Motorola Mobility said Friday that approximately 100 refurbished Xooms were sold by Woot.com in late 2011 without clearing all personal information from the devices. The tablets that were resold could still have everything the original inputed into the device including photos, documents, user names, passwords and applications. The company is calling the mistake a "refurbishment process error."

Doing the right thing, customers who returned the tablets to retailers will receive a complimentary two-year membership of Experian ProtectMyID. Experian's services will alert customers if anything goes wrong with their identity but are also advised to change passwords to email and other online accounts. Of course all the blame can't be put on Motorola, most users should have and did perform a factory data reset before returning and therefore are not threatened. 

Those who bought a refurbished Xoom from Woot.com are asked to contact Motorola directly to find out if the tablet they bought was properly resold. Customers can go to motorola.com/xoomreturn or call customer support. Motorola says the affected tablets were bought from October to December 2011.

Earlier this week, Apple released the third maintenance update, OS X 10.7.3, for its Mac OS X Lion operating system. The update addresses several bugs that have been plaguing users since the launch of Lion last summer, and also adds support for new languages. The update, however, did not go as smoothly for some users, who have been reporting of "CUI" errors and applications crashing. 

In response to the massive user feedback, Apple has elected to remove the "Delta" updater to OS X 10.7.3 all together, leaving users only with the option of using the combined installer to update. The only difference between the delta and combined installers is that the combined installer includes all maintenance updates to Mac OS X Lion (10.7.1, 10.7.2, and 10.7.3), while the delta one includes only the latest version (10.7.3). In turn, the file size of the combined installer is significantly larger. 

If you're noticing issues with Lion 10.7.3, it's recommended that you try installing the combined update over your current system. This can be downloaded from Apple's Support Website here. 

We've included some of our favorites of the twenty-five, and you can see the entire list on DYAC. 

Early last month, Google discovered that it was going against its own terms of service by paying blogs to display links to the Chrome download webpage. This essentially improved where links to download Google Chrome appeared on search results. As a result, the company lowered the PageRank of the Chrome download webpage, which in turn lowers where the link appears on search results. The punishment is set to last for 60 days, meaning that there's still one month of pain to be endured by Google. 

In December 2011, Chrome controlled 19.11% of the total web browser market. In January 2012, this dipped to 18.94%, representing a 0.17% loss. 

Dropbox has announced on its forums that it is offering anyone of its users 5 GB of free extra storage space for their account if they help test the application's upcoming photo and video upload feature. Experimental version 1.3.13 of the Dropbox app is now available for download for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux (links below) and for every 500 MB of photos and videos you upload to the service, 500 MB of storage will be added to your account, up to a total of 5 GB. 

• Windows: http://dl-web.dropbox.com/u/17/Dropbox%201.3.13.exe
• Mac OS X: http://dl-web.dropbox.com/u/17/Dropbox%201.3.13.dmg
• Linux x86_64: http://dl-web.dropbox.com/u/17/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-1.3.13.tar.gz
• Linux x86: http://dl-web.dropbox.com/u/17/dropbox-lnx.x86-1.3.13.tar.gz

Finally, Dropbox is specifically mentioning that, if you'd like to take advantage of this offer, you must directly upload the photos to the service. You cannot drag-and-drop photos that have already been imported onto a computer for the extra storage space. 

According to a report from InformationWeek, iOS developer and CEO of Shmoopi, LLC, Nick Kramer, has admitted to including a so-called "easter egg" in his iRandomizer Numbers app, which is currently available on the App Store, that allows users to take advantage of Internet tethering without paying extra through a carrier. 

Kramer says that he initially built the feature for his "family and close friends" and didn't think that the extra, unannounced "feature" would leak out to the general public. To use Internet tethering through the app, you have to enter the number "1984" in the minimum field and "31337" in the maximum field. Normally, the app is just a random number generator. 

Kramer goes on to explain that he published the app at a high price tag of $4.99 to discourage normal users from purchasing the app, because of the hidden Internet tethering feature included. 

Including an undocumented or hidden feature in an iOS app is against Apple's current App Store Review Guidelines for developers, which means iRandomizer Numbers is subject to removal by the company. It would join an ever-growing list of apps that attempt to sneak in Internet tethering into the App Store, the last being the app "Handy Light" back in 2010. 

Nick Kramer, CEO of Shmoopi, LLC, acknowledged in an email that his app supports tethering. "Reluctantly, I will admit that my application 'iRandomizer Numbers' does have a hidden tethering feature," he wrote. "I say reluctantly because I didn't plan on the feature being released. I designed the tethering functionality for my family and close friends not thinking it would be disseminated outside that circle."

If you're thinking about picking this app up, now is probably the time to do it.

The Loop has posted a statement from an Apple spokesperson regarding the reason of why one Apple customer began receiving iMessages on their iPhone that were meant for the Genius Bar employee that helped the customer diagnose an issue with the device. According to previous reports, the customer had an issue with the iPhone, brought it into an Apple Store for checkup, and shortly after began receiving messages that were intended for the employee that worked on the device. 

