Ed Oswald

In an effort to promote its higher speed -- and higher cost -- Wideband cable internet service, Time Warner Cable said late Tuesday it will subsidize the full $300 cost of the Slingbox device. The rebates will be made available to customers beginning next month.

The offer seems to be an about face for cable companies like Time Warner, who had up until recently an antagonistic relationship with devices like the Slingbox. Since the set-top device allows a user to view content from just about anywhere it was seen as a threat to selling more cable subscriptions.

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Lenovo said Tuesday it would begin accepting preorders for its
business-centric ThinkPad Tablet. The Android-powered portable begins shipping within a week and will start at $499 for the 16GB model.

The Chinese computer maker aims to market the ThinkPad Tablet to the business sector. It had previously announced the IdeaPad K1 -- its tablet for consumers -- and that device has been on sale in China since March.

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It is said by some that Twitter is the fastest way to get the word out about the news -- and in the case of the 5.8 tremblor that struck central Virginia on Tuesday afternoon, for some that may actually have been the case.

Shock waves from quakes travel at a high rate of speed, however not fast enough that there may be a delay in the ground shaking actually occurring.

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It's no secret that Hulu is shopping around for a suitor: new reports indicate that process is well on its way. Bids are due by Wednesday, and it's expected they will range between $500 million and $2 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Several suitors are said to be in the running including Google, Yahoo, Amazon, and DirecTV. There also have been rumors that Apple may be interested too: the WSJ's sources have not confirmed that.

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Likely aiming to clear its inventory of the now two-year-old iPhone 3GS model, Best Buy said Monday that it would offer the device for free with a two-year contract with AT&T. The 3GS had previously sold for $49.

The offer is available from Best Buy's website and in store. It is unclear what type of stock the retailer is working with, but it's likely supplies are limited.

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It has been a rough week for Hewlett Packard, which stock took a beating following Thursday’s announcement that the company was rapidly exiting the hardware business, all but killing off WebOS and its associated line of mobile devices, including TouchPad. Within a day, a fifth of the company’s value disappeared on Wall Street.

How much, you say? A staggering $16.2 billion -- some $4 billion more than Google paid for Motorola Mobility. Analysts seem dismayed, and have downgraded the company’s stock. At least one of the credit rating agencies has threatened a downgrade of HP’s debt, and investors seem to doubt the company’s ability to make the switch.

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Apple may have just found itself in hot water again after a dutch technology news site spotted doctored images within a filing in Netherlands court surrounding Samsung's Galaxy S smartphones. The Cupertino company is accusing Samsung of copying the iPhone's design in its line of smartphones, and is seeking an injunction.

Webwereld.nl found that Apple had allegedly doctored the image of a Galaxy S smartphone by compressing it to make it the same height as the iPhone 3G, which Apple claims Samsung lifted the Galaxy S design from. By doing so, it also made the phone wider, which would further exaggerate the similarities.

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AT&T executives are apparently talking up an October release of the iPhone 5, confirming earlier talk that the launch of the next generation phone from Apple would come later than many had initially expected.

AllThingsD was one of the first news outlets to report on an October launch date. No reasoning was given, but it indicated that reports of a two week blackout for employee vacations in late September was not related to the iPhone 5 launch.

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Apple and Google like to puff out their chest frequently on the number of apps in their respective app stores. But a new study from Nielsen suggests that may be irrelevant.

Android users spend 43 percent of their time on the top 10 apps, and 61 percent on the top 50. This means the over 249,000+ apps that make up the rest of the Android Market are fighting over that remaining 39 percent of user's short attention spans on their mobile phones.

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It appears as if Google is attempting to set a baseline for the value of a patent, according to some analysts who took a closer look of its acquisition of Motorola Mobility. Industry watchers widely believe that the Mountain View, Calif. search giant's primary interest in the acquisition was the massive portfolio of patents that could be used in defending Android.

Motorola holds about 24,500 patents, and it gives Google a huge shot in the arm when it comes to intellectual property. It paid $12.5 billion for the phone manufacturer, but it appears that the hardware business had little to do with the company's perceived value.

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Hackers have again disclosed the personal details of police officers, this time in response to BART's decision to cut off cell phone and Wi-Fi service in its metro stations and tunnels to quell a planned anti-police protest. The decision by hacktivist group Anonymous calls its motives again into question, and could put these police officers at risk.

Data disclosed includes names, home addresses, email addresses and passwords to the site of the BART police union; 102 officers in total had their information disclosed, and the hack has taken the organization's website offline.

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Aiming not to repeat the mistakes of its past, Microsoft pledged Monday to engage the developer community as well as consumers during development of its upcoming Windows 8 operating system. As part of that, the company has launched a new blog called "Building Windows 8."

The company will use that to discuss what technologies its building into the next-generation OS. It mirrors a similar effort undertaken by the Redmond company for Windows 7, following what many call a disastrous rollout of Vista.

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Across its 83 years in business, Motorola has spent all of it focusing on mobile technologies, and nearly 65 years in the cell phone business. You could argue that the company was a pioneer in the sector, possibly the reason why it became so attractive to Google.

We've put together this (somewhat) comprehensive list of Motorola's activities in the sector to give you an idea of just how important of a role the company has played in mobile technology.

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The future of Research in Motion's PlayBook tablet became less clear Friday as Sprint disclosed that it will not be carrying the 4G version of the device as was previously announced in January. The carrier will still continue to carry the Wi-Fi version, however.

In a statement to several news outlets, Sprint confirmed the change of plans. However, in what could be interpreted as a sign RIM may be pulling back on the PlayBook concept altogether, the move was described as "a mutual decision between Sprint and RIM."

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Japanese technology site Kodawarsian reported Friday that sources told it Apple plans to hold an event on September 7 featuring its updated iPod line. As part of its reporting, it also said the iPhone 5 was on target to ship in either September or October.

The site has typically had a good track record in predicting Apple moves, and the date would match up with Apple's typical yearly iPod event, generally held on the first Wednesday in September. What is not clear is whether or not the iPhone 5 would make an appearance too.

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