Earlier today, Twitter suspended the popular clients UberTwitter and Twidroyd for violating the company's API policies.

Said Twitter:

Today we suspended several applications, including UberTwitter, twidroyd and UberCurrent, which have violated Twitter policies and trademarks in a variety of ways. These violations include, but aren't limited to, a privacy issue with private Direct Messages longer than 140 characters, trademark infringement, and changing the content of users' Tweets in order to make money.

We've had conversations with UberMedia, the developer of these applications, about policy violations since April 2010, when they first launched under the name TweetUp – a term commonly used by Twitter users and a trademark violation. We continue to be in contact with UberMedia and hope that they will bring the suspended applications into compliance with our policies soon.

The company added that it suspends hundreds of apps every week for violating their policies. Those apps are normally tiny but the two suspended today had millions of users on BlackBerrys, iPhones and Android devices.

Despite the suspension, UberTwitter is back already, this time under the name UberSocial. Says UberMedia of the change:

We were immediately in touch with Twitter, and the changes they asked us to make were very small. As a result, we have completed the changes, and new apps are currently being posted to their respective stores. Twitter has assured us that as soon as those changes were complete, they would reactivate our applications.

Twitter also asked us to modify the name of UberTwitter. We began a process of changing the name three weeks ago by polling our users, and we've decided based on their input to change the product name to UberSocial, which we completed today.

To our millions of loyal users, we appreciate your patience during this temporary period. We look forward to continuing our innovations on the Twitter platform.

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Intel has said this week that it is actively searching for a new partner for its MeeGo operating system, after Nokia dropped support last week.

The company claims Microsoft offered "incredible amounts" of money to Nokia to have them switch over to Windows Phone 7 as their smartphone operating system of choice.

CEO Paul Otellini was even bold enough to say had he been in charge, he would have chosen Android over WP7, even though both Google and Microsoft offered substantial amounts of money.

Says Otellini of Nokia CEO Stephen Elop (via Reuters):

I wouldn't have made the decision he made, I would probably have gone to Android if I were him. MeeGo would have been the best strategy but he concluded he couldn't afford it.

Finally, speaking of MeeGo, the formerly joint venture between Nokia and Intel, Otellini says:

We will find another partner. The carriers still want a third ecosystem and the carriers want an open ecosystem, and that's the thing that drives our motivation.

Some closed models will certainly survive, because you can optimise the experience, but in general, if you harness the ability of all the engineers in the world and the developers in the world, open wins.

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Google has launched the first beta for Chrome 10 this week, bringing JavaScript improvements, sync improvements, and an all-new settings interface.

Chrome 10.0.648.82 is available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.

Google promises Chrome 10 has 66 percent faster JavaScript performance than the latest stable Chrome 9 browser. The search giant has updated its "V8 - Crankshaft" JavaScript engine to see the performance upgrades.

The browser also adds basic GPU acceleration for video, "which allows more efficient processor utilization and better battery life," says IW.

Finally, the updated browser implements support for password sync across computers.

Video of the updated interface:

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AMD has announced an agreement with AVG and Digital Delivery Networks (DDNi) in which the companies will include a paid subscription to the popular anti-virus software with AMD boxed processors.

Available to customers in the U.S. and UK, the deal will give buyers a free six-month license to the latest AVG + AVG Online Shield.

Normally, a subscription costs $35 for an annual license.

DDNi will include a mini-CD with AVG and the license in each eligible product. At the end of the six months, users will be given a chance to renew at a discounted price.

Says David Kenyon, corporate vice president of worldwide channel marketing at AMD (via Xbit):

The processor-in-a-box program is designed to provide AMD channel partners and end-users with a portfolio of choices to create exactly what they want. By coupling the benefits of our PIB program with a free premium six-month license of AVG anti-virus, our system builders now have more choices to build solutions that meet their customers' needs.

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Mapquest has released its popular free, turn-by-turn navigation app for Android phones, following its success on iOS.

The GPS app has two notable improvements from the iOS version, however. The app can use speech capabilities and has OpenStreetMap data, meaning it can be used outside of the U.S.

Mapquest says the app (via SELand) is very stable but "still a work in progress."

The company has said that almost 9 million people use the Mapquest mobile site from their smartphones, with 1.4 million of those coming from Android.

Although the new app will likely not move too many users away from Google Maps, it is still good to have options.

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Microsoft has reported today that its recently launched Internet Explorer 9 RC has been downloaded over 2 million times.

The RC was made available on February 10th.

Microsoft says it is "humbled by the enthusiasm and uptake of IE9" and will soon begin notifying beta testers to upgrade. That move should lead to millions more downloads, anticipates the software giant.

Internet Explorer 9 was also confirmed for Windows Phone 7 devices, although the time frame is still unknown.

As of the RC, Microsoft claims their IE9 JavaScript engine is the fastest of all current browsers (based on SunSpider benchmarks). The browser also adds improved JavaScript and tons of added security features.

After the release of IE9 RC, rival Mozilla took a shot at the browser calling it "not modern" and "two years too late."

Download IE9 RC here: http://windows.microsoft.com/ie9

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