Microsoft gets a new logo for the first time since 1987  —  A lot is at stake when a company changes its logo, and Microsoft changed it a number of times in its early years.  —  For the first time in 25 years, Microsoft is changing its corporate logo.  —  Microsoft, which has used its solid …

Facebook for iOS goes native, waves goodbye to HTML 5  —  Facebook today announced the culmination of more than six months of work, a native version of the Facebook app for iOS that's twice as fast.  “Up until now we've looked at scale,” iOS Product Manager Mick Johnson says …

Apple vs. Samsung: inside a jury's nightmare  —  Will nine strangers be able to decide the tech trial of the decade?  —  By Nilay Patel, Matt Macari, and Bryan Bishop  —  After weeks of trial and impassioned closing arguments from both sides, the historic Apple vs. Samsung lawsuit is now in the hands of the jury.

FCC approves Verizon's controversial spectrum purchase from cable companies  —  Following the Department of Justice's lead last week, the FCC has now approved Verizon's acquisition of a large swath of AWS spectrum from a consortium of cable companies operating as SpectrumCo that includes Comcast and Time Warner.

Amazon to hold press conference on September 6th in Santa Monica, Kindle Fire 2 or Phone are our bets  —  TNW has just been invited to an Amazon press conference for September 6th, although we're not sure what it's all about.  We'll be there though.  —  Could it be the new Kindle Fire?

Video Comparison of ‘iPhone 5’ Front Panel and Flex Cables to iPhone 4S Parts [iOS Blog]  —  Repair firm SmartPhone Medic has just posted a new video comparing several parts from the next-generation iPhone to their counterparts from the iPhone 4S.  —  The parts shown include the front panel …

Dave McClure is ripping VCs again: They're f***ing arrogant and stupid a**holes  —  Dave McClure on his way to BC on “Geeks on a Train.”  Photo via Kyle Kesterson.  —  Dave McClure is not your typical venture capitalist.  He wears T-shirts and flip flops, and cusses like a sailor.

Nokia set to unveil ‘Arrow’ and ‘Phi’ Windows Phone 8 handsets with AT&T as main carrier  —  Nokia is planning to unveil two new Windows Phone 8 devices at a joint event with Microsoft on September 5th.  Sources familiar with the two companies' plans have revealed that Nokia is working on an …

‘Wiki Weapon Project’ Aims To Create A Gun Anyone Can 3D-Print At Home  —  An AR-15 semiautomatic rifle and a 3D-printed lower receiver for the weapon shown below it.  Both images were posted Defense Distributed's website.  —  Cody Wilson has a simple dream: To design the world's first firearm …

Exclusive: Digital Chief Jon Miller Leaving News Corp.  —  According to sources close to the situation, News Corp.'s Chief Digital Officer Jon Miller will soon be leaving the media giant.  —  It seems to be a cordial, although perhaps inevitable, parting — sources said Miller will remain …

Obama campaign to start accepting text message donations  —  (Reuters) - In a election dominated by multimillion-dollar donations, Democratic President Barack Obama's campaign is about to give small donors a new weapon by starting to accept text message donations for the first time in history.

Mac OS 10.8.1 Mountain Lion released, fixes issues in Thunderbolt, Exchange, Migration assistant, iMessages and more … Apple just released OSX 10.8.1 Mountain Lion via Software Update.  The delta update weighs a paltry 7.28MB on my Retina MacBook Pro, but your mileage may vary.

Pandora Ships Its Biggest Android Update Yet With A Redesign, Music Exploration Features And More  —  Pandora has been fairly open about the fact that mobile is a major focus for the music streaming company.  More than 70% of listening on Pandora takes place on a mobile device …

When Freemium Fails  —  A growing number of new businesses are following in the footsteps of successful companies such as Dropbox Inc., LinkedIn Corp., and Skype Inc., by giving away their products and services free to build a customer base.  —  Yet for some, the “freemium” …

OnLive owed $30 million to $40 million, was facing imminent shutdown  —  At the time of its insolvency last week, streaming game company OnLive was in far greater trouble than was publicly known.  —  The company owed $30 million to $40 million to various creditors and had little money to pay them.

VMware launches with Windows 8 support, Parallels coming September 4th  —  If you're looking to run Windows on your Mac, there's good news as both Parallels and VMware have announced new versions of their virtualization software.  Parallels Desktop 8 is set to launch on September 4th …

Facebook for Android app updated with messaging emoji, easy event creation and a bit more  —  If you were wondering what features would be on the way after Facebook ditched pre-Froyo Android support for its app your questions have been answered.  This revision lets users easily create events …

Salesforce.com delivers strong Q2, raises revenue outlook  —  Summary: Salesforce's growth rates continue to impress, but the company's sales and marketing expenses surge.  The revenue outlook was raised, but third quarter earnings guidance miss expectations.  —  Larry Dignan

Black Widow  —  Twitter has an enormous advantage over Facebook in one key area: while people on Facebook tend to friend their friends, people on Twitter tend to follow their interests.  The following graph from Twitter is worth far more on a per-account basis because it is directly monetizable …