HOW TO SPEED UP YOUR COMPUTER

Is your desktop or laptop computer starting to feel a little poky? Even after just a few months of use, your PC or Mac may start to lose steam thanks to a fragmented hard drive, too many programs running in the background, or even a rogue piece of malware.

This week on Upgrade Your Life, Yahoo! News' Becky Worley serves up some quick and easy tricks for speeding up your PC or Mac, starting with …

1. Clean out your startup items

How long do you have to wait after hitting your PC's power button before you can actually get to work? Thirty seconds? A minute? Two minutes? More?

SONY PLAYSTATION REBUILDING NETWORK AFTER ATTACK

Sony "rebuilding" PlayStation Network After Attack

The outage of Sony's PlayStation Network and Qriocity service, now in its fourth day, looks set to continue after the company said on Sunday that it is "rebuilding" its system to better guard against attacks.

Sony said on Saturday that the outage was caused by an "external intrusion" into the network, but has yet to detail the problem.

The PlayStation Network is used for PlayStation 3 online gaming and sales of software to consoles and the PlayStation Portable. The Qriocity service runs on the same network infrastructure and provides audio and video to Sony consumer electronics products.

The latest update, while not explaining the intrusion, pointed towards it being relatively sophisticated.

TWITTER'S NEW NEST IN SAN FRANCISCO

Twitter on Friday said it has inked a deal to move into a new nest in a chronically downtrodden part of downtown San Francisco that local officials are eager to rehabilitate.

"Happy to say that Twitter is staying in San Francisco," spokesman Ali Rowghani said in a message fired off at the popular microblogging service.

"We've signed a lease to move our HQ to the Central Market area."

San Francisco leaders recently approved a payroll tax break aimed at keeping Twitter in the city and encouraging the startup, and other technology firms, to roost in a section of downtown that has long resisted economic revitalization.

Companies in what are referred to locally as the Mid Market Street and Tenderloin areas will not have to pay any payroll taxes on new hires for the first six years.

Twitter is undergoing a major growth spurt, with new hires coming on board weekly.

Twitter had talked of moving to another northern California city with no payroll tax, but promised it would settle into a vacant Market Street building if the measure was approved.

MICROSOFT PAYS TO KEEP TOP TALENTS

Microsoft said Friday it was raising pay for employees to retain "top talent" in the fiercely competitive market for skilled technology workers.

"Through our history, we have been THE place people came when they wanted to make a difference in the world through software, hardware and services," Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said in a statement.

"This is as true today as it has been at any time in our history, and the changes we're rolling out today will help ensure Microsoft continues to be the place that top talent comes to change the world."

A Microsoft spokesman would not disclose the amount of the wage hikes or how they were being doled out.

The raises come as Internet titans and fledgling startups compete for software and hardware engineers.

Microblogging service Twitter said it was taking new hires on weekly.

Google has awarded nearly $9 million in bonuses and another $50 million in equity to four top executives, according to a recent filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Internet giant announced in January that it will hire a record number of people this year, taking on more than 6,000 workers "across the board and around the globe."

Google added more than 4,500 "Googlers" to its employee ranks in 2010 and plans to easily eclipse that figure this year, senior vice president of engineering and research Alan Eustace said in a blog post.

APPLE, SAMSUNG ENGAGES IN TABLET WARS

SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co has filed patent lawsuits against Apple over the US firm's iPhone and iPad in a tit-for-tat case after Apple claimed Samsung's Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets "slavishly" copied its products.



Apple filed a lawsuit last Friday alleging Samsung violated patents and trademarks of its iPhone and iPad, as the popular gadgets are being threatened by the fast rise of rival devices based on Google's free Android operating system.



The legal battle between Apple and Samsung could jeopardize business ties between the two technology companies, as the Cupertino, California-based company depends heavily on Samsung for components such as chips and LCD displays.



Operating systems have emerged as the key battlefield for dominance of the world's smartphone market.



Android became the most popular smartphone software in the United States in the three months ending in February, ahead of Apple and Research in Motion, according to a recent survey by research firm comScore.



