Sony has discontinued sales of its first generation OLED HDTV in Japan, citing sluggish demand for the display. Sales will continue in other markets, however.

OLED displays are thinner, more energy-efficient and produce much more vibrant and "crisp" images than LCDs and have therefore been touted as the next-generation of TVs.

The decision is an absolute setback for Sony, which in 2007 said the following: "I want this world's first OLED TV to be the symbol of the revival of Sony's technological prowess. I want this to be the flag under which we charge forwards to turn the fortunes around."

The 11-inch OLED TV was selling for the equivalent of $2200 USD.

LG and other manufacturers have promised mass produced 15-inch displays during 2010.

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Katherine Evans, a teenager in Florida sued her former principal in 2007 after she was suspended for criticizing a teacher with a Facebook page.

She was suspended for the page, which the principal called "cyber bullying" and in response, Evans sued the principal. Today, a federal judge has ruled that the suit can proceed, and Evans says she is looking to have her suspension expunged from any permanent records as well as a "nominal fee" and the payment of all her legal fees in the matter.

The case should go to trial by the Spring.

"This is an important victory both for Ms. Evans and Internet free speech," says Maria Kayanan, associate legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, via the NYT. "Because it upholds the principle that the right to freedom of speech and expression in America does not depend on the technology used to convey opinions and ideas."

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Skype and Verizon Wireless have officially announced a partnership today that will bring the VoIP service to BlackBerry and Android phones starting next month.

The VoIP service will be available over Wi-Fi and 3G and will allow for international calls at rates that are far cheaper then currently charged by carriers.

Skype will come pre-installed on the "BlackBerry Storm 9530, Storm2 9550, Curve 8330, Curve 8530, 8830 World Edition and Tour 9630 smartphones, as well as DROID by Motorola, DROID ERIS by HTC and Motorola DEVOUR," starting in March.

"More and more, what's happening is that your mobile phones are really just personal computers in your pocket," adds Skype CEO Josh Silverman, via RWW. "And people want to use those computers ... to communicate."

As an example of how cheap will benefit users, per minute calling to France using Skype costs $.024 while the same per minute rate for Verizon is $.17. That's right, 8 times more expensive. Of course, you will need to purchase Skype's $3.99-a-month international call subscription but the savings are noticeable if you spend more than even 20 minutes on the phone per month.

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Last week we reported on Square, the mobile credit card scanner.

Today, reports are stating that the actual device will cost only $1 USD, and the app to use it will be free. The reader works on any device with a headphone jack, but so far the app only works on iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch.

The service is so cheap because Square will take 2.9 percent of each transaction.

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Sony has noted today that it will be holding a full motion controller session at the upcoming GDC event, allowing programmers to get a hands-on with the new "Arc" device.

The session is called 'Introducing the PlayStation 3 Motion Controller', and will be led by Kirk Bender, SCEA developer support, and David Coombes, SCEA platform research manager, says GI.biz.

The one-hour-long presentation will take place on March 11th.

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Two well-known hackers, Sherif Hashim and another who goes by the name iH8Sn0w, have had their Apple IDs blocked from accessing the App Store this week.

Hashim created a hack for the iPhone OS 3.1.3 and Sn0w created the XEMN tool that unlocks the radio baseband for iPhone 3G and 3GS with 3.1.3.

The latest move has started an avalanche of worry from users of jailbroken iPhones and iPod Touches who were worried that their accounts might be banned too, but those worries seem unfounded, as Apple does not want to block possible purchases from millions of users on jailbroken devices.

Both hackers Tweeted responses; Hashim: "Your Apple ID was banned for security reasons", that's what i get when i try to go to the app store, they must be really angry :)))))

iH8sn0w: @sherif_hashim lol, they did that to my ih8sn0wyday[@t]googmail.com too. (right after I posted XEMN)...

