Alan Buckingham

Over the past couple of years Microsoft has opened an ever-increasing number of stores across the US and Canada, even one in Puerto Rico. The efforts are in direct competition to rival Apple, and often appear in close proximity to the Cupertino, Cal.-based company's stores.

Today the software giant announced that ten new specialty stores are slated to open, and the events will be taking place rather soon. In an official announcement received by BetaNews today, the company announced the new locations and grand-opening dates. Areas and dates include:

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Getting around on public transit can sometimes be a chore. Changing buses and trains and subways can prove a task for the unsavvy commuter. There have long been apps that attempt to help people with this, including many mobile mapping services.

Now Google Maps is adding a plethora of new transit routes. The search giant announces  the addition of all routes covering Great Britain, claiming it can get travelers from "Land's End to John O'Groats" -- not quite the Orkney Islands, but you'll be close.

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Spotify has been a bit behind with its Windows Phone features, concentrating mostly on both Android and iOS. But today, the music service has set things right, adding new features to the mobile version of its app for the Microsoft platform.

"Today we’re introducing a new update to our Windows Phone users. The update brings features Discover and Browse, meaning it’s easier than ever to discover new favorites, as well as finding the perfect playlist for every mood and moment", states the company's Channtal Fleischfresser.

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Each and every month Netflix ranks ISPs by the level of service it observes, based on streaming speed. In the past we've seen Comcast drop significantly in these rankings, though once Netflix agreed to pay the cable company, things suddenly changed.

With latest rankings, the service added Canada to it's list, and there, Bell Aliant and Bell Canada were tops in speed. In fact, average speeds in the nation topped those provided by US carriers, though ranked behind most European nations.

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We've known for a while now that Netflix was planning a price increase, though the company hadn't specified the amount it would up the cost to customers. That changes today and, while the increase is minor, the company has thrown in a bit of confusion to keep folks on their toes.

The actual change in cost for the streaming movie and TV service is $1, upping the fee from $7.99 to $8.99 per month. However, it is not all just that simple.

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Amazon's future plans for delivery have been all over the news recently. From drones to rumors the company will start its own service -- a UPS of sorts. While neither of those has yet come to pass, the company is opening up its delivery options a bit.

Amazon is announcing the expansion of its Sunday delivery service, adding 15 more cities. "In addition to the Los Angeles and New York metro areas where Sunday delivery launched in November 2013, Amazon customers in the following locations are now receiving deliveries on Sunday". The retailer then goes on to name the locations, which include Texas, Ohio, Kentucky, Louisiana, Indiana, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania.

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If you've just crawled from beneath a rock then you may not be aware that Chairman Wheeler, head of the Federal Communications Commission, is proposing new rules regarding net neutrality. The current chairman is a former lobbyist and certainly can expect to land a posh position when his tenure ends. While that is Washington DC politics in a nutshell, it doesn't mean things must remain status quo.

Before getting to the open letter in question, a bit of background is in order. First, you can find the organization's "open internet" guidelines here. However, it is not all what it appears to be on the surface. The proposal from Tom Wheeler gives service providers, the likes of 600 pound gorilla Comcast, the right to prioritize traffic. This is something the cable/ISP companies have been doing for sometime in a successful effort to get money from places like Netflix.

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TuneIn Radio is one of the hottest music services right now, allowing customers to listen to both terrestrial and internet-based stations. Now the company is implementing a radical upgrade to the way it works.

The service is trying to become more social, a bit like a Twitter for music fans. "TuneIn will connect millions of listeners and broadcasters from all over the globe with new features including a personalized live feed, profile pages, and the ability to share content with the Echo feature", states the company.

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Pebble, the upstart smartwatch maker, has been busy so far in 2014, unveiling new apps and products. In the meantime, other companies are working to support the platform, including Pandora. The music streaming service today unveils its support for Android customers, matching what it has already done for iOS.

While this may sound simple -- Pandora was already on Android -- getting the tunes to your wrist is another story, and requires a special adaptation of the app. "We’ve already seen a great response to the first 'wearable' technology device that Pandora is available on, so we’re thrilled to share that the Pebble app is now available for Android smartphone users as well", says Pandora's Mike Grishaver.

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Dropbox, one of the most popular cloud storage services, has largely avoided the spate of recent security woes suffered by other companies. But no system is perfect, and a warning has now been issued after a flaw in hyperlinked files was discovered.

"Whenever you click on a link in any browser, the site you’re going to learns where you came from by something called a referer header. The referer header was designed to enable websites to better understand traffic sources. This is standard practice implemented across all browsers", says Aditya Agarwal.

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Great news everyone! Spending money on the internet will be getting a bit easier. As if one-click purchases were not enough, Amazon now wishes to make it even easier to lighten your wallet by a bit, introducing purchases through Twitter.

You can’t actually complete the deal this way -- yet -- but you can get the item into your cart, where it will await your next move.

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If there is one thing Amazon loves, it's a good sale. The company seems to always be discounting one product or another, and a favorite target is its line of Kindle Fire tablets. That's the case now, this time in honor of your mom.

The company has slashed prices on its lineup of tablets in an effort to convince customers to grab one for dear old mom before her day arrives on May 11th.

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Ouya began life as a Kickstarter darling that everyone was talking about. However, since its actual launch, the little Android gaming console has largely been a non-factor in the market.

Now Playcast may bring a bit more legitimacy to the platform, as the service has begun beta testing on the Ouya box. Playcast, if you aren't familiar, is a cloud gaming service that licenses and offers console-level games, from shooters to action, sports, and more.

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BetaNews recently looked at a survey showing that younger people are watching more video through the internet than ever before. In fact, those aged 14-24 are using the web for the majority of their entertainment consumption.

Now an infographic takes a look at the big picture, pulling from reports from various sources. What was found was that 2013 was the worst year yet for the cable TV business, marking a steady decline that began back in 2011. In fact, between 2010 and 2013 five million customers got rid of pay TV service, while Charter reports that one in four of its customers are internet-only.

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As the streaming music business continues to heat up, Spotify is taking another step to stay ahead of the competition. The service is one of the more popular, but staying at the top is not as easy as it seems.

Now Spotify is teaming with mobile provider Sprint to bring a new deal to potential customers -- of course, you'll have to be on the mobile network in order to take advantage of this new offering. "Starting from May 2nd, all existing and new postpaid Sprint customers can get a 3 and 6 month free trial for Spotify Premium. This offer will launch in all channels on all compatible Sprint postpaid devices", says Spotify's Candice Katz.

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