Apple Seeds Golden Master of OS X Mountain Lion to Developers  —  “200 New Features” Mountain Lion slide shown at WWDC  —  Apple released the Golden Master (GM) version of OS X Mountain Lion to developers today.  The “golden master” designation indicates that this version of the software …

RIM CEO on What Went Wrong and the Future of BlackBerry  —  In an exclusive Q&A, CIO.com's Al Sacco chats with RIM CEO Thorsten Heins on the current state of BlackBerry and how it fell from grace, what the company is doing to ensure things in Waterloo don't get worse, and the product delay problems that have plagued RIM.

Windows 8 launching late October, RTM ‘on track’ for August  —  Microsoft's Tami Reller has announced that Windows 8 will Release to Manufacturing (RTM) in the first week on August, with a release in late October to retail stores.  Speaking at the company's Worldwide Partner Conference in Canada …

GitHub finally raises funding: $100M from Andreessen Horowitz  —  GitHub is ready to take a huge step forward.  After successfully bootstrapping its operation since 2008, the open-source code hosting site is set to announce Monday that it has accepted $100 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz …

Salesforce.com to Buy GoInstant  —  Salesforce.com is expected to buy start-up GoInstant for more than $70 million, people familiar with the matter said, as the big provider of online business software beefs up its customer-service offerings.  —  A deal for the roughly two-year-old company …

Bringing Craigslist Back  —  I've been wrestling with whether to bring back Craigslist listings in the search results.  I've found a way to include them that I'm told is legally kosher since it doesn't touch their servers at all, but it still seems somewhat dickish to go against their wishes in this …

Software Inventory  —  Imagine, for a moment, that you came upon a bread factory for the first time.  At first it just looks like a jumble of incomprehensible machinery with a few people buzzing around.  As your eyes adjust you start to see little piles of things that you do understand.

Sexy Payments Startup Stripe Swipes $20M From General Catalyst, Sequoia, Thiel And More  —  White-hot payments startup Stripe has closed a $20 million Series B round of financing, led by General Catalyst with existing A-list investors Sequoia, Peter Thiel (personally) and angels Chris Dixon, Aaron Levie and Elad Gil also following on.

Google Chrome 21 beta can interact with cameras, mics, and game controllers  —  The latest beta version of Google Chrome adds two new APIs that allow web developers to do a few interesting things.  They can write web apps that will use your computer's mic or camera without a plugin.

Verizon confirms locked bootloader on Samsung Galaxy S III  —  Over the weekend we heard reports that Verizon's version of the Samsung Galaxy S III had a locked bootloader, which makes rooting and otherwise hacking the device much more difficult.  We reached out to Verizon for more details …

Samsung Wins U.K. Apple Ruling Over ‘Not As Cool’ Galaxy Tablet  —  Samsung Electronics Co. won an intellectual property ruling against Apple Inc. (AAPL) as a U.K. judge said the Galaxy tablet isn't “cool” enough to be confused with the design for the iPad.  —  The Galaxy tablet …

Kleiner bid for arbitration in sexism suit rebuffed  —  (Reuters) - A California judge on Monday tentatively rejected venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers LLC's bid to move a gender discrimination lawsuit brought by one of its own partners into arbitration.

Here's How Often AT&T, Sprint, And Verizon Each Hand Over Users' Data To The Government  —  When it comes to modern law enforcement surveillance, no one watches the wiretappers.  —  The vast majority of law enforcement's demands that phone carriers and Internet services hand over users' private data …

Twitter follows Facebook down the walled garden path  —  Twitter set off alarm bells across the web in recent weeks when it ended its partnership with LinkedIn and reiterated its warning that it would be cracking down on the terms of its API.  The company didn't offer any explanation …

Microsoft adds two more Android tablet makers to its patent-licensing list  —  Summary: Add Aluratek and Colby Electronics to the list of Android and Chrome OS tablet/PC makers who are paying MIcrosoft patent royalties.  —  Follow @maryjofoley  —  Microsoft has added yet two more companies …

Google Nexus 7 Tablet on Sale: Staples Takes Pre-Orders  —  Staples says it will carry the Google Nexus 7 tablet in its brick-and-mortar stores later this month, and that Google's 7-inch Android tablet is now available for pre-sale on its website.  —  The office-supply retailer's site …

About the future of Thunderbird  —  Jb Piacentino  —  Today I have the pleasure of welcoming Jb Piacentino, the managing Director of Thunderbird, following the recent Thunderbird announcement.  —  TN : Hi Jb, I read on the Web that Thunderbird is dead.  Is it true or is the rumor of Thunderbird's death greatly exaggerated?

Lady Gaga's social network “Little Monsters” opens its doors to everyone  —  We told you about Lady Gaga and her jump into social networking with the site “Little Monsters.”  The site has been in private beta, but users all over the globe can now sign up.  —  Invites had been trickling …

Exclusive: Campaign donations by text?  Not so fast, wireless carriers say  —  (Reuters) - Wireless carriers are balking at U.S. regulators' move to allow political donations by text message, a plan that could reshape the nation's campaign finance system by giving cell-phone users the ability to make instant contributions.

Microsoft buys multitouch display maker Perceptive Pixel  —  Summary: Microsoft buys multi-touch large-display vendor, emphasizing collaboration in office work as one of the main potential uses of the technology.  —  Follow @maryjofoley  —  Microsoft announced on July 9 plans to buy Perceptive Pixel …