers who cover 90 percent of the market.

The textbooks will offer interactive content like you might see on the web and advanced features for taking notes. There is also a free WYSIWYG authoring app available from the Mac App Store.

With prices limited to $14.99 per textbook and students owning them forever, it seems like a good deal on the surface. But is it really? Actually there seem to be more questions than answers.

If the student owns the textbook, does that mean schools will have to buy one for each student every year? If so, is it really worth the price? Sure, they can keep using them indefinitely, but how many will?

And who will be paying for all the iPads required? You won't find many schools with that kind of money. They haven't said anything about DRM, so presumably the textbooks will use it. Doesn't that mean no desktop, laptop, or Android support?

Until we have meaningful answers to those questions, it's hard to get behind the textbook initiative. On the other hand, if you have an interest in electronic reference books, the improvements to iBooks seem promising.

Microsoft's minimum hardware requirements for Windows 8 OEM tablet partners is out in the wild. Most of them are fairly routine, representting a reasonable baseline.

But there's one particular item which has sparked a lot of discussion and accusations against Microsoft. It's the requirement that tablets with ARM processors not allow the user to disable secure boot.

Secure boot is a feature supported by the use of special UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) firmware. It prevents malware attacks which occur between a computer's initial boot process and the operating system taking control. Support for UEFI has been in Windows for a while.

In Windows 8 Microsoft decided to go a step further, at least with their OEM partners. Computers sold with Windows 8 must have UEFI firmware to pass Windows Certification, and it must be enabled by default. All of that seems fine. Secure boot is good, and turning it on by default makes sense.

What's confusing is why you would forbid the tablet's owner from disabling it. Sometimes you may want to run software, like an operating system installer or antivirus scanner, without secure boot getting in the way. In fact, when Microsoft first announced the secure boot requirement, it caused enough of an uproar for Steven Sinofsky, head of the Windows division, to address it personally:

It's hard to imagine how Samsung could have had a better year in 2011. It seemed like everything they touched turned to gold.

Android smartphones flew off the shelves, building on the foundation laid by the Galaxy S in 2010. Starting with the Galaxy S II and continuing with numerous other models, they even partnered with Google for the latest Nexus. Thanks to that partnership, the Galaxy Nexus was even the launchpad for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Samsung reversed their fortunes in the TV market after a weak 2010, with sales really picking up steam in November. At year's end they added an exclamation point by buying out Sony's stake in their joint TV venture. Despite relatively good sales, TVs have been one of many culprits for Sony's recent financial woes.

This year analysts expect Samsung to invest much of last year's windfall on continued product development. Based on the wide range of TV and Blu-ray developments they showed off at CES last week, and a major smartphone chip initiative announced last month, they appear to have plenty of projects to spend a reported $41.4 billion.

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak always made something of an odd pair during the early days of Apple.

In many ways they were opposites, but really they complemented each other in a unique way. Where Jobs was more of an artist, excelling at design and usability, Wozniak, better known as just Woz, was the technical wizard. In fact many people still refer to him as the Wizard of Woz.

Given those differences, perhaps it should come as no surprise that Woz doesn't share his later partner's hatred of Android. In fact he prefers it to his iPhone for a number of everyday tasks.

He's particularly impressed with the Google Maps powered navigation app, and even its voice recognition. In fact, he prefers Android's voice recognition to Apple's Siri, and believes Siri was better before being purchased by Apple.

A few days ago, Woz told The Daily Beast:

In Windows 8 Microsoft will be introducing a new file system called ReFS. It borrows a number of features from the NTFS file system which has been available on Windows NT (NT 3.1 - 4, 2000, XP, Vista, 7) computers from 1993 on.

This is not the same as the database driven WinFS file system announced for, and later pulled from Windows Vista. That file system has since been abandoned by Microsoft, with parts of it being used in their database products.

