17 phone makers and carriers today announced their agreement with the GSMA Organization to standardize cell phone charging connectors by 2012. The charging standard will be the micro-USB connector. Companies include AT&T, LG, Mobilkom Austria, Nokia, Orange, Qualcomm, Sony Ericsson, Telefonica, Telecom Italia, Motorola, T-Mobile, Vodafone, Telenor, among other companies. RIM did not sign on with the deal, and currently uses the mini-USB standard. However, it wouldn’t be surprising for the company to use micro-USB by then.

Update: Check out a hands-on video of Windows Mobile 6.5 from Gizmodo!

Microsoft has just officially announced Windows Mobile 6.5 at the Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona. The new OS is expected to arrived in the second half of 2009 boasting a new interface and a new version of Internet Explorer mobile that promises desktop-like browsing. Adobe also announced MWC the support for Flash for Windows Mobile 6.5. Read the full story

According to a new SEC filing, Apple will pre-pay South Korean electronics maker LG $500 million to manufacture displays for Apple computers and devices until 2013. LG already produces 70% of Apple LCDs.

LG has announced it will add CinemaNow and YouTube support to all of its future blu-ray players. CinemaNow offers about 14,000 movies and shows for users. LG also already supports NetFlix streaming, allowing people to easily stream more than 12,000 movies and shows directly from NetFlix. NetFlix has also recently partnered with Microsoft to make its service available on the Xbox 360. LG will unveil its new blu-ray players at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Jan 09.