Developer Howard Harte has offered a $1000 reward to the first person who can show him how to root a Google TV device, allowing him to install third-party apps.

The only other catch is that the hack must be available before Google officially adds third-party support.

With the ability to root, Harte will port his Better Terminal Emulator Pro Android app to the Google TV.

Reads the rules:

I will give $1000.00USD to the first person who roots/add third-party app support to Google TV subject to the following rules:

The Google TV device must be hacked before Google officially unveils third-party App development support for the Google TV.

The person must contact me via email and detail the procedure to hack either the Sony NSZ-1 Blue-Ray DVD

Player with Google TV, or the Logitech Revue. I will verify the procedure on one of my devices.

For the Google TV to be considered rooted, the procedure must result in the end-user having the ability to install third-party apps.

The procedure must be applicable to production versions of Google TV devices.

The procedure should be doable using a software-only approach. Partial consideration ($500.00USD) will be given for other methods that involve hardware hacks to the Google TV. A hardware hack is one that involves opening up the Google TV device, including, but not limited to: Reprogramming via JTAG, serial console access, reprogramming FLASH memory chips using a FLASH programmer, etc.

The successful hacker should include a YouTube video of Better Terminal Emulator Pro running on the Google TV.

Payment will be made via PayPal.

Adds Harte: "I'd like to get a jump on porting my Android apps to Google TV. Unlike many Android apps, most of mine make use of native code, so [they] are dependent on the type of CPU. I have ported Better Terminal Emulator Pro to the x86 CPU, but have not yet been able to test on an official Google platform, so having an open Google TV will help in that regard. All other Android devices to date are ARM-based, which is why I want a rooted Google TV."

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According to posts via Twitter, Microsoft is ready to release a giant update for Windows Phone 7, one that will bring many of the features that users hoped for when the smartphones launched earlier this month.

With the software update will come the following updates:

-Bing turn-by-turn directions, improvements
-Custom ringer support
-Copy/Paste
-Multitasking

"MS took 3 months to do what Apple did in 3 years. Let's just say, they could have called it Windows Phone 8," says Chris Walshie, developer behind ChevronWP7.

ChevronWP7 is the unlocking software used to jailbreak WP7 devices. Jailbroken devices can install homebrew and unsigned apps.

Microsoft has not confirmed, but rumor has the update hitting devices late next month or in early January.

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Microsoft has announced today that strong Thanksgiving week demand has led to strong sales of the Kinect motion control system.

The software giant says sales have now hit 2.5 million worldwide since launch on November 4th.

Adds Don Mattrick, president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft:

"We are thrilled about the consumer response to Kinect, and are working hard with our retail and manufacturing partners to expedite production and shipments of Kinect to restock shelves as fast as possible to keep up with demand. With sales already exceeding two and a half million units in just 25 days, we are on pace to reach our forecast of 5 million units sold to consumers this holiday."

Kinect is available in 38 countries.

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Mozilla's senior exec Asa Dotzler has gone off on Google, Apple and Microsoft this week, ranting on the "evils" of their plugins which install in Firefox without asking the user permission.

Says Dotzler:

"Why do Microsoft, Google, Apple, and others think that it is an OK practice to add plug-ins to Firefox when I'm installing their software packages?"

"When I installed iTunes, in order to manage my music collection and sync to my iPod, why did Apple think it was OK to add the iTunes Application Detector plug-in to my Firefox web browser without asking me?"

"Why did Microsoft think it was OK to sneak its Windows Live Photo Gallery or Office Live Plug-in for Firefox into my browser (presumably) when I installed Microsoft Office?"

"What makes Google think it's reasonable behaviour for it to slip a Google Update plugin into Firefox when I installed Google Earth or Google Chrome (not sure which one caused this) without asking me first?"

The exec likens the plugins to Trojan horses, malicious codes that are installed on victim computers without consent.

Dotzler calls the way they are installed as "sneaky, underhanded, and wrong."

He concludes: "Microsoft, stop being evil. Apple, stop being evil. Google, stop being evil. It's really simple. Ask first!"

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The iPhone Dev Team has said today that Ultrasn0w for Apple iOS 4.2.1 is about ready for distribution, giving users with the latest firmware update a way to unlock their iPhones.

Apple released the update on November 22nd.

The Dev Team already released an updated version of redsn0w, the tool used to easily jailbreak your devices, but many iPhone owners were waiting for a way to unlock their smartphones.

Unfortunately, the software only works with older iPhones, the 3G and 3GS models.

Says the team:

"After redsn0w is officially released with the new Cydia and kernel patches, we'll be able to assess the unlock situation. It's already looking very promising though, so expect the unlock for the 3G and 3GS to be coming this week. The i4 unlock is taking more effort though, and no further concrete info is available about that yet."

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Nintendo has said today that they have already seen strong Holiday demand for their Wii and DS consoles, with 1.5 million being sold last week.

For the individual week of Thanksgiving, the gaming giant sold 900,000 DS handhelds and 600,000 Wii consoles, far out pacing past full months.

Adds NoA president Reggie Fils-Aime: "U.S. shoppers bought about 9,000 Nintendo hardware systems nonstop for every hour of every day during the week of Black Friday."

Year-over-year, DS sales were down from 1 million, but Wii sales rose from 550,000.

As a special promotion, Nintendo has launched new bundles of the console, including a 25th anniversary Super Mario Bros. red Wii and a green Mario Party DSi handheld.

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Although still unconfirmed, multiple sources are reporting today that search giant Google has acquired daily deal site Groupon after weeks of discussions.

The rumored price is $2.5 billion, in line with past estimates that said Groupon could command up to a $3 billion price tag.

Groupon is a giant in the daily deal world, and was valued at over $1 billion in April. Since then, traffic has continued to explode, with small business owners lining up to get on the site.

Yahoo was also rumored to have been interested in Groupon, offering as much as $4 billion for the site, but that bid was never confirmed, either.

If accurate, the purchase will be Google's largest this year, and their second largest ever, behind the purchase of DoubleClick in 2008 for $3.2 billion.

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Microsoft is currently in discussions with media companies in an effort to start a new subscription TV service through the Xbox 360, a service that will directly compete with Hulu Plus and Netflix.

The software giant has even gone as far as to say it could become a "virtual cable operator," delivering the shows over the Internet to subscribers paying a monthly fee.

A second option would be to use the 360 console to give current cable subscribers "enhanced interactivity" of shows they might be currently watching.

Microsoft is also looking into selling more individual channels, such as premium cable networks like HBO or Showtime. The company currently offers ESPN through Xbox Live.

Sources (via Reuters) say the negotiations are still early, but productive, and a service may not be available until late 2011.

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