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Google have slapped Universal, Sony and other music labels on the wrist by stripping them of around 2 billion fake views form their YouTube channels. The groups hit include Universal Music Group, Sony/BMG, RCA records and a few others.

The hit has been called a 'black hat', as the companies were using programs or paying a third-party that would manipulate view counts on their respective YouTube videos, which are pretty much just robotic views of their videos. The purpose? To make their songs look much, much more popular than they really were, in order to entice real clicks and views onto their videos.

This ended with over two billion views combined being removed from the companies' videos. Universal was hit the most, seeing more than one billion in views stripped away from them, from a former seven billion views taken down to six billion. Sony/BMG placed second with a loss of 850 million views, bringing their total down to just 2.3 million.

Archos have unveiled their latest tablet, named the 97 Titanium. The 97 isn't just there for looks, it represents the size of the screen if you add a dot in between the 9 and 7 for 9.7 inches.

Throwing the name to the side for a minute, it has some impressive specs. The 97 Titanium sports a 9.7-inch 2048x1536-pixel display with a pixel density of 264ppi, so we're getting into the fourth-generation iPad class here, folks. It packs a dual-core 1.6GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of on-board storage which is expandable via microSD cards.

A 5-megapixel rear shooter is in play, backed up with a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. Underneath all of this speccy goodness, we have Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Best of all, it doesn't look like Archos have spoiled the stock Jelly Bean look with their own UI splashed on top, which is actually quite impressive and gets a flicker of strong interest from yours truly.

Google TV hasn't quite taken over the world, but it looks like more TVs are going to be released next year with partner LG stepping up to the plate announcing new sets.

The South Korean electronics giant have current Google TV-powered sets in both 47- and 55-inch models but will expand this range to offer five different sizes. The new sizes will be 42-, 50- and 60-inch options. LG haven't stopped there, either, they've also updated the design of the TVs, too, giving them a thinner bezel and new support legs.

LG's new TVs will ship with Google TV 3.0, as well as built-in OnLive support. LG will bring their new Google TV 3.0-powered TVs to CES 2013, so it'll only be a few weeks until we get some hands-on time with them.

Sometime around 2015, NASA will incorporate a next-generation spacesuit that has a bunch of new features, but most noticeably, a new design. The new Z-1 NASA spacesuit will arrive in 2015 and offers a bunch of new advantages compared to the current and previous designs.

The biggest change would be the rear-entry hatch which lets an astronaut put the suit on from the back, and when finished, they just have to close the rear hatch. The current astronaut wear, the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuit, which has been in use since 1982, requires the wearer to put the pant and top portions on separately, and then connect them together.

Jumping into the spacesuit makes more sense, with its hatch being very handy for quick in-and-out experiences in the spacesuit. There's also a new suit port. Usually stored internally, the suit could attach to the exterior of the space vehicle, and the astronaut could easily enter the suit from inside the vehicle.

Lawyers are making some serious bank these days with the countless lawsuits between tech giants Samsung and Apple, but it looks like the former is suing Apple for their Notification Center.

In their home country of South Korea, the electronics giant are suiting Samsung for the feature that debuted with iOS 5. There is some risk, though, as the Notification Center isn't a standards-essential patent, so if Samsung loses, they'll be coughing up some money to Apple.

At the moment it's not known if Samsung are defending a patent they have in possession or whether they have enhanced an existing patent that some other company had received before Apple launched the Notification Center. Keep in mind that Samsung can't sue for something that Google patented, and considering Samsung run Android and not their own custom OS, this could get interesting.

Christmas is here, and there are some people out there that leave gift purchases until the last minute. If you're one of those people, we're here to help you!

Let's talk about the top five tech-related gifts you could buy a loved one this Christmas. We'll handle a variety of gear, from smartphones to tablets, storage to GPUs. Let's hit the list, shall we?

1.) Smart devices

If you're an Android app builder and were wanting to sprinkle a little YouTube into your app, today is your day! Google have released the Android YouTube Player API.

You'll now be able to bake YouTube into any app you want, and will sport high-quality playback for Android devices featuring Android 2.2 and above. Since there's simple integration, there are a bunch of goodies that will keep you happy.

This includes full screen and orientation mode support, closed captions display, support for YouTube ads and the ability to program most elements of the playback experience natively within your app. There are developers who have already dabbled in it, such as Flipboard. Full details can be found here.

Defense contractor Rheinmetall have just tested their 50kW high-energy laser weapon, which was a complete success. The 50kW laser works by looking for a target using something they call the 'Skyguard radar system', locks the target in with an optical scanner before it goes to work.

