Rdio continues its plans for world domination, focusing on Europe

Rdio already has a number of stamps in its passport, Canada, Australia, Brazil and New Zealand amongst them. But, the current focus for the streaming music service is Europe, where it's already launched in Germany, Denmark, Portugal and Spain. While we still don't have any solid dates, Scott Bagby, the company's VP of partnerships and internationalization, told paidContent:UK that a pile of new nations are on deck for the coming months, with hopes of covering the entire continent. With licensing deals already struck in the UK, we're pretty confident England will be part of this next batch of rollouts, but Rdio has no intentions of confining itself to the western world. Bagby said in the interview, "we already have a guy on the ground in Asia," so look for the service to go live in a few more locales across the pacific. No time frame was given for the Asian launches but, if the company is serious about establishing a foothold there, it should do so sooner rather than later. As Bagby points out, Rdio is "a couple of years behind others in terms of expansion."

Crux360 keyboard case for the new iPad ships May 12th, preorder now for $150

Looking to grab a keyboard case for those heavy typing duties on your new iPad? CruxCase has revealed the latest version of its Crux360 built for the most recent Apple slate with some new features to boot. First, the clamshell now features a snap in front design that allows for quick access when the case isn't needed. There is also a "window cover" that now fully protects the rear panel of the iPad; however, if you really want to show off that Apple logo, the cover can easily be removed to do so. Connecting should be quick and easy too, as this model's power and Bluetooth buttons are one touch instead of the usual press-and-hold type deal. Magnets keep the folding kit shut -- preventing the case from opening up and exposing that precious Retina display to potential hazards. Keep in mind: the Crux360 features a hinge that allows you to rotate your slate all the way back on the keyboard for regular ol' tablet mode and everything in between. Need a bit more info before dropping your $150 on one? Hit the source link below, where you can preorder a unit for before the May 12th ship date.

Spotify welcomes new apps from Warner, Def Jam, Matador, more

So, now that Rdio's got itself a fancy redesign, it's time for Spotify to fire back, right? The Swedish streaming service announced a new round of third-party apps, including selections from some big industry names, like Warner, Def Jam, Domino and Matador Records. The list also includes Classify, an app designed to help users discover classical music on the service, The Complete Collection, which offers up supplementary images, lyrics and liner notes and Fitr, which lets you build playlists based on Facebook friends. Also new is Hot or Not, which offers a song-based take on the internet voting site and [PIAS], which provides some curated playlists. In all, the site is rolling out a dozen new apps.

Zync unveils budget-friendly Z990, says it's India's first ICS tablet

India's undoubtedly seen its fair share of cheap slabs, but if folks are willing to shell out a bit more than2,000 or 2,900 rupees, they can end up snagging a better-specced piece of hardware. Priced at a modest 8,900 rupees (around $180), Zync's launching its Z990 7-inch slate, which claims to be the first to hit the Indian market with Android four-dot-oh on board. Alongside Big G's fresh treat are a TFT, 800 x 480 display, 1.2GHz CPU with 1GB of RAM, plus HDMI and microUSB ports. Naturally, and perhaps most importantly, the Z990 has the credentials to let you get all your favorite content via Google Play. Zync's got the tab up for grabs, and you can pop one in your cart now by heading over to the Letsbuy shop, linked down below to make it easier for you.

Acer Iconia Tab A510 with Tegra 3, Android 4.0 arriving in the US and Canada for $450

The curious thing about the Acer Iconia Tab A510 is that it's been out in the open for months -- we've even handled it -- but for whatever reason, Acer's never publicly acknowledged it as the successor to last year's A500. When we got hands-on at CES, for example, it wasn't at Acer's suite, but NVIDIA's booth (this is Acer's first Tegra 3 tablet, don'tcha know). Well, the company's finally ready to come out and say, "Yes, we made this thing." The A510 is up for pre-order today in the US and Canada, with a price of $450. Though you can get it in black or white, it's available in one 32GB configuration for now. To recap, this is a quad-core slate with 1GB of RAM, a 10.1-inch (1280 x 800) display, 5-megapixel auto-focusing rear camera and a single-megapixel shooter up front. And though it loses the USB 2.0 port that made the A500 fairly distinctive, it gains a battery rated for 12 hours of video playback -- a good thing, since it'll have stiff competition from ASUS, Apple and Samsung in the endurance department. Acer also confirmed the tablet will ship with Android 4.0, with the company's usual light OS tweaks in tow. Still no word on when, exactly, it'll ship, but if you want to get a feel for it in the meantime be sure to hit up ourhands-on from CES if you missed it the first time around.

