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Those of you looking to buy Google's new Nexus 7 tablet may have a wait on your hands.

Unveiled late last month, the tablet has slowly trickled into the retail market. Google was naturally first in line, offering the Nexus 7 as a preorder in advance of its official mid-July launch. Other retailers, such as GameStop, Staples, and Sam's Club, soon followed suit.

But a lot of eager customers apparently scooped up those pre-sales, since the tablet is playing hard to get at most outlets.

GameStop, which is selling the 16GB edition, is showing the tablet as back-ordered. … Read more

Friday's show may start off grim, but there's cake at the end. No lie!

It's a bad day for BlackBerry maker Research In Motion. The company's earnings call was three layers of ugly. BlackBerry 10 devices will be delayed until the first quarter of 2013. The company is cutting 5,000 jobs (that's a third of its employees). And it suffered a huge operating loss for the quarter. (Hence the job cuts.) RIM's stock dropped 19% when the markets closed Friday.

Apple has a new stand-alone podcast app. It's a new a way … Read more

Update, 3:50 p.m. PT: After a glitch earlier today, the GameStop page in question is once again accessible on the site.

Those of you eyeing the Google Nexus 7 can preorder the tablet from GameStop and get a cut in price if you've got something to trade.

Starting today, Nexus 7 buyers can preorder the 16GB version of the tablet at all GameStop stores in the U.S. Customers could score up to a 30 percent discount by trading in other items, including video game hardware, software, and accessories as well as Apple mobile devices and certain … Read more

NEW YORK -- No one hooted or jeered when Cary Sherman took the stage today at the Personal Democracy Forum 2012.

That's worth noting, because Sherman is CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group of the top four recording companies, and because the forum crowd was full of politically minded techies that -- it's safe to say -- feel some antipathy for the RIAA. OK, some of these people downright hate the RIAA.

All you have to do to measure the degree of animosity for the RIAA is read the user comments of any … Read more

The two lawmakers who spearheaded a protest in January against controversial antipiracy legislation said today that they want the country to adopt an Internet Bill of Rights.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), said today at the Personal Democracy Forum 2012 in New York that the country needs a way to guarantee citizens their Internet freedoms.

"What we need is a way to measure how we're going to ensure the voice of [Internet] networks is protected," Wyden said during an interview the two lawmakers gave to Andrew Rasiej, an entrepreneur and founder of the … Read more

Microsoft plans to expand its $99 Xbox subscription offer to all U.S Best Buy stores and some GameStop stores later this month, according to an entry posted in a company blog today.

The deal is for a limited number of users for a short period of time, but if there is enough interest, the company may expand the offer again, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Currently, the offer is exclusively available at 17 Microsoft stores. The $99 offer combines an Xbox 360 and Kinect motion sensor with a two-year service contract. … Read more

As a parent, there's nothing quite so satisfying as watching your kids express their creativity. Doesn't matter if it's with a set of blocks, a box of crayons, or an app that turns long sequences of still photos into superhero-themed movies -- it's just thrilling.

On Saturday, I gave my 9-year-old son a five-minute tutorial on using Lego Super Hero Movie Maker, a new app that lets Lego fans create nifty stop-motion animations using their own minifigs (i.e. little Lego people).

By Sunday, he'd already created several hilarious movies, the best of which involved a giant praying mantis catching and devouring several minifigs (hey, who says the good guys always get to win?). And he was just getting started -- Super Hero Movie Maker was an instant hit.… Read more

Google continues to up the ante on the money it spends each quarter on Washington lobbying.

The search giant spent a record $5.03 million (PDF) last quarter, according to the company's lobbying report. That figure compares with $3.76 million spent in the fourth quarter and just $1.48 million in 2011's first quarter.

Among the lobbying issues grabbing Google's attention were the regulation of online advertising, privacy and competition issues in online advertising, openness and competition in online services, and International tax reform.

The search giant devoted lobby dollars to HR 1389 - Global Online Freedom Act of 2011, … Read more

A senior executive that Hollywood hired last year to be its chief technology policy officer has undergone a remarkable about-face: he now opposes the Stop Online Piracy Act.

Paul Brigner, who was until last month a senior vice president at the Motion Picture Association of America, has emerged as SOPA's latest critic. "I firmly believe that we should not be legislating technological mandates to protect copyright -- including SOPA and Protect IP," he says.

In a statement posted on CNET.com, Brigner says that his time at the MPAA -- which, more than any other advocacy group, … Read more