Verizon has begun OTA updates for the HTC Droid Eris, giving owners Android 2.1, the newest firmware available from Google, even before Motorola Droid users have gotten it.

Users at Droid-Life have had mixed results however: "it's now sounding more and more like eris users truly are receiving some sort of an update to 2.1. some are reporting that sense ui is missing while others apparently still have it. and now after our source has confirmed an update request from a droid user, we have to wonder what verizon has done this time. this is shaping up to be a huge disaster for htc, motorola and verizon," reads the post.

HTC had confirmed the update was coming on Tuesday, but did not give a date.

Permalink | Comments

---

Verizon has released apps for Android and Windows Mobile users today that will allow smartphone users to use their phones as remote controls for FiOS TVs.

The remotes can navigate playback, schedule DVR programming, and set parental controls.

To sync you will need the app, be on the same wireless network, and select the phone from a FiOS TV widget, says Electronista.

For now the remote app works with the Motorola Droid and the HTC Imagio, but Verizon says more supported phones are coming.

Permalink | Comments

---

BGR is reporting today that a GSM Palm Pixi-esque smartphone should be headed to carrier T-Mobile soon, with Palm and T-Mo in the "final stages" of launch plans.

Currently, Palm's new line has been CDMA only, with the Palm Pre and Pixi on Sprint and the Palm Pre and Pixi Plus models on Verizon.

The next big mobile phone event is the CTIA next month, and will likely be a launching ground for any big announcements.

Verizon offers the Pixi Plus for $80 with contract, cheaper than Sprint offers the inferior Palm Pixi (non-Plus).

Permalink | Comments

---

At this week's Mobile World Congress Show Daily, it appears that Sony Ericsson has hinted at the possible creation of a PSP phone.

Says President Bert Nordberg, via electronista: "We missed the window for high-end and touchscreen devices big time. Part of the recovery will be much better design and closer work with our partner Sony... In the past there was no tie-up between us, the PSP platform and Sony, but you can expect to hear much more about that."

There have been many rumors of a "PSP phone" in the past, but not to many have come with basis directly from the mouth of the President of the company.

Should be interesting to keep an eye on.

Permalink | Comments

---

RSJ IT Solutions of Australia has lost a lawsuit to Nintendo today, and will have to pay the gaming company $520,000 in damages for selling the R4 flash cart, a device used to run homebrew on the Nintendo DS handheld.

Along with the fine, Nintendo has won an injunction forcing the company to cease sales of the device via any site it owns, most notably gadgetgear.com.au.

Additionally, the two owners of the site are banned from selling the devices anywhere in Australia. Both must identify the suppliers from where they purchased the R4 carts, which will likely lead to more lawsuits from Nintendo.

Despite the legal uses of the R4 flash cart, it also allows for easy playback of pirated games, which is why Nintendo has filed over a dozen lawsuits in many different countries trying to stop sellers and importers of the device.

Permalink | Comments

---

Amazon has announced today the launch of the free Kindle application for RIM BlackBerry users, giving the smartphone users access to over 400,000 e-books.

The app, aptly named "Kindle for Blackberry," is free and available to BlackBerry users on any carrier in the United States.

"Since the launch of our popular Kindle for iPhone app last year, customers have been asking us to bring a similar experience to the BlackBerry," adds Ian Freed, Vice President, Amazon Kindle, via Yahoo.

The company had promised the app "soon" in December.

Permalink | Comments

---

Larry "Major" Nelson, Xbox Live community director, has Tweeted today that many Midway games available via Xbox Live Aracde have been removed for the time being due to issues over publisher rights.

Says the post: "Some XBLA titles are no longer available for purchase from Xbox Live Arcade due to publisher evolving rights and permissions."

Nelson then listed the titles, which are: Cyberball, Defender, Paperboy, Rootbeer Tapper, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Robotron, Joust, Gauntlet and Smash TV. "If you purchased any of those titles... you will still be able to play them or re-download 'em. And no, it's not Game Room related."

Midway, which filed for bankruptcy in 2009, is now mostly owned by Warner Bros., who snatched up profitable assets.

Permalink | Comments

---

CVG has received a review copy of Ubisoft's new Assassin's Creed 2 for PC and it appears that the DRM being used by the publisher requires a constant Internet connection for the game to work. If your Internet drops for any reason, you are kicked from the game, losing all progress you have made since the last save.

The article says you can't even start the game without Internet, as you will be greeted by an error message. Making matters even worse, you are still kicked back to the main menu if the game loses connection to the "Ubisoft Master servers," which may not even be your fault.

There is really nothing else to say about this except the fact that clearly, publishers have not gotten the hint yet that ALL games are cracked, and released online without DRM and this latest DRM is just hurting PAYING customers.

Permalink | Comments

---

Following on the heels of expected approval in the EU, the United States Department of Justice is also expected to approve of the Yahoo/Microsoft search deal, sometime within the next 30 days.

As with the European Commission, the DOJ is expected to give unconditional approval.

The deal was originally announced in July, and will last 10 years when approved.

You can read more about the deal here: Yahoo and Microsoft to start ad partnership

Permalink | Comments

---

According to a new report from The Nielsen Group, most people aren't willing to pay for the online content they get for free now.

At first glance the report looks favorable for proponents of locking content behind paywalls. More than 40% of the 27,000 survey respondents in 52 countries said they either have paid for or would consider paying for newspaper content online. About 35% indicated said the same about online (music) radio.

But The Devil is in the details. When it comes to paying for content the most important detail seems to be quality.

More than 70% of people surveyed indicated they would only pay for content if it's better than what they currently get for free. More than 60% would expect the freedom to copy, share or otherwise use paid content in whatever way they choose.

