A row over the rights to broadcast football games has resulted in a ban of Google's blogspot service in Turkey.

Digiturk, a satellite TV provider in Turkey, made a copyright complaint after discovering feeds of its broadcasts of football matches on Google's blogspot service. A court in Turkey dealt with the problem by simply blocking the service altogether, which is permitted by the country's copyright laws.

The move is likely to anger the estimated 600,000 users of blogspot in the country who will now either have to wait for another resolution, or use a technical measure to get around the block.

Google acknowledged the blocking of its popular blogging service in Turkey, saying those with concerns about piracy should use its simple takedown systems rather than banning the service outright. "The process for making a copyright claim for content uploaded to Blogger is straightforward and efficient, and we encourage all content owners to use it rather than seek a broad ban on access to the service," said a Google spokesperson.

"That way, people in Turkey can continue to enjoy Blogger whilst we respond to the specific complaint."

The issue of streaming football matches and other sports events through websites or through feed sharing applications is becoming a hot topic in the west too.

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Google has thrown out some rogue applications from the Android Marketplace after it emerged that they contained a virus.

All in all, more than 50 applications got the boot and three accounts were suspended after the discovery. A Reddit user, "Lompolo" is credited with finding the first dodgy apps after he noticed an application was listed under the name of a developer he knew didn't develop it.

The application was exactly the same as the original except for a change of title and of course, the malicious code buried inside it.

He initially found 21 apps but a further investigation by Android Police uncovered 50 in total. Lompolo estimated the rogue applications to have been downloaded between 50,000 and 200,000 times.

The virus lurking in the applications is "DroidDream", which immediately would call home to a remote server and send certain information, such as the phone's unique ID number. It checks first whether the handset is already infected and if not, will utilize a bunch of known security flaws in the operating system to infect the handset.

Once infected, code can be installed on the phone remotely and sensitive information can be stolen.

The latest version of Android (Gingerbread) is not vulnerable to the exploits used by the DroidDream malware.

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Facebook has been valued at $65 billion as General Atlantic looks to invest in the popular social networking giant.

General Atlantic is seeking to buy about 2.5 million shares of Facebook from former employees, which will give the firm a 0.1 percent stake in the company. The deal has not closed as it requires the approval of Facebook first, which has not given public comment on the original report from CNBC.

Back in January this year, Facebook announced that it raised $1.5 billion from investors that included Goldman Sachs and Digital Sky Technologies. At the time, the investments valued Facebook at about $50 billion.

The mammoth valuation of Facebook reflects its penetration into the every day lives of millions of people around the world. The site, launched originally in 2004, has amassed half a billion users across the world.

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According to Bloomberg, Apple may finally be on the verge of removing their one-time-only download limits.

In the iTunes Store, the TOS reads:

Products may be downloaded only once and cannot be replaced if lost for any reason. Once a Product is downloaded, it is your responsibility not to lose, destroy, or damage it, and Apple shall not be liable to you if you do so.

Bloomberg says that limit may be removed, according to "three people with knowledge of the plans."

Apple is currently negotiating with UMG, SME, WMG and EMI.

The new agreement will give "iTunes customers a permanent backup of music purchases if the originals are damaged or lost."

Downloads will also be available via iOS devices, as long as those devices are linked to the same iTunes account.

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According to multiple sources, Zynga has had introductory talks with News Corp. about purchasing the dying social network MySpace.

News Corp. is asking for over $100 million in Zynga stock, a number far too steep for the social gaming company to even consider.

MySpace continues its death spiral, with traffic already at 50 percent lower than it was in 2010, which was 30 percent lower than it was in 2009.

Annual revenues have fallen to $80 million, from over $300 million in 2008. News Corp. purchased the site for $660 million in 2006.

If Zynga walks, MySpace CEO Mike Jones is said to be raising money for a possible bid.

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Twitter co-founder Biz Stone has said today that the micro-blogging site is not planning to go public this year, nor does it need another round of funding from private investors.

The founder also denied the multiple reports that JPMorgan Chase was looking to buy a massive 10 percent stake in the service for $450 million.

When asked about a possible IPO, Stone said:

We have so many other things before we even think about that. We are not even discussing it internally. It's too far off.

Twitter has over 200 million users.

Following its latest funding round in December, the microblogging company has a value of almost $4 billion.

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The new VIA Eden X2 dual-core processor has been unveiled at Embedded World 2011.

The company claims the fanless Eden X2 is the world's most power-efficient dual-core processor. It is made for use with a broad range of industrial and commercial embedded systems.

"Eden X2 shows how once again VIA is setting the pace when it comes to highly optimized, power-efficient processing," said Daniel Wu, Vice President, VIA Embedded Platform Division, VIA Technologies, Inc. "Embedded developers will relish the opportunity to integrate a native 64-bit, dual-core processor in passively cooled, ultra stable systems."

Designed with the latest 40nm manufacturing processor, the VIA Eden X2 processors combine two 64-bit, superscalar VIA Eden cores on one die, offering enhanced multi-tasking and superb multimedia performance on a rigidly low power budget.

It also touts VIA VT virtualization, a technology that allows legacy software and applications to be used in virtual scenarios without impacting on performance. The unique VIA AES Security Engine offers hardware-based data encryption on the fly, and essential tool in content protection and system security.

VIA Eden X2 processors are natively 64-bit compatible, facilitating an essential transition for the future of the embedded industry as 64-bit operating systems such as Windows Embedded Standard 7 allow for vastly improved data throughput per clock cycle. It is also fully compatible with the Windows CE and Linux operating systems.

