LONDON (AP) — Iceland's interior minister said Friday that he ordered the country's police not to cooperate with FBI agents sent to investigate WikiLeaks two years ago, offering a rare glimpse into the U.S. Department of Justice's investigation of the secret-busting site.

NEW YORK (AP) — Sony is poised to unveil the next PlayStation game console on Feb. 20, a date that would give the Japanese electronics company a head start over Microsoft's expected announcement of an Xbox 360 successor in June.

LONDON (Reuters) - Mobile phone operators Vodafone and Three have asked British regulator Ofcom for permission to re-use their existing airwaves for 4G services, following in the footsteps of larger rival EE. Britain got superfast mobile broadband late last year, long after countries such as the United States and Japan, when Ofcom allowed EE to run 4G services over its allocated spectrum. Ofcom said on Friday it had started a consultation over liberalizing more of the spectrum that was previously licensed for 2G and 3G mobile services in response to the requests. ...

It’s been a while since we’ve had a major Android update but it looks as though we may not have to wait too much longer. It seems that Android Police got hold of documents from Qualcomm (QCOM) earlier this week showing that next major version of Android, dubbed Key Lime Pie, will launch sometime this spring. Android Police has since removed the leaked documents at Qualcomm’s request, which could suggest the details contained within the document were accurate. Google (GOOG) has scheduled its annual Google I/O conference for May 15th through the 17th this year, so that would seem like a perfect time to announce the next generation of its popular mobile operating system.

The biggest criticism of BlackBerry’s (RIMM) revamped mobile operating system and smartphone line so far is that they don’t give iOS or Android users any compelling reasons to switch brands. And this is certainly true — BlackBerry 10, for all its virtues, doesn’t do anything significantly better than the top two mobile operating systems and seems designed mostly to please the faithful and not win new converts. At the same time, I think this sort of criticism is based on somewhat unrealistic expectations for what a revamped BlackBerry would be able to achieve in its first iteration. Put simply, making its own loyal fans happy might have been the best that BlackBerry could do in this particular product cycle. Before we go

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A lawsuit filed on Thursday alleges Microsoft Corp has been infringing patents that allow Internet search engines to most effectively place advertisements. I/P Engine Inc said in the suit filed in Manhattan federal court that Microsoft uses search technology based on inventions by two employees of I/P Engine's parent company, Vringo Inc. Microsoft uses the technology in systems that generate advertisements and associated links for users of the world's largest software company's search engine, Bing, the lawsuit said. ...

(Reuters) - Computer maker Hewlett-Packard Co said on Friday it is planning to close a site in Germany by the end of October as part of its multi-year restructuring plan. HP said it was closing its site in Ruesselsheim, Germany, southwest of Frankfurt, and that around 850 jobs would be cut. The remaining 250 employees may be able to transfer to HP partners or clients. The restructuring of its enterprise services business will not affect HP's other major sites in Germany, the company said, adding that it would continue to employ about 10,000 people in Europe's largest economy. ...

Apple (AAPL) is said to be in negotiations with Time Warner (TWX) to offer an HBO Go application on Apple TV by mid-2013, according to sources speaking to Bloomberg. The set-top box already carries services from Netflix (NFLX) and Hulu, and the addition of HBO Go could help Apple boost sales of the device. The service allows HBO subscribers to stream original TV shows and movies on the Web and through variety of devices such as Android and iOS smartphones and tablets, TVs, Blu-ray players, Roku boxes and gaming consoles. Peter Kafka at AllThingsD brought up a good point: why hasn’t Apple opened up its Apple TV platform to everyone? The company’s iPhones and iPads have flourished due to the

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A California appeals court on Thursday rejected an attempt by Oracle Corp to quickly end a bitter lawsuit brought by Hewlett-Packard Corp over Oracle's decision in 2011 to end support for HP's Itanium based servers. HP accused Oracle of violating a contract when it decided it would no longer make new versions of its database software, which was compatible with HP's high-end servers based on Intel Corp's Itanium chips. Oracle maintained it had no such contract with HP. The servers tend to be used by large corporations with rigorous computing needs. ...

