At a time when Research in Motion needs to sex itself up, the Canadian smartphone maker is in talks with the four largest record companies about launching a new music service to run on top of BlackBerry Messenger, the company's instant-messenger service, multiple sources with knowledge of the negotiations told CNET.

RIM has signed a deal with at least one of the top-four record companies and is close to signing at least two others, the sources said, adding that a test version of the service could be rolled out within the next few weeks.

The BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) service is an instant-messaging service that enables owners of BlackBerry phones to chat instantly via the Internet with one another. Details about how RIM's new music service would work with BBM are few and a RIM spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.

The major labels, Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and EMI Music, are eager to see new retail services and to continue being part of mobile devices, especially smartphones. Yesterday, pre-paid carrier MetroPCS Communications announced that Android phone owners who subscribe to the company's $60-per-month rate plan can receive access to the music-subscription service Rhapsody. … Read more

When is $12.5 billion dollars just not enough? When you're selling out to a monster like Google, according to Motorola investor John Keating. He's suing Moto and its CEO Sanjay Jha for failing to get the best price possible from Google for Motorola Mobility, according to a Bloomberg report.

On its face, Keating's argument seems like a harder sale than the deal itself, considering that the agreement has Google paying $40 per share for the company, or a 63 percent premium over the stock price at the time of the deal.

But such legal actions have … Read more

Launching in 15 new cities and expanding in 10 other cities today, Verizon Wireless' 4G LTE network will now reach 160 million Americans, more than half the nation's total, the company said. In just under eight months, the 4G rollout has ramped up to provide coverage to 117 cities.

The cities getting 4G today include Tucson, Ariz.; Fayetteville/Springdale/Rogers, Ark.; Bakersfield and Salinas/Monterey/Seaside, Calif.; Fort Collins, Colo.; Frederick, Md.; Worcester, Mass.; Omaha/Council Bluffs, Neb.; Albany, Ithaca, and Syracuse, N.Y.; Altoona and Johnstown, Pa.; Memphis, Tenn.; and Provo, Utah.

Verizon is also expanding its LTE … Read more

The rift between Electronic Arts and Activision won't be mended anytime soon.

Speaking yesterday at the Gamescom conference in Germany, Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg said, according to Eurogamer, that EA has engaged in "mudslinging" that simply isn't beneficial for the industry or gamers themselves.

"This isn't politics. In order for one to win, the other doesn't have to lose," Hirshberg reportedly said during his address. "This is an entertainment industry, it's an innovation industry and, at best, it's an art form. But we're still a young art … Read more

Android owners like to use mobile apps over the mobile Web, says a new study from Nielsen.

The average Android user in the U.S. spends 56 minutes a day surfing the Web and firing up apps on their phone. In that amount of time, two-thirds is spent using mobile apps, while only one-third is spent using mobile Web sites.

Even further, among the hundreds of thousands of apps available in the Android Market, only a small number of them are used the majority of the time.

The top 10 Android apps chew up 43 percent of the time spent … Read more

Amazon's Instant Video service has reached an important milestone.

The e-commerce giant says it now has 100,000 movies and television shows available to customers to buy or rent. The video content, which can be viewed on more than 300 devices, including PCs, Blu-ray players, and televisions, has a starting price of $3.99 per video, depending on what customers choose to watch.

"The 100,000 titles on Amazon Instant Video range from new hit blockbusters to old favorites, with more than 15,000 of those titles available in HD, and popular TV shows available the day after … Read more

Microsoft is reportedly locking down its latest Windows 8 build to prevent unauthorized people from installing it and leaking details about certain features, WinRumors reported yesterday.

Other purported details about the latest Windows 8 build, known as 8064, were revealed earlier this week by WinRumors, which is a Windows enthusiast site, and other sites. The new build is apparently the Windows 8 Developer Preview that Microsoft is likely to unveil at its Build conference next month.

In an attempt to thwart unauthorized users from accessing the new developer build, Microsoft has apparently set up unique product keys that are now … Read more

Advertisers and the Internet's overseers seem unable to reconcile a profound disagreement about the future of Internet addresses.

Three prominent groups representing advertisers--the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), and the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A)--have come down hard on a program to dramatically expand the number of Internet addresses beyond .com and .net to a new class that could include everything from .berlin and .movie to .plumber and .pepsi. The International Corporation for Names and Numbers (ICANN), which oversees Net addresses globally, approved in June the program to expand these so-called generic top-level domains (GTLDs) starting in 2012.

The three groups urged ICANN to reconsider the domain-name expansion program. The strongest terms came from the ANA, which outlined its concerns in an August 4 letter to ICANN that threatens broader and "far more expensive" action than just strongly worded correspondence.

"Should ICANN refuse to reconsider and adopt a program that takes into account the ANA's concerns expressed in this letter, ICANN and the program present the ANA and its members no choice but to do whatever is necessary to prevent implementation of the program and raise the issues in appropriate forums that can consider the wisdom, propriety, and legality of the program," ANA said in its letter. … Read more

Google has a new feature it hopes will keep Music Beta users tuned in.

The Web giant today launched Google Magnifier, a new feature to help users of its online music-storage service discover and obtain new music. In addition to free music tracks, the site has videos of live performances, artist interviews, and a chance to explore music genres.

The move is an effort by Google to distinguish its Music Beta service from competitors such as Amazon's Cloud Music and Apple's forthcoming iCloud service, which is expected to launch in the fall. Google's music-storage service, which launched … Read more