Full technical details aren't being offered yet to backup VIA's claims in its release, but its interesting to note that the original Eden ULV x86 processor clocked 500MHz on just 1 watt.

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According to Peter Vesterbacka of Rovio, the free Android versions of 'Angry Birds' has been downloaded over 30 million times, making it one of the top apps, ever, on Android.

Furthermore, the developer says downloaders remain interested in the game after the initial download, with a full 80 percent of Android users downloading updates, like the 'Valentine's Day' add-on for Angry Bird's Seasons.

Earlier in the month, Vesterbacka said the company had sold 2 million of the official plush toys and that the company was now looking to expand the brand into other products as popularity for the game remains high.

On Android, Rovio says the app is bringing in over $1 million a month in advertising.

Finally, the developer says Angry Birds is headed to Facebook and "there will be completely new aspects to it that just haven't been experienced in any other platform. The pigs will have a more prominent role." There was not too much else said about the upcoming launch, however.

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Nielsen has reported this week that Android is the top smartphone OS in the United States.

Active smartphones running Android have 29 percent of the market, just beating out iOS and BlackBerry, which are tied for second at 27 percent. In fourth place is Microsoft, with their Windows Mobile and Windows Phone 7 devices.

For Android, HTC remains the top manufacturer, at 12 percent share, followed by Motorola at 10 percent and Samsung at 5 percent.

The figures are for the period ended January 31st, so Nielsen notes that the figures may be different following the launch of the iPhone on Verizon.

Rounding out the top 5 is HP's WebOS at 4 percent.

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Jenni Farley, otherwise known as 'J-Woww' on the hit MTV show 'The Jersey Shore,' has apparently become a dangerous search term.

According to an annual security report by Barracuda Labs (via Fast), searching for "Jenni J-Woww" is the second most dangerous search term, right behind searching for "music video."

Among the other top searches that led directly to malware were "Rex Ryan," "credit score" and "Barack Obama."

Malware comes in the form of browser add-ons, trojans, viruses, and spyware.

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According to reports, Microsoft Corp. will not unveil an operating system for tablets to compete with Android and iOS until next year.

Bloomberg cites people familiar with the company's plans in reporting that Microsoft will not release a tablet OS until the 2012 back-to-school season. This means Microsoft will be entering the competition very late, with many analysts claiming 2011 will be the year of the tablet wars.

It provides Apple and Google with ample time to strengthen their hold on the market. Microsoft's OS will likely be released after a third iPad is unveiled by Apple. HP and RiM, among many other firms, will likely have released second generation tablets by then too.

In January this year, Microsoft vowed to support ARM architecture-based processors in the next versions of its Windows operating systems. ARM processors are used in smartphones and tablets to drive the feature-rich devices while keeping power consumption and heat as low as possible.

Higher demand for PC alternatives, such as tablets, will result in lower than expected PC shipments this year, according to research firm Gartner. Microsoft's Windows operating system powers more than 90 percent of personal computers, but Apple is claiming 90 percent of the tablet market, according to Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

Some tablets already run Microsoft software, but Microsoft is looking to update its Windows 7 operating system with features more tailored to tablets.

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Sony has admitted that PlayStation 3 consoles have been seized by customs officers in the Netherlands.

It was reported earlier this week that tens of thousands of PS3 units were seized in the Netherlands following a Dutch court order. The actions stem from a patent dispute between Sony and LG Electronics, which has so far resulted in a 10-day import ban being ordered.

The legal dispute between both consumer electronics firms can be traced back three years, when the companies failed to renew a technology sharing deal. Since then, both have sued the other alleging patent infringement.

Last year, Sony tried to have imports of LG smartphones to the United States blocked, while last month LG filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) alleging the PS3 infringes on patents related to Blu-ray technology

While the Netherlands is an important entry point to the European market for Sony, the company is looking for alternative solutions to avoid supply problems anywhere in Europe. It does not affect the issue to affect its regional sales.

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Intel has shown off the next in a line of new solid-state drives (SSDs) featuring fast SATA 6Gbps performance.

The new drives in the Intel Solid-State Drive 510 Series take full advantage of the transition to higher speed SATA bus interfaces on the recently introduced 2nd Generation Intel Core processor-based platforms. The SSD 510 models support transfer speeds up to 500MB/s, doubling the sequential read speeds, and triples the sequential write speeds of the 3Gbps line to 315MB/s.

The Intel SSD 510 with 6Gbps SATA interface outperforms 10,000 RPM HDDs by 50 percent for fast performance and high visual fidelity game play. The line is aimed at gamers, media creators and performance-intensive workstations.

"The Intel SSD 510 Series helps round out our SSD product line and was specifically designed for applications that require high sequential media transfers," said Pete Hazen, director of marketing for Intel's NAND Solutions Group.

"Whether it's a gamer wanting impeccable visual performance and faster game loading, or a performance-intensive workstation user, the new 6Gbps SATA SSD from Intel is not only significantly faster than the top 10,000 RPM gaming HDD, it's also faster than two RAIDed gaming HDDs."

The Intel SSD 510 series uses 34-nanometer NAND flash memory, while the upcoming third generation of Intel SSDs will use 25-nanometer technology. The new product is now available in 1,000 unit quantities priced at $584 per unit for 250GB capacity, and $284 per unit for 120GB capacity.

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