Swype, the speed record breaking texting alternative for Android phones has gone open beta (with limited functionality) to anyone who signs up for a limited time.

The app was formerly only available to a very limited amount of users who got lucky to sign up for the beta in the past, or natively on smartphones like the MyTouch 3G Slide.

Swype allows for extremely fast typing, as users do not type letter by letter with their fingers, but instead slide their fingers from letter to letter, with Swype "magically" knowing what word you are trying to write.

For the next few days, Swype beta is available at beta.swype.com, with users submitting an email and getting sent a download link for their respective phone.

Swype does note, however, that the beta will be open to the public for a very limited time, will be available in only Spanish, English and Italian, and will have "limited functionality," although it is unclear what will be missing.

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Industry research group NPD revealed earlier this year that U.S. consumers had spent $19.66 billion on games products in 2009, including hardware, software and accessories. This was a significant drop from $21.4 billion take in 2008 for the industry. Of the $19.66 billion, NPD had estimated from its research that $10.5 billion was spent on software.

The NPD stats however only account for the sale of new software titles at retail, and leave out the sale of used games, subscription fees, downloadable content and more. NPD has carried out research that allows it to factor in these sources of revenue and also game rentals and mobile game applications (but not social network games).

With the extra sources of revenue for the wide industry added in, NPD reports that the software take jumps between $4.5 - $4.75 billion for 2009, bringing the total to between $15 - $15.25 billion. "Our expanded estimate of consumer spending reflects the growing number of options to purchase, acquire and interact with video games ranging from GameFly rentals to iPod Touch game apps," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

"Consumer spending on social network games like those offered by Facebook would push this estimate even higher."

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Twitter has apologized, again, for the month's worth of outages, bugs and system instabilities that have hobbled the site.

Citing a huge usage spike due to the World Cup, and the uncovering of a number of bugs, Twitter says the problems have led to the "worst month since last October" for the micro-blogging site.

Says the site via its official blog: "As we go through this process, we have uncovered unexpected deeper issues and have even caused inadvertent downtime as a result of our attempts to make changes. Ultimately, the changes that we are making now will make Twitter much more reliable in the future. However, we certainly are not happy about the disruptions that we have faced and even caused this week and understand how they negatively impact our users."

Twitter's updates will fine tune load balancing and double the network's capacity.

According to the web monitoring company Pingdom, Twitter's home page has been down for 5 hours and 22 minutes so far in June, its worst month in almost a year.

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Following a huge victory for record companies over LimeWire, eight music publishers have filed their own lawsuit against the software company, seeking relief and damages for the facilitation of rampant copyright infringement. Many of the publishers are owned by the parent companies of the record labels that won the the case against LimeWire.

David Israelite, chief executive of the National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA), said that songwriters and publishers were also hurt as well as performers, by the music sharing facilitated by LimeWire software. Publishers are paid royalties for songwriters, while record companies work with the performers.

"The pervasive online infringement facilitated by LimeWire and others like them has consequences for everyone in the music chain," Israelite said in a statement. A U.S. District Court judge in New York ruled that LimeWire is liable for inducing copyright infringement.

Record companies sought a preliminary injunction last week that would freeze the assets of Mike Gorton, chairman of LimeWire, accusing him of attempting to shield LimeWire assets and proceeds from the court. LimeWire is attempting to relaunch itself as a legal music service.

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IsoHunt attorney Ira Rothken said the search engine has asked a federal appeals court to block a lower court's injunction that could force the site down. The takedown order was given by a U.S. District Court in May. Judge Stephen Wilson said that IsoHunt is an unlawful avenue to free, copyrighted movies and television shows. Wilson said he would not stay enforcement of the injunction unless ordered to do so by a federal appeals court.

IsoHunt, which gets 30 million unique monthly visitors, asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to block the takedown order. It accuses the District Court's injunction of being too broad. One issue of concern is a mandated removal of "searches" from the site. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) sent a list of keywords for the block, which include the number 10, and the word Dracula, for example.

"One person's copyrighted Wizard of Oz is another person's public domain work," Rothken said to Wired. "The motion picture studios do not have a monopoly on names on things. That is where the injunction is violating the First Amendment." Rothken said the MPAA should instead provide URLS or hashes which can positively identify an infringing link.

