Instagram … Two years ago we invested $250,000 in Instagram.  Thanks to the spectacular vision and effort of Kevin Systrom and the Instagram team, the investment will be worth $78,000,000 when the Faceboook acquisition closes.  The work that Kevin and team did will go down as legend in the industry and we thank them immensely.

Skype for Windows Phone version 1.0 released, no longer considered beta  —  Microsoft promised a full version of its Skype for Windows Phone software in April back when the original beta was released at Mobile World Congress earlier this year.  The company delivered on that promise today …

ASUS Transformer Pad TF300 review  —  It doesn't feel like a year has passed since we reviewed the original ASUS Transformer and its innovative keyboard dock, but indeed time flies, and quite a bit has happened since then.  The company has released the Prime, for starters, followed by two other high-end models.

Quora Is Raising At A $400M Valuation, With D'Angelo Putting In His Own Money  —  It's really beautiful outside.  Like so beautiful that if San Francisco is like this more often it will become really expensive to live here.  Also, Quora is raising money according to the multiple people …

An Interview With Linus Torvalds  —  The Millenium Technology Prize, awarded every two years, is a Finnish award designed “to improve the quality of life and to promote sustainable development-oriented research, development and innovation.”  Sir Tim Berners-Lee won the prize in 2004.

How to cope with the Gmail redesign  —  Reports are coming in from around the Internet that the Gmail redesign, which we were previously able to stave off with “revert to the old look temporarily”, is now forcing itself upon us.  I too have succumbed to the new design, and have been forced to find ways to cope.

Don't Be Evil, but Don't Miss the Train  —  BACK in 2004, as Google prepared to go public, Larry Page and Sergey Brin celebrated the maxim that was supposed to define their company: “Don't be evil.”  —  But these days, a lot of people — at least the mere mortals outside the Googleplex …

Meet the ‘Mann’ who registered 14,962 domains in 24 hours  —  Mike Mann, sporting a costume that suits his bluster.  —  The next time you find yourself pounding your keyboard in frustration because the domain name you want is already taken, direct your ire toward Mike Mann.

Sprint Launching First LTE Phones, Though Without Said High-Speed Service  —  Sprint plans to start selling its first LTE-capable phones, though it has yet to officially launch LTE service.  The No. 3 U.S. carrier will start on Sunday selling both the Galaxy Nexus and the mid-range LG Viper 4G.

Google, Facebook Spent Record Amounts On D.C. Lobbying In Q1 2012  —  More dollars were poured into the Beltway from technology companies in the first quarter of 2012.  As shown through previous lobbying spends, each quarter, Facebook and Google continue to spend more and more on lobbying efforts …

Tomorrow's Privacy Struggles, On Display Today  —  The thorny privacy issues of tomorrow were on display Thursday morning, when AT&T showed off a batch of technologies under development at AT&T Labs, the company's research arm.  —  Researchers showed off door handles that unlock when you tap …