LG has announced the specifications about their new Optimus series smartphones: the LG Optimus One (LG P500) and the LG Optimus Chic (LG E720). Both phones are powered by a 600MHz CPU and comes with Android 2.2. The phone also has a 3.2-inch HVGA capacitive touch screen, GPS, WiFi, and both support GSP Quadband / HSDPA 3G wireless connection. The Optimus One has a 3 megapixel camera and the Optimus Chic has a 5 megapixel camera. The LG Optimus One is available in 90 countries through 120 partners and will be available in most of Europe this October and then followed by other EMEA and Asia-Pacific countries. The LG Optimus Chic will be available in Europe this November and will be available in Asia-Pacific shortly after. [Slashphone]

Israel Meléndez has sold the @Israel Twitter user name for a six-figure sum. Back in 2007, Israel created a Twitter account under his name and this year he was approached by the state of Israel. The sale went through even though Twitter has a state policy of preventing username “squatting.”

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has created a couple of videos as part of a promotion for the new voice search capabilities for smartphones. Users can search keywords on Google just by saying them out loud. The input method is called Voice Actions for Android. Below is the series of videos:

HTC scheduled a press conference to announce two new Android-powered smartphones. They announced the Desire HD and the Desire Z mobile phones.

Earlier this week Twitter announced a new version of Twitter.com at the company’s first-ever major press conference at their San Francisco headquarters. The new Twitter.com has launched for several users and will have a global roll out very soon. The new Twitter.com splits into two columns, each that fill half the page.

Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) has announced 3 new Symbian^3 smartphones at the Nokia World event earlier this week. The 3 new phones include the Nokia E7, the Nokia C7, and the Nokia C6.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) engineer David Barksdale was fired for stalking and spying on Google users and abusing his power. Barksdale spied on four underage teenagers for months before Google was notified about the abuse.

RealNetworks, Inc. (NASDAQ:RNWK) has bought out Canadian social gaming company Backstage Technologies. The deal will add valuable game engineering and monetize expertise to RealNetworks’ gaming unit GameHouse according to the company.