Apple throws weight around in TV negotiations  —  While Apple harbors big TV ambitions, it's having a tough time getting media companies to play along.  —  Apple is pushing ahead with plans to launch a streaming TV service by Christmas — despite making little headway in its negotiations with content providers, The Post has learned.

iPads using iOS 6, high-res displays showing up in Ars server logs  —  A snippet of our server logs that show iPads coming from Apple's corporate IP block allegedly running iOS 6  —  Are employees at Apple already using the so-called iPad 3—possibly running iOS 6—to surf the Web ahead of its expected announcement on March 7?

Apple Claims Credit for 514,000 U.S. Jobs  —  Many people are concerned about the labor that supports the creation of Apple products overseas, for instance at the enormous Foxconn facility in China.  But look over here, Apple said today.  Among manufacturing, transportation …

Yelp Shares Pop Over 60 Percent In Early Trading; Valued At $1.3 Billion  —  Wow.  Reviews site Yelp just saw a huge pop it early trading of its stock on the New York Stock Exchange this morning.  Yelp opened at $22 per share, after pricing at $15 last night.

Air Force Gives $9 Million Award for as Many as 18,000 IPads  —  The U.S. Air Force awarded a $9.36 million contract to buy as many as 18,000 Apple Inc. (AAPL) iPad 2s in one of the military's largest orders of computer tablets.  —  Air Mobility Command announced the award today …

Retailers Join Payment Chase  —  Two Words: Digital Wallet—Wal-Mart and Target Join Project Aiming to Make Plastic Obsolete  —  Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Target Corp. are among roughly two dozen retailers working together to develop a mobile-payments system to compete with similar products …

Apple TV stock shortages appear, sources say new model imminent  —  It looks like there may be a little more fact behind some of the Apple TV fiction we've been hearing over the past few days.  According to sources (as well as Apple Store stock counters), the current Apple TV …

Samsung Galaxy S III launch reportedly confirmed for April  —  The sequel to Samsung's wildly popular Galaxy S II will launch in April.  ZDNet Korea claims to have confirmed the time frame with Cheil Worldwide, Samsung's marketing and advertising agency.  The firm is reportedly planning …

Foursquare's Inflection Point: People Using The App, But Not Checking In  —  When Dennis Crowley, the CEO of Foursquare, visited the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last year, he told me he spent a lot of time explaining Foursquare to the operators and vendors that are the main visitors at this event.

Mannheim court throws out third Samsung 3G lawsuit against Apple and one of two slide-to-unlock lawsuits against Samsung  —  This morning, the Mannheim Regional Court handed down two patent rulings involving Apple and Samsung.  Judge Andreas Voss threw out the third Samsung v. Apple lawsuit in a row …

Facebook Adds Deutsche, Citi, Credit Suisse on IPO  —  Facebook Inc. (FB) hired Deutsche Bank AG (DBK), Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN) and Citigroup Inc. (C) to work on its $5 billion initial public offering, bringing the total of banks on the deal to nine, said a person with direct knowledge of the situation.

Windows 8 registry shows nine separate flavors to choose from  —  With each subsequent release of Windows we're left bracing for what will surely be another overwhelming assortment of retail packaging options.  With Windows 7 there was a dizzying 6 SKUs to choose from, and we're sorry to say that …

President Obama switches to Facebook timeline, includes birth certificate  —  President Obama converted his Facebook page to the timeline format Thursday morning, a day after the timeline option became available for branded pages.  —  Facebook timeline allows people and now brand pages …

Twitter's Slow Road to IPO  —  Persuading People to Use Its Web Service is the Easy Part; Winning Over Advertisers is Proving Tricky  —  In just six years Twitter Inc. has become the world's digital soapbox, amassing more than 100 million monthly users—from everyday people to Lady Gaga …

F.C.C. Reviews Need for Rules to Interrupt Wireless Service  —  WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission is reviewing whether rules are needed for police and other government officials to intentionally interrupt cellphone and Internet service to protect public safety.

Giant Bing Search Box Appears On Facebook's Logout Page  —  Soon when you logout of Facebook, you could be greeted with a full recreation of the Bing home page, complete with pretty photo and an active search box.  Facebook has wasted no time launching the new logout page ad unit it unveiled on Wednesday.

Broadcasters Sue To Stop $12 Streaming Service Aereo  —  Well, that was quick.  Two weeks ago, media mogul Barry Diller announced an ambitious cloud-based TV service that streams over-the-air channels to internet devices for $12 a month.  This week, broadcasters offered their opinion …