LaCie 2big Thunderbolt series external HDD review

We've already seen what Thunderbolt's capable of when it's used in conjunction with a couple of high performance SSDs, but not everyone needs NAND to meet their external storage requirements. What many do deem essential, however, is a ton of room for system backups and multimedia, and Thunderbolt's ability to transfer bits and bytes in the blink of an eye makes it an alluring alternative to other connections. If you find yourself among those desiring such a solution, let us introduce you to LaCie's 2big Thunderbolt series external HDD. The 2big packs dual 3TB spinners on the inside for a grand total of 6TB, and comes from the factory in a software RAID 0 configuration to take full advantage of Thunderbolt's considerable capabilities. This aluminum desktop behemoth has a price to match its name and stature ($799), so we figured we'd put the 2big through its paces to let you know what kind of performance you'll be getting in return for all that cash.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 review round-up: see ya later, AMD

We've already been hands-on with NVIDIA's first Kepler GPU, but all those fancy features count for nuthin' if the benchmarks don't back them up. So do they? Huh? Do they? NVIDIA told us to expect a 10 to 40 percent performance boost from the $499 GTX 680, versus AMD's pricier Radeon HD 7970, and it appears that was no exaggeration. If you've bought yourself a high-end 28nm AMD card recently, try to hold back those tears until you've glanced over the reviews after the break. Let's just hope for a fairer fight when NVIDIA's mainstream and low-end cards come out to tackle AMD's 7800- and 7700-series -- and hey, some timely price drops could help to balance things too.

TweetDeck gets updated with improved list management, inline media and more

You'll still have to wait a bit longer for a major update to the mobile apps, but Twitter has today rolled out some big changes to TweetDeck for Mac, Windows and Chrome. That includes some added options for lists (including the ability to create and edit lists from within the application), new activity and interactions columns, inline media previews, and a new "Edit & RT" feature in place of the previous "Quote" option. You can get a quick preview of all that in the video after the break, or simply try it out yourself by downloading or updating the application for your platform of choice (it of course remains completely free).

US Cellular's first LTE device ships, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 claims the honor

Just under two months after being officially unveiled, US Cellular's first LTE device is now shipping. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it's a tablet taking the first journey out on the carrier's 4G superhighway, with Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 on sale today online and in stores for... well, entirely too much. Despite being nearly a year old, USCC's Tab 10.1 will sell for a staggering $499.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate, though customers residing in one of its LTE markets will be able to grab it for a Benjamin less. Oh, and did we mention that a two-year agreement (with data plan) is still required? Yeah. Pardon us while we fire up the gravedigger -- we've seen this one before.

Facebook updates photo viewer with high-res images and full-screen mode

No more than 24 hours after introducing you to Acquaintances, Facebook is rolling out a couple of new features for its photo viewer. The social network's fresh bits will let you get a resolutionary look at allthose images shared by your friends, displaying shots "up to four times" bigger than before and at the highest resolution possible. Additionally, now you'll be able to check out those hi-res photos in full-screen mode, though you'll need to be on the most recent version of Firefox or Chrome to do so (sorry, Safari). Best of all, there's some extra Face-uh-oh-book goodies waiting for you after the break.