Rothken said that even if the court does not immediately intervene and block the injunction, it is unlikely that IsoHunt will go down any time soon. "Depending on what happens, there may or may not be proceedings to interpret the injunction in the trial court," he said.

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Microsoft's UK boss Neil Thompson has responded to Sony's E3 press conference by saying that 3D gaming is too expensive for consumers for now. Sony have attendees 3D glasses to view 3D content at the conference while revealing titles that will support 3D for the PS3.

PS3 users will need a 3D television for the effect to work. Thompson feels that the price involved with 3D gaming puts it a while off being mass market.

"If you look at the costs of entry into the living room and when that's going to become mass-market, we think the offering with Kinect and the natural user-interface we're bringing, that's a more compelling proposition for consumers over the coming years than maybe looking at 3D at this point."

Of course, Nintendo also promoted the 3D effect of its new 3DS handheld console, and that doesn't require an investment in 3D glasses, but for living room gaming, maybe Thompson has a point on price for now. As for Microsoft's Kinect, Thompson resisted providing any pricing information to Eurogamer.net.

"We haven't decided to announce that at this point and we'll make that decision in due course and then announce it in due course. We haven't landed on a date yet when exactly we'll announce it, but when we do we'll let you know."

Gamestop lists the Kinect at $150, which is largely expected to be around the price point Microsoft charges for the motion-sensing system.

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All mobile handsets in stores in San Francisco may be labeled with information about their radiative output. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance which would make it a reality by a 10-1 majority. Following a 10-day consultation on the issue, the Mayor can sign it into legislation.

The ordinance would require outlets selling phones in the city to provide information on the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) for each handset stocked.

The information can already be retrieved from the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) website. Critics of the board's decision say that the move may indicate to consumers that using mobile phones is a health risk.

The potential of mobile phones to cause harm to users has been the subject of plenty of scientific studies for the past couple of decades. The chief sponsor claims that the ordinance is there to "help people make informed decisions."

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Opera has released a beta of the next release of its popular web browser, v10.6. The beta features support for the royalty-free WebM video format being pushed by Google. It also features new HTML 5 offline applications. The company claims that the Javascript engine in the newer version is 75 percent faster than the previous version.

The v10.6 release is the next major version for Linux and BSD users also after Opera decided to skip 10.5 releases on either of those platforms. Opera pushed out v10.5 of the browser in time for Microsoft's distribution of the web browser selection screen that allows users to download and install a browser of their choice as part of a settlement agreement with the European Union.

The new WebM video format is being pushed by Google as a royalty-free alternative to H.264, which is only royalty free to use until the end of 2015, according to MPEG LA. A WebM video file consists of VP8 video (Google acquired the VP8 technology in its $106.5 million deal with On2 Technologies last year) and OGG Vorbis audio packed in a Matroska (MKV) container.

Microsoft is supported WebM by putting support into the upcoming Internet Explorer 9 browser and Mozilla recently confirmed Firefox 4 includes WebM support after resolving a licensing issue.

Download Opera v10.6 Beta 1 for Windows:
http://www.afterdawn.com/software/network/browsers/opera.cfm

Download Opera v10.6 Beta 1 for Mac:
http://www.afterdawn.com/software/network/browsers/opera_mac.cfm

Download Opera v10.6 Beta 1 for Linux:
http://www.afterdawn.com/software/network/browsers/opera_linux.cfm

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Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) has announced that it will release an "all-in-one" surround sound system for the PlayStation 3 (SP3) console. The surround sound system consists of just one central speaker, with the subwoofer built in.

The system will be released in fall 2010 in North America, Europe (and other PAL territories) and Japan for US$199, €199 and 19,800 yen, respectively.

The system uses Sony's S-Force PRO Front Surround Sound, generates rich realistic surround sound over just one front speaker. Bringing in SCE's expertise in both entertainment and technology acquired from developing games, four sound fields of the speaker system have been designed with the help of SCE's expert game sound designers, to optimize the cinematic experience of all forms of entertainment.

The system features two audio inputs; an optic audio input for connecting the PlayStation 3 and an analogue input for other sources, including Sony's PlayStation Portable (PSP).

The form factor of the system features a sleek and casual design that matches perfectly with the PS3 system.

