Lower pricing and simplified limits with the Google Maps API  —  Since launching the Google Maps API seven years ago, we've been awed by the many ways developers have used the service to build great mapping apps.  As you may know, last year we introduced limits on the number of free maps …

Hands on: Microsoft Surface tablet review  —  An in-depth look at the new player in the tablet race  —  1.Overview and design  —  Update: We've spent some time updating our experience with the Microsoft Surface tablet's interface - including detailing that elusive portrait mode.

First hints of a Facebook ad network: Sponsored Stories appear on Zynga.com  —  Zynga's off-Facebook games platform Zynga.com now displays Facebook ads and Sponsored Stories, as part of what could be the beginnings of a Facebook ad network across the web.  —  According to the Facebook Help Center …

Facebook's Instagram bid to be probed by OFT  —  Office of Fair Trading concerned social network might prevent picture uploads to other sites from the app  —  The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is to investigate Facebook's $1bn bid for Instagram, because it is concerned the giant social network …

Apple expands App Store to 32 new territories in Africa, Europe, Asia-Pacific  —  As promised by Apple CEO Tim Cook at WWDC, Apple has expanded the App Store's reach to 155 total territories, by adding 32 new territories today.  An email to registered iOS and Mac developers went out this evening detailing the change.

Online donations to bullied bus monitor Karen Klein top $540,000  —  People of the Internet donated more than $500,000 in just 48 hours to send a bullied bus monitor on a vacation.  —  People of the Internet, you did it: In less than 48 hours you managed to raise more than half a million dollars …

YouTube Revenues Could Pass $3.6 Billion in 2012: Citi's Mark Mahaney  —  Is Google making money off of YouTube?  You betcha, Google execs told shareholders today, without offering the slightest bit of detail.  Par for the course.  —  So in lieu of real numbers from Google …

Comcast Wins Protest Against “Shake Down” of BitTorrent Pirates  —  The place where breaking news, BitTorrent and copyright collide  —  Comcast Wins Protest Against “Shake Down” of BitTorrent Pirates  —  A big win for Comcast and its subscribers in a federal court in Illinois.

HTC reportedly halting all phone sales in Brazil  —  Reports indicate that HTC is canceling the planned launch of its One series in Brazil and ending all phone sales in the country.  As it's exiting the Brazilian market, a number of HTC's employees will lose their jobs …

SSD prices plummeted by 48 percent over the past year  —  While traditional hard drive pricing remains inflated after last year's Thai floods, the cost of SSDs continues to drop.  The Tech Report took a look at the average cost of a number of popular solid state drives over the past year …

Crunching the numbers on Retina: what to expect in iMacs, MacBook Airs, and Thunderbolt monitors with Retina displays  —  Ready to geek out on pixel densities?  Great, me too.  —  So when Apple announced its first computer with a Retina display, the revamped 15.4 MacBook Pro …

Kosmix Founders Leave @WalmartLabs  —  Venky Harinarayan and Anand Rajaraman, the cofounders of Kosmix, which was acquired in April 2011 by Walmart and became the Silicon Valley tech shop for Walmart, are leaving the company.  —  Harinarayan and Rajaraman headed the @WalmartLabs operation …

ThisLife Raises $2.75 Million From Madrona And Others To Organize Your Photos In The Cloud  —  ThisLife quietly launched in 2010 as a cloud-based platform for storing and organizing all of a family's photos in a single place.  But after two years of working to refine the service …

Google allegedly testing new, sidebar-free search interface  —  A video from Tecno-Net apparently shows a new version of Google's search interface.  The UI in the short clip is much more vertically-oriented, with sections like images and news placed at the top rather than the side.

Facebook to require privacy policies in mobile apps  —  Facebook will require developers to include privacy policies in apps used by mobile users on the social network.  The move is part of an effort led by the California Attorney General's office aimed at getting Internet companies to provide better privacy protections for consumers.

Verizon turns on Razrs' GSM radios, pushes out Android 4.0 upgrade  —  We knew international roaming was coming to Verizon's LTE phones - the GSM radios shipped in many of its LTE handsets were just sitting there dormant - but on Friday, Verizon is finally turning them on in two of its devices …

How Reddit Got Huge: Tons of Fake Accounts  —  Is Reddit the most powerful website on the Internet?  Yeah, that's a pretty bold question to even be asking, especially considering it's only ranked 121 on Alexa.  But in terms of power, not traffic, Reddit is certainly up there.

Google CEO Assures Employees About Health in Email  —  Web Giant Says He Lost His Voice; Page Emails Staff ‘Nothing Seriously Wrong’  —  Google Inc. Chief Executive Larry Page moved to reassure employees about his health after he missed the company's annual shareholder meeting Thursday …

Coolest class ever: Valve brings Portal 2 to schools  —  One time in high school, I was able to convince a stern teacher it was “essential” that I play Grand Theft Auto III for a presentation.  It was easily one of my favorite experiences at school simply because I was able to mix gaming and education.

Apple's iPad costs you $1.36 per year to charge  —  Apple's iPad costs precious little for you to charge it each year, according to a new study.  —  The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) conducted a study recently to see how much the iPad costs in electricity if users fully charge it every other day.