Weekly high-tech hot topics in the blogs: Police investigate iPhone 4G saga, HP buys Palm, Steve Jobs gets Flash-y

Hot topics in the tech blogs for the week ending April 29: bloggers test their strengths against the law enforcers as the iPhone 4G saga escalates, HP purchases Palm, Steve Job gives Flash a slap in the face and bloggers wait for Adobe to retaliate, Facebook opts out of privacy for its users, and Google's Nexus One no longer heading to Verizon.

Police seize Gizmodo editor's computers as the iPhone 4G saga escalates
Gizmodo's exclusive coverage of the next-generation iPhone that was "left inside a bar" has turned into a media, legal and police task force commotion. As bloggers spent their time writing about the legal implications of media purchasing their stories, a specialized police task force was busy raiding the house of Gizmodo editor Jason Chen, taking his computers with them. The blog world erupted into a frenzy of legal jargon-rich articles, asking "Can Gizmodo Win the iPhone Legal Battle?", speculating about whether "Apple asked for ‘lost’ iPhone criminal probe" and urging those involved in the case not to "Prosecute Gizmodo for the iPhone That Walked Into a Bar: It's a bad use of the government's power."

HP purchases Palm for $1.2 billion
Struggling smartphone maker Palm was snapped up by HP in a 1.2 billion dollar deal this week. Rumors about a possible Palm buy-out had already been making their way through the blogs as the company struggled to keep up with mobile offerings from the likes of Android, Microsoft and Apple. ReadWriteWeb posted a list of The Smartest Tweets About HP/Palm, including Tim Bray's "Hoping HP reinvigorates WebOS. Two is not the cosmically correct number of viable mobile platforms," Lon Seidman's "Great move for HP, bad for Microsoft and their new phone platform. MS should have modernized their mobile OS sooner!" and Adam Clark Estes' "HP buys Palm for $1.2billion. Does this mean my own Palm Pilot will be able to print now?" VentureBeat also picked up on the fact that "HP’s Palm acquisition is about tablets and netbooks, too."

Steve Jobs on Flash
After years of discussions about why Apple will not support Flash on the iPhone OS, Steve Jobs penned an open letter (a rarity in the world of Apple) to his critics explaining the six major reasons why people will never see Flash implemented on iPhones, iPods and iPads. "Flash was created during the PC era – for PCs and mice," wrote Jobs in his letter, adding "the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards -– all areas where Flash falls short." He continued, "Flash is no longer necessary to watch video or consume any kind of web content."

Facebook users complain about loss of privacy
Facebook subtly implemented changes to its privacy policies last week, leaving many users confused about how to opt-out of sharing their details with third-party sites. Bloggers and Facebook users heavily criticized the way in which Facebook implemented the changes and started to discuss the future implications of participating in Facebook's connected web. ReadWriteWeb highlighted Facebook's "High Pressure Tactics: Opt-in or Else," The Electronic Frontier Foundation catalogued Facebook's "Eroding Privacy Policy" and Epicenter wrote an article about how "Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Doesn't Believe In Privacy." Meanwhile US senators wrote a letter to Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, expressing their concern over the recent privacy policy changes.

Nexus One gets pulled from Verizon Wireless's lineup
Headlines like "Google Nexus One Gone From Verizon Lineup" started appearing in the blogs when Verizon Wireless removed their "Nexus One coming soon" web page from their site, sparking rumors the phone would no longer be available through the US's largest mobile phone company. Google confirmed the rumors with their post, "An update on Nexus One partnerships." After previously announcing partnerships with Vodafone in Europe and Verizon Wireless in the US, Google backtracked, advising US customers to purchase the Droid Incredible by HTC, "a powerful new Android phone and a cousin of the Nexus One that is similarly feature-packed" if they wanted to use Verizon as their mobile carrier. The Nexus One will, however, be arriving in Europe with Vodafone said Google, with pre-orders commencing on April 30 in the UK.