Right from the get go Windows 7 was looking strong out the gate and allowed Microsoft to take a quick U-turn away from the rocky road they travelled down with Vista, but it's been Windows XP that has retained the biggest impact in the OS world for MS all this time.

However, if the latest consolidation of data from StatCounter is accurate, the first half of this October has seen Windows 7 actually overtake XP in becoming the primary operating system of choice worldwide. The data was collected from over 3 million sites in total and it was discovered that Windows 7 now has a market share of over 40%, which is up from 39.04% last month.

Windows XP is still going super strong, though, with a 38.62% market share. Meanwhile, Vista continues to dwindle in third place at a far distant 11.18% market share. Trailing behind Vista in fourth is Apple with Mac OS X at 7.3%, then in fifth sits iOS at 1.1%.

Sony's motion-based gaming accessory for the PlayStation 3, Move, has shipped more than 8.3 million units worldwide. Gabe Ahn, developer support engineer for Sony Computer Entertainment America has said that software wise, there have been more than 7 million Move-based games shipped in North America alone. By the end of 2011, there will be more than 80 games available, and Ahn also said that SCEA expects continued growth through the remainder of the year.

He thanks third-party publishers and name-checked EA, Activision, Capcom, Konami, as well as upcoming titles like BioShock Infinite and Ninja Gaiden 3 as examples of continued support for the Move controller. Ahn also stressed the diversity of games available for Move, from hardcore shooters such as Killzone 3 and MAG to more casual games like EyePet. Ahn also showed off a clip on "the future of gaming", which featured a Move player with a head-mounted display turning his world into an augmented reality version of Resistance.

In the demo, it shows a player gunning down Chimera in a parking lot with his Move controller and sharpshooter setup. The clip is not totally serious, but it points toward a hypothetical potential of the Move interface. Ahn said "it could be Resistance 4, it's a very cool concept". Very cool indeed. He continued saying that there are four key requirements for a good game interface, expressivity, precision, immediacy, and intuitiveness.

A U.S. Judge has said that Samsung's Galaxy tablets infringe on Apple's iPad patents, but also that Apple might have a problem establishing the validity of its patents. These comments are from U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh, which came on Thursday in a court hearing on Apple's request to bar some Galaxy products from being sold in the US. Apple and Samsung are currently duking it out in 10 countries with more than 20 cases currently on-going.

Just yesterday, an Australian court barred the Galaxy Tab 10.1 from being sold in Australia. In April of this year, Apple sued Samsung in the US, saying that the South Korean-based company's Galaxy range of smartphones and tablets "slavishly" copies the iPhone and iPad. Fast-forward to July and Apple filed a request to bar some Samsung-branded products from sale in the US, including the Galaxy S 4G smartphone and Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA have both opposed Apple's request, saying that a ban on Samsung Galaxy products would hurt their holiday sales. Apple must now show that Samsung infringed on its patents and that its patents are valid under the law. Judge Koh also stated that she would deny Apple's request for an injunction based on one of Apple's so-called "utility" patents. She did not say whether she would grant the injunction based on three other Apple "design" patents.

Jailbreak iOS 5 on iPhone 4, 3GS, iPad and iPod Touch using Redsn0w 0.9.9b5 is now available and for those of you who wanted to upgrade to the fresh-out-of-the-oven iOS 5, but not lose your jailbroken app goodness, as well as all of those hacks and tweaks you've fallen in love with, today is your day.

There were rumors that iOS 5 would stop any of these types of hacked upgrades, but people still want their stolen apps and games, right? Maybe it's just tweaks and hacks to the original iOS 5 that you're after, but everyone is different. Of course, there are some jailbreak apps that just don't work with iOS's default software. SBSettings for example, bringing control of your iDevice's vital features using a simple activation method.

The iPhone Dev-Team has released a tether-jailbreak (which means you'll require it to be connected to a computer when the phone turns on, every time) which is explained below:

A top Research in Motion official has apologized for the extended outage that is limiting service for many BlackBerry users worldwide. RIM still have no idea when the service will be fully restored. RIM's Chief Information Officer, Robin Bienfait, has said "You've depended on us for reliable, real-time communications, and right now we're letting you down". This was posted on RIM's website. He added:

We are taking this very seriously and have people around the world working around the clock to address this situation. We believe we understand why this happened and we are working to restore normal service levels in all markets as quickly as we can.

The outage could not have come at a worse time, with RIM losing ground against smartphone kings Apple, Samsung, HTC and others. And to make things worse, RIM is scheduled to host a key developer conference next week. RIM has said that a failure of core switch led to the initial outage earlier this week, but then got worse as redundant backup systems did not kick in as anticipated. The outage effected North America in the first 24 hours which was due to its efforts to manage the backlog of email in its systems.

