Verizon Wireless has started their tiered data plans for smartphones this week, giving users more options for their phone bandwidth needs.

Subscribers will now have the chance to purchase 150MB a month for $15, or keep their unlimited plan for $30.

The U.S.' largest carrier has said in the past that 95 percent of users don't need unlimited plans as a good portion use under 100MB per monthly cycle, especially BlackBerry users which tend to use the phone's data for email and quick browsing only.

Five percent of smartphone users use about 50 percent of all data bandwidth, added Verizon.

The $15 package is a "holiday promotion" but Verizon is likely to make it permanent.

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Microsoft has said today that gamers spend 1 billion hours on Xbox Live each month, a significant amount of hours by any standard.

The company said recently that there are just over 25 million Xbox Live users so that means every Xbox Live gamer is spending an average of 40 hours per month playing games or streaming movies on their consoles.

Microsoft added that they have seen a 157 percent increase in the last year in the amount of time users are spending watching movies and TV shows via Netflix or other services.

12 million XBL users are watching at least 30 minutes of content every day.

Adding to the numbers is Microsoft's expansion of the service, with the number of countries offering access now standing at 35.

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Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has said today that they will not drop the price on the Wii console this holiday season, instead choosing to bundle software or accessories as a way to entice new buyers.

When asked about a possible price cut, Iwata said: "Of course, we cannot say it will never happen, but we are not thinking of it for the near future."

The Wii currently sells for $200, the same price as the cheapest Xbox 360 console and cheaper than the PlayStation 3.

One such bundle is the upcoming special Mario edition Wii, which has a red colorway and comes with the latest Mario game.

"Those who really wanted it would have already bought it so now we need to reach those who considered it but never got around to buying it," concludes Iwata.

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According to a number of sources, Samsung and Google are set to unveil the Nexus Two next week, the first phone to run on Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

Samsung has already scheduled a major press event for November 8th in NYC.

Adding to the rumor is the fact that Carphone Warehouse has said this week that it will be the exclusive seller of the Nexus Two in the UK for this holiday season.

Google launched the Nexus One in January to much fan-fare. However, sales on T-Mobile were lackluster and the search giant stopped selling the phone a few months ago.

There are few details on the actual device, but Gizmodo got a quick "hands-on" with the device in which they describe a 4.1-inch AMOLED display and a front-facing camera.

More details will be forthcoming.

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For the first time ever, Apple has moved into the world's top five mobile-phone vendors, placing fourth in the Q3 2010.

The numbers come via IDC and Strategy Analytics, who both agreed that if Apple introduces a CDMA version of the iPhone they may be able to jump into third or even second place.

"The entrance of Apple to the top five underscores the increased importance of smartphones to the overall market," notes Kevin Restivo, an IDC analyst. "Vendors that aren't developing a strong portfolio of smartphones will be challenged to grow and retain market share in the future."

Nokia, (according to IDC) which has held the top spot for every quarter since 1998, stayed in first but share fell to 32.4 percent, down from 36.5 percent year-over-year.

Samsung rose to 21 percent to remain in second, while LG saw its share drop to 8.3 percent, good for third.

RIM, maker of the BlackBerry smartphones, fell to fifth while Sony Ericsson fell off the list for the first time since 2004.

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LaCie has demonstrated record speeds in two of its professional storage solutions – LaCie d2 USB 3.0 and LaCie 2big USB 3.0.

LaCie's 2big USB 3.0, now available in 6TB, provides a dramatic 20 percent speed boost by reaching 306MB/s, marking the fastest performance of any 2-bay RAID solution to-date, thanks to the performance of USB 3.0.

"There is no question heavy data users continue to demand higher capacities, and in turn faster transfer speeds," said Erwan Girard, Business Unit Manager for Professional Products.

"Today, LaCie answered this challenge by introducing the largest available capacity and fastest transfer speeds in a single solution, providing users with increased backup efficiency and reduced risk for backup interruption."

The LaCie 2big USB 3.0 6TB and LaCie d2 USB 3.0 3TB will be available, worldwide, at the beginning of November. The 2big USB 3.0 is listed for $349.99 with 2TB capacity, and $579.99 with 4TB capacity. The 6TB option is listed but is not priced yet.

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Nepalese telecoms firm Ncell, owned by Swedish company TeliaSonera, has made it possible for climbers of Mount Everest to make calls or surf the Internet using its 3G network.

The company installed eight base stations along the route to the Everst base camp. The highest 3G base station is near the Everest base camp at 17,000 ft. Ncell head Pasi Koistinen said the coverage would reach the summit of Everest but said it has not been tested yet.

Climbers and trekkers in the region have had to rely on voice-only mobile coverage or satellite phones depending on location. Ncell said the new coverage will help thousands of tourists that visit the Everest region ever year.