Shocker: Windows 8 will be 'retina' display friendly

We suppose Microsoft didn't have to make Windows 8 play nice with the new rash of extremely pixel-dense displays. But, that would be tantamount to OS suicide. So, we're not particularly surprised to hear that the latest and greatest Windows will support resolutions up to 2560 x 1440 on screens as small as 10.1 inches. That's a pretty impressive 291 pixels per inch. Of course, it's not quite as simple as it sounds. While in an ideal world, every UI element would be resolution independent, that's simply not the case and the infrastructure isn't there to support it. Instead graphical elements, including text, must be scaled to fill the available pixels. Microsoft's scheme will use 100 percent for standard density displays, 140 for HD and 180 for quad-XGA panels. Thankfully, the company was smart enough to include support for SVG files as UI elements, meaning that density and resolution independent future is at least one step closer.

Joystiq: Your mother-in-law is going to love Angry Birds Space

Rovio's furious fowl have fought menacing swine on traditional battlefields, foreign fronts and even through seasonal holidays -- outer space was obviously the next logical step. In case you somehowhaven't heard, Angry Birds Space sees casual gaming's most perturbed feathered heroes escaping terra firma to, as always, reclaim their stolen eggs. Joystiq describes the title as a tweaked, but familiar affair with a new twist that literally changes the gravity of the situation -- challenging players with inventive stages built around planetoids that divert and redirect the birds' trajectories. Sure, it might not resurrect a dead horse, but the new mechanic, they said, is probably enough to keep your in-laws entertained.

Leica's M9-P to be offered in unicorn-guise, $31,770 and Japan-only

Currently drowning in more cash than sense? Do you also call the land of the rising sun home? Excellent, as we've found the perfect camera just for you: the elusive white variant of Leica's M9-P. Restricted to only 50 units, the unicorn shooter will go on sale come June for a cool 2,620,000 yen (or around $31,770) -- a hefty premium over the regular (read: black and chrome) permutations which cost $7,995. Granted those pedestrian versions don't come wielding an insane f/0.95 50mm lens out of the box. And if this ridiculous combo is priced out of your league, you could always go after its cheaper, yet also delectable white predecessor -- although we'll hazard you're going to need more than just luck finding it.

Distro Issue 33 takes on Apple's new iPad -- Now in HD!

Late last week, Apple unleashed its new iPad on the world, and in this issue of Distro we'll let our review of the high-res tablet loose on you. While the iPad may be out in front in terms of sales today, our Weekly Stat shows that the army of Android competitors may surpass it by 2016. We'll give one of those soldiers, the Acer Iconia Tab A200, the review treatment in this issue, as well as Wacom's latest tablet of another sort, the Intuos5 Touch, and Samsung's rugged handset, the Rugby Smart. Also on offer in our 33rd edition are a host of regular exclusives: Recommended Reading, Switched On, a Q&A with Tekzilla's Patrick Norton and the comic stylings of Box Brown. So grab the tablet of your choosing and hit the appropriate download link below, but make sure to update your app if you're sporting Apple's latest slate -- we've optimized Distro for high-res viewing.

NVIDIA's GTX 680 tested in SLI and multi-display modes, loses some of its lead

Just hours after our review round-up of the new GeForce GTX 680 graphics card yesterday, a Dutch site has managed to test multiple cards in different (but invariably exorbitant) SLI modes. One of the strange things we learned during our hands-on was that SLI is complicated by NVIDIA's GPU Boost technology, which causes individual cards in the same chassis to run at different clock speeds depending on their load and temperature. Fortunately, Hardware.info reports no problems with SLI whatsoever, but it also concludes that the GTX 680 doesn't scale quite as well as AMD's Radeon HD 7970 in this type of niche setup. That changes if you throw down even more money on a 5760 x 1080 triple-display rig, in which case NVIDIA takes the lead in some games, but loses in others -- leaving the two rivals closer than the single-card reviews we looked at yesterday. 

Rdio inks deal to license UK music, but doesn't offer up a visit date

One of those other music subscription services has inched towards British shores, announcing a licensing deal with PRS for Music, a not-for-profit organization representing around 85,000 songwriters and music publishers. The San Francisco-made music service has already launched across Europe, the US and Brazil, but still remains out of reach for Brits. While it's far from a confirmation of intent, the service might have plans to jump across to the land of royalty, Rich Tea biscuits and RPattz pretty soon.

