Apple has begun to take action against iPhone app ripoffs that have been crudding up the App Store. Over the weekend, the company removed a number of apps that bear a striking similarity to ones that are already popular among iOS users—the list includes Angry Ninja Birds, Plant vs. Zombie, and Temple Jump, which correlate to the popular titles Angry Birds, Plants vs. Zombies, and Temple Run (hat tip to Gamasutra). The move is encouraging to developers who have been struggling with knockoffs attempting to steal their business on the App Store, but there's plenty left to do if Apple wants to show it's serious about tackling the problem once and for all.

Apps attempting to clone—or at least ride the popularity wave of—other apps has been a problem for iOS developers for years now. Ars first started covering the phenomenon in early 2009, but examples continue to pop up on both the mobile App Store as well as the Mac App Store.

Verizon and Redbox are developing a new video service to compete against Netflix, which will combine Redbox's kiosk DVD and Blu-Ray rental service with streaming and downloadable video content made possible by Verizon's network.

Verizon and Redbox parent company Coinstar announced the partnership today with a press release and press conference, saying a subscription service "and more" will become available in the second half of 2012. Details were limited due to "competitive reasons."

The joint venture will apparently not include DVDs through the US Postal Service, as Netflix offers. Redbox has kiosks at 29,000 locations nationwide, including grocery stores, convenience stores, drug stores, and at some Wal-Mart stores. "By offering instantly available online and mobile content with immediate access to physical media through rental kiosks, Verizon and Redbox will be uniquely positioned to deliver the best of both worlds—digital and physical—to consumers across the country," the companies said.

Verizon owns 65 percent of the new joint venture, which is also described in an SEC filing, with Redbox owning the other 35 percent. While Netflix is struggling after a shaky 2011, Verizon and Redbox will still have their work cut out for them. No mention of specific content was made, but Verizon said it will use its "industry-wide relationships with entertainment content providers" to ensure a good selection of movies online.

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Motorola facilitated the sale of a bunch of refurbished Xoom tablets with former owners' data still on them, the company announced in a press release Friday. The Xooms were part of a deal on flash sale site woot.com last fall, and of the thousands sold, 100 were shipped out to new owners with information the previous owners had left on them, including passwords, account information, photos, and documents.

The Motorola Xoom captured a narrow share of the market following its launch in February 2011, ending with about 9 percent as of November 2011. A number of the tablets appear to have been returned, as Woot.com held sales of refurbished Xoom units.

Of the 6,200 tablets sold, Motorola announced, 100 were not fully scrubbed of data left on them by previous owners. By way of apology, Motorola is offering any customers who bought and returned the tablet from a number of retailers (Amazon.com, Best Buy, BJ’s Wholesale, eBay, Office Max, Radio Shack, Sam’s Club, or Staples) between March and October 2011 two years of membership to Experian's Protect My ID credit monitoring service.

Though the company is trying to make good, it can't be blamed entirely—we shudder at the thought of sending a device into the depths of customer service returns without wiping it via the easily accessible "factory reset" option in Android settings. Might any of our dear readers have been affected by this event, either by returning a Xoom or buying one from Woot?

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For the first time, the NFL is providing live streaming video of the Super Bowl, both on Web browsers and through a smartphone application. Now you'll have any number of viewing options and combinations: sit in front of an HDTV with a laptop or tablet to gain DVR controls and extra camera angles not available on the main NBC feed. If you can't get to a TV or browser (or if someone is blocking your view at the local watering hole) just whip out your smartphone and watch the game in miniature—assuming you're a Verizon customer and have a network connection that's fast enough.

As a Massachusetts resident and Patriots fan, I will likely be too nervous and anxiety-ridden to operate any type of technology once the Super Bowl starts around 6:30 PM ET Sunday. But if you're a huuuugggeeee fan who can't get enough coverage, your best bet is probably sitting on the couch with a laptop or tablet, as the NFL says the live stream will be available in tablet browsers, which likely means both the iPad and Android tablets.

A customer satisfaction survey of Kindle Fire owners shows that while the vast majority are satisfied with their purchase, it is mainly the low price fueling their happiness. ChangeWave Research asked a sample of new Kindle Fire owners how they were enjoying their device so far; slightly more than half reported being "very satisfied," and 59 percent said the $199 price of the Kindle Fire was what they liked best about it.

The survey asked 254 people who had recently acquired a Kindle Fire what they liked about the device, and beyond the low price, they had little to say. Thirty-one percent liked the color screen, 27 percent the ease of use, and 20 percent liked the selection of books. "Long battery life" and "screen size" were the favorite features of only 12 percent of respondents.

When asked what their least favorite part of the device was, 27 percent said they didn't like that there were no hardware volume up and down buttons. Twenty-one percent were most displeased that the Kindle Fire has no camera, and 15 percent said that the battery life was too short.

Overall, 54 percent of the Kindle Fire owners reported being "very satisfied" with it—not quite the iPad's 74 percent of customers who report being "very satisfied," but better than the 49 percent figure for other tablet devices. Combined with the 38 percent "somewhat satisfied" group, the Kindle Fire reached a 92 percent approval rating, according to ChangeWave.

The Kindle Fire has met with wide success in spite of lukewarm reviews, many of which cited the price as the main mitigator for its shortcomings—at least 4 million Kindle units were sold in December, the bulk of which were Kindle Fires, and the Kindle Fire shot up to a 36 percent market share of Android tablets in only three months. However, Boy Genius Report points out that the percent of people "very likely" to buy a Kindle Fire has dropped to 2 percent, down from 4 percent in December.

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Windows Phone 8 will be based on the same kernel as Windows 8, and will support multicore processors, NFC, and full device encryption according to a leaked video seen by PocketNow. This in turn inspired Paul Thurrott to reveal a little more about the software too. In the video intended only for internal consumption by Microsoft and its partners, Joe Belfiore, director of the Windows Phone program, describes the extensive features that Windows Phone 8, codenamed "Apollo," will contain.

Addressing widespread concerns about Windows Phone's mid-range hardware specification, Apollo will support processors with up to four cores, four different (and unspecified) screen resolutions, NFC for contactless payment, and removable microSD storage.

The mobile phone industry continues its march toward smartphone dominance as consumer interest in feature phones wanes, according to market research firm IDC. Record sales of Apple's iPhone in the fourth quarter pushed the company into third place among all mobile phone vendors, up from fifth place last year. Samsung's strong smartphone sales kept it in second place, but edged it closer in marketshare to the declining long-time market leader, Nokia.

The overall mobile market grew just 6.1 percent year-over-year for the fourth quarter, less than the 9.3 percent growth from last year and less than the overall 11 percent growth rate of the market for the year.

The mobile phone industry continues its march toward smartphone dominance as consumer interest in feature phones wanes, according to market research firm IDC. Record sales of Apple's iPhone in the fourth quarter pushed the company into third place among all mobile phone vendors, up from fifth place last year. Samsung's strong smartphone sales kept it in second place, but edged it closer in marketshare to the declining long-time market leader, Nokia.

The overall mobile market grew just 6.1 percent year-over-year for the fourth quarter, less than the 9.3 percent growth from last year and less than the overall 11 percent growth rate of the market for the year.