Apple likely to begin production of 7.85-inch iPads in 3Q12, say sources  —  Makers in Apple's iPad supply chain have started delivering samples of 7.85-inch iPads for verification, with volume production likely to begin in the third quarter of 2012 at the earliest, according to industry sources.

Keeping Google From Watching Your Searches  —  Worried about Google collecting data about your online searches?  —  An online privacy start-up called Abine is rolling out a tool Thursday that promises to help people keep their search information secret.  The tool, called Protected Search …

Twitter, the Startup That Wouldn't Die  —  Life inside successful Web startups—especially the really successful ones—can be nasty, brutish, and short.  As companies grow exponentially, egos clash, investors jockey for control, and business complexities rapidly exceed the managerial abilities of the founders.

Constitutional Showdown Voided: Feds Decrypt Laptop Without Defendant's Help  —  Colorado federal authorities have decrypted a laptop seized from a bank-fraud defendant, mooting a judge's order that the defendant unlock the hard drive so the government could use its contents as evidence against her.

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.

Review: Readability finally gets a gorgeous app on iOS, but was it worth the wait?  —  Richard Ziade, founding partner of Readability, is forthright with me about the wait for an official iOS app.  “It did take a really long time.”  —  In fact, the official app of the reading platform took …

Delicious Founder Creates New People Search Engine, Skills.to  —  Joshua Schachter and his team of star developers at TastyLabs have begun work on a second project, an endorsement and people search engine called Skills.to.  The site lets you endorse people for their skills in various fields …

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 …

Google Grows in New York City  —  Google Inc. has dramatically expanded its presence in Manhattan in the past year, adding roughly 750 people to its outpost in 2011 in the most prominent example of a technology company shifting its focus toward New York.  —  After acquiring four New York companies …

Cable Firms Warm to Outdoor Wi-Fi  —  Interest Picks Up in Offering Mobile-Device Users an Alternate Route to the Web  —  When Michael Linder, a self-confessed news junkie, heard about Time Warner Cable Inc.'s outdoor Wi-Fi network in his hometown of Los Angeles, he couldn't wait to try it.

Microsoft's Windows 8 Preview event videos now available  —  Still not satisfied after our minute by minute liveblog of Microsoft's Windows 8 Consumer Preview event this morning from Barcelona and detailed hands-on impressions?  Video of the entire presentation, along with a few demo trailers …

Wacom announces Intuos5 graphics tablets, we go hands-on! (video)  —  It's a couple of months since we spotted paperwork for a mysterious “PTK-450” device at the FCC and now Wacom has finally revealed the gadget that goes with the label.  The Intuos5 tablet is available to purchase immediately in Small …

Letter From Verizon to FCC Details Their Stance on Bootloaders  —  Android and bootloaders, a topic we can't seem to get away from.  Starting back with the locking of the original Motorola Milestone and then kicking into overdrive with the DROID X, the battle of consumers vs. OEMs and carriers has been an ugly one.

Flipboard's Latest Brings Cover Stories To The iPad, Plus A New French Edition  —  Flipboard is rolling out the first major update to its social magazine tonight since its December launch on the iPhone.  The new release brings the iPhone app's most popular feature, “Cover Stories,” to the iPad's bigger screen.

Ireland Signs Controversial ‘Irish SOPA’ Into Law; Kicks Off New Censorship Regime  —  Remember how EMI sued the Irish government for failing to pass a SOPA-like law that will force ISPs to act as copyright cops and censor and block access to websites that the entertainment industry doesn't like?

For Impatient Web Users, an Eye Blink Is Just Too Long to Wait  —  Wait a second.  —  No, that's too long.  —  Remember when you were willing to wait a few seconds for a computer to respond to a click on a Web site or a tap on a keyboard?  These days, even 400 milliseconds …

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.