Samsung is one of the fastest growing smartphone makers on the back of the Android boom and has emerged as Apple's strongest competitor in the tablet market, with models in three sizes.

Counter lawsuits



Samsung said in a statement Friday that Apple's iPhone and iPad infringe Samsung's 10 mobile technology patents and it called for Apple to stop infringing its technology and compensate the company.



Samsung said the suits, filed in South Korea, Japan and Germany, involved 10 alleged infringements of patents mainly involving power reduction during data transmission, 3G technology for reducing errors during data transmission, and wireless data communication technology.



"Samsung is responding actively to the legal action taken against us in order to protect our intellectual property and to ensure our continued innovation and growth in the mobile communications business," the statement said.



Global technology companies are locked in a web of litigation as they try to defend their shares of the booming tablet and smartphone market.



Strong sales of the iPhone and iPad translate into more revenue for Samsung. Apple was Samsung's second-biggest client after Japan's Sony Corp last year, bringing in around 6.2 trillion Korean won ($5.7 billion) of sales, and is widely expected to become Samsung's top client this year.



The battle comes ahead of Samsung launching a new version of its successful Galaxy S smartphone next week in Korea, a key product for the world's No.2 handset maker to meet its target of 60 million units of smartphone sales this year.



Shares in Samsung, Asia's biggest technology company with a market value of $140 billion, fell 2.5 percent by 0410 GMT after three consecutive sessions of gains, versus a 0.2 percent fall in the broader market.



Samsung's Galaxy products use Google's Android operating system, which directly competes with Apple's mobile software. However, Apple's claims against Samsung focus on Galaxy's design features, such as the look of its screen icons, the lawsuit said.



The lawsuit, filed on Friday, alleges Samsung violated Apple's patents and trademarks.



"This kind of blatant copying is wrong," Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said in a statement.



Apple is bringing 16 claims against Samsung, including unjust enrichment, trademark infringement and 10 patent claims.



"...Samsung has made its Galaxy phones and computer tablet work and look like Apple's products through widespread patent and trade dress infringement... By this action, Apple seeks to put a stop to Samsung's illegal conduct and obtain compensation for the violations that have occurred thus far," Apple said in the court document.



Apple is one participant in a web of litigation among phone makers and software firms over who owns the patents used in smartphones, as rivals aggressively rush into the smartphone and tablet market which the US firm jumpstarted with iPhone and iPad.



Nokia and Apple have sued each other in numerous courts and as recently as last month Nokia filed a complaint with the US trade panel alleging that Apple infringes its patents in iPhones, iPads and other products.



Samsung is one of the fastest growing smartphone makers and has emerged as Apple's strongest competitor in the booming tablet market with models in three sizes but it remains a distant second in the space.



"If Apple fails to fend off Android, it will within a year or two find itself in a situation like Research In Motion, even if at a higher level (initially)," said Florian Mueller, a technology specialist and blogger on patent battles.

MICROSOFT SAYS "NO TO" DELAYS

Microsoft spokesman Eric Hautala on Thursday confirmed suspicions that the company would be pushing back the release of its “NoDo” update for Windows phones. Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer had previously said it would be out during the first week of March, but problems with the company’s February update have delayed the launch for a couple of weeks.



Hautala, who runs the team responsible for the phone updates, said the next update would be coming out in the latter half of March.



Microsoft announced that 10 percent of Windows Phone 7 customers had trouble with the update that was released in February, particularly those with Samsung phones. Hautala said that the company was trying to learn from the problems and will “take some extra time to ensure the update process meets our standards, your standards, and the standards of our partners.”

IPAD 2 SHIPPING ALERT

Apple’s new iPad 2 inventory appears to be completely depleted after the first weekend of availability and online order ship times have been pushed out to three to four weeks. The company’s new multi-media tablet began selling online at 4AM eastern time on Friday, March 11, and within hours was already showing up to three week shipping delays.

Despite the extended shipping delays, Apple is still letting customers order up to two units online.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced the new iPad 2 at a special media event earlier this month. The new models are available in black or white, sport a dual-core A5 processor, front and rear-facing digital cameras, a built-in gyroscope, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support, a thinner body, and more.