Apple's iPhone 4S launched today in Australia and yesterday Telstra released their plans for the hotly anticipated Apple handset. Now we have all of the plan details, monthly amounts, data caps, SMS, call plans, outright pricing, everything you need to know as an Australian iPhone 4S potential customer. If you're after an iPhone 4S and want it outright, you're looking at $799, $899 and $999 for the 16, 32 or 64GB phones, respectively.

Now, onto the plans. Optus' offerings are below, it doesn't seem too bad looking at the $79 cap which includes $900 worth of calls, 3GB of data and $0 per month for the 16 and 32GB iPhone 4S's.

Vodafone is identical, offering the same amount of calls and data at a $79 cap plan.

Apple is rumored to be launching a cloud-based movie service before the end of the year, if not, early 2012. The Los Angeles Times has reported that Apple Representatives have been meeting with various movie studios to finalize a deal that would allow consumers to purchase movies through iTunes and stream them to any iOS-based device. The news comes just after talks of the first movies from a multi-studio venture known as Ultraviolet being launched this week.

Ultraviolet will allow consumers to purchase a DVD or Blu-ray and gain access to digital cloud-based copies they can then watch instantly on their Internet-connected TVs, smartphones and tablets. Ultraviolet web-only purchases, without discs, are expected to arrive in 2012. The Los Angeles Times didn't cite iCloud specifically, but when it says that Apple plans to "put movies in the cloud", there's no guessing required. What is unclear though, is whether the movies and TV shows would be simply downloaded to iOS devices, or streamed in order to save storage space.

The Ultraviolet system is interesting as it introduces a new digital system for customers, without ditching the old business model. It would also [hopefully and potentially] curb piracy, as there are many, many iOS users who are happy with paying for things through services such as iTunes. People familiar with the matter also stated that even though studios were launching Ultraviolet, they are willing to partner with Apple for the new venture, with talks of customers being able to access their Ultraviolet-stored content through Apple's cloud-based service.

This news bit is short and sweet, and doesn't add to your love handles, just in case you were wondering. iCloud gives you 5GB of free storage, not bad, eh? Well, Box.net are actually offering [for the next 50 days], iOS users the chance of grabbing 50GB of free storage. Free, that means $0. Not only is the deal bloody amazing, but there is no fineprint. No asterisks, no buts, nothing. Most of these types of offers expire after a certain amount of time, or are only open to fresh, new users, but this one is neither.

It is open to anyone and everyone and lasts forever. 50GB of free storage for iOS users thanks to Box.net, nice one!

This promotion starts at midnight tonight and runs for only 50 days, so get your free space in the cloud by following these steps:

Windows 8's UI has undergone some changes as Microsoft received a bunch of feedback due to its developer preview of the upcoming OS last month, where they pledged to respond with a number of changes. Firstly, the app displayed within the Windows 8 App Screen can now be organised into groups, rather than the alphabetical arrangements (as shown in the image below).

Apps can now be displayed at a higher density, which means cramming more content into the same space. Enterprise users will have the ability to customize their companies' Start screens and unify them across the networks, which is pretty darn cool if you ask me. There's still no word on whether administrators have the ability to opt out of Windows 8's Metro Ui tile-based interface, in favor of the "old-school", Windows 7-esque Desktop app, which is a highly requested feature.

There are many changes Microsoft are baking into Windows 8 and its great to see them so open with their users and implementing them so quickly. Take a look at the Building Windows 8 blog for an absolutely mammoth read, its very detailed and very awesome.

24 hours ahead of the official US launch and iFixit have ripped apart Apple's latest poster boy, the iPhone 4S. Inside we find a few details that future iPhone 4S users might want to know, such as the iPhone 4S having a half a watt-hour extra juice inside compared to the iPhone 4. This would be partially responsible for the 4S's improved 3G talk time, but the thanks could also go to the updated Qualcomm MDM6610 dual-mode baseband.

The iPhone 4S also sports an improved vibrator (hehe, hehe) motor found in the CDMA iPhone, iFixit also say that the touchscreen panel uses the same connecting points as the older GSM iPhone 4 instead of those found in the newer CDMA model. There are also markings on Apple's A5 processor that confirm what we've all been sitting around the rumor mill with, the amount of RAM included in the iPhone 4S.

Apple's A5-sporting next-gen iPhone was rumored to have 1GB or RAM, but it is now officially confirmed to be just 512MB of RAM. Markings on the A5 chip itself (E4E4) confirm the processor contains two 2Gb dies, 4 gigbits is equivalent to half a gigabyte, or, 512MB. iFixit gives the device 6 out of 10 score for repairability, the same as the iPhone 4 received, due to the use of pentalobe screws, thanks, Apple.