According to Reuters, Microsoft has asked Samsung to pay $15 for each Android smartphone it makes. The Redmond-based firm believes that its software patents cover the technology used in Samsung’s Android devices and if history is any indication, Microsoft will get its way. In April of last year, HTC signed an umbrella agreement with Microsoft in which it was allowed access to Microsoft’s patents for an undisclosed fee estimated to be $15 per device. South Korea’s Maeil Business Newspaper said that it expects Samsung to bounce back with an offer to pay Microsoft $10 for each Android phone it manufactures. Samsung has also recently been locked up in a number of lawsuits with Apple that have seen the Cupertino-based company accuse Samsung of creating “copycat devices” that infringe on Apple patents.

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According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Dell is ready to readdress the luxury notebook market with a new ultra-thin offering to take on Apple’s MacBook Air. Dell launched its sleek Adamo line in March 2009 and its first model was an underpowered, over-designed offering that started at $2,000. Dell would later introduce less expensive Adamo laptops but consumers still wouldn’t bite, and the Adamo line was killed off in early 2011. On Tuesday, Dell will unveil its latest attempt to capture the hearts, minds and credit card numbers of prospective MacBook Air buyers with the slender XPS 15z. The new laptop will sport a price tag that starts at $999, and while Apple’s MacBook Air starts at $999 as well, that sum will only get you an 11-inch Air while Dell’s new notebook will apparently be the thinnest 15-inch laptop on the planet. Hit the break for a teaser video Dell ran earlier this month.

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Today, at the company’s planned media event, social networking giant Facebook took the wraps off of its new communication service. Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, noted that the new system aims to be seamless, informal, immediate, personal, simple, minimal, and short… but not email.

The new service will: provide messaging across all of the different ways people communicate (SMS, email, IM, SMS), a conversation history for reference and archiving, and a social inbox to aggregate all the messages you really care about.

The scenario presented is this: someone sends you an email that is displayed on Facebook as a chat window (the new system is being described as “very IM like”), when you reply to this message an email is sent back to your conversation partner. If you happen to be away from your computer when they reply, you can get a push email notification via the mobile Facebook application or via SMS (the company noted that a new iOS Facebook app will be launching today) and respond from there. The idea is to keep a permanent, running history of conversations with the people you care about while making digital communication feel like an actual, face-to-face conversation. “Your conversations are no longer locked in a phone or a particular email service,” said Facebook engineer Andrew Bozworth. “The days of typing “g2g” and “brb” are over.”

Users of Facebook will be given the opportunity to have a @facebook.com email address that matches the public user-name (facebok.com/public-useranme) that they’ve picked; Facebook employees will use the new fb.com domain purchased from the Farm Bureau. Down the road, the new service will support XMPP, IMAP, and several other open protocols to will allow users to access their Facebook messages however they want.

The company will be rolling out the new service slowly over the first few months; initial testers will be part of an invite system similar to the one used by Gmail early on.

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There have been rumors floating around the internet about Verizon Wireless offering a second, “tiered” data plan, and that rumor was confirmed today. America’s largest wireless provider will begin offering a $15 monthly data plan to 3G smartphone users that offers 150MB data allowance. The carrier will bill overages at $15 per 150MB and the $30, unlimited data plan will remain unchanged.

Also hot off the rumor wagon, Engadget is reporting that Verizon is testing calling plans with unlimited, any-mobile-to-mobile minutes — a la Sprint — in select markets across Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas. The plans range from $60 all the way up to $130 — offering between 450 and 2000 minutes — and include unlimited text messaging. The unlimited mobile-to-mobile offerings are available until the end of 2010 at which point, we assume, Verizon will either expand or cancel the plans depending on demand.

Read [$15 Data Plan] Read [Unlimited Mobile]

YouTube has decided to make it markedly easier for you to get your fifteen minutes of fame. How? By upping the time limit of uploaded YouTube clips from 10 minutes to 15 minutes. Those of you who dream of posting a video of yourself singing Can’s Mother Sky into a kitchen spoon, go right ahead. YouTube’s just made your dream a reality. Here is the official word from Google:

Well, we’ve spent significant resources on creating and improving our state-of-the-art Content ID system and many other powerful tools for copyright owners. Now, all of the major U.S. movie studios, music labels and over 1,000 other global partners use Content ID to manage their content on YouTube. Because of the success of these ongoing technological efforts, we are able to increase the upload limit today.

Thanks Google.

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We all certainly remember what happens when sites doubt Gizmodo’s “reliable sources” — Steve Jobs’ health, anyone? As such, a particularly interesting rumor emerged this morning that Apple tablet hopefuls might want to take note of. Citing “a source that has always been 100% reliable”, Giz claims to have been informed that Apple is currently working on 13-inch and 15-inch tablet models in addition to the 10-inch model that is all but confirmed by now. The source states that two prototypes reminiscent of big aluminum iPhones currently sit in a factory in Shenzuen, China. He or she also claims that at least one is confirmed to be running OS X. The source could not confirm whether these units were prototypes of what will ultimately be production models, or simply demo units of some kind. While it’s known that next month’s Apple event will have absolutely nothing to do with tablets, it might be a pretty safe bet that some kind of tablet announcement might not be far behind.