The underlying technology of ReFS features a number of improvements over NTFS. While these changes should be invisible to the average user, the performance and resiliency improvements should be obvious in certain circumstances.

One of the changes is switching from journaling to write-on-allocate for metadata updates. In NTFS, when metadata for a file or folder (name, security permissions, and other information) is altered, those changes are also recorded in a journal in case they need to be rolled back. Normally this is reliable, but data may be corrupted if the drive loses power in the middle of an operation.

The write-on-allocate strategy used in ReFS improves on that by making all metadata changes to a different location (ie copying, rather than overwriting) so the original metadata is left completely intact. If the drive loses power while metadata is being changed, the original will still be available.

Last year stories started circulating about a Microsoft plan to integrate pay TV into Xbox Live. Reports claimed they were close to finalizing deals with companies including Time Warner, the BBC, and HBO.

However, it now appears they weren't as close as originally reported and their plans have been put on hold indefinitely. It seems TV executives weren't impressed enough to offer terms acceptable to Microsoft, and the deal fizzled.

Citing an unnamed media executive personally involved in the negotiations, Reuters says Microsoft got so far as demonstrating their TV platform in action, but ultimately decided the price of programming was too high. Their source reportedly said, "They built Microsoft TV, they demoed it for us, they asked for rate cards but then said 'ooh ah, that's expensive."

Combining this new information with previous reports about Microsoft TV, it appears their plan was to provide both Netflix-style video on demand, but with more current content, and a traditional (but web-based) pay TV service. In addition, they seemed to be considering producing exclusive content of their own.

With all the reports of many measures in SOPA (the Stop Online Piracy Act) being opposed publicly by a growing number of Washington politicians, you may have gotten the impression its opponents have won.

Many opponents aren't convinced, including Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales. Today he announced, via Twitter, that Wikipedia intends to replace all English language Wikipedia pages with information about SOPA and it's companion bill in the US Senate known as PIPA or PROTECT IP.

He said the blackout will affect all users worldwide who attempt to view any English language Wikipedia page during a 24 hour period starting at midnight Washington DC time (5 AM GMT). The exact contents of they page to be used in place of the requested content is still being determined via discussion on Wikipedia.

When it comes to Apple's patent campaign against Android, one patent arguably carries more serious implications than any other.

The patent deals with adding a multi-touch interface to a capacitive touchscreen - the standard interface and touchscreen used for smartphones and tablets. Apple claims their patent restricts other companies from selling standard multi-touch displays without their permission. It is named in numerous lawsuits against companies including Samsung, HTC, and Motorola Mobility in around the world.

Last Friday the US International Trade Commission (ITC) released a preliminary ruling on an Apple complaint against Motorola Mobility which shoots down three patent claims, including infringement on that patent. Analyzing the ruling for his FOSS Patents blog, patent expert Florian Mueller characterized the ruling as potentially damaging to Apple's similar ITC action against Samsung.

The White House has formally responded to a pair of online petitions against SOPA (the Stop Online Piracy Act).

The petitions were posted to the White House website, using a feature called 'We The People,' which was created for just that purpose. Between them, they have attracted more than 100,000 signatures. While agreeing with many of the sentiments expressed by SOPA's critics, the response seems to whitewash one of SOPA's worst provisions.

It was written by Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinol, whose position was PROTECT IP), U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra, and Cybersecurity Coordinator for National Security Staff Howard Schmidt.

The White House response addresses, in general terms, the issues of censorship and online security. These are the two areas most often cited as concerns by SOPA/PIPA opponents:

A UK college student targeted by the US government for alleged criminal copyright infringement lost his initial bid to block extradition to the US.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a division of the US Department of Homeland Security, wants Richard O'Dwyer extradited for operating a website, called TV Shack, where links pointing to infringing streams and downloads from other websites were documented.

TV Shack was one of the first websites targeted by ICE as part of Operation In Our Sites, under which they have seized numerous domain names. They claim to have that right based on the use of domain names which fall under the authority of US-based Verisign.