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Google has unveiled a new video editor this week, one that will allow users to create new videos from clips of videos they have already uploaded.

Additionally, you can add a music track from the AudioSwap licensed song library, but some will have advertisements.

The feature has been rolled out today, in batches, with all users getting it by the end of the day.

So far, the editor is very basic, but should cover most of the needs of average users who want to create montages or other simple editing jobs.

Adds Rushabh Doshi of YouTube: "We wanted something really, really easy for our users to use."

Check it here: http://www.youtube.com/editor?popart=681928

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T-Mobile has announced the launch of the HSPA+ network in 15 new cities this week, giving users speeds faster than that of Sprint's 4G.

The network has already been available in New York, Philadelphia, Memphis and a few other cities for some time, but now T-Mobile subscribers in Atlanta, Houston, Seattle, Tampa, Orlando, Pittsburgh, Charlotte, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, New Orleans, and Charleston can use the very fast data network on their smartphones and netbooks.

Important to note, however, is that not all phones can use the HSPA+ network, and the phones that work are pictured below. Most are Android devices like the myTouch series and the HTC HD2.

Additionally, the fourth largest carrier in the U.S. is now also offering a HSPA+-friendly USB dongle, dubbed the webConnect Rocket, for netbook users wanting the fast connection.

T-Mobile's "3.5G" HSPA+ network promises speeds of up to 21 Mbps.

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A lead hacker for Goatse Security, the group now notorious for posting 114,000 email addresses of iPad owners after exploiting the AT&T website, has been arrested today, charged with felony drug possession.

Andrew "Escher" Auernheimer, 24, of Arkansas, was arrested after the FBI searched his home, although it is unclear whether the warrant is in connection with the recent hacking episode.

Escher now faces four felony charges of "possession of a controlled substance" as he was found with LSD, cocaine, ecstasy and other over-the-counter drugs.

The hacker was arrested once before in March for giving a false name to police after he was pulled over.

Earlier in the week, the same group exposed another security hole in the iPad, using the same ICC-IDs given out by using a script on the AT&T Website and determining the locations of iPad owners.

Additionally, the group says an unpatched Safari browser exploit will allow for targeted attacks on iPads.

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Apple has announced today that despite glitches on the AT&T website, the iPhone 4 has seen 600,000 units pre-ordered, a one-day record for the company.

The number was much higher than expected, and the company apologized to anyone who tried to pre-order but could not because of technical difficulties.

In all five countries the device is available there were reports of delays, system malfunctions and server breakdowns and AT&T in the U.S. even had to suspend all pre-orders while a "special team" was brought in to manually look through the orders.

For comparison's sake, the iPhone 3GS sold almost 70,000 via pre-order in its first day of availability.

Says Apple: "Yesterday Apple and its carrier partners took pre-orders for more than 600,000 of Apple's new iPhone 4. It was the largest number of pre-orders Apple has ever taken in a single day and was far higher than we anticipated, resulting in many order and approval system malfunctions. Many customers were turned away or abandoned the process in frustration. We apologize to everyone who encountered difficulties, and hope that they will try again or visit an Apple or carrier store once the iPhone 4 is in stock."

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AOL, infamous for terrible investments, announced in April that they were planning to either sell or shut down the social networking site Bebo, which they bought for $850 million in 2008.

Today, reports are circulating that AOL has found a buyer for the service, Criterion Capital Partners, who will buy Bebo for $10 million USD, leaving AOL with a 98.8 percent loss on their original investment.

Despite that outstanding loss, the sale will give AOL the ability to write off the original purchase for tax purposes, saving over $300 million in corporate taxes in the process.

At the time of the acquisition, AOL was still part of Time Warner, part of a merger that many have called the worst deal of all-time. (AOL had to take a $99 billion dollar loss in 2002.)

Bebo saw less than 5 million unique visitors last month, compared to 120 million for Facebook, and Bebo continues to see declining traffic every month.

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Google Inc. uploaded a video to YouTube yesterday explaining what Google TV hopes to bring to the living room. The video is only 2:21 long and is very easy to understand. It contains little on the technical side and just focuses on the features that Google TV aims to bring to the living room.

The video shows how Google TV can be used to search and view television channels and programming, browse the web on your television, play games, browse photos and more.



Google TV seems like something to keep an eye on.

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