Somebody call the cops -- eh, antitrust authorities. Apple's subscription plan is here, and it's as bad for many, if not most, publishers as rumored. The first of several key sentences from Apple's press announcement: "Publishers may no longer provide links in their apps (to a website, for example) which allow the customer to purchase content or subscriptions outside of the app." That means you Amazon Kindle; before the announcement, all Kindle transactions took place outside the app in a web browser. This change applies to any content, but it's nestled in the subscriptions announcement.

Another piece of nastiness: "Apple does require that if a publisher chooses to sell a digital subscription separately outside of the app, that same subscription offer must be made available, at the same price or less, to customers who wish to subscribe from within the app." That rule conceptually would prevent some publishers from extending to existing customers the benefits of a free iPad subscription.

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You might have read about how the long-warned end of available IPv4 address space is a bit more imminent than it was, as the IANA, which governs IP address allocations on the Internet, has run out of IPv4 addresses to allocate. Simply stated: The IPocalypse is coming! It's not going to be the end of civilization, or even just the Internet, as we know it, but there will be some big problems. We're not prepared for them and we're not even working all that hard on preparing.

Here's what we know will happen in the short term: There are 5 RIRs (Regional Internet Registries) for different parts of the world -- AfriNIC, APNIC, ARIN, LACNIC, and the RIPE NCC. These organizations get address blocks from the IANA and dole them out to ISPs and other entities in their regions based on their own policies.

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Mobile World Congress is too great a public relations opportunity for Apple to pass up. The company is notorious for stealing thunder from events like this one. That's why something missing today is so revealing. There was no Apple press release touting Verizon iPhone weekend sales. Even if there was no industry mobile event in Barcelona, it would be typical for Apple to tout early sales, as it did with iPad (300,000 first day) and iPhone 4 (1.7 million first weekend).

Apple's silence strongly suggets that those short lines on launch day were no flukes. I heard lots of excuses, in Betanews comments or Twitter, citing bad weather. For example, in response to my post "Verizon iPhone post mortem: Three lessons and some humble pie," Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg tweeted: "You're kidding right? Preorders and reservations along with frigid weather means no lines. But better prepared than not." To which I responded: "It's sunny here in San Diego and lines are short at Apple Store. 'There's not been a line at any point' said one rep."

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Various executive agencies of the U.S. government have come together in an effort to speed up how the government acquires new technology and solutions, the United States General Services Administration (GSA) announced today.

The GSA, in the simplest terms, is a federal body in charge of all of the material stuff the government uses. This includes everything from land, to cars, to IT technology and solutions, and it is also the government body in charge of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).

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With Google making efforts to improve the quality of its search results, it is now giving users the opportunity to block certain sites from search results. The extension would be available for its Chrome browser, and user's actions in blocking sites could become part of Google's fight against spam content.

"We've been exploring different algorithms to detect content farms, which are sites with shallow or low-quality content," principal engineer Matt Cutts explained. "One of the signals we're exploring is explicit feedback from users."

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When Research in Motion adds cellular data to its PlayBook tablet device in the second half of the year, it will commit to higher speed technologies according to statements at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. A WiMAX version is set to by sold by Sprint this summer, but RIM will add LTE and HSPA+ versions.

HSPA+ would make the device compatible with a large majority of GSM carriers worldwide that have begun to deploy the technology as an upgrade to their data networks. LTE would make the PlayBook compatible with those further along in their deployments, as well as CDMA providers like Verizon who have chosen the platform for their own wireless data upgrade paths.

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You can never have too many backups, and when it comes to backing up you need two different types of backup tools for the best results. When it comes to protecting your precious files -- documents, emails, photos and the like -- either use Windows' own built-in backup tool or, if you want full control over your backup, choose GFI Backup Home Edition instead.

That protects your data, but what about Windows, your programs and your program settings? Do you want to spend hours reinstalling Windows and getting everything set up again in the event of disaster? Or would you prefer to spend 15 minutes or so restoring a recent backup of your computer while it was in perfect working order? Of course you'd prefer the latter, which is where a drive-imaging tool like Paragon Backup & Recovery (Advanced) Free 2011 comes in.

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Working with multiple windows on your Mac can be a real pain; sure you have the Dock to help you switch between them, but the functionality is still quite limited, all things considered. This is where Deskovery comes in: this small, lightweight application adds a number of useful features that provide real assistance when managing all those open windows.