Facebook bought 750 patents from IBM

The patent war between Facebook and Yahoo may be only just starting.

A new report says Facebook has acquired 750 patents from computer-systems giant IBM. The news comes shortly after Yahoo sued Facebook for patent infringement over 10 of its software patents.

A "person with knowledge of the transaction" tipped the news toBloomberg Businessweek, though the deal hasn't been made public yet.

Compared to other tech companies, Facebook's arsenal of patents is rather meager: The company has just 56 patents compared with the thousands stockpiled by the likes of Microsoft and Apple.

However, the report says, Facebook has applied to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for at least 500 more. Apparently it didn't want to wait for those to be approved and chose to take a shortcut in stocking up its patent portfolio.

The lawsuit from Yahoo, which has recently had a wholesale change in management and is expected to announce layoffs, likely provided the motivation.

See also: Tech industry scorns Yahoo over Facebook patent suit

Many tech companies are now using patents strategically to both generate revenue and discourage competition. For example, Google licenses many patents from Microsoft in the making of the Android platform, which provides a steady cash flow for Microsoft.

In other cases, such as the many patent lawsuits between Apple and Samsung, patents are used to shut competitors out of entire regions (though that's rarely the outcome).

IBM has been friendly in selling patents to younger tech companies in the past. In January, Google bought 217 patents from the IBM, including one for a "semantic social network."

Reps from Facebook didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. An IBM rep declined comment.

What do you think of Facebook's patent grab? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Sharp intros underwhelming RW-T110 Gingerbread tablet with NFC, not much else on board

Last year, we saw Sharp bust out an array of 7-inch Android slates, including that NFC-packing RW-T107. Now, the Japanese company is adding a slightly larger member to the family, dubbed RW-T110. This 10.1-inch Gingerbread slab (sorry, Ice Creamers) is sporting a 1GHz TI OMAP processor alongside 1GB of RAM, 8GB of onboard storage, a 1280 x 800 display as well as an NFC chip. Additionally, the biz-oriented slate is powered by a 6,240mAh battery, which promises to get you up to nine hours of continuous video payback time. The RW-T110 will be hitting Japanese shelves on March 27th, and while there's no info on whether Sharp plans to launch it in other markets, we doubt you'll miss this run-of-the-mill "Big Pad."

PSA: ICS customer guide now available for Samsung Galaxy S II owners

Now that Ice Cream Sandwich has (finally) begun rolling out for the Galaxy S II, Samsung has decided to put together a little guidebook to help its European customers get started. It's actually more PowerPoint than book, but it's just as informative as you'd expect, offering a full rundown of everything GT-I9100 users will need to know before making the jump. The folks over at Coolsmartphone were kind enough to put it all into a pocket-sized PDF

Samsung's WiFi-laced DV300F camera now available, priced at $200

After having launched in January, Samsung's WiFi-enabled DV300F camera officially hit the market today, according to a fresh announcement from the Korean manufacturer. As the latest addition to theDualView line, this 16 megapixel shooter features a 25mm wide angle lens with 5x optical zoom, and boasts a three-inch main LCD, along with that 1.5-inch front-facing display. The latter is specifically designed to make self-shots a bit easier to manipulate, but it also features some extra kids games in "Children Mode," to help keep the little ones at bay. And of course, there's onboard WiFi connectivity, allowing users to instantly upload shots to Picasa and Facebook, and an extra "Smart Face Recognition" function. According to Samsung, the device is now available on a "global basis," for a price of ₩299,000, or about $266. For more details, check out the full, but choppily translated PR, after the break.

Update: We've received word that U.S. pricing has been announced as well, with the DV300F hitting stateside shelves for $199.99. That model, along with the $229.99 WB150F, are shipping now.

