Internet & Media

That loud snipping sound is a greater number of Americans cutting the cord and ditching their cable and satellite TV subscriptions. That's the verdict today in an analysis done by the Associated Press of the pay TV companies' quarterly earnings reports.

The AP tallied lost subscribers from eight of the top nine providers, including Comcast and Time Warner cable, Verizon, AT&T, DirecTV, and Dish Network. Cox Communications was not included because it is a private company and does not disclose subscriber numbers, but AP said it has captured 70 percent of households in its survey and found … Read more

Searching and e-mailing remain the two top activities in the online world, according to a recent study from Pew Internet.

Released yesterday, the results of a Pew survey conducted in May found that 92 percent of online adults use search engines to hunt for information on the Web, and 59 percent do so on a typical day.

Matching search in popularity was e-mail, with 92 percent of adults polled last November sending and receiving it, and 61 percent doing so on a typical day.

Drilling down further, search proved most popular among the younger crowd (18 to 29), 96 percent … Read more

Major Hollywood figures are working with Activision on Call of Duty Elite, Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg revealed today during an address at the Pacific Crest Global Technology Leadership Forum in Colorado.

Call of Duty Elite is an online community for the franchise's players. The service, which is currently available by invite-only, allows users to find others to play Call of Duty with, as well as enter tournaments to compete for virtual and real-world prizes. The service also includes access to strategy videos, information on weapons, and better intel on multiplayer maps.

When the service launches publicly in November, … Read more

Google is reportedly in a hurry to unfreeze Ice Cream Sandwich.

The company is hoping to take away a little heat from Apple by trying to roll out its next of version Android before the iPhone 5 debuts, says AppleInsider.

Dubbed Ice Cream Sandwich, the next flavor of Android was initially slated to appear toward the end of the year. But Google has apparently been working hard to push up the launch date, with the first devices aiming to reach consumers as early as October, according to Boy Genius Report.

Citing information from a "source with knowledge of Google'… Read more

Verizon is reportedly preventing jailbreakers from unauthorized tethering, at least according to one account at ReadWriteWeb.

The tech blogging site recently revealed that one of its own employees tried to use a jailbroken Motorola phone without a data plan to tether on Verizon's network. But instead of gaining access, the person was "blocked" by Verizon and redirected to a page describing the carrier's terms and conditions for using a mobile hot spot.

If accurate, this is a new development on the part of Verizon since the employee said she was able to use her jailbroken device … Read more

They say revenge is a dish best served cold. But when it comes to circumventing Apple's new in-app subscription rules, it may be best served as an HTML5 Web app.

This morning Amazon launched its Kindle Cloud Reader, a Web-based app that allows you to read your Kindle e-books from the Safari or Chrome browser on your PC or tablet, including the iPad (Amazon says more browsers will be supported in the future).

The Kindle Cloud Reader has a link to the Kindle Store, something that's now missing from the Kindle apps for iPad and iPhone after Apple … Read more

Microsoft has rolled out a new update for Internet Explorer 9 that fixes a host of different security holes.

Launched yesterday on Microsoft's familiar "Patch Tuesday," the August 2011 Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer is a critical one that resolves issues not just in IE9 but in versions 6, 7, and 8 as well, according to a Microsoft blog. The update is available through Windows Update, so IE users who have Windows automatic updates turned on should have already received it.

The patch takes care of five holes in IE that were disclosed in coordination with … Read more

NEW YORK--Vudu is making itself available on iPad, a move that will help the streaming-video service expand distribution and keep pace with market leader Netflix.

Vudu said in a joint statement with parent company and retailing powerhouse Wal-Mart Stores that beginning tomorrow iPad owners can access Vudu through their browsers. That's right, this is not an app, so don't look for Vudu in Apple's App store.

Wal-Mart and Vudu said they have created a new "navigation experience" for iPad users who visit the service online. Through the new feature, iPad owners can rent or purchase … Read more

Apple and a group of book publishers were accused in a lawsuit today of illegally fixing e-book prices to "boost profits and force e-book rival Amazon to abandon its pro-consumer discount pricing."

The lawsuit (PDF), which was filed today in U.S. District Court in Northern California, alleges Apple, HarperCollins Publishers, Hachette Book Group, Macmillan Publishers, Penguin Group, and Simon & Schuster "colluded to increase prices" on popular books. (Simon & Schuster is owned by CBS. CNET News is published by CBS Interactive, a unit of CBS.)

The lawsuit alleges Apple and the book publishers employed … Read more