Since Apple and The Beatles bury the hatchet in 2007, the Cupertino-based company hasn’t stopped supporting the band and its surviving members. In 2010, Apple added the band’s 13 studio albums to iTunes. Currently, the company is giving its full support for the promotion of Paul McCartney’s latest endeavor. His performance at the Capitol Studios in Hollywood, CA on February 9 will be streamed on iTunes.

The album entitled Kisses on the Bottom showcases 16 songs. McCartney’s new album centered on his attempt to revive classics from the “the great American Songbook.” Four out of sixteen songs were his original compositions.

The album will hit stores on February 6 and will be available on iTunes for $9.99.

Verizon and Redbox’s parent company Coinstar Inc., announced on Monday a tie up that will rival Netflix streaming content service.

The joint venture which aims to combine Redbox’s physical media rental service with streaming and movie downloads is expected to launch in the second half of 2012. Verizon holds the controlling stake with its 65 percent ownership share while Coinstar owns the rest.

Netflix, a California-based website which offers online video streaming and DVD-by-mail service ended last year’s Q4 with 24.4 million US subscribers, a 25 percent increase from their 2010 earning.

Windows 8 ‘Consumer Preview’ has revealed a major change to its UI with the disappearance of the ‘Start Button’. The Start Button which was first introduced with Windows 95, is one of the operating system’s most frequently used buttons.

Previous builds have revealed that the button has been flattened to match its new Metro styling but according to some newly leaked images of the ‘Consumer Preview of Windows 8, it seems that Windows is making a bold move of not including it in its upcoming version of its OS.

Visit the article source for more screenshots. Image courtesy of PC Beta.

Samsung and Corning recently announced their partnership for a new project which is the integration of the Gorilla Glass to OLED displays. The joint venture will combine Corning’s prized product, the Lotus Glass Substrate and Samsung’s OLED display technology. However, this project will be based in South Korea. The outcome of this project will be used in different Samsung products like smartphones and televisions.

”Corning and Samsung have a long and successful partnership in the display industry, dating back nearly 40 years to the early days of television,” Corning chairman, President and CEO Wendell P. Weeks said.

“The strength of our business relationship is built on Corning’s ability to develop and make high-technology glass with the key attributes that enable Samsung’s next-generation displays,” he added.

Skype has released an updated version for the Windows client. Skype version 5.8 for windows, which was released on Thursday, includes a bunch of new and improved features.

Some of the cool new features are Full HD Video-Calling, a new feature which allows you to make video calls in HD quality, a Group Screen Sharing which can be used to share an entire screen or a single application window and Video-Calling to Facebook contacts which can be used to make calls, even if your friends are not on Skype. It also has a new ‘push to talk’ feature that allows the use of hotkeys to trigger the microphone, a feature that most gamers will find useful when playing multiplayer games.

Skype 5.8 for Windows is now available for download and you can read more about it here.

Google has released an update for Google Docs app for Android with a new feature that allows you access your files, even without an internet connection.

This latest feature allows users to select and save files on their Android devices for offline access then automatically updates once an internet connection is present.

The update also includes a better tablet support by giving Android tablet users a high-resolution version of their documents. It also has a feature that allows use a slider at the bottom of the page or swipe left and right to flip between pages.

The company Bday recently unveiled a Facebook app called Bday Gift Finder which scans your friend’s profiles for hints for gift suggestions. Bday was funded $2 million dollar for this project.

The concept behind the Bday Gift Finder is simple. After you hooked up the app to your profile, it simply examines the pages liked by your friend. You can click on a friend’s profile to check the retailers where you can likely buy the gist. You can also directly buy the presents from Bday Gift Finder but it comes in the form of gift cards.

The long term goal of Bday is to partner with retailers. Evetually, the site will take percentage in every transaction made through Facebook. For now, the app is just driving the users to the retailers to urge them to shop for presents.

Two tourists from the U.K. were detained and barred from entering the U.S. over a twitter joke. Leigh Van Bryan, a 20-something Irish national currently residing in Coventry, U.K. was placed on a “One Day Lookout” list by the Department of Homeland Security for posting a suggestive message to ‘destroy America’ and ‘diggin’ up Marilyn Monroe’.

Bryan and his friend Emily Bunting flew to Los Angeles for vacation but were welcomed by Homeland Security Officials. Both were questioned and detained for 12 hours before they were deported back to the U.K.

“They asked why we wanted to destroy America and we tried to explain ['destroy'] meant to get trashed and party,” Bryan said.

He also explained that “3 weeks today, we’re totally in LA p***** people off on Hollywood Blvd and diggin’ Marilyn
Monroe up!” was actually a quote from the American comedy show ‘Family Guy’. The two were denied entry with Bryan charged with ‘intending to come to U.S. to commit crimes’ while his companion, Bunting was charged for travelling with Bryan.

Samsung has unveiled the latest addition to its mid-range Android phones, the Galaxy S Advance. The Galaxy S Advance, the Korean electronics giant’s latest addition to its Galaxy line, is a curvy 4-inch that offers dual-core performance.

Beneath its sleek curved design is a 1GHz dual-core CPU, 16GB memory and 768 RAM. It runs on Android Gingerbread 2.3.6 and supports HSPA connectivity that speeds up to 14.4Mbps. It boasts a 5MP camera with LED and has a stunning 480 x 800 Super AMOLED display.

No word on pricing and release date in US, but Samsung is said to be rolling out the device gradually to European, Middle Eastern, Latin America and Asian countries.

Google Music, Google’s free cloud music service, has launched an update that allows you to not only stream, but download your entire music library.

The application which allows you to add music files into the cloud service for easy streaming now has a new Music Manager interface with a ‘Download’ feature. This new feature makes it easier for you to access your music files without having to download them one by one. Now you can download your entire library, including your purchased music with a single click.

Note that while there are no limitations in using the Music Manager, music files purchased though Google Music can only be downloaded twice.