The Loop says that the employee followed incorrect and unofficial procedures by using the SIM card from their iPhone in the customer's iPhone, leading to confusion of phone numbers between the smartphones. It was initially believed that this was a bug with iMessage, Apple's iOS-to-iOS messaging service that debuted in iOS 5, but Apple has since stated that this is a "rare situation." 

“This was an extremely rare situation that occurred when a retail employee did not follow the correct service procedure and used their personal SIM to help a customer who did not have a working SIM,” Apple representative Natalie Harrison told The Loop. “This resulted in a temporary situation that has since been resolved by the employee.”

Today, Infinity Ward revealed its plans to launch the widely popular "Infected" game mode on Modern Warfare 3 as a community playlist, meaning it can be played outside of private match. The plan is to launch Infected this Sunday, February 5 on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. 

When you join a game of INFECTED, 10 seconds after the match begins you will either be chosen as the Infected or placed on the side of the surivors. Each side will be restricted to a specific selection of weapons.

...

The game ends when either all players have been turned into infected or the game timer ends. A Survivor's goal is to stay alive until the game ends, however, if you're turned Infected, your goal is to turn all other survivors into infected by killing them.

You will receive 100 points per kill (whether you're a survivor or infected)

Survivors receive an additional 100 points each time an infected kills another survivor.

The rest of the announcement discusses possible weapon + perk configurations that will appear throughout the lobbies (chosen randomly). 

Earlier today, Internet hacker group Anonymous took responsibility for an attack on the Boston Police Department website, which hosts as a public safety blog for people in the local Boston area. The group defaced the website with the message embedded below, but the site has since been redirected to the Boston Police Department's Facebook Page for the time being. 

“Is that it? Hell no, there is plenty more mayhem to deliver for this #F—FBIFriday. Do you remember a few months ago when #antisec attaked the Boston Police and released hundred of passwords in retaliation for the brutality against Occupy Boston? They clearly ignored our warnings, because not only did they raid the camp again and kicked protesters off of public parks, but they also sent undercover TSA agents to assualt and attempt to steal from some organizers. So you get your kicks beating protesters? That’s OK; we get kicks defacing and rm’n your websites – again. BDNNews.com, the “Boston Poice Department Virtual Community” also fell to the swift merciless veangeance of the hive. Do you really want to step to this??”

The Boston Police Department released the following statement via their Facebook Page: 

The Boston Police Department is working diligently to restore the function of BPDNews.com, the department’s public safety blog. It is unfortunate that someone would go to this extent to compromise BPDNews.com, a helpful and informative public safety resource utilized daily by community members seeking up-to-date news and information about important safety matters. Our skillful technical staff is focused on rectifying this issue. Detectives continue their investigation into individuals engaging in this type of disruptive and criminal activity.

This news comes after audio of a conversation between members of the FBI was released. The conversation was regarding taking down several members of the Anonymous group.  

Micron Technology, a company specializing in the PC business, announced today that its chairman and CEO, Steve Appleton, has passed away in a small plane crash. Appleton was reportedly flying a small plane when there was some type of issue and the plane suddenly caught fire. The crash occurred in Boise, Idaho and Appleton was the only passenger aboard the aircraft at the time. He was 51 years old. 

The following statements were released by the company:

Our hearts go out to his wife, Dalynn, his children and his family during this tragic time.

Steve's passion and energy left an indelible mark on Micron, the Idaho community and the technology industry at large.

The busy hacker group Anonymous has recorded and released a private FBI phone call with Metropolitan Police Service investigators about plans to bring down members of the group. 

The Associated Press has received confirmation from the FBI that the call posted on YouTube is real. The call discusses several members of the group Anonymous and plans on when possible arrests could be made. The whole call involved people from Los Angeles, Washington D.C and the United Kingdom. The nearly 17-minute call was interrupted several times with members going into and out of the call.

The hacker group Anonymous has been behind many high profile security breaches around governments and business all over the world recently. In addition to large cases Anonymous has been behind several smaller more local breaches this year. 

The call is embedded below:

Desperate for a more attractive application market Research In Motion is offering Android developers free BlackBerry PlayBooks to those who submit their applications to the BlackBerry App World. 

The promotion was announced by RIM VP of Developer Relations Alec Saunders on Twitter earlier this week. Even with a large incentive like free hardware it is hard to tell if developers will take the time to convert applications for the struggling PlayBook. 

RIM offers developer tools for Android such as the Eclipse plugin for Android to help sign and test apps before distribution. The plugin also works with the BlackBerry PlayBook for running and debugging. 

