Reuters - Micron Technology Inc Chief Executive and Chairman Steve Appleton died in a small plane crash on Friday, a major loss for a U.S. memory chipmaker already struggling with sluggish computer sales and declining prices.

AP - Apple Inc. has temporarily blocked Motorola Mobility's attempt to have it withdraw several iPhone and iPad models from its Internet store in Germany, the latest twist in an extended legal duel over patents between the companies.

ContributorNetwork - COMMENTARY | Tech companies across the United States have been releasing their Q1 2012 financial reports, or their summaries of how well they did in the last few months. Apple, with its mountains of cash and nearly-vertical iPad sales growth (as illustrated in this graph by Horace Dediu), continues to dominate most of the hardware markets that it participates in ... and to have outsized profits per smartphone sold, as illustrated in this graph by Benedict Evans.

Reuters - Apple Inc said it was cleared to resume selling older models of its iPhone and 3G-based iPads via its German online store on Friday, after the suspension of an injunction won by Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc in December.

ContributorNetwork - COMMENTARY | Amazon.com is sort of like the Wal-Mart of the Internet. It doesn't just sell books anymore; nowadays, it sells everything from riding lawn mowers to bulk toilet paper. And its Kindle Fire tablet has become strong competition for Apple's iPad, selling (possibly) millions of units compared to hundreds of thousands for most of its Android competitors.

Appolicious - The Android platform expanded its dominance in the U.S. smartphone market during Q4 of 2011, according to the latest ComScore report. Apple may have boosted its share of the mobile handset market with the release of the iPhone 4S, but Android’s still the clear winner in terms of OS use, powering 47.3 percent of surveyed subscribers. That’s up from 44.8 percent last year, growing by slightly more percentage points than Apple’s increase to 29.6 percent from 27.4 percent.

Appolicious - Fresh off its iBooks 2 announcement and approaching the expected announcement of the iPad 3, a new rumor is suggesting Apple might have a new announcement coming soon – and it could be ”strange.”

Appolicious - Get the most productivity out of your weekend with today’s Fresh iPhone App, Wunderkit. It marries the standard productivity features like to-do lists with social media. It’s followed by the official app of LeDianian Tomlinson, filled with 16 workouts the NFL running back uses to get keep his speed and strength. Endless runner Blot leads the weekend’s game selections, bringing a great art style and challenging gameplay, along with Gorilla Gondola, a physics game that requires some different thinking from the standard fair.

Reuters - Sprint Nextel , like its bigger rivals, is expected to report a steep decline in fourth-quarter profit margins due to its launch of the costly Apple Inc iPhone.

Appolicious - The latest entry in Capcom’s stable of App Store games is also our best game of the week. It’s Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, a game in which you play a ghost working to solve his own murder (and a bunch of puzzles along the way). Check out all the details below, and read about four other quality titles you should try this weekend.

Yahoo! News - In the months following long-time Apple CEO Steve Jobs's untimely death, we've seen him resurrected in many forms. He's already been brought back in plastic and bronze, but we never thought we'd see him reborn as an Android supporter. Leave it to a Taiwanese tablet …

Reuters - He may have derided Android devices in real life but in the afterlife Apple Inc founder Steve Jobs is glad he can use one -- or at least that's the story a Jobs look-alike tells in a recent TV commercial for a Taiwanese electronics company's new product.

Appolicious - We already knew Facebook’s various mobile apps were popular, be they on Apple’s iPhone or iPad, on devices running Google’s Android operating system, or even on BlackBerry devices and feature phones.

Appolicious - It’s the week’s big day for games, and we’ve got quite a few great ones on offer today. Spice Invaders is a robust tower defense title with tons of content and an eight-player multiplayer mode, while Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective puts players in the role of a ghost trying to solve his own murder by manipulating objects. Awesome Land is a side-scrolling platformer that puts a leather jacket and an attitude on Mario, while Reckless Racing 2 brings some quality top-down racing action to the App Store.

Appolicious - MindConnex just released their latest Shakespeare in Bits app for Hamlet, available for both iPhone and iPad. All the Shakespeare in Bits apps break the works into small bits (as the name implies) and serve them to students with lots of integrated study aids alongside wonderfully voice-acted animated clips of the live action. The complete plays are animated, but synced to the text in student-sized chucks.

Reuters - Qualcomm Inc's quarterly profit easily beat Wall Street forecasts and the wireless chip leader raised its full-year financial targets due to growing demand for smartphones such as Apple Inc's popular iPhone.

ContributorNetwork - They've got the brand names of popular black and white e-readers. But the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet are, as the latter's name implies, basically miniature tablets like the iPad. (The Nook Color is also; it's a cheaper version of the Nook Tablet.)

Appolicious - When I’m feeling indecisive about where to dine out in Chicago (read: always), it’s nice to have some help making a selection. Enter Ness Dining Guide, the app for iPhone and iPod Touch that helps you figure out where you’d enjoy a meal out based on your personal tastes.

Yahoo! News - The working conditions at Chinese manufacturer Foxconn are notorious here in the U.S., but do Chinese youth have a different opinion of the embattled electronics giant? Possibly: Foxconn is hiring, and Chinese youth are literally lining up around the block to …

Appolicious - Apple is still feeling backlash from recent negative attention directed at factories in its device-making supply chain overseas, with the most recent fallout centering around customers creating an online petition asking for an “ethical” iPhone.