The Acer Iconia Tab A500 is now available for pre-order via Best Buy, with a price tag of $450.

Acer's first real entry to the tablet market features a 10-inch screen, Android 3.0 Honeycomb, a Nvidia Tegra 250 1GHz dual-core processor, 16GB internal storage, microSD slot, GeForce graphics, 1GB RAM, dual cameras and Flash 10.2.

Says the company (via CSM):

One of the tablet's most impressive features is its ability to run and play premium HD arcade games and complex online games. The 10-point touch display and six-axis motion sensing gyro meter control provide an entertainment experience on par with the best game consoles. The Acer Iconia Tab A500 will ship with two pre-loaded games: Need for Speed: Shift and Let's Golf.

As Wi-Fi/16GB, the tablet undercuts the Apple iPad 2 by $50.

The Acer Iconia Tab A500 goes on sale April 24th.

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Apple has said today that it will actively look into the 3G glitch that has been giving Verizon iPad 2 owners connectivity issues.

Users have reported troubles connecting back to 3G after they have turned the feature off and back on. The only fix so far has been to reboot the device, which can get understandably frustrating.

Apple says: "We are aware that a small number of iPad 2 customers have experienced connectivity issues with the Verizon 3G network and we are investigating it."

Those with AT&T iPad 2s do not seem to be having similar issues.

Many believe Apple will fix most of the iPad 2's early bugs with the release of iOS 4.3.2, set for rollout within weeks.

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Samsung released their first Android tablet, the Galaxy Tab, last November.

The device sold with two-year data contract for $400 at start, but has since dropped to $250.

As of April 10th, users who may still want the device can get their hands on the long-awaited Wi-Fi-only version for $350 and no contracts necessary.

Samsung's tablet runs on Android 2.2, has a 1GHz processor, a 7-inch multi-touch screen and dual cameras.

"We are excited to have the WiFi version of the Galaxy Tab join our growing portfolio of Galaxy-branded devices," said Dale Sohn, President of Samsung Mobile. "The 7-inch Galaxy Tab is the first truly mobile tablet on the market, allowing users to comfortably hold the device in one hand while typing or navigating the Web with the other."

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Following Viacom's suit over their live TV streaming iPad app, Time Warner Cable has counter-sued the content giant and the issue appears headed to court.

Last month, TWC released their TWCableTV app, which allowed its paying subscribers to watch live TV via their iPads.

Warner wants a "declaratory judgment" and a court ruling allowing the company to transmit TV programming to any device its customers may have.

Viacom, on the other hand, says all its previous distribution rights deals have been device-specific, and do not include tablets or other mobiles. The company is now seeking damages for TWC's alleged breach of contract and licensing agreements.

Says TWC of the app:

We have steadfastly maintained that we have the rights to allow our customers to view this programming in their homes, over our cable systems, without artificial limits on the screens they can use to do so, and we are asking the court to confirm our view.

Viacom, clearly, does not see it that way:

Viacom has made clear that it is willing to discuss extension of similar rights to others -- including TWC. What Viacom cannot do, however, is permit one of its contracting partners, TWC, to unilaterally change the terms of its contractual relationship.

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OCZ has debuted their Vertex 3 SSD line this week, with read speeds of 550 MB/s and write speeds of up to 520 MB/s.

The drives will be available as 120, 240 and 480GB varieties.

Enterprise-class versions of the drive will begin shipping in May.

First introduced at CES in January, the drives will feature a SATA 6 Gbps interface and a Sandforce SF-2200 controller. Each 2.5-inch drive will also feature native TRIM support.

Says OCZ (via THG):

The Vertex 3 series with the SandForce SF-2200 SSD processor has been eagerly anticipated in the marketplace. Our partnership with SandForce has again facilitated the introduction of a solution that sets the benchmark for industry leading performance and reliability.

As with most SSD, the new Vertex 3 will not be cheap. The 120GB model retails for $300, the 240GB for $550 and the 480GB for a whopping $1900.

