Boot up: Apple may invest $1bn in Sharp, HP Tablets 'not selling' at Best Buy, and more

Apple chief Steve Jobs at Apple the of the second generation iPad. Sales of the tablet last quarter were three times the sales in its first three months Photograph: Kimihiro Hoshino/AFP/Getty Images

A quick burst of 6 links for you to chew over, as picked by the Technology team

"Apple Inc may invest $1 billion in Sharp Corp's Kameyama factory to secure the supply of screens for iPhones and iPads, MF Global FXA Securities wrote in a sales note on Wednesday, sending shares in the Japanese consumer electronics maker up more than 2 percent."

"In a note to investors on Tuesday, Jeffries & Co. analyst Peter Misek concluded that Apple is likely to "strike back" by acquiring patents from rivals such as Nokia or Research in Motion as a response to Google's purchase of Motorola Mobility. He also mentioned InterDigital, which has been widely viewed as a potential target for acquisition by Apple and other major players in the smartphone industry."

"At an event last week, Facebook director of game partnerships Sean Ryan had some choice words for his new competitor. "Google has emulated aspects of our system, which is what they have the right to do," he said. "We just need to be better." He's referring to the way the companies make money from casual online games like Farmville and Words With Friends. Players pay for play time or virtual goods within the games, and the social networks take a cut of the sales. Currently, Facebook reportedly takes 30% from game developers, whereas Google takes just 5%."

"In other words--and I never thought I'd say this--Steve Ballmer was right. Android isn't free. In fact, it's not even cheap. As Daring Fireball's John Gruber points out, the $12.5 billion that Google is spending for Motorola amounts to almost two years' worth of the search company's profits. No company--not even Google--can throw around that kind of cash without envisioning a direct return on its investment"

"According to one source who's seen internal HP reports, Best Buy has taken delivery of 270,000 TouchPads and has so far managed to sell only 25,000, or less than 10 percent of the units in its inventory."

Microsoft is finally ready to talk about Windows 8. Here's the new official blog.

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