Later this month, OnStar, the roadside assistance company owned by General Motors, will add the ability to verbally text and create Facebook updates for its customers. The company will also launch an extensive advertising campaign to try and mimic Ford Sync’s success.

A source close to the Free Press said that text messages and Facebook updates will be read to the driver, and the new OnStar features will also allow the driver to verbally text and create status updates for his/her Facebook account.

The advertising campaign, dubbed “Live On”, will be launched in the middle of September. The source says that GM recognizes that Ford’s image has been repaired due to Sync, and GM wants to jump in on the bandwagon.

This isn’t the first time that OnStar has dabbled with technology this year, as the company partnered with Google to allow OnStar subscribers to monitor gas and battery-charge levels via their phone. Android users can also control their vehicle’s remote start, horn, and door locks.

OnStar, which launched in 1996, is a roadside assistance service that allows drivers to communicate with police and ambulance services as well as providing information for locksmiths and towing companies in the event of an emergency or accident.

The source says OnStar plans to offer some services to non-subscribers as well. Most GM vehicles come with a year’s worth of free service, and then offers subscription plans starting at $199.

Apple has restored the ability to test the quality of your phone’s signal reception when it released iOS 4.1. The feature was omitted from Apple devices after the whole “Antennagate” scandal regarding poor signal reception when holding the iPhone 4 a certain way.

The iPhone 4 consists of two antennas, both are stainless steel bands that run around the base of the phone. One is for cellular voice and data, and the other band is for Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth service.

When those two bands were connected via user’s conductive finger tips, signal strength dropped significantly. After this malfunction was noticed by the masses, Apple nixed Field Test mode from the operating system. But Apple finally reinstated the ability.

Users can access Field Test mode on any iPhone running 4.1 by calling *3001#12345#*. Once called, the Field Test window will open and the iPhone’s signal bars will be replaced with a precise decibel readout. To exit the window, just press the Home button.

The lower the number the better; a typical measurement should look like “-92″. When iWinUX asked our readers what kind of readout our users were receiving, we got answers ranging from -95 to -9000.

What does your’s read? [Thanks WilliamTM]

Apple has released the latest firmware update for its iOS mobile operating system, version 4.1. The new firmware fixes the performance issues for the iPhone 3G as well as adding new features for the iPod Touch, iPhone 3GS, and the iPhone 4.

Besides fixing the 3G performance issues, the biggest reason to update is to check out Apple’s all new Game Center. The new gaming service allows users to send and receive friend requests, play online multiplayer with your friends and other Game Center users, and the ability to view Leaderboards and Achievements among some other cool features.

Game Center is currently only available for the iPod Touch, iPhone 3GS, and the iPhone 4.

Other performance upgrades and bug fixes include: Nike+iPhone performance issues, improvements for better BlueTooth compatibility, and performance boosts for the iPhone 4′s proximity sensor. Apple also updated its security for FaceTime, ImageIO, and WebKit.

Remember, if your device is jailbroken and you update to 4.1, your device will no longer be jailbroken.

A lot has happened to Mark Hurd in the last few months. For instance, Hewlett-Packard forced Hurd to resign as CEO over ethics violations, and he was then was hired by Oracle, who owns the company that produces the Java platform, to be its new vice president. And now HP is filing a civil complaint against Hurd in California.

Just a little over a month ago, iWinUX reported that Mark Hurd, then CEO of HP, was forced to resign over what was then thought to be sexual harassment allegations. HP’s board did investigate Hurd over a sexual harassment complaint made by an independent contractor; however, HP concluded that while Hurd was innocent of violating the company’s sexual harassment policies, the contractor received compensation and incorrect expense reimbursement from Hurd as an attempt to keep the contractor quiet about the relationship. And thus, HP asked Hurd to step down from chief executive officer.

Yesterday, Bloomberg reported that Hurd had been hired by Oracle, the conglomerate that owns Sun Microsystems, to replace Charles Phillips as president of the company. The shift came as Oracle is looking to move from a software company to a hardware company, which is something Hurd knows a lot about as he more than tripled HP’s profits. The company, which is trying to make a lasting impression in Silicon Valley, is looking to get into server sales.

Not long after after Oracle announced the acquisition of Hurd as president, HP filed a civil complaint against Hurd for breaking trade secret agreements. HP said in the complaint, which you can read here (.PDF), that Hurd signed documents agreeing to keep confidential information secret and that HP “intends to enforce those agreements.”

Update: Oracle has issued an official statement on its website:

“Oracle has long viewed HP as an important partner,” said Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. “By filing this vindictive lawsuit against Oracle and Mark Hurd, the HP board is acting with utter disregard for that partnership, our joint customers, and their own shareholders and employees.   The HP Board is making it virtually impossible for Oracle and HP to continue to cooperate and work together in the IT marketplace.”

According to statistics firm Quantcast, Android devices now account for 25 percent of North America’s mobile Internet traffic. Traffic for Google’s Android OS increased 2 percent, while the market share for Apple’s iOS 4 and other mobile operating systems decreased.

In a previous post on its blog, Quantcast noted that web traffic for the iPad is not included in the figures for Apple’s iOS, which could significantly raise Apple’s market share if included. Quantcast did not specify if the iPad’s figures were included with the firm’s latest statistics.

Within the past year, Apple has lost 11 percent of its web market share to other operating systems, while Google has gained 17 percent. Steve Jobs & Co. still hold the most market share with 56 percent of all mobile Internet traffic coming from iOS 4.

AppleInsider points out that if Google can “maintain another year of comparable growth, Android will be nearly neck-and-neck with iOS.” Research in Motion, the makers of the BlackBerry devices, are steadily losing ground as its market share slips to 9 percent.