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At the Toy Fair 2010, Mattel has seemingly brought the ever-popular Barbie into the 21st century, with the introduction of the Barbie Video Girl Doll.

The doll has a video camera built-in to her necklace, and an LCD video screen in her back, allowing you to record and see everything the Barbie has seen.

Barbie has a USB port in her back as well, so you can plug her in, and playback the video on a computer or TV. You can record up to 30 minutes of video and later edit it at Barbie.com.

The doll costs $50 USD and will be available in toy stores starting in July.

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A Danish man's house was recently raided by representatives of Antipiratgruppen in cooperation with court officials after they tracked him down by IP address. Antipiratgruppen is sponsored by companies in the movie and music industries.

After identifying his IP address through torrents found via The Pirate Bay they were able to to persuade the court to force his ISP to reveal his identity.

Although the group only claims to have foudn evidence from their initial investigation that the man shared a handful of files, Antipiratgruppen claims hard drives seized in the raid will show he is guilty of significantly more acts of copyright infringement.

This is the second high profile raid by the anti-piracy group this year. Last month their target was the admin of a private BitTorrent tracker called EliteBits.

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Vodafone has announced the launch of the Vodafone 150, an under-$15 mobile phone designed specifically for 'developing' nations.

The phone will be available in India, Turkey, Ghana, Kenya and 6 other African nations.

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Aptina Imaging, "the CMOS imaging leader," has announced today the launch of a 14MP CMOS image sensor for mobile phones, one that can handle recording at 1080p/60fps.

The sensor, the 1.4-micron MT9F011 includes "low power consumption, a four-lane MIPI® data interface (configurable as single, dual or quad lane), Bayer resample for improved video, 1/2.3" optical format, and 25 degree chief ray angle to minimize module height."

Adds Farshid Sabet, Aptina General Manager, Mobile Business Unit: "Aptina continues to enable imaging everywhere. In an increasingly video-centric world, the availability of the MT9F011 and its full HD video combined with unparalleled pixel performance and sensor functionality enables our customers to deliver new and differentiated video products faster. Based on recent interest and design-in activity, the MT9F011 sensor positions us to leverage our strength and capitalize on new opportunities."

The company says samples are currently available and mass production expected in the Q2.

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Last week an amendment to their trademark on the iPhone name which suggests a bigger emphasis on making it a dominant gaming platform. The amendment expands the trademark to include handheld units for playing electronic games.

There have been many game apps, both free and commercial, available for the iPhone since the App Store launched in July of 2008. So why extend the trademark now?

One possible explanation is the success of Google Android. Android phones are still far behind the iPhone in market share, but the gap is slowly closing.

In order for the iPhone to continue its stellar growth in the face of increasingly stiff competition Apple needs to emphasize what they offer that competitors don't.

The most obvious area where the iPhone leads competitors is the number of apps available. Out of all the app categories, games are probably the easiest to market to the masses. Handheld gaming is already popular enough to make the Nintendo DS possibly the most successful game platform of the last 3 years.

Although it's perhaps not as universally popular as music playback and mobile email or as innovative as GPS services, games are more dependent on attracting third party developers, which is arguably the biggest advantage Apple has.

They're also one of the more popular app categories, perhaps the most popular.

Smartphones have significant disadvantages in the mobile gaming market. The price of internet service makes them unsuitable for most kids and the combination of multi-touch and an accelerometer simply doesn't work that well for some games.

At the same time, the iPhone is very well suited for some types of games not typically associated with handheld consoles. Multi-touch works nicely for card games and rolling dice via the accelerometer feels a lot more like the real thing than simply pressing a button. It also doubles pretty nicely as a steering wheel.

The upcoming release of Windows Phone 7 Series, which Microsoft would certainly like to turn into a successful gaming platform could also figure into Apple's strategy. As a company with an existing line of game consoles they may be able to make up ground quickly.

Continued dominance in the smartphone gaming market could be the best tool for holding off the competition.

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