Even though several of the domain names seized have been connected to individuals outside the US, so far O'Dwyer is the only person to face extradition in connection with the ICE operation. This is apparently a side effect of changes to the extradition agreement between the US and UK in 2003. Under the new rules, UK judges are not given the opportunity to evaluate or consider US evidence in their decision.

US retail giant Target is planning to add their own Apple stores to a small number of locations, likely to be expanded to more stores if successful.

In reality they will not be actual Apple Stores, but were instead described to the New York Times as "expanded displays" by a Target spokesman. No details have been provided about what Apple products will be involved.

Initially only 25 Target stores will be getting the expanded Apple displays. Presumably that will be expanded if it proves to be a profitable move. It will be particularly interesting to see if desktops or laptops might be added to their existing selection of iPods, iPhones, and iPads.

This change was announced alongside the addition of a number of boutique shops being added to various Target locations to showcase exclusive products from various local businesses. Presumably both are part of an attempt to move Target more into department store territory and away from discounters like Walmart.

The principle reason used by entertainment industry executives for new anti-piracy laws like SOPA and PIPA is the harm illegal copying supposedly does to the economy. Specifically, they say it destroys jobs for "artists."

In numerous debates in Washington figures provided by the MPAA, RIAA, and other trade groups are trotted out to show how jobs are being lost every day. If only there were a more objective source of information on the subject...

In fact there is such a source. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics, part of the Department of Labor, publishes all the data you need to come up with real world estimates, and contrary to all those job-loss claims they paint a pretty rosy picture.

In fact, according to the official US government numbers, the number of jobs in "arts, entertainment, and recreation" increased nearly 20% between 1998 and 2008. Even better, total compensation for those jobs (adjusted for inflation) increased almost 30% over the same period.

If you narrow the numbers down to just "independent artists, writers, and performers," the increases were even bigger. In fact those jobs inceased at nearly twice the rate as the industry category overall.

One of the biggest reasons politicians around the world feel comfortable crafting anti-piracy legislation which relies on restricting the Internet itself is a lack of leaders who actually understand the technology they seek to regulate.

Nowhere has this been more evident than in the House Judiciary Committee hearing over SOPA last month. During the hearing, Iowa Representative Steve King actually admitted (via Twitter) that he wasn't even paying attention.

Representative Jared Polis, representing Colorado's 2nd District, is perhaps the best example of someone who actually does understand tech issues. And not just in a general way from researching it, but from actual first hand experience.

Before entering politics, Polis was a successful Internet entrepeneur who founded multiple companies, including online florist ProFlowers. He is also, apparently, an avid online gamer. He recently joined a discussion on the League of Legends community forum about SOPA and PIPA to urge fellow gamers to take action.

If there's one issue where Google and every major handset and tablet vendor disagree, it's the question of what's best for the Android user interface.

From the beginning, Google has insisted that using the "vanilla" Android UI they provide is preferable to vendors creating alternatives like Sense, TouchWiz, or Motoblur. Clearly the top device vendors disagree.

Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha addressed the issue in a conversation at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas earlier this week. Motorola, he says, has no plan to drop their custom UI in favor of the stock Android alternative.

He told The Verge, "Verizon and AT&T don't want seven stock ICS devices on their shelves."

Certainly it's no big surprise to find out Android handset vendors place an emphasis on their own customer interfaces. Samsung and HTC are certainly known for the same attitude. On the other hand, Google isn't buying Samsung or HTC.

Pending regulatory approval, they are buying Motorola Mobility. While they have said Motorola will continue to operate independently, that doesn't mean the top executives won't be replaced with individuals who share Google's vision for Android.

At CES in Las Vegas, Samsung announced that all their future Smart TVs will support the RVU (R-View) protocol, allowing them to work with multi-room media players and DVRs.

