From DailyTech: Every fall Microsoft tends to try to find ways to ban Xbox modders from its Xbox Live service. Microsoft detests modding, as it allows users to accomplish forbidden activities, such as playing backups of games, playing out of zone DVDs, installing alternative...

From DailyTech: Apple plans to open an additional 40 to 50 Apple retail locations across the world in 2010, as the company hopes to provide local services in additional foreign markets.

More than half of the new stores next year will be located outside of the United States...

From X-bit Labs: Chief executive officer of Globalfoundries, semiconductor manufacturing joint-venture between Advanced Micro Devices and Advanced Technology Investment Company, welcomed the agreement between Intel Corp. and AMD, under which the two companies signed a cross-licensing...

From X-bit Labs: The dynamic random access memory (DRAM) of Taiwan – Taiwan Memory Company – rescues to be dead on arrival as Elpida Memory captures production capacities from Taiwanese DRAM companies, while the government of Taiwan refuses to provide additional subsidies.

According...

From InfoWorld: If chipmakers competed on the basis of code names rather than products, then Advanced Micro Devices might have beaten Intel a long time ago.

At its financial analyst day Wednesday, AMD laid out its plans for a dizzying array of upcoming PC chips with names like...

From PC World: The cash portion of Intel's legal settlement with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) could shave as much as US$800 million off Intel's net profit in the fourth quarter, according to investment banking firm Credit Suisse.

Credit Suisse lowered its earnings per share estimate...

From CNET News.com: Those who can't wait until next week for the beta of Office 2010 can apparently find the code already on torrent Web sites.

According to Neowin, the beta code has popped up on peer-to-peer sites in recent days.

Meanwhile, another enthusiast site has posted...

From CNET News.com: Dell said Friday that it is ready to enter the smartphone business with the Android-based Mini 3.

Long rumored to have such a device in the works, Dell said that the first two carriers to sell the Mini 3 would be China Mobile and Brazil's Claro.

The Mini 3 will...

From DailyTech: Activision's recent launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was an overwhelming success, with one-day sales in the United States and United Kingdom raking in an estimated $310 million USD.

In the first 24 hours of launch, Activision estimates it sold 4.7 million...

From DailyTech: When Verizon aired its "There's a Map for That" series of commercials poking fun at AT&T's 3G coverage, featuring lines like "if you want to know why some people have spotty 3G coverage, there's a map for that too", it seemed only a matter of time before AT&T would...