The new ads are below:

Today, Sony reported its financial results for the third quarter of 2011, which ended on December 31. The company reported an operating loss of $1.2 billion and revenues of $23.4 billion, down 17% year-over-year. Sony announced that its net loss for the holiday quarter totaled $2 billion, which certainly won't help the already-struggling Japan-based company. 

As a result of its poor earnings, Sony has re-adjusted its projections for total loss in 2011 to $2.9 billion, from the original $1.2 billion. Finally, the company revealed that it has re-adjusted projections of sales of the PlayStation 3 from 15 million units to 14 million, and camera sales from 23 million to 21 million units. 

Google today announced a new service that it will be rolling out dubbed "Bouncer." Bouncer is a feature that will automatically scan the Android Market for any possible malicious content, without interrupting a user's normal experience on the store. 

The service performs a set of analyses on new applications, applications already in Android Market, and developer accounts. Here’s how it works: once an application is uploaded, the service immediately starts analyzing it for known malware, spyware and trojans. It also looks for behaviors that indicate an application might be misbehaving, and compares it against previously analyzed apps to detect possible red flags. We actually run every application on Google’s cloud infrastructure and simulate how it will run on an Android device to look for hidden, malicious behavior. We also analyze new developer accounts to help prevent malicious and repeat-offending developers from coming back.

As noted by TorrentFreak, The Pirate Bay, one of the Internet's largest magnet link and .torrent file host, today officially switched from its well know "thepiratebay.org" domain to "thepiratebay.se" in order to avoid a domain seizure from the U.S. government. This move comes just hours after Sweden’s Supreme Court ruled not to grant an appeal process for the website's founders in the long-running case over piracy. 

This means that the founders' sentences and fines are now final, but the case didn't directly include the actual Pirate Bay website. It was believed back in 2010 that the U.S. government was awaiting a final ruling in this court case before deciding to take The Pirate Bay domain offline and now that the case has concluded, the website's founders were worried that they may have a similar fate as Megaupload.

The people running The Pirate Bay are aware of this risk and quickly redirected the site to a Swedish .se domain, outside the reach of US authorities. A Pirate Bay insider confirmed this morning that this was done “just in case ICE has been waiting for the court case to be over.”

The Pirate Bay posted the following message onto the website:

2012 is the year of the storm.

The Pirate Bay will reach an age of 9 years. Experiencing raids, espionage and death threats, we're still here. We've been through hell and back and it has made us tougher than ever.

...

With this said, we hear news from our old admins that they have received a verdict in Sweden. Our 3 friends and blood brothers have been sentenced to prison. This might sound worse than it is. Since no one of them no longer lives in Sweden, they won't go to jail. They are as free today as they were yesterday.

Any users going to thepiratebay.org will be automatically redirected to the website's new domain. 

According to Bloomberg, a German court has denied Apple's request of a preliminary ban on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.N and Samsung Galaxy Nexus in the country. Apple claimed that a patent it controls related to touchscreen technologies in tablets and smartphones is being infringed upon in Samsung's devices, but the Munich Regional Court thought otherwise. 

"Samsung has shown that it is more likely than not that the patent will be revoked because of a technology that was already on the market before the intellectual property had been filed for protection," Presiding Judge Andreas Mueller said when delivering the ruling.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1N is a modified version of the original Galaxy Tab 10.1 designed specifically for sale in Germany. The tablet went on sale late last year and sports a slightly modified bezel design and different speaker location. 

Following Facebook's initial public offering filing with the SEC earlier today, the media is now getting a chance to read through the entire document the company filed, with all the extra tidbits and information. The IPO has already revealed that Facebook currently has 845 million users and that the company made $3.71 billion in 2011. 

New details from the document reveal that Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg had a salary of $483,333 in 2011, with the addition of a $220,500 bonus and $783,529 of other "compensations." In addition, the 27-year old billionaire apparently spent $700,000 for private plane use "chartered in connection with his comprehensive security program and on which family and friends flew during 2011."

The IPO documents also reveal that Zuckerberg plans to bring down his yearly salary to $1 beginning January 1, 2013 (just as many other CEOs do, namely the late Steve Jobs). Using the valuation Facebook provided in the filing ($29.73 per share), Zuckerberg will have $16 billion worth of Facebook stock when the company begins trading sometime in May of this year. This number, however, may increase if Facebook's valuation increases, which it likely will in the near future. 

Earlier today, Facebook filed for a $5 billion initial public offering with the SEC and the media is now getting a chance to dig through the fairly large document to find any information the social network has revealed. 

First, Facebook revealed that it now has 845 million users, which means the world's largest social network gained about 95 million users since it last reported the number in June of 2011. In addition, Facebook revealed that its total revenues for 2011 were at $3.71 billion, a majority of which came from advertising throughout the social network. 

Facebook says that its partnership with Zynga, a social network game developer, accounts for about 12% of its total revenue, which is equivalent to about $500 million in 2011. 