It will enable climbers to stay in touch with family and trip organizers, and to get weather and safety information updates easily. Since Edmund Hillary first conquered Everest in 1952, approximately 3,000 people have followed in his footsteps.

TeliaSonera has announced it will invest over $100 million in the next year to boost mobile coverage in Nepal, where less than one third of the population have access to telecommunications services.

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Mass Effect 2 has won the "Ultimate game of the year" award at the 28th Golden Joystick awards. It also picked up the award for the "RPG of the year".

The winners are voted by UK gamers. The Guinness Book of Records lists the Golden Joystick awards as the most popular video game awards show. For games to qualify for awards this year, they had to have been released between May 2009 and May 2010, with just one exception: the "One to watch" award.

The first Golden Joystick awards in 1982 saw Jatpac winning the first "Ultimate game of the year" award. Since then, other titles to receive the award include Fallout 3, Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

Awards are handed out for 16 different categories...

• Action game of the year: Assassin's Creed II
• Game On Shooter of the year: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
• Racing game of the year: Forza Motorsport 3
• RPG of the year: Mass Effect 2
• Puzzle game of the year: World of Goo
• Fighting game of the year: Super Street Fighter 4
• Sports game of the year: FIFA 10
• Strategy game of the year: Plants vs. Zombies
• Music game of the year: Guitar Hero 5
• Online game of the year: League of Legends
• Downloadable game of the year: Plants vs. Zombies
• Portable game of the year: Pokemon Heart Gold/ Soul Silver
• Soundtrack of the year: Final Fantasy XIII
• One to watch: Call of Duty: Black Ops
• UK Developer of the year: Jagex
• Ultimate game of the year: Mass Effect 2

The show was held at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge hotel and hosted by US comedian Rich Hall. Over 1.5 million votes were cast.

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Microsoft Corp. beat predictions to report a company record for the first quarter.

The Redmond-based software giant experienced much higher performance particularly of its Windows and Office software products. It announced a 51 percent rise in first quarter profit, with net profit for the three months to September at $5.4 billion.

Revenue for the quarter was reported at $16.2 billion, a company record for the first quarter, and a 25 percent rise over the same period of last year. Microsoft did say however that it had deferred some revenue from Windows sales during the same quarter of last year, and if it had not done so, the net profit would have been reported as 16 percent higher.

Nevertheless, the quarter surprised analysts and investors that have been questioning the company's ability to adapt to major changes in the market. "Microsoft had a very good quarter," said Toan Tran, an analyst at Morningstar.

"Windows is still doing well, Office is doing well, and servers and tools are doing well. The big three businesses are firing on all cylinders as the PC upgrade cycle continues."

Ray Ozzie, who was Microsoft chief software architect, resigned last week and warned that Microsoft needed to begin thinking beyond the PC.

"This was an exceptional quarter, combining solid enterprise growth and continued strong consumer demand for Office 2010, Windows 7, and Xbox 360 consoles and games," said Peter Klein, chief financial officer at Microsoft.

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Dish Network and New Corp.'s Fox Network have announced a deal that will restore some of Fox's programming to Dish subscribers.

Financial terms of the agreement between the two were not disclosed in the Friday announcement. Subscribers had lost Fox's regional sports networks, National Geographic and FX on October 1 when Dish had refused to enter into a new deal with Fox.

Dish claimed that Fox was demanding a 50 percent increase in programing fees, but insiders at Fox have denied that the fee increase was anything like 50 percent.

"After prolonged negotiations to reach a fair deal, we're pleased to enter into a long-term agreement with Fox and to assure our customers that they can continue to enjoy these channels," Dave Shull, senior vice president of programing at Dish Network, said.

More stations were slated to go off air in Atlanta, Chicago, New York and Dallas for Dish subscribers, but the new agreement ensures the local Fox programing will continue to be available.

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Facebook has acquired Drop.io, an easy to use, online collaboration and file sharing service that provides users with a single, real time and private way to chat and share images, video, audio, documents and other digital content.

The service was led by Sam Lessin, who attended Harvard University between 2001 and 2005 where he knew Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg during the early days of the site. Lessin is now set to take up a new role at Facebook, the world's largest social networking service.

Drop.io left a blog message for all of its users explaining what will now happen...

Here at drop.io, we've had a great three years helping people privately share pictures, video, audio, documents, andmore. It's been a thrill to watch the first, thousandth, millionth, and ten-millionth drop be created.

Today, we're proud to announce that we've struck a deal with Facebook. What this means is that Facebook has bought most of drop.io's technology and assets, and Sam Lessin is moving to Facebook.

