Jeff Bertolucci

Love 'em or hate 'em, iPhone gossip is the chief sustenance of tech bloggers and journalists, many of whom scrutinize the credibility of every rumor, no matter how preposterous. The reason? Page views, of course. You see, readers love iPhone rumors--perhaps even more than they love griping about them.

In short, iPhone rumors are very, very good for the bottom lines of mainstream and tech news sites. They may not be so good for Apple itself, however. In the quarter leading up to last year's launch of the iPhone 4S, Apple's iPhone sales fell 16 percent from the previous (third) quarter.

Music fans can now take photos at live concerts and share them online, even if the performance happens to be thousands of miles away.

YouTube's Frontrow camera app lets you play director by zooming in and out to change views, applying filters, taking photos during the live video stream, and sharing those images via social networks. YouTube will feature Frontrow during Vivid LIVE at Sydney Opera House, a ten-day music event that's part of the annual Vivid Sydney festival running from May 25 to June 11.

What's the best operating system for businesses? If you were to ask Microsoft, you'd probably expect them to preach the virtues of the company's upcoming Windows 8 operating system, which arrives later this year on both PCs and tablets.

But for enterprises still running Redmond's antiquated Windows XP OS, Windows 7 is the logical upgrade--at least according to a new whitepaper written by analyst firm IDC and sponsored by Microsoft.

Discounts on plasma and LCD TVs may be great for consumers, but they're causing a world of hurt for TV retailers and manufacturers that face dwindling profit margins. Two global TV industry giants, Samsung and Sony, hope to boost profits by requiring retailers to drop the cutthroat pricing and focus more on making money.

The Wall Street Journal reports that a new Samsung and Sony pricing plan is designed not only help bolster the sagging prospects of big box electronics chains like Best Buy, but also to help brick-and-mortar stores compete with online retailers, which often charge less for TVs.

The upcoming Windows 8 will represent "a dawning of the rebirth" of Redmond's ubiquitous operating system, according to Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer.

Speaking on Tuesday at the Seoul Digital Forum in South Korea, Ballmer predicted up to 500 million users will have Windows 8 by next year, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.

Will the Kindle Fire's home screen soon double as a color billboard for advertisers? Ad Age reports that Amazon is pitching the idea to ad agency executives, although it's unclear if the online retailer plans to bring ads to the current generation of Kindle Fires, or wait until the 2nd-gen models that are expected to arrive later this year.

Amazon currently sells versions of its E-Ink eReaders that display ads on the Kindle screensaver and at the bottom of the home screen. In exchange for viewing the ads, customers get a price break. The entry-level Kindle, for instance, is $79 with "Special Offers" (meaning advertisements) or $109 without ads. The Kindle Touch with ads is $99; the ad-free model is $139.

How many browser tabs do you keep open on your work computer during the day? Five? Maybe ten? If you're a Google Chrome user, there's now an easier way to access those tabs on your other devices, including a laptop or phone, without enduring a cumbersome copy-and-paste ritual.

The latest stable release of Chrome makes this possible, but only if you sign into Chrome with your Google account.

Rumors of Kindle upgrades are a dime a dozen, and many aren't from the most reputable of sources. But one new report sounds quite likely: Amazon will launch a front-lit version of its Kindle eReader in July, and a new model of its Kindle Fire color tablet closer to the holiday season, Reuters reports.

The new Kindle eReader will retain an E-Ink display but add a front light, says Reuters, citing an unnamed source with "direct knowledge of the matter." The source asked to remain anonymous because Amazon has yet to announce the product.

A 55-inch OLED TV priced over $8,000 in the second half of 2012 may cost closer to $2,300 within two years, a dramatic price reduction that would make the sets accessible to mainstream buyers.

That's according to a price forecast from research firm NPD DisplaySearch, which predicts a significant and steady decline in OLED TV prices starting soon after the sets debut.

Rovio announced today that its Angry Birds games have been downloaded more than one billion times, an astounding accomplishment for a simple slingshot game with a goofy birds-vs-pigs backstory.

"THANK YOU to all of our incredible fans! This is only the beginning of our story, keep your eyes peeled for what’s coming up next from Rovio!," the company wrote in a brief blog post.

The iPad has many attributes, but one of its more annoying shortcomings is its single-user design. Email, contacts, apps, and other tools are implemented for one person, when in reality several people may use an iPad.

This may change, however. Apple's engineering team is looking into adding multi-user support to the iPad, says AppleInsider, which bases its report on a bug-report reply sent by Apple to an unnamed software developer.

To paraphrase Mark Twain: "Lies, damned lies, and tablet statistics."

Amazon Kindle FireThursday's media reports of Kindle Fire sales collapsing after a stellar launch are misleading, a leading analyst says, and an indication that many tech bloggers and journalists don't understand the difference between "shipments" and "sales" of a product.