Amazon shows new Kindle Fire and backlit ‘Paperwhite’ Kindle readers in TV ad  —  We're expecting quite a few things out of tomorrow's Amazon event, and the company just helped heighten expectations a little bit more with a new commercial.  The brief spot aired during tonight's Giants and Cowboys game …

Apple TV No IPhone As Talks Bog Down With Media Companies  —  Apple Inc. (AAPL) engineers have been working since 2005 to reinvent TV viewing.  Designing the gadget may prove easy compared with convincing media and cable companies to loosen their grip on the television industry.

HootSuite CEO: We're Buying Seesmic For The Users, Not The Tech [Interview]  —  TechCrunch first reported earlier today that enterprise social media platform HootSuite is buying another social media platform, Seesmic.  That fact has now been confirmed by HootSuite itself.

Welcoming Instagram to Facebook  —  So many of us at Facebook love using Instagram to share moments with our friends.  And for so many people, sharing photos with friends is an important part of the Facebook experience.  That's why we're so excited to bring Instagram to Facebook and see what we can create together.

Feds Say Mobile-Phone Location Data Not ‘Constitutionally Protected’  —  The Obama administration told a federal court Tuesday that the public has no “reasonable expectation of privacy” in cellphone location data, and hence the authorities may obtain documents detailing a person's movements …

Marissa Mayer: Yahoo is Staying in Ad Tech, Won't Sell Right Media  —  Key Exec Michael Barrett Says He's Sticking Around, Too  —  Marissa Mayer has made one of her first big strategic decisions as Yahoo CEO, as the company announced it was not going to sell its ad exchange Right Media.

Top Startup Advisor Paul Graham Just Warned Against Taking Google's Money  —  Y Combinator founder Paul Graham, the influential advisor to dozens of startups like Dropbox and Airbnb, sent his entrepreneurs an email Wednesday afternoon cautioning them against taking “lowball offers”—in particular, he said, from Google Ventures.

South Korea probes Samsung over Apple antitrust complaints  —  (Reuters) - South Korean regulators are investigating complaints filed by Apple Inc that Samsung Electronics Co is abusing its dominant position in wireless technology, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said on Thursday.

Motorola announces Droid RAZR HD with 4.7-inch display  —  Motorola has just announced the Droid RAZR HD, updating its old flagship with a larger 4.7-inch screen, HD display, and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.  The RAZR HD comes with a 2,500mAh battery, a bit under the 3,300mAh RAZR Maxx …

Eight Questions for Nokia CEO Stephen Elop  —  Saying that today is a big day for the Finnish wireless concern Nokia is putting it lightly.  With its shares trading at levels not seen since the mid 1990s, and its once-dominant position atop the world market for wireless phones shattered …

Samsung Galaxy S III sales surpass 20 million  —  Samsung's Galaxy S III hit the 10 million mark at the end of July, and in the time since then the company has doubled that figure — Samsung says it's reached 20 million Galaxy S III sales, 100 days after the handset launched in May.

Spotify Is Said to Profit From Its Subscribers, but Lose More Luring Them  —  Media Decoder recently looked at the books of Spotify and Pandora, two of the most popular digital music services, and noted that both companies — despite having very different business models — wind up paying most of their revenue in music royalties.

Kobo Unveils $99 Mini And $129 Glo E-Readers, Takes On Amazon With Android-Powered Arc Tablet  —  The big September reveal-a-thon is set to continue tomorrow with some new product announcements courtesy of Amazon, but a rival player in the e-book space is trying to capture some thunder of its own prior to Amazon's big show.

The SEC's Crowdfunding Conundrum  —  When President Obama signed the JOBS Act last April, one of the most controversial and potentially far-reaching provisions was giving startups the ability to raise money through crowdfunding.  Private companies would be able to sell shares to all manner of individual investors for the first time.

Microsoft launches nationwide ‘Bing it on’ TV campaign to challenge Google  —  Microsoft claims people prefer Bing search results to Google's nearly 2:1, and the company is ready to prove it.  Launching today, Bing is rolling out a nationwide campaign to highlight its search benefits and challenge Google.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales attacks government's 'snooper's charter'  —  Jimmy Wales says his website would encrypt all connections with Britain, and called the plans ‘technologically incompetent’  —  Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, has sharply criticised the government's …

Skype Gets Closer To Mobile Carriers, Inks Deal With Mach For Direct Billing For Skype Credits  —  Ahead of Nokia and Microsoft's big event in New York today, where they will formally announce new Nokia/Windows Phone devices, Microsoft is making a little pre-show appearance in the form of Skype …

Sources: Apple to be sole maker of Dock Connector Adapters  —  Responding to earlier reports that Apple hasn't offered developers parts or specs for next-generation Dock Connector accessories, additional sources have confirmed to iLounge that Apple will be the exclusive initial vendor …

Post-Acquisition, Brightcove's Zencoder Adds Live Streaming And Instant Playback  —  Video distribution company Brightcove announced its acquisition of Zencoder to coincide with its second-quarter earnings announcement in July, paying $30 million for the cloud encoding startup.

Vidmind Launches Cloud TV Platform to Let Anyone Create a White Labeled Netflix  —  Tel Aviv-based startup Vidmind came out of stealth today and debuted its cloud-based TV solution, which lets operators, broadcasters and retailers essentially create a white labeled version of Netflix.