Greenpeace Slams Apple, Amazon; Ikea Selling HDTV; Halo 4 Coming Nov. 6

Topping tech headlines on Tuesday: Greenpeace gave Apple and Amazon low marks for their ‘dirty’ clouds, Ikea will offer an HDTV built directly into furniture, and Halo 4 is set to drop in early November.

Topping tech headlines on Tuesday, a Greenpeace report that studied the environmental impact of the cloud criticized firms like Apple, Microsoft, Twitter, and Amazon for lagging behind their Web counterparts. The firms, however, took issue with that characterization. Facebook, which has tangled with Greenpeace in the past, earned high praise from the group for committing to renewable energy, particular with its new data center in Sweden.

In other Apple news, a judge ordered the Cupertino company to talk with Samsung in an effort to settle their ongoing patent fight. Without a settlement, a trial is scheduled to start in late July.

Meanwhile, Ikea isn’t just inexpensive furniture and housewares anymore. The retailer announced its first HDTV, an all-in-one device built directly into furniture. It’s called the Uppleva, and it follows Ikea’s style of simple design. The Uppleva is an LED HDTV with a built-in Blu-ray player and 2.1 sound system.

In gaming news, Microsoft confirmed that Halo 4 will be released on Nov. 6. Pre-orders are now being accepted by Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, Target, Walmart, and the Microsoft Store for $59.99.

Also making headlines on Tuesday:

• Final Landing for Space Shuttle Discovery After D.C Fly Over: Discovery made its final landing at Virginia’s Dulles International Airport in preparation for its transfer to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
• Google Drive Cloud Service Coming Next Week?: Google Drive reportedly includes 5GB of cloud storage and could launch next week.
• Yahoo’s Plan: Close 50 Properties, Focus Resources: Yahoo reported increased profits on flat revenue, results which were given a boost by strong gains in the company’s stakes in Alibaba, among others.
• Intel Reports ‘Solid’ but Unspectacular Start to 2012: It’s probably too soon to call Intel’s opening salvo in 2012 worrisome, but the chip giant’s slightly declining financials for its fiscal first quarter are probably irksome for a company used to peppering its earnings releases with talk of “record-breaking” this and “biggest ever” that.
• Next-Gen Ford Sync Could Include Netflix, Hulu: Fords will likely support in-car video streaming from a provider like Hulu or Netflix, perhaps with a universal docking station that could see kids mount their own iPads inside the car.
• Watchdog Asks DOJ to Probe ‘Inadequate’ FCC Street View Decision: The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) asked the DOJ to investigate Google’s collection of Wi-Fi data from residential networks.
• Verizon Firing Up LTE Network in 27 More Cities on Thursday: With the expansion, Verizon’s LTE network will cover 230 markets, or more than two-thirds of the U.S. population.
• All-in-One HP Z1 Workstation Now Shipping: The all-in-one workstation turned heads when it was unveiled in February, with no tower, a 27-inch screen, quad-core Intel Xeon processor, and an innovative, easy-access chassis.
• Time Warner Cable Releases Live TV Streaming App for Android: Time Warner Cable customers can now watch live TV on their Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich-equipped tablets and smartphones.

By Angela Moscaritolo, PCMag