After it has looked for its target, locked it in, it will fire multiple, superimposed beams for extra energy. The German-made HEL cannon was capable of cutting through a 15mm-thick steel girder, but that's not all - it managed to do so from over 3,200 feet away. If you thought that was impressive, the laser was able to taking down a UAV, where after reaching the programmed fire sector, the laser weapon engaged the UAV's immediately, destroying them in seconds - keep in mind that these UAVs were flying at high speeds. Pew, pew indeed.

Lastly, the laser system was used in detection, pursuit and successful engagement of "an extremely small ballistic target". The team used a steel ball measuring in at 82 mm, travelling at 50 meters per second. This was used to replicate a mortar round, which the Skyguard fire control unit detected immediately, tracked the target, engaged it and destroyed it mid-air.

For the past two years Cooler Master has run an annual Case modding competition which has produced some of the most stunning examples of both professional and amateur PC builds from around the globe.

This year's Modding competition was no different with the usual mixture of drama, trolling and some friendly rivalries setting the stage for some mind blowing creations. The Competition itself is divided into three categories: Scratch Mod, Tower Mod and Cooler Mod, each with a plethora of modders fighting for a place as the best of the best in their individual classes.

Well after Months of hard work from all the hopeful participants the dust has settled in the workshops, votes have been tallied and winners announced. Cooler Master must have experienced a larger than expected turn out for this years event as we can see multiple second and third places have been added to the tower and scratch mod sections of the competition. Results are as follows.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Motorola and Google are working on an "X Phone" that will be released sometime next year. The "X Phone" looks to put competition to the likes of Samsung and Apple. As of late, the two companies have been increasingly hard to beat when it comes to market share and design.

An X Tablet is expected after the launch of the X Phone. The X Phone production will continue alongside of the development of Droid devices for Verizon and devices for other carriers. According to the WSJ, "Dennis Woodside, a former Google top sales executive who is now Motorola's chief executive, declined to discuss products under development. But he said in an interview that the company is 'investing in a team and a technology that will do something quite different than the current approaches.'"

Motorola has run into difficulties with the device when they tried implementing a flexible screen and ceramic materials. Google is taking the Apple approach with Motorola by trying to more closely merge software with hardware. We have already seen examples of this with the Nexus line of devices, and should see next year the fruit of their labor on the "X Phone."

YouTube has posted on their blog about how Gangnam Style has officially hit 1 billion views, the first video to ever do so. The next highest song, and the previous record holder for most views is Justin Bieber's "Baby." We had posted that the moment was coming earlier, but it has now officially past the mark, with no damage to the Earth caused.

If you check out the awesome chart by YouTube, seen above, you can see how much quicker Gangnam Style took off compared to Justin Bieber's "Baby." PSY has many more cool stats to go with the one billion views, but that is probably the best of them all. If you're interested in the others, however, YouTube provided the following:

So, if you haven't seen Gangnam Style yet, you can check it out below:

Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, has introduced a bill that would regulate data caps imposed by ISPs and would only allow data caps to be instituted to alleviate network congestion. It would prevent ISPs from arbitrarily applying a data cap just because they can.

"Data caps create challenges for consumers and run the risk of undermining innovation in the digital economy if they are imposed bluntly and not designed to truly manage network congestion," Wyden said in an e-mail statement.

Not only does he want to regulate data caps, he wants to provide more accurate and granular information to consumers. His bill authorizes the FCC to regulate ISPs' methods of measuring bandwidth usage so that they will be as accurate as possible.

Your kids are bit safer online now thanks to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. His office has removed more than 2,100 registered sex offenders from popular online games, including those from Gaia Online, NCSoft, and THQ. The removal comes as part of Operation: Game Over, a fitting title for his project.

"The Internet is the crime scene of the 21st century, and we must ensure that online video game platforms do not become a digital playground for dangerous predators," Schneiderman said today in a statement. "That means doing everything possible to block sex offenders from using gaming systems as a vehicle to prey on underage victims."

Registered sex offenders in the state of New York are required by law to hang over all electronic identities to the state. New York authorities review the list and contact game developers asking them to remove accounts that are on the lists turned in by registered offenders.

Facebook has been tinkering again (do they ever stop?) and this time they have modified the messaging aspect of the site. The new version of Messenger will allow users to send messages to a person's inbox even if they aren't friends or friends of friends. The new service will act as a spam filter as it charges users $1 to make sure it gets to the inbox.

