Apple, trying to deflect some of the bad press from their iPhone 4 'antennagate' debacle has posted videos over the past weeks showing how other smartphones also lose cell reception when held in the "death grip."

The most notable video shows the new Motorola Droid X losing reception within seconds after being gripped tightly.

Beginning tomorrow, Motorola is striking back at the controversial videos, by placing a full page ad in newspapers mocking the iPhone 4's need for a case to avoid reception issues.

Reads the ad in full: "At Motorola, we believe a customer shouldn't have to dress up their phone for it to work properly. That's why the DROID X comes with a dual antenna design. The kind that allows you to hold the phone any way you like to make crystal clear calls without a bulky phone jacket. For us it's just one of those things that comes as a given when you've been making mobile phones for over 30 years."

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Mozilla has released the second beta of their upcoming Firefox 4 browser, fixing hundreds of bugs and improving speed along with adding support for CSS Transitions.

The company released the first beta at the beginning of July and promised the beta 2 for last week but hit small delays.

Beta 3 is expected to hit August 6th, with the first full release candidate (RC) expected to be released in October.

A main new feature for Firefox 4 is improved tab location, as shown in the picture at left. Beta 2 adds the ability for Mac users. The "tabs are given top visual priority for more efficient and intuitive browsing." just like in Google Chrome.

Additionally, the browser supports full HMTL5 and WebM: "As pioneers of HTML5 video standards, Firefox also supports the WebM format so you can watch open HD quality video."

As for CSS Transitions, part of the CSS3 specification, the browser will support it, thanks to the new Gecko 2.0 page layout engine.

Just like with each new update, JavaScript has been made speedier, with other performance enhancements, as well.

Get it here: Firefox 4 beta 2

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Amazon has announced it will sell two new models of their popular Kindle e-reader beginning tomorrow, with one costing just $139, the cheapest price yet for a Kindle device.

To justify the price of the Kindle Wi-Fi, Amazon has removed the ability to connect to the Internet via 3G cell networks, making it Wi-Fi only.

The second model will replace the Kindle 2 and include 3G access, and will sell for $189.

Each new model is slimmer and include higher contrast screens and "crisper text." Both have six-inch screens, but weigh 15 percent less and are 21 percent slimmer. Each also has twice the storage of the original Kindles, allowing for up to 3500 books to be stored.

Says CEO Jeff Bezos: "The hardware business for us has been so successful that we're going to continue. I predict there will be a 10th-generation and a 20th-generation Kindle. We're well-situated to be experts in purpose-built reading devices."

The Kindle Wi-Fi is now cheaper than both the rival Nook and the lesser rival Sony Reader, and over $250 cheaper than the Apple iPad.

Pre-prders start tomorrow, and both devices ship August 27th.

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Hulu, the United States' long-time second most popular streaming video site saw its viewership nosedive for the month ended June 30th, after comScore changed their measurement methods.

In May, the site had an estimated 44 million viewers, says comScore, with that number falling to 24 million in June.

The giant drop was the largest of any of the top Internet video sites, dropping the site from second to tenth, in terms of online video traffic in the U.S.

While the number drop seems huge, the new numbers mainly underscore a different and lingering problem; the fact that measuring online audiences remains unreliable.

Three companies, ComScore, Nielsen and Quantcast, each measure differently, so numbers may be similar but never equal.

Says one digital media strategist of the difference in numbers, and the overall problem of unreliability: "You would think 15 years on, we would be in a better place. But we're still talking about fundamental discrepancies in things like page counts."

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RIM's still unconfirmed BlackBerry tablet may possibly have a name now, after the smartphone company registered BlackPad.com.

The domain was purchased by CSC, a company that specializes in corporate branding, on behalf of RIM.

BlackPad.com had been owned by others since 2002, but the domain had been completely unused in that period.

While a domain registration doesn't necessarily confirm a future product plan, many companies will do so to avoid having to purchase a license in the future at a much higher price. Apple registered iPhone.org years before the product was introduced.

That being said, RIM is not often that subtle, with most of their registered domains purchased for products that have since been revealed.

There is nothing known about the still unconfirmed device, but many expect it to have a 1GHz processor, dual-cameras and run BlackBerry OS 6.

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Paul Ceglia, the business man suing Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg over the rights to own 84 percent of the giant social networking site was once convicted for possession of shrooms, Psilocybin-containing mushrooms that cause hallucinations.

Forbes says Ceglia was arrested and plead guilty in 1997 to "felony possession" of over 400 grams of the shrooms. Average recreational users will use about 3 grams.

Ceglia paid a $25,000 fine in Texas, and received a 10-year suspended sentence. He then moved to NY, where he started his business relationship with Zuckerberg.

Terry Connors, Ceglia's lawyer, declined comment "because I do not have any knowledge about it at this time."

While it is unclear if Ceglia was a regular user, or a seller, if he was a user the drugs could have a lasting effect on his brain, says Dr. Mario Ciani, chair of Mercy College's Natural Science Department.

"What happens is if people are using mushrooms on a regular basis, sometimes they have a reduced ability to differentiate between reality and fantasy," said Ciani. "Their experience on the mushrooms sort of overlaps into their daily activities. Particularly if they use them on a regular basis."

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As of today, Best Buy Mobile has begun offering free Side Shields for iPhone 4 owners, helping those that are having problems with dropped calls.

The shield is clear and is applied to the outer edges of your device.

ZAGG, the company behind the Shield, says it was designed specifically to address the antenna issues of the smartphone.

The shield, as well as installation, is free to all consumers who purchased the smartphone at a Best Buy, or if you are a BB Reward Zone member and purchased the phone somewhere else.

Best Buy will also sell the shield for $10 if you do not fit the above criteria.

Furthermore, the retailer is offering 20 percent off all iPhone 4 cases until August 7th.

"Consumers are looking for immediate solutions and the Side Shield is a great option," says Scott Moore of Best Buy Mobile. "At the same time, we know that customers are always looking for ways to personalize and protect their smart phones. That's why we are so focused on having multiple options—people want to choose what's right for them."

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