Apple has surpassed Nokia and nabbed the title for number one cell phone manufacturer in the United States.

According to Strategy Analytics, Apple is now the most profitable mobile phone maker in the U.S. The company took the crown from reigning champion Nokia. Electronista cites analyst Alex Spektor as saying, "With strong volumes, high wholesale prices and tight cost controls, the PC vendor has successfully broken into the mobile phone market in just two years."

Electronista reports that Apple is estimated to have generated about $1.6 billion in operating profit from its cellphones in the summer, whereas market leader Nokia generated $1.1 billion.

So what was it that forced Nokia out of the top spot? Apparently an increasing bias in its lineup towards low- or mid-range regular phones and underserving the U.S. market are to blame.

Read the full story here.

AT&T still claims that tethering is coming to the iPhone.

With recent rumors of Apple's iPhone jumping the AT&T ship of excellence, it's a wonder if anyone still cares about the whole tethering issue. But AT&T promised that tethering was "coming soon," and just over a year later, the service still isn't available. In fact, there are no signs that tethering will even be available in the immediate future.

With that said, is the company just blowing smoke? "We plan to offer tethering on the iPhone but have not announced a date," a spokesperson from AT&T told Macworld. The statement reveals nothing new, but only reaffirms AT&T Mobility President Ralph De La Vega's announcement on November 6, 2008 during the Web 2.0 summit.

But analysts believe that AT&T should just delay or dump the whole idea. "If I were AT&T at this point, I’d delay the iPhone tethering as long as possible," said Analyst Jack Gold of J.Gold Associates. "If they allow tethering to iPhones, the users are going to be downloading videos and adding network demands."

Gold also added that a mere 5-percent of AT&T's iPhone customers would even show interest in tethering, and would not generate a significant amount of revenue even if it charged $30 per month like Verizon. Gold said that AT&T should offer some kind of deal for those waiting for tethering by offering discounted broadband cards.

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Looks like gamers will be forced to wait for Project Natal for another year.

Looks like Microsoft's original plans to launch Project Natal in Spring 2010 have been flushed down the toilet, as a recent "leak" reports that the motion sensing technology will hit retail outlets worldwide just in time for the holidays... the 2010 holidays, that is. The news stems from a recent behind-closed-doors tour of Microsoft given to UK publishers and studios.

According to MCV, Microsoft held the tour to sport Project Natal and stir up a bit of excitement for the upcoming tech. Sources indicate that the company is spouting details concerning the 2010 release, and even admits that it plans to cough up 5 million units at launch, some of which will be console bundles, with the rest as solo Natal units.

Currently the estimated price of Project Natal sold without the Xbox 360 console is around $83 USD. MCV claims one "publishing source" to reveal that Natal's price may sink even lower, possibly costing $50 USD. Apparently, the idea is to settle on a pricetag that focuses on the "impulse buyer."

As for games, there will be 14 ready at launch. It's believed that many will be provided by first-party studios (Rare was mentioned), with third-party titles to follow. Of course, the November 2010 date may not be set in stone, as this bit of news is more word of mouth than anything official. Expect something more substantiated in the following weeks.

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Nintendo is feeling the heat from Apple?

Is Nintendo finally feeling the heat from Apple? That may or may not be the case, depending on who within Nintendo is asked the question. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata claims that Nintendo and Apple aren't competitors. He even insists that there will be no rivalry between both companies, calling it "uncomfortable."

But he's also aware that Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch bring a different kind of competition to the table, providing cheap, immediate access to games unlike previous rivals. As of now, Sony's PSP / PSPgo and Nintndo's DSi have caught on to the scheme and now provide downloadable games, however Apple is already ahead by a mile.

Iwata, claiming that Apple isn't a competitor, understands that the iPhone and iPod Touch pose a potential threat. "If we can't make clear why customers pay a lot of money to play games on Nintendo hardware and Nintendo software and differentiate ourselves from games on the mobile phone or iPhone, then our future is dark," he told The Wall Street Journal at a recent company event.

Out of the two Apple units, the iPod Touch poses as the larger threat, starting at $199 and requiring no monthly service cellular fee. The Apple App Store also provides over a thousand games ranging from $1 to $10 that can be downloaded from any wireless access. The Nintendo DSi costs around $170, and already provides a large library of games on SD cards stemming back to 2004. The DSi also features Nintendo exclusives such as Mario and Pokemon.

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id Software's John Carmack isn't too enthused about the upcoming motion control devices.

When John Carmack speaks, gamers pause to listen... or at least, that's how it used to be. We're always attracted to the id co-founder's technical jargon, hoping to feel a little smarter after he talks code and hardware specifics. Recently Carmack commented on the upcoming motion-control technologies offered by Sony and Microsoft. We heard, we listened, and we were stung by his words, saying that he doesn't expect much from either.

Instead, he's interested in checking out what will be packed in the next generation of consoles. But that doesn't mean he's not interested in Project Natal and Sony's motion-control device. While they mark a new era of gameplay, they're limited to what they can provide overall. "Most of these I/O devices do not add much value for games that are not explicitly designed for them. It has to be something like the Wii," he told Variety.

Carmack also added that motion controllers will have less of an impact on action games like first person shooters. Although the devices could conjure up new methods of gameplay and genres, it would be difficult for gamers to alter the way they play certain types of games already on the market.

"Great technology doesn’t help a game that’s not built around that technology," he said. “FPS games are part of a fairly evolved genre that isn’t going to benefit from these."

