Tim Conneally

Apple's iPod Touch is the latest device to succumb to a lithium-ion battery explosion, but as the Times of London first reported this morning, Apple reportedly wanted to keep the issue a secret.

When Ken Stanborough of the UK dropped his daughter's iPod Touch last month, the device began hissing, burning, and then eventually exploded in "a big puff of smoke, and it went 10 feet in the air." Stansborough said he went to Apple for a refund, and was only promised a refund if he would sign a paper stating he would "agree that you will keep the terms and existence of this settlement agreement completely confidential."

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Peter Sunde (also known as brokep), who has been the spokesman for torrent indexing site The Pirate Bay during its public legal battles, announced today that he is stepping down from the position.

"I have decided to not be the spokes person for The Pirate Bay anymore. The reasons are many but most importantly it takes too much of my time. I want to build something new and I want to focus my energy in a different direction. I have projects waiting to be finished, a book is waiting to be finalized and many more books are waiting to be read." Sunde said in his blog today.

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Google's Chrome browser will be getting Google account synchronization, a post from Google Engineer Tim Steele in the Chromium developer group revealed today.

"A bunch of us have been working on a feature to sync user data in Chromium with a Google account," Steele said. "We have built a library that implements the client side of our sync protocol as well as the Google server-side infrastructure to serve Google Chrome users and synchronize data to their Google Account."

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On September first, Clearwire Communications plans to launch new WiMax networks in ten markets simultaneously. These will include Boise, Idaho, Bellingham, Washington, and eight markets in Texas: Abilene, Amarillo, Corpus Christi, Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, Killeen/Temple, Waco, and Wichita Falls.

This will be the first time that Clearwire celebrates launches in more than a single market at a time, and customers in these markets can activate service immediately through Clear.com. Resellers such as Sprint, Comcast, or Time Warner, however, have not yet been announced for these markets.

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Long-running electronics retailer RadioShack is updating its image by referring to itself as "The Shack" in a new campaign.

"This creative is not about changing our name," said Chief Marketing Officer Lee Applbaum, Rather, we're contemporizing the way we want people to think about our brand. THE SHACK speaks to consumers in a fresh, new voice and distinctive creative look that reinforces RadioShack's authority in innovative products, leading brands and knowledgeable, helpful associates."

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Beating Microsoft to the punch, a system update at 5:00 pm EDT this afternoon will turn the Nintendo DSi into the first Facebook-integrated video game system.

At E3 2009 in June, Facebook announced that it would be making its way onto video game consoles through Facebook Connect, the social network's open identification platform. Microsoft, Nintendo, and Electronic Arts all announced that they would be integrating with Facebook.

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A mere three days after the San Jose Mercury News published an interview with Google CEO Eric Schmidt, in which he stated conflicts of interest regarding his membership on Apple's board of directors could be resolved by recusing himself from matters regarding the iPhone, Apple has officially recognized Schmidt's resignation from that board.

Apple's CEO Steve Jobs issued a statement this morning which said, "as Google enters more of Apple's core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric's effectiveness as an Apple Board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest." Schmidt was elected to Apple's board in 2006.

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Apple's rejection of the Google Voice iPhone app proved to be the last straw, and now the Federal Communications Commission is involved. The FCC has begun an investigation into the matter.

"The Federal Communications Commission has a mission to foster a competitive wireless marketplace, protect and empower consumers, and promote innovation and investment," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said this evening. "Recent news reports raise questions about practices in the mobile marketplace. The Wireless Bureau's inquiry letters to these companies about their practices reflect the Commission's proactive approach to getting the facts and data necessary to make the best policy decisions on behalf of the American people."

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On Friday, Adobe issued an out-of-cycle security update to Flash Player, Adobe Reader and Acrobat that fixes several critical cross-platform vulnerabilities, one of which is related to Microsoft's Active Template Library (ATL) vulnerability announced earlier this week.

The software affected in today's update is:

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Apple today issued the iPhone 3.0.1 software update in response to a well-known vulnerability which could let a remote user hijack any iPhone with a simple series of SMS text messages.

This patch was actually expected to come before the Black Hat 2009 conference, where security researcher and co-author of The Mac Hacker's Handbook Charlie Miller exposed the methods of executing this hack.

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The Lenovo OEM key that leaked earlier this week and allowed Windows 7 Ultimate to be cracked is being blacklisted, according to a blog post last night from Alex Kochis, Director of Genuine Windows at Microsoft.

Kochis says, "Yesterday we were alerted to reports of a leak of a special product key issued to an OEM partner of ours. The key is for use with Windows 7 Ultimate RTM product that is meant to be pre-installed by the OEM on new PCs to be shipped later this year. As such, the use of this key requires having a PC from the manufacturer it was issued to. We've worked with that manufacturer so that customers who purchase genuine copies of Windows 7 from this manufacturer will experience no issues validating their copy of Windows 7. At the same time we will seek to alert customers who are using the leaked key that they are running a non-genuine copy of Windows. It's important to note that no PCs will be sold that will use this key."

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Microsoft has placed a $149.99 price tag on the Windows 7 Family Pack, which lets as many as three PCs in a single household upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium edition. Users in Canada will pay $199.99.

Microsoft's official blogger Brandon LeBlanc confirmed the three-license pack last week, but did not include the price.

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Firefox total downloads: millions

Firefox has hit its milestone billionth download of all time. To celebrate the occasion, Mozilla will be launching onebillionplusyou.com on Monday, a hub for information about the achievement, and a place for Firefox users to show their love for the browser by uploading pictures of themselves representing Firefox across the globe (though they'll have a tough time beating this guy.)

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Time Warner will become the next Clearwire WiMAX reseller, CEO Glenn Britt said in the company's second quarter earnings call on Wednesday, making the cable company the third major reseller of Clear 4G wireless.

Time Warner invested in Sprint and Clearwire's consolidation into the Clear 4G wireless network along with Intel, Google and fellow cable companies Bright House Networks and Comcast.

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Last night, the UK's Inquirer announced that Windows Mobile will be changing its name to "Windows Phone". Microsoft confirmed the Windows Phone branding to Betanews today, but said that "Windows Mobile" is not going anywhere.

"Microsoft started using the term, Windows Phone, within the industry at Mobile World Congress on February 16, 2009," a spokesman noted today. "It is a simple way for consumers to identify the new generation of Windows phones that will be available this fall through our mobile partners; and will include new services on them such as My Phone and Windows Marketplace for Mobile."

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