In the coming weeks, we'll be winding down the drop.io service. As of this week, people will no longer be able to create new free drops, but you'll be able to download content from existing drops until Dec. 15. Paid user accounts will still be available through Dec. 15 and paid users will be able to continue using the service normally. After Dec. 15, paid accounts will be discontinued as well.

Please download your information before Dec. 15 – we plan to delete it after that time. No user data or content will be transferred to Facebook, and we'll send out e-mails to everyone to remind them about the service closing.

Other drop.io services like Presslift, our Yahoo! Mail Application, and our APIs will stay online for a longer period before the company winds down. We'll announce more details on that soon. However, starting immediately, we'll no longer be selling new premium accounts for those services.

To our loyal users and fans, we cannot thank you enough for your patronage, support, and feedback (good and bad) over the years.

Warmest regards, The drop.io Team

Info: http://drop.io/

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A Texas man has been given an 18 month prison sentence for selling counterfeit copies of popular software applications through various websites on the Internet.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced the sentencing of Todd Alan Cook (24), of Wichita Falls, Texas, as well as a $599,771 restitution payment ordered by the Judge. Cook had pleaded guilty of criminal copyright infringement in March.

Between July 2006 and May 2008, Cook, along with his father Robert and another individual operated several websites hosted by Yahoo. They sold large amounts of counterfeit software from the sites, much of it being from Adobe Systems.

The sites they operated included Econo-soft.com and Bargainsoftwaredownload.com, and they used PayPal and Google Checkout to process payments. Federal agents bought software from Cooks' website during 2007. Yahoo had also sent a cease and desist order demanding that the sale of counterfeit software cease.

Despite the warning, a new website was reportedly set up within days. Robert Cook also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement in March, and will be sentenced on December 3rd.

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YouTube co-founder and chief executive officer Chad Hurley is to step down from the position at the company as Google annexes more control over the world's most popular video site.

The site was founded in 2005 by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jewed Karim, who were all early employees at PayPal. In October 2006, Google Inc. moved in with a $1.65 billion buyout of the rapidly-growing service. Since then, both Chen and Karim have already departed YouTube.

For the past two years, YouTube's day to day operations have been handled by Salar Kamangar, one of Google's earliest employees. Hurley, 33, concentrated on the site's design and the relationship between YouTube and its millions of users.

Hurley is set to officially turn over the position of CEO to Salar Kamangar, but he will reportedly remain a YouTube adviser.

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A broad coalition of industry-leading IT firms has announced the formation of the Solid State Drive (SSD) Form Factor Working Group.

The group will work to advance the benefits of Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) storage drives through standardization. The working group will focus on enterprise customers who are pushing the storage IO envelope and require high-performance, easy-to-use, cost-effective storage solutions to optimize CPU performance.

Promoter Members of the group include Dell, EMC, Fujitsu, IBM and Intel while Contributor Members include Amphenol, Emulex, Fusion-io, IDT, Marvel Semiconductor, Micron Technology, Molex, PLX, QLogic, STEC, SandForce and Smart Modular Technology.

To help customers, the SSD Form Factor Working Group is dedicated to advancing technology standards in three technology areas...

• A connector specification which will promote interoperability of several storage protocols, supporting SAS/SATA 3.0 as well as PCIe 3. This allows greater user choice and flexibility.
• A form factor which builds upon the current 2.5-inch standard to enable enclosure flexibility while supporting the new connector definition and expanding the power envelope in support of higher performance.
• The support for hot-plug capability to create high-availability and serviceability benefits.

"Intel sees PCIe continuing to grow in importance as a solid state drive interface driven by native attach points in our enterprise platforms. Intel is looking forward to working with SSD Form Factor Working Group to collectively define the essential building blocks for future generations of non-volatile memory storage solutions," said Tom Macdonald, Vice President of Intel Architecture Group and General Manager of Platform Components Group at Intel.

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Canadian firm Research In Motion (RIM) has promised India that it will provide a final solution for the lawful interception of BlackBerry Messenger services by the end of January, according to India.

India is one of several countries in the gulf region that has come to dispute with RIM over the encryption used in some of its communication services. Concerned governments fear it can be used to stir political or social instability and threatened to ban the services if RIM could not provide a solution.

RIM has reached an interim agreement for the lawful interception of BlackBerry Messenger services and assured the government that it will provide a final solution by the end of January 2011, with talks still ongoing over access to corporate e-mails.

"Accordingly, the BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) services will continue to be available," a statement from India's interior ministry said.

RIM's enterprise server systems are designed to protect e-mail and other traffic so that only he sponsoring business or organization has the technical capability to grant access to the unencrypted data. India, like other countries, wants access to the data if it should need it as part of a criminal investigation, for example.

"RIM can confirm that its discussions with the Indian government continue to be constructive and RIM remains optimistic about reaching a positive and final resolution," the Canadian firm said in a separate statement on Friday.

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