Finally, Facebook describes that it also makes revenue from third-party companies paying to make sure that their locations, information, etc. appears before others on the social network. The example Facebook describes in the document filing is with Starbucks - Starbucks has the option to pay Facebook to make sure that their locations appear higher up on the "check-in" list when using Facebook Places. 

Following months of developer testing, Apple today has released the Mac OS X 10.7.3 maintenance software update to customers. The update brings support for new languages and addresses a number of bugs in Apple's OS X Lion operating system. 

Full release notes for the update are below:

The 10.7.3 update is recommended for all OS X Lion users and includes general operating system fixes that improve the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac including fixes that: 

• Add Catalan, Croatian, Greek, Hebrew, Romanian, Slovak, Thai, and Ukrainian language support 
• Address issues when using smart cards to log into OS X 
• Resolve issues authenticating with directory services 
• Address compatibility issues with Windows file sharing

Alongside this release, Apple also released Security Update 2012-001 for OS X Snow Leopard users in order to address security concerns with the older OS. 

Just as reports over the past week have claimed, Facebook has officially filed its initial public offering (IPO) documents with the SEC this afternoon, worth $5 billion. The company was initially expected to file an IPO closer to $10 billion, but has elected to start small and move up, meaning it still has the change to be one of the largest tech IPOs in history. 

Morgan Stanley will be the lead underwriter on the IPO, while Goldman Sachs and Bank of America will help out. Shares are expected to begin being traded sometime in May of this year. 

Developing...

The past week has to mark a peak in the profits of Apple, both literally and metaphorically. Emerging as the number one smartphone vendor worldwide, thanks to the huge success in sales terms of the iPhone 4S, a release of sales figures in the fourth quarter of 2011 up to 37 million and record profits. It is definitely a good time to be Apple. Ultimately, such as the UK mobile market is with fierce competition, once a success is announced expectation looks to the next thing. And so the iPhone 5 rumours start again.

The iPhone 5  is really ramping up the curiosity factor and like all gossip stories about superstars the rumour mill is working hard despite Apple producing different prototypes so no one can predict which one will actually hit the market.

The latest suggestion is that the iPhone 5 will have a four inch screen. This would put it directly in competition with Android even further, as the big screen was the trend that began with the Samsung Galaxy S2 and only increased as the year went on until the HTC Titan and Edge. This feature has been suggested for a while, and was one of the main things expected with the iPhone launch back in October.

The iPhone 4S is nothing to be sniffed at in screen terms. At 3.5 inch (diagonally, 960 x 640 pixel resolution with 326ppi  it is one of the clearest screens with the sharpest image, graphic and text offer, beaten only in the last month with the Sony Xperia S. To be disappointed with this screen seems somewhat churlish. Yet to some extent this is what Apple needs to do. As the demand for larger screens continues they need to keep up with their competitors.

It is not simply a question of making the screen larger for the next model. If the iPhone 5 does have a four inch screen then iOS apps would need rewriting, the display would need to be improved, that 8MP camera that was so feted on the iPhone 4S would also need enhancing. That does not make it seem more unlikely. Analysts have long suspected Apple will opt for a redesign of their iconic iPhone when the next generation is unveiled. It follows the pattern of the iPhone to the iPhone 3G and 3Gs to the iPhone 4 which saw a much squarer design and modified interface that represented a big jump from its predecessor. Some have even suggested the late Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, left the design for the iPhone 5 before he left the firm. Whether this is the case remains to be seen. There have been suggestions Apple has moved away from its MacBook Air style and is working with LG for a revamped design. Even a more symmetrical shape has been hinted at but as Apple is so secretive those rumours will only be confirmed or denied once the device is actually in the hands of the first lucky few who can see it.

The production line has begun, if the reports are to be believed which suggests testing in late spring with a summer release earmarked. That would fit with the usual July or October announcements by Apple, suggesting the iPad 3 could be the autumn revelation.  

So how far should we believe the iPhone 5 rumours? Not at all, if past experience is anything to go by. Yet a lot rests on this device. No one expects Apple to mess it up but even with a late release on the iPhone 4S in 2011, and wild expectation followed by disappointment that that device was not the iPhone 5, Apple continued to set new records and break the ones they had already made. Some analysts are already asking whether Apple has peaked and if it is possible for it to do even better in 2012. If Apple’s sales figures illustrate one thing, it is that the Californian firm can never be written off.

CrackBerry has posted a leaked image of what appears to be the long-rumored BlackBerry "London" smartphone, which will likely be Research in Motion's first BlackBerry 10 OS device. Comparing the image above to some previous leaks of the same phone show that the London seems to have undergone some serious design changes over the past few months. 

The London featured above looks very similar to the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, sporting rounded edges and an all-black finish. 

Talking hardware for a moment, we're hearing that both the TI OMAP5 and Qualcomm chipsets are being tested (1.5GHz dual core processors). If we look ahead by looking at BlackBerry history, it could be that Qualcomm is for the CDMA carriers. All we know is that with the BlackBerry PlayBook rocking and rolling the PlayBook OS at 1Ghz, that with 1.5Ghz as a baseline BlackBerry 10 phones will not be lacking in the performance department.