They made the announcement in conjunction with DirecTV, whose RVU enabled HR34 Home Media Center HD-DVR was launched late last year. The two companies first showcased the technology at last year's CES. RVU works by means of a server, which in this case is part of the DirecTV DVR, which provides a UI to networked TV clients.

Last year Samsung introduced the D6000 line of Smart TVs (D6000, D6400, D6420), which can be firmware upgraded with RVU support. Now it seems a RVU client will be a standard feature on all future (Smart TV) models.

Stephen Goldstein, vice president of Samsung Electronics America, said in a statement:

At CES today, Intel announced two deals designed to put their latest Atom processors on the mobile device map.

New partnerships, with Motorola and Lenovo, are the culmination of some major changes in the chipmaker's Atom platform, along with development work to ensure Android compatibility. The new Z2460 Atom processor is their first true SoC (System on a Chip) mobile processor.

Starting in the second half of this year, the new processor will be appearing in Android handsets from Motorola, who signed a two year deal to produce Atom-based smartphones and tablets. Before that, in Q2, the Z2460 will be used to power a Lenovo Android phone destined for the Chinese market.

In the past, Atom processors had been generally avoided for mobile devices because they used too much power. That was largely due to their failure to build everything into the same chip. In addition to moving to an SoC design, the new Atom processors also address the power efficiency issue by using a 32nm process.

This year Samsung will begin selling a pair of Blu-ray players with support for the UltraViolet (UVVU) rights locker system favored by the majority of major Hollywood studios.

Currently the only retailer who actually supports UltraViolet is Warner Bros owned Flixster. The Samsung Blu-ray players will interface with both the UltraViolet and Flixster services using a recently announced Rovi solution.

Basically it will work like this. First you must purchase a qualifying title on disc. When you put it in your Blu-ray player, you can register it with your UltraViolet account and pay a so-far unspecified "nominal fee" to access it through Flixster.

The obvious problem with this system, aside from Flixster's problems getting customers access to their UltraViolet registered content, is that you must pay a second time to watch content you have already purchased on disc.

Warner content is an exception for now. Currently they are offering UltraViolet copies of their movies for three years through Flixster. Of course, if other retailers decide to participate in the UltraViolet program they aren't obligated to match Warner's offer.

The Reddit community has been on the front lines of the fight against SOPA and PIPA, the US anti-piracy bills which have been widely criticized for threatening the very foundations of the Internet.

Internet engineers, law professors, service providers, venture capitalists, and political activists from across the spectrum have criticized the two bills for their implications on both free speech and the technical underpinnings of the Internet. Nowhere has that criticism garnered more attention than on Reddit, where movements to boycott GoDaddy and unseat prominent US congressman Paul Ryan have led to both publicly opposing SOPA.

Warner Bros is pushing DVD and Blu-ray rental outlets to wait nearly two months to offer their new releases to customers.

Yesterday Netflix became the first, and perhaps only, rental outlet to agree to Warner's proposed 56 day delay from the time a movie is released for sale on disc to when it's available to rent. Previously Netflix and Redbox had both agreed to a 28 day window.

Redbox, however, has not agreed to the new terms. That's not surprising considering they were already considering ditching the arrangement when their agreement ends at the end of this month.

If they opt to skip a new deal with Warner entirely, Redbox would actually be able to get new releases sooner by purchasing them from alternate sources. In fact, last October a company spokesman indicated they were prepared to do just that.

Dish Network owned Blockbuster also appears to be balking at Warner's new plan. Of course they were already fighting Warner over the 28 day window, which was extended to brick and mortar rental outlets last year.

Members of the online community Reddit, often referred to as redditors, have notched another minor victory in the war against SOPA, the widely criticized anti-piracy bill being considered in the US House of Representatives.

Last month redditors were behind a campaign to boycott Internet domain name registrar GoDaddy because of their support for SOPA. When the dust settled, GoDaddy lost a lot of customers and ultimately decided to retract their official support for the bill.

