Sony has re-hauled their e-reader line, increasing the price while adding new features.

The new Reader Pocket Edition will cost $179, up from $149 for the last edition.

Sony's revamped Touch Edition will jump to $229, and the high-end Daily Edition will cost $299.

Each of the devices now features a slimmer and lighter body, more sensitive touchscreens, and higher contrast e-ink screens with better clarity.

Sony's biggest rivals, the Amazon Kindle and B&N Nook sell for under $150, so Sony may be facing an uphill battle trying to steal market share from cheaper and more established devices.

Furthermore, B&N and Amazon have repeatedly cut the prices of their devices while updating new features. Just last week, Borders said it was slashing the price of the Aluratek Libre e-readers to $99.99, the first e-reader to drop under the $100 threshold.

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Samsung, the world's second-largest phone maker has said today that it will prioritize the Android and Bada mobile operating systems, making them key software platforms for their smartphones.

Says YH Lee, head of marketing at Samsung Mobile: "We are Prioritizing our Android platform. Android is very open and flexible, and there is a consumer demand for it."

Android has quickly become the third biggest mobile OS in the world, behind Symbian and RIM, surpassing Apple and Microsoft, which had head starts.

Samsung launched the Bada OS last year and have introduced two phones running the software, the Wave and the Wave 723.

Lee says the company will launch a full lineup of Bada phones in the upcoming quarters.

Despite prioritizing the other smartphone OS', Samsung does say they are releasing a Windows 7 device later in the year.

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According to a new study from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, 72 percent of American adults now text from their phones, with 87 percent of teens texting, as well.

Adult texting use is up from 65 percent in September 2009 and 58 percent in the same period of 2007.

While more adults are texting now than ever, they still don't do it very often. Typically, adults only send and receive 10 texts per day. Teens average over 50.

Pew surveyed 2,252 adults earlier this year.

"We've reached a point where enough other people are texting that (adults) are drawn into using it because they can finally use it to communicate with a substantial number of their friends and family," writes Amanda Lenhart, Pew senior research specialist, via MSNBC.

"It may be that folks have been pushed by pricing into unlimited texting plans, which has the effect of encouraging people with those plans to text more, because they no longer think of the cost, and then text more people more often."

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At this week's IFA 2010 tech fair, Sony has unveiled a 3D Vaio notebook, one that includes a button that, when pressed, will convert 2D images to 3D.

While the premise is intriguing, there is, of course, a catch. Users will need to wear active shutter glasses to view the 3D.

The glasses, besides being an annoyance, are easy to lose and expensive to replace, making the proposition less interesting.

Sony CEO Howard Stringer says the notebook will be available next Spring, but no word on cost.

The display is full 1080p HD, and can handle 240 fps. Additionally, Sony's "black frame insertion" tech is used, which "which inserts a black frame between normal video frames to improve pixel response and improve black levels," says PCW.

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Verizon has announced new monthly pre-paid data packages for users that have 3G smartphones and "multimedia" phones.

For $30 per month, Verizon is offering unlimited data. If you opt for the cheaper $10 multimedia phone plan, you will only get 25MB, with each extra MB costing 20 cents.

The unlimited plan is available to users with the BlackBerry Curve 8330 and 8530; BlackBerry Storm 2; BlackBerry Tour; BlackBerry Bold 9650; Palm Pre Plus; Palm Pixi Plus; Motorola Droid; Droid X; Droid 2; Droid Eris; Droid Incredible; and LG Ally.

Verizon "multimedia" phones include the LG enV Touch; LG enV3; LG Chocolate Touch; LG VX8360; Samsung Alias 2; Samsung Renown; Nokia Twist; and the Casio EXILIM.

Both bundles are available in-store as of today and online on the 28th.

"Our prepaid customers will now have the freedom to enjoy all of the capabilities that these phones have to offer, while controlling costs and without being tied to a contract," added Jim Sullivan, director of marketing for Verizon Wireless.

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Two days ago Twitter began requiring third party applications to use a secure method for accessing your account.

Using this login method, called OAuth, a program requests access to your Twitter account without first getting your login information. Twitter then forwards that request to you through their own web interface, allowing you to confirm or deny access.

For example, when you use the 'retweet' link on an Afterdawn news article for the first time you're prompted to connect the TweetMeme service to your Twitter account.



Clicking the 'Yes' button sends the request to Twitter. Twitter then checks to see if you are logged in. If you're not logged in Twitter sends you a login window.



Once you're logged in you will be prompted with the OAuth connection request. If you were already logged in, but wish to connect with a different Twitter account you can do that from this window as well.



Once authorized, the service will appear in your Twitter Settings under Connections. You can deauthorize the connection directly from this screen on the Twitter website at any time.



The now unsupported alternative to OAuth was called Basic Authentication. It required a program to collect your username and password and then pass them on to Twitter every time a connection was made. Besides the obvious security hole created by having third parties collecting and saving private information, there was also a functional problem with this approach.

If you changed your Twitter password you would also have to update that information for every program or service you gave access to.

Most people probably won't notice this change since developers were informed of the change last year. Most applications were using OAuth long before the deadline.

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