Greg Abbott, the Texas attorney general, is currently investigating Google for the way the website  ranks websites in the search listings after complaints that Google has been abusing its power as the Internet’s most popular search engine.

The investigation aims to make sure that Google is not manipulating its search results to sabotage its competitors. Attorney General Greg Abbott confirmed the investigation, but declined to comment further when questioned by The Huffington Post.

This is not the first time that the 12 year old company has been investigated for possibly favoring its own services over rivals in its search rankings, but Google did say that Abbott was the first attorney general to investigate such claims. European regulators have been investigating Google for quite some time over the same issues.

Google currently processes two-thirds of the search requests in the United States, and handles even more volume in other parts of the world. Being ranked on the front page can mean more ad revenue and more traffic to websites.

The opposite can also have a pretty devastating effect on websites, and has been blamed for some Internet companies flopping due to poor results.

Google wrote in a blog post on Friday that it is ‘welcoming’ Abbott’s investigation and any questions that he and his office may have.

“Given that not every website can be at the top of the results, or even appear on the first page of our results, it’s unsurprising that some less relevant, lower quality websites will be unhappy with their ranking,” Don Harrison, Google’s deputy general counsel, wrote.

Google noted that if users were unhappy with its results, they would use a different search engine. The company is also under investigation over privacy concerns.

Earlier today, Apple announced, via press release, that its social network Ping had reached 1 million users in the first 24 hours. This comes to a surprise for most technology enthusiasts, as most Apple products and services break the 1 million user threshold in 24 hours or less.

“One-third of the people who have downloaded iTunes 10 have joined Ping,” said Eddy Cue, the Vice President for Apple’s Internet Services division. “As many more people download iTunes 10 in the coming weeks, we expect the Ping community to continue growing.”

Probably the biggest reason that it is a surprise that it took two days for Ping to reach a million users is due to the fact that the service is provided through iTunes, an Apple product that currently has 160 million users worldwide.

Ping is a music-based social networking service that Apple announced and released Wednesday, alongside revamped iPods and its Apple TV set-top box. The service allows you to follow friends, bands, and other artists, and broadcasts those user’s streams in a feed much like Facebook or Twitter.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced iTunes 10 during his keynote at an event earlier this week, but perhaps the best kept secret about the event was that Apple was planning on introducing a new iTunes icon to the world.

That icon, which you can see above, throws away almost 10 years worth of product recognition, a move that is risky for any popular product or service. The move stems from the fact that music has entered the digital age, and compact disc sales are declining; therefore, the new logo, a blue orb with a music note floating on it, makes more sense than having an icon with a music note on-top of a CD.

Jobs has responded to an email that Joshua Kopac sent him regarding the new icon:

Steve,

Enjoyed the presentation today. But … this new iTunes logo really sucks. You’re taking 10+ years of instant product recognition and replacing it with an unknown. Let’s both cross our fingers on this…

Jobs responded short as usual:

We disagree.

Sent from my iPhone

The icon has been subject of a lot of media attention, with even a parody Twitter account dedicated to it. What do you think of the new icon?

In agreement made with the US military, GameStop has agreed not to sell the upcoming Medal of Honor reboot in its locations on Army and Air Force military bases due to the ability to play as a Taliban fighter in multiplayer.

The Army and Air Force Exchange Services confirmed to Kotaku that it requested the game be pulled from all 49 GameStop locations located in the continental United States. GameStop told its employees that the pull was “out of respect for our past and present men and women in uniform.”

“GameStop has agreed out of respect for our past and present men and women in uniform we will not carry Medal of Honor in any of our AAFES based stores…,” the internal GameStop email said. “As such, GameStop agreed to have all marketing material pulled by noon today and to stop taking reservations. Customers who enter our AAFES stores and wish to reserve Medal of Honor can and should be directed to the nearest GameStop location off base.

“GameStop fully supports AAFES in this endeavor and is sensitive to the fact that in multiplayer mode one side will assume the role of Taliban fighter.”

This is not the first time there has been an uproar over Medal of Honor and its controversial addition, UK’s Secretary of Defense called for the game’s ban in the United Kingdom. When the issue was brought to the BBFC, the ratings board gave the game an 18+ rating and nixed the ban proposal.

The AAFES confirmed to the gaming website that the reason was over the ability to fight as the Taliban. Electronic Arts declined to comment on any additional details.

Since the launch of Apple’s music-based social network yesterday, Cupertino has had some problems with Facebook and vice-versa. The New York Times is reporting that the two have become “frenemies“, since the two could not reach an agreement with Ping being based on services on top of Facebook.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs called the deal’s stipulations “onerous”, and that Apple’s original idea was to build Ping off of Facebook. But that deal, obviously, did not work out, and we now have Ping. However, Apple still left some connectivity to Facebook, so you could add your Facebook friends to Ping.

But once the service went live, Facebook pulled the plug on Ping’s API. Sources for NY Times said that that the Apple service, which is included inside iTunes 10, had the “potential to send so much traffic Facebook’s way and cause ‘site stability’ and ‘infrastructure’ problems”.

“We’re working with Apple to resolve this issue. We’ve worked together successfully in the past, and we look forward to doing so in the future,” Facebook said in a statement. The social network did not specifically say what the “issue” was.

Throughout the disagreements, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has created his own account on Apple’s social network. He is connected to another Facebook exec, Bret Taylor, and is the only “Mark Zuckerberg” account to be connected to another Facebook executive. So the likelihood of the account actually belonging to Zuck is high.

Apple, of course, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.