Exclusive: Microsoft's Metro branding to be replaced ‘this week’ according to internal memo  —  Microsoft is killing off the use of its Metro design name to describe a tiled interface in Windows Phone and Windows 8.  We brought you news of the change earlier today, but a tipster has provided …

Facebook Is Now Worth $58 Billion, Not The ‘$39 Billion’ Everyone Thinks...  Last week, I noted that most financial and market data sites are wrong about a key piece of information for Facebook: Its market capitalization.  —  These sites, which include Yahoo Finance and Google Finance …

Final copy of Windows 8 leaks online  —  The final build of Windows 8 has leaked to the internet, just a day after Microsoft confirmed it had finished the development cycle for the new operating system.  Although MSDN and TechNet customers won't officially receive access …

Amex Knocks Google for Misleading Comments About Its Role in Google Wallet  —  American Express has not formally agreed to participate in Google Wallet, which is why it was surprised yesterday when Google said it, along with Visa, Discover and MasterCard, were now forms of payment in Google's mobile payments application.

LinkedIn Q2 Earnings Beat The Street: $228.2M In Sales; EPS of $0.03  —  LinkedIn has just released Q2 earnings, and the enterprise-focused social network continues to rise.  It's posted revenues of $228.2 million and earnings per share of $0.03 (non-GAAP EPS: $0.16).

Mayer Brings in First Googler — in PR — to Yahoo  —  New CEO Marissa Mayer has brought in her first Googler over to Yahoo — one of her longtime PR staffers, Anne Espiritu.  Espiritu has worked closely with Mayer at the search giant, especially on various media appearances and on consumer products.

Marc Andreessen Steps Down From Dalton Caldwell's Mixed Media Labs Board  —  Wednesday was an ugly day for infighting in the Valley, after Dalton Caldwell, a Silicon Valley veteran and serial entrepreneur, posted a withering missive to his personal blog on Wednesday, in which he accused Facebook …

Apple initially wanted an iPhone with shaped glass, deposition reveals  —  The Apple-Samsung trial has provided us with an absolute treasure trove of information regarding Apple's iPhone prototypes.  Below is why Apple initially shied away from shaped glass and why an iPhone prototype resembling …

Sharp to start shipping iPhone screens to Apple this month  —  (Reuters) - Japan's Sharp Corp. said it will start shipping screens destined for a new Apple iPhone that is widely expected to be released in October ahead of the pre-Christmas shopping season.  —  “Shipments will start in August …

Schadenfreude, Anyone?  In Wake of Facebook Bullying Claims, Google+ Chief Vic Gundotra Woos Developers  —  When our enemies stumble publicly, some take the high road and steer clear of mentioning our adversary's folly.  But for others, some things are just too good to pass up.

Bye bye Tweetdeck - Tweetbot for Mac's new alpha has multiple, docking timelines, a menu bar icon and more  —  Tweetbot for Mac Alpha has been updated to version 0.6.3 with some fantastic new features, including the ability to pop out separate timeline windows and dock them together …

Does Cybercrime Really Cost $1 Trillion?  —  Gen. Keith Alexander is the director of the National Security Agency and oversees U.S. Cyber Command, which means he leads the government's effort to protect America from cyberattacks.  Due to the secretive nature of his job …

BREAKING: David Pogue Has Lost His iPhone (UPDATE #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12 #13 #14 #15 #16—THEY GOT IT—Still Updating #17 #18)  —  New York Times technology writer David Pogue has lost his iPhone.  He has posted a screenshot of where it might be on Lockerz.com, though.

3-week old Jelly Bean hits 0.8% Android device adoption, as Ice Cream Sandwich reaches 15.9%  —  It's been just over a month since Google officially announced Jelly Bean (Android 4.1) and barely three weeks since the first rollout, but already the latest flavor of Android is installed …

Samsung to unveil new Galaxy Note in late August  —  (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics is set to take the wraps off a sequel to its popular Galaxy Note smartphone at an event on August 29, about two weeks before the possible debut of Apple's new iPhone.  —  The two arch rivals are bracing …

Facebook Stories: A Facebook Site With Collected Stories and Infographics  —  A lot of people — close to 950 million, in fact — are sharing their lives on Facebook.  As it turns out, Facebook thinks many of them have some interesting stories.  Some of them are so interesting that they could be part …

Exclusive: FiveStars Picks Up $14 Million to Challenge the Loyalty Punch Card  —  FiveStars, a loyalty program for local retailers, has raised $13.9 million in a first round of funding.  —  The Mountain View, Calif., company is trying to eliminate the need for loyalty punch cards in a very low-tech way …

Demonoid Starts Redirecting to Ads and Malware  —  Demonoid is one of the world's largest and longest standing sites that not only indexes torrents, but also operates its own tracker.  —  Although the site has a reasonable uptime record, there have been a few occasions where it has not only gone down, but has disappeared completely.

MindSnacks Nabs $6.5M From Sequoia To Bring Fun Educational Games To Your Mobile Device  —  MindSnacks, the DreamIt Ventures accelerator grad that has become known for its addictive educational games for iOS (that feature an ever-present slug), announced today that it has raised $6.5 million from Sequoia Capital.

Apple seeks patent for Smart Cover with embedded secondary display  —  According to an application to the USPTO this morning, Apple believes it's possible to build a flexible display into an iPad cover in order to “greatly enhance” the functionality of the tablet itself.

Stellar growth sees China take 27% of global smart phone shipments, powered by domestic vendors  —  Shanghai, Palo Alto, Singapore and Reading (UK) - Thursday, 2 August 2012  —  Canalys published its final Q2 2012 country-level shipment estimates to clients yesterday.