Exclusive: Yahoo and Facebook Strike Patent Peace Deal, Significantly Expanding Ad and Content Partnership  —  Executives at Yahoo and Facebook have completed an extensive strategic deal, as part of a final settlement of their contentious patent infringement lawsuit and countersuit.

Simpler search  —  We're constantly working to make Twitter search the simplest way to discover what's happening in real time.  To that end, today we're introducing search autocomplete and ‘People you follow’ search results to twitter.com.  In addition to recent improvements like related query suggestions …

So, That's It For Thunderbird  —  Mozilla is not “stopping” Thunderbird development, it has just decided that: “continued innovation on Thunderbird is not the best use of our resources given our ambitious organizational goals.”  And it's pulling people off the project.  But it's not stopping?

Inside Apple's Go-Slow Approach to Mobile Payments  —  Apple Inc. often bides its time before diving in to developing tech markets, which explains why it's largely on the sidelines in the mobile-payment wars.  —  Mobile payment is a new battlefield in the wireless industry …

Introducing BitTorrent Torque  —  Over a decade ago we introduced BitTorrent technology and BitTorrent clients, and the Internet was profoundly changed.  This week we are aiming to revolutionize the web once again by integrating the power of BitTorrent with the most familiar experience on a computer: the browser.

Galaxy Nexus ban temporarily suspended while appeals court issues decision  —  The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit just issued suspended the ban on Galaxy Nexus sales at Samsung's request, pending a formal response from Apple.  The court's decision to suspend (or “stay") …

Facebook to Target Ads Based on App Usage  —  Facebook Inc. is launching a new type of mobile advertising that targets consumers based on the apps they use, pushing the limits of how companies track what people do on their phones.  —  The social network is tracking the apps that people use through …

AT&T to launch new blocking service for stolen devices on July 10th  —  AT&T will launch a new service for reporting and blocking stolen devices on Tuesday, according to a trusted source.  The service will allow customers to deny voice, data and SMS access to any individual phone or tablet …

Best Buy cutting 600 Geek Squad jobs, 1,800 store workers as part of turnaround attempt  —  NEW YORK — Electronics retailer Best Buy Co. is laying off 600 staffers in its Geek Squad technical support division and 1,800 other store workers as it seeks to restructure operations and improve results, the company said Friday.

FINS: Facebook to Launch Job Postings Board—Sources  —  Facebook Inc. (FB) is planning to launch its own job board later this summer, said people familiar with the matter.  The board will aggregate the job postings of third-party providers, making them available for search by Facebook users.

At ‘Hacker Hostels,’ Living on the Cheap and Dreaming of Digital Glory  —  SAN FRANCISCO — From the outside it's just a beige three-story building in a quiet residential neighborhood.  But inside, in a third-floor apartment, there are enough Ikea bunk beds to sleep 10 people, crammed into two bedrooms.

Patent war talks to be hosted by UN agency to protect innovation  —  Motorola managed to ban sales of some of Apple's iPads and iPhones for a day in February  —  A rash of patent lawsuits has prompted the UN to call smartphone makers and others mobile industry bodies together.

Top problems with iPhone 4S, Galaxy S III, other leading phones revealed in new report  —  Though some people seem to form unhealthy attachments and allegiances to their smartphones, no handset will ever be perfect.  The screen is too small, the screen is too big, the battery doesn't last long enough …

Under the Hood: Timeline apps behind Facebook engineering  —  A big part of working at Facebook is dogfooding our own products.  Before new features roll out to the public, our team uses them frequently and thoroughly to figure out what we can do better.  So when we started building Open Graph …

Hulu CEO: I Don't Want To Run Yahoo  —  Yesterday, Yahoo's CEO search was down to two names: interim CEO Ross Levinsohn and Hulu CEO Jason Kilar.  —  Now it's down to one.  A Hulu spokesperson just sent us a statement confirming that Yahoo was interested in Kilar but that he doesn't want the job.

Samsung Galaxy Note II rumored for August unveiling with 5.5-inch display  —  Samsung's successor to the Galaxy Note is expected to be unveiled in August at the IFA consumer electronics trade show in Germany.  MK Business News reports that the Galaxy Note II will be unveiled at the show, with a launch date rumored for October.

Microsoft stumbles into crucial financial year  —  (Reuters) - An ugly first week for Microsoft Corp's new financial year, probably its most important to date, has done little to inspire confidence that the software giant can jumpstart a stubbornly stagnant share price.