A number of public interest groups have filed a letter with the Federal Communications Commission requesting the agency investigate claims that new plans being offered by mobile provider MetroPCS block Internet content, applications and websites. The public interest groups who sent the letter to the FCC include Free Press, the Center for Media Justice, Media Access Project, New America Foundation Open Technology Institute and Presente.org . Last week, MetroPCS,

Mobile broadband subscriptions surpassed the half a billion mark globally in 2010 and are on track to double before this year ends, according to a new report from Ericsson. The greatest number of mobile broadband subscriptions, around 400 million, is expected to be in the Asia Pacific region, followed by North America and Western Europe with more than 200 million subscriptions each.

Amazon has introduced a free application for iPhone users called Amazon Deals, which offers daily deals from Amazon Gold Box. People can use the app to act on limited-availability discounts and stay up to date with deal notifications. With Amazon Deals, no matter where they are, our customers can stay connected and informed on deals in their favorite categories and purchase from their iPhone immediately, before they sell out, so they never have to miss another deal,

Buick is launching the Quest for the Keys program, a campaign focused on promoting Buicks lineup, including the Regal, Enclave, Lacrosse and its new Verano. Quest for keys will launch in seven cites in the coming months, including Miami, Los Angles, Atlanta, Chicago, Minneapolis, New York and Austin, Texas. The program invites users to participate in an interactive scavenger hunt using social media.

People are using mobile phones to access websites and apps more than ever before, with 33 percent using their phones to access a retailer website, and an additional 26% indicated they plan to access retailer websites or mobile apps by phone in the future, according to a new report from ForeSee Results. It looks like more than half of all shoppers will soon be using their mobile phones for retail purposes, said Kevin Ertell,

AOL said today it has named Stephen Bromberg Executive Editor of AOL.com. Prior to joining AOL, Bromberg was Executive Editor, Foxnews.com, where he oversaw the development and publication of all online content for the Foxnews.com website. In this role he directed the editorial team to ensure that quality stories were posted quickly and accurately to the website. Bromberg joined Foxnews.

Online video site Dailymotion has launched on-demand, curated content hubs focused on timely events. In real time, Dailymotion says its curation team can flag and respond to major news events or trends, such as a Twitter search trend, curate related content and launch a hub around the topic. In todays on-demand environment, viewers are looking for the fastest, easiest ways to discover and share content that is meaningful to them in the moment said Joy Marcus,

The Food and Drug Administration is warning people who have purchased drugs online about fraudsters posing as FDA agents or other law enforcement officials attempting to extort money. The criminals call the victims - who in most cases previously purchased drugs over the Internet or via "telepharmacies" - and identify themselves as FDA special agents or other law enforcement officials.

Global IT spending is forecast to reach $3.6 trillion in 2011, a 5.1 percent increase from 2010, according to a new report by Gartner. In 2010, worldwide IT spending totaled $3.4 trillion, up 5.4 percent from 2009. Gartner has raised its outlook for 2011 global IT spending from its previous forecast of 3.5 percent growth. In 2010, the IT industry performed better than Gartner's previous forecast of 3.2 percent growth. Aided by favorable U.S. dollar exchange rates,

Apple said today that over one million apps have been downloaded from its Mac App Store in the first day. Were amazed at the incredible response the Mac App Store is getting, said Steve Jobs, Apples CEO. Developers have done a great job bringing apps to the store and users are loving how easy and fun the Mac App Store is. The Mac App Store offers a variety of apps in games, education, graphic design, entertainment and other categories.

Samsung was the top handset maker in the U.S. for the three month period ending in November, accounting for 24.5 percent of the market, while RIM led among smartphones with 33.5 percent market share, according to comScore. For the three month average period ending in November, 234 million Americans ages 13 and older used mobile devices. Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top mobile manufacturer with 24.5 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers, up 0.

The Federal Communications Commission has announced a challenge for software developers to create apps that help people monitor Internet openness. The FCC says its Open Internet Challenge is about the development of apps that provide users with information about the extent to which their fixed or mobile broadband Internet services are consistent with the open Internet. These software tools could, for example,

U.S. consumer technology holiday sales were down 5 percent in 2010 totaling $10.3 billion, according to a new report from The NPD Group. Heavy sales promotions early in November, before Black Friday, did not convince shoppers to spend early as sales for the first three weeks of the month fell by 5 percent compared to the previous year. Overall NPD estimates that 2010 sales for the 9 week sales period will total $14.9 billion down 4 percent from last year.

Online travel website Expedia has launched the You Name it Contest and Sweepstakes, on its Facebook page with the aim of coming up with a better name for its Vacation Packages. Beginning today through February 3, users can visit the Expedia Facebook page and suggest a new name for Vacation Packages. Expedia will compile the entries and will select ten finalists. Users will then have the chance to vote for the winner among the ten finalists.

Online retail spending for the 2010 holiday season reached $32.6 billion, representing an increase of 12 percent compared to last year and an all-time record, according to the latest report from comScore. The 2010 online holiday shopping season was a memorable one in which we saw spending rebound strongly from the recession of 2008 and 2009, and slightly exceed even our early expectations, said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni.

In 2010, cyber-criminals created and distributed one-third of all existing viruses, creating 34 percent of all malware that has ever existed, according to PandaLabs annual security report. PandaLabs did find the speed at which the number of new threats grew has actually decreased compared to 2009. Every year since 2003, new threats grew by at least 100 percent, but in 2010, the increase was 50 percent.

Amazon continues to make its Kindle app available on more and more devices, the latest is Microsoft's Windows Phone 7. Yesterday, Amazon announced the launch of its Kindle app for Android and Windows based tablets. Amazon says Kindle for Windows Phone 7 is the first major eBook app available for the device, and includes new features built into the app for the first time,

Half Price Books said today it has launched HPB.com, which features its new online web store, HPB Marketplace. Through a partnership with Monsoon Commerce Solutions, a company that powers websites for online retailers, Half Price Books has begun selling books, music and media online. The company says its website will give users access to more than 120 million book, movie and, music titles sold through Half Price Books and other independent sellers.

Purchase rates for personal computers and mobile phones )not including smartphones( will decrease by 39 percent and 56 percent this year compared with last year, respectively, according to a new survey from Accenture. By contrast, buying rates of 3DTVs )three-dimensional TVs( are expected to rise 500 percent; tablet computers 160 percent; ebook readers 133 percent; and smartphones 26 percent.

Environmental education group, NatureBridge, said today it has received a $4 million grant from the Google Charitable Giving Fund of Tides Foundation. Over a three-year period, the grant will help NatureBridge serve more students and teachers with environmental education programs in more national parks and in the communities where they live. With $4 million over a three-year period, NatureBridge will bring 10,000 additional K-12 students to its residential programs,