Tweets still must flow  —  One year ago, we posted “The Tweets Must Flow,” in which we said, … As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression.  Some differ so much from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there.

Former Palm Head Jon Rubinstein Leaves Hewlett-Packard  —  Jon Rubinstein, the former Apple executive who took over handheld maker Palm and moved with it to Hewlett-Packard in a 2010 acquisition, has left HP effective today, AllThingsD has learned.  —  Rubinstein is said to have no immediate plans …

Tim Cook responds to claims of factory worker mistreatment: “We care about every worker in our supply chain”  —  This morning, The New York Times published a lengthy report with details about the harsh conditions of working in the factories of an Apple parts supplier or Apple product manufacturer.

Facebook Readies IPO Filing for Next Week  —  Facebook Inc. could file papers for an initial public offering as early as next week and is close to picking Morgan Stanley as the lead underwriter for its IPO, said people familiar with the matter.  —  Facebook could file papers for the IPO …

For $2 a Star, a Retailer Gets 5-Star Reviews  —  Agencies like the Federal Trade Commission have been trying to crack down on online product reviews that do not disclose the connection between a merchant and the person doling out the praise.  —  Big Victory on Internet Buoys Lobby

Page Rage Escalates As Google Cancels Twitter Android Meeting  —  We've heard from insiders that Google's PR strategy to the Don't Be Evil toolbar bombshell- which exposed just how much the search giant is meddling with search results- is just to stay quiet until it blows over.

HTC Sense 4.0: First Impressions  —  We recently had the opportunity to check out a non-final build of HTC Sense 4.0 which will be likely be first seen on the rumored HTC Ville (pictured above) and the HTC Edge.  For HTC, Sense represents a point of differentiation among a sea of Android devices …

How Siri is ruining your cellphone service  —  Like a few million other people this past holiday season, we bought an iPhone 4S, with its much-hyped Siri feature.  The vocal interface allows users to speak all kinds of commands into the phone ("What's the weather in San Francisco?") and get answers from a sultry-voiced robot/concierge.

Dear Google: Crappy Results Like This Don't Give The Impression You Care About Search  —  The debate about what should — and shouldn't — show in a Google search result for “santorum” has been well-documented, at this point.  But I'd like to use this now famous search to illustrate something else …

Samsung loses second German 3G patent lawsuit against Apple  —  One week after dismissing Samsung's first German patent infringement lawsuit against Apple, the Mannheim Regional Court also rejected Samsung's second complaint.  —  Either complaint related to the 3G/UMTS wireless telecommunications standard.

Feature: The Great Disk Drive in the Sky: How Web giants store big—and we mean big—data  —  Consider the tech it takes to back the search box on Google's home page: behind the algorithms, the cached search terms, and the other features that spring to life as you type in a query sits …

Microsoft's latest home for Kinect technology: portable computers  —  Microsoft's drive to integrate Kinect technology into a wide array of products is not slowing.  —  A few weeks ago at CES, the company announced a desktop version of the Kinect, but it also seems the boys and girls in Redmond …

U.S. CTO Chopra to Step Down  —  U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra at FedTalks 2011  —  Sources close to the White House have confirmed that U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra will announce he is stepping down on Friday.  No information was provided on his future plans …

Analyst: Kindle Fire, Nook Tablet Have 40% of Android Tablet Sales  —  Strategy Analytics raised a lot of eyebrows earlier today with a report that said Android tablets accounted for 39 percent market share in Q4 2011, up from 29 percent a year ago.  The iPad's share dropped from 68.2 percent to 57.6 percent.

Google Spent Nearly $2 Billion On 79 Acquisitions In 2011  —  Yesterday, Google filed its 10-K with the SEC, revealing the number of acquisitions and money spent on these purchases in the year.  As of Q3, Google had spent over $1.4 billion on 55 acquisitions for the year.

Warner Bros. now adding restrictions to your Netflix DVD queue  —  Giant media company Warner Brothers might be taking further steps to ensure that its updated distribution strategy for newly released DVD movies has the maximum effect — regardless of how petty the company may seem as a result.

Polish Politicians Don Guy Fawkes/Anonymous Masks To Protest ACTA Signing  —  There's been lots of talk today about how various EU governments are agreeing to sign ACTA (which still needs to be ratified by the EU Parliament).  It's gotten the most attention in Poland, where there were mass protests …