Google has had to remove several apps remotely from Android phones and from the Android Market for what they have deemed "security concerns." Via the Android Developers blog, Google's Android Security Lead Rich Cannings offered the following explanation:

"In cases where users may have installed a malicious application that poses a threat, we've also developed technologies and processes to remotely remove an installed application from devices. If an application is removed in this way, users will receive a notification on their phone."

Google apparently came across a couple of apps that, in their words, "intentionally misrepresented their purpose in order to encourage user downloads, but they were not designed to be used maliciously, and did not have permission to access private data - or system resources beyond permission." The publisher removed the app from the store, but Google had to remotely remove the app from any phone that had downloaded it.

There are rumblings out there that Hulu may be bringing a premium service to the Web and the Playstation 3. "Hulu Plus," a $9.95 US based subscription service that could offer a larger catalog of shows han he free Hulu service, was originally expected to be announced for Xbox Live at E3, but according to a Bloomberg report Sony could be ready to announce Hulu for the Playstation 3 as early as next week. A beta version of Hulu Plus could surface somewhere around the same time.

Hulu Plus, which could also make a mobile debut for the iPad as well as the Xbox, would offer the service to users with the single subscription price for any compatible device. CBS, Viacom, and Time Warner are said to be in discussions with hulu abut bringing shows to this premium service, and if the subscription gets big enough, it could be enough to convince some to ditch their cable or satellite service altogether.

Many notebook users out there seldom use their optical drive. Other than installing software, the drives often tend to collect dust. If you are the type of user, who can live without an optical drive and want to get more storage on a Mac OWC has a new product for you.

The new product is called the OWC Data Doubler and it is a bracket that replaces the optical drive inside Apple MacBook computers with a 2.5-inch HDD or SSD. The bracket supports any drive that is 9.5mm tall.

It is worth noting that you have to open your Mac up, remove the optical drive, and install the bracket and drive in your machine. This will undoubtedly void any warranty you might have. There are different adapter models for different MacBook models and they all sell for $79.99.

eMachines is one of those cheap PC brands that has been around for a long time in the US and often isn't associated with the best reputation for quality. The company has unveiled a new HTPC that looks very nice and has decent specs for the price.

The machine is called the mini-e ER1402 and it is very small. The machine is 7.1-inches in diameter and weighs nine pounds. It has full HD multimedia capability with HDMI out. Other features the 1402 include 802.11b/g/n and S/PDIF out.

The OS is Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit and the machine uses an AMD Athlon II NEO processor. Graphics are via NVIDIA GeForce 9200 GPU and the machine has 2GB of RAM. Storage is to a 160GB HDD. The ER1402 is available now in the US for $299.99.

If you didn't get a chance to give Microsoft's newest toy for the Xbox 360 a go at E3 last week, the Kinect sensor will now be available for trial at any Microsoft Store across the U.S. The downside? There are only four in the country: Scottsdale, AZ, Mission Viejo, CA, Lone Tree, CO, and the newest store opened today in San Diego, CA.

Of course Microsoft is also pushing the Kinect preorders at the Microsoft site as well as many stores nationwide, but states on the site now that "official pricing has not yet been announced," and "$149.99 is an estimate only and subject to change." A preorder with a price subject to change doesn't sound like something I'd like to sink that much money into, but the Kinect has drawn rave reviews and will most likely be a big hit at release.

Yes, I just used an emoticon in a news title. But it is warranted, because T-Mobile launched three new Samsung phones including the :). That's right, an emoticon as the name.

The Gravity 3, Gravity T and, get this, the Samsung :) are social networking and texting based slider phones equipped with T-Mobile's Social Buzz which sends notifications and messages when there are new posts on sites like Facebook and Twitter. The Gravity models have 2mp cameras and 16gb of supportable memory while the  has a smaller 1.3mp camera, but shortcut buttons to messaging applications.

All three phones are now available in the U.S., but no international launches have been scheduled yet. C'mon, you know the whole world needs a smile..........:)

RIM, the company that brings you Blackberry, are still doing a lot of business in the wake of the iPhone and Android crazes recently. RIM has reported a company record 11.2 million BlackBerries shipped in the spring quarter, a company record and 43 percent higher than last year. The company also reported the sale of their 100 millionth BlackBerry and 46 million accounts active.

40 percent of the sales are outside the U.S. and could have done more with adequate supplies of their highest sellers like the Curve 8500. Revenue is up about 24 percent to over $4.2 billion, and its profit grew 41 percent to $768.9 million.

RIM also reported in a conference call that two new high-end devices coming later this year. One is rumored to be the BlackBerry 9800, their first touchscreen phone, but the other is yet to be announced. Rumors are floating that RIM is developing a tablet device and this may be the second item noted.

Vidabox, an award winning media server and control solution manufacturer, debuted their new iPad Media Center controls at the Asian Pacific CEDIA EXPO in Melbourne, Australia. This is believed to be the first such solution for Windows based Media Centers. This solution can be used to control your TV, media players, cable, satellite, and even be programmed to control lights in the house and other automated devices.

"We're all absolutely thrilled to be the first in showcasing what dealers have been asking for," claims Steven Cheung, President of VidaBox, LLC. "With the iPad®, users can now browse and launch movies & music by cover art, get rich metadata, and much more - quickly and easily - all from a single, inexpensive device. Beyond controlling media center, dealers and integrators can potentially tie in multiroom audio, or basic room control with lighting and more."

The controls are expected to be rolled out sometime in Q3 of this year to dealers and integrators.

Well, it's officially here. The iPhone 4 officially launched today, to the delight of thousands of people. Reports are flooding in from all of the initial launch countries (USA, UK, France, Germany and Japan) of long lines, crowded stores, and joyous people clutching their prizes like a 6 year old getting their favorite toy at Christmas.

But the story is not all happy-go-lucky. Reports of retail stores having no where near the expected stock on hand of iPhones and various problems with the unit itself have been cropping up all over the internet. Walmart, Radio Shack, and best Buy, the biggest in the chains expected to carry the phones, only had them in limited supply at select stores. Best Buy seemed to only have them available for the preorder crowd and Walmart is reported to have only had 8,000 total phones spread across 1,500 of their over 4,000 stores.

Then there are the issues with the phone itself. The biggest complaint has been the loss of signal when holding the phone a certain way, as the metal that rings the outside of the phone also acts as an antenna. Most people are getting "don't hold it that way" as their answer to the problem, although getting a rubber case also seems to help the issue. Other complaints have included yellow spots on the screen (residue from the manufacturing process reported to go away with time) and lack of Bluetooth connectivity.

When you have multiple companies operating in the same product category each wants to claim that their widget is faster than or better than the completion for one reason or another. This was the case when NVIDIA crafted its GPUs to run applications that were before that point only able to run on a CPU.

Developers have claimed that the GPU is as much as 100x faster in some applications that the CPU. NVIDIA says that Intel has unveiled a paper at ISCA in France called "Debunking the 100x GPU vs. CPU Myth."

The catch is in debunking the 100x myth in Intel's mind; the company admitted that the NVIDIA GTX 280 GPU was 14x faster in the benchmarks it ran than its own processor. Intel didn't say specifically which benchmarks it ran to arrive at its conclusion.