Its main functionality is accessible from the green maximize window button: click and hold the mouse on there and you'll see a tiny pop-up window appear with a host of options. These are designed to allow you to work with two or four windows visible at once: just choose the appropriate option to resize and pin the window to a corner or edge of the screen.

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OK, we've seen the best tablets now that the industry can offer.

At [Consumer Electronics Show] Motorola Xoom won best of show. Last week we saw the HP TouchPad, which looks even better. Finally, [Mobile World Congress], at the very end of its presentation, Samsung launched a 10-inch Tablet.

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Following its Nokia partnership announcement at Mobile World Congress, Microsoft on Monday made half a dozen significant announcements about new features and capabilities that will be coming to the Windows Phone platform this year.

Microsoft CEO Ballmer announced that the first major update to Windows Phone 7 will be rolled out to consumers in March, and it will add copy and paste functionality. However, little else was said about the update, and we've asked Microsoft today for a bit more information about it. In all likelihood, it will pale in comparison to the updates Ballmer announced will be coming later this year.

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That's today's question for mobile developers, particularly those with experience creating applications or services for Android, iOS or Windows Phone in addition to Symbian or even Meego. Nokia will be swapping out Symbian as its primary mobile platform for Windows Phone. Details are scant now on how soon other than general references to 2012.

You can respond in comments or by e-mailing joewilcox at gmail dot com. I will take your responses and put some of them together as another post. Please be specific why the Nokia-Microsoft deal would be or would not be good for you, particularly if you see mixed benefits and shortcomings.

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Stephen Elop is wrong to call Nokia's platform "burning." It's this attitude that has sent the world's largest handset maker on a path to ruin. The former Microsoft executive and six-month Nokia CEO expresses a misguided perspective about the company he runs. Nokia's house isn't on fire. The only thing burning is the fire Elop set to the Symbian platform with last week's Microsoft deal for Windows Phone.

Perhaps Elop believes too much of the negative hype about Nokia. Personally, I'm tired of reading commentaries and punditries calling the Finnish phone maker a goner; they're wrong. Sure, Nokia is bleeding market share, but on rising shipments, and its share and sales still hugely eclipse competitors. During 2010, Nokia sold more handsets globally (461 million) than the next three manufacturers combined, according to Gartner. Last year, Nokia sold 30.6 million more smartphones than 2009 for a total 111.6 million -- or nearly two-and-a-half times overhyped iPhone sales (46.6 million).

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At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona today, Sony Ericsson officially unveiled Xperia PLAY, the first "PlayStation Phone."

Xperia PLAY is a 4" touchscreen slider, but instead of sliding to reveal a keyboard like most slider phones, it reveals PlayStation-style controls and buttons like Sony Computer Entertainment's PSP Go. It's powered by Qualcomm's 1 GHz Snapdragon processor with the embedded Adreno GPU capable of 60fps playback 3D gaming. It also features 400MB RAM, support for up to 32GB MicroSD storage, a 5.1 megapixel flash camera, aGPS, Bluetooth 2.0, and 802.11 Wi-Fi with hotspot functionality.

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Today at Mobile World Congress, Samsung confirmed the rumors, announcing the Galaxy S II smartphone and Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet. Both mobile devices have dual-core processors, and, yes, Samsung-manufactured, Google-branded Nexus S owners like me have reason to gripe about the new smartphone series. So much for Google's reference-design model that suddenly feels oh-so dated.

The new smartphone features a 4.27-inch Super AMOLED display with 800 x 480 resolution; dual-core Samsung processor; 8-megapixel rear-facing and 2-megapixel front-facing cameras; Android 2.3 (Gingerbread); 1080p video recording; Bluetooth 3.0+HS; and HSPA+ network support, among others.

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Figuring out how to speed up your PC can be a complex process, requiring plenty of time and expertise. Are your system's performance problems down to dated drivers, unnecessary software, hard drive clutter, Registry issues, or something else entirely? It'll probably take considerable effort before you find out.

But maybe there's a simpler solution. Run Uniblue PowerSuite 2011 and it'll scan your system for hundreds of speed-sapping problems, then fix them all at a click, helping you to maintain your PCs performance with the absolute minimum of hassle.

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