The BlackBerry London is expected to be released in the U.K. sometime this year, while the BlackBerry "Laguna" and "Lisbon" will be for the U.S. 

Today, Amazon reported its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2011, which ended on December 31. The Internet giant announced net sales in the quarter of $17.43 billion, up 35% year-over-year. Amazon, however, also reported a 58% net income drop, equivalent to about $177 million. These numbers are below analyst expectations, which were in the mid-$18 billion range. 

While the company isn't revealing any specific Kindle sales figures for the holiday quarter, Amazon is stating that Kindle sales "nearly tripled" in the fourth quarter. It also says that the number of Amazon Appstore customers tripled in Q4, likely due to the success of the Kindle Fire tablet, which remained the top selling product on Amazon.com. 

Net sales in all of 2011 are being listed at $48.08 billion. The company is lowering expectations for the first quarter of 2012, projecting revenues between $12 to $13.4 billion. 

According to a report from International Financing Review, Facebook will be filing for a $5 billion initial public offering (a.k.a. "IPO") tomorrow morning, February 1, 2012. The IPO, however, is significantly less than what was previously projected ($10 billion) for the world's largest social network in a report from last week. With that being said, the report notes that Facebook has elected to "start with a conservative base before deciding whether to increase."

The company will begin trading shares sometime in May of this year, pending approval from the U.S. government. Morgan Stanley will be the front-runner for the IPO, but Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital and JP Morgan are all said to be involved as well.

Earlier this month, Google announced its plans to consolidate over sixty (60) of its privacy policies from different products and services that it operates into one, easy-to-understand policy. The move, however, was quickly met with concern from the U.S. Congress and Google Account holders that the web giant may begin collecting more information about users than before. Google then published an explanation of the changes on its blog, clarifying that no major changes would be occurring and privacy for the end-user will still be taken seriously. 

Today, Google has posted a 13-page letter to its blog in response to several members of the U.S. Congress, namely the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The company reiterates that the change in privacy policy is an attempt to make reading it easier for the end-user and so that information can be shared between Google's different products and services. 

Some important things aren’t changing:

• We’re still keeping your private information private -- we’re not changing the visibility of any information you have stored with Google.
• We’re still allowing you to do searches, watch videos on YouTube, get driving directions on Google Maps, and perform other tasks without signing into a Google Account.
• We’re still offering you choice and control through privacy tools like Google Dashboard and Ads Preferences Manager that help you understand and manage your data.
• We still won’t sell your personal information to advertisers.
• We’re still offering data liberation if you’d prefer to close your Google Account and take your data elsewhere.

Google's new privacy policy will be in effect beginning March 1, 2012. 

There's two reasons why we watch the Super Bowl every year. The first is obviously the game itself (who's your pick - Pats or Giants?) and the second are the advertisements that companies run in between the game. They're what everyone talks about for the next week, maybe even more than the game itself. Some companies have already revealed at least parts of their Super Bowl ads that will be airing to millions of people worldwide, but many are keeping the special commercial under wraps for the time being.

Samsung has tweeted out today that it will be using the Super Bowl to "launch a device so revolutionary only an ad in America's biggest game can do it justice." This will be the South Korean-based company's first advertisement ever that will air during the Super Bowl.

We're telling fans first: Next Sunday we launch a device so revolutionary only an ad in America's biggest game can do it justice.

— Samsung Mobile US (@SamsungMobileUS) January 30, 2012

The company is hinting on its Twitter account that the ad will be regarding the Samsung Galaxy Note, the 5.3-inch Android smartphone that will be launching on AT&T on February 19. 

The ad is set to run sometime during the fourth quarter of the big game and Samsung is calling it "one of the longest in the game." 

Today, Mozilla announced the release of the tenth major version of its web browser, Firefox, to the public. The update focuses on improving tools available for developers within the web browser, including "Page Inspector" and a refreshed Scratchpad JavaScript rendering tool. In addition, this is the first Firefox browser to support Mozilla's full-screen API for websites and web applications, which allows for developers to create an experience that utilizes the entire screen. 

Firefox adds support for features that make it easier to build 3D Web experiences with open technologies. Mozilla pioneered WebGL and introduced it in Firefox. WebGL is a Web standard that allows websites and Web apps to display hardware-accelerated 3D graphics without third-party software. Firefox now supports Anti-Aliasing for WebGL, allowing developers to create objects that blend together and move smoothly. Firefox also supports CSS 3D Transforms, which lets developers animate and transform two dimensional elements into 3D using HTML5 without the need for third-party plugins.

Finally, Firefox 10 introduces a new back-end for how add-ons are updated and installed on the browser. 

Firefox 10 for Windows, Mac, and Linux is available for download here. 

