The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has denied Google's application to trademark "Nexus One."

For Google, the rejection is not yet final, giving the search giant a chance to submit more evidence as well as new arguments.

"Registration of the applied-for mark is refused because of a likelihood of confusion with the mark in U.S. Registration No. 3554195," wrote the USPTO.

No. 3554195 is a trademark of the word "Nexus" that was registered years ago by Integra Telecom, an 11-state wireline phone provider.

For their part, Integra thanked the USPTO for protecting its trademark and says they hope to work out a deal with Google. Adds John Nee, Integra's vice president of corporate communications: "Google hasn't contacted us since the PTO issued its objection but we hope we can work together to achieve our respective business goals."

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Earlier this month, Apple sued rival smartphone maker HTC over violations of patents related to the iPhone, accusing HTC of infringing on up to 20 patents relating to the popular smartphone's hardware and user interface.

Taking its time in doing so, HTC has responded today, vowing to fight the charges.

"HTC disagrees with Apple's actions and will fully defend itself. HTC strongly advocates intellectual property protection and will continue to respect other innovators and their technologies as we have always done," said HTC CEO Peter Chou, via a press release. "We will continue to embrace competition through our own innovation as a healthy way for consumers to get the best mobile experience possible."

If Apple succeeds in the case, they will get an injunction on HTC, barring the company from importing and selling any of their infringing devices in the U.S. The company is also seeking monetary damages.

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Joystiq is reporting today that "USB Mass Storage Device Support" should hit the Xbox 360 console sometime within 2010, most likely with the upcoming Spring 2010 dashboard update.

Citing a document written by a "senior software development engineer," the support will allow gamers to save and consequently load game data from USB devices, a much wanted feature.

With the support available, gamers can download Arcade games, DLC or other content right to their storage device, although it is unclear what capacity cards will be made available (minimum must be 1GB and max must be 16GB). The source also claims that "installation of a full disc-based title" is also a possibility, although the disc will still need to remain in the tray, for authentication purposes.

In regards to the minimum and maximum posted above, the document says: "The system partition occupies 512 MB of space, and by default the consumer partition occupies the remainder of the device capacity, or 16 GB, whichever is smaller."

Confirmation, pic via Joystiq:

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Amazon has introduced the Mac version of its Kindle software today, expanding the platforms on which it is available to include PCs, Macs, the Kindle device, iPhones and BlackBerrys.

The software is available for free via Amazon, and lets users purchase and read e-books on their computers. Amazon offers 450,000 titles via the Kindle Store.

Additionally, Amazon said an iPad Kindle app would be available in April.

Despite selling a standalone e-reader device, Amazon says e-book sales are much more profitable, so Kindle sales are not top priority. However, Amazon remains the market leader for e-book sales and e-readers.

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Omar Ramos-Lopez, an angry ex-employee of the Texas Auto Center in Austin took out his revenge on his former employer by remotely shutting down 100 cars, using the company's computer system.

After hacking into the vehicle immobilization system, Lopez either deactivated the starters of the cars, or activated the horns, leaving them honking all night.

80 of those affected complained to the company about missing school, work, or of having to get their car towed, or repaired.

The system, run by Pay Technologies (PayTeck) is only supposed to be used if a car owner fails to pay their loan or lease obligations.

Lopez was arrested and charged with breach of computer security.

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Twitter founder Jack Dorsey has confirmed that they will eventually offer a Chinese version of the extremely popular social network, although a time frame was not given.

The confirmation came at a panel discussion earlier this week after Chinese activist Ai Weiwei asked: "Is it possible to provide a Chinese access on Twitter? I need a clear answer, yes or no."

"I would say yes. It's just a matter of time," said Dorsey, in response.

Ai Weiwei calls Twitter a very important part of the future of China, which has practically forbidden a free flow of information and censors search engine results. "In China, we cannot see YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter, and very soon, maybe not see Google," he adds.

Why is Twitter so important? "At 140 words, in Chinese, you can really write a novel. You can discuss most profound ideas really to democracy, freedom, poetry," Ai Weiwei notes, via PCWorld.

Dorsey adds that he wants Twitter in China, but technological and political hurdles need to be jumped, including finding a way for Chinese characters to be universally supported via phone SMS. Getting inside "the Great Firewall" would also be a problem.

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Following in Ubisoft's footsteps, Electronic Arts has confirmed that upcoming games from the publisher will include the very controversial "always on" DRM scheme that forces gamers to be connected to the Internet at all times or lose the ability to play their games.

The first EA title to include the DRM will be Command & Conquer 4.

While gaming, if you ever lose connection to the Internet, or even if EA's servers go down for any reason, you will not be able to play C&C4, not even in single player mode.

Ubisoft learned the hard way that the system is flawed and does nothing but push legitimate buyers over to pirated versions, which allow for full playback without DRM, but it seems clear that EA will have to learn the same lesson on their own terms.

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