HTC's Windows Phone 8 roadmap: ‘Zenith’ flagship, ‘Accord’ midrange, and ‘Rio’ entry-level models  —  After yesterday's official look at Windows Phone 8 from Microsoft, we've received some details from a knowledgeable source on exactly what HTC — arguably the most important Windows Phone 8 licensee right …

Confirmed: The New iPhone Will Have A 19-Pin “Mini” Connector  —  Although the form factor and actual size are still unknown, TechCrunch has independently verified that Apple is working on adding a 19-pin port, replacing the current 30-pin port, to the new iPhone.

Surface: Between a Rock and a Hardware Place  —  Watching the Microsoft Surface event video, I sensed uneasiness.  Not panic, but discomfort.  Some will argue that I'm simply spoiled by Apple's on-stage polish, but Monday's Microsoft event struck me as rushed and severely under-rehearsed.

Microsoft sends takedown notice to sites hosting Xbox 720 doc, including Dropbox  —  A massive 56-page document on Microsoft's “Xbox 720” plans surfaced on the internet over the weekend, revealing some potential ideas around Kinect Glasses and more.  The document itself was hosted on Scribd …

Motorola Mobility to Microsoft: We Demand a Royalty Recount  —  Here's a big surprise: Google and Microsoft beg to differ.  —  For months now, the software giant has been saying that Google's Motorola Mobility unit has refused to license standards-essential patents on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.

Review: The 2012 MacBook Air soars with Ivy Bridge  —  New Air may look the same, but performance has surged ahead in just one year.  —  Another year, another MacBook Air.  Apple's lightweight machine has come a long way since it was first released in 2008.

Tumblr releases revamped iOS app with new layout, offline mode, support for high-res images and Spotify  —  Tumblr has introduced version 3.0.0 of its iOS app which features a raft of changes included a revamped dashboard, support for high-resolution images and Spotify, a new image viewer and offline support.

Bringing Like to Mobile  —  People share content on the web every day using the Like button.  While this has been a key part of how people share, mobile apps have not been able to integrate the functionality.  Now they can.  —  The new Open Graph built-in like action makes it easier for people to share content from your app.

Twitter to expand advertising rollout  —  Latin America and western Europe to be the first to get promoted tweets as network ramps up efforts to generate revenue  —  Twitter has unveiled an aggressive expansion of its advertising products, with a rollout planned to 50 countries by the end of the year.

Enterprise Apps Worth $120 Billion This Year, Gartner Reckons  —  Spending by companies on enterprise software applications will amount to more than $120 billion, according to a forecast by the market research firm Gartner, which amounts to growth of about 4 percent over last year.

Larry Ellison buys most of Hawaiian island of Lanai  —  Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has bought himself quite a view on Lanai — as well as most of the island.  —  (Credit: Hawaii Tourism Authority)  —  Larry Ellison has closed a deal to buy most the Hawaiian island of Lanai for an undisclosed sum.

ACTA fails to gain ITC approval, MEPs vote to reject controversial piracy treaty  —  The controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) has been rejected by the International Trade Committee.  Made up of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), the committee voted 19 against and 12 in favor with no abstentions.

Opinion: EFF should call for the elimination of software patents  —  The group's patent reform ideas are a good start, but don't go far enough.  —  As recently as 2010, Justice Kennedy seemed unaware that software patents were controversial.  —  The Electronic Frontier Foundation announced …

SwiftKey 3 for Android out of beta: smarter auto spacing, $1.99 today (video)  —  “Lleasexqllme.”  SwiftKey 3 won't see that as gibberish, but as “Please call me,” thanks to its new spacing prediction that has been repeatedly tweaked since the beta first came out in April.

A First Exit For One of Thiel's 20 Under 20: GigLocator Sells To Brooklyn Bowl's Peter Shapiro  —  That didn't take long.  Just a week after Peter Thiel's foundation announced its second class of fellows, its first one just had its first exit.  —  James Proud, who hails from South London …

Sneak peek: This is Kim Dotcom's new Megabox service  —  MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom may have had most of his assets seized as part of his indictment for criminal copyright infringement in January, but that apparently hasn't stopped him from working on his next venture.

After Facebook, Lawmakers Call for IPO Revamp  —  A bipartisan group of lawmakers called on regulators to overhaul the way initial public offerings are conducted, concerned that last month's flubbed stock sale by Facebook Inc. shows the current system unfairly punishes small investors.

Russian revolution as sales club KupiVIP raises $38m  —  The hotly-tipped Russian shopping club KupiVIP has cemented its position as one of the country's rising stars, raising another $38 million in funding to help grow its business.  —  In an announcement on Thursday …

Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M5 Ultrabooks with Kepler graphics coming to the US for $680-plus  —  We spotted Acer's new Aspire Timeline Ultra M5 laptops at Computex earlier this month, and though we already knew some key specs (NVIDIA's Kepler-based graphics, for example), these Ultrabooks hadn't yet been announced for the US market.