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The Department of Justice has indicted eight individuals in who allegedly stole more than $9 million by illegally accessing the computer network at Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) WorldPay in Atlanta.

The DOJ yesterday announced that Sergei Tsurikov, 25, of Tallinn, Estonia; Viktor Pleshchuk, 28, of St. Petersburg, Russia; Oleg Covelin, 28, of Chisinau, Moldova; and a person known only as "Hacker 3;" had been indicted by a federal grand jury in Atlanta, Ga., on charges of hacking into a computer network operated by the Atlanta-based credit card processing company RBS WorldPay, which is part of the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Igor Grudijev, 31, Ronald Tsoi, 31, Evelin Tsoi, 20, and Mihhail Jevgenov, 33, each of Tallinn, Estonia, were also indicted for access device fraud.

The group is said to have hacked into RBS WorldPay's system, compromising the data encryption used by the bank to protect customer data on payroll debit cards. They then raised the limits on all compromised accounts before providing a network of "cashers" with 44 fake payroll debit cards. These cashers went on to withdraw more than $9 million from 2,100 ATMS in more than 280 cities worldwide in less than 12 hours. The list of cities included cities in the US, Russia, the Ukraine, Estonia, Italy, Hong Kong, Japan and Canada.

The DOJ said in a statement that Tsurikov, Pleshchuk, Covelin and "Hacker 3" each face a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and each wire fraud count; up to five years in prison for conspiracy to commit computer fraud; up to five or 10 years in prison for each count of computer fraud; a two-year mandatory minimum sentence for aggravated identity theft; and fines up to $3.5 million dollars. The charges against Grudijev, the Tsois and Jevgenov carry a maximum of up to 15 years in prison for each count and a fine of up to $250,000. The indictment also seeks criminal forfeiture of $9.4 million from the defendants.

Read the complete statement here.

Walmart is offering customers buying BlackBerrys a free $100 gift card if they purchase at any stage next week.

If the BlackBerry Storm II, or any other RIM device is on your wish list this holiday season, take our advice and bag you smartphone next week at Walmart. Gizmodo reports that the chain is offering a $100 gift card for customers who purchase between November 14 and November 21.

Walmart sells the AT&T Curve 8310, the AT&T Bold 9000, the Sprint Curve 8330 (Red & Titanium colors), the T-Mobile 8520 (Black, White, and Frost), the T-Mobile Pearl 8120 (Emerald) and the Verizon Storm and Storm II.

The offer is available both online and in stores.

Google has announced the Flu Shot Finder, which enables users to get the closest location offering flu vaccinations.

With flu season well underway, Google teamed up with with the U.S. Department for Health and Human Services (HHS), flu.gov collaborators and the American Lung Association and came up with the Flu Shot Finder, a handy tool that shows you where your closest vaccine can be found and even tells you if the provider has any stock left.

Though the project is just beginning and Google has not yet received information about flu shot clinics for many locations, a lot of people are going to find this tool useful. Especially when you consider the fact that it also maps H1N1 shots, which people are still full on freaking out about, by the way.

Right now, Google has data for vaccine locations from 20 states and counting and is continuing to add information from chain pharmacies and other providers in all 50 states. Already available are results from Walgreens, CVS and PDX participants, such as Kmart, Duane Reade, WinnDixie and Giant Eagle.

Check out the full post here and check out Google Flu Shot Finder here.

General Motors has reportedly given the go ahead for the battery-powered Cadillac Converj coupe.

First seen at the 2009 Detroit Auto how, the Converj turned plenty of heads when it was revealed by vice chairman of GM, Bob Lutz. Now, the Detroit News cites sources familiar with the matter who say the Converj was included in a production plan Cadillac officials presented to GM's board of directors last week.

The Detroit News goes on to say that the plug-in Cadillac will use the same extended-range electric powertrain as the upcoming Chevrolet Volt. No word on price or a release date but expect it to be after the Volt hits in 2010 with a pricetag that is considerably higher.

Read the full story here.

(Image via The Detroit News)

Facebook is denying hijack claims this week after hundreds of groups on the social networking group were taken over by a group called Control Your Info.

Yesterday morning, nearly 300 groups were hijacked and renamed by Control Your Info. Those responsible say they are trying to highlight how easy it is for people to lose track of part of their online presence. The social network maintains no actual hacking took place and says the group did not get any confidential information.

CYI's website details the groups actions:

"We discovered that many groups on Facebook are left without an administrator … So we simply joined 289 open groups and made ourselves administrators. We did not hack anything. Once we were administrators we owned the groups and could have changed any setting. We chose to change the picture, the name and the description of every group. Our intention was and is to restore these groups to their original form and find a suitable admin among the members. To be able to do this, we first backed up all the data we wanted to replace."

Administrators have the power to change the name of the group to whatever they like, edit information on the group, send messages to members and moderate discussions. Control Your Info proved this by pasting a message onto the wall of every group it assumed control of.

"Hello, we hereby announce that we have officially hijacked your Facebook group. This means we control a certain part of the information about you on Facebook. If we wanted we could make you appear in a bad way which could damage your image severly. For example we could rename your group and call it something very inappropriate and nasty, like 'I support paedophile's rights'. But have no fear — we won't."

Facebook confirmed to ComputerWorld that, once a group administrator leaves, any one of the members is free to assume the position of admin but said that no confidential information is accessible to group admins.

*image via CNET