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Oh no they didn’t. We hope T-Mobile locations around the US are currently in the process of riot-proofing their facilities — you read that title right folks, no Android update in May. Ok, so we’re exaggerating a teeny tiny bit… After all, the update roll out has only been pushed back by a week. At the same time, G1 users have been dying to get their hands on an official release of Android 1.5 for what seems like a decade by now. Well Android fans, while you continue to wait for T-Mobile to get the 1.5 OTA update out the door, why not sit back and enjoy some hot Donut action. We hear it should be rolled out to American G1 handsets by 2013.

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Owners of the Android dev phone can now head over to HTC’s website and update their G1 to the official 1.5 version of Android. This early release for dev phones will provide developers with a few weeks of on-device testing of their software before the highly anticipated update is rolled out to the general public in May. All tools, instructions and necessary radio, system and recovery images are available directly from HTC via the read link below. Dev phone owners out there who take the plunge and update their handset, hit us up in the comments with your first impressions of this latest Android offering. As for the rest of you, don’t worry — the wait is almost over.

Thanks, Carlton!

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We gave you an exhaustive preview of Facebook 1.5 for BlackBerry handsets back in early March and while it isn’t necessarily a huge improvement over version 1.2, improved OS integration definitely makes it a worthwhile upgrade. We can’t tell you how many comments and emails we’ve received since then asking, begging, pleading and even demanding we provide further details as to the new version’s release date. Thankfully we can put all that behind us now as version 1.5 is available for all to enjoy. That’s right people, no need to email us with threats anymore — just hit App World or http://www.blackberry.com/facebook on your handset and you’re in business. As always, let us know what you think in the comments section.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Someone said somethin about a Magic being detected in the states and someone having a negative reaction to that being that it hasn’t officially been released in the states. May be some measure Google is taking to prevent Magic use in the states prior to its official release (on the assumption that G builds are somehow registering as Magics w/ the Market). this seems like the most logical theory to me at this point. Which means we’ll all eventually be able to use the G builds again… once the magic has been released in the states if this theory is correct.

Though nothing has been confirmed at this point, it certainly makes sense. The discussion goes on but if you’re a fan of the Android Market is looks like you’ve got a choice to make before upgrading with haykuro’s Cupcake: sit tight for a while longer while Google finishes up development on 1.5 and finally pushes it out, or forgo Android Market access and start enjoying stereo Bluetooth, virtual keyboards, an improved browser and plenty more.

UPDATE: A clarification from the tipster posted in the comments section below (looks like you can still have your Cupcake and eat it, too — for the time being):

I want to clarify that this is currently only affecting one of the two haykuro cupcake builds. The “G” aka “google-sourced” line. There is a second “H” aka “HTC-sourced” line that is currently unaffected by this Market change. So if you get the “H” build, you’ll still have market access. For Now.

Thanks, Jon!

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The long awaited Android “cupcake” upgrade for the Android OS looks to be one step closer to release. An early-look version of the Android 1.5 SDK has been released to developers which includes a preview of soft keyboards, home screen widgets, live folders and speech recognition. This early version of the SDK also includes both Android 1.1 and Android 1.5, allowing developers to code for multiple OS versions within one SDK. The current release is only a preview version of course, with the final Android 1.5 SDK expected to be distributed at the end of the month. Exciting news, Android fans, though it would be slightly more exciting if we had more than one Android handset available right now…

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This one’s for all of the BlackBerry-toting MySpace users out there. RIM hit us up last night to let us know MySpace for BlackBerry has been upgraded to v1.5, featuring three major enhancements. Just like the upcoming Facebook 1.5 we showed the world, we can’t help but think that these “enhancements” should have been there in the first place. Oh well, here’s what’s new:

Friend Updates: Users can now view their MySpace Friend Updates from within the application and click on a thumbnail of a photo in the Friend Updates to be taken to a full screen version.

Enhanced updates and messaging: Instantaneous mobile notifications and messaging (no lag time between receiving a message online and on mobile). Users can also save a composed message/bulletin as a draft, delete and open a saved draft message to edit/send the message, and view or hide sent items.

Enhanced band profiles: Bands can add tour dates and more profile bits to their profiles, like Upcoming Shows (displays more details on the show such as venue, date, address and cost)

Support for French, German, Italian and Spanish languages.

MySpace for BlackBerry 1.5 can be grabbed either OTA or via PC at blackberry.com/myspace.

For a while now there has been talk of Facebook 1.5 for BlackBerry. Back in November we cited a report which indicated a January release, something that obviously did not come to fruition. However, we can say with absolute certainty that Facebook 1.5 is just around the corner because we manged to get our hands on it courtesy of one of our RIM ninjas. A lot of the new features are ones we’ve already gone over, but some are more recent additions and actually pretty interesting, though not necessarily for a good reason.