Apple today announced the release of an updated version of Final Cut Pro X, version 10.0.3, which brings a number of previously promised features to the widely criticized "professional" video editing software.

New features in this update include: "multicam editing that automatically syncs up to 64 angles of video and photos; advanced chroma keying for handling complex adjustments right in the app; and enhanced XML for a richer interchange with third party apps and plug-ins that support the fast growing Final Cut Pro X ecosystem." In addition, the major software update includes a "beta of broadcast monitoring that supports Thunderbolt devices as well as PCIe cards."

Apple launched Final Cut Pro X back in June of 2011, but the software was quickly criticized for turning a previously "professional" video editing suite into something for "amateurs." The Cupertino-based company quickly responded by announcing new features would continue to be re-released in future updates, this being the third of those updates. 

The update is available for free via the Mac App Store. 

Yesterday, Apple announced that John Browett has been named the company's new Senior Vice President of Retail and will be reporting to chief executive Tim Cook. Browett has been CEO of European technology retailer Dixons Retail since 2007 and will be joining Apple in April of this year. "He will be responsible for Apple’s retail strategy and the continued expansion of Apple retail stores around the world."

Browett will be replacing Ron Johnson, Apple's former Senior VP of Retail, who left to be CEO of J.C. Penny late last year. 

According to a report from TVNZ, user data that's currently hosted on Megaupload.com's servers will be safe for at least another two weeks as two third-party hosting companies have agreed to hold the data while the shut-down Megaupload website negotiates with lawyers. The site's data is currently being held by Carpathia Hosting and Cogent Communications Group after Megaupload was suddenly shut down earlier this month following claims of piracy by the U.S. government. 

It was initially expected that data would begin to be removed from the servers last Thursday, but this was evidently delayed as lawyers from both sides continue to negotiate a possible deal. All user data would be removed from the servers if the current plan is executed by U.S. prosecutors. 

The U.S. has copied some data off of the servers as possible evidence, but has not seized the hardware (yet). 

Today, Samsung announced the Galaxy S Advance smartphone, which sports a dual-core 1 GHz processor and is powered by Android OS 2.3 (a.k.a. "Gingerbread"). The device features a 4-inch Super AMOLED display at a 480 x 800 pixels resolution and has a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera. It also comes with a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video chatting. 

The GALAXY S Advance’s curved glass design enhances handling of the phone and fits the user’s facial form easily and naturally. Its 4.0” Super AMOLED display provides the stunning visuals users have come to expect of Samsung GALAXY smartphones, offering unparalleled color reproduction and ensuring that photos and videos captured with the device’s 5MP camera can be enjoyed with vivid clarity.

The Galaxy S Advance weighs in at about 0.2 pounds. 

Rollout plans and pricing of the device is currently unclear.

According to French website Le Point, Microsoft's French marketing director, Cedrick Delma, has stated that he is "certain" the company will not be releasing a next-generation Xbox game console to consumers anytime this year. This news doesn't come as a surprise to many, but it's always nice to have some confirmation, right?

Despite this news, gamers should not completely rule out seeing a preview of the next-generation Xbox (whatever it may be called) sometime this year, possibly at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in June. 

A recent report claimed that the future Xbox model will feature six times the processing power of the current Xbox 360 model. The same rumor claimed a late 2013 release for the game console. 

Today, AT&T revealed that the previously announced Samsung Galaxy Note will be arriving on its network on February 19, 2012. The Galaxy Note, which comes in either carbon blue or ceramic white finishes, will be available for $299.99 with a new two-year contract from the carrier. In addition, customers will have the ability to pre-order the device beginning on February 5 either on AT&T's website or in-store. 

The Samsung Galaxy Note will be the first smartphone ever to sport a 5.3-inch Super AMOLED display at a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. The device also includes a stylus called the "S Pen," which allows users to "create fine lines and detail" on the Galaxy Note. 

Earlier today, Apple released AirPort Utility 6.0 for Mac OS X Lion customers, overhauling the user interface of the application that allows users to manage their AirPort / Time Capsule Base Stations. The app now appears to be nearly identical to the iOS AirPort Utility app, which was released last year. The app requires Mac OS X 10.7.2 to install. 

In addition, the Cupertino-based company also released a firmware update, version 7.6.1, for its AirPort Base Station and Time Capsule. The update addresses a bug with performance and adds support for iCloud accounts. It can be installed via the AirPort Utility on either a computer or iOS device. 

This update is for all 802.11n AirPort Express, 802.11n AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule models. It fixes an issue with wireless performance and provides support for remote access to an AirPort disk or a Time Capsule hard drive with an iCloud account.

Today, we celebrate It's All Tech's second birthday with all of you - our supports, readers, sponsors, staff, etc. The past two years have been - for lack of a better word - amazing for not only It's All Tech, but the technology industry. We've grown to average thousands of page views every day and currently have over 250 registered users. 

