Introducing Windows 8 Consumer Preview  —  Moments ago in Barcelona, we announced the release of Windows 8 Consumer Preview, available to download now for anyone interested in trying it out.  We've been hard at work for many months now, and while we still have lots more to do …

Lytro review  —  You've never seen a camera like this before There are a few easy ways to make a digital camera better: make the sensor bigger, improve the quality of the lens, speed up the processor.  But those are incremental improvements on a basic technology that hasn't changed much in a long time.

Facebook introduces Premium: A marketer's dream, a user's nightmare?  —  “People worry that technology will disconnect us, but study after study...has shown that it strengthens us,” said Facebook's COO Sheryl Sandberg today in New York City.  —  What Facebook's technology is doing, is connecting brands with human beings.

foursquare is joining the OpenStreetMap movement!  Say hi to pretty new maps!  —  We usually use this blog for big product announcements, but, as a startup, we also often think about how we can make life easier for other startups.  Today, we're doing both - a little announcement …

Who decides what gets sold in the bookstore?  —  We can probably agree that the local supermarket has no moral or ethical or business obligation to sell cherry-flavored Cap'n Crunch.  If the owner doesn't like cherries, she doesn't have to sell them.  —  And the cereal maker shouldn't work under …

I'm Being Followed: How Google—and 104 Other Companies—Are Tracking Me on the Web  —  Who are these companies and what do they want from me?  A voyage into the invisible business that funds the web.  —  This morning, if you opened your browser and went to NYTimes.com …

Apple reportedly considering 14-inch MacBook Air  —  Apple is reportedly considering launching a 14-inch MacBook Air and may start mass production in the near future to fully enter the Asia PC market, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.  —  Currently, 14-inch panels …

Android Design V2: Now with stencils  —  [This post is by Android designer Alex Faaborg, on behalf of the entire User Experience team.  —Tim Bray]  —  When we initially released Android Design, by far the number one request we received was for us to release stencils as well.

With SeaMicro buy, AMD to double down on servers  —  SeaMicro's SM10000-64 server.  —  Updated: AMD just confirmed the deal and said it would pay approximately $334 million, of which approximately $281 million will be paid in cash.  —  Chipmaker AMD plans to announce its acquisition …

Google's new privacy policy starts March 1; 4 ways to prepare  —  Google Inc. headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., in 2004.  (Paul Sakuma / Associated Press)  —  Google Inc. is changing its privacy policy Thursday, a move that is causing a lot of anxiety among Internet activists and some users.

Crowdfunding Set to Explode with Passage of Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act  —  Nearly $100 million in seed money was pledged last year to startups and creative projects through the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter.com-just one of many websites now dedicated to matching projects with people …

Study: Gamers are gaga for virtual goods  —  Consumer spending on virtual goods has doubled since 2009, according to a survey by Visa's PlaySpan digital monetization division.  And the total U.S. market value for virtual goods grew 28 percent to $2.3 billion in 2011.

Blizzard lays off 600, likely primarily in customer service  —  Blizzard Entertainment is eliminating 600 positions from its global workforce, the publisher announced earlier today.  The layoffs came as a result of reviews of the company's organizational structure, with a press release announcement specifying …