A box from Amazon.com is pictured on July 23, 2008. (Reuters)Companies take digital rights management (DRM) very, very seriously in the wake of worldwide digital piracy, and it looks like Amazon is sticking to its guns when it comes to enforcing a no-tolerance policy.

Norwegian media commentator Martin Bekkelund recently shared a story on his blog about his friend Linn, who had her Amazon account closed and her Kindle wiped remotely without warning. According to Bekkelund's blog post, Linn (no last name given) contacted Amazon after she discovered her account had been removed and her Kindle was empty, thinking it was a mistake. However when Amazon replied, they offered this as an explanation:

Dear Linn [last name],

My name is Michael Murphy and I represent Executive Customer Relations within Amazon.co.uk. One of our mandates is to address the most acute account and order problems, and in this capacity your account and orders have been brought to my attention.

We have found your account is directly related to another which has been previously

It seems that the end of October is the hot time to be making big tech announcements this year. With just two months left until the holidays, it's clear that companies are vying for those gift-buying dollars with some product debuts. Since this upcoming week is going to be filled with one product announcement after another, here's a rundown of what you should be expecting to see:

iPad Mini (and possibly a MacBook)

Oct. 23

When the invites telling people that Apple had "a little more to show you" were sent out earlier this week, it confirmed what we'd all been assuming was coming: the announcement of the iPad Mini. While there are plenty of things we don't yet know about the iPad Mini, the rumour mill has done plenty to try and fill in those gaps: from what we've heard, it will be a 7.85-inch tablet, will likely use Apple's new Lightning connection, and will hit stores shortly after the announcement — November 2, if Mac Rumors has it right.

On October 23, join us here at Yahoo! Canada

Photo from Lytro.comIt's been a year since the Lytro camera was introduced to the world, and it looks like Canadians will finally be able to join in the "picture revolution."

Starting in early November, Canadians will be able to pick up their own Lytro light field camera, and can almost immediately take advantage of the 3D update coming to the technology.

The company who makes the small, square camera says that their camera will change the way people take pictures, giving them the ability to focus the camera after they've already recorded the picture. You can see a demonstration in this YouTube video by the company:

As The Canadian Press explains, the Lytro is a light field camera, which is how users can change the focus of a picture after it's already been taken; the way the photo is recorded using the Lytro, all the light in the space at that time is recorded.

"The light field is defined as all of the light travelling in every direction at every point in space — and the key component there is

A Twitter page is displayed on a laptop computer. REUTERS/Mario AnzuoniIn a first for the social media giant, Twitter has blocked a German group's account on the micro-blogging site, but the block is restricted to Germany.

The blocking of the @hannoverticker account, which German police believe is promoting a neo-Nazi viewpoint and is therefore illegal in Germany, marks the first time that Twitter has used a policy announced back in January to block content at the request of specific countries.

The Associated Press reports the account is used by Besseres Hannover (Better Hannover), a group that was banned by state government last month for promoting Nazi ideals. The Lower Saxony police force sent in a letter requesting that the account be removed, which, in an effort for transparency, Twitter has made public.

[ Related: Is it ok for strangers to follow you on Twitter? ]

"At the beginning of the year Twitter announced the so-called 'country withheld content' function, which enables us to remove illegal content in a particular country while leaving it

OpenMedia.ca is launching a campaign to help focus disgruntled wireless customers who are currently unhappy with the way mobile device billing works.As the CRTC begins asking consumers what they think a national wireless services code should look like, one online activist group says that it's taking 'telecom price-gouging' into its own hands.

OpenMedia.ca is launching a campaign today to help focus disgruntled wireless customers who are currently unhappy with the way mobile device billing works, The Globe and Mail reports.

[ Related on Y! Finance: Can the CRTC rescue Canadian wireless customers? ]

The group has launched cellphonehorrorstory.ca, which asks users to submit their own negative experiences with what OpenMedia.ca refers to as "the Big Three cell phone giants" as part of a crowd-sourced submission to the CRTC's wireless code review process.

"Canadians are more and more aware that they pay some of the highest cell phone fees and are forced into some of the worst contracts in the industrialized world," said Steve Anderson, OpenMedia.ca's executive director, in a press release. "We know that the Big Three would like nothing

For Canadian iPhone users, purchasing a quick cup of coffee just became a little more rewarding as Apple's handy Passbook voucher app now works in Starbucks.

Passbook is a new iOS 6 feature that allows iPhone and iPod users to organize movie tickets, boarding passes, retail coupons and the like all in one place. It also allows users to collect rewards at certain retail locations; users in the U.S. have long been collecting their Starbucks rewards through Passbook, but Canada and Britain have become the first international regions to provide the same service.

All you need to do is download the free Starbucks iOS app, set up your account, select your favourite locations and add your Starbucks "card" to the "My card" tab in the Passbook app. Once everything is all set up, Passbook will "throw up" your payment code whenever you set foot in one of your chosen locations, reports Tech Radar.

[ Related: The best way to hail a cab with your smartphone (without calling) ]

"The international

While it might have seemed that Microsoft was staying pretty quiet about its Windows 8 launch up until now, it looks like they're finally making some noise about next week's release.

The first Windows 8 ad was released today, which encourages users to "Work Hard, Play Hard." You can watch it here:

The ad showcases many of the features we've seen in previews leading up to the Windows 8 launch, like the ability to switch to a classic desktop look when you don't want to use the new tiled interface, and cloud storage (known as SkyDrive) that lets you transfer photos and documents between devices. It's likely that Microsoft is hoping that by packaging it all in a 56-second ad, it will help get people excited about all those bits and pieces coming together as a whole.

Microsoft's ad is just the start of how the company is hoping to drum up interest in the Windows 8 launch, coming October 26. Today also marks the launch of Microsoft's new Xbox Music service, which will be available for free

If you've got a favourite quote or speech from a famous politician, you can preserve it in a whole new way thanks to a company called Epic Frequency.

The website sells oversized waveform images based on famous quotes from great politicians (because they're an American website, it's predominantly U.S. politicians) and other well-knowns, such as the late astronaut Neil Armstrong. They take the audio clip, print it onto a gallery canvas that's 1.5 feet by 4 feet wide, and ship it out to you to display on your wall as a very different — but stunningly beautiful — piece of art.

Check out what Epic Frequency is all about in the video below:

The designs have been curated by co-founders Bill Seaver and Nathan Moore, who launched Epic Frequency earlier this month. In an interview with Wired, Seaver points out that there are interesting things to notice in the waveform images:

"In the 'I Have A Dream' speech you can see all the points where Dr. King really inspired the crowd and you also get a