This Day in Tech: Netflix customers are angry birds

Too busy to keep up with today's tech news? Here are some of the more interesting stories from CNET for Wednesday, July 13.

• Customers are not happy that Netflix increased subscription prices for its DVD and streaming video combo plan. Customers who want access to DVDs and streaming video must pay $15.98, up from the $9.99 they were used to paying. The 60 percent price hike didn't go over so well in the digital world; new community pages such as "I Unlike Netflix Today" sprung up to get the masses to quit Netflix. But CNET's Greg Sandoval argues that there's a way out of this mess.

• CNET's Roger Cheng got the scoop that Sprint is confirming a LightSquared network deal, adding a key element to Sprint's major 4G push. Sprint's network will be used in LightSquared's 4G Long-Term Evolution network, which could help Sprint compete against AT&T and T-Mobile, which have been aggressively expanding their HSPA+ wireless networks. Sprint is expected to confirm the network-sharing agreement with LightSquared on July 28.

• Senator Jay Rockefeller seeks an inquiry into admitted phone hacking by News Corp. publications, with allegations that victims of the September 11 attacks were targets of the phone-hacking scandal that went down last week.

• The popular note-taking service Evernote today announced it has raised $50 million in a new round of funding by Sequoia Capital and Morgenthaler Ventures. Since the software company's inception, Evernote has grown to 11 million users--adding a million in the past month.

• Some police departments will start using a handheld facial-recognition device. The gadget works by snapping a photo of a face from five feet away or scanning a person's irises, so the person's face can be matched against a database of people with criminal records. The device can also collect fingerprints. Privacy groups are already getting worried about the use of this technology in law enforcement.

• After months of speculation, U.S. consumers will be able to get their hands on Spotify's music-streaming service beginning tomorrow. The European company said late this afternoon that it would launch stateside tomorrow and that it would divulge more details at 5 a.m. PT. Look for more news on that, plus CNET's early impressions of the service then.