Zynga game changers: new games, friend network, API  —  SAN FRANCISCO — As Facebook has been colonizing the planet, approaching a billion users for its social network, Zynga has been drafting in its wake.  The social-gaming company, which launched July 1, 2007, with a poker game …

Kindle Fire 2 may hit as soon as July  —  Last year, Amazon launched the Kindle Fire in September.  The next-generation Kindles are expected to launch a little earlier this year.  —  (Credit: CNET)  —  What's next for Kindle hardware?  —  Well, a credible source has told CNET that Amazon …

Apple looking to open facility in downtown Reno, east of Sparks as part of $1B, 10-year investment  —  Apple is planning on opening a data center east of Sparks and a business and purchasing center in downtown Reno, part of a $1 billion investment the company plans to spend in Northern Nevada over the next 10 years.

Apple Offers New Dedicated Podcast App for iOS  —  Earlier this month, it was rumored that Apple would be launching a standalone podcast app in iOS 6.  Instead of waiting for the next version of iOS, Apple posted the Podcast app on the App Store today.  [App Store]

Spotify, Yahoo Link Up in Distribution, Revenue Sharing Deal  —  Earlier this year Spotify rolled out a plan to get its “play” button on a host of Web sites, which let the streaming music service broaden its reach beyond Facebook.  —  Now it's making the same move, but with one very …

the recruiter honeypot  —  In late 2009, I created an online persona named Pete London - a self-described JavaScript ninja - to help attract and hire the best JavaScript recruiters.  While I never hired a recruiter from the experiment, I learned a ton about how to compete in today's Silicon Valley talent war.

Apple Wins Patents for Inductive Charging & iOS Scrolling, Rotating & Resizing on Displays  —  The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 27 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today.  In our first patent report of the day we cover a pair of Apple patents …

Why RIM Won't Be Bought: There's Not Much There There  —  There's been rampant speculation that the rescue strategy for Research In Motion would be for someone to buy the company.  There has been, at various times, idle speculation about a wide-range of intriguing but highly unlikely potential suitors.

As the battle for the living room heats up, Brightcove bets big on Apple TV  —  “The mythical Apple television set that everyone talks about is already here,” said Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Brightcove, sipping an iced cappuccino with The Verge on a particularly hot New York morning.

Internet Providers Testing Metered Plans for Broadband  —  SAN ANTONIO — The broadband era began with the expectation that Internet connections were like buffets — all you can eat, 24 hours a day.  But users are now being prodded to think about how much they're consuming.

Apple's iTunes Store arrives in a dozen new Asian countries  —  Apple's extended its iTunes Store to 12 new countries today as part of a push that takes it into more Asian territories.  —  Included on that list is: Brunei, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam.

Google heralds next Android with Jelly Bean sculpture  —  Google has put up a Jelly Bean sculpture to mark the next version of its Android operating system.  —  (Credit: Google)  —  Squashing any lingering doubts about the arrival of the next version of Android, Google has put up a Jelly Bean sculpture on its campus.

Best Buy Founder Weighs Buyout  —  Best Buy Co. founder Richard Schulze is working with a Wall Street bank to explore taking the electronics retailer private, according to people familiar with his thinking.  —  Mr. Schulze, the company's largest shareholder with a slightly more than 20% stake …

Launching Google +1 Recommendations Across the Web  —  Working on +1, we often hear people say they want to see more of what their friends recommend.  Likewise, when we talk to site owners, they ask us to help them show more relevant content to their users.

Dropbox Bans BitTorrent Startup Boxopus Over Piracy Concerns  —  On Saturday we covered Boxopus, a new startup that allows people to download torrents directly to their dropbox folders.  —  The news was quickly picked up by many other technology sites and as a result the service's member count surged to more than 50,000.

Scoop: Microsoft bets on WebRTC for Skype's browser future  —  Skype is taking first steps towards a browser-based future, and it is doing so by embracing a key technology open sourced by Google last year: New job postings on Microsoft's website suggest that WebRTC will be at the core of Skype's next generation messaging architecture.

Google Said To Unveil Tablet At I/O, Taking Aim At IPad  —  Google Inc. (GOOG) plans to unveil a $199 tablet co-branded with Taiwan's Asustek Computer Inc. at its developers conference this week, taking direct aim at Apple Inc. (AAPL)'s iPad, according to two people familiar with the matter.

EXCLUSIVE: BBM for BlackBerry 10 First Look  —  Have you been wondering what BlackBerry Messenger on BlackBerry 10 could possibly look like?  Now you get the very first glimpse ever!  BBM in BlackBerry 10 will be taking full advantage of the OLED screen.  How will it be doing that you ask?

For Samsung, Galaxy halo effect comes with supply crunch  —  (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics' struggle to keep pace with rampant demand for its new Galaxy S III smartphone may have cost the South Korean firm some 2 million units of sales in just a month.  —  For a company that has never stirred …

U.S. charges 24 people in massive hacking sting  —  (Reuters) - U.S. law enforcement officials on Tuesday said 24 suspected hackers had been arrested on four continents in a sting operation targeting online financial fraud involving stolen credit card and bank information.

McAfee discovers $78 million worth of sophisticated cyber attacks against banking systems  —  Security firms McAfee and Guardian Analytics have published a joint fraud report, dubbed Operation High Roller, on new methods of siphoning money from banking systems.

webOS ‘Community Edition’ released for TouchPad, but it isn't Open webOS  —  HP's march to an open source webOS continues this week with something of a side trip: the release of a so-called “Community Edition” release, which the Open webOS Project is quick to note isn't the same thing as Open webOS proper.

Wallaby Combines All Your Credit Cards Into One, Makes Sure You Earn The Most Rewards  —  Wallaby, which is launching its beta today, reminds me a bit of banking startup Simple.  Just like Simple automatically manages your finances for you and automatically shuffles your money between …

Sprint iPhone Sales Stronger at Big-Box Retailers Than at Apple Stores  —  The iPhone is a big seller at Apple's retail stores, but not necessarily Sprint's version of the device.  A new study by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) has found that Sprint iPhones sell far better …