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of our readers / supporters / staff members. Our staff are the ones who keep coming back everyday and produce new content for everyone to read. They work hard day in and day out and we hope you all will have the opportunity to know our staff better in 2012!

2012 will be a huge year for It's All Tech. We expect to surpass a number of important milestones throughout the year, and work to continue improving our content. 

So, on that note, we'd like to thank all of our supporters again and hope to see you coming back to It's All Tech in 2012 and years after!

Today, January 28, Google is celebrating the 125th anniversary of the world's largest observed snowflake ever with a Doodle on their homepage. The snowflake in question was measured at 15 inches in diameter. The Doodle on the web giant's homepage, currently seen in the U.S., U.K., and Canada, shows a giant snowflake falling from the sky and a (pretty random) cow looking confused at the size of the flake. 

The Google text, as usual, is integrated into the special logo. 

According to a report from Bloomberg yesterday, U.S. District Judge Lucy H. Koh has ruled that Apple, Google, Intel, Adobe, Walt Disney, and Intuit are all still involved and responsible for an antitrust lawsuit dating back nearly five years. The lawsuit claims that these technology companies entered into agreements not to recruit each other's employees. "They still have an antitrust claim that’s going forward so I don’t want to see any obstruction on discovery," the Judge told lawyers. 

The case is a private lawsuit brought on behalf of employees that mirrors claims the companies settled with the U.S. Justice Department in 2010 following a probe. The companies agreed to refrain from placing “cold calls” to lure workers from competitors, the government said at the time.

Koh didn’t take issue with the allegations about the agreements between individual companies, Joseph Saveri, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said in an interview after the hearing. Instead, Koh has questions about “how it ties together,” or claims of an over-arching conspiracy between all the companies, he said.

The next step in the lawsuit is for the defendants to produce documents that describe the supposed agreements. 

Earlier today, Nintendo officially unveiled the "Nintendo Network," a service that combines user accounts on the upcoming Wii U, downloadable content on the Wii U and 3DS, and digital distribution of retail products. The Nintendo Network will be replacing the older, incredibly outdated Wi-Fi Connection service and will be a direct competitor to Xbox LIVE and PlayStation Network. 

The service will allow gamers to make a user account on their console, which will alleviate some headaches when multiple people are playing on the same station. In addition, the Network will handle online game competitions and communications between Wii U and 3DS gamers. 

Finally, Nintendo briefly outlined possible plans to include distribution of full retail games through the Network, but its not sure on how this will work. Both the Wii U and 3DS are apparently capable of this feature, but integration would be somewhat challenging. 

More information should be revealed regarding the Nintendo Network at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in June. 

Earlier this week, Google announced a major overhaul to its privacy policy that will go into effect on March 1, 2012. The change eliminates 60 privacy policies that Google currently uses across it's services for one, easy-to-understand policy covering a majority of its products. However, just as always, the change was met with criticism and many questioned whether Google would be accessing too much information with the new policy.  

To clear up some confusion, Google answered some frequently asked questions via a blog post yesterday. The company reminds its users that Search, Maps, YouTube, and several other products can continue to be used without logging in. If you do choose to login to your Google Account, then you will still have the choice to customize "Search history, switch Gmail chat to 'off the record,' control the way Google tailors ads to your interests, use Incognito mode on Chrome."

The web giant is also making it very clear to users that this new privacy policy doesn't mean any new information will be collected about you. It's simplify a re-write for easier reading. "We’re making things simpler and we’re trying to be upfront about it. Period," Google says. 

Finally, the company reminds people that they have the choice of using Google products and services, whether that be some of them, all of them, or none of them. 

Yesterday, Google announced that it is rolling out a new version of its Music Manager application, adding in two new major features - the ability to download tracks and the ability to share YouTube videos of tracks on Google+. The web giant says that any song currently uploaded to Google's Music Manager program, including ones you bought and uploaded, can be downloaded. Tracks will also remain in the cloud as well. 

The second new feature is outlined below:

According to AllThingsD, Jon Rubinstein, former senior VP of Apple's iPod division and Palm CEO, has left Hewlett Packard (HP) today. The report says that Rubinstein has left HP following his 12-24 month commitment to the company following its acquisition of Palm in 2010. "Jon has fulfilled his commitment and we wish him well," said an HP spokeswoman.

Rubinstein is best known for helping develop the original iPod back in 2001. He left Apple in 2006 to work for Palm, where he became CEO in 2007. Following HP's acquisition of Palm in 2010, Rubinstein joined the company as an executive overlooking the now axed webOS division. 

According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Facebook may be filing for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) as early as this Wednesday, February 1, 2012. The social network's IPO has been long-awaited and could possibly be the largest ever for a tech company, valued at $10 billion. For comparison, Google filed for an IPO back in 2000 for less than $2 billion.