All of those Kinect-enabled Xbox 360 video apps Microsoft has been promising since last year's dashboard update continue to slowly leak out, and the latest is the BBC iPlayer. Already long available on the Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3, UK gamers finally have access to the catalog of titles on any major console they choose. The Xbox 360 supports HD streams and, of course, voice and gesture control courtesy of that little add-on, however unlike many of the services on Microsoft's box, this one is available to all users with or without an Xbox Live Gold subscription. Platforms that are next up for iPlayer's blessing? Sky AnyTime+ is confirmed for later this year while a Windows Phone 7 is reportedly being developed. Check after the break for a couple more shots of the interface, plus a video demo for users on the appropriate side of the pond.

Intel's empire-building in non-PC markets could almost be considered Napoleonic, were it not so inherently rational. Having given us the lauded Medfield SoC for smartphones and tablets, it has now announced its next-gen processor for cable boxes. Nicknamed "Berryville", the dual-core Atom CE5300 is loaded up with integrated 2D/3D graphics, hyperthreading, virtualization and ultra-realistic car chases, which Intel hopes will allow Pay TV providers to offer smarter services, like gaming, home security and home automation. Can't let ARM have all the fun now, can we?

BBC iPlayer app finally launches for all UK Xbox 360s

All of those Kinect-enabled Xbox 360 video apps Microsoft has been promising since last year'sdashboard update continue to slowly leak out, and the latest is the BBC iPlayer. Already long available on the Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3, UK gamers finally have access to the catalog of titles on any major console they choose. The Xbox 360 supports HD streams and, of course, voice and gesture control courtesy of that little add-on, however unlike many of the services on Microsoft's box, this one is available to all users with or without an Xbox Live Gold subscription. Platforms that are next up for iPlayer's blessing? Sky AnyTime+ is confirmed for later this year while a Windows Phone 7 is reportedly being developed. Check after the break for a couple more shots of the interface, plus a video demo for users on the appropriate side of the pond.

Sonos' new controller apps now available for kicking out those jams

Remember those revamped Sonos apps the company teased last week? Now they can be yours whenever you choose to update the software on your OS X or Windows computer. As well as a refreshed user interface, you'll get unified search, drag-and-drop functionality and one-touch party mode -- although it turns out, that last one doesn't suddenly make a party appear in your house. Shame, that.

Oracle's final damage claim against Google well under $100 million

My, my, my, how the mighty have fallen. In this case, the mighty is the roughly $6 billion Oracle initially sought in its suit against Google. By September of last year that number had dropped to a comparatively paltry $2 billion, which was still too high for presiding Judge William Alsup. Now that has plummeted precipitously, with Oracle's new starting figure sitting at $32.3 million. Of course, the final total for the damages will likely be higher than that, but we'd be mighty shocked if the ultimate settlement was even close to $100 million. Google's own estimates put the valuation at between $37.5 million and $46.6 million -- a far cry from the $100 million starting point Alsup had suggested in July of last year. Now all that's left is for this sucker to actually go to trial. Hit up the source to read the full filing.

Google adds spam explanation to Gmail, steers clear of enlightenment

Why is this message in spam? It's a question we find ourselves asking our Gmail boxes almost daily, when messages that really should have made it through to the inbox end up in electronic purgatory instead. So why does Google's algorithm choose to filter certain legitimate messages, while letting the vast majority arrive unscathed? The answer can now be found atop each message filed as spam, presented with the simplest of explanations, that generally fails to provide any actual insight as to the email's assigned delivery. Such worthless gems as "It's similar to messages that were detected by our spam filters," "It contains content that's typically used in spam messages" or "Many people marked similar messages as spam" now await you above each note -- seemingly assigned just as casually as the emails themselves. 

Xperia Neo L will be Sony's first ICS phone, but only for China?

