Apple's New Front in Battle for TV  —  Apple Inc. is in talks with some of the biggest U.S. cable operators about letting consumers use an Apple device as a set-top box for live television and other content, according to people familiar with the matter.  —  The talks represent Apple's …

Google Maps now has schedules for more than one million public transit stops worldwide  —  Since 2005, we've collaborated with hundreds of transit authorities around the world to make a comprehensive resource for millions of riders to find out which bus, train, subway or tram can take them to their next destination.

Surprise!  What you can expect from Windows 8 RTM  —  Summary: Microsoft has officially made the final release of Windows 8 available to subscribers of its MSDN and TechNet services.  You'll find a handful of small surprises, one very large change from Windows 7, and a momentous name change.

E-commerce startups  —  Very few successful e-commerce companies were started in the 2000s.  Since then, e-commerce startups have enjoyed a revival.  Dozens of companies have gotten traction and venture dollars have followed.  Phrases like flash sales, social commerce, and subscription commerce have entered the startup lexicon.

Apple bashes Amazon and proposed ebook settlement  —  In a memo filed with the Southern District of New York this afternoon (PDF; embedded below), Apple argues that the Department of Justice's proposed settlement with three book publishers forces Apple to tear up existing contracts.

Mobile app startups are failing like it's 1999  —  Stop the madness  —  The long cycle times for developing mobile apps have led to startup failures that look more like 1999 - it's like we've forgotten all the agile and rapid iteration stuff that we learned over the last 10 years.  Stop the madness!

Netflix Provides ‘Knock-offs’ After Contract With Disney Ends  —  We recently talked about the steady progression of cable cord-cutting occuring in this country.  As that trend progresses, we're also seeing constant friction from the major movie studios about how they think they're offering enough …

HP Is Just Fine With Microsoft's Surface Tablet, Thank You  —  If Microsoft's decision to enter the PC hardware market with its own Surface tablet has caused Hewlett-Packard any anxiety, the PC-maker isn't letting on.  —  While some PC manufacturers, like Acer, have bemoaned Microsoft's Surface initiative …

Nokia and Microsoft holding Windows Phone 8 press event on September 5th  —  We've been waiting to find out when Nokia would unveil its first lineup of Windows Phone 8 devices, and it looks like we'll be getting all the details on September 5th at 9:30AM in New York City.

The Oatmeal's latest crusade: Save the Tesla Tower  —  Nikola Tesla means a lot to quite a few Internet nerds, perhaps to no one more than Matt Inman, creator of The Oatmeal, the best damn website on the web.  Ergo, as Inman revealed exclusively to Forbes reporter Greg Voakes today …

13 ways of looking at Medium, the new blogging/sharing/discovery platform from @ev and Obvious  —  [With apologies to Wallace Stevens, the finest poet to ever serve as vice president of the Hartford Livestock Insurance Company.]  —  I.  —  Medium is a new online publishing platform from Obvious Corp. It launched yesterday.

Welcome To The New Internet: Simple Design, Short Names, No Ads  —  In recent months, at least four of the most interesting new startups — all either from or backed by people with deep roots in the current internet, including Twitter cofounders and many of the most prominent VCs in Silicon Valley …

Give Peace a Chance, Judge Says, Asking Apple and Samsung CEOs to Meet One Last Time  —  The federal judge overseeing the Apple-Samsung patent trial on Wednesday asked the chief executives of both companies to meet one last time to see if some sort of settlement might be reached.

Google+ for Android, iOS adds ability to join Hangouts on Air, teens can now use Hangouts too  —  An update to the Google+ app for Android and iOS today brings a couple of nice upgrades to the Hangout experience for mobile devices.  Users of the app can now join live Hangouts on Air from mobile devices, not just desktops.

Facebook Is Trying To Go Around The SEC To Get Its Instagram Deal Done Sooner  —  Facebook is trying to speed along its acquisition of Instagram.  —  It's using a California law that lets it issue shares without requiring SEC approval, the Financial Times reports.  —  This isn't sneaky; it's smart.

iTunes desktop app excluding third-party apps from ‘podcasts’ search  —  Apple's iTunes desktop client is currently excluding third-party applications when users search the App Store for “podcasts,” returning only the company's official Podcasts app as the sole result.

Penny Arcade reaches $525,000 Kickstarter goal with six minutes to spare, no ads on homepage for one year  —  Last month gaming webcomic Penny Arcade launched a Kickstarter experiment, attempting to replace its advertising income with funding from fans — and it turned out to be a success.