Right now, if someone, as described above, sends you a message, it will most likely go to the "Other" folder, rather than your inbox. For $1 dollar, a potential job candidate or someone who heard you speak somewhere can send you a message on Facebook and not have it be missed. Facebook said:

The rumor mill likes to spit out whispers of cheaper Google Nexus 7 tablets every now and then. This time the word comes from a member of the supply chain. O-Film Tech, an Asia-based display component maker, has said that it has began shipping parts for the cheaper Google tablets.

Glass-Glass Film, the companies touch screen technology is said to be featured on the cheaper Nexus 7's. This equates to lower production cost and a thinner device which could retail for $99, but not at first.

Speculation is for the tablet to retail initially somewhere in the $129 to $149 range. Rumors that 500,000-600,000 of these cheaper Nexus 7's could ship within the first 3 months are also being overheard. ASUS which manufacturers the Nexus 7 for google, is also rumored to be developing an afordable tablet as well which might make an appearance at CES.

We have been hearing about flexible displays for years now. It seems that every display company sees these as the future of mobile display technology. Up until now the claims have been mostly vaporware and prototypes only found inside labs. Samsung has announced that they will be showing off a 5.5 inch flexible display at CES 2013.

The display will most likely not be featured in any device releases in the near future, but the 720p prototype will be sure to grab the attention of all who get to see it in person.

We are going to take a chance and say that the display is OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) based, but we could be wrong. We want to hear from you on this whole flexible screen idea. Do you think that we will one day be able to roll up our smart phones and place them in our pockets?

You may have heard of The War Z debacle over the last few days, but it looks like good guy Valve have stepped up and removed the entire game from sale on Steam until the developer sorts their stuff out. If you've already purchased the game, you can choose to keep it, or ask for a full refund from Steam support. Valve admits they made a mistake by releasing The War Z at all, with their full statement below:

I can't think of many companies that would remove a game after the public complained about it - but it shows that Valve are quick to act on decisions like this.

At the moment, eBay sell virtually everything - but one market they haven't gotten into is precious metals. Gold and silver are pretty much safe havens for investors, with stocks and currency constantly fluctuating, as it is easily manipulated at the top of the food chain, but precious metals are scarce.

eBay have announced a new, exclusive partnership with APMEX which will see eBay offer up the APMEX Bullion Center on eBay, which is open for business. eBay have said that there has been an increase in interest of precious metal purchases from consumers, and with APMEX being one of the world's largest precious metals retailers, it is a great partnership for the online merchant.

The Bullion Center offers 200 precious metal products, which are all backed up by eBay's Buyer Protection and APMEX's satisfaction guarantee. All of the purchases are also delivered safely to consumers in unmarked packages. Gold and silver currently sell on eBay, but it's hard to stamp the fixed-price or auction model to these items as the value of the metals are constantly changing with every passing minute. APMEX offers up-to-date pricing, right up to the minute of purchase.

Twitter suspended @YourAnonNews, a popular Twitter handle that spreads Anonymous related news. The reason for suspension is said to be a picture that they tweeted, and it is believed to have contained the addresses or personal information of people in regards to the Westboro Baptist Church.

Twitter sent the Twitter handle owners and e-mail that contained the following: "Your account has been suspended for posting an individual's private information such as private email address, physical address, telephone number, or financial documents." They tweeted out a picture of the e-mail that they received.

The handle has since been restored and subsequently tweeted "BREAKING: We're back motherf**kers." (Pardon the censorship) Anonymous is a bit upset with the Westboro Baptist Church for protesting the vigils of Sandy Hook victims, hence the reason for them tweeting a picture believed to contain personal information.

Gamemaker THQ has filed for bankruptcy. Over the past year, they have had issues with cash and have finally decided they can't make it. They have sold their assets to an investor. Clearlake Capital Group purchased the assets for $60 million. The deal looks to shed "legacy obligations and emerge with the strong financial backing of a new owner with substantial experience in software and technology."

"The sale and filing are necessary next steps to complete THQ's transformation and position the company for the future, as we remain confident in our existing pipeline of games, the strength of our studios, and THQ's deep bench of talent, said Brian Farrell, chairman and chief executive of THQ, in a statement. "We are grateful to our outstanding team of employees, partners and suppliers who have worked with us through this transition. We are pleased to have attracted a strong financial partner for our business, and hope to complete the sale swiftly to make the process as seamless as possible."

The reason THQ has suffered isn't 100 percent clear, though it appears to be a victim of the quick transition from traditional games, such as Xbox 360 and PC, to mobile games, such as Temple Run on the iPhone. The business is set to keep running and customers shouldn't notice any impact during the deal.