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Amazon has escalated the growing feud between itself and Apple by issuing ultimatums to e-book publishers, inside stories from the industry claimed on Thursday. The online retailer has allegedly been pressing major publishers to sign three-year contracts that not only guarantee Kindle books for the period but would prevent them from offering a better price to Apple or any other e-bookseller. These publishers could use the agency model and set their own prices, the NYT noted, but only if Amazon was given equal or better treatment....

HTC late Wednesday formally objected to Apple's lawsuit. The Taiwanese smartphone maker said it would "fully defend itself" and denied that it had infringed any patents. It instead claimed it was respectful of technology and that it has been developing technology on its own....

Google is turning to other companies to get them to back its AdMob buyoua, a late-night rumor claimed Wednesday. The search firm would counter FTC inquiries by having mobile ad companies write in support of the buyout, which it could use as leverage against criticism. They have reportedly been asked to say the acquisition wouldn't hurt their business or dampen the competitive market....

Verizon's Android 2.1 update to the Droid handset will be released to a "small number of Verizon Wireless test users" on Thursday afternoon, the wireless provider said on Wednesday. This likely means Verizon will not deliver the update to the 250,000 users it was at first believed to. When the over-the-air update will be released on a more widespread basis remains to be seen....

The US Trademark Office has issued a note of refusal to Google for Nexus One. The trademark was applied for in December of last year, and the refusal is based on the existence of the Nexus trademark to Integra Telecom, granted in December of 2008. The early company already uses the name for telecommunication services and the transmission of voice and data....

The upcoming and leaked Cowon J3 multimedia player can finally be seen in the flesh, after months of speculation, thanks to a leaked image. The device will have a 3.3-inch AMOLED screen with a resolution of 480x272 and be available in 4GB, 8GB and 16GB capacities. It will also include an accelerometer for switching the orientation of its screen, as well as Bluetooth and a TV output, the last of which is new information....

Eurocom has recently released the first ever six-core notebook PC, the D900F Panther. The 17-inch desktop-replacement is knowingly thick and uses the space to house the 3.33GHz Core i7-980X or Xeon 5600 for desktop-level performance. It can be configured with either a screen with a resolution of 1920x1200 or 1680x1050, as well as up to 24GB of DDR3 RAM. The notebook can also house four hard drives, each sized at 640GB for a 2.56TB total capacity....

Google's rumored Android-based TV box is real and has some of the world's largest electronics companies involved in making it a reality, a major leak has revealed tonight. Now titled Google TV, the project would see Sony produce the first hardware while Intel would supply Atom chips and help engineer the software. Logitech is also said involved by the NYT source and would make a remote with a keyboard....

Cable provider Verizon has filed a patent infringement complaint with the International Trade Commission (ITC) in hopes of stopping the sale of certain Cablevision digital set-top boxes, a report said on Wednesday [sub. required]. Verizon claimed violation of five of its patents related to its FiOS TV service, adding that it limited its complaint to a single claim per each disputed patent so that the issue is resolved within one year....

The iPad should actually be beneficial for E Ink, Prime View International executive VP TH Peng claimed in a new interview. He notes that the sheer run-up in publicity ahead of Apple's e-reader launch will draw attention to e-books as a whole. It could not only spark sales but lure in publishers that might not have otherwise published digital copies....

Blockbuster's OnDemand debuting for the T-Mobile HTC HD2 smartphone will expand to other platforms, the company said. The service, which lets customers download and watch new release movies in addition to checking store stock, will also be made for certain Android-powered handsets from Motorola, though a timeline has not been revealed. Unlike competitors such as Netflix, Blockbuster's approach will see users permanently download tracks as they're more efficient than live streams....

Palm's plans for webOS phones at AT&T may have been sidetracked if a rumor is an indication. Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek claims to have "recently learned" from unnamed sources that the Pre and Pixi for the network have been pushed back from an April launch to June or July. The carrier has allegedly found a "long list of technical issues" and may also have whittled back its marketing budget....

The next iPhone will continue to exacerbate Palm's troubles, according to UBS analyst Maynard Um. Despite the buzz surrounding the Pre announcement early last year, Palm recently cut its guidance for the current quarter. The company cites "slower than expected" sales of the Pri, Pixi, and newer Plus variants....

Canon on Wednesday released details on six new LCD multimedia projectors meant for teachers and business pros. The LV-8310 and LV-8215 have native 1280x800 resolutions, while the LV-7385, LV-7380, LV-7285 and LV-7280 occupy the lower end with a 1024x768 resolution. Because of their intended use, lamp life is rated at 4,000 hours in Normal Mode and 5,000 hours in Quiet Mode....

Sprint on Wednesday confirmed that it would get its own version of the Nexus One. The device is the second confirmed CDMA version and now puts the HTC-built Android flagship on all four major US carriers following both the original T-Mobile and early Verizon launches as well as the just-announced AT&T version. Sprint's edition like the others will only sell through Google's site....

Sprint in an unusual marketing tactic is marketing its Sierra Wireless Overdrive router as a companion to the iPhone. A new commercial (viewable below) suggests the iPhone is "limited by AT&T's 3G speeds" and that the 4G-to-Wi-Fi hotspot could be used to speed up the smartphone. In this case, the router could give enough added speed to quickly finish streaming a video....

Microsoft on the last day of MIX10 has confirmed that it can remotely disable Windows Phone 7 apps sold through the Windows Phone Marketplace. As all apps have to be given a license to run in the OS, the company can prevent them from running by revoking the license. The method would likely only be used in an emergency in case of a virus or other rogue behavior, the company's Istvan Cseri said in a presentation....

A recent FCC report indicates that AT&T may soon offer the Nokia Internet Stick CS-12. While this is not confirmed by either company, the technical specs of the device show that it will support AT&T's GSM and WCDMA bands. The stick is capable of 14.4Mbps download speeds, though AT&T's network can only support 3.6Mbps in most markets....

Microsoft has suffered its second legal blow this year with a loss in a patent infringement lawsuit. Judge Leonard Davis ordered the Windows developer to pay $105.8 million for allegedly violating two VirnetX patents for VPN networks, including "transparently" creating a computer-to-computer connection and using a secure DNS server to create a link. The technology had supposedly been used in platforms from Windows XP through to Vista as well as Office and services like Windows Messenger....

Acer USA has already put up product pages for its TimelineX notebooks early, though has since pulled them again. The early look has nonetheless provided specs for the mobile computers, which include the 11.6-inch 1830T leaked yesterday, the 13.3-inch 3820T, 14-inch 4820T and 15.6-inch 5820T. It seems that the 1830T will not, as reported earlier, be offered with a Core i5 chip, but will instead make do with a Core 2 Solo....