While your Xperia might not have gotten its planned Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade just yet, Sony's come clean on its first phone to wield Google's latest straight from the factory: the Xperia Neo L. Appearing on the company's Chinese website, we wouldn't expect a redux of the mostly 2011 hardware to go on a world tour anytime soon. Those buying will be treated to a 4-inch FWVGA (854 x 480) screen that's a smidge bigger than the original yet still carries a 1GHz worth of Snapdragon coupled to 512MB of RAM. Unlike the archetype, though, the camera gets downgraded to a 5 megapixels in the rear while retaining the same VGA shooter in the front. Naturally there's no word on price or availability, but at least for diehard fanboys can have their ice cream and eat it too

Eventbrite unveils At The Door Card reader, turns iPads into ticketing terminals

Square may see the iPad to as an excellent retail tool, but Eventbrite thinks Apple's tablet a box office boon, which is why it created the At The Door app and card reader solution. Eventbrite's a self-service ticketing platform and its new dongle, which connects via Apple's 30-pin connector, lets indie event promoters take reader-encrypted credit card payments with any iPad. Meanwhile, the app lets you see on-site and online ticket sales, keep track of customer contact info and balance the books as well. Plus, any payments taken through the app are service fee-free, meaning users only pay for credit card processing. Not only that, you can wirelessly print tickets and receipts via a compatible printer (should you be willing to buy one), too. But before you go planning your personal Woodstock, perhaps you'd like to know how much this ticketing bonanza costs? Well, the app's free and the reader's 10 bucks, with Eventbrite handing out 10 dollar account credits in return for those who jump on the bandwagon.

Apple's nano-SIM proposal draws fire from Motorola, Nokia, RIM

Giesecke & Devrient's nano-SIM design is fueling quite the standards battle over in Europe, with Apple sitting in one corner, and the troika of Motorola, Nokia and RIM looming in the other. That's according to the Financial Times, which reports today that Cupertino is leading a charge to push its own nano-SIM proposal through Europe's standards body, ETSI, much to the chagrin of its competitors. According toFT's sources, Apple's version of the nano-SIM would call for a "drawer" to protect it, much like the designs already featured in the iPhone and iPad. Though the standard would be available to all manufacturers under license, there's a lingering fear that Apple may eventually own all the patents pertaining to its proposal. Plus, its rivals would have to re-engineer their handsets to meet Apple's proposed design, even though Nokia claims its solution offers "significant technical advantages." ETSI is slated to vote on the proposals next week, but FT claims that the company has already garnered support from most of Europe's providers. Just to be sure, though, Cupertino is applying to become the largest voting member at ETSI, and is looking to register a full six European subsidies under its name. Each subsidy can wield up to 45 votes, meaning that if approved, Apple would overtake Nokia as the organization's largest voting body. Nokia, for its part, has filed a document in protest.

Comcast's Xfinity TV app updated with Android 4.0 support

Good news for those saddled with still using Comcast: its Xfinity TV app was just updated to supportAndroid 4.0. The new build brings compatibility to all existing Ice Cream Sandwich devices (tablets andphones), while also patching up a smattering of undistinguished bug fixes. Eager to grab your own copy? Hit the Play store on your device, or point it to the source link below.

Samsung China Exec suggests Galaxy S III could land in April

Samsung's follow-up to the Galaxy SII is one hotly anticipated release, and amongst the swathes of design student mock-ups and plain old rumor, is the occasional word from the horses mouth. Speaking at Samsung Forum 2012 in Beijing, chief exec Kim Young-ha let slip that we'll possibly see the phone land in April, and not May as initially believed, stating "In order to increase sales of the Galaxy S3 as well as the Galaxy Note which is already very popular in China, the company is considering rescheduling the roll-out of the Galaxy S3 from May to April." So if you're impatience was making you consider alternatives, it might be worth holding out just that little bit longer. 

