Anontune: The New Social Music Platform From Anonymous  —  In a move sure to attract attention from the music industry, a small group of coders claiming to be part of Anonymous is putting together a social music platform.  The rather ambitious goal: Create a service that seamlessly pulls up songs streaming from all around the internet.

Apple in talks with iPad trademark challenger to try and settle dispute  —  Apple and a Chinese company have started talks to try and resolve an ongoing legal dispute over the iPad trademark, according to a lawyer involved in the case.  —  Ma Dongxiao, a lawyer representing the Chinese company Proview …

Huh?  Totally Clueless German Court Says ContentID Isn't Good Enough, YouTube Must Block Infringement By Keywords  —  We've discussed a few times the legal fight in Germany between YouTube and the overbearing collections society GEMA.  German law is a bit bizarre in that it has very little regard …

Chumby no more: employees at Technicolor, technology waiting to be sold  —  The Chumby widget platform has gone through a number of permutations over the years, but it appears the ride is over for now: we just confirmed with former CEO Derrick Oien that Chumby as a company is no more.

Megaupload Trial May Never Happen, Judge Says  —  The US Government accuses Kim Dotcom and the rest of the “Mega Conspiracy” of running a criminal operation.  —  Charges in the indictment include engaging in a racketeering conspiracy, conspiring to commit copyright infringement …

How Andreessen Horowitz Bunted on an Instagram Investment  —  Updated Added comment from Ben Horowitz of Andreessen Horowitz.  —  Marc Andreessen, the Netscape co-founder who went on to use his considerable wealth to finance scores of Silicon Valley start-ups, is regarded as one of the smartest technology investors.

Spring Cleaning: Google Shuts Down Patent Search Homepage, One Pass, Google Related & More  —  Ever since Larry Page took over as Google's CEO, the company has shut down more and more of its products that were only being used by a limited number of users.  Today, the company announced another round of “spring cleaning.”

Samsung S-Cloud to take on iCloud, said to be unveiled at Galaxy event on May 3rd  —  We've heard that Samsung has long been preparing its own cloud service, dubbed S-Cloud, and now a report from Maeil Business claims that all will be unveiled next month.  Citing a leaked “Samsung Electronics …

Apple next-generation iPhone likely to adopt in-cell touch panels, say sources  —  Apple's new iPhone, which is expected to be released in the third quarter of 2012, is likely to adopt in-cell touch panels rolled out by Sharp and Toshiba Mobile Display (TMD), according to sources in Apple's supply chain.

Feds nix Oracle blanket contract  —  Last year Oracle agreed to settle with the General Services Administration (GSA) to the tune of $199 million in a reputation damaging case which saw Oracle accused of overcharging some government agencies.  Today, we hear that as of May 17th, Oracle's GSA IT Schedule 70 contract is being terminated.

Kickstarter funding explodes, on pace to triple this year to around $300M  —  We've been reporting on a lot of very cool tech and gaming projects that have found huge success on the New York based crowdfunding platform Kickstarter this year.  The site, which never had a million dollar project before 2012 …

Skype on Xbox team official, Metro development techniques coming to Xbox?  —  It's no news to most Microsoft watchers; if Microsoft is going to make good on those promises of bringing Skype to it's entire consumer product portfolio, Skye on Xbox LIVE has to happen at some point.

Cadillac Could Have Self-Driving Car by Mid-Decade  —  Google isn't the only company working on a self-driving car.  Cadillac today announced that it is actively road testing a semi-autonomous system called Super Cruise that can control a vehicle's steering, braking and lane-centering capabilities.

Game-specific Kickstarter alternative to launch at E3  —  Gambitious to operate on system of shares and dividends  —  A new, game-specific alternative to Kickstarter is due to launch at this year's E3, coming from Dutch company Gambitious.  —  The scheme will allow investors to buy shares …

Cloudflare's Instaflare is an Instagram for all the images on your website — Seriously  —  Having a bit of fun with all the Instagram hype these days, the website optimization service Cloudflare has launched Instaflare, a cheeky new feature that will let users of its platform apply filters to all of the images on your site.

Apple announces 500 new jobs in Ireland  —  (Reuters) - Apple is to hire 500 people in Ireland in the latest boost to the indebted euro zone country's multinational sector, one of the few bright spots in a struggling economy.  —  The consumer electronics giant will increase the headcount …

Ebook price-fixing: Apple, publishers face class action in Montreal  —  Apple's iBooks 2 app shown to the media at the Guggenheim Museum January 19, 2012 in New York City.  It was reported on April 11, 2012, that the U.S. Justice Department announced an anti-trust lawsuit filed against Apple …

Google+ Targets Emerging Markets with SMS Functionality  —  There's good news for Google+ users around the world today, particularly for those in emerging mobile markets.  Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is rolling out its SMS notification feature in 41 countries today, which means more people can access …

iPhone lands on five more US regional carriers today, iPad launching in 12 more countries  —  As we mentioned earlier this month, the iPhone launches on five additional regional carriers today: Alaska Communications, Appalachian Wireless, GCL, Cellcom, and nTelos.