Shoppers hoping to pick up a new iPad in stores look to be out of luck, too. Apple ran through the inventory it shipped to its own stores and other retailers in a matter of hours on Friday, and the limited quantities delivered on Saturday sold out quickly, too.

Sony reveals PSP successor - the Next Generation Portable

After months of intense speculation, Sony has revealed the successor to the PSP and PSPgo game devices it currently offers. It is code named NGP or Next Generation Portable.

At a press conference in Tokyo Wednesday night, Sony unveiled the NGP and announced that it will offer 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity, a 5-inch OLED touch-screen with four times the resolution of the current PSP screen, a touch pad on the back of the device as well as two analog sticks for in-depth game control.

The device, which will be launched during this coming holiday season, will also have a quad-core CPU, front and rear cameras, motion sensing capabilities and a built-in GPS, announced Kaz Hirai, President of Sony Computer Entertainment. Meanwhile, game titles will be loaded onto the machine via a new medium — "small flash memory based cards."

It’s official: Verizon gets the iPhone

Well, that's that. After more than three years of rumors, speculation, and plain old wishful thinking, Verizon Wireless finally announced Tuesday that it will soon be offering its own version of the iPhone, bringing AT&T's long monopoly on the wildly popular handset to an end.

The long-expected news came at a packed press conference at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, just a couple of days after theConsumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas wrapped up.

Verizon's jubilant CEO, Lowell McAdam, was joined onstage by Apple COO Tim Cook (no sign of Steve Jobs, by the way) and Verizon Wireless CEO Dan Mead. McAdam confirmed that discussions to bring the iPhone to Verizon began as early as 2008.

The iPhone 4 will become available for pre-order for existing Verizon subscribers on February 3, with general availability to begin on February 10.

The 16GB version of the iPhone will sell for $199, with the 32GB to cost $299 — both with a two-year contract. Details on data plans would be released in a future announcement, Mead and Cook said.

And in case you were wondering, no — the Verizon iPhone will not run on the carrier's new 4G LTE network. Instead, it will get 3G data from Verizon's existing EV-DO network.

So, why no LTE on Verizon's first iPhone? Because adding support for the new 4G network would force changes in the iPhone 4 design, said Cook, and Verizon customers "want the iPhone 4 now."

A nice consolation prize, however, will come in the form of the iPhone 4's personal hotspot capabilities, which will allow the handset to share its 3G connection with up to five other nearby Wi-Fi devices (probably for an extra fee).

Make sure to check out my hands-on impressions of the new iPhone — which, by the way, looks almost precisely the same as the iPhone 4 on AT&T, so don't expect any earth-shattering revelations.

By snagging its own version of the iPhone at long last, Verizon puts to an end AT&T's three-and-a-half-year monopoly on the iPhone. While AT&T managed to win millions of new subscribers thanks to the iPhone, its reputation took a shellacking as its network buckled under the strain, with users complaining bitterly of spotty connections and dropped calls.

AT&T is putting on a brave face in the wake of Verizon's coup, with the carrier's PR manager claiming that AT&T has the fastest data network in the U.S. and warning iPhone users who defect to get "ready for life in the slow lane."

The reality, however, is that AT&T is facing the prospect of losing a good-sized chunk of frustrated iPhone users to Verizon, which pummeled AT&T more than a year ago with those devastating "there's a map for that" ads.

And during Tuesday's event, Verizon Wireless' Dan Mead went to great pains to emphasize that iPhone users will have an "absolutely terrific" experience on Verizon's network.

The festivities got off to an awkward start as some crazy fellow in the audience began hollering, ahhh ... some profanity-laced words of excitement before the event had begun. Startled reporters and bloggers (myself included) slowly began chuckling once they recognized the culprit: John Oliver from "The Daily Show."

Source: Yahoo! News

PSP 3 gets Angry Birds

Rovio announced this week that their smash-hit iPhone and Android game Angry Birds will be available on the Sony Playstation 3 and the PSP consoles, according to BBC.