Now we know your time is important and the only BlackBerry content you’re really interested in is our amazing giveaway that is offering up a Bold, a Storm, a Curve 8900 and 500 BlackBerry unlock codes, but if you’ll take but a few moments out of your day you might just learn a thing or two. We promise it’s short and sweet.

Three Somewhat Major Enhancements

When starting up Facebook for the first time a Setup Wizard pops up on the screen and lists options to control the three biggest changes to Facebook for BlackBerry — the integration with the BlackBerry Message, Calendar and Contacts applications.

BlackBerry Message Application Integration:

Truth be told, this is probably the single greatest feature of the Facebook 1.5 app. In previous builds, when a Facebook message/poke/whatever was received one was forced to navigate their way to the Facebook application itself, open it up and check what you’ve received. But with 1.5 you can bypass all of this by enabling the BlackBerry Message application option and view every Facebook message from the convenience of your inbox.

BlackBerry Calendar Application Integration:

The title of this feature pretty much sums it all up: all of the Facebook events you’ve RSVP’d to and all of your friends birthdays are downloaded to a calendar labeled “Facebook”. Again, this is completely optional but we’re not too sure why someone would avoid taking advantage of this feature. In fact, we’re confident that this feature will save at least a few relationships a year (yes ladies, he has no more excuses).

BlackBerry Contacts Application Integration:

This feature, which we’re torn about internally, allows users to integrate Facebook friends with existing BlackBerry contacts. Phone numbers, work details, and most profile pictures from Facebook are added to the BlackBerry Contacts application. The great thing about this is if you would like to apply this feature to only a select few you are able to do so by “linking” or “unlinking” whomever you wish. And if your Facebook friend does not have their phone number listed and it’s not already in your Contacts then the app allows you to request that they share it with you.

Everything Else is Hum-Drum

Design and GUI:

We’re very disappointed with the design effort that went into Facebook 1.5. In fact, there clearly wasn’t any. Save for a few animated transitions between a limited amount of screens, the application still looks exactly like it did on an 8100 Pearl when it came out in October 2007.

Call Friends from the Friends Screen:

Now it’s possible to call friends who have their numbers listed on Facebook or whose Facebook profile is linked with their Contact profile on your ‘Berry. This is perfect for those who have friends who tend to tweet slanderous things and need to be straightened out.

Comment on Status Messages:

One of the more popular Facebook features is the ability to comment on friends status messages. This functionality was not available in previous versions of Facebook for BlackBerry, but that is simply because the feature is newer than the application updates. We’re very pleased to see this has been packaged in with 1.5.

Change your Listed Phone Numbers:

At this point in time it’s not possible for users to edit their Facebook profiles from a mobile device. However, Facebook 1.5 introduces an option to edit your mobile and landline numbers so that your friends can keep tabs on your ever changing numbers (if only Google cared about GrandCentral). Umm, is it really expected that someone is going to change his or her phone number so frequently that this is necessary? If you can wait a few hours to get to a computer to change update your favorite movies after seeing the latest flick then surely you can wait until that time to change your listed phone numbers. Besides, your friends can just message you and ask you to call them.

Improved access to Facebook’s WAP site:

One of the most irritating things about previous builds has been the fact that whenever you wanted to view a friend’s profile on the WAP site by way of the application, you would have to enter your sign-in credentials for the WAP portal. Thankfully this isn’t the case any more because so long as you launch the WAP site via the application you will not have to enter credentials ever again.

Conclusion

The new intergration with the BlackBerry Message, Calendar and Contacts applications is quite enjoyable, but we’re really disappointed that nothing more substantial will be included. With that said, Facebook 2.0 is in the works but if it took us this long to get to where Facebok 1.5 is today then we have to confess we don’t have much hope for anything but the same old, same old. Then again, by the time Facebook 2.0 is expected to be released the less powerful units on the market like the Pearl will be pretty much be antiques, meaning that RIM and Facebook can safely roll-out a more enhanced application platform-wide.

Behold what could very well be the sexiest piece of kit introduced at Macworld. Axiotron took the wraps off its latest OS X tablet endeavor yesterday at Macworld and caused inner conflict in nearly everyone who passed its booth. I can spend $5,000 on a tablet, right? NO, I need to pay rent! But the weather is great in California, can’t I make it on the streets? No, I’ll miss the premier of Lost! Wait, I can just watch it on the Modbook Pro… If you can swing it, Axiotron’s first Pro version based on the 15-inch MacBook Pro most definitely has the juice every Mac fan has been hoping for. 15.4-inch WXGA touchscreen display with finger and pen support, 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor (2.4GHz base), NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT graphics processor, 320GB 7200 rpm hard drive or 128GB SSD, integrated GPS, handwriting recognition and plenty more – all wrapped in a 0.93-inch thick case. Basically, it’s 6.6 pounds of hot. Axiotron is currently offering a $400 discount for Macworld but we have to image if $5,000 is too much, so is $4,600. If you were already on board however, the discount is nothing but gravy.

[Via Macworld]

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