Fresh off that victory, redditors set their sights on unseating a federal legislator. After much debate, which actually involved a number of issues besides SOPA, a target was chosen. That target was Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan.

Ryan was not one of SOPA's sponsors, and in fact had never made a statement of any kind on the bill before the Reddit campaign started. Today that changed when the following was posted on his official page:

During today's build up to the opening of this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, which officially starts tomorrow, AT&T has announced some major additions to their lineup of LTE smartphones.

Perhaps the most anticipated announcement was a teaser for the new Nokia Windows Phone, which is set to be formally unveiled at a Nokia press conference in a couple hours. However they did offer significantly more details about the HTC Titan II, which has a 4.7 inch display, a 16 megapixel camera, and is powered by a 1.5GHz Qualcomm.

Leaks, rumors, and general speculation from around the web about the Nokia phone tell us it's an updated version of the Lumia 800 with a bigger display, and of course, LTE support as well. That last part AT&T has officially confirmed.

Today they also officially announced an Android smartphone everyone knew was coming. Samsung's Galaxy Note has been upgraded with LTE support and some new capacitive buttons. They also announced two other Samsung Android models, the Galaxy S II Skyrocket HD with a 720p (1280×720) display and the eco-friendly Exhilarate, which is made from 80% recycled material.

BitTorrent is making a big splash at CES in Las Vegas with the introduction of new partners in the BitTorrent Certified program. These companies will be making TVs, Blu-ray players, as well Set-top and NAS (Network Attached Storage) boxes with BitTorrent support.

Although primarily identified with illegal file sharing, BitTorrent was designed from the beginning for content delivery. Having been largely ignored by commercial content providers, the company has focused more on products to make it easier for consumers to share their own content, such as personal pictures and home movies.

These new devices focus largely on that task, as well as enabling the sharing of content with multiple devices on the same home network. The company will be demonstrating prototypes of most of these devices privately this week.

Dune HD and Antik Technology will be making BitTorrent certified set-top boxes. AirTies will also be producing set-top boxes, as well as NAS units and routers. BBK Electronics' products will include TVs and Blu-ray players. Each of the new BitTorrent partners sees personal content, particularly the explosion of HD video, as a key motivator for adopting the technology.

Rovi, the software company who bought Sonic Solutions a few months ago, is introducing a new framework for offering consumers digital copies of their DVDs and Blu-ray discs.

Rovi Digital Copy Solution is designed to be integrated into computer software and consumer electronics devices as a client for viewing content licensed via the UltraViolet, aka UVVU or UV, rights management system.

UltraViolet is a "digital rights locker" which allows you to register Blu-rays or DVDs which have the UVVU logo on them. In theory this allows you to stream or download them to a variety of devices, but the process of enabling this is convoluted to say the least.

For starters, UltraViolet doesn't actually provide any copies. It is nothing more than a clearinghouse for content licenses. They keep track of what content you have purchased, but you have to find a third party service provider to actually get copies of the content.

That's where the new Rovi solution comes in. It can be built into clients for software or consumer electronics devices, allowing them to automatically identify and help you register your UVVU discs. It also provides an interface for service providers to find out what UVVU titles you have registered.

During the lead up to CES today, Victorinox is unveiling a new line of mobile SSD drives with capacities up to 1 terabyte. Victorinox is best known for their Swiss Army knives, but in recent years has added USB flash drives to their product lineup.

Fittingly, the new Victorinox SSD drives could perhaps be best described as the Swiss Army knives of mobile storage. They offer USB 2, USB 3, and eSATA compatibility through a single connector. In addition to the 1TB option, there will also be 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB versions available.

They will also be showing off their new Victorinox Slim 3.0 line of USB flash drives. As the name suggests, these drives feature USB 3 support. They will be available in capacities ranging from 16GB to 128GB.