UK retailer GAME goes into administration

Retailer Game, owner of the Game and Gamestation chains has entered administration. The chain has 1,270 outlets in Europe and Australia and rumors have circulated for months concerning unrest at the highest levels of the business. It was unable to agree deals with publishers Capcom and Electronic Arts for the latest titles, meaning it had to turn away customers looking to buy Mass Effect 3 during its blockbuster opening weekend. After the board informed shareholders that "it's uncertain any of the solutions [...] being explored by the board will be successful," the company's share price fell by 71 percent. A week later, the company withdrew its share listing from the London Stock Exchange as its share value collapsed to from 62p a year ago to 2.39p. A statement released today said that insufficient progress had been made in finding a rescue solution, but the company will continue to trade while talks continue:

"Further to this morning's announcement of the suspension of trading in shares of GAME Group plc, the board has concluded that its discussions with all stakeholders and other parties have not made sufficient progress in the time available to offer a realistic prospect for a solvent solution for the business. The board has therefore today filed a notice of intention to appoint an administrator. In the short term the Board's intention is that the business will continue to trade and discussions with lenders and third parties will continue under the protection of the interim moratorium."

Vietnam considers limiting SIM card access, suggests 18 per person is enough

How many SIM cards do you have in your stash? If your answer is less than three per operator -- of every network provider -- then you may have trouble sympathizing with the apparent plight of some Vietnamese. Proposed legislation from the Ministry of Information and Commerce would effectively regulate each citizen to a maximum of three SIMs per carrier, leading to a theoretical limit of 18 SIM cards per individual, as the country as six operators. The draft law is intended to curb unauthorized distribution in that nation, where SIM cards with student discounts and the like are re-sold without carrier knowledge. The proposal could affect businesses too, limiting each company to a maximum of 100 SIM cards -- but there's no word on whether this cap is per network or absolute. Meanwhile, industry officials insist that a limit of five SIMs per operator would be more reasonable, given the number of SIM-enabled devices available to consumers. What's most clear, though, is that Vietnam is awash in marketing opportunity -- just imagine how popular Nokia could be with a mobile phone that supports 18 SIM cards.

Square gets a few more Chinese clones, Jack Dorsey may or may not be flattered

Never mind what PayPal has just unveiled today -- look at these mobile phone credit card readers from China instead. If you ask Square CEO Jack Dorsey, we're sure he'll have to a thing or two to say about these familiar-looking dongles (and not to mention the various weibo microblogging services that were inspired by Jack's Twitter platform). Coincidentally, all three of these pictures above showed up on Sina Weibo earlier today, albeit from different accounts with very little detail in each post -- we'd like to think they're trying to make a point one after the other. So who's behind these little plastic bricks from the Far East?

Starting from the left (courtesy of Xiaomi Vice President Li Wanqiang) we have Lakala, a well-known Chinese payment service provider whose POS terminals are featured in major supermarkets and convenience stores. We spoke to the company's CEO Sun Taoran who assured us that this is a booming business in China, as credit cards are more popular than you'd expect these days (most large eateries, supermarkets and even karaoke bars in domestic cities will happily accept them); and of course, he'd certainly want a slice of that massive smartphone pie over there. The Beijing-based company also said its dongle will function even without a phone client installed, but it wouldn't further elaborate at this point. Expect to see Lakala's product launch in May.

Sprint kicks LightSquared to the curb as it contests FCC ruling

Sometimes when you start heading downhill, it can be hard to stop. Take LightSquared for instance -- not only were its LTE plans repeatedly contested and eventually shot down, but now Sprint, its long time partner, will be cutting ties with the wireless start-up. According to the Wall Street Journal, the move will officially be announced on Friday, leaving LightSquared alone with its dreams. A representative from the start-up says its filing a 150-page defense of its network on the same day, hoping to refute the Feds' claims that its network interferes with GPS signals. The outfit made no comment on Sprint's plans, but mentioned that it has enough funds to operate on its own for several quarters. We'll let you know when Sprint officially drops the ball.

Sonos shows off upcoming Controller apps for Windows and Mac

You unfortunately can't download them yet, but Sonos has now detailed just what folks can expect from its newly redesigned Sonos Controller apps for Mac and Windows. In addition to a completely revamped look, they'll offer an improved search box that promises to make it easier to find music across various services, as well as expanded drag-and-drop functionality, more accessible sleep timer and alarm settings, and an all new mini player -- not to mention a "one-touch Party Mode," which lets you adjust the volume in grouped rooms simultaneously. Head on past the break for a quick video, and look for the updates themselves to be available sometime next week.