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It's official: Pandora has been sending your personal information to third-party advertising clients.

The news comes via security firm Veracode, who performed an analysis after the streaming music company revealed it had been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury to show off documents relating to its data collection practices on mobile devices.

Veracode (via Ars) says Pandora does, in fact, send your Android ID, date of birth, gender and GPS location to a number of ad companies.

The app integrates with Google.ads, AdMarvel, AdMob, comScore and Medialets.

Writes Veracode:

The analysis into the remaining libraries resulted in even more of the same. The SecureStudies library accesses the android_id and directly sends a hash of the data to [ link ] while the Medialets library accesses the device's GPS location, bearing, altitude, android_id, connection status, network information, device brand, model, release revision, and current IP address.

[Y]our personal information is being transmitted to advertising agencies in mass quantities. In isolation some of this data is uninteresting, but when compiled into a single unifying picture, it can provide significant insight into a person's life... When all that is placed into a single basket, it's pretty easy to determine who someone is, what they do for a living, who they associate with, and any number of other traits about them. I don't know about you, but that feels a little Orwellian to me.

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The U.S. government is said to be considering using social networking sites as a way to release terror alerts and other relevant info from the Department of Homeland Security.

Additionally, the 5-level system will be removed and replaced with just two; elevated and imminent.

Each level will have an "expiration date," and will be removed after that date or extended if extra caution is still required.

The new system should begin at the end of this month.

Says the AP:

According to the draft plan, before an official alert is issued, there is a multi-step process that must be followed, starting with intelligence sharing among multiple federal, state and local agencies, including the FBI, the National Counterterrorism Center and the White House. If the threat is considered serious enough, a Homeland Security official will call for a meeting of a special counterterrorism advisory board. That board would be expected to meet within 30 minutes of being called. If it's decided an alert is necessary, it would need to be issued within two hours."

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After days of assaulting the PSN (more info here), the hacking group 'Anonymous' has decided to change up its plan of attack, to one that will not affect Sony customers as much.

Says the group:

During the last few days, Anonymous has been targeting Sony for their outrageous treatment of not only PS3 users and jailbreakers, but also of the general public. Their propaganda regarding jailbreaking implies that it encourages piracy and thereby makes people lose their jobs, whereas jailbreaking actually just means you are making YOUR device do what it should do. Imagine if Microsoft forced you to use Internet Explorer instead of Firefox or Chrome. Imagine if they denied users from using any other web browser than their own. Many people would obviously be pissed... but then, why aren't you pissed at Sony?

The fact that their litigation demanded information on everyone who had viewed the material, was completely unacceptable. This is a threat not only to the gaming community, but to freedom of information in general. The fact that the privacy of individuals can be violated, simply for accessing information, and legal action can be taken for doing something with something you own, are steps far beyond the line. Anonymous decided it could not allow this to stand. If jailbreaking a phone for use of legal (unsigned) apps is found legal, why would this be any different for the Geohot case, seeing as Geohot explicitly states he does not support piracy?

Anonymous is not attacking the PSN at this time. Sony's official position is that the PSN is undergoing maintenance. We realize that targeting the PSN is not a good idea. We have therefore temporarily suspended our action, until a method is found that will not severely impact Sony customers.

Anonymous is on your side, standing up for your rights. We are not aiming to attack customers of Sony. This attack is aimed solely at Sony, and we will try our best to not affect the gamers, as this would defeat the purpose of our actions. If we did inconvenience users, please know that this was not our goal.
This operation is a response to Sony's attempt to deprive their customers of products they bought and therefore own, wholly and completely. Anonymous will not attempt to fight this by following the exact same course of action. We have plenty of tricks up our sleeves.

That being said, our campaign against Sony and others that would trample on the idea of free information will continue, until we are satisfied with the outcome.

The group started in 2003 via 4chan and recently became a household name after they launched DDoS attacks on MasterCard, Visa, PayPal and Amazon after the companies cut off donations and server space to WikiLeaks following the release of diplomatic cables.

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