As with all their solid state storage products, both new lines use knife bodies to protect the drive. The Slim 3.0 will be offered either with the standard selection of knife and tool blades or in a flight friendly blade-free version. The SSD drives will include both housings, allowing you to switch between them.

Victorinox Head of Electronics Andrea Huder said in a statement:

Several months after rumors of a pending Microsoft buyout first surfaced, Nokia is once again denying they will be selling their smartphone division.

There are numerous reasons rumors like this seem inevitable. Most prominently, Nokia CEO and President Stephen Elop, who made the deal to adopt Windows Phone for Nokia smartphones, is a former Microsoft executive.

The latest rumor is really a continuation of one started last year by Russian blogger and Mobile Review contributor Eldar Murtazin. He tweeted:

After a wildly successful Christmas shopping period, Barnes & Noble is considering spinning their Nook tablet business off from their retail operation.

Thanks in part to the bankruptcy of rival bookstore chain Borders, and likely also helped by the introduction of the Nook Tablet, overall sales were higher during the nine week period leading up to Christmas than the same period last year.

More notably, sales of their Nook line of eReaders and tablets were up 70% from last year. Sales of digital content also improved significantly, up 113% from 2010.

While the Kindle Fire got the lion's share of attention over that period, don't forget it was Barnes & Noble's Nook Color which successfully bridged the gap between eReader and tablet a year earlier. Now the company is looking at the possibility of developing a separate content ecosystem for it.

Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch said:

We see substantial value in what we've built with our NOOK business in only two years, and we believe it's the right time to investigate our options to unlock that value,. In NOOK, we've established one of the world's best retail platforms for the sale of digital copyright content. We have a large and growing installed base of millions of satisfied customers buying digital content from us, and we have a NOOK business that's growing rapidly year-over-year and should be approximately $1.5 billion in comparable sales this fiscal year. Between continued projected growth in the U.S., and the opportunity for NOOK internationally in the next 12 months, we expect the business to continue to scale rapidly for the foreseeable future.

Perhaps nothing raises the blood pressure of Windows users more than the prospect of restoring the operating system on their computers.

Depending on whether your copy of Windows came with your computer or you bought it separately, the experience of reinstalling Windows can vary widely. Making matters worse, the experience of forgetting to backup an important file beforehand is nearly universal.

In Windows 8 Microsoft hopes to address some of these headaches with a new feature called the Recovery Environment, or just RE for short. Microsoft had a number of goals in mind when designing the Windows RE.

• Provide a consistent experience to get the software on any Windows 8 PC back to a good and predictable state.
• Streamline the process so that getting a PC back to a good state with all the things customers care about can be done quickly instead of taking up the whole day.
• Make sure that customers don't lose their data in the process.
• Provide a fully customizable approach for technical enthusiasts to do things their own way.

OEM chip maker Broadcom got a jump on next week's CES in Las Vegas with the announcement of new Wi-Fi chips capable of speeds over 1 gigabit per second.

They are based on the upcoming 802.11ac specification, which Broadcom is also referring to as 5G WiFi. The standard is expected to be finalized later this year. Broadcom will be demonstrating the technology at CES next week and providing samples to some OEM partners.

In addition to increased speed, Broadcom says the new technology, combined with their 40nm manufacturing process, results in lower power consumption for transmissions at 802.11n speeds.

This is largely related to the increased bandwidth which allows the radio to be on for less time. Of course, if you are transferring data between 802.11ac and 802.11n devices, the bandwidth advantage won't apply.

Broadcom will be making 802.11ac chips in a variety of configurations. Some will utilize a PCIe interface for PCs and routers, offering speeds up to either 1.3Gbps or 867Mbps across two channels. Others will interface with USB for devices like game consoles, set-top boxes, and TVs, offering up to 433Mbps on a single channel.

There appears to be a campaign on the horizon to promote Nokia Windows Phone handsets in the US.

A version of Nokia's flagship Lumia 800 smartphone for AT&T has already passed FCC testing. Its little brother, the Lumia 710 will be available from T-Mobile in less than a week.