This would seem to be at odds with what's actually being proposed in the entertainment and news industries.

News providers who favor paywalls routinely bully people for daring to copy short passages from their articles. Even when it's clearly fair use.

TV executives who favor charging for online video don't even want viewers watching their officially approved streams (including ads) using a program like Boxee or a game console like the PS3.

Clearly if they want to charge for content it will have to be something new. But that shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone - except news and entertainment executive unfortunately.

Permalink | Comments

---

The International Trade Commission (ITC) will investigate a complaint made by Eastman Kodak Co. related to smartphones made by Apple and Research In Motion, the body announced on Wednesday. "The products at issue in this investigation are smartphones with built-in cameras," the agency said in a statement. The Kodak complaint was filed with the ITC on January 14th this year, while Kodak filed two lawsuits against Apple for patent infringement on the same day.

The patents in question relate to the image preview and image size functions of digital cameras and other things. Kodak is seeking compensation for the use of its technology, and is open to talks with Apple and RIM on licensing. For now however, it is requesting the ITC block Apple and RIM from importing devices that infringe its patents.

Hit badly by the recession, Kodak is looking at its patent portfolio as a long-term source of revenue. The company projects licensing revenue averaging at least $250 - $350 million each year for the coming several years.

Permalink | Comments

---

The SOCOM: US Navy SEALS Fireteam Bravo 3 title for Sony's PlayStation Portable (PSP) handheld platform is the first to require online activation in order to unlock certain features. When it was released on Tuesday in the U.S., it came with a voucher code that had to be redeemed online to unlock online play features. Sony claims that the measure is aimed at curbing piracy of PSP games.

"Today's consumers are more tech savvy and better connected to the internet than ever before. Piracy continues to be an issue of concern for the PSP platform. SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 3 is a trial run for a new initiative we are exploring for the platform," said SCEA director of hardware marketing John Koller.

"We will continue to explore this as an opportunity for the platform going forward, but we have no announcements to make on future iterations at this time." One detail that is sure to upset many legitimate gamers is how it affects pre-owned sales of the title. Anyone that purchases a used copy of the game will need to acquire a new voucher for activation - and that costs $20.

Electronic Arts has a similar system in place called "Project Ten Dollar", where premier downloadable content (DLC) is included as a free download for anyone who buys a new copy of the game, but won't be free to anybody buying a second hand copy of the game.

Permalink | Comments

---

South Korean consumer electronics giant Samsung Electronics Co. is enjoying growth spurred by sharp rises in sales of its flat-panel televisions. In 2006, Samsung overtook Sony as the biggest seller of television sets in the world. Since that time, the company has watched its TV business almost double in size. It has an advantage in that it constructed its own manufacturing base instead of outsourcing like some of its rivals.

This gives Samsung complete control over costs and quality. "We may have to invest in some capacity this year," said Samsung's Kim Yang-gyu. The company will spend $136 million to expand a factory based in Slovakia. Samsung's share of the market stands at around 17.2 percent, ahead of LG at 14.8 percent. It shipped 38 million televisions last year.

LCD sets accounted for 27.5 million of the total, and 3.5 million were Plasma. The remainder of shipments were CRT televisions. This year, the company hopes to ship 45 million televisions, with LCD and Plasma accounting for 39 million.

Permalink | Comments

---

Dutch developers have set out to prove a point about the safety of certain social networking practices in a very public way. A new website they have constructed - Please Rob Me - lists information about empty homes gathered from Twitter. The site scrutinizes users of Foursquare, which is based on a person's current location in the real world.

"It started with me and a friend looking at our Twitter feeds and seeing more and more Foursquare posts," said Boy Van Amstel, one of PleaseRobMe's developers. "People were checking in at their house, or their girlfriend's or friend's house, and sharing the address - I don't think they were aware of how much they were sharing."

PleaseRobMe.com re-posts tweets from users who have chosen to alert the world of their whereabouts automatically on Twitter, which in turn reveals when they leave their homes. Of course the site does have a brief disclaimer explaining that it is not intended to be used as a tool to aid burglars.

"The website is not a tool for burglary," said Mr Van Amstel. "The point we're getting at is that not long ago it was questionable to share your full name on the internet. We've gone past that point by 1000 miles." He said that the site is basically just a Twitter search tool and nothing new, adding that anyone who can write HTML and a little javascript could create it.

Permalink | Comments

---

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is planning to deliver sports and news content via iPhone applications from April this year. The apps for Apple devices will be followed by versions for RIM's BlackBerry handsets and Google's Android software. Sky and the Daily Telegraph already offer free apps for the same purpose, whereas the Guardian charges £2.39 for its applications.

The BBC said that the move is being made because more and more people are using "sophisticated handheld devices" to view content. The move will raise tensions with publishers of paid-for content or content supported by other means. "Whilst the BBC's impulse to enter an already crowded news and sport apps market place is understandable, the move belies the fundamentally competitive nature of the Corporation's approach to new services," Emily Bell, director of digital content at the Guardian, told BBC News.

"Applications are a long way away from being 'broadcast' media, and, unlike the web, they form a market which the BBC is seeking to disrupt." Erik Huggers, BBC director of future media and technology, shook off the stance by saying the BBC audience "want to access the digital services that they have paid for at a time and place that suits them". He said the BBC intends to catch up with its audience.

The BBC News app will offer content from the BBC News website including audio and video feeds. Users will also be able to send comments and pictures directly to the news room. The BBC Sports app will be released well in time for the World Cup, and so will focus on football content first. No mention of apps for Symbian was made yet - although there is a Symbian application for the BBC iPlayer already available.

Permalink | Comments

---