If the IPO is valued at about $10 billion, Facebook as a company would be valued at around $100 billion. The offer will be managed mainly by Morgan Stanley, with Goldman Sachs as a "significant" secondary.   

New Browse page details:

Today we're giving the Browse page a fresh look-and-feel, to help you find even more great Channels on YouTube. Alongside the top lists like Most Viewed Today, you can now discover and subscribe to more YouTube Channels on browse pages, which will then regularly update on your homepage. You can also discover more content under categories including Entertainment, People & Blogs, Science & Technology and more. You’ll find it all onYouTube.com/browse.

The new video editor features a design overhaul, as well as the following new features: new timeline, easier clip trimming and a moving playhead. 

Following an update to the video manager last month, YouTube also slightly updated the design of the feature, and added the following new features: search history, an improved display of scheduled uploads and claimed videos, displaying "likes" and "dislikes" and new sorting options. 

Today, Motorola Mobility reported its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2011, announcing a net revenue of $3.4 billion. However, the company did report an $80 million net loss in the quarter, despite net revenues of $13.1 billion for all of 2011. Mobile devices accounted for $2.5 billion of the revenue in the holiday quarter, with 10.5 million devices shipped. 

In regards to its acquisition by Google, Motorola says it "continues to work closely with Google to complete the proposed acquisition of Motorola Mobility as expeditiously as possible." The company believes that the deal will be closed sometime in early 2012. Google acquired Motorola back in August 2011 for $12.5 billion. 

In a status update on Google+, Bradley Horowitz announced that the social network can now be used by teenagers who are older than 13. However, to improve safety with teens using Google+, the web giant will display a notification on the user's account before they share something publicly, making sure that they would indeed like to share the content with the whole world. 

In addition, be default, only people in teen's "Circles" are able to interact with the person, and users can now block someone easily. Finally, when in a Hangout on the social network, and a stranger who is not in a teen's Circle joins the video call, the teen is automatically removed from the Hangout and has the ability to rejoin. 

Today, AT&T reported its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2011, announcing a consolidated revenue of $32.5 billion, up 3.6% year-over-year. The company says that it sold 9.4 million smartphones in the holiday quarter, representing the best period of three months in AT&T history. The quarter also saw 7.6 million iPhones activated on AT&T's network, as well as giant gains for Android. 

For the full year 2011, compared with 2010 results, AT&T's consolidated revenues totaled $126.7 billion versus $124.3 billion, up 2.0 percent; operating expenses were $117.5 billion, compared with $104.7 billion; net income attributable to AT&T was $3.9 billion versus $19.9 billion; and earnings per diluted share was $0.66 compared with $3.35. Excluding significant items, earnings per share totaled $2.20, compared with $2.29.

The company also says that it added 208,000 AT&T U-Verse TV subscribers for a total number of 3.8 million customers. 

Today, Google Earth version 6.2 was released to the public. The update brings a number of improvements to the virtual globe application, namely "seamless imagery" and a new search interface. In addition, the web giant added a new feature to Google Earth that allows users to share pictures directly from the app to Google+. 

Today, we’re introducing a new way of rendering imagery that smoothes out this quilt of images. The end result is a beautiful new Earth-viewing experience that preserves the unique textures of the world’s most defining geographic landscapes—without the quilt effect. This change is being made on both mobile and desktop versions of Google Earth. While this change will appear on all versions of Google Earth, the 6.2 release provides the best viewing experience for this new data.

The latest Google Earth is available for download for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux here.

We've just been exclusively informed of the initial release of "Speaktoit Assistant" into the iOS App Store (link). The app functions similarly to Siri in the sense that, the user inputs a question (either by typing it out or speaking), and the assistant will give you a response. Speaktoit also allows you to customize the avatar that you see on the screen, giving the app a little personal feel to it. 

Speaktoit is powered by Nuance technology, just like Siri and Evi, the also relatively new competitor to Siri released earlier this week. 

Speaktoit Assistant is a virtual buddy for your iPhone or iPod that uses natural language technology to answer questions, find information, and connect you with various web services, such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Evernote, and many others.

The Assistant works with your device to get maps, search for news and images, look up weather reports, convert currency and measurements, send email, and much more.

No need to memorize special commands or complex interfaces - simply speak or type in everyday language and the Assistant will understand and respond with what you need.

A major feature of the app is the ability to speak to it naturally, meaning users won't have to follow strict language guidelines to receive an intelligent response. 

The app is currently available on the App Store for $0.99. 

According to Reuters, Motorola Mobility has filed a lawsuit against Apple in a Florida federal court, claiming that Apple infringes upon some of its patents. The company, which was acquired by Google last year, believes that Apple is using six of its patents in the iPhone 4S and iCloud. The patents in question deal with wireless antennae, software, data filtering and messaging. 

This lawsuit is only the newest in what has been a long battle between Motorola Mobility and Apple over several different patents relating to smartphone technologies.