Exclusive: Microsoft's Ballmer Throws Down Gauntlet Against Apple  —  Declaring that Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) and its partners had in the past “ceded some of the boundary between hardware and software innovation” to Apple (NSDQ:AAPL), Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told CRN in an exclusive interview Monday …

RIM Said To Sell Jet To Help Save $1 Billion  —  Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM), which has lost 95 percent of its market value since 2008, is selling one of its two business jets under a plan to save $1 billion in operating costs, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

Google set to pay record $22.5M fine for violating Apple users' privacy  —  Google is expected to pay a $22.5 million fine, the largest in the history of the Federal Trade Commission, for bypassing the privacy settings of users of Apple's Safari Web browser.

Let's Try to Think This iPad Mini Thing All the Way Through  —  We're Talking About a Smaller iPad, Not a Bigger iPod Touch  —  I've seen a fair bit of speculation that, if Apple produces a 7-inch iOS device, then maybe it would be a bigger iPod Touch, not a smaller iPad.

Oracle Buys Involver  —  Today we are excited to announce that we have signed an agreement for Oracle's purchase of Involver and we expect the transaction to close in the summer of 2012.  The proliferation of social media has changed the way that organizations and consumers interact.

Bitly Raises $15M Led by Khosla Ventures  —  Bitly, the link-shortening and tracking service, has raised $15 million in a funding round led by Vinod Khosla at Khosla Ventures.  —  The round is aimed to help Bitly hire and grow.  “We make many millions of dollars per year …

Dropbox offers pro users twice the space as competition heats up  —  This story was corrected at 11:10 a.m. with the correct pricing for Box.net's services.  —  Dropbox pro subscribers can now get excited about twice as much storage space on their accounts for no additional cost …

A Reality Series Intrudes on Silicon Valley, and Finds It Cringing  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Silicon Valley is finally getting the treatment once reserved for rowdy housewives and excitable chefs: its own Bravo reality series.  But the tech world is not quite ready for its close-up.

Apple launches new iPad in China on July 20th (update: here's why)  —  Apple is about to complete an important part of the puzzle for the new iPad's world rollout: it just confirmed that its Retina display-packing tablet will reach mainland China on July 20th.

Next Issue brings its all-you-can-read magazine store to the iPad, plans start at $10 a month  —  The last time we heard about Next Issue, the all-you-can-read magazine store was launching on Android, with an iOS version said to be coming “soon.”  Three months later, the startup's made good on its promise …

Steve Wozniak Shares His Thoughts On Google Glass And Microsoft's Surface Tablet  —  Steve Wozniak recently spoke at the Entel Summit in Chile, and as usual, expressed his thoughts on emerging technology.  Wozniak offered his opinion on Google Glass, Microsoft's Surface tablet, and even the Kim Dotcom case surrounding Megaupload.

Mac App Store will restrict Mountain Lion downloads  —  Mac App Store will assess your Mac's suitability for the new operating system before it lets you download, and pay, for it  —  Like OS X Lion, when Mountain Lion launches later this month it will be sold via the Mac App Store.

Google Nexus Q hacked to run launcher, apps, Netflix, and more  —  While Google's Nexus Q is an undeniably attractive piece of hardware, we found the device to be lacking in overall functionality.  Enterprising developers are already on the case, however, with the latest Nexus Q hack bringing apps …

Eric Schmidt: The Great Firewall of China will fall  —  Technology and information penetration in China will eventually force the Great Firewall of China to crumble and even lead to the political opening of the Chinese system, according to Google Chairman Eric Schmidt.

Salesforce.com suffers worldwide disruption after power outage  —  Summary: Salesforce.com has suffered a series of outages that left many unable to use the CRM service.  Even the service status page was down for a while.  —  Zack Whittaker  —  Follow @zackwhittaker

Google+ app for iPad available now in the App Store  —  In May, we redesigned the Google+ experience for iPhone, adding full bleed photos that fall into place and bold visual elements that bring your stream to life.  Today, we're introducing new features for iPhone and an iPad app that you won't be able to put down.

News360 news reader app massively improved, business model not so much  —  News360's new iPad app has an unconventional main story display, but it's fast, intuitive, and rewarding to use.  —  (Credit: Screenshot by Rafe Needleman/CNET)  —  Last August I covered the news-reading iPad app, News360.

Paydiant Gets $12M More To Build Out Its White-Label Mobile Payments API  —  Paydiant, one of the more recent entrants in mobile payments, has closed a $12 million round of funding that it plans to use to build out its white-label, API-based product for banks and merchants to offer …

GroupMe, a Messaging Start-Up, Rolls Out Group Event Service  —  Remember the frenzy around mobile group-messaging services?  —  Group messaging made a splash last spring when a wave of services like GroupMe, Beluga, Yobongo, FastSociety, HurricaneParty and Kik arrived on the market.

Apple's $74B overseas cash hoard leads all U.S. tech companies  —  A report released on Monday from investment bank Moody's revealed that Apple leads a list of technology U.S. companies holding overseas cash with some $74 billion, up from $64 billion in December and $35 billion at the end of 2010.

Motorola announces Atrix HD for AT&T: 4.5-inch 720p display, LTE, Android 4.0 for $99  —  Motorola officially announced the much-leaked Atrix HD this morning, bringing the new handset to AT&T's LTE network.  At first blush, the new phone's something of a Droid RAZR / RAZR Maxx hybrid …

DirecTV-Viacom Dispute May Affect Access for 20 Million Customers  —  DirecTV customers may lose access to Viacom's 17 television channels, including Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central, at the end of the day on Tuesday because of a dispute between the two companies.

Reddit lifts its ban on “The Atlantic”  —  The Atlantic has returned to Reddit.  —  A month after the social news site kicked out the news magazine and dozens of other sites —including Bloomberg BusinessWeek, and Discovery News—for spam, Reddit has welcomed many back into the warm embrace of its monster traffic, with little fanfare.

Global Internet Ad Spend Sees Double-Digit Growth, Outpaces Other Media  —  With consumer confidence up and brands looking to reconnect, spending on advertising is on the rise—around the globe and across media types.  TV, newspapers, radio, outdoor, Internet, and cinema all saw an increase …

Apple Wins a Major Patent for iTravel & More  —  The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 23 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today.  In our first granted patent report of the day we mainly focus on a major patent relating to iTravel, Apple's transportation check-in system.