Electronic Arts have just announced that their digital distribution platform, Origin, will now be offering third-party PC games starting in November. The first wave of publishers to sign a deal with Origin include Warner Bros., THQ and Capcom. This will bring hit titles such as Batman: Arkham City and Saints Row: The Third to Origin, with more games hitting Origin in the coming months.

Origin already has over 100 EA games in its library and adding additional publishers only cements their service into competition against Valve and their digital distribution platform, Steam. David DeMartini (shaken, not stirred, thanks), senior vice president of Origin at EA says:

Since launch, we've had overwhelming support from both publishers and developers across the gaming industry, recognizing Origin as an opportunity to deliver more of their great content straight to consumers across the globe. We're excited to welcome Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, THQ and Capcom as the first publishers to offer their games via Origin.

Facebook sometimes gets the cold shoulder when it comes to privacy and their mobile apps, but todays news is a little different. Facebook are set to build a massive server farm 62 miles south of the Arctic Circle in Luleå, northern Sweden. The facility will include three 300,000 square feet server halls and it will be the first time that Facebook has built a data center outside of the US.

This is becoming a trend for American companies, with Microsoft looking to build a server farm in Siberia, but the deal never gelled together. Google on the other hand is currently building a similar data center in Hamima in southern Finland. Facebook chose Luleå because of its cold climate, with server farms requiring massive amounts of cold air to keep the operating temperatures down. The average temperate in the area is around 2C (35.6F) and the temperature has not been above 30C (86F) for more than 24 hours since 1961.

The plan Facebook have is to pump in cool air from outside to aid in temperature management. Despite this, the server farm will still require a fair amount of power, with the number hovering at around 120 MW. This will primarily be supplied by the Lule River which produces twice as much hydroelectric power as the Hoover Dam.

Shares in Take-Two Games have risen by 6-percent following the announcement of Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto 5 earlier this week. On Tuesday, Rockstar Games confirmed that GTA V's first teaser trailer will hit the Internet on November 2, where the announcement was made live with the game's official logo which shows a green-colored Roman numeral 'V' wrapped with a banner sporting the word 'Five.'

Of course, we all know how the Internet and fans work. As soon as there's a teaser for something, there has to be an easter egg or hidden something (image, word, art, etc) within the tease. GTA V as you can imagine, is no different. Some keen gamers have discovered that the logo displayed above, is identical to the design of the $5 dollar bank noted issued in 1889 by the US Mint. An American setting has been rumored, but would Rockstar be breaking the rules by taking GTA back to the pre-1900s era?

The most credible GTA V rumors lead toward an LA-based setting, in the modern-eta.

Own a tablet? Impressed with your single or dual-core speed? Well, ZiiLabs have shown off their JAGUAR3 reference Android-based tablet, which sports a 50-core processor. Inside the JAGUAR3 is a ZMS-20 system-on-a-chip (SoC), which sports two 1.5GHz ARM Cortex-A9 cores as well as an additional 48 StemCell processing cores, effectively bringing it up to a 50-core monster. There's not much technical details on the 48 StemCell cores, but ZiiLabs compares them to GPU cores and says they easily make ZMS-20 "the most powerful SoC available for tablets today."

Passed out on the ground in a puddle of your own drool? Well, get your stuff together, kid. If you thought 50-cores were great, ZiiLabs will also intro the ZMS-40 to OEMs next year which sports, get this, 100-cores. The ZMS-40 SoC features a quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 and 96 StemCell processors. This 100-core "4th-generation" chip is compatible with the Jaguar3, so OEMs will have no troubles upgrading the part as it becomes available.

ZiiLabs is not well know, but you may know the company who owns ZiiLabs. ZiiLabs is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Creative Technology Ltd. and with that, brings 25 years of experience with 3D graphics, GPU and SoC designs under its previous name, 3DLABS.

Sony have just announced that Sony Ericsson will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony and Sony is said to integrate Sony Ericsson into their broad platform of network-connected consumer electronics devices. The transaction also provides Sony with a broad IP cross-licensing agreement and ownership of five essential patent families. Payment wise, Ericsson will receive EUR $1.05 billion as a cash payment.

The transaction gives Sony a new opportunity for their products, where tehy will rapidly integrate smartphones into its broad array of network-connected consumer electronics devices, including tablets, televisions and PCs - for the benefit of customers and the growth of its business.

