Every day, the Fortune staff spends hours poring over tech stories, posts, and reviews from all over the Web to keep tabs on the companies that matter. We’ve assembled the day’s most newsworthy bits below.
- Dell is switching 1/4 of its 100,000 BlackBerry-toting employees over to the Windows Phone 7-friendly Dell Venue Pro. “Clearly in this decision we are competing with RIM, because we’re kicking them out,” said company CFO Brian Gladden. (IT Web)
- During her third trial, the jury ordered Jammie Thomas-Rasset to pay $1.5 million for illegally sharing 24 songs, which breaks down to a whopping $62,500 per song. (Tech Dirt)
- Google tweaked one of its service terms so Facebook can’t effectively let users import potential friends via Google contacts, claiming that services like Facebook leave their users “effectively trapped.” (The Next Web)
- In the Apple vs. Nokia case, the judge will likely rule that Nokia shouldn’t be found liable for violating four of Apple’s patents, but bear in mind that still leaves 24 other patent infringement accusations against HTC and Motorola to deal with. (Fortune)
- Based on data from four of the top five cable companies, more than 500,000 users ditched their cable hook-up last quarter. (GigaOm)
- Verizon plans to launch its Android App Store, V CAST Apps, next week. Google 24/7 editor Seth Weintraub predicts this could just be an embarrassing repeat of the company ripping off millions of subscribers with unfair charges. (Fortune)
- Some early Xbox Kinect testers encountered challenges getting the new motion-sensing controller to properly ID players with darker skin tones sparking speculation that the new tech could be “racist,” but Consumer Reports says that’s not so, placing the blame squarely on low-level lighting. (Consumer Reports)
- Google Instant, which allows for real-time search results as you type in a search topic, now works on mobile devices, too. (Fortune)