BlackBerry’s (RIMM) next-generation BlackBerry 10 platform has received mixed reviews out of the gate, but most seem to agree that the new OS and first two BlackBerry 10 smartphones will do little to attract interest from users of rival platforms. But as analysts continue to back off BlackBerry and investors lose confidence, Goldman Sachs sees a big opportunity for clients. In a recent research note to clients picked up by Barron’s, Goldman Sachs analyst Simona Jankowski urged investors to take advantage of BlackBerry’s recent slide and buy shares at a discount. “We continue to see significant upside to estimates over the next three quarters, as BB10 devices drive upside to the Street’s ASP and margin forecasts,” Jankowski wrote. ”With 110 carriers completing lab testing

The social media sphere is an increasingly noisy place, especially for brands. But hiding somewhere in the static are strong signals from companies reaching their customers in innovative ways. The Social Business Index from the Dachis Group provides a (free) real-time ranking of more than 30,000 global brands based on their social performance. Every week we're taking a tally of who's getting heard, what they're saying, and why it matters.

LONDON (AP) — A British court has sentenced a teenage hacker to youth rehabilitation after he and other members of the Anonymous movement carried out cyber-attacks targeting financial sites like PayPal and Visa.

So, Apple's big plan to talk cable companies into making the iPod of the television industry thus far involves getting Time Warner to let it put HBO Go on its box (if you buy a cable subscription!), something other similar boxes already do. How very unexciting. It's surprising that Apple TV doesn't already offer HBO Go, since its biggest competitors Roku and Xbox 360 have had it for over a year. And it's not like Apple has spent that time coming up with some innovative arrangement that would that would excite the cord-cutter (and cord-never) set. ...

The iPad has proven to be an especially useful communication tool for young people with autism. It provides a way to express themselves through words and images; it can be used to teach them about everyday scenarios and give them more independence. It's also far less bulky than some communication devices of the past.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - An external committee appointed by African mobile phone group MTN to investigate claims by rival Turkcell of corrupt dealings in Iran has dismissed the allegations as "a fabric of lies, distortions and inventions". The committee, chaired by retired British judge Lord Hoffmann, also found nothing to support claims that MTN had promised to get the South African government to supply Iran with defense equipment in exchange for a telecoms operating license. ...

The long, painful wait will soon be over. Sony (SNE) on Thursday evening circulated invitations to the press and bloggers for a press conference in New York City on February 20th. The company did not reveal any details, but it did confirm that we will “see the future” of PlayStation in a teaser video released alongside the invitations. Needless to say, we’re all expecting the company to unveil its next-generation PlayStation 4 video game console during the event, and multiple unnamed sources have reportedly confirmed as much to The Wall Street Journal. Recent rumors suggest the new PlayStation may launch in October with 16GB of RAM, 256GB of storage and 1080p HD resolution in 3D at 60 fps. BGR will

As the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers prepare to battle at the Super Bowl, there is another competition taking place off the football field.

Wall Street may be down on Apple (AAPL) but American consumers clearly aren’t. Strategy Analytics on Friday published new research showing that Apple had become the No.1 overall handset vendor in the United States in the fourth quarter of 2012 with shipments of 17.7 million units, good for a 34% share of the American handset market. Strategy Analytics says this marked the first time that Apple had ever shipped more handsets over a quarter than rival Samsung (005930), which shipped 16.8 million handsets over the holiday quarter, or 32.3% of the American handset market. Over the span of the whole year, however, Samsung still shipped the most total handsets with its 53 million units shipped easily besting Apple’s 43.7 million

The latest chapter in the widely popular and critically acclaimed Grand Theft Auto series has been delayed until September. Grand Theft Auto V was originally set to debut in May of this year, however Rockstar Games announced on Thursday that it will miss its original target by four months. The company revealed that it needs additional time to develop the game, although it claims that “it will be worth the extra time.” “Grand Theft Auto V continues to push the series forward in new ways; Rockstar North are creating our deepest, most beautiful and most immersive world yet,” said Sam Houser, founder of Rockstar Games. “We are very excited for people to learn more about the game in the coming months.”

Today’s first fresh Android app is Carbon - App Sync and Backup, which backs up your apps and data to other locations, and protects everything on your Android device you hold dear. Next, a big update adds new functionality and features to the cloud-based Google Play Music. Rounding out today’s picks is Zombie Road Trip, a side-scrolling driving game developed by Noodlecake Studios.