Several major mobile phone manufacturers have said they are backing a proposal for a standard cell phone charger for cell phones distributed in the European Union.

Reuters today reports this morning the European Commission has said top mobile telephone suppliers have agreed to back an EU-wide harmonization of phone chargers, meaning less wasted chargers in peoples homes and landfills.

"People will not have to throw away their charger whenever they buy a new phone," said EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen, according to Reuters. Verheugen went on to blame unwanted phone accessories for thousands of tons of waste in Europe each year.

The standard the EU plans to use is microUSB, and is only for data capable phones. Manufacturers who have signed the agreement to support the move include Motorola, Apple, LG, NEC, Nokia, Qualcomm, Research in Motion, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Texas Instruments. These companies control 90 percent of the market.

Who else is dying for something like this to happen in the United States?

Read the full story here.

According to this photographed document posted by a Chinese blogger on Twitter, Sony looks to be one of the first manufacturers to ship PCs with China's controversial software.

Entitled Green Dam Youth Escort, the program is to serve as a tool for parents to help filter out violent content, pornography and other questionable content from children. However, what makes this software so controversial is the fact that China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) now requires all PC manufacturers to pre-install the mandated software on new machines by July 1.

A translation of the Sony document reveals that Green Dam doesn't support a 64-bit operating system, thus machines with a 64-bit OS will not have Green Dam pre-installed. The document also states that Green Dam is provided in accordance with government requirements, and that Sony cannot guarantee the software on any level, whether legally, authentically, and so on. Sony also doesn't assume responsibility for loss or harm incurred by the mandated software, leaving the responsibility in the hands of the owner.

While Sony complies with the Chinese government, an international group of 22 business associations--comprised mostly of the world's major technology companies--sent a letter on Friday directly to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, asking that the country back down from its requirement to pre-install Green Dam. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal on Saturday, the letter addresses concerns, and "seems to run counter to China's important goal of becoming a vibrant and dynamic information-based society."

"The Green Dam mandate raises significant questions of security, privacy, system reliability, the free flow of information and user choice," the note states. The letter reflects current views on the Green Dam software, with many believing that the pornography filter is nothing more than a smokescreen to hide the program's real function: to gain access to personal information and have the ability to monitor Internet use. Although Green Dam is mandatory, China said that the software can be uninstalled by the end-user; one of the software's creators even backed up that claim, revealing that it can be turned off or deleted altogether.

Given China's new policy against incoming pornographic and other lewd material, it's probably a given that it's only intention with Green Dam Youth Escort is to keep the questionable content from young children. It may even be possible that the software has filters built-in to block out Google and many of its variants, fighting its battle on a software front rather than continuing its battle with the search engine giant.

Along with Sony, Taiwanese computer maker Acer has signed on to comply with China's policy, and will pre-install Green Dam Youth Escort with its PCs as well, but will also feature an option to turn the software on and off.

Could the Pro become an Elite this fall?

Price drops are and inevitability for both the Xbox 360, and Ars Technica’s source believes that he knows when and how it’ll happen.

The Xbox 360 won’t be getting a price drop per se, but rather a shift in SKU positioning. According to the source, the Xbox 360 Pro bundle that includes the 60 GB hard drive will be no longer available once supplies dry up in retail channels this summer.

Replacing it at the $299 mark will be the Xbox 360 Elite in black with a 120 GB hard drive, effectively reflecting a $100 price cut for the upper SKU. It’s unclear if Microsoft will continue to offer the two free games of Halo 3 and Fable II with the package, but it would make sense for a $100 price cut to come after the dropping of the bundle.

So how many people Googled Michael Jackson last Thursday, June 25?

Last week the web was rocked by the death of Michael Jacskon, King of Pop. Google, along with several other sites, was brought down by the number of people desperate to find out more about the singer's tragic death. The search giant Friday admitted that at first, it mistook the millions of Google searches pertaining to the singer for an automated attack.

Google has since posted a topical graph showing how the increase in Michael Jackson related searches progressed throughout the day. Were you one of the countless people who turned to Google to verify the news? Let us know in the comments below!

Reports say Sony will next month start to assemble a team dedicated to developing a PSP phone.

The PSP phone rumors are as old as the hills at this stage. Back in May, Sony Ericsson president Hideki Komiyama was quoted as saying a PSP phone "could happen." So it's not a guarantee that the company had solid plans to release a version of its popular PSP handheld gaming device that doubled as a cell phone but it cast a curious light on a previous statement from the company. In January, a Sony Ericsson spokeswoman said the company wasn't ready to lend the prestigious Sony Ericsson brand to a PSP phone just yet.

'In the past, we have been keen that our product proposition lives up to brand promise, and we feel at the moment the technical specs are not high enough to put such a prestigious brand on a phone.'

This past weekend, a Reuters report cites the Nikkei Times as saying Sony plans to set up a project team as early as July to develop a new product that combines functions of its portable game player and Sony Ericsson's mobile phones.

We’ve kind of given up on the idea of a PSP phone. We’d rather have a decent phone and a decent handheld console rather than one lacklustre device that does both and needs to be charged every eleven minutes.