Twitter has officially won the race with Ubermedia to acquire TweetDeck, the third-party Twitter aggregator. I'm still curious how this is going to play out, as a 3rd-party Twitter app would undoubtedly compete with Twitter's official apps on desktop and mobile, as well as unique views of their social network- but hey, both parties seem pretty psyched about it. We'll start with Twitter's, followed by that of Iain. See the official announcements here and here.

Now from Tweetdeck:

Not entirely sure why Microsoft didn't announce this when they announced Mango, but hey, today it's confirmed: Microsoft Mango will have a Windows Phone Marketplace, just like Apple or Android.

Once again, I don't know what it is with tech firms and naming their operating systems after edible items, but the Mango update should bring a lot of new features and functionality to what has been a fairly silent contender in the mobile front. Check out the press release below for more info.

This is something I just don't understand, these hackers are targeting Sony - for whatever reason I don't care, that is not my business and I'm not employed by Sony. But, another hack has just happened and it appears Sony BMG Greece was hacked on Sunday using an SQL injection attack and lost more than 8000 customer records. LulzSecurity, known for hacking fox.com's login database are responsible and it seems that Sony just aren't really caring about the amount of attacks happening to them.

Now the question is, what are Sony doing? The message is clear, customers can't trust Sony anymore. Sophos Security researcher Chester Wisniewski wrote about the Greece intrusion, saying:

Telstra has done it again, not only have they recently reduced pricing and increased value in their plans but they have now revealed plans to start throttling data speeds on customers mobile phones when they exceed their included monthly data allowance. This move is to avoid the "bill shock" phenomenon when customers go over their data allowance and receive a massive bill at the end of the month.

This move is not something new for the fixed-broadband world, with caps allowing x amount of GB and when exceeded, receive speed throttles to 64Kbps for example, the same speed as a dial-up connection. Telstra finance chief John Stanhope said that customers deserve to be able to enjoy the full capabilities of their Telstra mobiles on plans without fear of a large, unexpected bill.

No, really. After 15 years of "development", we're finally going to get to see the title that everybody- well, by now, probably at least some people are waiting for. Gearbox Software and 2K reportedly confirmed that the development of the game was at long last completed. The game is set to ship internationally on June 10th, domestically on June 14 for PC, XBox 360 and PS3. Players that buy the Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition and/or pre-order the game itself will we treated to a special demo on June 3rd.

Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K Games, told IGN:

Dell have finally released their aimed-at-the-Apple-MacBook-Pro notebook in the form of the Dell XPS 15z, a 15-inch, powerhouse of a system that looks virtually identical to the stylish-yet-expensive MacBook Pro. Dell's XPS 15z starts at a decent $999 and can be ordered today. The XPS 15z features both Core i5 and Core i7 options from the second-generation Core architecture, weighs in at 5.54 pounds and is under an inch thick.

Dell is making claims that it is the thinnest 15-inch PC on the market (key word there being PC). Display options come in the form of 1366x768 standard or the option of upgrading to a 1920x1080 screen. The XPS 15z can be optioned with 8GB of RAM and features the Intel HM67 chipset. Two GPUs are on the block here, the GeForce GT 525M with Optimus technology including 1GB of RAM. For those who want some oomph in gaming performance, the same GPU is offered but with 2GB of RAM.

Battery wise, we have an 8-cell, 64WHr polymer battery. Finishing off the notebook we have a plethora of details, a 1.3MP HD resolution webcam with digital array mic for video chat and recording, Wi-Fi in the form of the standard a/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 and Intel Wireless Display tech. HDMI 1.4, mini DisplayPort, Gigabit Ethernet, three USB3.0 ports and an eSATA port. Finally, a 9-in-1 memory card reader and a great looking chiclet keyboard which is backlit and spill resistant. The trackpad also supports multi-touch with gestures.

Seems like we're all just talking about conferences lately. The online version of the annual San Francisco Game Developer's Conference will occur in Austin, TX this fall, and will feature some pretty heavy hitters organizing it, including reps from Zynga, PopCap and even Blizzard that will be orchestrating all of the fun and, especially, games going on at the conference.

The conference will once again be in Austin, TX, from Oct 10-13, in the Austin Convention Center. More information at the GDC online website, and be sure to check out the press release below about some of the developers and luminaries advising and speaking this year.

Electronic Arts announced today that they will be broadcasting their press conference, live from, ah, Spike TV of all places. You all remember Spike TV, right? It used to be called TNN and only showed reruns and the Grand Ol' Opry? And then it turned into something resembling a bastard child of the NASCAR channel and G4? Yeah, well, that's where EA's press conference is going to be, June 6th, 12:30PM PDT.

EA has already stated they're going to be showing a new Battlefield 3 Demo, gameplay from Mass Effect 3 (sick!) and "news on unannounced projects." So if you have American cable, tune your Tivo to Spike- otherwise...well, I'm sorry you don't have Spike TV?

Also, kids: please don't confuse Spike TV with the Spice Channel (not a food network).

The next installment of tickets for this sure-to-be insanely fun conference goes on sale 5/25 7PM PDT, so if you're located in the US you'll have plenty of time to get home from work only to post up on your computer, eagerly awaiting the the clock striking sevenfold. Or something. Either way, you'll get another chance, and tickets are actually a very decent $175- though if you miss out on those, you'll have the opportunity to spend $500 to go to a dinner with the Blizzard / Activision Execs. Oh, c'mon, it's for charity.

Readers will recall that BlizzCon tickets first went on sale the same day as the prophesied Rapture, which we believed had the potential to drastically interfere. The event however weathered the End of Days (I refuse to repost the trailer, go watch it yourselves) without a hitch, as the allotted tickets for that round sold out in less than 24 hours.

Check out more information at Blizzard's BlizzCon site or check out the posts below.

Boo yah! If you're not making the trek to this year's E3 (or paying for the horrendously expensive passes), you'll at least be able to catch Nintendo's presentation at 9AM PDT, Tuesday June 7. Also, bonus if you're a Wii player: exclusive Wii-only content following the presentation. Make sure to watch, as Nintendo will be announcing their brand new system, which is basically SNES controllers with touchscreens in them. Awesome.

Nintendo did something similar for this past winter's Game Developer's Conference here in San Francisco- gotta say, I really wish more tech and game firms would do this type of thing, as those conferences never get any cheaper! Press release to follow, or check out the blog post.