Sir Howard Stringer, Sony's Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President says:

HP have just announced that they are 'reversing course' and will now not sell off their PC unit. HP announced in August that they would spin off the business, but with CEO Lep Apotheker now on the outside, and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman directing the HP ship, they've reevaluated their plans. Quoting Whitman here:

HP objectively evaluated the strategic, financial and operational impact of spinning off PSG [Personal Systems Group]. It's clear after our analysis that keeping PSG within HP is right for customers and partners, right for shareholders, and right for employees. HP is committed to PSG, and together we are stronger.

According to The Wall Street Journal, HP's initial estimate of a $300-400 million cost to spin off the PC unit proved to be far too low, further studies actually put the cost closer to $1.5 billion. On top of that, a strategic review determined the level of integration across HP's business was deep enough that contributions from the PC unit would actually be missed. HP ultimately decided to keep the business in-house.

With little more than rumour to go off ever since we first heard about it many moons ago, Dell has finally confirmed the Latitude ST tablet's existence as well as a very close launch date - that being November 1st!

Dell says the Latitude ST is a business oriented product, running Windows 7 and being based on Intel's Oak Trail platform. The device also includes support for VMware and Citrix's virtualization solutions.

The unit weighs in at 816 grams and features a 10.1-inch (1366x768) touchscreen. It's powered by a 1.5GHz Atom Z670 processor with 2GB of RAM and up to 128GB SSD for storage. It has 802.11b/g/n WiFi, optional 3G support, SD card slot and USB and HDMI ports.

If you thought the swarm of mechanical gaming keyboards hitting the market over the past year or so have brought quite a few radical offerings to the scene, you haven't seen radical until you've seen the Levetron Mech4 from Californian based mob, AZiO.

This boldly designed keyboard sports Cherry Black MX mechanical switches and is said to be completely water resistent with 'special seals' and 'built in gutters'. The keyboard measures 7.75" by 18.50" by 1.60" and includes the following features :-

- Gold Plated USB connector

Apple today filed its Form 10-K with the SEC that discloses information to stockholders and the commission. It also allows sites like TweakTown to perve at some of the wallet-busting numbers included. Apple currently have $81,570,000,000 in cash, marketable securities and cash equivalents. What this means is Apple raked in $37.5 billion in cash profits in fiscal 2011. This is all in a time where they "missed" industry estimates.

That is after Apple spent $2.4 billion on research and development in 2011, up from $1.8 billion for last year and $1.3 billion in 2009. Apple also forked out $4.3 billion for equipment, most likely for factory investments and the North Carolina-based data center. Apple also had purchases of $3.2 billion in 'intangible assets", which is most likely the $2.6 billion share of the Nortel patent purchase that it went in on with other companies, including Microsoft.

Apple only spent $244 million on acquisitions, which would include it's voice-based app Siri, which it acquired in Q1 2010. Other Apple numbers also state that they own or lease 13.2 million square feet of building space, primarily in the U.S. Apple Retail Stores across the world account for 3 million square feet of that number. The data centers Apple run are also included. Also included is the 2.6 million square feet that is located in Cupertino, California which isset to be demolished for Apple's new 'spaceship' campus. Apple also owns a total of 584 acres of land in various locations.

Winamp for Android is amazing. I love it, I use it all the time and it is wonderful. Today brings Winamp for Android updates that include a bunch of new features such as a Winamp for Mac Sync beta app that brings the same wireless freedom to Mac users that Windows users have enjoyed for a while now, access to Spinner's MP3 of the day from your Android phone, and a new premium version of the app with extended features.

The biggest feature is Winamp for Android now lets users sync their music and videos wirelessly with the Mac, the same as Windows users have been able to do. The Winamp for Mac Sync Beta app is brand new and a available as a free download. The new updated Winamp for Android also includes more streaming music for Winamp's "Listening Party" feature, where you can stream songs and listen together with friends, and more free music from Spinner.

Lastly, we have the Winamp "Pro Bundle" which will set you back $5 but includes extended features such as support for FLAC, crossfading and gapless playback, and a customizable home screen for the player and a 10-band equalizer. The free version does however include more features than before, but the extended features are just extra flavoring on an already tasty product from Winamp.