Sony Corp's shares closed nearly 6% down in Japanese trading today, after financial group Credit Suisse AG classified the company's stock as "underperforming."

In a reiteration of statements he made earlier this month, Credit Suisse analyst Koya Tabata wrote, "Compared to its peers both at home and overseas, Sony has been slow to react to the current crisis...We believe fundamental changes to its business structure are necessary."

As far back as last year, Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom said it was in the process of making an exclusive deal with Apple to deliver the iPhone 3G to the East Asian island. Over the weekend, the deal became official.

Prior to the device's Taiwan launch, CHT representatives said the iPhone 3G would only work on CHT's 3G network. But according to new reports, the device actually launched unlocked, with the ability to assign networks via SIM card.

Popular microblogging service Twitter, which has been used for everything from keeping track of jailed journalists to recording the kicks of an unborn baby, has integrated with Friend Connect, Google's open identification platform.

Now, users can join Google Friend Connect affiliated site with their Twitter login information. Users also have the option to use their Friend Connect profile to see if their friends on Twitter are also members of that site. If not, they can invite their subscribers by sending out a tweet containing a link to the new site. Very little is required of the invited users other than clicking through to the new site.

Yahoo has begun the final rollout of its new "smarter inbox" system -- which has been in beta since October -- adding redesigned user profiles, a now familiar Friendfeed-style activity monitor, and integration with third-party apps.

The path upon which Yahoo has taken its Web mail service is well trodden. Not two weeks ago, the company's one-time chief suitor Microsoft bundled its Windows Live services into a single portal through which both Live and third-party mailboxes are accessed.

CBS will reportedly be re-launching TV.com, a property it obtained through its $1.8 billion acquisition of CNET Networks, as a video portal where content comes from numerous providers, including Hulu.

The market is getting increasingly full of streaming TV sites. There are sites which encode and post their own intellectual property like WB.com, and abc.com, and there are sites which redistribute content from a number of networks like Hulu, Joost, and even YouTube. Then, there are sites like AT&T's VideoCrawler, AOL's Veoh, Sling.com, and Comcast's Fancast which catalog and link to content from those distributors, while providing their own reasons for users to sign on.

While ISP Virgin today launched its fiberoptic network, with the hopes of becoming the fastest network in the United Kingdom, the firm's throttling practices will likely remain in place.

Virgin has announced that its 50 Mbps tier will cost £51 per month alone, or £35 if paired with an £11 per month Virgin landline.

Web metrics company comScore has been tracking activity and spending on e-commercial sites this holiday season, and this year is on par with last year, indicating that the dreaded "r-word" is not having too negative an impact.

Before "Cyber Monday," comScore predicted the growth in online commerce for the holiday season would remain mostly flat, or with negligible growth. This prediction has thus far been fulfilled as holiday spending hit a slow patch last week.

Sony's PlayStation 3 sales dropped 19% in November, but with the public availability of Home, the console has increased in value.

Silicon Alley Insider's Eric Krangel posted an op-ed today calling the PlayStation 3 a "sinking ship."

The Web site representing the French Embassy in China has reportedly been weathering a DDoS attack, not four days after Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister He Yafei said France "grossly interfere[d] in China's internal affairs."

A spokesman from the Chinese Foreign Ministry has denounced the attacks, saying that any links drawn between China and the action are purely speculation, and reports should be based upon solid proof of culpability.

AT&T has simplified the 3G iPhone acquisition and activation process, allowing the iconic device to be purchased pre-activated online.

The iPhone 3G's activation process has earned criticism since the device's launch in July. It differed from its 2G progenitor in that it had to be activated in-store, an aspect which caused immediate delays in availability due to over-stressed AT&T and Apple infrastructure. Many who eagerly waited in line for the iPhone 3G found themselves in line a second time for activation, others were sent home with printed instructions on how to activate the device from home. Home activation proved to be just as much of a hassle.

Facebook has been translated into dozens of foreign languages, but a hate group on the site in Serbian was left completely unmoderated, despite a tremendous user outcry against it.

The group "NOŽ ŽICA SREBRENICA!!" is a "Just for fun - Fan Club" of fugitive war criminal General Ratko Mladic, who was accused of genocide and crimes against humanity by an International Criminal Tribunal in 2004. Mladic commanded the Army of the Srpska Republic in the 1995 Srebrenica Massacre of over 8,000 Bosnian Muslims.

HP, in cooperation with the Flexible Display Center (FDC) at Arizona State University showed off a prototype display this week that is paper-thin, flexible, and extremely energy efficient.

The technology for a full-color "e-paper" display, the consortium said, is approximately three years away from even being field tested.

Verizon's Executive Vice President and CTO Dick Lynch yesterday said LTE is expected to launch in the US approximately one year from now.

The Third Generation Partnership Project's Long-Term Evolution, otherwise known simply as LTE, is the 4G iteration of GSM technology. Companies are beginning to show off their developing hardware platforms, but LTE has not yet been standardized and still generally considered to be in its infancy.

Recession spending continues to take its toll on Electronic Arts. The software company yesterday announced its guidance for fiscal 2009 would be adjusted downward as a result of weaker-than-expected sales.

EA's earnings have diminished despite a strong 2008 portfolio of video game releases.

Today, Sony announced that its PlayStation 3 virtual world Home will be officially opened tomorrow, two years after it was initially announced. The free online service is the first console-based metaverse.

Creating a whole world for PlayStation 3 users is no small undertaking. First unveiled nearly two years ago, Sony's Home attempts to combine the online metaverse concept with the entertainment of console-based network gaming. Users create 3D avatars and home spaces where they can customize content, socialize, or play games.