Kaufman Bros. analyst Shawn Wu says RIM is "making good progress" on the upcoming PlayBook tablet, however, the low battery life remains a critical issue.

Wu cites industry and supply chain sources, adding that the new QNX operating system is progressing strongly, as well.

Outside of the battery life, "app store monetization" is also an issue, notes the analyst.

Speaking about RIM's decision to work on multiple operating systems (BlackBerry OS 6 and QNX), Wu added(via PCM):"Competitive pressures will likely step up as we are also hearing Microsoft courting developers pretty aggressively with its new Windows Phone 7 platform as it attempts to catch up."

The battery life remains the main concern, which Wu claims is only "a few hours." The iPad claims 10 hours while the Galaxy Tab has over 6.

"From our understanding, this could require a bit of re-engineering," says Wu of the OS and battery life. "One possibility we are hearing is the likelihood of a larger battery which could add to the heft and weight of PlayBook."

In its current form, the PlayBook is 0.9 pounds.

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Cowon has launched their D3 Plenue portable media player (PMP) this week, featuring Android.

The D3 runs on Android 2.1, has a 3.7-inch AMOLED display, and a 800x480 resolution.

Cowon's latest also includes Bluetooth 2.1,WLAN 802.11 b/g, a gravity sensor, vibration feedback, terrestrial DMB, FM Radio, E-Book, Photo Album, vocabulary, Twitter and other apps.

While the company promises apps, it is unclear if D3 owners will ever get access to the 100,000-deep Android Market library.

The D3 will be available in purple or black in 8GB, 16GB or 32GB models, each with a MicroSD slot.

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TorrentFreak has posted their list of the most pirated video games of the year, and unsurprisingly the top title is Call of Duty: Black Ops.

COD was the most pirated game on the PC, and fifth most on the Xbox 360. Super Mario Galaxy 2 was the most pirated Wii title.

Dante's Inferno took the cake for the 360.

Despite launching in November, Black Ops was downloaded 4,270,000 times for the PC and 930,000 times for the 360.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 came in second with 4,270,000 total downloads.

TF says their data is "collected from several sources, including reports from all public BitTorrent trackers. All the data is carefully checked and possible inaccuracies are systematically corrected."

The full list (rank, game, download count, release month):

PC:
1 Call of Duty: Black Ops (4,270,000) (Nov. 2010)
2 Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (3,960,000) (Mar. 2010)
3 Mafia 2 (3,550,000) (Aug. 2010)
4 Mass Effect 2 (3,240,000) (Jan. 2010)
5 Starcraft II (3,120,000) (Jul. 2010)

Wii:
1 Super Mario Galaxy 2 (1,470,000) (May. 2010)
2 Wii Party (1,220,000) (Oct. 2010)
3 Donkey Kong Country Returns (920,000) (Nov. 2010)
4 Kirbys Epic Yarn (880,000) (Oct. 2010)
5 Red Steel 2 (850,000) (Mar. 2010)

Xbox 360:
1 Dante's Inferno (1,280,000) (Feb. 2010)
2 Alan Wake (1,140,000) (May. 2010)
3 Red Dead Redemption (1.060,000) (May. 2010)
4 Halo Reach (990,000) (Sept. 2010)
5 Call of Duty: Black Ops (930,000) (Nov. 2010)

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Apple has been sued this week over "allegedly transmitting user information to advertising networks without the consent of owners" of its iOS devices.

Jonathan Lalo, of Los Angeles, says Apple and a group of mobile app developers sold his personal data (age, sex, location) to ad networks.

Reads the suit: "[Lalo] did not expect, receive notice of, or consent to Defendants' tracking of his iPhone app use and did not want Defendants to engage in such activity."

Apple's policies state that apps are not allowed to transmit data without a user's consent.

The suit comes at a time when the WSJ has broken news that many mobile applications transmit personal data to third party advertisers without user content.

One of the most high-profile apps named is Pandora, the popular Internet radio app.

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According to a new DigiTimes report, Apple will launch three different models of the upcoming second-generation iPad, adding a CDMA version, as well.

The current iPad is available as Wi-Fi-only and as a UMTS and Wi-Fi model.

Apple will produce UMTS, CDMA and Wi-Fi models in a ratio of 4:3:3.

500,000 iPads should already be assembled by the end of January, with release expected in April.

Most current research reports claim that about 65 percent of all worldwide iPad shipments are the UMTS model.

Apple is ready to ship 16 million iPads by the end of the year, with 2 million or so expected to still be on retailer shelves come January.

The company will produce 40 million iPads next year, adds the report.

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Security company McAfee has listed its expected 2011 "targets" for malicious activity, claiming Apple devices, smartphones, URL shorteners and geo-location services will be at the top of the list.

"We've seen significant advancements in device and social-network adoption, placing a bulls-eye on the platforms and services users are embracing the most," adds Vincent Weafer, senior vice president of McAfee Labs (via Cnet). "These platforms and services have become very popular in a short amount of time, and we're already seeing a significant increase in vulnerabilities, attacks and data loss."

Apple, for example, has long been seen as "more secure" or "safer" than its Windows counterparts, but digging deeper into the matter has always resulted in the same conclusion. Apple devices appear safer because virus writers have not taken the time to write for them. Why waste time trying to infect 9 percent of the world's PCs, when you can take just as much time to write code that could infect the other 91? However, now that Apple devices,(Macs or iOS) are practically in every household, McAfee says the company will become a much larger target.

Additionally, URL shorteners used maliciously will continue to grow, as Twitter users have already become accustomed to clicking through shortened links without even checking the link preview.

Geo-location services, along with social networking sites, will give cybercriminals a chance to "target" attacks. Says McAfee:

"In just a few clicks, cybercriminals can see in real time who is tweeting, where they are located, what they are saying, what their interests are, and what operating systems and applications they are using. This wealth of personal information on individuals enables cybercriminals to craft a targeted attack."

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Sears has announced the launch of Alphaline Entertainment, an online movie download service that will give Sears and K-Mart customers a chance to download films the same day they hit DVD and Blu-ray.

The service is based on Sonic's RoxioNow platform.

Plans for the platform were announced in June and Sears is now rolling out the service, which will be available for HDTVs, media players and smartphones.

Sonic was just purchased last week by Rovi, months after the company bough the digital-compression software maker DivX to increase its digital presence.

CinemaNow, another Sonic online movie store, has been popular thanks to a partnership with Best Buy.

Sears is pushing into a market dominated by Google, Amazon, Netflix and Apple although those companies (for the most part) lack a brick-and-mortar presence.

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