In addition to the FCC documents, reports from BoyGeniusReport and MobileTechWorld indicate AT&T plans to introduce a LTE variant of the Lumia 800 with a larger display and LTE support. It appears to be designated the Lumia 900 by Nokia, and probably the Nokia Ace by AT&T.

SlashGear is now reporting there is a $100 million promotional campaign planned to promote the Nokia Ace when it launches in late March. Likely there will be more details on the launch given at Nokia's CES presentation next week.

Roku has announced a plan to move beyond set-top boxes and produce a new produt they are calling the Streaming Stick which will plug into MHL (Mobile High-Definition Link) capable HDMI ports on TVs.

MHL was originally developed as a way for mobile devices to connect to HDTVs via HDMI. Currently MHL-enabled HDMI ports are only available on a small number of TVs, but support can also be added via an external adapter. Notable TV manufacturers behind the the technology include Toshiba and Samsung.

The Roku Streaming Stick essentially packs a Roku Set-top box on a device the size of a USB flash drive. Taking advantage of standard HML features, it will be powered by the HDMI port and controlled by the TV's remote.

While many people point to the missteps Netflix made in 2011 as signs of the company's demise, their Watch Instantly service remains far and away the most popular online video platform around.

According to Netflix, they streamed more than 2 billion hours of video to more than 20 million subscribers worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2011. Of course, all that success doesn't come without a price. As Netflix streaming grows, the price of content is rising with it.

Thanks in no small part to concerns Netflix is cannibalizing viewers from traditional broadcast, cable, and satellite channels, Netflix faces higher licensing fees as existing contracts come up for renewal and less content in the near future with the looming end of their deal with Starz.

Meanwhile, Dish Network represents a serious threat to Netflix thanks to their acquisition of Blockbuster. Blockbuster's streaming and online rental services were recently bundled with Dish Network satellite TV service in Blockbuster Movie Pass.

Yahoo has just appointed former PayPal President Scott Thompson as their new CEO and also appointed him to their board of directors.

Thompson, whose resume includes overseeing product development work at eBay and Visa, takes over the reins from Interim CEO Tim Morse effective today. Morse is returning to his former position as the company's CFO.

The choice of Thompson signals a focus, by Yahoo, on improving their overall platform to attract more users. On a conference call with analysts, Roy Bostock, chairman of Yahoo's board of directors, explained:

Apple appears to be planning a content announcement, perhaps related to textbooks, at a media event later this month.

The event, which has not been formally announced, was first reported on Monday by AllThingsD and independently confirmed by TechCrunch.

AllThingsD's Kara Swisher reported Apple Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue will be involved. She also notes the last time he was in town for an event like this was when News Corp's iPad-exclusive publication was announced last year.

TechCrunch ads more details, saying the audience will primarily consist of publishing industry representatives.

Clayton Morris, host of Fox News' Gadgets and Games with Clayton Morris, claims to have even more specific details. According to Morris, the big announcement will be related to iTunes University, Apple's educational content distribution platform. He also says it was originally planned for last year.

2011 was a success for Samsung in the mobile phone market by any objective measure.

Building on the momentum of their successful Galaxy S, they took the Android world by storm with its successor, the Galaxy S II. Later in the year they partnered with Google on what ammounts to the entire platform's flagship handset, the Galaxy Nexus.

At the same time, they strengthened their Windows Phone partnership with Microsoft and even took significant market share from Nokia in the feature phone market.

Thanks to a delayed iPhone launch, coupled with strong sales around the world, Samsung was the top smartphone vendor in the world in Q3. According to Reuters, the results for Q4 should be even better.

Analysts are expecting Samsung to report 35 million units shipped in Q4 according to a report from the news service. This would be an increase of around 25 percent over Q3. That is particularly impressive if you consider the iPhone 4S launched less than a month into the quarter.